A Runny Nose in the 21st Century

You know, I’m a pretty hip fellow. I know the ins and outs of this twenty-first century in which we are living. I maintain a website; I know my way around the internet. I’ve even been known to download some really hip music from iTunes. I have a digital camera. I have a “Flip Camera,” a little device about the size of a deck of playing cards that records videos. I read my newspapers on the internet. And I’ve got a Kindle, another great invention of our age that fits into my coat pocket and gives me access to several hundred thousand books, newspapers and magazines.

I may have been born in the previous century, but I’m quite at home in the present one. Well, almost …

Two incidents recently, however, made me wonder if I am but a stranger in a strange land.

My computer went to sleep recently. It went to sleep and it wouldn’t wake up. Now I make my living with words and most of those words are stored in my computer. In a very real way I was literally at a loss for words. On Monday I took the computer over to the Brumbelow Group. They rushed it into the CCU (Computer Care Unit) and prepped it for surgery. The surgery was extensive. I didn’t my computer for a few days.

During that time the necessity of my needing words on paper persisted. Being the product of that previous century I knew there was as solution. “No problem,” I told myself, “I’ll just do this week’s church stuff on a typewriter.”

Is there a typewriter in Calhoun? And if there is where would one purchase a ribbon for it. The typewriter has been replaced. The computer is supreme. It’s understandable. Technology has delivered us more efficient ways of dealing with words. But then again the typewriter never crashed.

Recently I had to make a pilgrimage to the great city south of here to speak to some colleagues of the cloth. I was feeling good, but I felt there was a possibility of the sniffles coming on. I headed to the drawer to withdraw a handkerchief. It seemed the prudent thing to do. The handkerchiefs were gone. I’ve been rearranging the house so they were in a box somewhere.

“No problem,” I told myself.

I stopped first at the grocery store where I was picking up a few things anyway. I scouted out the shelves; they were not to be found. I asked at the customer service counter. She told me they didn’t carry handkerchiefs. I immediately left the sparsely stocked establishment.

I headed to the great city where I knew there were several more fully provisioned emporiums for the purchase of the necessities of life. In the great city I ducked into a Walgreen’s type place.  The lady told me they didn’t carry handkerchiefs. She suggested I consider a box of Kleenex. I responded that would make an unsightly bulge in my back pocket. I headed to a more traditional store. “I’m sorry, sir,” the lady said to me. “We don’t carry handkerchiefs any longer. Aren’t you quaint,” she added. “Tell me, do you wear bow ties?”

I managed to give the talk without the benefit of a handkerchief.

And I’d like the lady to know I am not quaint. Nope, the first think I did when I got my computer back was to go online and order some handkerchiefs.

Comments

[Linda]

I don't own a kindle, my cell phone does not tell me the weather or take pictures (and usually has a dead battery), I am lost without my computer and still appreicate a hanky! The are much easier on a sore nose than puffs.

[SingingOwl]

Quaint? Wow. My hubby uses hankercheifs all the time. And he always wants 100 per cent cotton which have been harder to find since they started making hankercheifs from polyester mixes. But NONE? Egads!

[naomi]

This is not a commercial-I am not a stock owner but I do find that I can find a lot of 'quaint' things at the Vermont Country Store and they are online.
Cheers. Naomi

[Matt Kent]

Well, funny you should mention handkerchiefs. i just got one in my stocking for christmas and i like it so much i decided to get more. I asked a friend who lives in manhattan and knows where to get everything there. in fact, he did tell me where to get them. apparently there are several in his drawer because his great aunt gives them to him for christmas every year and he doesn't use them because they are for old men. we had this conversation after a performance in vancouver. a very cute presenter walked up immediately after my friend's disparaging remarks. i asked her what she thought about men my age carrying a handkerchief. you know what she said. . ."sexy!"
ps - you can order handkerchiefs here http://www.giftwagon.com/hanandban.html online of course, oh right! sorry about your computer. hehe.