Didn’t you love that YouTube video I posted yesterday that had all of the AT&T predictions way back in 1993? They all seem so routine now that it’s hard to imagine that there was a time when our cell phones weren’t computers. Hell, there was a time when there was no such thing as a cell phone. Even in those commercials, when the woman told her baby goodnight from miles away, she was doing it in a phone booth with push buttons.

I know baby boomers remember distinctly when we didn’t carry a little computer/cell phone along in our pockets. I remember that we had one telephone in our house, and it was in the kitchen. It was in a little nook where there was also a pencil and paper to take messages. Gloor residence, Kris speaking was the way I answered our telephone. Kids: BECAUSE THERE WERE NO VIDEOS SO YOU DIDN’T KNOW TO WHOM YOU WERE SPEAKING. I also remember that in order to speak to my boyfriend, I had to take the phone — with its exceptionally long, curly cord — down the hall and into the bathroom (our only bathroom, by the way) and close the door. Even then I wasn’t a big phone talker, but nevertheless, there were times when my mother would have to knock on the bathroom door and point out that there others in the household who may be waiting for a call or needing to make a call. The phone was red, so we were Cool McCool.

The other day, I was driving to the UPS store to return a package. Because I am still relatively unfamiliar with our neighborhood, I had my phone hooked to Apple Car Play, and was letting the nice computer woman from Apple Maps tell me where to go. Everything was going well until she got to the inevitable In 1,000 feet, turn left.

That’s where I lose Missy every time. Truth is, I haven’t the foggiest idea how to measure 1,000 feet in my head. She really might as well be saying turn in the direction of the continent of Africa. I don’t know what direction Africa is from the Highlands Ranch UPS store. And, to tell the truth, unless the Rocky Mountains are in full sight, don’t even THINK about telling me to go west (or north, south, or east), because I have no sense of direction. I’m always in big trouble in AZ because the mountains (such as they are) are all around the city. Directions do me no good unless they include words like right or left. I’m good on those.

Having said all of that, I think GPS is one of the best advances made to date. Well, of course there was the printing press and electricity, but both were before my time. Though the grandkids might doubt it, I was not around when monks were printing the Bible by hand. But to be able to have a device that tells me how to get from point A to point B (and with Car Play, I can even look at the map) makes me very happy. Though I am a lover of maps in general, I have awful memories of being the navigator as Bill and I drove in unfamiliar places with a map crumpled up on my lap and me shouting at him, “You were supposed to turn left at that intersection” and him hollering back, “Well it would have been nice if you had told me that’s where I needed to turn.” Now we just get mad at Apple.

Because really, at the end of the day, Apple likely has a hand in everything that goes wrong.