Christmas Gifts

So for Christmas I got some wonderful gifts; I got a laptop and some digital drawing software to go with it. I have been drawing for a long time. I think I got my first drawing board when I was in the 6th or 7th grade; I still have it and use it. Only now I am using it for a desk for my laptop. So working on my laptop on my old drawing desk got me thinking of how things have changed over the years and what will this year bring in regards to new technology.


There was a time everything was done by hand. When I first got into drafting we had to learn how to draw using the old drafting tools of T-squares and triangles before we even touched the computer. At that time drafting on the computer was still new and it was run in this program environment called DOS. Yes kids there was a time before Windows and Macs. Now it’s hard to keep up with all the upgrades that come out as this world becomes more and more fast paced. Before buildings were built from blueprints, now the whole building is computer generated and transferred to computers out to the construction site. Some old man is cussing because he can’t even figure out how to turn the computer on, and what he does build is wrong because, the young college punk sitting at his desk is depending on his fancy program to figure things out for him.

Even the way we take pictures has changed. Look in that old junk drawer in the kitchen; there will probably be some rolls of film from 5 vacations ago that still need to be developed. Good luck with that. Remember the Polaroid’s, the instant picture that you had to shake a little to start to develop. Now that is just some new dance song that has also come and gone. Today everyone is a photographer, because everyone has a camera on their phone. Now you can take a picture on your phone, send it to a computer, Photoshop it to make it look better, and instantly send it to all your friends on Facebook to see. I think I got maybe 3 actual Christmas cards this year. I mean the ones where you go to the store and pick out. We did get like 20 cards that people took a picture of their kids with Mickey or Santa, Photoshop in a Christmas tree and typed Merry Christmas. I’ll just say I don’t think Hallmark has anything to worry about in regards to competition; also we were guilty of doing that too.

I could go on and on about how communication has changed in this world. I mean even grandma has an e-mail address, yet I still do not find the time to write to her, some things will never change. The point is I hope this year we realize that all these fancy gadgets do not replace the fact that we need to think for ourselves. Plus my mother has just enter this century and got her first cell phone. I still have nightmares from when I was first trying to show her how to use a mouse on a computer. I think she thought she was accidently going to launch a missile or something.