The
Tortoise and the Hare
Chris
S. Coray, The Un-Muddled Mathematician
 |
| The Un-muddled mathematician &wife |
Nobody has ever accused me of being fast. I belong to the slow talkers, slow walkers,
and slow learner societies of America.
This has caused me to compensate by trying to think and plan way ahead
so that I’m not too far behind. For
example, if I start preparing now (and I
have), I will be ready for what the Mayans predict will be the end of the world
in 2012, Woops, I guess I didn’t plan
early enough on that one.
In high school I would have been a heck of a fullback except
it took me 7 seconds to reach the line of scrimmage. By then the grass had grown enough that my
cleats would get tangled up and I’d fall whether tackled or not.
So I have always sympathized with the tortoise. Except in my life there were no first place
finishes. Since moving to Bear Lake I
have been the tortoise to the Muddled Male in virtually every facet of
life. Especially technology. Somehow Bob has been able to convince Ann
that newest and most wonderful gizmo just developed is exactly what he needed
and that life as we know it would end if acquisition of this gadget was
delayed. I know for a fact that while he
had an IPhone 4s compared to his son Tom’s IPhone 5, Bob was not at peace. This must have seemed an eternity until he
got a 5s. Then world order was
restored.
I have never caught him flat-footed or been technologically ahead
of my personal hare for even a second.
That is, until Thursday. It was
through no work or effort on my part, rather it came as a Christmas gift from
my daughter and son-in-law. When I
opened the box it just looked like a slick new yoyo. But it is not. I now own a “Nest”, a thermostat that learns
how we like our house heated, tries to save us money, is connected to the Wifi
and has software that allows me monitor the house and/or change the house furnace
settings from anywhere in the world. No
cell service is required.
It gave me great joy to tell Bob about my new toy, and the
highlight was the surprised, “What?” question from Bob. He didn’t know what a Nest was. To have him in my rear view mirror even for a
few days (like being in front of the Bear Lake land speed lady), is an unusual
experience, and will not last long. But
for a minute it was great. I was no
longer swallowing dust while treading in rabbit footprints. No doubt the papers will report that in the
final race I finished second and Bob finished next to last in our two man
marathon, but small victories are OK, too.
By the way, the Nest will also control an air conditioner.
