Telephone

Last night we decided that I would be staying home with Luke instead of all of us going into Brooklyn parade grounds for the soccer tournament.   First off, Luke’s heel is hurting and appears to have flared up again after training and playing a lot of soccer this winter.  With the iffy weather this morning, we thought it best if Sue go into Brooklyn without us.   This afternoon the weather cleared, and the sun is shining.  Fortunately, by the time Sue and Kyle made it to parade grounds, the clouds were clearing.

I went to Unique fitness for a quick workout, then once back home threw on a load of laundry, heated up some leftover pizza for Luke and I, and basically lazily hung around a little.  I just remembered that I am taking Luke to church tonight, so I had better plan dinner either early or late.

Decided to make a batch of meatballs, which will be ready to reheat later when we get back home.  If Sue is hungry, she can reheat as well when she gets back from Brooklyn.  So far, game one is a loss 2-1 and game two is scheduled for 4:10 this afternoon.   Sue has been keeping me up to date via txt.  Does anyone use their cell phones to talk ?

This day in history “Alexander Graham Bell is born”  Scottish-American inventor of the telephone. Bell's career was influenced by his grandfather (who published The Practical Elocutionist and Stammering and Other Impediments of Speech), his father (whose interest was the mechanics and methods of vocal communication) and his mother (who was deaf). As a teenager, Alexander was intrigued by the writings of German physicist Hermann Von Helmholtz, On The Sensations of Tone. At age 23 he moved to Canada. In 1871, Bell began giving instruction in Visible Speech at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes. This background set his course in developing the transmission of voice over wires. He cofounded Bell Telephone Co in 1877. With his father-in-law, he re-established the journal Science (1882.

The telephone and the Bell companies changed the way the world communicates.  To this day, it is perhaps one of the world’s greatest inventions.  Most of don’t use the standard, wired or land line that the first phones used.  There are probably more cell phones, and telephones that operate as VoIP (Voice over IP).  Vonage, and almost all the major xBell companies, cable companies offer unlimited calling plans.  These magically get digitized and transmitted over the internet, and once at their receiving end, they get reconstructed into analog signals and back onto the modern day phone receiver in our homes.

Does anyone remember having to call home from a pay phone ?   The term, “drop a dime” meant calling from a payphone to rat someone out….I recall checking the payphones for spare change, as every now and then, when you hit the coin return lever, you would get rewarded with a nickel, dime, or quarter.  Now you can find these pay phones in airports, train stations, etc.  but very few other places…better have a pocket full of quarters or your credit card or calling card ready…10cents just won’t cut it anymore.

Sue and Kyle get home just before 7pm, and Kyle rushes to shower and change so he can go to his friends sweet 16 party.   Sue drives him to the party, and I make chocolate chips cookies for Luke, and chocolate pudding for Sue (nice dinner). 

I will be taking Kyle to soccer in Brentwood tomorrow morning, so Sue will pick up Kyle later tonight, no doubt while I am starting to doze off.  I am the early bird, so no problem with tomorrow’s early start.

Photo of the day “Telephone”