Manual Labor

I think I have figured out why there are so many trees growing in your town and mine.  That big old beech tree, the pine down the street, and the weeping Willow Smith in the park...all are signs that we are not cutting down trees like we used to do. 

Because we sure aren't using the trees to make paper to print owners' manuals for new devices!

It was time to upgrade our phones the other day and we are tickled to death with our new Galaxy S5, not to be confused with the curiously misspelled Ford Galaxie popular among Mayberry's law enforcement community.  And it was time to get a new iPod for me.  

Neither of these fine devices came with more than a rudimentary pamphlet that mainly said to turn them on and use them and don't let the battery get all run down, although our friend at the Verizon store did a great job helping us to set up the phones.

The iPod wouldn't sync to the music on my iTunes so I got a cup of iTea and picked up my non-iPhone to call the good people at Apple, where I was greeted with, "Hello, Mark!  I see you recently purchased an iPod Nano...Is this the device you are calling about today?" This is was impressive, and I'll bet you if you were to call KFC, they wouldn't answer with your name or know that  you recently purchased a 12-piece bucket.

And the nice lady served me a nice bowl of Apple sauce and plenty of information. We got the tiny music box 1/2 filled with tunes that you aren't lucky to hear elsewhere, and she reminded me that help is always available on line these days.

I guess printed instruction manuals are passé now, which is good for the trees and the recycling stations. I don't think many people ever read them, anyway.