MR PEABODY AND ME

I'm sitting in my living room chair with my laptop on my lap, and my wife and I are watching our new IRobot Roomba. We (my wife) named him "Mr. Peabody," and she is quite amused at how "cute" he is. He's going like the energizer bunny at the moment, and I'm already wondering how we got along before Mr. Peabody (BMP). Actually, I wonder how I got along without most of the things that now occupy my life.

I have my computer and Wi-Fi, and together they give me access to virtually any world that I want to tap into. I listen to my own playlist on ITunes; I read books on my Kindle Fire; I study both Hebrew and German on Rosetta Stone; I share pictures and opinions with my friends on Facebook; and I pursue genealogy on Ancestry.com. I can do research for my sermons, catch up with the news that I choose, and even chat with Russian women, who "would like to get to know me." Sorry ladies, I'm taken... and besides, I already have all of the excitement that a man my age can stand. I've got an expensive treadmill downstairs (which I really ought to use) and a gymnasium quality weight system (that I wish Sears would've assembled). Our biggest flat-screen (we have 3) has Netflix, our refrigerator has two veggie bins, our toaster toasts four slices of toast at the same time, and our kitchen sink is made of copper (which is really in demand right now). Life isn't perfect- our dog just peed on our new Alpaca rug (probably to teach Mr. Peabody a lesson)- but life is good! Before I had all of these blessings, I don't know how I made it at all. How did I fill my time? What was there to do? I can faintly recall window fans, AM radios, 45 rpm records (yes, even 78s), black and white TVs (with 2-3 channels, that went off at midnight), Home Run Derby...and playing outside. for hours. with no telephones!

It all seems so long ago now, and in some ways it was. It was a different age. It was a simpler time, with fewer voices... and just a fraction of the choices we have today. But I digress, and something in the house is "beeping." What is is I don't yet know... but I do know that Mr. Peabody has finished the dining room. Amen!