POINTER94
Vice Admiral
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2003
- Messages
- 5,031
Idle ramblings.
As each year pass's I gain a greater appreciation for those things old. Old coggers, old cars, old boats, old houses, old time values, old friends, old dogs, old furnature, old jokes, old guns, old clocks and watches, old scotch, heck almost all things old.
Does this mean I am getting old? Or is there something intangible about age? Are old things just better than new? I don't really believe that, a new car today is vastly superior and will provide far better service than one from the 60's or 70's. Then why the attraction to things that are old? I gave up an old truck to a brother who actually had need for it, and I find myself missing it far more than some newer vehicles I have parted ways with. Is there anything better than a good old fashioned hot dog? It isn't the topic on the food channel, but who could resist the culinary perfection of the hot dog every once in a while. Home made cookies. When was the last time you mixed up a batch? Remember the smell throughout the house when mom cooked up a tin of them? Even old holidays, like christmas and thanksgiving are far more enjoyable than say New Years (a celebration of the new) or Arbor day. Fall is my favorite season, yet is marks the passing of another year, and is at times cold and dreary.
I appreciate new things, and there seems to be a non-stop parade of new "must have" items that are fed to us each year. Windows Vista, MP3 players, flat screen tv's, plastic decking, GPS, cell phones. Even the light bulb is being obsoleted. None of which I am convinced have made my life better, just maybe easier. Anybody here have an old "flasher" unit on one of their boats. Did it tell you the depth? I remember when they were "state of the art". Our first VHF cost like $600, had maybe 10 channels, and you needed to add crystals to get more. When you depressed the mic, it did the same thing my new standard horizon does. Did GPS, depth finders, floscans, cell phones, inexpensive radios, even radar, replace seamanship? Years ago when you saw a boat leaving the breakwall into lake michigan on a windy and rough day, my first thoughts were, he must be a good seaman. Now, my first thoughts are to question whether he knows what he is doing.
The future belongs to the flexible. Embracing technology and "new" ideas are necessary for the life today. Failure to understand this is detrimental. I am appreciative of the way technology has "improved" my life. I just wonder if it really has. Has the "new" math done anything but make our children dependant on calculators? Does having to take your car in to be repaired represent a step forward? Clearly I embrace this board and those on it, many (all) of which I have gained an affinitity for, but what did I give up for these relationships? Does a new HD tv make me a better person, or just more reliant on it as a means of entertainment? And therefor making my world "smaller"?
We tend to banter about New ideas vs. old ideas, and the virtue of this versus that here in the DC. I miss my old friends, and I enjoy my new ones. I was talking to my father about my time in California. Not exactly a high point in my life. He pointed out that as time goes on, regardless of how bad things were, you tend to remember only the good times and forget or dismiss the bad. You know, I think he was spot on. I guess some of that old wisdom can help us all embrace the new. Thanks Dad.
As each year pass's I gain a greater appreciation for those things old. Old coggers, old cars, old boats, old houses, old time values, old friends, old dogs, old furnature, old jokes, old guns, old clocks and watches, old scotch, heck almost all things old.
Does this mean I am getting old? Or is there something intangible about age? Are old things just better than new? I don't really believe that, a new car today is vastly superior and will provide far better service than one from the 60's or 70's. Then why the attraction to things that are old? I gave up an old truck to a brother who actually had need for it, and I find myself missing it far more than some newer vehicles I have parted ways with. Is there anything better than a good old fashioned hot dog? It isn't the topic on the food channel, but who could resist the culinary perfection of the hot dog every once in a while. Home made cookies. When was the last time you mixed up a batch? Remember the smell throughout the house when mom cooked up a tin of them? Even old holidays, like christmas and thanksgiving are far more enjoyable than say New Years (a celebration of the new) or Arbor day. Fall is my favorite season, yet is marks the passing of another year, and is at times cold and dreary.
I appreciate new things, and there seems to be a non-stop parade of new "must have" items that are fed to us each year. Windows Vista, MP3 players, flat screen tv's, plastic decking, GPS, cell phones. Even the light bulb is being obsoleted. None of which I am convinced have made my life better, just maybe easier. Anybody here have an old "flasher" unit on one of their boats. Did it tell you the depth? I remember when they were "state of the art". Our first VHF cost like $600, had maybe 10 channels, and you needed to add crystals to get more. When you depressed the mic, it did the same thing my new standard horizon does. Did GPS, depth finders, floscans, cell phones, inexpensive radios, even radar, replace seamanship? Years ago when you saw a boat leaving the breakwall into lake michigan on a windy and rough day, my first thoughts were, he must be a good seaman. Now, my first thoughts are to question whether he knows what he is doing.
The future belongs to the flexible. Embracing technology and "new" ideas are necessary for the life today. Failure to understand this is detrimental. I am appreciative of the way technology has "improved" my life. I just wonder if it really has. Has the "new" math done anything but make our children dependant on calculators? Does having to take your car in to be repaired represent a step forward? Clearly I embrace this board and those on it, many (all) of which I have gained an affinitity for, but what did I give up for these relationships? Does a new HD tv make me a better person, or just more reliant on it as a means of entertainment? And therefor making my world "smaller"?
We tend to banter about New ideas vs. old ideas, and the virtue of this versus that here in the DC. I miss my old friends, and I enjoy my new ones. I was talking to my father about my time in California. Not exactly a high point in my life. He pointed out that as time goes on, regardless of how bad things were, you tend to remember only the good times and forget or dismiss the bad. You know, I think he was spot on. I guess some of that old wisdom can help us all embrace the new. Thanks Dad.
Sounds like you have a wise father, I still remember some of the advice my dad gave me when I was young and thought I knew everything, to this day some of that wisdom comes back and I have a "AHA" moment and think boy was he right again. 
