The Latest Cool Stuff

You know when you’re sitting in you Doctor’s office waiting room and you sort of mindlessly thumb through the  magazines on the coffee table and you see things you didn’t even know existed or you see a half torn page and wonder what it was you missed?  Do you  log into Facebook or browse Google  News and see offers or Web ‘gadgets’ you don’t even understand?  Trend watchers, social engineers, movers and shakers all look for them: the latest cool stuff — the next big thing.

I remember when I first started blogging… I was keeping a journal of sorts on my website that I would update most every day — it was to keep visitors updated — it was a sort of  blend of In my kitchen today, things I was reading in the news, things I was doing around our house or what I’d added to the site.  I felt much more “folksy” or in touch with readers in those days than I do today — not just sure why — I didn’t have “comment” capabilities set up or anything like that, I just felt more in touch.  Anyway,  I’d delete the page and start a new one at the beginning of each month — each page decorated according to the season — even if it didn’t match the overall ‘decor’ of the site.  It was around that time that I started seeing the word: weblog.  I wondered, what in the world is a WEblog?    Yep, I read it that way, sought to understand it that way: WE blog.  A whaaa??    And I clicked links to WEblogs.  And I read them.  Duh: WEB(site) logs = Weblogs.  Those web-logs eventually became known simply as Blogs.  They were the next cool thing.   Thus, I began saving the old pages and starting new ones.  I didn’t know about blog software and couldn’t have imagined the proliferation of free publishing platforms and templates.

Around that time, “social networking” was also making its debut — though, technically, forms of internet “social networking” had been in place (internet bulletin boards, group lists, chatrooms, etc.)  for years.  But networks like Myspace, Facebook, etc., were the next cool thing.

Giant leaps of mind-boggling, technological wonders have dominated the “next cool thing” in the last few years.  And, if you’re over 30-35 years old (or so), I’m going to guess you’re in the “astonished” crowd — astonished, technologically speaking, anyway.  You’re in the crowd that had records, film cameras (the kind you had to pop a flash cube on top to take flash photos), 8-track tapes, tape-recorders, VHS movies, etc., etc.  And if you’re a lot older than that, you still think of carrying money in case you need to pay for gas or groceries, make a phone-call or leave a tip at a restaurant.  You still can’t believe you can drive in your car and talk to someone in, say, India, about your banking or your child in Africa.  In fact, you may still marvel that you can walk around your home talking on the phone instead of having to stand only as far from the permanently attached wall phone as your tangled up, coiled phone-cord would allow.  Maybe you still instantly think money when you hear a reference to: CD’s, you may still prefer/and use paper… paper sacks… subscribe to a daily paper, paper magazines, paper calendars, paper day-planners, paper letters, etc.  You may be like me… wondering what could come next…

And everyday there’s a new latest cool thing!  Not just in the technology/communication sector — but everywhere!  Just think of all the stuff we all *need* now… things we never *needed* before!  Things we now NEED, we never -ever- gave a thought to fifteen years ago.  Or ten years ago.  We never needed as much stuff as we need today.  It’s amazing.  And the need are seemingly exponential — there’s just too much cool stuff!  And, by the way… I’m not limiting needing cool stuff to tangible things. 

Just consider all the *ad-ons* and internet tools!!  Clothing, home decor, books, (per)versions of the Bible, methods for cooking, cleaning, studying, writing, music…

So, if you’re wondering what the latest cool thing is… stay tuned… maybe you and I will discover a new cool thing — or, you can look here: Cool Things.