Stan with his friend Curt Cavanaugh (right) and the Benz.
A few months ago I wrote a column about why everyone needed to keep up with new technology. Here are a couple of stories about my recent experiences with technology.
On Boxing Day, Best Buy advertised a slew of tech stuff, including the BlackBerry Tablet at $249.95 plus shipping. Wow! But I’m not one to stand in line. Nosiree! I’m tech savvy and I go online to order.
I set up the buying process by establishing myself in the “waiting room.” At 6 pm, I’m already set to go for when the site goes live at 8 pm to order. When 8 pm comes, Visa card at the ready, I anxiously peer into the “time bar” below. After 15 minutes, I’m in and ready to order a 32 GB tablet. Another 15 minutes and I’m reviewing the order and all seems in order. Ready to go! Then, oops! The right side of my hand hits the space bar. You know what happens – the system goes back to square one. It’s now 8:35 pm and I sit quietly fuming over my lack of hand-eye co-ordination of late. About 10 minutes later, I’m in to order again. But his time, the system has defaulted to the prior order and I am now looking at an order of TWO 32 GB tablets and one 16 GB tablet.
My brows furrow and I grit my teeth and hope I can fix it. Sure enough, the site has a “review” icon. Now, one week later, I am the proud owner of the much coveted tablet that I worked so hard to get. With some exacting effort, my friend Shirley Porter helped me to “bridge” it to my aging Blackberry Bold and I’m now cool, as my young charges at the office tell me.
Some of you may know that I have been restoring a 1973 Mercedes-Benz 460 SL hardtop/convertible for the past five years. Maybe we’ll be done in another two years, unless someone buys it.
The Benz and I have some somewhat costly memories (I think I’m into it for about $20,000). I decided to take it through the automated car wash at a Petro station after retrieving it from my mechanic, who had winterized it. I’ve always taken it to the hand wash but I had an extra car wash ticket, so what the heck.
It was a little disconcerting as I entered to the rails, as we’d never done this before. I slipped the ticket into the bar reader, but nothing happened. It kept asking me to re-enter. I did so successfully, except for the fact the car was still in drive and we were propelling forward. I became so flustered that I was reaching for the window buttons on the side instead of the counsel. Water accompanied by suds flooded the car, soaking me in the bargain. Attendants came running, shouting instructions to me, stopping the wash and handing me a roll of paper towels to clean up. As I’m exiting, my wife is waiting for me in our other car. She sees soap bubbles galore and withholds her laughter until I come out again from a second car wash, this time a secured one!
Ah, the vestiges of aging! This was not a comfortable one. Why do they call it the Golden Age? It’s the forgetting and sometimes stumbling age. But nonetheless, it is rewarding still to be able to share some “intimate” details and stories of your humble REM writer.
Happy 2012! May all your dreams come true and may you all enjoy good health and prosperity.
Stan Albert, broker/manager, ABR, ASA at Re/Max Premier in Vaughan, Ont. can be reached for consultation at stanalb@rogers.com. Stan is now celebrating 40 years as an active real estate professional.
Stan Albert, ABR, ASA is a consultant with Re/Max Premier in Vaughan, Ont. He can be reached for consultation by email. Stan is now celebrating his 45th year as an active real estate professional.
