tech

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My Old Tech Became New Tech Again

The other day I had to use old tech to get my new tech to do what I wanted it to do.

… After writing that sentence I realize it sounds a little hypnotizing. You might be wondering what exactly I mean.

I have a relatively new laptop that is 6 or 7 years newer than my previous one. So my new laptop has technology built into it that was not around when my old laptop was made. 

Tech changes so quickly – like with cell phones. They come out with new ones every year that have great new features. When your two-year contract is up, you are dying to get a new phone because it’s so advanced.

My new laptop has all new input ports so I needed a conversion cord to connect my old devices like external hard drives, external monitors, and even thumb drives.

It was a big jump. 

But there were some changes that, in my opinion, were a step back in time.

And one of those areas I discovered recently.  

Sometimes I have to record a sermon from cassette tape to my computer. This happens when something goes wrong with our normal recording from our sound board at church. 

For years I just put the cassette in a tape player, plugged the cord into the tape player and plugged the other end into the microphone port of my laptop.

My new laptop doesn’t have a microphone port. 

That was surprising … and very disappointing to say the least!

For some reason, the manufacturer decided that we don’t need to record sound that way any more … much like the way Apple decided that we don’t need to plug headphones into our phones any more; we just go wireless.

I guess we are just supposed to throw out all of our wired headphones. 

But before you do that, it might not be a bad idea to tuck them away for later. They just might come in handy.

With my new laptop, I found a way to get sound into it.  But I had to use old tech to do it. 

I scrounged around in a draw and found a headset device that I used years ago – I’m thinking close to 10 years. I used it for a dictation program I had with my computer. I stopped using it because they came up with a wireless headset.

I disconnected the headset part and MacGyver’d it together between my tape deck and computer.

Oh, but before I did that I had to get out my USB dongle to even be able to plug it into my computer.  

It worked. 

I used ten year old technology to get my new computer to do something that was standard a few years ago. 

The moral of the story is save our landfill sites. Don’t throw out your old, obsolete technology; it just might become like new technology all over again.

Here’s the thing: In life we learn and become proficient at things we once needed help with. There may be things in your life that you used to seek God’s help for but now seem to be easy for you to handle so that you don’t feel you need His help with them any more. You may find you depend more on yourself than God now that you’ve progressed in your faith – almost like God has become a little obsolete in that area. Don’t be fooled into thinking you don’t need Him as much. A growing faith will never make your daily need to seek God obsolete or outdated.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you stopped seeking God for? Leave your comments below.

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My Complaint Was Unjustified

I was a little too hasty with my complaint.

Spring is here and I should be writing about mountain biking, hockey playoffs or maybe baseball. 

… Or how about those Raptors and Kawhi Leonard’s four bouncer, rim shot, buzzer beater to send Toronto to the NBA Eastern Conference Finals?

But I can’t write about those things. I’m still trying to get my head around my latest bill from Bell Canada.

At the beginning of April I got a shock when our TV/Internet bill increased by $79 from the previous month. (I wrote about it here.)

I got a double shocker this month when my latest bill appeared to be devoid of any adjustments.

After the big increase a month ago, I had called Bell and complained. … I’ll make this short by saying they gave me a $40 reduction on my bill plus faster internet service. To get that, I was on the phone for way longer than an hour with more than one customer service rep.

Within a day or two I noticed some results. They kept their promise of adding three free stations and removing one station, but the internet service didn’t seem any faster. 

Then this month’s bill showed the free stations, but no mention of the upgraded internet, and the same price for TV and Internet as the month before. 

Back to the phones I went! … If nothing else the phone company is ensuring we are still using their services because we have to call them all the time to complain! 

This time the conversation was more disturbing and discouraging than the previous month. 

I talked to two customer service reps who didn’t want to budge. They basically dismissed what I had been told a month earlier. They said that the notes for that complaint didn’t say anything about the credits and changes we had agreed upon. 

In the end, the rep said that she would have her manager call me.  

So I have to wait for the manager’s call … which also means there may be a follow up to this post some time in the future.

Then this morning, as I reviewed my bill again, I noticed something I had missed before. All the itemized charges are the same as the previous month, but there is an amount in an adjustments box with no explanation.

That adjustment is a credit. It only shows up on the remittance page, but it brings my bill to what was promised me the month before.

So I didn’t get faster internet and there doesn’t seem to be any record of or reason given for the credit, but I got one. 

The question I still have is, “Will this credit show up every month?” There is no record of what it is for, so it would be easy to just drop it.

As it stands now, when the manager calls, the only thing I can say to him is … in the words of Saturday Night Live’s Emily Litella, “Never Mind”.

Here’s the thing: I’m distrustful about what my tech company has given me. They might take it away as fast as I received it; it only shows up as a mystery item on my bill. How many times do we treat God that way when He gives us something? We treat Him as though He might take it away at any moment, or we are suspicious of whether it was God who gave it to us in the first place. You might not be able to trust your tech company, but you can trust God. Give Him the credit and praise He deserves.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has God provided for you that you didn’t really thank Him for? Leave your comment below.

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My Tech Company’s Got Me Frustrated

I’m pretty frustrated with tech companies right now. In the past two week I’ve had more than my share of dealing with them.

These companies that provide internet, television and cell phones are gouging people. And they’ve reversed the commitment to the customer. The customer must commit to them.

This week I had a phone conversation with our television and internet provider. It seems they hiked our rates by $79 a month … in the middle of our commitment! 

Somehow they are able to force us to commit to staying with them for two years, or pay large penalties. But they don’t seem to have that same kind of commitment to us.

Over the first year we had rate increases about every three months – little ones, like seven dollars here, four dollars there. 

By the end of the first year we were paying $28 more a month than what we had agreed to at the start of the contract. 

Then, when our first year was up, they took away all the credits we had been getting during that year, which added another $79 per month to our bill.

The customer service woman I spoke with was sympathetic because she said that, at the end of the day, she was a consumer as well … but she wouldn’t give me back my credits. 

Instead, because I complained, she found a way to adjust our service to give me some credits back and then threw in a few TV stations for free that I probably won’t ever watch. 

That’s why they are free – no one is watching them! 

She was able to cut my bill but I’m still going to be paying significantly more than I was a month ago, and massively more than when I started with them.

What bothers me is that in other countries they don’t have the same kind of issues with tech companies. 

My wife, Lily, is in Lisbon, Portugal right now. In her hotel room was a cell phone that she could take and use anywhere in the city while she stayed at that hotel. 

She could call anywhere in the world – we’ve talked on that phone a few times. And she has unlimited data on it! 

It is mind boggling. 

A cell phone in Canada with 5 gigs of data is over $100 per month. Does it cost that much in Canada to do business? 

When it comes to technology, Canada ranks number #2 in the world at generating internet traffic use per capita. Maybe these companies realize they’re in high demand so they are soaking us because we will pay anything for this precious technology we are so hooked on. 

I know one thing and that is the next time I negotiate a contract with one of these tech companies, I’m going to make some demands. 

… Like if they raise their rates past a certain amount, I will be free to take my business to another company at no penalty to me. 

Here’s the thing: This is how Satan works … He presents something that looks pretty appetizing. Then once he has you signed up for it, he can change the terms and show his true colours. The crazy thing is we fall for it all the time – just like we do with tech stuff. The key is to recognize God’s plan for you and stick with it. It may be tough at times, but the terms don’t change and the future is guaranteed. 

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What has got you looking for a way out? Leave your comments below.