A High-Tech Woman She awoke to the sound of her favorite radio music program, and turned on the TV from her bed — it was almost an automatic gesture — preparing herself for the start of the exercise program on TV. Apart from being the time she used each day to keep fit, these fifteen minutes were the only chance she normally had to get herself organized. She was going to be away from home tonight and would have to work out when she wanted the lights to go on and off. She was also going to need hot water when she returned, but she didn ’ t need to set anything there; those things on the roof would take care of that, and anyway, it looked to be another warm, sunny day. She took a package out of the freezer and, during the three minutes or so that it took the food to heat up, she checked the phone to see if there were any messages; only someone who had gotten the wrong number. Before she left home, she printed out the report she had finished the night before, and sent it direct to Hong Kong. She had a quick look at the weather and traffic conditions, and quickly called up page 672 to check the latest tennis results. She turned off the TV, but not before finding those two programs she wanted to record from Channel 1 and Channel 4 that night. She was also going to need money; the bank wouldn ’ t be open until 10:00 am, but she had her card and could order a new cheque book at the same time. She popped her purse into her bag and pressed the buttons near the front door; she didn ’ t want anyone breaking into the house while she was away, though it would all be recorded on the screen. In the garage, her car warmed up easily, thanks to its electronic ignition, and she was soon driving down the motorway at a relaxed 120 km an hour. But the engine cut out suddenly;almost without thinking, she turned on her warning lights and skillfully drove onto the shoulder of the road. She put on the hand-brake and reached into her bag for the one piece of equipment that she would go nowhere without. She opened it up and proceeded to put in a program card. On the small screen, a list of telephone numbers appeared. She went through the numbers and wrote down two. he put in another card and checked her schedule for the day. She was OK; her first meeting wasn ’ t for another couple of hours so she still had plenty of time. She called up the person with whom she had her first meeting to let him know that she might be late, and then got in contact with the motorway service department.They said they would be with her in about half an hour. By the time the mechanic arrived, she had made two more calls and filed away some notes on her previous day ’ s meetings. She told the mechanic what the problem was, and he said he ’ d have a look. He opened up the engine cover and stared in alarm at the high-tech system. “ Sorry madam, I can ’ t help you! You don ’ t need a mechanic, you need a computer engineer from IBM! ”