It’s the newest thing!
How often do we hear these words? They used to cause me to prick up my ears and pay attention; to want to find out where engineering and modern creativity had taken us. But, lately, these words have begun to cause me to cringe. Is this “shrinking into self” the result of the “I no longer give a damn” syndrome? Or the result of the overkill use of this exhaustingly exuberant phrase?

For the life of me I cannot figure out why some of these “new” things are considered better than the “old” things. Perhaps we are creating “new” stuff just for the sake of calling it “new” and (of course) improved. Some of these improved versions have me completely flummoxed.

How about the “keyless” push-button start design on many new cars these days? Can anyone explain to my why it is “better” to have a sensor on a key fob that lets your car know that the big silver, black, gold, green or red button on the dashboard is now activated so you can push it to start your car? Where then do you put the fob thing?

Does it go in your pocket; in your purse; in the handy-dandy storage bin of the car console? Now you have to remember where you put it as it is now no longer simply in the ignition switch. Really, I would like to know the answer to this one. And, by the way, didn’t cars of much earlier manufacture (say about sixty years ago) have a push-button start? So, can this truly be classified as new?

I went to buy a ceiling fan the other day to help circulate air in my house. You know, I was looking for one of those things that go around and round with four blades, usually have about three-speeds, and are operated by a pull-string or can be wired into a wall switch.

I could only purchase the “newest-thing” kind. It has no pull string, cannot be wired into the wall and is operated by a “neat” remote control. The nice sales person did advise me to purchase an additional remote control (or two) in case I lost the one that comes with the fan. I was very grateful for this advice.

With all of this new and improved stuff, it seems like a lot of our old standby “they work just fine” items are disappearing. Has anyone else had trouble finding a box of paperclips? You know that square, usually brown or light green box with about 250 silver-colored paperclips in it? I went to an office supply store last week and was told they only now come in gold (for $3.75) or I could fill a plastic container with “designer” plastic clips for a mere $5.50. I felt a sense of loss.

How about wooden clothespins, plastic bags with twist ties instead of “zip locks,” wax paper, 3 x 5 index cards, small spiral-bound note pads, kitchen sponges with no special cleaning surfaces? Does anyone make furniture oil anymore? And is it possible to buy just ONE of anything?

Tags: age gracefully, korth, robin korth

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 8th, 2010 at 9:31 am and is filed under IOA Stories, Newsletter, Robin's Insights. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.