Spring……..2011

Well, spring has sprung. It is an absolutely perfect day here in West Texas. As soon as I'm done here, I'm gonna go get on the Harley and air it out for a while. While I wasn't born at the start of the baby boomer era, I'm certainly a senior boomer now. What I'm saying is, I have tried to keep up as well as I can, with technology. I got my very first computer in 1983. It was an IBM - PS2. I was told it was the best on the market. Now this was before Windows, so it was operated on a DOS system. In other words, the instruction manual was bigger than the actual computer. I certainly did enter a lot of code, but the only thing I ever accomplished was an address book. A few years later I got a 386 computer. It had a very early version of Windows installed and we thought it can't get any better than this. Of course, that was over 20 years ago. I've gone through several upgrades in both computers and operating systems. I have two computers now, and both are made by HP. My favorite is my HP Pavilion laptop.



If you will notice, in the picture, there is a microphone. It's a Logitech digital microphone ran into one of the USB ports of my laptop. Why would I want a microphone on a laptop? That question brings me around to the point of today's post. Although I've tried to stay technically advanced, I went to school back in the dark ages. We didn't even have a faint inkling that the world would turn out the way it is. I never learned how to type. Oh, I can hold my own filling out forms and such, but as far as really getting down to the nitty-gritty of putting words on paper, I'm pretty slow. My attitude back then was, if I needed something typed I would hire a secretary. My, how we live and learn. One of my exes had very good typing skills. When we got the first computer, I could dictate in my natural voice, and she would type it, word for word. She was actually that fast. Although it's not easy to replace a wife, technology does allow for new sets of skills. Now I dictate that microphone, and it follows me word for word. What I'm talking about is a program of speech recognition software that automatically turns talk.... into text.

Dragon Naturally Speaking, and I quote, makes it faster and easier to create and edit documents or e-mail without typing. Just say the words they appear on the screen. Still reading from the back of the box tell Dragon what you want to do, such as" double space the document" or" search the web for Italian restaurants in Birmingham, Massachusetts," and Dragon makes it happen. I am amazed and curious at the same time. Let's put it to a little test, shall we? Let's try really hard word to spell like, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Wow and I just said the word and Dragon spelled it, exactly. Let's try some of the harder words that I run across in everyday language. Nacogdoches, Texas. Yep, I just said it and Dragon printed it. I will admit it's not 100% accurate, you have to go back and change a word occasionally, or better yet, just highlight the word or phrase and repeat what you want, and Dragon will fix it.

I'm expecting a call from the realtor this afternoon, and we're going to make an appointment for a market analysis of the coming week. I feel my mainspring tightening up as I get closer to making my transition from homeowner to " Wandering Gypsy." I don't see a great change in my lifestyle, I'll just be going mobile. I honestly expect to do most of the same things when I'm a full-timer as I do now. I'm sure I'll eat about the same things, dress pretty much the same way, watch the same type of TV programs, as I do now. I can't tell you how anxious I am to get started with my new life. It won't be long now, and I will be " Going Mobile".

 

Thanks Y'all for stopping by. See you soon.

Michael