pondering technology

I have had time to ponder since I missed my first show of the year due to a mix of incoming head cold and outgoing stomache ache, both of which conspired to keep me up all night and totally useless at dawn.

Of course, now that I have absolutely nothing to do, I feel great. So I ponder.

Today my head is wrapped up in technology. Now, this is odd because the prevailing wisdom, I bet, is that artsy types disdain technology. I guess we are perceived as spending our free time whittling or finger painting. The sterile anonymity of computer technology would seem to be alien and destructive to the creative process. But, the opposite is true, I believe.

Sitting here in a big comfy chair, laptop, appropriately, on my lap, I can visit dozens of sites with inspiring book art, browse for quotes to use in my work, shop art sites for components that spark the muse, research art shows I might want to try. Before computers, just that would eat up weeks of time better spent in a studio.

What has me pondering technology today is the iPad. Disclaimer: This is a PC-free home. There is a huge iMac on the desk, a MacBook on my lap. iPhones in all of our pockets, AirPort sends WiFi through the house. We do not write with Office unless it is absolutely necessary, choosing iWork for our words and numbers. We do not leave Walden Galleria without stopping at the Apple store just to check it out, so for Christmas, I bought Russell a year of Mac "one to one" which gives him a pass to go schmooze with a Mac "genius" on any topic he chooses.

So, when Steve Jobs was about to do one of his famous "revelations" at a Mac conference, we signed on to the live stream and refreshed and refreshed along with all the other MacHeads out there until the systems crashed under the weight of the modems of the faithful. we were not disappointed.

Yes, there have been smack downs by the uninitiated. From making fun of the name by associating it with feminine products (and, as a result, causing me to wince when using a mouse or scouring pad) to sneering that it doesn't have a camera. Huh? But "we" get it. Macs are elegant, intuitive, advanced, virus free and they seldom crash. The naysayers are, as we speak, scribbling away in their airless rooms attempting to copy it. And they will, but with less grace. Just compare all those touch screen phones that want to be iPhones, the MP3 players that just can't be iPods. They try but can't quite get there.

I would love to be able to get one for Russell to use for school. The first time he went to college, he used a chisel and slab of rock. Heh. OK, yes, it was the same time I went. So?

I remember reading an article mumbldemub years ago, when we were both in college, that stated emphatically that within 20 years every home would have a computer. The only computers you got to use back then were on campus. The thought of us each owning one was like some fantasy. But it didn't even take 20 years.

Now I can't imagine life without this connection. This tool.

I bank on line, communicate with friends on line, buy and sell on line, research on line, blog.

But I will not tweet. I have my limits.

Unless Steve comes up with an iTweet. I did drink the kool aid after all. ;)