When I was a boy (born in the mid 1950's) there was only one television set in any household. It wasn't until I was 14 years old until some of us had color television sets. We had three TV networks to choose from, not 300. I'm sure the advertisements on TV these days that promise "Watch any show you record in any four rooms at once!" don't seem strange to my kids, but it stops me in my tracks; why, under heaven, would you have TV's in four different rooms? Wait a minute. We can't afford health care, and we have TV's in multiple rooms? WTF? No wonder certain politicians believe we can afford more taxes!

I won't even start on central air conditioning, because no one can get a loan on or sell a home that doesn't have it. We thought we were in "high cotton" if our car had an AM radio, and now we have CD players in every car and - whoa -  satellite radio! Even today's AM stations broadcast in "High Definition," almost as invulnerable to lightening and other interference as the fancy FM stations of old! Hey, when I was in my 20's a calculator that performed the four basic functions (add, subtract, multiply and divide) was $400.00, and had little red numbers that were hard to see. Nowdays, I have a GPS I call "James" with a 3D color screen that  (quoting comedian Ron White) "receives fuc_ing satellite signals from outer-fuci_ng space!" It cost me $200.00, and it  is PROGRAMMABLE! Within the next decade, it will even drive my car for me after I punch in the destination, although the price may go up to $205.00. The technology exists, already. It is not even a hop between theory and reality, much less a leap. Since it will save gasoline, it will be sanctioned and maybe even funded by "the government."

My dad forced me to take typing classes when I was a Junior in High School. When I received a failing grade after the second 6 weeks, he made me stay in my room and type throughout the Easter break. I couldn't hang out with my friends. It was just me and that damn old Underwood that my brother Ed dubbed "The Maneater." Hot tears ran down my cheeks for three days. You see, my dad was convinced I needed to learn to type because, as he told me, "One day soon, every worker will have a computer screen and a keyboard on their desk." I thought he was crackers, but he was right. I still wonder why he didn't buy stock in IBM, or that new "Apple" company so I could've been rich and have someone do all my damn typing for me.

I guess if you don't like my blogs, you can partially blame my dad. But I digress.

A man I know is 72 years old, and he worked on the early computers (Big Iron) of the 1950's as a key-punch-card programmer. He shared with me that an IBM rep once told him that the building full of computers they used, requiring about 60 tons of air conditioning, would "someday fit in a suitcase." My friend laughed, because he knew the rep was either blowing smoke up his butt, or he was an absolute idiot. My 72 year old friend still works every day, 6 days a week, for a living. I don't know where his former IBM rep ended up, but there is a slight percentage of a chance that his name was Ross Perot.

You see, the "good old days" aren't what they are sometimes cracked up to be. I'm very thankful, for instance, that God saw fit to have me be born after indoor plumbing was already well established in the US. It's really no good to look back fondly at the past and sigh.

No, don't turn your head and look back, very often. Otherwise, the future might just run your ass over!

Ah, well. Home please, James.