San Dimas Prep

The year 2000 (for those of you who weren't already a grown-up at the time), was a very interesting time to be in the technology business. Everyone was working feverishly to correct software code that was presumed to be incompatible with Y2K (Year 2000). Lots of technology guys made their millions working toward this date. Thousands of programmers sat awake at their keyboards and watched the clock strike "twelve" on 12/31/1999 with their fingers crossed.

As it turned out, for the most part, it was much-a-do-about-nothing.

Around the same time, I felt like I was out on the bleeding edge of technology. We were digitizing and processing paper documents and extracting the data to use in ways that we didn't fully understand even as we were in the middle of it. I spent much of my time hosting seminars talking about the future of technology. I also attended several seminars presented by other forward thinking technologists who were describing a world were the computer would no longer be a computing tool, but instead a connecting tool. They talked about having a hand-held device that you could use to keep your "digital" calendar on and it would update other devices such as your home computer and even your...cell phone! You have to remember, back in the day, phones looked more like bricks then phones

Oh yes, I had a brick phone.

And also several double breasted suits.

Prior to the brick phone, I had a bag phone. It was considered better than a car

phone because it could be moved from car to car.

The whole idea of being "connected" seemed like such a novelty.

Flash forward less than 2 short decades and we have not only seen these visions come to pass but have more information and computing power at our fingertips than once filled an entire library. And what's even more important is that every 10 year old knows how to access it better than we do.

I once heard Shaquil O'neal say that there is no reason to memorize anything that you can access with a swipe of your phone.

I use the internet all the time. Every time Kyria and I are in a conversation and one of us asks "how does this or that work", the first thing we do is reach for our smart phone. And the best part is that I can't remember the last time one of us searched for something and could not find out more than we ever wanted or needed to know about a subject.

This weekend I am doing the San Dimas Stage Race. It's always been on my bucket list. I was planning to arrive a day early to pre-ride the TT and road race courses. The TT is a 4 mile climb and the road race has a couple of tricky hills.

This morning at breakfast, as I was surfing the Interweb, I did a quick search on YouTube, looky what I found:

San Dimas Stage 1 - Glendora Mountain TT Course

San Dimas Stage 2 - Road Race Course

San Dimas Stage 3 - Pro Criterium

Back to my technology story: At one of the seminars I attended just before Y2K, the presenter described a future where a Coke machine that might be located at a remote gas station in the desert. It would have a thermostat connected to a pricing table. When the ambient temperature in the desert would rise, the Coke would become more desirable and therefor the price would automatically go up. So when it was 70 degrees a Coke would cost $1.00 but when it was 100 degrees that same Coke would cost $3.00.

I found this retro Coke machine on Ebay. 

The "Buy It Now" price is $8,999.

I am old enough to remember .10 Cokes