I, Contradiction?

I noticed something this weekend.

I was setting up my spiffy new Samsung cell phone, playing around with the ring tones, etc. It’s not the “latest, greatest, top-of-the-line, whiz-bang model, but it ain’t Mr. Bell’s machine either. The ring tone I settled on? The one that sounds just like an old-fashioned rotary-dial tabletop model!

Another thing I noticed…I was playing music on my pretty up-to-date computer, while surfing the Web, and doing some other work. The sound was tremendous! Clear, clean, great! All you could ask for (on a budget, anyway!) in digital sound! What was I listening to? John Coltrane’s Blue Train. Original release date, September, 1957!

Around the same time, I was trying to find a reference in Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast. My search led me to our local regional library on the Web. I went into the branch – into the branch! – and found out my library card had long since expired. But they could set me up with a new one, and they did! You talk about excited! I clutched that little plastic object like a little kid at Christmas! I was transported back to the days of C.B. Colby in our little library at home! There were books on the shelves! Actual open-the-cover-and-turn-the-page books!

And then another interesting thing happened! You’ll notice that one of my links (over there, on the right!) is to the Moleskinerie website. I discovered these outstanding little notebooks a while back. Over there, I found the article about the guy who put his PDA down and went back to the little black Moleskine. I posted this comment over there…

I’ve toyed with the idea of getting a PDA ever since…well, ever since they came out, practically. For whatever reason, I’ve just never been able to make the jump from my trusty DayTimer (for appointments, etc,) and Moleskine (for my “creative” stuff) to another electronic gadget. I don’t have to learn any fancy stylus handwriting, I never have to worry about batteries running out, other tech glitches, and besides…I’ve got my wife – who knows everything and comes with automatic reminders!

I guess all this means I’ll be getting one of these next…