A father's journey into relevance. 21st Century Dad...

When I was a kid, we didn't have blogs. We didn't have computers. Communication was accomplished by phone, or by paper and pen (and a 16-cent stamp).

When I was a kid, computers were something we visited. I remember visiting a room with a computer when I was around 7 years old. It was at UC Berkeley, where my older brother attended school. The computer was a box about 4 feet square, and 3 feet high. It looked pretty big to me. I didn't realize until much later in life that I was only looking at the printer. The computer was in another room. Or rather the computer was the other room.

When I was a kid, we didn't have video games. When Pong came out as the first video game, there was a long line inside the Exploratorium in San Francisco just to play on the free console. Blip.....blip.....blip....blip....blop. Today, in the comfort of my own family room, I can select from an arsenal of 15 different weapons as I try to defeat Dr. Nefarious in the 3rd installment of Ratchet and Clank.

So listen up, kids (my kids -- if any other kids want to listen up, that's fine with me). Stop your whining and complaining about how the wireless network is too weak to work upstairs, or how we don't have the right plug-in for the latest Neopets game. I'll get StarOffice 8 onto the computer upstairs, and you can just be glad you are living in the 21st Century. Appreciate what you have, because when I was a kid...