Does instant information mean too much access?

Last week Siouxsioux shared a comment on my recent blog: Photo Cops Suck:

“I agree — a “real” traffic cop stop is more humane and allows for exceptions. However, your wake-up call ties in with what I’m feeling in this spy-info-obsessed environment. We like 24-hour automated tellers, expect instant assistance from Google and appreciate GPS-assistance complete with photos of where we’re going or where we’ve been … but no one likes being spied upon. If we keep willingly giving away info and expecting instant, automated assistance, at what point does it lead to too much outside control … with no turning back?”

Siouxsioux’s comment really made me think of how often I am impatient and frustrated when the gadgets in my life are not moving as fast as my brain might be working. It reminds me of Louis CK on Conan O’Brien a few years ago. The part relating to our world of automation starts around 2:45 in the video clip. Another great section is at 3:25 regarding our impatience with the Internet not working while flying on an airplane. He later says how a plane flight now consists of, “you watch a movie, take a dump, and you are home.”

There is a balance of instant access to information on our iPhones, iPads, and laptops, and what security and privacy we may not even know we are forfeiting while searching and utilizing that information. As Siouxsioux mentioned, I wonder at what cost. I know I am slightly addicted to the Internet. Well, more that slightly addicted to instant information at my fingertips. I am assuming that Words with Friends knows how often we play, or how addicted we are, Facebook can tell almost anything about our lives, our local library knows what we read, the grocery store you frequent knows what you eat and buy, and Amazon can tell a lot about your spending habits. If someone put that all together, I am sure there would be plenty of information for your shrink.

So where is the line, and have we already crossed it?

Sometimes we need a little context

Posted by random olio

Lately I have been thinking about the idea of context. So often we are only given a morsel of information, and it does not give the full picture. If we were given the full context of a situation, we might respond differently. Have you ever thought about it?

When you answer a question your child asks, do you answer it entirely, go the easy route, or give them the full context they need to ensure understanding? At work, when training a colleague, do you tell them just the details they need to know, or do you share the full context of why you have trained them a specific way? Might the entire picture help the training stick? It could allow them to fully understand why taking specific steps is so important. Does it help your spouse if you share the full story of why you might need them to run a few errands, or do you just ask that they go and do them?

Context tells the story. It weaves background information, and often gives the “why.” As I have been pondering context in my daily life, I have been trying to think about the full picture and when it is the right time to include context in a conversation. If you are giving a presentation on a topic you have been involved in for quite a few months, do you go to the nitty-gritty detail, or do you take a step back and give an overview first, make sure everyone listening to your presentation is on the same page, and then proceed with more specific detail? Does that help others to understand the full scope?

It helps. It really does. I am trying to approach each day ensuring that I give just the right amount of context (not too much, and not too little). My hope is that by sharing the necessary information, it will mean that others can make more educated decisions. Context shows that we are not just making decisions on a whim, but that there is a story that is directing us.

What do you think?

The special person I get to annoy

Posted by random olio

“It’s great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.” -Rita Rudner

Oh have I found that one person. Today is my tenth wedding anniversary, and boy have I had the time of my life. For those of you that might have read my blog for the past year and a half, you would not be shocked to hear me ooh and ah about my husband. I have often written about how I am addicted to him, and how our marriage works, but today I can hardly believe that ten years ago we stood on a beach in Hawaii, barefoot in the sand at sunset, just the two of us, starting our life together.

Of course Chris is my special person that I enjoy annoying. Mostly through the times when I (or we) are being silly. I love to get under his skin, as long as it means that at the end of the playful moment I have him laughing or happily rolling his eyes. Without laughter, what is the point?

Christopher, I look forward to the next ten years where we laugh, play, and grow together. You are my favorite person, and the one I love waking up next to each morning, and the one I hope I fall asleep before at night. You are the one I love texting in the middle of the day to find out how your day is going. I love that you laugh at my often made up words, and somehow you still understand me. We push each other to look at life differently each day, and I am honored that I get to spend my life with you.

Here is to another ten years that I get to annoy you. Happy Anniversary!

We do what we can with what we have

Posted by random olio

I subscribe to Runner’s World, and when I came across the story of this precious man, I started reading and could not look away from my screen. By the end of the article, there were tears streaming down my face. Against all odds, somehow we all do what we can with what we have each day. Sometimes though I think we have to look at the stories of others to get over ourselves. Bret Dunlap is a man with a story. He has persevered in life, after doctors did not think he would live. He has made a life for himself and eventually that life led to him running.

You hear of that many times, someone is in an accident and almost dies, and somehow is able to come back and kick ass at life. What we do not always see is that it is not easy, that sometimes even against all odds life is harder than one could ever imagine. Bret’s story inspires me. It inspires me to want to do more. My body was not shattered. When I complain about the slightest of pains after a run, or just on a normal day, I need to think of Bret. I cannot even imagine what his path was like to rehabilitation. Have you read his story yet?

If not, you might think my blog today is rambling on, but I hope you take the time to read it. It will make you look at your day differently. It will make you appreciate your legs and your toes, and your back, and your feet. It will make you appreciate that people do not look at you funny. It will make you look at the things you are scared of and maybe take a risk and go and do them. Yes, we do what we can with what we have, but maybe, just maybe we should do more than we can with what we have. Maybe we should push ourselves harder because we can.

Photo Cops Suck.

Posted by random olio

Ugh. Yes. I started my blog out with ugh. Photo cops. Vans with computerized radar guns. They sit in camouflaged areas in hopes of nailing speeders. I drove past one over the weekend, and my mind started to wonder, why do we have photo cops? A few years ago I got a speeding ticket while going over a bridge in Portland. It is hard to explain my side of the story because it was on a bridge where the speed limit changes three times while on the bridge. I never noticed the photo cop, and other than an address on the ticket that does not really exist (it is a bridge) it is hard to know where they took a photo of my car. The ticket showed I was speeding at the start of the bridge, and my 6 mph over the speed limit came out to a $200 ticket. All taken by a van with a radar camera.

Here is what I found out: The photo radar van can take two photos every second. There is an uniformed officer stationed in the van. I always thought they parked the vans and came back later. If there is an officer in the van, why not put the lights on and come after the offender? $200 seems like a hefty fine for 6 mph over the speed limit, which made me think it was another way for Portland to make more money, but their website states that any money from paid speeding tickets goes back to the photo radar program.

My frustration with photo cops: If you are going to give me a speeding ticket, follow me in a cop car, pull me over and give me a ticket. Do not rely on a van with a computer. It feels like calling a company and being repeatedly sent through the automated prompts on their phone line, over and over again. I want the personal interaction of the cop that pulls me over, let him yell at me, or let me explain where my head was, or about the signs, or let me just admit I was speeding. I would take that any day to receiving an envelope in the mail days or weeks later with a high price tag. A ticket in the mail seems more passive aggressive. Right?

I know they are supposed to deter drivers from speeding, but it feels like getting caught sneaking out at night by a robot rather than your parents. What do you think?