So I was just writting an email and I thought of something that makes my life easier. SPELL CHECK! I wrote a long email to a friend and what do you know but like 30 words were misspelled!

I really love your list! I have to comment on the computer vs typewriter; I had to type my reports for English in high school which meant I had to borrow my aunt's Smith Corona. It was either that or my grandfather's REALLY old one that you needed muscles in your fingers to use! Either way there was no auto correct so I had to use that white stuff that you would type over and it would *correct* your mistake. Fast forward 15 years later and my nephew doesn't want to add another book to his bibliography because then he'd have to "pull up the file, add the book in and reprint that whole page!" I looked at him with shock and said "When I was your age...." It was the first time I ever said that and wasn't trying to be funny.

Second, I agree abt the over scheduled part for kids. I have 2 small kids and they are only allowed to have ONE thing going. That's it. I want them to come home and veg out a bit and then go outside to play. Or go in their rooms to read a book because they WANT to, not because they HAVE to. I'm trying but it is definitely bucking the system.

I love your list, my Sandy.

I had the bluetooth thingy happen to me this morning at the grocery store. Jeez...

Oh! Remember carbon paper?

xo

Oh, Sandy, I love your list! But even better than car key fobs is the one that came with our Prius..... I can leave the keys in my pocket or in my purse and just walk up to the car and touch the handle, and voila! It unlocks the driver's side for me! Imagine, a dark night, your arms full of bags, and you DON'T have to stand there in the rain searching for the keys that have reached the lowest level of your purse. (The car will start without using the key, too... just press the start button)..... and I'm not even mentioning the 49 miles per gallon it gets. I love the mileage, but even more I love the keyless entry.

Barbara M.

Love your list. Especially #10 :D

I love that every year, I feel like it's the best age I've been yet and then the next birthday comes and it's better.

I was lucky with computers in college--I went to the first Liberal Arts college in the country that gave every incoming Freshman a computer, starting with the year ahead of me, so I had a computer. In my room! Okay, there wasn't any hard drive, the monitor was two-color, and the graphics were a joke BUT it was my very own! I was the first of all my friends to have a computer--and the downside? None of them "got" how much FUN they could be.

You've really captured the conundrum that engulfs us all -- every improvement has both good and bad sides; it's increasingly up to us to discriminate. Think back to the car and the telephone -- pretty life-changing gadgets in themselves. But I esp. like your including age as a positive thing. Perspective and confidence have no price but are certainly priceless. Thanks.

i didn't include computers or the cell phone mostly because for all the ease they've brought to our lives, they've also made our lives more complicated. when we typed papers in college, a typo or two was overlooked. same when i was first working. whereas now, we're expected to produce that much faster and that much more.

same with the cell phone. before people didn't expect to be connected to us 24-7. we could have some peace. but now, it's the norm.

Go Sandy!

The bookstore story cracked me up. And the bluetooth thing - can you imagine what we'd have thought 30 years ago if someone told us about this concept?

I'm so with you on these inventions, but I have always contended (and will continue to do so until I can't use it any longer) that the greatest technological advance in human history is the indoor flush toilet. Without that, there would have been almost NONE of the other inventions we use every day, as the very cities we live in would be impossible (imagine everyone using the same outhouse or having to dig holes for hygiene several times a day) and life expectancy would be significantly reduced with all the disease that's attendant to poor excretory hygiene in a non-toidy world. Who'd have lived long enough to learn everything needed to invent the Internet, for example?

And, in case you're wondering, um, there's no particular reason I mention this now. Why would you ask? ;-)