A month or so after I applied to be a Google Glass Explorer a friend of mine asked me if I had heard if I was going to be invited to be a Glass Explorer. I answered without hesitation – Oh No – that would be a life changing event for me and believe me – you would have heard from me immediately. I applied in February. I did not hear until April.

Now that I have Glass – I still believe it could represent a real life changing event for me. With it I think I can dream even bigger now! (more on that later in this post and of course in future posts). First let me give you the “going to get Glass” story.

The above Happy Face photo of me was taken as we were leaving my appointment. Notice my matching tangerine top and jewelry.

The Invitation Arrives
I was panicked for about 30 days after I saw the public notification from Google that I had been chosen to be in the program and that they would send me a private message later.    I was concerned that I would not be tech savvy enough to hangout where I was suppose to  do so to get my official come to LA or SF or NYC to pick-up your Glass invitation. Once invited you had 2 weeks to actually go and get them. Thanks to some of my fellow tech savvy Explorers they elated my fears. I am part of a special online community of Glass Explorers who were holding my hand online.

Tech developers who had the capacity to write Apps for Glass were part of the special ‘uber ‘group that got them in May. Then one night in early June at about 10:30 PM, my special page screen changed from an interested party message to – Yo if you want to join the Explorer program – send us $1500 and set your pick-up appointment now. If you want  you may invite one person to come with you.

The Pick-Up Day Arrives

A dear friend of mine and I board the plane in Portland Maine to go to the big city – NYC. I am beside myself excited. Per the suggestion of other Explorers who had already    picked-up their Glass – we start our day in NYC by going to lunch and then walking to the Glass pick-up location at Chelsea Market via the High Line (see blog post on the High Line on 07.03.13).

When we get off the 8th floor elevator, there is a reception desk where I show an ID and we are warmly greeted by several Google employees and see a few Explorers leaving with their Glass on them (keep remembering I am wildly excited). We are then ushered into an expansive room by Steve, my own personal Glass Guide, to a private table directly across from a bar where we can get non-alcoholic beverages, beer, wine or champagne. No hesitation on my part – this is a celebratory event – champagne it is. We are brought to view all the Glass color options and I confirm mine will be tangerine.

I open the box and we checkout the packaging and all the contents. Steve puts my Glass on me and suggests I tell glass to take a picture. I look at my friend Lucinda and I take my first Glass picture of her. Here’s that photo of her looking excited for me.

 

 

And this is  Steve my Glass Guide and a shot of the layout of the room we were in. Lucinda took this photo of course with my Glass.

 

 

Why Would You Pay Google $1500 to get Glass?

I can give you 4 good reasons right off the bat.

1)  I was destined to become an Explorer. It was manifestation in action. Look at the business card I created one year ago. Notice the titles I gave myself. The Explorer program didn’t exist then! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) Can you imagine the incredibly innovative thinkers that I will get to interact with in being part of the Explorer group? I have only been part of the group for about a month or so and I am already wildly excited about this interaction. I’ll be writing about this group and what they are doing with Glass   in upcoming posts.

 

 

 

3) I will be part of inputting into and shaping the final consumer product for a mind blowing new technology. I am a serial entrepreneur and a former corporate product developer. How perfect is this role for me?

4) I am a Boomer and a dreamer. I want to explore three possible areas in my experimention with this new technology:

•  I have a dream to become a kick-ass Google Glass video storyteller myself.

• I plan to educate Boomers on how to capitalize on Glass’s capabilities in their everyday lives and feel comfortable embracing this technology when it comes to market in 2014. I will do that here at Boomer For Life of course.

• I hope to co-create Glass Apps with a Developer for older seniors.

And, I will do this with the help of Google Glass support staff (they have been awesomely responsive thus far) and with some of my fellow Explorers who are openly sharing their expertise.

What Can I Do with my Glass Right Now?

Since this post is already long, let me just give you a brief synopsis:

• Take awesome pictures and videos. I simply say Ok Glass take a picture/video or hit a button on the side of the frame. I can immediately share it with my contacts or my circle of Explorers. I’ll provide the camera specs in another post.

• Send texts or e-mails through voice. I can also get texts and e-mails from a selected list of contacts that I input into my online Glass device page.

• Read my feeds or have them read aloud to me– such as news, tweets or Facebook posts. Again I would make these be selective ones.

• Google anything really and get an instant answer.

• Get access to specialized Glass Apps – more on that later as well.

I will also receive, I guess considerable software updates monthly, as Google releases new capabilities and Glass enhancements. In addition I can access new Apps for Glass as Explorers who are developers create new Apps and release them directly themselves.

WOO HOO.