A Notebook Was Pieces of Paper

. . . held together by cheap cardboard and wire destined to snag your favorite sweater?  Thanks to the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1, those days are fortunately coming to an end for me.

After deciding to  purchase an IPad to assist with college note-taking and course work, I had my eyes opened by a helpful and knowledgeable sales associate at our local Best Buy who took the time to listen as I described what I wanted and needed in a notebook. Ultimately, the IPad provided far too little to satisfy me, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is packed with features to make life as  a college student much easier.

Two of the features of the Note 10.1 I truly adore are the Spen and SNote.  To see how an actual college student is using her Note 10.1 in class, this is a nice video.  This is a Samsung Mobile video which shows off more features.

Unlike some other things from the past, I am fully embracing all that the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has to offer, and I cannot imagine a time when I long for the days of paper and pencil again.

. . . Filling Your Gas Tank Was a Real Customer Experience?

It is hard to imagine that there will ever come a time that I will no longer miss full-service gas stations, but none more than on cold days, especially cold, windy and rainy days.  Remember when you pulled into your favorite gas station, an attendant came rushing out to hear the familiar “fill ‘er up”.  (Yes, having been raised in an all-male household, I actually used that phrase.  lol) The attendant did not only pump your gas, he also cleaned your windshield and checked your oil.  Oh, how I truly miss those days and would love to say, "and keep the change" again.

The first time I remember being acutely aware of the fact that the services of the full-service gas station were affecting my wallet was the summer of 1984 in Virginia Beach.  Cruising Atlantic Boulevard one night with a friend in my latest Mazda RX7, I pulled into an Exxon station and said, “Fill ‘er up”.  Until that night, I had never given a single passing thought to pumping my own gas even though the option to receive a discount for “self-service” had been around for some time.  Frankly, just the thought of it caused me to cringe, as the last thing I wanted to do was arrive somewhere smelling like gasoline.  I can still remember the attendant that night telling me that had I pumped my own gas, I would have saved $5.  While the savings did strike a chord with me, I refused to conform and continued to find full service gas stations in the years to come.

I find it (almost) embarrassing to say that my children (now 23 and 21) are much more comfortable pumping their own gas than I am to this day.  Of course, to be fair, my children would have no idea what to do if an attendant came rushing out to fill up their tank, clean their windshield and check their oil.  The experience might actually scare them so that they would drive away (lol).  For me, however, I would be thrilled to see them and happily roll down my window to say, “Fill ‘er up”.  Perhaps, a trip to Winslow, Maine, is in order.  http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/jands-oil-bucks-full-service-trend_2012-09-01.html

...There Were Only Three Television Stations?

When I was growing up we had three television stations to choose from, ABC, NBC and CBS, otherwise known as Channels 13, 3 and 8. We literally knew the television line up for any given evening, what channel to turn to without a remote (gasp) and ABC, Channel 13, reigned supreme. 

For a teenager in the 1970’s, the Friday night shows to watch likely included The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family.  Room 222 was hit or miss for me personally and somehow we managed to sneak in Love American Style, which was very edgy at the time.  Friday night was the television night for my friends and I.  Although we missed most Friday nights during football season, we always managed to catch up with reruns. 

Tuesdays was another great night to sit in front of the television for a couple of hours.  At http://www.aoltv.com/2007/04/16/the-five-best-lineups-in-tv-history/ you’ll find some other lineups.  Although not all shows were on my list of “must watch”, this list is an accurate account of what you might have seen on our television. 

I will always miss the Friday nights of my teens with friends, watching our favorite TV shows with a bowl of popcorn and the one soda we were allowed that week.  It was a simpler time that would be impossible to recreate today, but it was epic in a small town in the 1970's.  We weren’t constantly tuned in and had the time to talk and interact, face to face, with our friends.  It was a time when the "cell" was still unheard of and instead of picking up our landline telephone to call friends, it was much more normal to run into the house, yell we were going to a friend’s house, and  take off walking..across the street…across our small town…when it was safe in such a way that only existed “back in the day”...when there were only three television stations.