RunawayTrader

One of the pitfalls of reaching, and passing middle-age is the propensity of oldsters to reminisce about “how things used to be,” and their graying recollections are usually colored by tales of trudging through 6-feet of snow to reach a one-room schoolhouse or how they used to ride streetcar trolleys and listen to Gangbusters or Fred Allen on Admiral radios as big as dishwashers.

But not all oldsters are given to such unrequited nostalgia. And while I have no data to back it up, I think today’s pace of change, particularly technological change, almost forces everybody, not only seniors, to stay current.

Case in point. I’ve remarked in a couple of recent blogs that I’ve really grown close to my smartphone, and in addition to be a must-have appliance for runaway traders, it enables me to diddle away my leisure time checking out most any thought that flits into my empty head—whether from a living room easy chair, a restaurant (who was that actor who did the sendup of Linda Tripp on Saturday Night Live and is it available on YouTube?), or in bed.

Last night, for example, I was watching Letterman beneath a cozy comforter when it dawned on me (yes, dawned) that soon, smartphones will enable you to do most anything: start your car when it’s -20 degrees outside and you’re still 3 blocks from the ramp where you parked; buy a bowl of soup from a passing dabbawalla in remote India, or record a TV program back home in Minneapolis while I’m digging for gold with those garimpeiros at right in Brazil’s Serra Pelada.

Not yet–but soon. What specifically dawned on me before I dozed off (talk about flitting ideas) was whether or not WordPress, the software that powers this blog and a jillion others, has caught up with the iPhone. Or vice versa.

Dumb question. Of course it has. And I noted this revelation on my calendar for Tuesday’s “to-do” list. First thing this morning I downloaded a WordPress smartphone plug-in and voilá, the RunawayTrader is now available in an iPhone-friendly format. Check it out. The iPhone version can even display those intrusive Google ads, but it does not contain my other sidebar stuff. Still, it’s a welcome addition for those regulars who simply must follow this home or away (probably in some asylum somewhere).

Ain’t technology wonderful? I hope I’m around to for a hundred years just to see where we’re really headed, or Dec. 21, 2012—whichever comes first.

Charlie, the Runaway Trader