Young punks

[Tonight's blogging powered by Tractor Shed Red Red Table wine]

While perusing blogs, of course only during coffee breaks and lunchtime, I have been deducing a startling fact that many of you bloggers are quite young! Of course for those bloggers who have grown children, duh, you're old! But, I sorta thought that most adoptive parents would be something like...ummm 38-45 years old.

This got me thinking about being on the same page as a person younger than you. For the record, I turn 42 this year and [Wifey] will be 44. We adopted [the Girl] just as I turned 40. In fact, I'll always remember "Metcha Day" because it was two days after my 40th birthday. We were so anxious about the whole trip, we actually FORGOT my birthday. It was the day after (my 40th) that I woke up and said, "Hey, I think I turned 40 yesterday." Also, we were recovering from jet lag after arriving in Beijing the day before (my 40th). Whatever. I never make a big deal about my birthdays, so it was no biggie.

But, back to my ramble.

Many years ago, I dated a woman was was 8 years younger than me. At first, I wasn't sure she would be interested in dating someone a bit older than other me she had dated. However, she was cool with it. I think I was a bit more "stable" than other guys she had dated in the past. By stable, it meant I got my ya-ya's out a long time ago, whereas boys her age were still hopping around.

But, dating someone 8 years your junior means that sometimes you may not be on the same page because one of you (ahem, the younger) doesn't even know that some pages exist! The very interesting thing about this young woman is that we could spend hours discussing philosophy about anything (like I do in my blog). We could pick a subject and just talk about aspects of it. Good conversationalist. One day I was talking politics with her and I made the comment, "Well, you know since Watergate, the press has changed their behavior".

She looked at me, with...ummm, a "No compredo" look to her face. Watergate? Remember that? No, she replied. Whew!!!! Oh boy.

Last year, I was sitting with a friend of mine in my office. We were drinking coffee and talking about managers and higher ups. I said, "Well, you know sometimes these managers have this cult of personality" you know, like Mao or Stalin.

She looked at me. Blink, blink, blink......no comprehension, shaking her head like, "never heard of those dudes." Here's how it went:

Mao, c'mon, Mao!

[head shake no]

You've never heard of Mao?

No

Wait, Mao, as in the leader of China?

Mmmm, no. You see, we didn't have a very good high school program back in Florida.

No! Wait! That doesn't matter. You're telling me you have NEVER HEARD of Mao?

Mmmm, nope.

[Sigh] Okay, how about.....Pol Pot?

[head shake no]

C'mon! Killing Fields?

[mmm, no]

Stalin?

Ummmm, wasn't he the head of some country?

Yeah, RUSSIA!!!!

Oh, yeah okay.

C'mon Mao! Cultural Revolution?

[head shake no]

Gang of Four?

Wait, is that-----

Stop! Do NOT say a rock band!

Oh...then...never mind.

OH-MY-GOD. We (society) are certainly doomed because our "children" are destined to repeat history.

Of course, then I like to make fun ourselves as being old codgers. Every generation has a set of codgers who exclaim to the younger generation (the equivalent of), "Why, in my day, I had to haul a block of ice up ten blocks of stairs!"

Dude, use the ice maker in your fridge. Like, duh!

Here's a pop quiz for you young pups. Now, before you read my "answer", please consider the question and ask yourself if you really knew the answer before you read further.

If I handed you a vinyl album and asked you to go to a store and purchase what was needed to play it, would you know what to buy?

First, no..you don't look for a CD or DVD or MP3 player. This is what in ancient time was called a "record album" (and let's do this as Doctor Evil using finger quotation marks).

In ye-olden-times, we used something called a "turntable".

This actually happened a few years ago. My mother's turntable finally died and she needed a new one because she had this extensive collection of classical records. And my mother is not one who happily learns or uses new technology. Of course, she was frantic I help her buy a new turntable.

Sigh. I wonder if they even sell turntables anymore?

I go to a nationwide chain and this was my conversation with the 18 year old helping me.

Hi, do you guys still sell turntables?

Mmmm, turntables?

Yeah, the stuff to play vinyl records.

Oh yeah, here...please follow me (walk, walk, walk). Okay, here they are (there are 2 to choose from).

Okay, great. Now, do they come with cartridges?

Uhhhh...uhhh....????

Okay, son....before there were these things called CD's (and I'm really starting to drip with sarcasm here), we used to use record players in the olden days. And, instead of a laser light, we used a needle! And, that needle is inside something called a "cartridge" and most often times, they didn't sell the cartridge with the turntable.

Hunh (totally not understanding that explaination), well, I think they would have this included.

Okay thanks.

I knew he had no idea what he was talking about. I did some quick logic. They have two turntables tucked into the corner of the store. They only had 2 quantities of each. The likelihood of them actually selling cartridges in another part of the store, slim.

When I got home, sure enough no cartridge. I then took it to Houston and searched for a store where they would sell cartridges. I end up at a high end Hi-Fidelity store. Great. They were very nice people and took my $98 turntable very seriously. I had to drop it off with them while they "mounted and aligned" the cartridge. Sheesh.

And a cartridge for the $98 turntable costs about $170.

I suppose every generation has its "We had to lug blocks of ice up 10 flights of stairs" feeling about the next generation. Here's something I remember about a Dilbert cartoon. It was a conversation between Dilbert and Wally:

Dilbert: When I started programming, all we had were "1's" and "0's"
Wally: What, we didn't even have "1's"

I just hope that "those younger" than us don't relate the socially significant points in their younger lives with questions such as:

Where were you when you heard Tupac got shot?

Puuleeeze.