How do I communicate with you? Let me count the ways…

Posted on 04. Feb, 2010 by kchristieh in social networking

It’s ironic that what is meant to make our lives simpler often complicates them.

Even though new technologies have given us more effective means of communicating, my communications are complicated by the fact that I have to keep track of how all the different people in my life prefer to communicate. Here’s a short version of the list I maintain in my brain:

• Son: Facebook, text messaging
• Daughter: Facebook, email, text messaging
• Husband: Facebook, email, call work phone not cell phone
• Mother: Email, home phone, some Facebook
• Father & stepmother: Email, cell phone, home phone depending on which state they’re in
• Sister: Home phone
• Stepfather: Email
• Aunt: Email
• Brother-in-law: Texting, Facebook, email
• Lisa: Email, or she’ll call me on the way to work
• Monica: Email, texting
• Jaclyn & Holly: Facebook, texting, email
• Grandparents: Email, home phone

Of course, face-to-face interaction is the best, but that’s not always possible. Thankfully, I’m comfortable using all of these forms of communication.

This list is constantly evolving. My son will need to start checking his email over the next year as his guidance counselor and colleges start emailing him information. My mother will eventually get more comfortable on Facebook, and I hope that my father and stepparents will give in and join Facebook.

I’ll get a smarter cellphone in the next year or two, and will probably start depending on it more. Until then, when people send picture messages to my phone, I can’t see them well enough to distinguish if they’re pictures of babies or dogs.

Maybe I’ll just start sending letters again. Probably not.

Note: The picture above depicts Ernestine, the character Lily Tomlin played in “Laugh-In.” I played that character in my elementary school play, and can still do a pretty mean Ernestine impression. Young’uns who aren’t familiar with Ernestine may enjoy this video where she explains her position on healthcare:

The luckiest person in La Canada

Posted on 28. Dec, 2009 by kchristieh in life lessons

One of my loyal blog readers sent me these pictures from a recent accident involving a local young man. He’s lucky to have walked away from this unscathed. Don’t text or fiddle around with your iPod when you drive, or this might happen to you. And you might not be so lucky.

I made sure to show these to my teens. Better to learn a lesson from someone else than to experience it on your own.

Click here to see sobering statistics regarding cellphone use and car accidents.

I use my cellphone in my Prius, but I never touch it since the Bluetooth is built into the display on the dash. In fact, the phone itself is usually in my purse in on the floor behind my seat. To make a phone call, I press a button on the steering wheel and then one button on the dash. It’s easier than turning the radio to another station. When I first got a cellphone, I’d hold it to my ear in the car. I would throw it onto the seat next to me if things got complicated with driving. Thankfully nothing bad ever happened. If I ever held my cellphone to my ear while driving now, I’d feel as vulnerable as if I rode without a seatbelt. And, I’d be breaking the law.

How Obama gets his cellphone fixed

Posted on 14. Aug, 2009 by kchristieh in politics, shopping, technical

Imagine my surprise when President Obama’s name showed up after mine in the queue at the Verizon store last night! He didn’t push on the “c” hard enough, but I’ve had that problem before, too.

Hopefully the Verizon folks were able to figure out how to work with his phone’s special encryption.

I wonder if he wishes Verizon carried iPhones. I sure do!

My greatest Verizon annoyance, and they say they can’t fix it

Posted on 30. Jan, 2009 by kchristieh in technical, things that bug me

Every five minutes, I’m getting a cell phone call from an “Unavailable” number. It beeps and beeps and if I don’t pick it up, it leaves a message.

I called Verizon, and they said there was nothing I could do except change my cell phone number. I’ve had this number for about 10 years: I DON’T want to change it.

Has anyone else had this problem? Is there another solution?

At least my default ringtone is good: the Peanuts theme song.

Landing at a parent’s cellphone near you: Helicopter Children

Posted on 10. Nov, 2008 by kchristieh in my life, parenting

We parents can be so neurotic. We read articles and books and talk to other parents about everything from when to potty train to how to apply to college. Some parents cross the line and become Helicopter Parents, ready to swoop in and rescue their children from learning life’s lessons, even as they grow older.

Or so the media tells us. We’re often so anxious that we’ll believe any bad thing said about us!

It’s time for the Revenge of the Helicopter Parents. The truth is, it’s not just the parents who hover; it’s the kids, too! In Cell-Free: My Great Leap Backward, NY Times writer Michelle Slatella introduced me to a new term: Helicopter Children. All of a sudden, it all made sense:

“But for now, I was taking a break from my helicopter children. After months of feeling them hovering, constantly phoning my cell and going so far as to buzz me from another floor to ask if dinner was almost ready, I was feeling free.”

I can relate! A quick search of incoming text messages to my email address shows that my teens have:

• requested pasta for dinner
• asked me to confirm babysitting plans
• apologized for arguing on their way out the door
• asked me to bring a math spiral / lunch money / so much more to school
• asked to go to a friend’s house after school
• and lots more

I’m not complaining. I love that my kids and I can and do communicate in so many more ways than I ever could with my parents. I’m just happy to shift some of the burden of excessive communication to my kids, and realize that it’s not just me. Perhaps we’re co-dependent. I hope and believe that underneath it all, they’re independent, competent people who will find their own path in life. I’m just glad that they (hopefully) won’t completely abandon me.

Try Google’s free voice-activated directory assistance, 1-800-GOOG-411

Posted on 14. Apr, 2008 by kchristieh in technical

Leave it to Google to improve business directory assistance and make it free!

Just dial () and state the city and state you’re looking for, then the business name or category. (It’s not for residential listings.) It’s all voice-activated, unless you prefer using a keypad. It’ll give you the choice of what listing you wish to be connected to, and will even send a text message to your phone. If you think it heard you wrong or you wish to change your search, just say “back.” If you say “details,” it’ll even give you the address.

Note: If you’re looking for a listing in La Canada, California, say you’re looking for one in La Canada Flintridge. Otherwise, you might get listings in Cambria.

I’m going to program “GOOG411″ into my cellphone.

Photo scavenger hunt

Posted on 04. Mar, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, travel

If I’d been anywhere near NY city this weekend, I would have loved participating in the NY Times’ Point and Shoot for Bonus Points photo scavenger hunt.

This week, Weekend in New York offers a photo scavenger hunt, in which you (working alone or in a group) seek out scenes and objects intrinsically New York and capture them with your camera. The hunt could be the centerpiece of your weekend, but also could serve as just a way to enhance your downtime as you wander from restaurant to park to museum, observing the natives in their natural habitat.

I don’t think the Times is giving out prizes, but it sounds like fun anyway. I hope they report some results. Here’s an example of things they’ve asked people to take pictures of:

• Best-dressed dog: And by that, we mean worst-dressed dog.
• Cheesiest Statue of Liberty-related tourist souvenir.
• Pedestrian triple-tasking: Someone doing at least three things at once, one of which is walking down the street — plus eating and talking on cellphone; listening to iPod and reading magazine; or knitting and screaming at friend.
• Anyone wearing George W. Bush paraphernalia (hat, T-shirt, full body tattoo): Manhattan voted 82 percent to 17 percent for John Kerry over Mr. Bush in 2004. The word on the street is that the president’s popularity has not increased.

I think we could do this in La Canada Flintridge. We could have people look for:

• Skateboarders with helmets (most don’t wear them)
• Farm animals (the big controversy these days is whether people can own roosters here)
• The deer inside JPL (this would mean you need to get past the guards)
• Naturally flowing water, not in a concrete channel
• The smallest dog (most are labs or retrievers here)
• A Democratic bumper sticker (I can claim that one – my Obama bumper sticker is the only Democratic one I’ve seen)

I’m sure there are many more I haven’t thought of…

Smile! You’re on Candid Camera!

Posted on 07. Feb, 2007 by kchristieh in articles, tv, videos

Sometimes the most fascinating part of a story or a picture is the subtext. That’s how the following picture from today’s LA Times California section is for me. The caption of the picture says, “TENSION: LAPD Lt. Lieutenant Robert Rooney, left, talks with George Sarabia, a former resident of Ramona Gardens. Three witnesses disagree with the police account of an altercation at the housing project that ended with the death of Mauricio Cornejo.”

What most intrigues me is that there are at least three people in the picture with recording devices. (Note the red circles I’ve added.) When George Holliday videotaped the police beating Rodney King in 1991, it was extraordinary that someone would actually be on hand with a videocamera. Today, there are so many cellphones, digital cameras and small video cameras around that there would likely be several people who would make a recording. In fact, in my purse alone, I’ve got a cellphone with a camera and a digital camera that takes videos worthy of YouTube.

I’m sure the police are well aware of this. Hopefully it encourages good behavior on the part of everyone…but that’s not always the case.

So you wanna be in pictures?

Posted on 03. Jan, 2007 by kchristieh in international, my life, politics, technical

All you need is a cellphone or a camera! Take time out for a moment and think about how amazing it is that an Iraqi took a cellphone video of Saddam’s execution, and almost immediately people all over the world were able to see it.

I took some short videos with my new digital camera this past weekend, and they turned out well enough to post on YouTube. My grandparents (yes, that’s my children’s GREAT-grandparents!) were able to watch the video clips nearly 3,000 miles away within hours.

I generally think it’s a good thing: the more information people have, the closer the world can become and the better decisions people can make. Imagine if there’d been cellphone videos at Tiananmen Square in 1989…or at so many world events or where injustice has occurred. Hopefully it’ll keep people and governments more honest.

Now if only there were cellphones in North Korea…

Heard it from the Grapevine

Posted on 26. Dec, 2006 by kchristieh in my life

My mother and stepfather called me just after lunch today to say that they were in the Tejon Pass, aka The Grapevine, and would be at our house in about 50 minutes on their way from Northern California back down to Escondido. Then, they called 10 minutes later to tell me that they had run over something and their car had broken down. Thank goodness they had a cellphone!

The AAA guy came over an hour later, and correctly diagnosed that their fuel pump had shut off. He looked in their owner’s manual and figured out how to switch it on again.

They were here by mid-afternoon, and we convinced them to stay for dinner. My stepfather got to try his hand at golf and tennis on the Wii, and declared that the Wii could mess up one’s real life game.

Never a dull moment…

Where did all the kids go?

Posted on 14. Jul, 2006 by kchristieh in articles, my life, parenting, sports

They’re probably playing video games or chatting on their cellphones, according to Chris Erskine in today’s column.

THIS MIGHT be the first summer in history when no kid ever goes outside. Never breaks a window with a baseball or rolls in the grass under an August moon. Never tastes an apple off a neighbor’s tree or sets up a lemonade stand to make, like, 87 cents.

Yep, this might be the summer it all ends. It’ll be the first time baseball gloves sit idly in the garage for months, and bikes rust alongside the house, lonely and untouched.

Why? Because kids don’t like to leave the house anymore. And who can blame them, not when they have cellphones and PlayStations, Facebook and the latest videos? Listen, ever seen a football? It just sits there in the bin in the garage, inert. Give a kid Madden NFL on Xbox anytime. Touchdown! Yessssss!

I say good for them. Personally, it’s a relief not to have kids all over the place outside, playing in the sprinklers or throwing rocks at crows. They used to make a lot of noise, those kids.

I had my son read the article, and he scoffed that it was just another adult talking about the “good old days.” He says he and his friends mostly play basketball and swim when they get together, though he admitted to some time spent playing video games. He’s pretty sick of hearing from me about how we used to run all over the neighborhood when we were little. He knows he’ll never have that freedom and opportunity, both because our street is busy and because his friends live pretty far away.

I think I’ll tell Chris the kids all went to Northern California. He lives behind my sister’s REAL house, not the faux one she’s living in up north now!

If you aren’t doing anything wrong, what do you have to hide?

Posted on 22. May, 2006 by kchristieh in parenting, politics, technical

Great article in Wired about the value of privacy. Though some people say that If you aren’t doing anything wrong you shouldn’t have anything to hide, the writer points out that what you define as ok, another might define as wrong. Also, the definition often changes, and someone could do something nefarious with your personal information. Besides, privacy is a basic human right, and is part of what gives us our dignity.

“Too many wrongly characterize the debate as “security versus privacy.” The real choice is liberty versus control. Tyranny, whether it arises under threat of foreign physical attack or under constant domestic authoritative scrutiny, is still tyranny. Liberty requires security without intrusion, security plus privacy. Widespread police surveillance is the very definition of a police state. And that’s why we should champion privacy even when we have nothing to hide.”

All that said, I wish we could use the GPS on my daughter’s stolen cellphone to track it. And, someday, it might be nice to be able to look up where my kids’ cellphones (and therefore, their bodies) are on a map on my computer. Just call me “Big Mother.”

Too trusting

Posted on 20. May, 2006 by kchristieh in parenting

You’d think that after her backpack was stolen at school (see March postings) my daughter would learn that she shouldn’t leave valuable items lying around in public. However, when there wasn’t a locker available at Magic Mountain yesterday, she left her cellphone in a friend’s backpack outside one of the rides. Not surprisingly, (to the adults in her life) the backpack was stolen. Lucky for her that we still have an old cellphone that we can re-activate for free. Such a sheltered life…it’s nice that she feels so safe, but she’s got to learn to be more careful, since it’s not so safe everywhere.

There’s not much sympathy in these quarters. She wants a new cellphone for a graduation gift, but it’s not going to happen.