Technology

I often think of how lucky I am to be in the generation which bridges "the good ol' days" and the fast paced techno world we now live in. I have many memories of watching Sesame Street on our little 10 inch screen t.v. and then as a teenager that after about 11 p.m. there was nothing but static to be found. I remember our big stereo box/t.v. thingie which also included an 8 track player and dancing in the living room to my Cinderella and Snow White records. I remember checking out filmstrips from the library and watching our 8mm home movies on a screen we had in our basement. I remember when we got our first VCR. We were the first of any of my friends, and had to drive quite a distance to get any movies--which wasn't much of a selection--and we usually ended up with "The Coal Miners Daughter".

So now we are in 2008. My kids know nothing of these things, nor will they. And when I try to enlighten them it is obvious that they, quite frankly, don't care.

We are big fans of the red box around here. Nothing better than a movie for $1 that you can return to any location! (That eliminates the $40 fees for returning a movie to the wrong location...or even the wrong chain for that matter!)

I feel strongly though that someone needs to post a sign with proper Red Box etiquette near each machine or maybe a "Red Box 101" course that is mandatory before using any machine. I was trying to get the newest "Wow Wow Wubbzy" for Seth on Friday and the people in front of me clearly were instantly sent forward in time 25 years and were having difficulty figuring the Red Box out.

They obviously were looking for a movie for adults, but were not aware of the "genre" feature and scrolled through each movie 65 times until they found one that was agreeable to them both. Then they seemed to not understand the VERY CLEAR picture which shows you which way to slide your credit card in the machine and after 37 swipes realized that maybe they needed to turn it the other direction.

So we got Wubbzy and we got our dollar's worth. Then came time for me to return Wubbzy. I waited again for all too long and then it was my turn. I smugly pushed the "Return DVD" button and put my DVD in the machine. I always wait because I wouldn't want it to be spit out and have some dishonest person be the recipient of a free copy of Wubbzy. Sure enough the darn machine spit it out. Once again I pressed the button and put in my movie. Again it came out. Third times a charm right? Nope, out it came again, and then a soft voice from a small child behind me said, "Um, I think you're putting it in the wrong direction." And sure enough I had over looked the rather large arrow with printing underneath that said "INSERT THIS WAY".

And I was sufficiently humbled.