Loving the present

When I leave my house, I can lock the doors from my car after I leave via my phone.  I can change the temperature if I forgot to set it in the same manner.  When I return home, I can set the temperature to my level of comfort as I begin my trip, unlock the door right before I arrive, and check a video feed from the camera showing the entrance for the amount of time I set for review.  Setting the alarm and disarming it also happens from my phone.

When I want to go somewhere, I can start my car right from my phone, unlock the car doors, set the temperature ( a great feature to have on 100 degree days), set the position of the seat, tell the GPS my location if I need it, and turn on the radio station of my choice.  Driving isn't what it used to be.

When I get ready to talk to anyone from my house, I can call them from my computer for face to face visits.  I have two applications that will do this.  Or, I can send them texts from my keyboard, if I am in a hurry.  Of course, if I am not on my computer, I can do the same from my phone.

Radio listening isn't what it used to be either.  I can use it if I need it, but listening to streaming music from preprogrammed playlists is more the norm.  And, natrurally, I don't have to be in my car or near a radio.  I only have to have my phone to stream in music.  I can use my own playlists or I can click on a particular set of related songs by theme, by genre, by artist, or by date.  Pandora, Rdio, Spotify are good examples of the streaming available anywhere, anytime.

If I'm bored, I can watch videos from my phone.  If I am headed out of town, I can catch the weather by app or by video report.  If I want to set an alarm, I merely set the time and the tone I want to awake by.  If I have appointments, I check my calendar and schedule - on my phone, where else?  I receive alerts from as many social media sources as I want to be alerted by.  And, if I am a gamer, I'm in hog heaven.  I have thousands of choices by pressing an icon.

One of my favorite features is banking by phone.  I can get any number of assorted of alerts, such as balance alerts or withdrawal alerts.  Transfers are handy.  A couple of times I have transferred money from savings to checking before paying a bill at a restaurant.  Depositing checks and paying other people are two other great uses of this feature.

I look forward to the future.  I can't imagine being more comfortable or having it more convenient.  I'm a little nostalgic tonight.  I'll just check out Picasa (Google +1 now) and look at some of the albums I have stored there.  It should be a good evening.