What He Wanted Twenty Years Ago

Yesterday I was IM'ing with my brother. As it turns out, he was also IM'ing with Flash who was on the couch across the room from me. G decided to simplify and invite us both into a chat conference. Sounded like a plan.

My dad, sitting next to my brother on a couch in TN wanted in on the action. My brother walked my dad through downloading Messenger and then adding Flash and I to his buddy list. My dad commented to G that this was a lot like Skype only without the picture. G turned on his webcam and said, "We can remedy that!"

By the time all was said and done we were all hooked up to cams and mics and chat and whatnot, we realized that everyone could pretty much see and hear each other except me. My computer doesn't have a webcam or a built-in mic.

My dad thought for a minute that I wasn't able to see their webcams without one of my own. I typed into the chat window, "I can see you. I can even hear you. You just can't hear me."

I watched on the webcam as my dad exclaimed, "Where was this technology twenty years ago when I could've talked and you could only have listened?!"

Save by technology. Or lack thereof.