A couple months ago, the electronics in my car's front panel started dying. The stereo display went blank and the climate control buttons suddenly stopped working - although strangely enough, the actual units themselves were still working fine. I could switch radio stations using the buttons on my steering wheel and change the volume, I just couldn't see what station I was switching to or what the volume level was being set at. Climate control was exactly the opposite - I could see what the temperature and AC modes were on the display, but had no way of changing any of the settings (fortunately for me, the temp was set at a very reasonable 72F before I lost the ability to control it).
A few years before any of that happened, the CD changer in that same unit broke down. The AM/FM radio and tape deck were fine, but anytime I would try to access the CD changer, it would give me an error. I couldn't even eject the 6 CDs that were already in there, those would be stuck there until I decided to pay the dealer to replace the entire stereo system in my car. At the time, I decided that I would just live without a CD player (and without those CDs), it simply wasn't worth the cost of replacing the whole unit if only one part of it was not working.
Back to present day, after a few more weeks of dealing with a half-working stereo in my car, it eventually stopped responding entirely and I finally sucked it up and took it to the dealer to get the whole thing fixed. Which they did, albeit for a hefty ransom, and to end this ordeal on a positive note, today I got a nice little surprise in the form of my 6 trapped CDs returned to me in the mail.
Now, I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this story yet, but I guess for some reason this whole episode got me thinking about blogging. Today I logged into Blogger for the first time in a long time (looks like the last post was almost exactly 2 years to the day), which I think was actually right around the time my CD changer went down. Not that correlation implies causation, but hey, it seems there is at least some symmetry there... enough for me to clumsily transition into the subject of blogging and what's been going on in the past couple years during my absence from blogging.
The thing about my CD changer is, I'm glad to have it back, but after not having it for a couple years, I realized that it's something that's quickly becoming outdated. Just as CDs replaced cassette tapes when I was younger, and cassettes replaced record players in my parents' generation, digital downloads and mp3 players are steadily pushing Compact Discs towards obsolescence. More on technology later, but I just found it to be surprising to think back to the last time I used my CD player and how much has changed since then.
The thing about my CD changer is, I'm glad to have it back, but after not having it for a couple years, I realized that it's something that's quickly becoming outdated. Just as CDs replaced cassette tapes when I was younger, and cassettes replaced record players in my parents' generation, digital downloads and mp3 players are steadily pushing Compact Discs towards obsolescence. More on technology later, but I just found it to be surprising to think back to the last time I used my CD player and how much has changed since then.
In the big picture, 2008 doesn't sound like it was that long ago. But when I really stop to think about it, a lot of big things have actually happened in these last couple years, both in my life as well as the world around me. We elected our first black President, or as I prefer to think of it, our first non-White President, of which the significance cannot be overstated. Regardless of whether you agree with his policies or what you think of Obama as a person, the fact that he was elected POTUS clearly has all sorts of huge implications on the way we view race in this country (in a good way of course).
As for me, I turned 30 this year, which as it turned out, wasn't the nightmare I once thought it would be. The year before that, I made a big career change, got a dog, hiked the Grand Canyon, and I finally got LASIK, experiencing life without glasses or contacts for the first time since 2nd grade. So yeah, a lot happened there too.
And getting back to the technology world, I feel like the Internet went through its own revolution of sorts too, in only the last couple years. The continuing rise of Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., combined with the growing widespread use of smartphones, has totally changed the way we communicate and network with each other in this world. And now that I think of it, in some ways, those factors have just as much to do with my absence from blogging as did the other things going on in my life.
All of this is without even mentioning the many pop culture phenomenons that have burst onto the scene in the last couple years, such as Jersey Shore, Glee, Katy Perry, etc. Even as I'm writing this blog, I'm amazed by how much has happened in these last couple years alone. The world moves fast, that's for sure. Every one the subjects I just listed could (and should) have been its own blog topic - after all, this page would not have ever existed had it not been for my bizarre desire to record and share my dumb thoughts on whatever dumb subject comes to mind with whoever out there has time to read it.
But hey, maybe I'll still get to writing about all of the above at some point? I hope so. I'd like to think that unlike CDs becoming obsolete in the music world, there will always be a place and time for blogging. Twitter and Facebook are nice ways to communicate at times, but there are still some things that will never fit in a 140-character limit, nor do they belong in a never ending stream of status updates that are simply "Liked" or commented on and then forgotten in a matter of minutes. So while this blog may never be its own trending topic, I hope I'll still keep coming back here to record my thoughts no matter how much the world around me changes.
*Addendum - for anyone who was wondering, here are the 6 CDs that I got back:
Smashing Pumpkins/Siamese Dream - Oh how I missed thee!
Janet Jackson/Velvet Rope - Used to love this album, I'm not sure why, but it doesn't seem as good anymore
STP/Purple - The first CD I ever bought... as a sophomore in HS. Which was 14 years ago! Wow.
Britney Spears/Blackout - No, I am not ashamed to admit that this was in my regular rotation at one point
Coldplay/A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Actually, I AM kind of ashamed of this one
Boyz II Men/Evolution - This album will never not be good
As for me, I turned 30 this year, which as it turned out, wasn't the nightmare I once thought it would be. The year before that, I made a big career change, got a dog, hiked the Grand Canyon, and I finally got LASIK, experiencing life without glasses or contacts for the first time since 2nd grade. So yeah, a lot happened there too.
And getting back to the technology world, I feel like the Internet went through its own revolution of sorts too, in only the last couple years. The continuing rise of Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc., combined with the growing widespread use of smartphones, has totally changed the way we communicate and network with each other in this world. And now that I think of it, in some ways, those factors have just as much to do with my absence from blogging as did the other things going on in my life.
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| Oh YEEAAH me and Pauly D in Vegas YEEAAAH |
But hey, maybe I'll still get to writing about all of the above at some point? I hope so. I'd like to think that unlike CDs becoming obsolete in the music world, there will always be a place and time for blogging. Twitter and Facebook are nice ways to communicate at times, but there are still some things that will never fit in a 140-character limit, nor do they belong in a never ending stream of status updates that are simply "Liked" or commented on and then forgotten in a matter of minutes. So while this blog may never be its own trending topic, I hope I'll still keep coming back here to record my thoughts no matter how much the world around me changes.
*Addendum - for anyone who was wondering, here are the 6 CDs that I got back:
Smashing Pumpkins/Siamese Dream - Oh how I missed thee!
Janet Jackson/Velvet Rope - Used to love this album, I'm not sure why, but it doesn't seem as good anymore
STP/Purple - The first CD I ever bought... as a sophomore in HS. Which was 14 years ago! Wow.
Britney Spears/Blackout - No, I am not ashamed to admit that this was in my regular rotation at one point
Coldplay/A Rush Of Blood To The Head - Actually, I AM kind of ashamed of this one
Boyz II Men/Evolution - This album will never not be good
