Finally entering the 21st Century?

I had great plans for an exciting adventure this morning.  After talking to fellow volunteer Barry, I was off to find and photograph things at a wading bird rookery that is located in St. Mary, GA.  I was hoping to see all kinds of nesting birds around a pond that is located on the property of the Naval Submarine Base in St. Mary.  It’s right near the Atlantic coast.  The directions to get there were quite involved, and I rushed back to the rig to write them down yesterday afternoon. 

The directions were great, but as I arrived at the entrance to Etowah Park, there was a locked gate with barbed wire on top and warnings to keep out.  Shucks!  There were birds flitting around all over behind that locked gate.  I thought maybe there was another entrance a little further down the road, so I drove on.  I drove past two signs that said No POVs allowed.  Since I didn’t know what a POV was, I kept going.  I didn’t get very far.  The road dwindled down to a golf cart path bordering the golf course.  Does POV mean personally owned vehicle??   Not being a military type, I quickly turned around before the base MPs found me. 

I was disappointed to say the least.  I filled the toad’s gas tank and did my grocery shopping in Kingsland before heading back home.  On a whim, I pulled into the Verizon store.  I have a dumb phone and explained that to the customer service lady.  I wanted to know if there was a semi-smart phone that was available.  I just wanted to be able to have an app or two on my phone along with being able to make or receive an occasional phone call. 

                                                                           You want what??

I presently have a Sprint dumb phone through my oldest son’s plan.  That means I have to remember to send him money each month for it, and I’ve had next to no service for it since I’ve been here at Okefenokee.  It’s a pain.  My air card is through Verizon, and I’ve been able to use that here for my internet stuff.

                                                         Let me see what I can find for you.

She came up with a ‘smart’ phone with 2G/month of Verizon internet along with lots of other features including apps.  I don’t text, but all I have to do with this phone is talk into it to text.  The price was reasonable for me using the 65 and older plan, so I went with it.  Most depressing was the fact that she didn’t even ask my age to see if I qualified.   In my head, I’m not old and wrinkled and white headed…

So why did I suddenly decide to make this leap into the 21st Century?  Well, we have an intern here who is most interested in learning more about birds.  He, of course, has a smart phone with an app with all the bird calls on it.  He will sometimes come over to chat while I’m outside in the evening with Emma, and we talk birds.  When he whipped out his phone to play some bird calls, I was envious.  I could sure use something like that if I’m going to do some breeding bird surveys (BBS) in Minnesota this spring.  Seems only fitting that the birds have made me expand my comfort zone with technology.

It’s a learning curve for sure with the new phone, so guess I’d better start practicing flicking my finger across the touch screen.  I also need to call my son, Daniel, to cancel my Sprint phone.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy