You've Got (Voice)Mail

Voicemail is something rarely used but sorely missed. I recently called my son, and his outgoing message was his 8-year-old voice when he first got an iPhone and happily set up his voicemail. I am sure he doesn't know how to change his outgoing message or even retrieve his voicemail, for that matter. I soon realized that all of my kids have not bothered to change their outgoing message from the initial set-up, and now I miss and long for those lost voices. Whenever I call my stepmother's home phone, and she isn't available, I get to hear my deceased father's voice booming, "Can you please leave a message? Thanks." Sure I have plenty of videos of my father and kids with their voices, but something is reassuring about the short simplicity of a voicemail message. To be honest, I have even saved an incoming message from my father that I listen to from time to time. It is special because it is addressed to me by him. I guess I am just feeling nostalgic this time of year; oh well!

This week's Loupe is dedicated to time ... past, present and future!

SlyDial

To date myself even further, SlyDial was the first Loupe I shared. Most of you probably didn't see it because I sent it to only a handful of people. I wrote that fateful email in October of 2015. ... OMG!!!! Regardless SlyDial is an app that allows you to call a friend and be sent directly to their voicemail. I assume one might want to do this to hear their voice. Maybe that person is so very busy, and you don't want to bother them. Or maybe, you just want credit for making the call and starting a game of phone tag. Truth be told, this only works on people of a certain age that actually answer calls or access their voicemail. We all know it's a lot easier to text anyway!

You're Getting Old
Website

In case you were wondering, you and I both are getting older. My son even calls me "Old Man!" once in a while, ok, all the time, I stop and think, "What the hell happened?" I guess my mind feels young, my body feels old, and my face age-appropriate. I know this is all relative and very much in my head, so I found a source to set me straight.

This website puts your age in perspective, in the most peculiar of ways. It tells you how many days old you are and how many candles you have blown out to date; that's the easy stuff. Then, it takes you through your life with trivia from your birth year forward to contextualize the years.

This is what it told me ....
As an infant
26th May 1972 The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (you were 1 month old)
1st Sep 1972 Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky in a chess match in Reykjavík, Iceland (you were 4 months old)
29th Nov 1972 Atari releases the arcade video game Pong (you were 7 months old)
5th Jan 1973 Aerosmith release their first album (you were 9 months old)
3rd Apr 1973 The first handheld mobile phone call is made by Martin Cooper of Motorola (you were 11 months old)

There is much more to unpack here ... so enjoy it or not! Btw, you can do for others and provide them a little birthday trivia on their special day!

Calendly

Scheduling time with others can be an exercise in frustration. Trust me, try booking anything with my wife! The back and forth typically required to schedule a meeting with someone requires at least 4 emails, many times more. I have been searching for a better way to manage my time, and I have used many. The one that stands out isn't new, but I think it's the best solution out there ... Calendly. The critical observation they have made is that if you want to meet then you can allow the other party to choose a time from your calendar that works for them. This way, you can specify blocks of time that work for you and give them the appearance of control when they pick what's best for them. Of course, Calendy syncs with your calendar (all of your calendars) and you can specify all the details of the meeting in advance. You can even set up a variety of templates like 'Friday lunches,' 'Early weekday Dinner,' or '15 minute chat after my afternoon coffee' --- the options are limitless!

Old Enough!

I am not sure where/when I stumbled onto this Netflix show. It follows very young children in Japan being tasked with doing errands for the very first time. The reason it is so astounding is the amount of responsibility given to the children by the parents. The reason it's addicting is that it makes me think of my own children (the same ones from the voicemail) and my own parenting. Never, ever, would I have sent my children on such tasks at such a young age ... certainly not without my wife's approval? These children are walking next to busy roads, encountering strangers, etc; all the things that we feared for our children living in a big city! Nonetheless, it is heartwarming to see the children rise to the task (or not) and the parents granting them the trust to complete the task. It is very much a travelogue of Japan and it will bring many of you back to a time and place where you wondered if your child was Old Enough! Somehow when you start watching this show, you can't stop --- my family is super fans.

Here's to realizing (and accepting) the fact that we are aging (dinosaurs) and consider SlyDial, You're Getting Old, Calendly, and Old Enough! Found!