Love letter to the nerds and dreamers-up of technology

A few days ago, I had a new idea that needed graphics and I lamented my lack of drawing skills and even wondered who I might hire to help bring the idea to life. In the meantime, I decided to sketch out the idea on Keynote (Mac’s version of PowerPoint).

One thing led to another … first a stick figure that tickled me, and then some whimsical landscape photos, free with a trial from Adobe Stock, and even a dragon who had no business being there but insisted on his space on the page. Two days later, high on creative flow, my idea was ready for prime time.  I had to laugh.

Just days ago, a friend and I were bemoaning Technology Hell and I even posted a question about how we might deal with the feelings of frustration and incompetence that floods us when we hit a technology wall in our struggle to complete a project. 

Now, I’m in love again. My entire creative life is a result of technology … cameras, Photoshop, desktop publishing, layout tools, online magazine platforms, book publishers and marketers. We’ve come so far from those first word processors and spreadsheets. 

I’m delighted and grateful to have experienced much of this technology explosion, from an odd, little board a nerd friend gave me to “play with” through the whiz-bang, double floppy-drive he later built and sold me that took up half of my desk space. Lug-ables, portables, laptops, towers, dial-up modems to personal hotspots. I have loved almost every technology gadget that opened a new door.

I am so grateful for all the nerds and designers, coders and thinkers, capitalists and entrepreneurs, as well as all the pizza makers that kept them fed and all the janitors who cleaned up their messes. Trying to thank all the people who touched my last two days of joyful technology-based creativity would take years, so I’m just sending this love letter out over the mysterious presence we call the Internet and hope at least some of you feel properly thanked.

And, for all you recipients of these gifts … what is your favorite technology tool?