{"id":6766,"date":"2012-08-11T06:50:02","date_gmt":"2012-08-11T10:50:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/?p=6766"},"modified":"2012-08-10T09:14:09","modified_gmt":"2012-08-10T13:14:09","slug":"my-60-minutes-moment-stamps-iphones-can-openers-and-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/my-60-minutes-moment-stamps-iphones-can-openers-and-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"My 60 Minutes Moment – Stamps, iPhones, Can Openers, and Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"
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While these stamps are perfectly functional, they symbolize the loss of an era right before our eyes...<\/p><\/div>\n

Last weekend Dan and I made the decision to trade in our Android phones (which we fondly referred to as \u201cThe Evils\u201d) for an Apple iPhone. Before we got to the shop, we took a quick detour to the post office to get stamps and I was in shock with what I saw.<\/p>\n

There is no question that somehow the spirit of Andy Rooney lives in me, because I instantly found myself becoming a curmudgeonly grump. No longer does our self-service stamp machine give out books of stamps. Instead, to save money, we are now given stamps that are printed on a sheet of label paper. They are completely boring and devoid of any personality whatsoever. And why should I care so much \u2013 the sole purpose of the stamp is to get my mail from point A to point B without delay, isn’t it?<\/p>\n

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"Penny Black" - the world's first postage stamp that was introduced by the UK in 1840<\/p><\/div>\n

Well, for me, the stamp and the ritual of putting it on the envelope is one of the last vestiges we have left of Americana and I don\u2019t do online payments for that reason.\u00a0I like the physical act of writing out a check (with pictures of my kitties on them, naturally), putting it in an envelope, walking down my driveway to the mailbox and putting the flag up to signal I need a mail pickup.\u00a0It just makes the process seem personal and real. Now, writing checks is becoming a lost art, cursive writing is all but obsolete, and everything is becoming standardized,\u00a0electronic, and de-personalized.<\/p>\n

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These stamps that were issued in March of 2010 were part of a campaign to increase public awareness about shelter pets and to encourage adoptions. Ellen DeGeneres and Halo pet foods also teamed up with the campaign and donated a million meals to shelter pets.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also loved having the option of choosing a book of stamps with artwork that commemorated something going on in the world. One of my favorites was the recent series of cats and dogs called “Animal Rescue Adopt a Shelter Pet” when stamps were still 44 cents and I also have a series of charming cat stamps that I framed almost thirty years ago that now hangs in our guest bathroom. Somehow this silly sheet of nondescript stamps made me both sad and angry as I realized with more certainty than ever, that the post office is going the same route as newspapers, film, books, and magazines \u2013 digital and electronic.<\/p>\n

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These beautiful stamps that were issued in 1985 featuring eight cat breeds are now considered a vintage collectors item!<\/p><\/div>\n

So, complete with my already irritated frame of mind, we headed to the iPhone store to get a new piece of technology that I really didn’t want.\u00a0Unfortunately, however,\u00a0 our Android phones, despite how technologically amazing they were capable of being, were nothing but a headache. If I am going to purchase a piece of technology, I at least expect it to do what it is supposed to do. Well, my Android did just about everything except let me use it as a phone\u2026 it got to the point of being utterly ridiculous \u2013 not one phone call I would make would go through without some sort of mishap, forcing me to call the person again, and again, and again.<\/p>\n

The iPhone has a great reputation, so we decided to bite the bullet and finally get one. I would like to say it was love at first sight and that the phone and I bonded instantly as BFF\u2019s, but, naturally, it was a rocky relationship from the start, with me actually wanting to submerge the phone in a tub of water to drown it\u2026 Nothing is more frustrating to a writer, than not being able to do something that comes so naturally to you \u2013 type.<\/p>\n

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Seen here looking quizzically at this foreign object is Zee and Harley. None of my cats have ever seen a rotary phone. Even Jazz, our eldest, grew up with the newer style keypad phones that sat in a charger cradle.<\/p><\/div>\n

I consider myself somewhat intelligent, but I reverted to a two year old who was on the verge of a massive tantrum as it took me over an hour to create an Apple account to download the facebook AP. The cats stayed clear of me, as my body was radiating waves of such intense frustration, that I think they thought I might combust into flames at any moment. I kept making mistakes, my relatively petite fingers became giant hands, as the phone kept insisting whatever letter I was trying to key in, was actually a different one. I could figure out how to correct mistakes to the left of the cursor, but I could not correct any text to the right of it.\u00a0FINALLY, I created the account and received one of those emails where you have to validate your account. Turns out that my last name was now \u201cBarned,\u201d instead of \u201cBarnes,\u201d because I did not see that it had not accepted my \u201cs.\u201d At this point, you could have called me anything you wanted, all I cared about was that I got the account to open and I could download the stupid AP that was ruining my mental sanity.<\/p>\n

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This is Peanut on the counter - you can see from the look in her face that it she realizes it is time to come find me and remind me it is dinner time...<\/p><\/div>\n

By then, it was getting late and past the normal time I feed the cats dinner. I know this for a fact, because somehow Peanut has an internal clock residing inside her. No matter what the day, weather, daylight savings or not, this cat KNOWS when it is time for dinner. She will come find me and remind me in her trademark way \u2013 first off, she will stare at me from the floor and emit a long wailing meow of reminder to me. Next will be the physical reminders \u2013 she will jump up on my lap and tap my check with her front paw to tell me to get up and get dinner going! Okay, okay! I\u2019m getting up!!<\/p>\n

At this point, my mind is already in a serious funk \u2013 turns out technology and convenience can be quite exhausting… Anyhow, I did what I do a thousand times over, I popped open a can of moist food to mix with the dry kibble \u2013 a sacred ritual in our house. Out of nowhere, the spirit of Andy Rooney takes over me again and I flash back to a time of days gone by \u2013 the electric can opener. With most of my food coming either frozen, fresh, or canned with pop-up lids, I realized I had not used an electric can opener in years. As a matter of fact, I no longer even owned one. I have a hand held can opener in the silverware drawer and that is it.<\/p>\n

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This relic from years ago was actually the first GPS locator invented to find cats...<\/p><\/div>\n

I am sure they are still available, but the models today are probably so sophisticated that they clean your oven and cook a roast at the same time. But what about the cats? It seems that they too have become victims of technology as they know none of the Pavlovian effects a can opener can have on them! Do you remember that? All you had to do was press down on the can opener to make that whirring noise and your cats would come from a mile away thinking it was time to eat!<\/p>\n

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Numerous illustrations of Norman Rockwell graced the cover of the classic magazine, The Saturday Evening Post. This one, called \u201cTake Your Medicine,\u201d from May 30, 1936 actually features a cat in the corner. This was somewhat unique, as Rockwell tended to use dogs in most of his works.<\/p><\/div>\n

I actually remember a time that I brought an extension cord outside to plug in the can opener to find a cat that had accidentally gotten out! If my cats heard a can opener today, especially Zee, he would probably flee the room in terror, not recognizing the sound!! As it is, the blender is a mortal enemy to him. Sigh\u2026 seems I\u2019m just a Norman Rockwell girl living in a Steve Jobs world (RIP). I think for many of us my age, that is something we all can relate to. Unlike our children who have grown up with such advanced technology and take it in stride, we still struggle with remembering a simpler time in life, while also embracing the new world we live in.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I think that I just need to take the lead from my cats and find a nice sun puddle to curl up for a nap\u2026 They seem to take the changes in life in stride and don\u2019t let it bother them. And the good news, my iPhone and I have patched things up and our relationship is getting stronger by the day. I have figured out how to use the keypad and the clarity of the phone reception and images has been amazing. I have not had one dropped phone call yet and I think there is hope for a long and wonderful friendship!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend Dan and I made the decision to trade in our Android phones (which we fondly referred to as \u201cThe Evils\u201d) for an Apple iPhone. Before we got to the shop, we took a quick detour to the post office to get stamps and I was in shock with what I saw. There is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1265,402,403,404,310],"class_list":["post-6766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration-healing","tag-cats","tag-norman-rockwell","tag-nostalgia","tag-stamps","tag-technology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Cat-in-Frame.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6766"}],"version-history":[{"count":40,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9788,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6766\/revisions\/9788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zeezoey.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}