John Scalzi's Weekend Assignment #154: Your Car Or Your Computer

"If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1000 MPG."

-Bill Gates

Weekend Assignment #154: Your Car or Your Computer: You must pick one. Which one do you choose? Yes! You must choose between the car - beloved icon of American greatness and freedom - and the computer - the defining machine of the 21st century. If you choose the car, you do not get to touch a computer again, except for basic work related purposes at work. If you choose the computer, no more personal wheels for you. And for those of you in a two-car family, there none of this "oh, I'll just ride in my spouse's car" stuff. Any rides you bum have to be outside your immediate family. Similarly, no using the spouse's or kid's computers, and those of you with super-enabled cell phones will henceforth use them only for phone calls. No Web-browsing, e-mail or text messaging. See, no it;s gotten harder, hasn't it?

Extra Credit: Which was more expensive: Your first car, or your most recent computer?

-John Scalzi (By The Way)

Car? Computer? What's a girl to do? Both objects mean a lot to me, however neither means everything to me. Sigh. Here are the pros and cons of both...

Car - Pros

1. My car takes me to all the beautiful places in the Bay Area, such as Fort Point, next to the Golden Gate Bridge.

2. My car is handy should an emergency occur, and I need to get to Alan.

3. My car takes me on my photo jaunts, and gets me out of the house, and into life.

Car - Cons

1. Gas is way to expensive.

2. Driving can be a bit scary in the Bay Area... lots of tense people on the road.

3. I was in a serious car accident when I was 16, I can sometimes still hear the sounds of it.

Computer - Pros

1. I have met some amazing people on the Internet, that I never would have, had the computer not been at my disposal. I really love my Internet friends. :)

2. I can keep in touch with friends and family who have moved out of my life, a lot easier this way.

3. I have a digital camera, which is in fact, now a part of my actual body. To own a digital camera, without a computer, would be silly, and make sharing photos a lot more difficult. So having a computer helps me realize my creativity a lot easier.

Computer - Cons

1. Sometimes, the time spent on my computer eats into time I could be spending out in the real world. And by real world, I simply mean, enjoying a pretty sunset, or seeing friends. Time in computer time seems to flow differently... it can get away from you, and before you know it, things have changed all around you.

2. Sometimes computers die, terrible, grizzly deaths, for no apparent reason. This is never good. And it is always expensive to just up and replace one at a moment's notice.

3. Ever see the Sandra Bullock movie, "The Net?" It had it's far fetched moments to be sure, but one thing is true, the computer does store a lot, if not most, of our information. Where we live, where we bank, who our friends are. And now Americans are, in fact, being watched regularly by our own government. EEEEEKKKK. Hackers, malicious virus creators, identity theft perpetrators, it can be a weird world sometimes, and let's face it, the computer has in some cases, made it easier for bottom dwellers to wreak a good deal of havoc on our lives.

My Choice In The Car v. Computer Debate?

"The car has become a secular sanctuary for the individual, his shrine to the self, his mobile Waldon Pond."

-Edward McDonagh

I have to go with my car. I love getting outside, and seeing the sights of the Bay Area. If you have been reading me for any length of time, you know that I would rather take photographs then breathe. I love my digital camera, but I also enjoy my good old-fashioned film camera. So, if I have to live without either a computer or a car... I am afraid the computer will have to go. Besides, hopefully whatever friends I have made on the Internet, might keep in touch with me by snail mail, and as for the family and friends who have moved away... ::smile:: ... in a perfect world, if we are important to each other, we will find a way to keep in touch, or we will simply, finally, let go. Life is for living, and at this point in my life, for the first time, in a long time, I kinda like the real world. Besides, look at my car Lilith... isn't she lovely?

Extra Credit: My first car, that was mine all mine, was a 1999 Saturn SL1. It was most definitely more expensive than my first computer.

""They think they can make fuel from horse manure... Now I don't know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it's a sure gonna put a stop to siphoning."

-Billie Holiday

-OndineMonet
"Lilith At The Bridge"
Ft Point
San Francisco, California
Late Summer, 2006