You Had to be There

So after a strenuous hour of tennis these four guys of a certain age are sipping their coffee and munching on their donuts and the talk turns to, what else, computers.


I swear it's the blind-leading-the-blind. One guy just bought a new PC but has to call in a TV consultant to transfer his old stuff to the new device. Then he wants to know how to print pictures on his new printer, which he got as part of the PC package.

So I tell him how I do it and the blank expression on his face is worth a picture in itself. I'm sure he'll figure it out eventually.

Guess what comes up next? Blue tooth, but we don't go there. What he really meant was -- you got it -- Blu-ray. What's that, he says. So I try to explain what it is and why I might invest in it but I'm getting another blank expression.

He does like the idea of reading a book on a Kindle-like device. I'm not sure he's running right out to buy one, though.

I think we deserve some credit, however. After all, we're trying to get with the new technology. But for people who still remember dial telephones it's not always easy to understand the need for all the I-this and I-that and all the social networks.

It's kind of nice just talking over coffee and donuts.