Touching the Machines

My best friend of some almost 20 years made me a wonderful birthday dinner and surprised me with a Kindle Fire as my birthday/Christmas gift. I was overjoyed by this and so grateful to her for it.  It was one of the sweetest things ever.

I like the Kindle. It picked up the wifi like a pro and fits well in my hand.  People complain that it's a bit heavy, but honestly no more than a book would be.  I can change the text size, which makes things quite nice for my aging eyeballs. The keyboard is a bit difficult for my fingers to manage, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Though, the keyboard did bring one thing into focus for me. The Kindle is a touch device, which means my fingerprints are constantly on it. I'm getting some sleeves for it, but until then, fingerprints and smudges.

This got me thinking about how much time I spend touching machines. . . . which, to be honest, is a lot of time. My fingers are on the keyboard right now. I have earbuds in my ears, I touch microwaves and computers, the Kindle, my oxygen tank.  Hell, at night, I'm hooked to a CPAP. I'm one voice box and a paradigm shift away from being Darth Vader.

Though, do I really see this as a problem? No, not really.  Some people might view machines as unnatural, but from my perspective, if it's made by humans (who are part of nature), then whatever it is, it's now part of nature as well.

Besides, it's not like I view the machines as cold unfeeling things. I have affection for them. I share a bond with them. To me, my machines have personalities. I even name them.  My current computer is Beatrice. I had one named Fernando, one named Jamber. I plan to name the next one Tony Stark.

I get really emotional about my machines too. When a computer dies, I'm not just upset because of the expense. I'm sad because I lose that machine.  It gets placed in some forgotten corner or sent away.  Man, now I feel guilty about that!  I should go visit the old broken computers and remind them I still love them. Look! I even still blog about you!

Anyway, the Kindle is now part of that family. Hmm, I've not named the Kindle yet. Best get on that.