I hear my husband downstairs in the living room.
"Dial home," he says. And again, "Dial home," a firm command with precise enunciation.
I think of ET, the loveable extraterrestrial asking to call home.
But Bruce is actually speaking to his new iPhone, trying to get it to recognize a voice command.
"Call Ruth: home," he commands.
The phone rings. That's for you, he yells up the stairs.
I'd figured as much.
"Hello there!" I say.
"It's me," he says.
So we talk for a bit about the marvel of this new device that does his bidding--no questions asked, no ifs, ands, or buts.
A couple of days ago, he'd asked, "Want to know what you can get me for Father's Day and my birthday?" The two are days apart.
Of course I wanted to know.
I hate shopping, and I'm a lousy gift picker-outer, to boot. I hate to disappoint, so I belabor choosing a present, looking at it from so many angles until I convince myself that it's a stupid idea, until eventually every gift seems like a stupid idea. So if Bruce knows what he wants, and he usually does, bring it on!
He wanted an iPhone. He was in line early yesterday when the phones went on sale, along with many others. It reminds me of the Cabbage Patch doll thing. Only at the Apple store they don't trample.
I don’t much understand this techno-love, and as a result, I'm probably not much fun. He tells me excitedly about all the available applications.
"But what's the point of that?" I say. "You can just . . ."
Each one seems to do something one could get better results with another way. Like seriously, would you download an app on your iPhone to tell you how to read the results of your EKG?
I thought not. That's not one he's interested in either.
But he's happy, and I already have his birthday present taken care of. Nothing to worry about from now till Christmas.
~~~~~
Read about my phone: Call me.
Scientist announced a device that can be placed in a pacemaker and will call your doctor whenever you are having heart trouble. When told about it, Dick Cheney said, "I can't afford those kind of phone bills.~Conan O'Brien
Comments
If that works, Netflix will be next to go. After that...well, I'll think of something. I've had enough of newfangledness....