The Clampetts Go To Best Buy
There are a lot of things you could say about us, but you will never be able to accuse Ben and I of being, "on the cutting edge of technology". Although I will go out on a limb and say that I've got a hunch that those new things called DVD's are gonna really take off here soon. Mark my words.
While Ben likes his technology just as much as the next guy, (as long as the next guy isn't some sort of computer programmer) we've just found that we enjoy spending our money on other things. Like for instance, the feeding of the children. So we've soldiered on for quite awhile without making any purchases, until recently when several of our items started conking out. However, it was the last straw when the Beta Max broke down. Oh, I'm just joking, we got rid of our Beta Max a few years ago.
In preparation of our big purchases, I had researched excessively a couple of the items that we had our eye on. And by research I mean I looked at the items on the Best Buy website and checked out the pretty color options. I'm nothing if not thorough. But things like a new printer, well really, why would you even need to research a printer??? Does it print out a word document that you can clearly read and won't smudge in your hands like old newsprint? Then that's an improvement. Keep in mind, the last time we went printer shopping was the same year that the movie Titanic took home 11 Oscar's and Apple unveiled something called the iMac. It was a big year for everyone ... including us.
But after a decade, our printer, like much of our vast electronics empire, had succumb to the same fate as the unfortunate Ocean Liner (w/o the whole iceberg incident). So we headed to Best Buy with our hopes high and our list in hand. When we arrived, Eric, our wonderfully helpful but slightly nervous 19 year old guide, led us through the land of The Best of all the Buys, and into the aisle of printers. This is the part where Ben and I start to morph into Jed and Granny. Our eyeballs just about popped out of our heads when we realized that most of these printers were also copiers. Well Gaw-Lee! "WOW! That thing is a copier as well as a printer?" "What? You mean you can print things from your wireless laptop without some sort of cable connecting the two?" "Do you mean to tell me that for the same price we paid 10 years ago, we get all this?" To say that we were pleased would be putting it mildly.
So we took it home, set it down, and then the kids felt the need to eat or something and so we quickly forgot about the wonderfulness that lay packed inside the cardboard and styrofoam cocoon. Several days later, after the kids went to bed, we remembered it and set to work installing things. Once again we marveled over the fact that none of our computers were plugged into it, yet they could all print off it. Obviously we don't get out much. But the little printer held one more surprise for us. After Ben got it all installed, he realized that not only could it print AND copy, but wonder of all, it was also a scanner. A SCANNER!!! Can you stand it?! I've always wanted a scanner, although for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to scan at that very moment to test it out. So we threw a picture of one of the kids dressed like a fairy on it and gave it a whirl. It worked like a charm.
Early the next morning, I was getting ready for my mom to come over for a little visit when I remembered what I had stored up in the top of my closet. Carefully packed away in a ziploc bag, were three photographs that are well over 60 years old. One photo is a beautiful studio shot of my grandmother, the other two are photographs of my grandparents when they were just young sweethearts. I quickly went up, grabbed the bag, and came down to scan them in before she arrived. However, because I'm new to all this, not only did I successfully scan them all, but I inadvertently made one of them the background on my computer. So when my mom came in, this was what she saw splashed across my screen:
While Ben likes his technology just as much as the next guy, (as long as the next guy isn't some sort of computer programmer) we've just found that we enjoy spending our money on other things. Like for instance, the feeding of the children. So we've soldiered on for quite awhile without making any purchases, until recently when several of our items started conking out. However, it was the last straw when the Beta Max broke down. Oh, I'm just joking, we got rid of our Beta Max a few years ago.
In preparation of our big purchases, I had researched excessively a couple of the items that we had our eye on. And by research I mean I looked at the items on the Best Buy website and checked out the pretty color options. I'm nothing if not thorough. But things like a new printer, well really, why would you even need to research a printer??? Does it print out a word document that you can clearly read and won't smudge in your hands like old newsprint? Then that's an improvement. Keep in mind, the last time we went printer shopping was the same year that the movie Titanic took home 11 Oscar's and Apple unveiled something called the iMac. It was a big year for everyone ... including us.
But after a decade, our printer, like much of our vast electronics empire, had succumb to the same fate as the unfortunate Ocean Liner (w/o the whole iceberg incident). So we headed to Best Buy with our hopes high and our list in hand. When we arrived, Eric, our wonderfully helpful but slightly nervous 19 year old guide, led us through the land of The Best of all the Buys, and into the aisle of printers. This is the part where Ben and I start to morph into Jed and Granny. Our eyeballs just about popped out of our heads when we realized that most of these printers were also copiers. Well Gaw-Lee! "WOW! That thing is a copier as well as a printer?" "What? You mean you can print things from your wireless laptop without some sort of cable connecting the two?" "Do you mean to tell me that for the same price we paid 10 years ago, we get all this?" To say that we were pleased would be putting it mildly.
So we took it home, set it down, and then the kids felt the need to eat or something and so we quickly forgot about the wonderfulness that lay packed inside the cardboard and styrofoam cocoon. Several days later, after the kids went to bed, we remembered it and set to work installing things. Once again we marveled over the fact that none of our computers were plugged into it, yet they could all print off it. Obviously we don't get out much. But the little printer held one more surprise for us. After Ben got it all installed, he realized that not only could it print AND copy, but wonder of all, it was also a scanner. A SCANNER!!! Can you stand it?! I've always wanted a scanner, although for the life of me, I couldn't think of anything I wanted to scan at that very moment to test it out. So we threw a picture of one of the kids dressed like a fairy on it and gave it a whirl. It worked like a charm.
Early the next morning, I was getting ready for my mom to come over for a little visit when I remembered what I had stored up in the top of my closet. Carefully packed away in a ziploc bag, were three photographs that are well over 60 years old. One photo is a beautiful studio shot of my grandmother, the other two are photographs of my grandparents when they were just young sweethearts. I quickly went up, grabbed the bag, and came down to scan them in before she arrived. However, because I'm new to all this, not only did I successfully scan them all, but I inadvertently made one of them the background on my computer. So when my mom came in, this was what she saw splashed across my screen:
She got all choked up at the sight of her parents, young and in love, and I was obviously quite proud of my technological achievement. In fact I'm so proud, that I'm considering doing a new technology segment here on the blog. My first post might be entitled, "Your Calender at Your Fingertips: What the Palm Pilot Can Do For You". Should prove very enlightening ... stay tuned.
