Ode To The Mini-Van
I spent much of my youth growing up in Detroit – the motor city – and I have always found it strange that although car companies will tell you that women are the final decision makers when buying a vehicle, they still have not figured out how to market to us. They either try to appeal to our sense of style/color or they try to tell us that it is cheap. Listen up Detroit! First of all I could care less what color my car is. Outside of avocado green or neon pink it is really not a deciding factor in buying a car. Second, although I’m interested in price (obviously) it is not the only thing that interests me. Marketing anything tech related to women is all about FUNCTION. What is it going to do FOR ME? And will it make my life easier or one more thing I’ve got to wash and feed? This brings me to my second most important Mommy tech item that I own (my iPhone remains at the #1 spot), my Honda Odyssey.
Now, in the world of mini-vans and soccer Moms the Honda Odyssey is the Cadillac of mini-vans and I must admit that I LOVE MY HONDA ODYSSEY. I was one of those women who swore up and down that I would never drive a mini-van. That I would rather have every shred of my cool persona stripped from me than be caught dead in a mini-van. As a result I drove a Ford Expedition. I actually drove two Ford Expeditions – one used, one new. I hated it. It was a big, huge, mammoth vehicle to drive. It sat so high off the ground that getting small children in and out was nothing less than a Herculean effort. I felt like my kids were so far away from me in the back seat that I really needed some sort of messaging system in order to talk to them. It guzzled gas (at one point costing me $75 to fill the tank) and It was difficult to fit into the driveway. And then, I herniated my back. The doctor was clear; “you cannot lift or carry your children. EVER.” That was it. How was I going to get my 18 month old son into his car seat in the Expedition if I couldn’t lift or carry him? While recovering at my in-laws house David surprised me by purchasing our first mini-van. I had no choice.
Since that fateful summer I have become a convert. An evangelist for the glory of the mini-van. My kids can get in and get out without my assistance. I can open all of the doors with a flick of a button. The built in mirror lets me keep an eye on them in the backseat. They are close enough to the front that I can reach behind with one hand and give them a juice box and still drive with the other hand. I can quickly dispatch the “look of terror” and espouse threats from the front and enforce order in the back. The back seats easily fold down to carry large items and when the seats are up the trunk is sunken in to ensure that your groceries don’t go flying all over the trunk (something the Expedition most definitely didn’t have). Honda understands Moms and the Odyssey is proof of that. The gas mileage is reasonable, and the engine has enough “get up and go” that even David isn’t embarrassed to drive it. It is big enough that it can tow our jetski and small enough that I don’t have to worry about it not fitting in the garage.
Whether I’ve lost my “cool” factor by succumbing to this item I don’t know and I no longer care. What I have discovered is that mini-van owners have an understanding. We look each other in the eye and give a nod that says, “it may not look cool but this is the best damn vehicle I’ve ever owned”.
iPhone Applications For You And Me
I’ve discussed before my absolute, complete, and utter adoration of my iPhone. Up until recently cell phone technology has held little interest for me. While some people mastered all the many function of their cell phones I used mine only as a phone. Then it happened – David bought me an iPhone and my life has forever been changed. I frequently tell people that next to my mini-van (which I’ll discuss in a later Tech ‘o Beth feature) my iPhone is my absolute most necessary mommy device. From the simple ability to balance multiple calendars on one phone (this way David and I are always in sync and never have to worry about double-booking each other) to the convenience of being able to take photos of the kids and instantly email them to my parents. I love, love, love this device and if you don’t own one you must do whatever it takes to get one in your possession. (and I mean ANYTHING!!)
One of the coolest things about the iPhone is the ability to download applications that cover everything and anything you can think of, from a menstrual cycle tracker to games that can entertain your kids. Here is a short list of five of my “must-have” applications for the iPhone:
1.) Restaurant Nutrition by Healthy & Fit Communities
Restaurant Nutrition by Healthy & Fit Communities
This little application provides you with the menu and nutritional information for almost all the major chain restaurants. Trying to figure out whether a Big Mac is better for you than a Quarter Pounder? Well, you can find that information here. Want to decide if you should take your kids to Chilis or Boston Market? You can see what their menus have from this little device. It also allows you to map the nearest location of any of the restaurants listed (I use this all the time to find an Arby’s. They never seem to be close). I love this application for its ease of use and the fact that it is always updating with new information and data. I feel so much more empowered to make smart food selections for my kids with this application at my fingertips. The best part? It’s FREE. That is right, it is one of the many free applications you can download for the iPhone.
2.) Facebook & Twitterific
As a blogger I like to keep in constant contact with my blogging peeps. My online community is a big deal to me and almost every tool that I use online to stay connected has an iPhone app that can be easily downloaded and used. This is a no-brainer, but these are also two apps I use every day, every hour.
3.) Flixster
The number one thing David and I like to do on date nights is go to the movies. However, we are notorious for not deciding on a film or a time until we are half-way through dinner. Usually I’m the one frantically trying to print the film listings from my computer as we race out the door. Now, no more worries. Flixster allows you to identify your “favorite” theaters and see all the current films and show times. It is wonderful and alleviates so much stress from date night. You can also access trailers, descriptions and critic reviews.
Yes, I'm on a diet
4.) Lose It! by FitNow
This application allows you to set a goal weight and then determine how quickly you want to lose the weight. (1lb a week, 2lbs a week, etc). It then calculates how many calories you should eat each day. It provides you with a log where you can track your food intake and track your fitness. In addition you can customize if you want to track sodium, carbs, fat, etc. This was another free application and I love it. It is very user friendly.
5.) Games
Now, the iPhone comes with a built in iPod which is great for storing cartoons. I have saved my sanity more than once by having the ability to instantly provide my children with ten minutes of a Dora cartoon. The other component to this though are the games you can download. There are hundreds to choose from but the ones my kids like to play the most are “Rolando” by Hand Circus and “Spore” by EA. David and I are rather partial to a good electronic solitaire game and there are several word puzzles you can download. All of these are perfect for when you are waiting at the gynecologist’s office pretending that you aren’t naked and cold.
This barely touches the surface of fantastic applications for the iPhone. If you have a favorite please tell me about it in the comments section. Don’t keep great apps to yourself! Technology, for me, is all about function. What can it do for me? And I can honestly say I use EVERY SINGLE function and feature of my iPhone. If I could give every mother in the world two things it would be a cleaning lady and an iPhone.
Long Live The Book
In 1996 a large technology firm recruited me to work in online media. It was a new and exciting field and everyday people were making predictions about what role the Internet would play in our future lives. One of those predictions was that the dawn of the Internet signaled the death of the book. I remember thinking that it was a ridiculous prediction. With a graduate degree in literature and a book addiction that would rival any heroin junkie I knew this would never happen. “Non-book” people thought I was foolish, and ignorant. But it was they who were ignorant. It is they who know nothing about the love and passion that a book addict has towards their precious tomes of knowledge.
The most obvious reason why technology will never replace the book has to do with WHERE we read – in bed. Many people read in bed or on a couch and a laptop just isn’t as comfortable as a paperback. Indeed, when I was a sophomore in college my Shakespeare professor insisted that we buy all of Shakespeare’s plays in paperback instead of an anthology because he recognized this very factor. You can hold a paperback with one hand, lying down, doing yoga, breastfeeding, cooking dinner, changing diapers, etc.
Some people might suggest that Amazon’s Kindle is a replacement for the book because it is small, and can be taken to bed or read on a couch. However, you can’t write on a Kindle. Like so many bibliophiles, I write in my books. Nothing pleases me more than revisiting an old book and finding my notes, thoughts or reflections scrawled out in the margins, or even better the thoughts and ideas of somebody else.
True bibliophiles are not just interested in the stories and adventures discovered between the pages. Oh no, a true bibliophile yearns for the smell of the bookstore. They languish in the soft tranquility of the library. It is the soft touch of the pages and the visual beauty of the words. It is the smell, the feel, and the very act of holding the book that is part of the attraction. As I am typing this, books surround me. On my right is a stack of western literature textbooks and on my left paperbacks that I plan to read over the summer. My books are my adult security blanket. They provide me with the comfort of knowledge, wisdom and the answers to any question I might ever have.
I’m sure there will always be a market for e-books and for technology like the Kindle, but for me, well I’ll stick with my paperback.
