#60 - May Day

May 1st is May day. Its the day all the world (except the US, of course) celebrates labor day. May poles are feted in Europe. Everyone has the day off in Central America. Its also Principal appreciation day, so that makes it real important to me. Now what does this have to do with technology? Well, technology is supposed to make our jobs easier. Has it?

I have mentioned in a previous blog that PCs essentially were invented to support spreadsheet software. So certainly every accountant worth their salt will tell you that PCs have helped them to be more efficient. The Internet has brought so much information into our homes and offices. Searches that really couldn't have been done with out tremendous effort now take a few keystrokes and a click. I heard that a friends brother-in-law had passed away recently out of town. It only took 2 minutes and I had the obituary with funeral home and pertinent information up on my PC. I can't imagine how many phone calls it would have taken pre Internet.

The GPS system in my car certainly makes it easier to find new customers. That saves time and gasoline. Many of us would not even be reading this if it weren't for medical technology. The average life span has increased almost 7 years over the past 40 years. Most of the advances have to do with technology improvements to medications and diagnostic tools. We'll be sure to do several blogs on medical technology in the future.

The average office worker should be more productive with new office technology. The copiers are faster, the software more powerful, the printers now have great color graphics. I could go on and on about how the Internet helps most office workers. We certainly are becoming more of a service economy (versus manufacturing) due to technology advances (and our atrocious foreign trade policies).

So celebrate May day by hugging your PC. I think I'll hug my Principal...