I’m Just a Paper Girl in an iCloud World

Courtesy A. Hughes

I run with bloggers. That’s code for: I run with scissors. Because in running with these gals, I’m gonna hurt myself one way or the other someday.

They are almost all more than a decade younger than me meaning their brains are more agile. A lunar module is history to them. To me it was current events. My agile days are over, but I still try to keep up. 

Until now, my shining technological achievement involved learning to operate a prehistoric relic known as a mimeograph machine. It was the only legal way to get a buzz in elementary school. I really do miss those ink fumes.

My introduction to computers involved rectangular sheets of cardstock and a humming, room-sized machine that seemed to belch while it punched holes in my cardstock. If I corrected a snippet of code in line forty-seven of my Fortran program, the computer spit back a snarly message. 

image credit

I think it smirked while saying I had uncovered 472 more errors for my trouble. Computers, and all things related, became to me what daleks are to Dr. Who fans – the stuff of which nightmares are made.

It dawned on me this week how much I've changed along with the times. My phone has more capability than the computers involved in the lunar landings. 

I tried to look up some statistics about the difference between smart phones and the lunar module computers. Converting the information into fifth grade English made my head hurt. So, just take my word for it. 

I find it rather creepy that they turn me loose on the public with this thing and expect me to use it responsibly. Geez. 

Courtesy Mad Penguin Creative

If you have the right app, you can drive the space station from here on a cloud free night. No pun intended. And not that I have any prior knowledge of an actual night when it wobbled in its orbit, mind you. 

This time of year my blogging communities explode with free and printable planners, fancy mind maps of business goals, posts about resolutions, and announcements of new link ups on fitness, diet, and living intentionally. They've develop all this great stuff using tools requiring nary a piece of paper in sight.

That would explain the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth you've heard this last two weeks. I wanna plead that it’s not my fault. I blame them. They make me feel as though I’m drinking out of a fire hydrant.

I pinned this, yes I did! 

I look at their color coded goal sheets and wanna say, “Hey! I just learned how to pin something on Pinterest!” I’ll never catch up because I can’t drink out of their fire hydrants fast enough.

This week, a friend and I talked about going green by going paperless. I told her women like me whose husbands have worked in the paper industry appreciate a less radical approach. Hey, I recycle!

The truth is simple. The very idea of a paperless life makes me dizzy. I’m learning all about the virtues of Google Docs, SmartSheet.com, Dropbox, Evernote, and the other stuff these young wizards are using. I've even gotten brave enough to work with some of it. 

Courtesy Mad Penguini Creative

As long as my medical doctor keeps renewing my scrip for vertigo, I’m sure I’ll be fine.

I’ll tell you a little secret if you don’t rat me out. Every time I make a virtual copy of anything, I see a dalek running toward me. The kind of dalek that wreaks havoc with cloud storage systems. 

Because I’m smart enough to see that dalek coming, even if my smarter, trendy pals can’t, I've got a backup system in place. I back up all my important info on notebook paper for safe keeping.

Courtesy D. Ahola

Old habits are hard to break when you are a paper girl living in a iCloud world.

Pssst...not that I'm one to spread rumors or anything, but if you didn't hear the one about how somebody around here made the space station wobble, you might wanna follow this link: 

click here.