What Would We Do...Without Cellphones?

 I was looking through my camera roll and I came across a random photo I took when I was at The Home Depot last week. At first, I did not remember why I took it--I take a lot of pictures for possible blog post topics. So, I wasn't sure about this photo of Dish Packing Kits. Was I going to write about the joys of packing (like I did yesterday), or how it's interesting that they market packing kits in packing kits?

Then, it hit me...I took this picture because I was unsure, unsure of whether or not this was the exact item I had been sent to fetch. Turns out, it was. Then I realized just how important cellphones are in our modern society. Sure, they save lives and record daily events, but they do other important things, too.

Like, help a husband remember what he was supposed to buy.

Using my grandpa voice (I'm not a grandpa, but many my age and younger are...), I remember back in the day when ,if you didn't have a list and things written on that list, you relied solely on memory. And, as we all know, shinny things can be distracting and memory pays the price. I thought back on many a time I forgot what I was supposed to get, bought what I thought I was supposed to get, then returned to the store to purchase what I was supposed to get the first time.

Modern technology comes with a price--more hectic lives, relying on phones for everything, but it also helps out a husband when he's sent to The Home Depot for dish packing kits and he makes sure it's the right thing before he even leaves the parking lot.

Powerless...At Work

So, there I was, working away--I was even leaving a voice-mail message for someone, when suddenly...poof. 

No power.

It was a first for me, not the power going out, but what I was doing when it happened.

I was working...telecommuting.

I'm experiencing a lot of firsts with my job. I've blogged about some of them, like how things have changed since the weather's gotten cold. Today, the power to our house and to half the town went out. Just like if I worked in a big building with hundreds of other workers, I was stuck with nothing to do.

The outage hit just before the time I usually go upstairs and get lunch. I thought, perfect timing--I'll just get lunch and wait for the power to return. One problem, everything I planned on eating required electricity to prepare.

In the past, when I worked with everyone else in the same building, when the power went out everyone knew it--including the big bosses. Today, I was the only one. After checking with the power company to see when things would be reinstated, we needed to get lunch for the family so we went for a short drive. After all, it would be at least two and a half hours before the power came back on. Thankfully, it came back after only about forty-five minutes.

When I worked with others, there was a collective gasp, when the power went out at work. Some were in the middle of writing reports, others were on the phones. Everything stopped and we all experienced the same thing together. Today, that's what didn't happen. It was just me by myself. That was the weirdest part, and something new in my year of "firsts."