Saturday, April 4, 2015

More Technology?

Gerry taking photo of me - new car is behind him!

So, our car that we got in 2006 was beginning to show wear.  Then, one day, the front end started coming off (it has a large plastic front end fastened with a couple of plastic clips).  A local shop did a sort of chewing gum fix on it a year ago, which lasted a year but it was starting to come loose again so I decided to visit the local car dealer and have them fix it.  I drove in the driveway.  But unbeknownst to me, the same group owns the dealership on the corner which apparently shares the driveway.  A nice looking middle aged man walked up and motioned for me to open the window.

Little did I know that would begin a huge lifechange.  Instead of going to the dealership which supported our car, we ended up going to the other dealership.  At first I thought "no way" but he showed us a very nice new car - a sort of small SUV and then, we spent the day haggling over payments etc.  The fatal flaw (for me) was when he invited me to take the car for a test drive.

Wow.  The ride was smooth, bumps in the road disappeared and it handled wonderfully. Never thought I could get hooked on a car but....

Bottom line, we drove it home that day.

So it has all kinds of new stuff on it.  Things I'd never heard of like "climate control" (really? in a car?) and more.  Since we had a lot of church this week (Holy Week), and Friday we visit shut in folks, I was just getting used to it. (OK I'm an old dog and this is a very new trick).

Then today, this really nice gentleman came out from the dealer to run through some of the technical things like the radio (it has every which type of radio and also there is a way you can play all the music in your phone and more.)  When he asked about the phone, I told him I didn't have music in my new iPhone - it was in my iPod.  

"Oh", he said, the music is on the "cloud" (when I was a kid,  clouds were fluffy white cotten-y things in the sky that rained on you sometimes) and it naturally downloaded to my new iPhone when I switched.  I looked and sure enough, there it was.

I'm amazed at all the things just the radio stereo does - I mean we had a 2006 car - but the technology difference between that car and this car is like the difference between a horse n' buggy and a speed racer.

Even the drive has several modes... a regular mode, a "economy" mode - that puts a bit of resistance on the gas pedal so you tend to go slower, and a "sports" mode - that turns your gas pedal into a mode where you can play like you have a race car. (huh?)

That's just what I remember.  I've already forgotten all the stuff you can do with the stereo. Even the windshield wipers are complex. 

So right now, I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.  My hubby said I'll get used to it.  I guess. And I'm sure if I forget how to do something, I can ask my 6 year old great granddaughter to show me how.  ** sigh **  Generation gap?  Try generation chasm!!!


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