Well look who decided to blog today? This girl. Sorry to disappoint, but I’m not going away any time soon.
Yesterday I ran errands and tried out self-portraits. Let me tell you…it’s HARD! I don’t know how some people are able to take such great self-portraits of themselves using a camera. (Yeah…they were NOT selfies!). I made my nightstand’s lamp into a makeshift tripod. (You unscrew the top holding the shade down and replace it with your point-and-shoot or DSLR. Genius, right?)
Some of the pictures were actually good. Then I got myself a few gems like these:
Money shots right? I particularly like the shot of my unmade bed. Oops, sorry bed. I didn’t quite prep you for picture day at school. I know what you’re thinking, “Don’t quit your day job, Lisette.” Don’t worry, homegirl here is enjoying riding the gravy train that’s known as the stay-at-home-wife. My husband says he wants to switch off in a year or two so I can work and he can stay at home. Sorry, B. Ain’t happening.You’ll get over it in time.
Moving on. Yesterday I was reading a few blogs during my errands and came across this gem from Nadine. you gotta hand it to her. She’s a genius. Go read it. You’ll thank me later. And that’s how I got ideas for this post.
5 Ways Technology Has Spoiled Us
1. HDTV
How I ever opted to watch standard def TV while having an HDTV in another room is beyond me. Hey, that just rhymed and I didn’t even try! (Last time, I promise!) I used to think people were snobs for insisting on watching football games on HDTV. I personally don’t watch sports, so I couldn’t for the life of me understand this…until I went to a Superbowl party one year and saw every single blade of grass. From that moment on, I was sold. On HDTV, that is, not football. Sorry guys.
Now I find myself glaring at my husband if he dares watch a show on the standard-def channel when it’s available on its HD counterpart. Spoiled.
2. Interactive Maps
I’m not only talking about the map apps available on every smart- and dumb-phone out there. I’m also talking about the ones installed in our cars and our desktop versions. When was the last time you actually picked up a paper map besides for a cool photo opp? If you’re anything like me, probably not since 1995. Which brings me to my next point…
3. The Internet
Am I the only one that remembers a time when there was no such thing as the Internet? Anyone? Bueller?
Well crap. I remember when my parents refused to pay America Online for this new fad. Why? The Internet is the DEVIL. If you’ve ever watched Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy you remember his mother’s character.
Swap her out with two Hispanic parents and the words little girls with the Internet and you had my life in 1998. They straight up thought that www stood for 666 in some Satanic language that no one speaks. Thank God for public libraries. I can’t go one day without the internet now. I think my head will implode.
Raise your hand if you remember having to schedule “talk time” with “internet time” in the days of dial-up.
4. GIFs
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Admittedly, I had no idea what these little things were until I started blogging. Who needs to write a novel when you can convey what you’re saying in one little GIF?
5. Google
Enough said.
Whitney @ EHFAR says
You should get a remote. It is super cheap and makes taking selfies a breeze!
Lisette says
I saw you use it on your blog! When I get a DSLR, for sure!
Kelli@Just Beachy says
I remember life before cell phones as well as life before internet, weird to think my daughter will know both of these things from birth.
Lisette says
Yes! The kids in the future won’t know the concept of not having information at their fingertips.
Britt @ The Pinnacle Project says
+1 to everything in this post (minus the internet thing. My dad is in IT so we were one of the first families that jumped in head first!)!
Britt @ One&20
Lisette says
Lucky you! My parents saw 666 on the news and freaked out.
Kate @ Another Clean Slate says
Ohh the good old days of dial up. I’d get so mad if someone else in the house picked up the phone and disconnected me from AOL.
Lisette says
Haha. The best was when other ppl complained that they couldn’t get through due to the busy signal. Oops!
Holly Higgins says
I didn’t have a home computer until 1998 and we didn’t get AOL until 1999. And I’m one of those weirdos that love maps. I still have a paper road atlas in my car at all times. While it is nice to have GPS, I think knowing how to read a map is a skill that should always be learned.
Lisette says
You are so right. Especially knowin the difference between a merging road or one that goes under a highway on those paper maps!
Ashley Barnhill says
Camera on top of your lamp… genius!
Lisette says
Haha. I can’t take credit for that. Thanks Pinterest!
Kayli Schattner says
Such a fun round-up to read, Lisette! x
Lisette says
Thanks Kayli!
Amanda says
Gosh, I remember the “no internet” days. I actually remember when Google came out, and my teacher taught us how to use it in middle school for a research paper. This was before internet filters were around. I typed in Daffodils.. it came up with lesbian porn. Ha.
Lisette says
Gasp! I can’t even remember the first time I used Google.
Cece says
I still haven’t explored the whole gif thing but I AM a HDTV Blue Ray Snob and I don’t even know how it happened! I was going to ask you if you have a remote. I find it impossible to do self pics because the camera wants to focus when I push the button. Then I go in the frame end up blurred because it already has focus. I’ve given up on it! But since Whitney says remotes are cheap maybe I’ll look into it.
Lisette says
Yeah, Whitney had a good point there!
Rachel Murphree says
Haha, yes! Almost every time C and I are out at dinner and talking, one of us will have to whip out a phone to look for the answer to some “who was in that movie?” or “what year did that happen?” question. Crazy to think that just a couple of decades ago, we would have to actually know things… hehe.
Lisette says
Heaven forbid ppl know that stuff! Have you ever played trivia at a bar? They’re so fun and cell phones are OFF limits. Teams will rat out their competitors too!
Rachel Murphree says
I have! I used to do Thursday trivia nights, and our team would laugh about how one answer was on the tip of our tongues, if only we could use our phones… :)
Misty, Handbags + Handguns says
Kids these days with their GPS… Everyone should get lost in the hood once.
Lisette says
Hahahaha! I agree! Your internal sense of direction kicks in when you have to get the hell out of Dodge!
Sarah Beth says
I remember life with dial up! I also remember never being on the internet because it was so dang slow and blocked up the phone line. Now though, I’m right there with you and never NOT being connected through my phone or laptop. And ever since I started my blog, I’m online most of my day. Crazy how times change!
xx
mysmallrayofsunshine.blogspot.com
Lisette says
(Hangs head in shame). Yes. I’m guilty of this as well
Tami says
I love the random lampshade sitting on your bed. If only people could see the crap on mine half the time.
Lisette says
Haha. That lampshade was from my bootlegged camera “tripod”
Courtney says
This is all SO true! :)
Meg O. says
Oh I have been there before, even with my DSLR remote. Someone was borrowing my tripod and I totally stacked up a ton of pillows and books and what not to get my camera where I needed it. Thank god my professional friend photog just took some headshots for me because I totally suck at selfies.
I seriously google everything. It’s bad.
Dara says
where do you find cool gifs to use in posts?
Julie V says
I remember having to use encyclopedias to look things up when doing homework. Oh, and the dictionary. Like, the paper kind! I’m pretty sure my parents still have a set of encyclopedias on the bookshelf… from like 1998 or something. And HDTV, for sure.
Anna Sinclair says
dial up! Eww I don’t miss that!!! Funny post!
Louisa @ My Family and Abruzzo says
My one year old doesn’t understand our home phone – he expects to see who is talking on it, like an ipad! He can almost use the ipad as well as us, scary, LoL!
Kate Jordan says
Haha, I love this post.
Couldn’t agree more on all the points you made, totally spoilt by technology over here! Without the internet I feel lost.
Also, love the waterboy GIF!
KristynMonaghan says
I was nodding my head yes at every one of these!! I had to wait until I was 16 (and driving) before my parents would get me a cell phone even though all my friends had them! Now, whenever I need to write a new motion or petition that we haven’t done before (and don’t have a sample/template for) I always google samples first. My boss then thinks my writing is amazing and she thinks its even more amazing that I thought to google it. I get such a kick out of it each time. Google FTW!
Sara Louise says
I live in the middle of nowhere in France, if I didn’t have the internet, I’m pretty sure I’d curl up and die.
Quinn says
The lamp trick is genius!
Also, I recently asks my mom about when we first got the internet (because I am super spoiled and don’t remember a time before the internet). She proceeded to tell me about how they drove to the boondocks and paid some random guy for the internet (Prodigy, back then). It sounded super shady and they weren’t even really sure what the internet was yet, but they knew they just had to have it.