I look at life as in a circle, and at the ripe old age of 60 I have circumnavigated 75 per cent of my circumference. Just one segment remains, holding the realisation that my life is entering its final phase, hurtling through the years with the speed of an express train.

I have tiptoed through the depths of depression with the “black dog” nipping at my heels but beyond the gloom of my final journey I am thrown a lifeline.

Yes, with much encouragement from family and friends I have (with some reluctance and trepidation) purchased a Toshiba “Satellite” notebook computer. My very first computer!

Hallelujah!

“Toshi” is now a welcome addition to our family, always willing to share her seemingly infinite expanse of knowledge, regenerating a few missing brain cells. She can help me articulate the way I feel through emails and Facebook without the impersonal medium of the telephone.

I can travel the world without the need of frequent flyer points or accessing dodgy airlines. She can update me on local and global news before the dailies have hit the newsagents. She gives me a glimpse into the lives of long lost acquaintances that I would miss out on otherwise.

This is all sugar on the top for Toshi, because the core reason I purchased her in the first place was to have a more regular dialogue with my three sons that live a long way from the family home in Parkdale.

Separated by work related issues and interstate commitments my access to their lives has been compounded by my ignorance and fear of technology. Perhaps the media attention focussing on the negative aspects of Facebook was yet another excuse or the dollar and cents mentality so ingrained in my generation.

Fortunately Facebook has only exposed their freedom in expressing ideas, humour, social activities and strengthened existing and newfound relationships. Being a fly on the wall with this shared dialogue only brings me closer to them. As I stumble through this labyrinth of icons and prompts I set my sails and am content to be guided by the winds of technology.

Beyond cementing relationships the infinite scope of this amazing medium has opened up my world and I can only grow as a person, a father and techno infant.

Call it a rebirth or a renaissance of spirit. My melancholy thoughts “of a final phase” has evaporated. As each new day dawns I awake to a world I am just discovering, eager as a child to explore every fibre of knowledge that Toshi can provide.

Toshi is not adverse to being overloaded with my insatiable demands and sometimes needs time out to formulate a recuperative status. I must admit to a jealously that pushes the boundaries but as Ben would say “such is life”.

The relationship with Toshi and I is just two weeks old – who knows where this might go!

Clearly Facebook, Yahoo and news websites are firm favourites, but I bet there are other places Toshi and I should visit – where do you suggest I look?