Technology a bad thing?

Once in a while I hear someone complain about how technology is a bad thing…”It makes us lazy” or “Nobody interacts with people anymore, it’s all on-line now”. I can see their point…just about anything designed for good can get abused or twisted. But truth be told, I believe the opposite. As a matter of fact, I’ve discovered a lot of neat things using the Internet over the years…things like how to write a proper résumé, how to fix the sticky blinker in my Jeep, the fact that the Earth is round…those types of cool things, all for one low monthly price. It’s like a subscription to the Encyclopedia Universica…an endless array of cool and useful information.

Another thing I’ve discovered is that you can buy just about anything you want. Not only that, but for much cheaper than retail price, probably without sales tax, and it gets shipped right to your house.

“Holy Crap! You mean to tell me that I don’t have to shower, shave, get dressed, put gas in the car, drive to Best Buy, listen to the poor kid who’s parents made him get a job (good for them, but maybe bagging groceries is more his style?) tell me all about the $1500 HDTV with 14 HGP inputs, 480GHz signaling, 24 R2-D2 sound effects, 30-kagillion color pixels and a remote control that will start my car and signal the Mother Ship that it’s time to land?
“I can actually sit in my boxers, covered in crumbs, and find the same TV for sale on the Internet for $600, no sales tax, I won’t get hounded to buy the extended warranty, and it will magically show up at my door?”

Well, yes, sort of. It’s not magic, it’s called UPS. Brown can do it for you too. Put a robe on before you answer the door, though. But leave the crumbs…the UPS guy may want a snack. And if the TV retails for $1500 and you got it for $600, it either fell off the back of a truck, or it’s a Chinese knockoff. Check the label, it probably says Pandasonic, Zenich, Samsong or Sonny. Probably $1000 to $1200 would be more realistic for legitimate hardware.

Anyway, on a side note, for Christmas I got Jordan a Wii. She has one at her Mom’s house so I thought she’d get good use of one here too. She does get bored pretty easily; I mean she is 10 after all. Another thing she got for the Wii was the Rock Band game. We played it one year at a New Year’s Eve party and had an absolute blast. But I discovered a problem…within a few weeks I really wanted to learn how to play guitar for real. Not a plastic guitar shaped controller, but a real guitar, with 6 strings and frets…one that would actually sound like ass when I play it badly. So, it’s time to learn something. Where do I start? Oh, I know…the Internet, of course!

I was thinking I’d have to save up for a few months to buy my first Axe. Not so! Through the magic of Craigslist I found a Fender Squier electric guitar and tiny practice amp (like I need the neighborhood to hear how bad I am) for under $100.



So, I dork around with this thing for a few days, realize it’s a sub-$100 guitar for a reason, and decide to research a little on what to do about keeping it in tune and how to get better sound out of it…besides learning how to play better, I mean. So back to the computer I go.

Behold, the stinkin’ Holy Grail of guitar info! Video lessons from beginner to expert (without having to drive to an instructor…I can learn sitting in my underwear covered in crumbs!). Not only that, but step-by-step explicit details on how to modify just about every aspect of the guitar to make it better. If I didn’t have to work, I would probably have not left the house for weeks after discovering what I could do to this thing. So, I decided “Hey, everyone under the Sun has a black and white one, maybe I’ll repaint this one”. And I did.

I took this one apart completely, and had it apart for a while trying to decide just what color to use. Then I started to miss playing, so back to Craigslist I went to find another one to use temporarily while I was working on this one. Turns out I got one that was a lot better guitar for me than the original one. So I figured Jordan might like this one to toy around with, and I asked her if she would like me to make this one for her. Of course she said yes, and that she wanted it blue. So that’s what I did, made it into a blue one!



Turns out I’m much better at working on these things than playing them, although I’m getting better every day. I enjoy playing, learning and practicing. It’s good therapy…I’ve always enjoyed music and this is just another way to enjoy it.

So I guess I went way off topic about good vs. bad technology. My brain works like that, expect it here regularly and try to enjoy it...