Computers!

Why is it that our entire lives seem to revolve around computers?

Theresa just received her new laptop, and overjoyed may not be too strong an adjective. But then, it took us a day or so (over the phone with both of us tired) to get it to be recognized by the wireless network at home. Now she is in the midst of trying to configure it so that it does things the way she wants it to. It could be days before she sees productivity.

My laptop won't boot, so I'm traveling computerless, and trying to find an access point wherever I can. (Brother can you spare a few bytes?)

Tuesday, I thought my hotel had a business center. No dice. Wednesday my hotel had a business center. They wanted sixty-nine cents a minute for internet access. (I don't know... I think $41 bucks and change is just a bit much to spend for an hour of internet happiness)

I finally got my wish tonight. Two computers in the business center. Unfortunately, one is almost exclusively taken by the teen daughter of one of the desk clerks. I could swear it said "Business Center" on the door. So I hop on between other actual hotel guests on the one available computer.

But... on to other matters.

In reading the paper the other day, I saw where a former NFL football player turned television analyst had given up his sportscasting job to pursue philanthropic goals. Laudable behaviour. And while never really comfortable with his decision to work in television, he had donated his entire salary to a foundation to help kids. When asked about the extent of the donation, he said something like "More than a car, but less than a house."

This got me thinking. (I think tangentially, as many of you know.) What kind of car? What kind of house? Where? How much did I pay for my first house? (Actually a 2 bedroom condo I bought with my first wife in '79.) (I don't know how many wives that I may ultimately have, so this will eliminate any confusion in the future regarding which wife I was referring to.) (Not that I'm thinking that I need another wife, or anything. My current wife is doing a splendid job of raising my children as I wander the globe, or at least the North American part of it.)

So, where was I? Oh yes... cars and houses. This is something I never expected to hear come out of my mouth. (Or in this case, out of my fingertips.) This is something that old people say. So, I guess, by definition, this makes me an old person. The car that I am currently driving cost more than my first house!

That's ridiculous, isn't it?

2007 Mercedes Benz GL450. MSRP $54,900, destination charge $775, with several thousand dollars worth of options. Total Price: $62,775.

1979 2 bedroom condo - used. I don't remember the exact price, but I think it may actually have been $54,900 also. No destination charge and no options. Total Price: $54,900. (Wait... houses aren't used are they. What are they? Existing? Yeah... I think that's it. I'm sure that's what I've seen... existing home sales.)

I don't know what's worse today. The price of new houses, or the price of new cars. They are both way more than they should be.

But speaking of Wednesday (which I was just a moment ago)... I had an opportunity to have dinner with Edwina and Mark on Wednesday evening. She had read my blog, and asked me to come over for meatloaf for dinner. She claimed that she didn't know that I liked meatloaf. I'm sure that it's come up in conversation, though. In fact, I don't know how it could not. "Man, it's been hot lately hasn't it? I don't know what's up with the weather, but it's crazy all over the country. That reminds me, I really like meatloaf, don't you?"

So I turn up at their house (a two bedroom condo in Walnut Creek that I'm sure costs more than $54,900) to a meatloaf in the oven. And after I changed into shorts and a t-shirt I was talking to Edwina as she pulled it out of the oven to baste it. I had never seen a meatloaf this large in my life! Seriously! It had to weigh ten pounds! It wouldn't fit into one of those wimpy little loaf pans. NNNooooooooo... It was baking on a cookie sheet. Edwina: "I was going to put Italian Sausage in it too, but I forgot to take it out"

What... it could have been bigger?!

When we dined, Mark sliced thick slabs from the Bunyanesque loaf (the only proper way to slice a meatloaf), although each weighed about a pound. We had to cut them in half prior to consumption, for our own well-being. Then, when I left she was trying to get me to take some with me. "Just take it and put it in a ziplock bag in your briefcase."

And you thought I was strange...