Day 6 - 332 -- e-Communications

Winds remained throughout the day and will continue into tomorrow. Most of the day involved rain or wet snow that melted on contact with roads and sidewalks. By the time I headed home, the sun had set and the winds were still very strong -- the kind that blow you off the sidewalk into traffic. Sidewalks were slick where the slushy schmutz that had covered them began to freeze. Not too bad for walking then, but it will be slippery as the evening wears on and snow begins to fall in earnest.

While in the office trying to work with a file sharing program today to edit existing parts of a research project, I had less luck than in the past with this software package. This time I could get nothing to work for me. I was > < this close to getting the edits into the correct places in the proposal. I fear I said something untoward and then just shut down to walk back home. <sigh> Then when walking, I thought of what I'd read today from an interview with Helen Mirren. She has a major social media presence, so is no Luddite. Yet I was struck by her comment stating, "I am rather happy that I knew the world before technology. The constant learning process of technology can be sort of exhausting. It seems like every week you have to learn something new about how to pull up WhatsApp or something." (Crisolago, M. Zoomer, Nove 25, 2019).  This statement had me thinking of correspondence and how that has changed so dramatically. Knowing what it had been like, might give those of a certain age <smile> a different perspective than those who have never lived in a world without such communication technology. I think of how letters between friends or partners had been cherished and saved, sometimes tied up in a lovely length of ribbon as a keepsake. Now, such conversations may be lost to the ether or with some software may be saved. The latter can be even better than the letters tied in a pretty bow, since the software would save both sides of a conversation. The time needed to correct a misunderstanding is much less than weeks between posted letters. So, contrary to the difficulty I had with software today, software may improve personal record keeping. <smile>

There are so many songs about letters, something else that may change as e-communications dominate. I found one originally recorded way back in the day. I chose a cover version that is just a bit more recent because I like the artist's vocal style and this has an arrangement much different than the original. Enjoy!

The Letter -- Joe Cocker