CHUCK IN A BOX

I love my mom, I really do.

Recently, after seeing her lug around a CD Walkman (OMG HOW absolutely archaic is THAT) and those big ole padded headphones for far too long, my father broke down and bought my mom a nice Sony MP3 player.  I guess he got tired of seeing her with that sac purse – yes she bought a sack purse to carry around the house with her to hold her CD walkman in while she cleaned the house – God love her.  So, now she has this thing and doesn’t quite know how to work it.  She asks my ‘never without her iPod’ niece to help her with it.  Amber apparently explains that she doesn’t know how to work anything but an iPod, wow so young and already in that Apple Cult I guess, and cannot help her grandmother.

Mom calls me, the son, Jr. – cause well….I’m kinda a big deal …… in Japan.  Nah, I am the only one in the family that really knows much about technology.  Wait…isn’t that my 13 year old nephew Alex in there on his wirelessly connected laptop surfing MySpace?  And…and….isn’t that my 6 year old nephew Antonio rocking that DS game? Hmmmm I guess she just has more confidence in my…cause…well…I’m the shit….. in my mind.

Back on topic.  So mom wants me to come over because she has this mp3 player but cannot get anyone to help her actually get music onto it (makes for a really swank paperweight I reckon) and can I help her.  SURE!  I’ve had an mp3 player, I know how to read instructions that come with electronic merchandise, I’m sure I can figure it out.  After arriving at moms place, I quickly show her just how fast it is to rip her own CDs onto the laptop that I gave her and then sync her mp3 player to her music library.  Color her stunned.  She’s amazed at how fast it is.  Before long we have all of her Travis Tritt, Elvis, and other music I know nothing about on her mp3 player and she’s THRILLED.

No more going around the house with a bag around your neck holding your CD walkman, the 8 foot cord, and other accessories – just stick the little mp3 player in your pocket and away you go.

I love my mom.  It’s so great seeing her get so amazed at things that I sort of take for granted.  Is this a glimpse of what it will be like as she and dad move further into their golden years – me the parent and they the child marveling at the wonders of … well….stuff?

Who knows – I just know it makes me feel needed by my parents and it’s a way of letting me feel like I’m able to help them out, even if it is only something as silly as loading songs onto a music player.  *shrug*

Side Note:  I actually started this post on 1/25/09 @ 8:40 AM and just never finished it….who knew….

I had every intention of buying my mother a laptop for her birthday – the kids NEVER let her on the computer at home and I wanted her to be able to connect with her brother (in Canada) and her sisters (one in Arizona), and other family members via email, instant messaging, video chat, etc..  I mean really, picking up the phone and calling people is soooooooo 3 decades ago and writing a letter…..didn’t that stop in the Victorian era? 

Like I said, I ‘had’ the intention until I went out and found a laptop that was reasonable priced, had double the RAM and HD that my current laptop had AND it had an HDMI port which meant I could stream my videos from Anime Fuel, Hulu, Veoh, and others directly to the 42″ flat panel goodness in the TV room.  (Come on – you gotta love watching MASK, Thundercats, Superfriends, Transformers, GI Joe, Silverhawks, etc. – well…I do so neener!)

Needless to say, I ended up buying that one for myself, and restored my Acer back to factory settings and giving it to mom.  I figured she wasn’t gonna be playing City of Heroes or World of Warcraft so I (mememe) needed the more powerful laptop cause…..well…..I would be.

Flash forward to today (4/7/09):

Mom likes her laptop – I set it up with a password so that only she could get onto it.  That didn’t stop the lil’ beggars from trying to worm the PW outta her…nooooo but, kudos to mom she stood strong.  My dad’s desktop died so he had to get a laptop, then my nephew had a fit to get one too so…yes…the freshly turned 13 year old has a laptop of his own too.  Then Amber, my niece wanted a laptop too.  So, now there is high speed internet and wireless router (Thank you Uncle Chucky) in the house with 4 laptops connecting.  Hmmm you know what’s gonna be funny is when Christmas rolls around and yours truly says, “Okay, if you want the high speed internet, someone needs to step up and pay for it, because only the first year was on me.”….and watch their faces.  So spoiled on high speed, they would rather eat dirt than go back to AOL and *gasp* dial-up.

Might I just say, WTF is wrong?!?!  When I was a kid, I was LUCKY to have a cassette tape boombox of my own to listen to Duran Duran, Flock of Seagulls, Adam Ant, Thompson Twins etc on.  There was none of this I have my own cell phone, laptop, iPod, TV, DVD player, PSP, PS2 in my room crap…when did kids develop this whole entitlement thing and when did parents start buying into it?

I’m sooooooooo happy that my mother likes her laptop (I’ve never given my mother a $600 ANYTHING before – but…she’s worth it) it was cute when she showed me her new laptop case.  I was tickled. 

….Now to get her into MMORPGs…..muahahahahaha