Ryan's Journal

"The truth is, boys and girls, even if you write a lot of e-mail on the computer, you will always need to write things down on paper at some point in your life," Boell says. "The letters you write to people are beautiful, and they'll cherish them forever. Have any of you ever received an e-mail that you cherished?"

The students eagerly shout, "No!" and return to loops and curves.

Cursive, CNN

Wrong question. Perhaps one might consider whether nine year olds cherish any personal correspondence. Digital communication has its advantages.

Not that I completely disagree with the teacher above, despite his misplaced Luddite tendencies. Computers really aren't so great for a lot of things. I remember my youth group director wanting to do the 'Doogie Howser' thing (typing out his journal at the end of the day for those not familiar with 80's TV programming), so he didn't keep a journal because he didn't have a computer yet. It was about the same for me, except I just got an analog journal to write stuff in, because as it turns out, these computers suck for real writing and editing. Actually, computers suck for lots of things. They're just barely usable. Wouldn't it be nice if they just worked, didn't have a bunch of bloatware, didn't crash at the slightest provocation, and were easy to use?

As it turns out, this 'journal' isn't really much of a journal. I don't really know what it is anymore considering that I do all my real writing and thinking with a pen and paper now. Um. This would be an awkward silence in real life.

Well, let's change topics. "Bill Gates' home is totally out of date. He built it right before wireless happened. The big tunnels for all his wires -- he doesn't need that stuff anymore." -- Martha Stewart, in Time magazine. Go Martha, Wall Street guru, home decorating maven, and now a techno savvy criminal. Well, the Gates home does use wireless of some kind for the custom art displays which adapt depending on what user tag a visitor is wearing. And wireless stuff still needs power, so it's not like wireless networking means total wirelessness. But, Martha, Martha, she does hit on one of my wishes for interior design. We have all these ugly cables, pipes, light bulbs, and power outlets interrupting the aesthetics of of our living, working, and playing space. Can we get rid of them? I mean, I'd rather get rid of world hunger first, but... those cables, they be buggin'.

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