Old Men Complain

We live in a wonderful world. It is a world filled with technological marvels that make our lives easier and better than they have ever been before. We should all give thanks that we were born at this time and in this place.

In the short time I have been on the planet, wonders have been developed that weren’t even dreamt of when I was born. No need to go into what they are, one only has to walk into any antique store and see what they have replaced. It is a wonderful world.

Not everything that we have developed have improved our lot in life, some are just silly. Little kids can now get running shoes that light up when they walk. This would be a good thing if the intention was to keep track of the little tykes or if the lights were part of a simple GPS system that would help us track them. No, these shoes seem to be designed just to get a smile and a giggle from kids and parents. Smiles are a worthwhile goal, and anything that makes your kid happy is not to be questioned I suppose, but I don’t think the last five thousand years of scientific discovery had lighted shoes as their end point.

 

I have a car that comes with surround view cameras. Now, I love toys probably more than the next guy and cameras that let me see all around the car is too cool for words. Pretty much useless, but cool. For more than forty years I have been backing up and pulling into parking spaces just by turning my head and using the mirrors that come as standard equipment on all cars. If I wanted to see how close to a line I was, I’d open the door and look. Now, I just have to look at my dashboard and I get a bird’s eye view of my car. I have almost backed into walls several times to see how close I can get before the car tells me to stop. The other buttons are really just a distraction to me, I forget that I am driving and pay too much attention to what the air pressure in the tires are. Thank God the car also comes with Louise as standard equipment who tells me when I should look at the road.

 

When I was a kid I remember that mom would make coffee by filling the percolator with water, measuring the correct amount of coffee into the basket and turning the stove on. Now, I take a K-cup, pop it into the machine, hit the button, wait a minute till the water heats up, select the size of cup I have and wait till the coffee is made. It was a perfect cup every time. There was a ritual to making coffee in days gone by and unfortunately I think we are losing those comforting rituals. It wouldn’t be as bad if we were replacing them with new rituals, but we aren’t. Oh well, times change and old men complain.

 

Today I was in a liquidation store. It was in the building where the other liquidation store went bankrupt a couple of years ago. I wonder if they are liquidating the liquidations stores assets. Like most of these stores it is filled with mostly poorly made crap, which is selling for very good (cheap) prices. There were some things I liked and I will go back by myself when I can take time to look at and fondle the merchandise at my leisure. I did buy an electric plug adapter which I will use for my outdoor Christmas lights.

 

What I really wanted to buy but didn’t, was a carrot sharpener. It looks just like a pencil sharpener, only larger and much sillier. I didn’t even know there was a need for a carrot sharpener. Most of the carrots I buy come with a point naturally. The points aren’t always symmetrical, but since I am cooking these things all cut up, I don’t see the point. Ten thousand years of scientific struggle and we end up with a carrot sharpener.