I simply was not going to return to the store in Great Falls that I\u2019d visited the afternoon before, even though it was just down the street a couple of blocks from the motel I\u2019d stayed in the previous evening. I\u2019m not at all sure I could have controlled myself if that same techy guy with the dismissive smirk on his face were to have offered to \u2018help\u2019 again. OK, and my overall confidence in that body of employees was rather low, too, owing to my recent experience. Since I was going through Missoula anyway, I decided I\u2019d just wait and drop by one there\u2026<\/p>\n
Really nice ride! There was a slight chance of sprinkles in the area forecast, but none ever found ALI and me. It was cloudy all day, however, but that only added to the pleasantness of the experience. I did see a few showers way off in the distance, but nothing ever threatened to force me to suit-up for the first time on this trip.<\/p>\n
With each passing mile, the road became a little curvier, the ups and downs became a little more pronounced, and the mountains that had been off in the distance grew ever closer until at last they surrounded us\u2026 WOW! If Heaven is even half as nice as they told us in Sunday School that it is, it absolutely has to look a lot like this!!!<\/p>\n
It was cool but not at all cold (only one sweatshirt, no chaps). That was partly due to the late start we\u2019d gotten because there was just no hurry at all this day\u2026 Just under two-hundred miles in total would be ridden.<\/p>\n
I was focused almost exclusively on getting myself reconnected with the world and regaining an umbilical cord to all of my friends and family. E-mails and message boards can do just so much\u2026 And, who even uses snail-mail these days? Not that I have the addresses for any of that anyhow!<\/p>\n
I\u2019d endured yet another phone session with yet another tech rep on the phone the evening before. She explained to me that Apple and iTunes hardware, firmware, and software are all intermingled and intertwined, and that Apple had used some of iTunes\u2019 stuff for its own operating systems, etc., back in the day, and they\u2019re still all interlinked. Hmmm, that would explain why I needed the sign-in info for something I didn\u2019t even know I was linked to\u2026 Had I known that, I would have paid far more attention when I bought the danged thing.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d had to use the phone in the motel room to place that call\u2026 WOW! First time I\u2019ve done that in a while! Anyway, this really nice young gal seemed to know her business, and she guided me through this step, then that. It was looking so promising at one point, I actually found myself having hope! Not to be, unfortunately\u2026 No joy in Great Falls for this boy this night. With that I\u2019d given up for sure\u2026<\/p>\n
The great ride down to Missoula had included a stop in Lincoln, MT, around mid-day for my first meal of the day. About a decade ago, I\u2019d stopped at the same place I visited this day, also for breakfast. Afterward, I\u2019d walked out for a smoke and spotted a sign at a bar a few doors up: \u201cElk Bugling Contest Today at 1:30pm.\u201d I figured I\u2019d just get a room next door and go see what that was all about.<\/p>\n
This time I had no expectation of any such thing, but\u2026 you never know. I walked in and this really cute youngish gal said rather loudly, \u201cHowdy!\u201d Howdy back at you\u2026 \u201cYou want lunch or breakfast?\u201d You still offering breakfast? \u201cYep, I\u2019m from Tennessee, so breakfast can be anytime food\u2026 Only, we don\u2019t serve sticky stuff this late\u2026 pancakes, waffles, French toast, and the like.\u201d Gravy count as sticky stuff? \u201cNope, we still have that\u2026\u201d Let\u2019s talk some bid-nis then!<\/p>\n
She is from Knoxville, so naturally I told her about all my buds there and in Clinton, TN. She was a real treat, too. Chatty until my food was served, then she went about other chores\u2026 singing all the while. \u2018Rocky Top\u2019 was her first offering, and right then I knew this was going to be a pleasant stop! It truly was\u2026<\/p>\n
I arrived in Missoula and stopped to top off. As if right on que, a young guy who looked to be a tech-savvy sort came by emptying trash cans\u2026 I inquired about the location of the nearest Verizon store\u2026 \u201cJust over the next overpass going straight down this road\u2026 you\u2019ll see it on the left.\u201d I thanked him and went in search. Found it right off, too, right where he\u2019d said it would be! That\u2019s something, at least\u2026<\/p>\n
I went in and \u2018registered\u2019. After a short while, a bubbly young gal came up to me and offered to help. I explained my situation, then told her I\u2019d resigned myself to just buying a new phone\u2026 and, I didn\u2019t want an Apple! She then took me over to the display, after satisfying herself that gaining access to my old phone was impossible\u2026 Yes, it appears that I do indeed have a brick now!<\/p>\n
In explaining the ins and outs of various products, I learned that they all have in common similar security features, and that if I didn\u2019t do a good job of keeping track of passcodes and usernames, I\u2019d be in the same boat with any device. Do what?!!! You mean\u2026? Yep\u2026 it ain\u2019t over by a long shot, big boy!<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, all the other devices have somewhat different set-ups and operating procedures\u2026 Oh goody! I not only get to start over from scratch with a new phone, I get to learn a whole new way of doing stuff!<\/p>\n
Not if you get another Apple, she patiently explained\u2026 the new phones work just like your brick did\u2026 Can you believe it? I actually bought another Apple! Just shows to go ya, I reckon\u2026<\/p>\n
She then informed me it\u2019s all really very simple\u2026 Stop right there, I said\u2026 I was in a mood to deliver a lecture, because young\u2019uns have been patronizing us old guys entirely too long, and I ain\u2019t taking it anymore!!!<\/p>\n
I said, I realize this is all very simple for you\u2026 But, by now you\u2019ve been through half a dozen cell phones, iPhones, Androids, and a couple of iPads, iPods, notepads, and two or three computers, and you\u2019ve been fooling with this hi-tech gadgetry stuff since you were a small child\u2026 Like, you\u2019ve been acclimated to such devices nearly your entire life!<\/p>\n
When I was your age I was beginning my own telephone career but in another epoch\u2026 I actually installed black rotary dial phones on party lines, and hooked them up to open wire strung on cross arms. I didn\u2019t start getting introduced to his sort of stuff until much later in life. Like, you\u2019ve had a rather significant head start on guys my age! But that\u2019s just part of it\u2026<\/p>\n
Technology is just a tool, my dear brilliant child, it is not the end game! I steadfastly refuse to spend much of whatever intellectual capital and time I have remaining on mastering the tools available and never getting around to the actual tasks I have in mind\u2026<\/p>\n
I am committed to keeping my eye upon the doughnut and not upon the hole\u2026 A sign at a Black & Decker plant once soberly reminded employees, \u201cCustomers don\u2019t want drills\u2026 Customers want holes.\u201d Can\u2019t you see the distinctions?<\/p>\n
My focus is on, and my interests are in, things other than phones and gadgets\u2026 I don\u2019t intend to spend a significant amount of time learning and keeping up with doo-dads and their latest trends and updates\u2026 I have other, far more important fish to fry!<\/p>\n
Well, that was the lecture I wanted to deliver\u2026 but I didn\u2019t. Nope, I just listened, punched in this, pointed and clicked that, signed here, smiled\u2026 and left with another receipt in my pocket and a brand new phone\u2026 an Apple at that!<\/p>\n
This time, at least, I had my security information written down, and I plan to place copies of it in several locations where it can be found. Hmmm, perhaps I\u2019ll even draw a treasure map indicating where that info is stashed\u2026 Maybe another map to show me how to find the first one\u2026<\/p>\n
The major downside to this experience is that I lost all of my information recorded in my old brick. My directory is gone, lost but at least it\u2019s really secure on some microchip somewhere in the bowels of the brick\u2026 along with all my pictures, text messages, yadda, yadda.<\/p>\n
If there is a silver lining, at least anyone whose phone number I once had, I no longer have\u2026 They can choose for themselves whether or not to give it to me again\u2026 A call would be best (I still have the same number), that way I can save it.<\/p>\n
I remounted ALI, and a strange sight appeared in the store window in front of us when she fired up\u2026 Her spotlights were working again. Was that a good omen letting us know that all was well again? For sure it means the reason they were out for the better part of two days was not a blown fuse\u2026 a latent, developing wiring issue perhaps?<\/p>\n
We headed out of town\u2026 Missoula is a nice enough city, but it is still a city. I\u2019ve stayed there a few times over the years, but it was always just a place to bunk-in for an evening or two, then move on. No \u2018magic\u2019 at all for this believer in the importance of such things\u2026<\/p>\n
The next town south of Missoula is Lolo, oddly enough where the ride over Lolo Pass from the east begins\u2026 I’d planned to ride that the next day on my way to Orofino, ID, where I\u2019d stay two nights before going to the cabin nearby on Saturday (it wouldn\u2019t be available any sooner).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve stayed in Orofino several times over the years\u2026 It was for me one of those special places where I could hold-up and spend a few days\u2026 I have half a dozen places around the country where I used to do that sort of thing\u2026 places where \u2018magic\u2019 is to be found.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I simply was not going to return to the store in Great Falls that I\u2019d visited the afternoon before, even though it was just down the street a couple of blocks from the motel I\u2019d stayed in the previous evening. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meanderings-by-ddt-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=612"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":613,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/612\/revisions\/613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willowinthewind.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}