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Borrego Springs, CA

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

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. 

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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.  Who 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. 

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                                                                           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.

IMG_2275                                                         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. Sad smile  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.

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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

27 comments:

  1. Bill told me that "POV" stands for Private Owned Vehicle. Hmmmm... does that mean if you have a rental car you could drive there? Just kidding... bet you're right... you might have been in deep doodoo. We have a Smart Phone that Bill used the bird call apps on (as well as others) but I'm barely able to answer the phone when it rings. Guess we both need to quit resisting...

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  2. Craig has a Verizon smart phone. I have to look into that bird call ap. My ears are better tan my eyes most days

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  3. Good thing you didn't get in trouble with the Navy Base security people, they have no sense of humor. Something to do with submarines that carry stuff that makes very big bangs. :cO

    So you have to rename you blog: "Travels with Emma in the 21st Century". I'm not smart enough to get into the 21st century, I'm still stuck in the 1700s!

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  4. Hope you enjoy your smart phone. Enjoyed the pictures of the salesperson helping you (tee-hee). Me, I have the dumbest phone ever - just talk, and a really poor camera. But I do have the bird call app on my Kindle Fire.

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  5. I was dragged into the smart phone age, but now I am completely hooked!

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  6. bird call aps are the bestest :)

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  7. Like you Judy we had a dumb phone until a couple of weeks ago. We went with an iPhone from Verizon as we had them already. I thought I would hate texting but actually like it as my daughters send me texts all the time telling me things and send pictures. Plus, I love all the apts I have downloaded. Good Luck you are very smart, and will have it learned in no time at all.

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  8. Ah, you brought me back to the travel vouchers I submitted that included charges for POV. I'm getting used to my new Jitterbug phone which I'm crazy about. Jeannie & Donald tried to show me the texting feature but I will do without it. I am picky about punctuation, spelling, etc., and that would have to go by the wayside if I wanted to text. Plus, I just don't like it. I hope you like your new phone as well as I like mine, although technologically speaking, I guess you are miles ahead of me.

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  9. I have a smart phone that is clearly smarter than I am. it drives me nuts. I don't know what all these apps everyone uses are. Maybe I can learn from you. I worry about confusing and upsetting the birds with all these bird sound recordings on phones played just for fun.

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  10. Don't forget to download Google Sky Map in case you get lost at night.

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  11. I enjoy the conveniences of the smart phone. It has a learning curve, but I just work at it till I get it right. You will be just fine.

    I needed that bird song app this morning. Was wishing you were here to identify it.

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  12. congrats on getting a semi-smart phone!! soon you will wonder how you ever lasted as long as you did without one!

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  13. I like the Gas Buddy and Weather Bug apps. What did I ever do without a smart phone? And oh yes, it does allow me to make phone calls, too. ;)

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  14. Congrats on your new phone purchase! I'm enjoying the Audubon apps, that I hope will help me look up stuff when out in the field without having to bring a dozen heavy paper guide books along.

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  15. We love the Peterson's app. It has calls, maps, drawings and ID guides. It is really good.

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  16. I hate my new smart phone because apparently I am not smart enough to figure it out. Or I don't have the patience. I have not successfully answered it once. Sigh....

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  17. Hello, I'm just visiting... I have to admit that your comment about not being old and grey haired in your mind struck home with me!
    Text your son! (I got my first 'smart phone' so I could text my kids, they never returned calls but texting worked)

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  18. Semi smart phones for us ... still. We find that we make even fewer calls than we used to in our non-gypsy lifestyle. I can see where they would be nice to have to use apps.

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  19. You will absolutely love your smart phone once you get used to using it. It's really pretty easy, you just have to expand your mind a bit to be able to comprehend how wonderful it is.

    I think it's almost a must have for fulltimers.

    My most used and favorite apps are:

    Weatherbug. It's nice to be able to pull up radar and check weather wherever I am. It automatically knows exactly where I'm at too! I love being able to see the radar any time I want.

    Places: you can add the places you want to find. I put in some of my most used places like Walmart, grocery stores, Subway. If you're in a new city and want to find a Subway, it will navigate you right there. Left turn here, right turn there....and when you are nearby a picture of what you're looking for! It's a wonderful app.



    PDA Net. I use it to tether to my computer for internet. I get better signal than my Wifi, and since I have unlimited data on my phone, it works for me.

    Navigation. I like it better than our Garmin Gps. I just have to talk and tell it where I want to go.

    Color note: I jot down my grocery list. When I get to the store, I just check off things as I put them in the shopping cart. My phone goes everywhere with me so I never forget my grocery list!

    Allstays truck and Travel. It helps you find places for fuel in a big rig.

    Allstays Camp and Rv. It helps locate campgrounds

    Rest Areas. Upcoming rest areas. Of course Al is driving so I can find them while he's driving so it probably wouldn't be the best for you.


    Enjoy your new smart phone.

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  20. You are so funny...you will have those apps downloaded in no time.

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  21. Just curious to know what kind of smartphone you got?

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  22. I didn't think I needed a smartphone, now I don't know what I would do without it. Many times our GPS wasn't taking us correctly, I used the map on the phone and it took us right to the spot. Good luck. The learning curve isn't that big at all.

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  23. Birds is the best reason I've ever heard to buy a smart phone! lol... Good thing you didn't get in trouble at the base... too bad for the bird pictures!

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  24. Love my smartphone! Really came in handy the last year when I traveled to Costa Rica -- so many photo opportunities haha.

    I love your site, started following it. Hope you get a chance to check out my Coachella travel blog soon.

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  25. Congratulations! I love my Smartphone (Verizon) and at one time thought I'd be the last person on earth to get one. I didn't see the need for one and now don't know how I got along without it.

    I recently downloaded the IBird Pro app. It's a great birding app complete with songs, real photo's, descriptions, range, and even has a way to keep your life list. It's an easy to use app and well worth the cost. Currently it's $4.99.

    My most used app is the navigation (free with the phone). You don't have to type in the address and can just speak your destination. It then speaks the turns out loud along with a live picture of the road.. You can purchase a mount for your dashboard if needed.

    Have fun checking out all the apps. It makes for great conversation around the fire.

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  26. I have a smart phone, but only use it marginally semi smart...I HATE to text and don't have a text program...I use it to keep up with Facebook, take photos and post on Facebook, change my ringtones (Ozzie Osbourne is my present choice) and talk on the phone...oh, and I do have a Papa John's Pizza app so I can order online from my phone...Birdcalls sound like LOTS of fun...And by the way...you do NOT look 65, girlfriend!!

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  27. This made me laugh...I will be 60 in Oct so when someone ask I tell them 60...makes me SO mad when they don't even question it!! i'm going to upgrade to semi-smart phone in June...not really looking forward to it but want a key board cuz I do love texting...so much less invasive for me.

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