Born-Again Nerd

Being of a certain age, 53, I am what marketers and demographers call a Baby Boomer. Born in 1957, I'm on the tail-end of the post-war Baby Boom, almost tipping into the next generation, whatever that is...Generation Why?

Also, being a bit of an avowed leftie, for years I resisted mobile phones because I didn't want to feed the big corporations that were thrusting useless consumer goods upon us for profit to the detriment of the Earth.

But a couple of years ago, my wife got a new mobile phone and I inherited her old one which was given to us originally by a friend. It is decidedly low-tech in comparison to the 2010 models, but I did discover the nifty convenience of texting.

Obsessive texting was seen as the preserve of the teenager and, although I don't send 100 texts a day like many teens, it has proved very handy at times, even my meagre 1-10 texts a day.

I've always (as a writer) seen the labour-saving convenience of the personal computer, but when we bought an Apple IMac, my nerdish tendencies were born. It can do so many amazing things! God bless those geeks toiling away in Silicon Valley and elsewhere.

Take as one small example. I wanted to email some song lyrics I'd written years ago to a potential new-found musical collaborator. They were typewritten on an actual typewriter. Previously, I'd have to travel to our public library, pay to photocopy the lyrics and then post them snail mail.

Now, thanks to the lovely Apple IMac, I can scan them from a scanner into the IMac, save them as PDFs and attach them in an email to my potential collaborator. Mucho time and work saved!

You're thinking..."Big deal. So what. Get a life." But I'm thinking: "Thank you, Saint Steve Jobs, here's a prayer of gratitude from a Born-Again Nerd."