I think it's time to get a PDA...

... and an MP3 player and a Blue Jay er, Blue Ray Blue Disc, Blue Tooth Blue Nose whatever. All I know is I've fallen behind in the technology department and I'd better do something, fast, before I become my parents.

I used to know all about the latest technological advances almost as fast as they were released on an unsuspecting public. A friend used to call me a techno geek, but I don't think I was that proficient. I had a keen interest and an excellent aptitude. I knew there were eight bits in a byte before most people knew that "byte" could be spelled with a "y" and have nothing to do with food. But I've been ignoring technology these last few years, unless it directly and immediately affects me. For instance, I have no idea what that Blue Ray stuff is all about - never seen a player nor a disc (I'm assuming it's a disc).

I got my wake-up call at my parents' house last night. My mother, brother, SIL and I were chatting at the table after supper while my father watched TV. My mother told us that my father had done something to his little clock/radio/CD player contraption and it didn't work anymore. She'd taken a look at it and pressed a bunch of buttons and couldn't get it to work. She had no idea what he'd done. Maybe one of us could take a look at it and see if we could fix it?

I went over and looked at it, opened the lid of the CD compartment and announced "The CD was in upside down." I turned the CD over and played it for a couple of seconds just so they could see (hear, really) that it was working. Of course my father blamed my mother for putting it in backwards and my mother swore she never touched the thing. Some things never change. Thank goodness.

My parents are 86 years old. My mother still refers to the disc in the digital camera as "fill-um."

What can I say? That could be me one day and it will be my son rolling his eyes when I've put the Purple Zapper movie chip into its player backwards. Know what I mean?