Friday, July 14, 2017

Celebrate the Small Things


Friday, Friday, Friday! It's here again. Ready to celebrate? Welcome back to the weekly blog hop that calls attention to the positive things going on in your life, big or small. Many thanks to our host, Lexa Cain, and her awesome cohosts: L.G. Keltner and Tonja Drecker.

Last week we did the sort of shopping that hasn't happened in our family since 2001. 

Volvo, in power blue and no, we did not get to keep that red bow.


Pretty snazzy, huh? Cars have changed a lot in the last 16 years and it's going to take some time for me to adjust, especially since I'm a techno dunce. My daughter would probably handle this car better than me even though she's 13 and not tall enough to reach the pedals. So while I'm thrilled to be driving a new car, the technology has me wigging out a bit. Here's why:

1. The radio controls were designed by sadists. 

There's a little rolling knob on the steering wheel that runs through the stations. You press it to let the radio know, "Hey dude, I want another station." Then you roll the knob up or down and the different station numbers scroll along on the dash screen. You press it again once you find a station you like.




I spend waaay too much time watching the screen while changing stations, like entire blocks, because if you roll that little knob down, the numbers on the radio station:

(a) go down

(b) go up

(c) dance the merengue

I know you guessed (c), right? But the answer seems to be (b). I did find a station search button among the fifty or so buttons on the dash, but that only runs through the 10 programmable favorites, I think. As if I'll ever figure out how to program those suckers.



Which one is the eject button again?



2. There's no ignition key, just a rectangular cube of plastic technology five times the size of an actual (old fashioned) car key.

When did this happen and how does this make driving better? If I add this chunk to my current keychain, there's no way all that mess will fit into my pants pocket. (I'm one of those rare females who decided purses were ridiculous and I refuse to carry one, because having wallets, keys, and feminine products spilling out of your pockets looks way cooler.)


3. My car suffers from narcolepsy.

To save gas, the engine shuts off at stoplights or in standstill traffic. As soon as you hit the accelerator, the engine starts right back up. This is great and all, but what happens when the mice in my garage rewire everything? With my luck, the restart feature will probably be the first thing to go on the fritz, on a railroad track. 


It's a beautiful car though, and I'm sure I'll get the hang of things eventually. But don't expect me to deal with opening and closing the moonroof. Nope. I may have a college degree, but there's no way I'm messing with a lever that bends six different ways for six different settings. Recipe for disaster. I'd get it stuck wide open in a hurricane-zombie-apocalypse for sure.


How well do you adjust to new technology? 



21 comments:

  1. A nice car! Just try not to stop of railroad tracks :)

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  2. Welcome to the future. My car has one of those start fobs as well. You'll get used to it. Weird it shuts off when idling though.

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  3. Haha! I would be in your same boat. I know enough about technology to make me slightly dangerous. My son steps in and knows exactly what is going on and he is just 9! Love your new car.

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  4. I can't drive because of a fear of killing people! lol. Nice car, though. :) Good luck. X

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  5. I'm sure there's a way to program the radio. I know, they make those things way harder than they need to be. Congrats on the new car.

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  6. I always think I adjust to technology better than I actually do (according to my kids). We haven't had a newer car for so long that I know there will be a learning curve that's pretty sharp when it happens.

    Dumb story: one of my older cars had a turn signal lever on the left side that always fell out of the steering column, so I got in the habit of preventatively pushing it in while using the turn signal. I had to drive a coworker's car home one day, and his horn was located on the turn signal lever . . . when it got pushed in. My lever-pushing habit was so ingrained that I spent the entire drive honking his car horn every time I turned left.

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  7. Congrats on the new car! I don't think I could deal with radio controls on the wheel! Way too distracting. But I usually just hook up my phone to play music in the car anyway.

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  8. Hilarious Tamara. How old was your previous car? As with most technology, way more functions are available than one would ever use. It's like the dozens of apps pre loaded onto my smart phone. I use a few then download others that I want to actually use and the rest just take up space in the phone's memory. Cars? I rememeber the frst car I bought which had stereo controls on the steering wheel. How cool, I thought. I still love that bit of technology and the other one I discovered with my current car (already 4 years old when I bought it) was automatic headlights. Set to auto and I never have to touch the headlight controls. Once you work out what you exactly need and you learn how to use, you'll wonder how you ever survived without it. Very funny post. Thanks...and good luck

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  9. Hubby and I are planning on buying a brand new car soon. We were going to next month, but his job gave him a big hiccup and we have to wait and see if his bosses can find him work or he has to go job searching first.

    Good luck with figuring out all those buttons!

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  10. Nice car! Technology is grand but it can sure be a pain. I don't know anything about new car technology. Not one thing. My car is a 2000!!! lol

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  11. Congrats on the new car! Too bad you couldn't keep that bow, thought ;) I drive a 1995 beast and am SO glad that there's very little technology involved. I'm a 'less electronics=less to go wrong' kind of girl. Wonder how long I can hold up. Happy driving!!!

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  12. I love new cars! Congratulations on yours.

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  13. My car has all that except the keyless start. My husband's car does and that big fob thing that he has to carry is ridiculous. Congrats on the new wheels.

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  14. I've never heard of the car shutting off at lights! That would freak me out. What does it do for get up and go? Anyway, congratulations on the new car! I do like the push button starter, if that's what you've got.

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  15. Haha! YES...my car has all that gadgetry. It's tough to get used to sometimes. But I can't imagine it shutting off at traffic lights. Plus those types of cars are SO quiet. I'd never know if it was running or not!

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  16. Congratulations on the new car! Ha ha, I hear you, those starter fobs are way too big. I hadn't really noticed cars stopping and starting again until we moved to Europe -- all the cars seem to do that here at every stoplight (except our clunky old car...).
    As for the radio and all the other buttons, you'd need to spend a week in the car reading the manual to figure out all the bells and whistles! :-)

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  17. The car looks great and I'd say it is. But like you I'm a bit taken aback by technology and changes. I've mastered the basics of my radio, but not so much with other things. I might get it all down by the time I'm ready to trade into another newer car in the future.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

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  18. Congrats on the new car!

    It always takes a little while to get used to the more techy cars. Kind of like the latest smartphones. And just like the phones, we probably won't even use half of what the techy cars can do.

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  19. Lovely car, but technology does suck. I just want the radio do be simple, start and stop easily, and stay awake. But I do like the rear camera.

    With technology on my computer or phone, my granddaughters help me. One is 11 and the other is almost 13.

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