Sunday, March 13, 2011

Temple Visit

I went and visited the Manti Temple yesterday. It was the first time in a long time that I've gone to the temple to do work for someone. I've been to a few weddings recently, and those are nice, but I felt better doing work for someone else. The guy I got endowed for was named William C. Perry. He was born in Texas in 1875, I guess they couldn't find a death date because it wasn't printed on the card. He was probably a cowboy. He became an adult at a time of major technological advances. Steam engines, automobiles, airplanes, modern manufacturing practices, automatic pistols, rifles and machine guns.

I guess I've lived in a similar time. When I was born, CD's were brand new technology, there weren't cell phones, there were CB radios. The internet was a military experiment involving Stanford, MIT, and the University of Utah. Video phones were a special effect in Star Trek movies.

Cameras used film, and the fancy ones would advance the film automatically after each shot. Now you can fit a telephone in your pocket, and can use skype to see the face of the person you are talking to. Phones can take pictures now, the only people who use film are artists who have time to make chemical prints. Photoshop is a computer program now, not a workshop where you develop pictures. You can now buy TV's that have a better picture than some people are capable of with their own eyes.

The computer I'm using is not physically attached to anything, just sitting here on my lap. The first test of the internet was a text message that crashed the internet halfway through. Now I can upload HD videos to youtube, and there are millions of videos on youtube.

So hopefully William C. Perry's existence is more enriched now, mine certainly is. I really should go more often. All the stuff I let get in the way really isn't worth much.