Barnaby Jones Started This All!

Today Dee and I were discussing cell phones, pong, and just the fact that we both can remember black and white television and TV sets.  We talked about the wall phone with the 25 foot stretched out cord.  I remember when Dad changed the cord to the longer cord – oh the freedom!  I could lay on the couch and talk.

Back in the day the white pages had a listing and some had something else under it; a teen number.  I was never lucky enough to get listed as “Teen Number,” but my parents did wise up and get a distinct ring.  Three fast rings and my Dad never moved.  We also had chat rooms, but they were limited to the number of friends that had three-way calling.  The problem was if someone in the middle had to go to bed – you lost half the room!

It was after the Navy that I got my first cell phone.  Up till then Barnaby Jones (Google it) was the only car phone I had seen.  In fact, that was what the first phones were called – car phones.  I thought he invented the car phone!  The thought that these huge cases and phones would be located anywhere else was mad!  My first phone was a bag phone the size of a shoe-box.  It had a regular phone receiver and an antenna you stuck to the car window.   This was fitting since Dad was wearing a Motorola pager on his belt the size of a brick!  Barnaby Jones never dialed.  In the show he would pick up the phone and say, “Operator give me a landline.”

We have come so far in a very short time.   Today we have Cell Phones everywhere, but in fact we are all walking around with computers in hand.  Our lives are documented by text, email, and checking in to Social Sites.  We are writer, actor, and producers of our own life.  Don’t believe it – spend an evening wandering around YouTube.  I am not complaining – just reflecting.

Talk soon – Todd

Down 3.8 lbs toward the goal and the battle continues.