Scrambled Eggs

There is a mystery to the aging process. Deterioration happens when you least expect it. It arrives suddenly like a boulder dislodged from the cliff, falling on the road and blocking traffic for miles. It takes hours and a large crew to handle the clean-up. Last night, while eating scrambled eggs, the most soft and delicate of all food substances, I suddenly feel something solid, rock-like in the midst of the warm mass in my mouth, and realize that a tooth had broken off. Why am I crying? There is a gaping hole in the front of my smile. I face a day or more in the dentist’s chair. But that is not it. I am continuing to deteriorate. The parts are wearing out and need replacement. They do not grow back but will be fashioned from artificial material. This is a reckoning. I am coming up to my 63rd birthday and I cry because I am mourning this loss — of my smile, my tooth, my beauty, my health, my life.

Mc vs. Mac — The New Social Technology Interface

The Apple Store phenom is a sensory experience of the highest order. Social Technology. Real life Facebook. The experience of sitting at the Genius Bar and just elbowing up to the bar tender, engaged in the repartee, tete-a-tete of Mac life. The Small Set is assembled around a low table playing computer games, challenge matches, sitting in front of huge screens, easily navigating and manipulating the cursors, punching out villains and magnifying heroes. They sit on little round rubber balls (like exercise balls) clad in a rainbow of Crocs, ecstatic. This is the way to build brand, I say to myself. Get them to be users before the age of 5. Brilliant. Just like when my children were young and they were only happy at the McDonald’s Playground. Here is the new generation playground, equally if not more so enticing, compelling, addictive. We are creating children who are totally technology facile, while next to me the 40 and 50-somethings are struggling to learn and keep up. I am navigating my way around Facebook, upgraded to my new MacBook with 3-D screen, and playing in the online communication leagues with people greater than half my age. It’s fun, challenging, and I can see that the Mc generation is creating the Mac generation.