Here's the way it works: My ability to be high-tech while traveling
increases arithmetically while the ability of the rest of the world
increases geometrically.
I had what I thought was a breakthrough last week. I figured out
how to access my e-mail from an airport club. I can hear you
laughing because you've probably been doing this for months, if not
years.
But for me, discovering that I could hook up my laptop in the
little workstation, dial an 800 number and work on my e-mail while
waiting for my flight was something akin to Edison's inventing the
light bulb.
Feeling triumphant at my newly acquired knowledge, I boarded the
flight and found myself next to a chap who was wearing what
appeared to be a fancy cigarette lighter on a chain around his
neck.
When the moment came for the flight attendants to ensure that
everyone turned off cell phones, CD players and the like, she asked
the fellow what the device was and he said it was an MP3
player.
He then proceeded to explain to me, in vain I might add, the
intricacies of downloading MP3 files from his PC to this little
machine so that he could listen to music without dragging a bunch
of CDs along on his travels. This fellow, who did not appear to be
Japanese, also spoke that language fluently so he has completely
left me in his dust.
The high-tech stuff accompanying frequent fliers these days is
amazing. A few weeks back, I spotted a fellow across the aisle with
what appeared to be a CD player but turned out to be a DVD
player.
On a flight where there was no movie shown, he simply took this
neat little baby out, selected a movie from his collection, and
watched his own flick. I tried to catch a few scenes but I couldn't
make out the screen from where I was sitting.
I occasionally write on my laptop or make a call, at no small
expense, while traveling by air and still consider those events to
be wondrous things.
But these other folks are so far ahead of me that it's
humiliating.
Ah, the hell with it, I'll just read my book.