Tag Archives: cell phones

Still looking for cell phone ban sign at border

September 22, 2017 kanelis2012

I was hoping to see something the other day next to the “Welcome to Texas” sign that greeted us on our way back from a long-weekend trip to Colorado.

It would be a “No cell phone use while driving” sign.

I didn’t see it when we re-entered Texas from New Mexico along Interstate 40. Dammit, anyway! Where is the warning to motorists coming here from elsewhere that they need to put their cell phones away while they’re driving on Texas highways?

The Texas Legislature this year approved a cell phone ban while driving bill. Gov. Greg Abbott signed it into law, which took effect Sept. 1.

Most states have laws that ban cell phone usage while driving; even more of them ban texting while driving. New Mexico has a “local jurisdiction” ban, by the way; Colorado bans cell phone use if the driver is operating on a learner’s permit. Colorado also bans texting while driving; New Mexico has no such statewide ban.

My point is that states that ban this act of sheer stupidity should be sure to let motorists know it when they enter those states.

I’m proud of our Legislature for agreeing to implement a statewide ban; I also am proud of Gov. Abbott for signing the bill into law, doing something his predecessor as governor, Rick Perry, declined to do in 2011, citing a ridiculous notion that such a bill was too “intrusive” on drivers’ private lives.

The state needs to take the next step and erect those signs at all its entry points that warn motorists: Keep your cell phones put away while you “Drive Friendly, the Texas Way.”

media news

Internet can be addictive … you know?

July 27, 2017 kanelis2012

SALLISAW, Okla. — My name is John and I am addicted to the Internet.

There. I said it. I admitted it. Is that the first step toward a cure? I have no earthly idea if that puts me on my way. I’ll deal with it.

We came to this place near the end of our latest two-week sojourn in our pickup with fifth wheel in tow. We had spent a miserable previous day getting a major repair done to our RV, so we decided to pull up to a municipal park just north of this quaint eastern Oklahoma community.

We wound our way back into the woods, found Brushy Lake Park. Set up our RV site. Paid the fee. Then I sought to open up my laptop to write a blog about, oh, this and/or that.

Oops! No cell phone service. No service means no Internet. No Internet means so surfing the universe of information and opinion for grist upon which to comment.

For the briefest of moments, I felt — how do I say it? — a bit lost. I love writing this blog. I love doing so from different locations where my wife and I end up. I was unable to do so for an entire evening.

I got over my Internet separation anxiety fairly quickly. I figured, “What the hey?” I’ll get back into The Game as soon as we depart and return to within some cell phone service network — and I’ll reconnect with the Big Ol’ World of Internet.

I’m savvy enough about the Internet to know that I should take every single thing I read on it to the proverbial bank. I know a lot of it is merely someone else’s opinion.

However … I did experience a bit of withdrawal until I was able to return to what passes in this day and time as The World.

Oh, the park where we spent the night? It was beautiful, quiet and full of peace.

Uncategorized

Still relying on time pieces

December 3, 2016 kanelis2012

This is the latest in an occasional series of blog posts commenting on upcoming retirement.

Take a good look at the watch you see in this picture.

I’ll have more to say about that in a moment.

I’ve decided that I likely will be addicted to knowing what time it is even after I enter full retirement mode. My reasons are simple and quite justifiable.

For nearly 37 years — as I toiled in daily journalism — I performed under deadline pressure. As a reporter I had to get stories turned in by a certain time — or else face the editor’s wrath. As an editor, I had to oversee other reporters’ deadline performance. As an opinion page writer and editor, I always had to get my work done by a certain time every day.

I lived by the clock. I looked at my wrist constantly. Am I late? Do I have more time?

This morning, I awoke to discover that my battery-powered Citizen watch — a nice watch, but nothing gawdy — had quit overnight. The battery croaked. Oh my goodness! What to do?

I thought about it for all of about 5 seconds. Then I went to my drawer and pulled out the watch you see in this picture. It’s a very old Bulova. It’s one of those self-winders. I set the time, strap it onto my wrist, jiggle my wrist two or three times and off she goes — the watch, that is.

Mom gave it to me in 1980 after Dad died. That was more than 36 years ago, which makes the watch old just by that measure. Except that Dad wore the thing for as long as I can remember before that. He wasn’t wearing the watch when he died suddenly in a boating accident all those years ago.

Mom wanted me to have it. I accepted it with great gratitude — and I cried like a baby, too.

It still works. It keeps perfect time. I took it to a jeweler here in Amarillo to see about having it cleaned. He removed the back of the watch, took one look at it, and put it back together. Then he said the watch’s innards are too delicate, too old to mess with. “When it stops working, that’s it,” he said. “You’ll just have to retire it.” It’s been semi-retired ever since, sort of like me.

I don’t see myself going without a watch on my wrist. It’s who I am. Sure, I could tell time by pulling my fancy-shmancy I-phone out of its holster. I’d rather not do that.

I know a lot of retired folks who no longer wear watches. What’s the point? they ask. Why do I need to be anywhere? Members of my immediate family are like that. My sons don’t wear watches, either. They rely on their big-time telecommunications devices to keep them on schedule. My granddaughter — who’s all of 3 years of age! — already is becoming tech-savvy. Will she ever wear a watch? I, um, doubt it.

I’ll stick with the old way of telling time. It’s worked well for me for more than six decades. Why change now?

local news

High-tech gadgets can truly astound

June 9, 2016 kanelis2012

I’ve just treated myself to one of the joys of high-tech gadgetry.

It took me years to purchase a cell phone. I declared my intention to be the last man on Earth to own one of them; I declared victory in that pursuit some years ago and bought one.

A couple of years ago, my wife and I — at the relentless insistence of one of our sons — upgraded our phones. We now have “smart phones” that enable us to do a lot of things. We navigate with them; we play games on them; we receive instant communication on them; we are able to receive text message and text in return.

Frankly, I use only a tiny fraction of the apps available on this fancy gadget of mine.

But here’s the thing that knocks me out: We have this device in our Prius called a Bluetooth that pipes these text messages through our radio speaker; we also have one in our big ol’ Dodge pickup.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Bluetooth has been around for some time. Just indulge me for a moment.

My wife and I were driving our Prius. My smart phone chirped at me. I’d gotten a text message from a young man with whom I work. The voice then came through the speaker and said, “Read it or ignore.” I replied “read.” The voice told me what the text message said. The voice then said “reply, ignore or hang up.” I said “reply.” I then offered my young friend a one-word response to the question he had posed in the text message.

Then I instructed the voice to hang up.

I did all this while driving our little hybrid vehicle. I never touched my phone. I didn’t fumble-finger my way through the keypad trying to send a text message while driving — not that I’d ever do it anyway, you know?

Believe me, I try like the dickens to be a 21st-century American. I’m getting there little by little.

Are you impressed?

Me, too.

business news, national news, Uncategorized

Landline = lifeline . . . still

January 19, 2016 kanelis2012 1 Comment

Another friend of mine has announced he’s cutting himself loose.

He’s my age. A peer. A former colleague. A friend to this day.

He and his wife are cutting the cord, so to speak, by ending their landline telephone service. I guess they’re going to be a cell phone family.

My wife and I have wrestled with that issue for nearly as long as we’ve owned cell phones, which isn’t as long as most of our peers. We’ve waffled and wavered. We just cannot cut the cord ourselves.

Our sons are cell phone-only telecommunications consumers. They like it that way. They take their phones with them wherever they happen to be.

Us? We remain tethered to the landline.

We’ve had them our entire lives. They have become part of who we are, I reckon.

Do we intend to stay tied to the home phone, the landline for the rest of our lives? I doubt it, strongly.

I’ve noted on this blog about our upcoming retirement plans. They include significant amounts of time on the road. We’ll, quite obviously, be spending less time “at home” and more time in our “home away from home,” our fifth wheel.

Thus, it makes little sense for us to keep the landline. Correct?

I get it. My wife gets it. Our sons no doubt snicker at us for being so, oh, wedded to the old way.

Too bad.

For now and for the foreseeable future, we’re going to stay hooked to the landline. I cannot explain precisely why we want it that way. We just do.

When the moment presents itself, when it’s time to cut ourselves free of the telephone line, we’ll know it when it arrives.

national news, political news

We need more ‘quiet places’

October 27, 2015 kanelis2012

Amtrak has a “quiet car”? Seriously?

I learned that bit of information this week when I heard about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie getting booted from the train’s quiet car after he began blabbing loudly on his cell phone.

He was en route from Washington to New Jersey after appearing on a Sunday morning news talk show to discuss his Republican presidential candidacy.

The governor whipped out his phone and began talking — apparently quite loudly — on his phone where such activity is prohibited.

The train operator asked him to leave the quiet car. He did. No problem.

I give Gov. Christie kudos for being compliant and for not raising a further ruckus.

But now comes the question: Why not have more of those quiet places?

Have you been annoyed, say, in the grocery store line? How about waiting at an airport terminal gate sitting next to some loudmouth businessman/woman talking about the biggest business deal ever struck?

I could go on. There are many place where I’d like to see cell phone use restricted.

Frankly, I’m proud of Amtrak for establishing the quiet car. Christie’s spokesperson acknowledged the governor’s mistake, but said he had talked inappropriately in Amtrak’s “notorious” quiet car. Notorious? Surely, that’s meant as a tongue-in-cheek reference.

Yes, I pack my cell phone with me everywhere. I feel oddly lost without it. (Man, it takes a lot for me to admit that.) I do cherish those moments when I do not have to listen to others gabbing, blabbing and yammering on their phones.

I think Amtrak is onto something. Maybe we can start a “quiet zone craze.”

Uncategorized

Get rid of the land line? Not just yet

August 12, 2015 kanelis2012

My cousin has just announced she’s pulling the plug on her telephone land line.

She and her husband are going totally cellular.

Oh, my. My wife and I have struggled with the idea of getting rid of our land line. Neither of us is ready to make the leap.

Our sons are both land line-less. They enjoy the mobility. They are among millions of Americans who no longer use a phone book. Need a number? Go to some app in the cell phone and look it up.

I admire them for the courage it took for them to cut the cord … so to speak.

Me? I am a bit spooked by the commercials by our telephone and Internet provider about the unreliability of cell phones if you have to make an emergency medical or police call. You’ve seen ads like them, with the little kid calling 9-1-1 on a cell phone, but the connection is breaking up. The dispatcher can’t understand what the kid is saying. The voice-over tells you that land lines are more reliable. Don’t give ’em up.

OK. I’m a believer.

My wife and I will reach that point in our lives when a land line is no longer applicable. That’ll be when we hit the road in our fifth wheel for points as-yet unknown. We plan to spend extended periods on the lam.

For now, though, we’re tethered to the land line. I’m a bit of an old-fashioned guy, so I’ll keep the home phone until we no longer need it — at all!

Good luck to my cousin who’s made the leap of faith.

local news

Is there a cure for cell phone addiction?

June 13, 2015 kanelis2012

Alcoholics have support groups to help them cope with their addiction.

Same for those who abuse drugs and those who gamble impulsively. A member of my family belongs to a widows/widowers group that offers friendship and fellowship to those who’ve lost spouses.

Is there anything for those who are addicted to cell phones?

Probably not. I think I need counseling, however.

I did something I usually don’t do: I left my cell phone at home this afternoon while I worked at one of my four part-time jobs.

It usually is clipped to my belt. I reach for it constantly. I don’t pull it out and look at it all day long, although I spend my share of time looking at news apps and monitor the traffic on my blog, High Plains Blogger.

I didn’t have it all day. I was going nuts.

My closest friends and family members know about my love-hate relationship with cell phones. I hate hearing them go off, I hate being distracted by individuals blabbing their big mouths on cell phone conversations, and I hate seeing people talking on the thing while they’re driving their vehicles along public streets; we have a law against that in Amarillo, you know.

My first cell phone was of the flip variety. It was small. It didn’t work too well. My wife and I had identical phones. Hers didn’t work well, either.

I had declared my intention to be the last man on Earth with a cell phone. I declared victory in that quest some years back, then got the phone.

We eventually graduated, thanks to some cajoling from one of our sons, to a “smart phone.” It’s a fancy little gizmo. I use only a fraction of the apps on it. For all I know, I could launch a rocket to Mars with the thing.

I use my smart phone to make and receive phone calls, text messages (to which I usually respond in no more than six words), check the weather app, check a couple of the news apps and — of course — look at my blog traffic.

But today, I went all day without doing any of that. I went into a form of cell phone withdrawal about halfway through my work shift. I didn’t break out into cold sweat, or start shaking, or develop a craving for chocolate. As the day wore on, I realized more and more how much I missed the thing. It’s become like a friend.

But …

Enough, already!

I’m prepared to go through an intervention.

OK, I’ll start: My name is John and I am a cell phone-holic.

local news

Texting lingo throws me for a loop

April 23, 2015 kanelis2012

I’m going to make an admission.

Texting sends me into orbit. I rarely do it with my fancy-shmancy smart phone. I’ll receive text messages on occasion. I might answer them, but my first rule is this: no more than six words. I don’t send text messages just to chat. They need to fulfill some kind of purpose, such as providing answers to direct questions.

OK, the one exception might be if my son and daughter-in-law send pictures of our granddaughter Emma, which occurs regularly and I love acknowledging them.

So …

Having said all that, I had a strange encounter the other day at work. Two salesmen at the car dealership where I worked asked me this question: “What does ‘NVM’ mean in a text message?” My two friends, both middle-aged but younger than I am, were trying to figure out what it meant. One of them reckoned it meant “not very mature.” Hmmm. That seemed to make sense, given that a lot of text messages are, well, very mature.

We chuckled among ourselves and then I left them to their wondering what the initials meant.

Then it dawned on me: I have a text messaging expert in my family. It’s my daughter-in-law, Stephanie. She’d know.

I called her. “Steph,” I said, “what do the letters ‘NVM’ mean when you send them in a text message?”

She answered immediately: never mind … although for an instant I wasn’t sure if that was the answer of if she was telling to, um, never mind.

That was the answer.

I found my friends and told them, “It means ‘never mind.'” They got it.

We all shared our limited knowledge of text-message lingo/abbreviations. OMG? Got it. LOL? Sure thing. LMAO? I got that one, too.

The rest of them don’t come quite so easily. NVM is now part of my text-message glossary.

However, do not expect me ever to use it, let alone any time soon.

Still, it’s good to have someone in the family who’s fluent in textspeak, to whom I can turn for quick translations.

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