Robin loves gadgets.  Anything electronic, he is into it. Some people think this is because he uses a lot of equipment to help him "see" the world, but the the truth is that he has always been interested in the latest thing the tech world has to offer.

I like technology too.  It is always fun to see new all the new devices out there. As you might guess, however, there is one fundamental difference between how Robin and I use devices.  Probably the best example of this in our cell phones (although you could substitute computers, TV remotes--pretty much anything that runs on electricity or batteries).

I want my cell phone to do what I need it to do.  I have a Palm Treo. Until recently I had a Palm that was three years old.  Okay, it was looking a little beat up around the edges, but it still worked.  The software still worked on my computer, everything synched up the way I wanted.  I could never get the email part to work, but that was not a big issue for me since being connected to my email 24/7 is not my idea of a wise decision in the first place.  I took great pride in the fact that I had the oldest working cell phone in the house.

Robin, on the other hand, always wants the latest and greatest.  He is never content to just have the device do what he needs it to do, he wants to see the absolute maximum it can do.  Every function, every corner of memory, every possible connection.  As you also might guess, Robin is physically hard on his devices.  (He blames the fact that he's blind, but I think he has probably always been hard on things because of how he uses them.)  Sometimes I think he does this to have an excuse to get new stuff.  My personal favorite was when he was getting in the car, his cell phone fell out of the holder on his belt and he slammed the car door shut just as the cell phone landed between the door and the car--smashing it to bits.  Wouldn't you know it, that particular model was discontinued so we just have to get the upgrade!  But I digress.

Using devices to the maximum is not necessarily a bad thing.  But Robin is very dependent on his devices, so he gets very frustrated when something goes wrong.  He gets even more frustrated when he calls tech support and get the "wow, I didn't even know it could do that" response.  If Robin ever decides to do something beside network marketing, I think I should sign him up as the tester for Microsoft, Verizon, or some other techy type company.  All this soon leads to bad behavior (see earlier blog) and pretty soon UPS is at our door with a new package!

The bottom line is, Robin knows how to get the maximum out of his devices, his people, and his companies.  He will alway push to get the highest performance.  Sometimes there are unintended breakdowns, but he always manages to find a solution, even if it means getting a new model.

Hmm...guess I better make sure I'm functioning at my maximum potential so he doesn't trade me in for an upgrade! 

Thanks for reading!