Tottering into Technology

As my 58th birthday approaches this week, I admit that I will never know half the things I could easily do with the home technologies currently available to me. But I still continue to add skills and knowledge, unlike many of my peers who believe that the T word was meant to be spelled with four letters.

In the last year I've discovered the wonderful world of RSS feeds and am now benefitting from customized deliveries of information to my Google Reader account. As time goes by, I continue to think of topics that interest me. This morning, for example, I've added gardening feeds, prompted by April's designation as National Gardening Month. In less than half an hour, I had all the information I could use about pruning my shrubs, planting my vegetable garden from seed, selecting more natives for landscaping, and on and on. And, I didn't have to search for any of it. I discovered the common weed that grows in my yard that can be used to treat mosquito bites and have a new plan for lawn maintenance. This morning a feed led me to a webpage that offered free seeds for a number of heirloom vegetables and I found myself looking up recipes for foods I've never eaten before. I'm looking forward to keeping informed on the progress of the White House Kitchen Garden planted by Michelle Obama and D.C. school children.

After the last election cycle, I expected to have had my fill of politics and commentary, but I find myself more interested as time goes on. I gradually weed out blogs and news sources that I don't really like; however, my focus on progressive politics brings as much news about Rush Limbaugh and Fox News as it does about any thing else. I guess most of us liberals feel like we have to keep looking over our shoulders after the last eight years. Even the titles of the feeds provide lots of information. Cheney seems to get lots of attention (shudder...),but W gets far less. And, as a retired public educator and charter school board member, I continue to read the education news from several sources.

I have made lots of changes trying to live as a healthy diabetic, thanks to the daily information I receive, particularly in the area of preventing infection. Last year's lengthy bout with pseudomonas compels me to read anything with "diabetes" and "infection" in the same sentence. Consquently, the condition of my skin (and particularly the skin on my feet) has improved tremendously. I've been able to eliminate the expensive prescription cream I've used for years just because my daily skin regimen has become more focused.

I'm learning how intersting blogs can be when they are thoghtfully presented and hope to bring changes to my own, as a result - incorporate more photos, video, and sound files. I'll take a look back on my 59th birthday and see what I've discovered about the possibilities in this new venue.