Technology Overload

We were all lined up to take out the 4 for an early evening row. The weather conspired against us. Storms have been passing in and out of the area. The Nimbus clouds have been racing across the sky, with wind gusts and rumbles of thunder. Any chance of lightning keeps us off the river. So much for rowing tonight: As much as I’d like to get on the water, it is just too dangerous.

I did my rowing practice this morning at the “Y” on the Concept 2. I started with warm ups doing two 500 meter intervals. All warmed up I set the program for a fixed distance of 500 meters. I froze at the ½ slide position. In my mind I said, “We have alignment, GO!!!” That is when my racing start kicked in: ½ , ½ , ¾ , Reach, and finally full slide. The main readout I concentrate is the split time shown for rowing 500 meters. My starting time for the first 30 seconds or so was in the high 1:30’s. I tried so hard to keep that number, but my muscles had other plans: Slowly the time crept up into the 1:40 range.

At the 1:20 mark my legs and arms were jelly and tingly. I kept going and finished out the set doing 500 meters in 1:47.0 minutes. How I wanted to break 1:45.

Because I started with a racing start, I was legal to rate my performance on the Concept 2 site. The 2011 season began May 1^st. For my age and weight class (50-60 years and under 165 lbs for a lightweight rower class) I was 8 out of 15. Now I have a target to work towards. If it is any consolation, I was the oldest rower showing a rating so far in my class.

I printed out my Google maps and directions for the upcoming trip yesterday. This is such an improvement over relying so on a vague road atlas. However, I was spoiled driving with Louis in California and using his GPS.

He called me this afternoon using his cheap/free long distance. I told him I was actually checking out TomTom GPS’s on line. He told me to stay away from them and to go with Garmin, like he has. He then started to rattle off the technical stuff. That is where my head shut down and wanted to explode!

The price has really come down on the things. Researching on the internet gave me all kinds of information, such as: never buy a refurbished unit at any cost!

Louis told me he has a 255 WT model. The t stands for being able to get traffic alerts. For as much as I’ll be using it, the extra expense was not justified.

Because I’ll be leaving Tuesday, I did not have the luxury of shopping on-line for the cheapest price. I went to the BestBuy site and priced out the Garmin 255W at $119.99. I printed out the page to take with me.

Stores like Best Buy work my last good nerve… all that technology in one spot. I found a computer stand where I entered the stock number of the GPS and discovered there were 9 in stock. I will say the help here is very helpful and personable. I found the display of GPS’s. The store price was $139.99. The nicest clerk was at the aisle. I asked her if the store would match the internet price from the Best Buy site. She told me that was no problem as long as I had the print out from Best Buy. Yay…my plan worked!!!

I then asked her about getting something to back up my hard-drive. After I nearly lost everything a few months back, I don’t want to take any chances. She told me how she accidentally deleted her operating files, but was saved because she had them backed up on an external hard drive. In the “Memory aisle” this clerk and another guy who was stocking the shelves were recommending what I should get. My head…. hearing about all the billions of bytes and whatever!!! These young kids are so up on this stuff, it is all second nature to them.

I really had them laughing saying I’m such a Luddite, I was on overload just from the GPS!! They set me up with a Toshiba unit which I was assured would be adequate for my needs.

We got everything squared away at customer service. I declined the extended warranties and the frequent buyer card. I told them I was lucky to get in the store once or twice a year because it makes me so nervous. As I paid with cash I had to say, “See that proves me being a Luddite!!! How many people pay with cash anymore??!!” I left them laughing as I said good by!!

I needed to pick up some things at Hel-mart. Friday afternoon the place was a “Horror Show”. Since bar-b-que is the main item on the menu for Jason’s party tomorrow, I don’t want to use my good linen. Plain old plastic will be fine. The plastic tablecloths were so ugly… blue or red. Blue seemed to be the least offensive colour, so I got that one. I’m reminded of the Bar-b-que I went to in Bradford, PA back in the summer of 1997. I suggested on the way we stop for a quick bite so we would not be starving when we arrived. Oh, no I was assured, this is a picnic, there will be lots of food before hand.

This turned out to be a real “Yupped out” affair. The food before hand was fancy crab dip on crackers. That was it! We were starving from the 2+ hour drive. My companions Dan and Barry just gave me sick looks! In my mind a cook out – picnic is down home eating. Save the fancy stuff for some other time.

From there I had to hit Sam’s Club. I needed to print out the pictures of the cabinet for the phonograph show. The pictures turned out pretty well. A spare box of wine, and some sandwich buns was my big purchase. The snack bar was not crowded so I splurged and got me an ice cream cup for $1.06. That is my favourite extravagance!