Bear with me. I'm going to keep up the birthday theme for one more post. I promise that this will be the last one on this topic -- at least until next year.
Kim made an awesome birthday dinner for me on Tuesday night. She grilled some fancy hamburgers with carmelized onions, mushrooms, arugula, and blue cheese. She also made a nice green salad with oranges and roasted beets. To complete the meal, we had leftover Popeye's french fries.
Why leftover Popeye's fries? Because, on Sunday, we'd stopped at Popeye's for dinner. It was the first time we'd been there in quite a long time. We ordered a 10-piece bucket, ten chicken tenders, and four orders of large fries. When the woman at the cash register said our bill was $44, I couldn't believe it. I double-checked the receipt and saw that each order of large fries cost $3.99. That seemed just a tad bit outrageous. But, the damage was done. I silently steamed while waiting for our order to be filled. Then, I saw them starting to fill the fries order. Who knew that a single order of "large" fries at Popeye's is supposed to be enough to feed an entire family? We walked out of there with a shopping bag full of fries. The workers there are probably still talking about us. That's why we had Popeye's fries on Sunday, Popeye's fries on Tuesday, and still have a bag full of them in our refrigerator today.
But, this isn't about Popeye's fries or my birthday dinner. It's about what happened after we were done eating. I'm not too old to get birthday presents. This year, I'd asked for some comfortable shorts to wear around the house, a new pair of running shorts, and some hugs and kisses. After getting all of those, I still had one gift to open. I did my usual annoying routine, sizing up the gift box, weighing it in one hand and then the other, shaking it around, and finally making a guess as to what was inside. For this one, I guessed it was a ream of printer paper. That's just what it felt like.
How wrong I was. Kim had gotten me an iPad. She captured the moment on camera when I saw what it was. It's a pretty funny picture. The look on my face is equal parts surprise and horror. Surprise, because I had absolutely no idea that this was coming. Horror, because now I was going to have to figure out this blasted new technology.
I'm telling you, when I saw the iPad, I could feel my brain just go haywire. I literally couldn't process any thoughts. My shoulders sagged and it felt like a heavy stone had just dropped on me. That feeling stayed with me for the rest of the night. I think it was because I just didn't know what to do with the darn thing and I felt, like I always do, that I had to immediately figure it out. When I pulled that iPad out of the box, turned it on, and was staring at it, all I could think was "OK, now what? What does this thing want with me?"
Two days later, I've got my e-mail running, I'm loving the picture quality, and I've got my first two apps loaded (the New Yorker and SiriusXM, of course). The iPad is great and I know I'm going to love it. It was a great gift and it will be perfect for me (and all of us) with all the travel I'm doing.
But, as I come to terms with my new iPad, I'm also trying to figure out why I reacted the way that I did when I first saw it. Why couldn't I just be gracious, smile, say "thank you," and mean it? What is it about anything new, particularly any new technology, that causes me to freak out? And, why do I hate the thought of having to spend any time at all learning something new? Am I really that crotchety?
The answer is "yes." How do I know? Because I actually used the word "crotchety" correctly.
This is where the magic happens.
