Mesa - Technology, Great or Eerie?

Isn’t technology wonderful? Well, sometimes. It isn’t always wonderful. However, we saw a marvelous example of just how wonderful technology can be and how it can be life-altering. On Friday, a rainy day here in sunny Arizona, we were in Paradise Cafe having a bagel and coffee. Gary looked up at me and then beyond me where a couple were looking at their IPad and signing. They must have been on Skype, signing with someone else who was deaf and also on Skype. I can’t imagine how thrilling it must be for a deaf person to be able to make a face to face call on Skype.

Here’s another example though this might be an example of how eerie technology can be. 2 years ago we traveled north through California to visit my Aunt Betty. As we made the turn towards her home we noticed a Google car breezing down the street, with cameras on its roof pointing every direction. Obviously they were making the satellite and street views for their online Google maps. Knowing that we might be on the pictures, I checked Google every now and then for about a month. I saw nothing and gave up the search. Last month, after I chatted with Betty on the phone, I checked Google again, and, sure enough, there’s our RV on the street beside her home. And, that’s her RV in back of the house. Here’s the screen I saw on Google. Eerie.

Several days ago, I got an e-mail out of the blue from someone I’ve never met who was asking if I was the daughter of John Ferguson and the wife of Gary Macek. Whoo, who is this and how did she get my name and my heritage? The explanation is simple in these days: she knew my name and Gary’s so she just looked us up online and came up with my blog where I’ve got our e-mail address. Simple, right? Look up ‘Gary Macek’ online and you’ll see a picture of my sweet stud muffin. His name is fairly uncommon but just try to find ‘Nancy Ferguson’ - too common name and I can’t be found.

As we were driving through Scottsdale a few days ago to get to a trailhead, we noticed these signs. Someone must be unhappy.

And, these signs are on Happy Valley Road.

Meanwhile, we’ve been inside most of this weekend since we’ve had rain from Friday thru Sunday. Friday, it was a steady rain, Saturday, we had on and off steady rain, Sunday, we had on and off short showers. We’ve had rivers running through the streets here, an unusual occurrence. But, it gave us forced inside time to work on what ever projects we needed to get done. I’ve been working on 2014 travel plans. We plan to travel through the Northwestern states but we need to be back in Iowa in September for our 50th reunion. Heavens, are we really that old? Did we really graduate from High School in 1964? It hardly seems possible. But, I’ve got to believe the calendar, it’s all true. As Jimmy Buffet says in his song A Pirate Looks at 40, we’ve put 40 well astern, and 50 and 60, now. This pirate looks at 67.