I love the age we live in.

Actually, I have to say it's MY time I love. Although it verges on past in the geologic sense, 1951 was a very good year to be born.

Being a kid in the '50s was storybook stuff ... a hopeful, post-war world where the new suburban streets were safe and neighbors looked after each others' kids, TV shows were blandly entertaining and mildly educational, and vaccination had moved polio off the summer agenda.

(Yes, I do know that bad things happened in the '50s, but that's not where I'm going right now.)

The 1960's were perfect years to be a teen. While people just a couple of years older were condemned to Pat Boone and Fabian, I got the Beatles and the Stones, The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin. (Those just slightly behind us were doomed to disco, poor souls.) Vietnam and the Civil Rights Movement made sure that we were interested and interesting, and although our youth had us thinking the world was our oyster, we learned early on that it was also our responsibility.

Fast forward ... because that's how it happens these days ... and people like me are able to live on an island in the middle of nowhere and talk face to face with friends and family on the other side of the planet, and for free! Okay, it's a bit glitchy, and there's a slight delay, but, hey!, this is SO cool.

Although admittedly way behind the curve on this technology, I have finally joined the world according to Skype ... and with a web cam ... and I'm catching on quick. Unfortunately, my family is a bit slow on the uptake, but I'm encouraging them to get with the program toute suite.

Last night I spent a good 20 minutes watching ... yes, watching ... some friends trying to figure out how the system works. I could see them fiddling with configurations, discussing this option or that ... husband tweaked, wife supervised, both looked puzzled. And I could SEE their faces as they went through the contortions. Them in Sacramento, me 12 time zones away, and we were RIGHT THERE at the same time. (They didn't figure out a way to see AND hear me at the same time, so I was typing and they were reading, but I could HEAR them reading!)

How cool is this?

And what the heck is next? I'm running on the assumption that another couple of years will see the end of jerky video and audio that drops out from time to time, and envision free and easy conversations as casual as when Elroy Jetson called home to let George know he had spaceball practice and would be late for dinner. (The picture on the Jetson's screen was crystal clear, if you recall.)

Now, is anyone working on that beamy-uppy thing yet?