Technology

Bay City, Texas

Weather: low 59 degrees, high 75 degrees, cloudy skies

The job is still going well, and we gained about 18 hours on the base line schedule in the last two days. The new reactor head was placed on the reactor vessel today. Activities are being performed now that were scheduled for two days later. That means we expect to gain even more time before the end of the week. Hey, maybe I’ll be finished before the 29th! That would work for me.

In past posts, I've written about how resistant we are to new technology. Or I should say how resistant I usually am to new technology. We didn't buy a cell phone until we started traveling as much as we do, and now it has become a necessity. We use the cell phone a lot, but we chose to buy one as simple as possible. It doesn't have a camera, or a recorder, or a GPS unit, or all the other gadgets that are sold with cell phones. Such as a level, a light, or a hammer. Wait a minute. None of them have hammers, but you can do just about anything with them except build a house.

A couple of years ago, circumstances required that we obtain a second cell phone for the times when I'm away from Carolyn and we need to be able to communicate. Instead of adding another phone to our account, I chose a Tracfone, which has worked well for us. I don't have to use the Tracfone very often, but it's nice to have when it's needed. Plus, the Tracfone is cheaper than another phone on our account.

I had resisted buying a GPS unit, because real men didn't need a GPS unit to find their way around. We bought one a few months ago, and we've found that using the unit can become an adventure if we blindly follow the directions that we're given. We're all about adventure, but not when pulling the RV and getting bad information from the GPS unit. Now, we use the GPS unit, but we also check our maps, as well as Google maps.

The next leap in technology (at least for us) was to buy a flash drive with a capacity of 8 gigabytes. We have a lot of files on cds and dvds, and in the interest of trying to cut down on that stuff, we decided to try the little flash drive to see if it would work for us. I used it for the first time today, and I am totally sold on the little drives. It is amazing how much stuff can be put on an 8 gigabyte drive. I think if we get a couple more, we'll be able to get rid of all the cds and dvds. Imagine that: the flash drive is the size of my thumb, and holds the information on a bunch of cds.

Maybe this technology thing is not so bad after all.

More later, be safe.

Today's Town - Beacon, New York: Tree City

Not all who wander are lost.