Donna Matthews

Tag: cup of coffee

  • I love my technology but…

    …my mother has always called me “gadget girl”, because I am constantly looking for the latest and greatest tech BUT sometimes it does let me down. I’m sure you have all experienced this numerous times and it makes you feel frustrated. When this happens to me I try to remember what it was like before mobile phones, tablets, and the Internet. This usually works however this time it did not.

    I live in the UK but was born in the US and I do follow baseball when my team makes it to the postseason. I have every sports package on the planet because I love most sports. Yesterday was game one of the baseball World Series and the first pitch was scheduled for well after midnight. Gadget Girl made sure the recording was set up (checked twice) because I hate it if I record the non-HD channel by mistake. I went to bed safe in the knowledge that the game would be recorded and ready for me to watch in the morning.

    I grew up a Yankees fan but after the move to Texas and the Rangers joining the league I slowly switched to the local team. This is the Ranger’s first trip to the World Series since 2011 so it is a big deal.

    I woke up thing morning armed myself with a cup of coffee and settled in front of the telly. The game was back and forth after the Ranger’s early lead. The Diamond Backs rallied and took the lead. Late in the game the Ranger’s tied the score and forced the game into extra innings. It is now crunch time, bottom of the 10th inning with the score still tied. It breaks to the 4,000th commercial of the game and STOPS! I am sitting there with my mouth open, staring at the frozen telly. No, I could not think about what it was like before you could record games or what life was like before self driving vacuum cleaners!

    I started this blog with the fact the I love technology BUT sometimes it can drive you absolutely nuts. We are in 2023, men have walked on the moon, there is an active space programme to take a crew to Mars, AI that is so good you don’t know it isn’t real. So why can’t TV providers figure out a way to put a buffer at the end of games!! I had to grab my iPad and look up the score, all the while not taking a single breath. Through squinted eyes I saw the final score and let out that breath. We won in the 11th inning. Which was great news but it would have been nice to see it.

    Here is a recommendation to broadcasters, why don’t you put some of the pre-match build up time to post match summary to avoid this happening? I know that there will always be games that go to multiple inning or extra time but surely in this day and age we should be able to solve this problem!

  • Snowy morning

    Ah, we woke up this morning to a see the village covered in a lovely, crisp blanket of snow. The village church looked stunning in its finest coat of white. It is amazing how a week ago the snow in Rome was causing so much trouble even finding somewhere open to have a meal or a cup of coffee. The fact the it snows at home is much more fun. I was so excited when I looked outside to see 3+ inches of the white stuff. It was like when I was a kid again. The one major difference is in our new world of technology and remote connectivity it does not mean a day off. But that is okay because I can still work while enjoying my cup of hot chocolate! Just because we grow up physically does not mean that kid is no longer inside of us. I think it is important even as a “grown up” to have a snowball fight or ride a sled down the closest hill. It makes us better people when we can have fun. It puts things like work stress and the day to day stresses of our modern lives into perspective. So, if it snowed where you are go out and throw some snowballs or take the sled out (if you don’t have do what you would have done as a kid, get a trash can lid or piece of cardboard). If you don’t have snow today do something else fun, something you have not done in years. Believe me, you will feel better for it. You might even forget about your worries for a bit. Enjoy!