My parents rock. Aside from working their butts off running a small business, raising two *ahem* stellar kids, retiring early and excelling at poker, they are also willing to try new things, like hiking in the Ozarks (pictured above) or, sometimes, diving into new technology, even under protest.
My dad generally eschews technology yet somehow manages to follow all my tweets and blog entries without using twitter or following my blog. And he’s a champion email forwarder.
My mom is pretty saavy at the computer and IPhone overall (and she loves Angry Birds), but neither are afraid to get their kids to provide free tech support.
It’s tough to Christmas shop for my dad. Just trust me, all the gifts that you’d think of: tools, DVDs, etc, don’t apply. There are only so many golf balls you can get someone, ya know? So this year, I went out on a limb and got Dad a Kindle. He loves to read, so this would seem to be a good match, except for that whole eschewing technology thing.
It’s nearly March and just last week I was thinking of that Kindle and wondering if Dad had given up on it and sent it back to Amazon. And then today, in between my 17th and 18th meetings of the week, I got two emails.
1. From Mom:
We got Dad’s kindle cranked up today. As usual excess button pushing can create confusion, but so far so good.
2. From Dad:
I have been dragged, kicking and screaming, into KINDLE WORLD!
I sat at my desk and laughed for five minutes. Because, let’s face it, many of us have been there in our tech support role: “No, you don’t have to double-click that…one click is enough,” and we’ve also done the excess button pushing thing on our Kindles. And how can you not laugh at an email signed “Love from soon to freak out Father”?
I’m grateful my parents are such good sports that they try the tech stuff, even though it’s intimidating. I’m also grateful that they are willing to be quoted in my blog.
Though come to think of it, I may not have asked permission. Good thing they can’t dock my allowance anymore, or sue me for copyright infringement. 🙂
Everything and a Racehorse 