Remember the game of Twenty Questions, and the old-time query of "Is it bigger than a breadbox?"I just overheard the current version from my daughter yesterday: "Is it bigger than a PS2?"
My children were also very excited the other day when we found a rotary-dial phone from the 1980s or so (I forgot how heavy those desk phones were!). They had just been asking earlier that week about how rotary dials worked, so here was my "teachable moment"! I didn't anticipate the first question from Thomas, though: "Should I not dial 911? That always goes through, doesn't it?" (We had explained earlier that even a cell phone that wasn't actively part of a phone plan would still successfully reach 911.) So I had to explain to
these children of the wireless age that this ancient specimen of a phone actually had to be plugged into a wall to function. Strange but true.And speaking of being plugged in . . . we lost power this afternoon for just a half hour or so, exactly when the two babies were sleeping and I'd planned to get lots of things done. It soon became obvious (once again) how dependent I am on electricity: I couldn't start supper, type in a blog entry, organize photos, show the older kids things online, start up the laundry, or any of the other things on my list! I decided to call the power company, just in case they didn't know about the outage, and Thomas listened to me have the following "conversation":
Power company: "Thank you for calling. I am an automated assistant. How may I help you?"
Me: "Uh, our power is out."
INSTANTLY, the power came on again! Thomas and I cracked up. Now, that was service!
