Technology

Thoughts provoked by the Bactec 9240, my cell phone, and my digital camera...

Ever take the time to reflect on just how much impact technology has had on our lives? Or maybe I should say our changing technology? It's nothing in this century to work at computers as well as have them in our homes and sometimes, our satchels as we board a train or plane. We wouldn't think of heading out the door without our cell phones and often, the digital camera is also along for the ride. Now step back 30 years and take a look.

I got my first home computer in 1986. It was an IBM PS2/50. Back then, you connected to the primitive internet to CompuServe by way of an external Hayes modem and the net was basically a home shopping service. Are you old enough to remember working in DOS? Queing up a disc by typing in the command? Word processing without Works or Word? Floppy disks that were really floppy? Now we have computers that automatically do what we need and everything is done in the background with by clicking on a tiny picture. And don't ask me where the modem is in my computer and what kind it is. Oh, and for the record, I still use dial up but that too is a click of the mouse in ease.

A phone has always been a part of my life. Hey, I'm only 50 now! But, do you remember party lines and exchanges such as Murray Hill or Drake? For you youngsters who read this, a phone number would have been something like this...DR2-3974, with the letters corresponding to the numbers on your phone. Yeah, there are still letters on each number of a telephone, but you know, I had to look to be sure. You usually only had one phone, with a rotary dial, and were really big time when you got a private line. You were rich if you had more than one phone, too. Now it's nothing to have multiple phones, all push button, as well as every member of the family having a cell phone on them at all times.

I mentioned a Bactec 9240. It's a blood culture analyzer. In lay terms, we put media bottles with a patient's blood into this large, cabinet incubator/agitator, and for the next 5 days that instrument will automatically read the samples every 10 minutes to see if the patient has an infection in the blood. (Ok, for you techs out there, yeah, I left out some details. But I said in 'layman terms'.) Now, if I step back some 30 years, I remember the old tilt and eyeball method, which is quite primitive. Then, there were other analyzers, some using radioactive isotopes. I am amazed that I don't glow in the dark when I think of those things. Yet this is just one example of how far medical laboratories have come. The old chemistry machines that required a room for just the machine, 10 tubes of blood for 10 tests, and a day to run those same tests are, thankfully, a distant memory. Today, a single tube of blood could run 40-50 tests on a floor model analyzer that is the size of your large chest freezer, and do it in an hour. Truly amazing.

Now, I'm a technology fan. I love my newest acquisition, a digital camera. It was a present from my hubby for that milestone 50th birthday. Camera and printer dock. What fun. I've captured some great moments, a trip to Philly, my daughter's recent visit home, my son and his girlfriend, the folks, and a host of other interesting sites. My favorite part is the fact that you can see the picture you just took. Uhh...remember Polaroids? I've owned a host of cameras in my life, now that I think on it. A brownie, a Kodak teleinstamatic, a disc, a Polaroid, a Nikon 35mm, a super 8 movie camera, and now this little gem. Wow.

Remember the old cartoons? The Jetsons come to mind. Ok, so we don't use flying machines for our daily commute to work or our vacation trips, not that I wouldn't mind for some of those longer trips, but some of the other things you see on those cartoons are now common parts of our lives. And just when we think we've seen it all, something new presents itself for our amusement or amazement.

I'm thinking that robot vacuum looks promising. Maybe Christmas??

Dawn