Feeling sick...

Its the Olympics, and I know I shouldn't be feeling blue, but I feel sick... not of the physical variety...

Sick of research... sick of Undergrads knocking on my office door... sick of answering questions about life I don't know the answer too... sick of people... sick of egos... sick of lies... sick of telling myself the glass is half full when I know its half empty... sick of putting on a smile for the world...

Sigh... I need a doctor.

I-Buds and Bouncy Balls...

I was in a Fast Food restaurant a few days ago... after finishing my meal, I went to throw out the condiments into the garbage, and I noticed that by the trash can, there was one of those mechanical 'toy' dispensers. Basically, it is meant for little kids to put their change in, and out would pop a trinket for them to play with for a few days until they get bored with it.

Of course, when I was a kid, I had collected quite a few of these trinkets. The toys only cost $0.25, and I would end up with a toy car, maybe a candy, or my favorite, a small rubber bouncy ball (yes, I am a simple creature). So you can imagine my surprise when I noticed that the cost had gone up to $2.00, and even more interestingly, you don't get toys out of these machines anymore... for $2.00 kids can now buy earphones for their Ipods... 'Ibuds'!

Now I understand that times are changing, and kids are definitely more tech savvy than when I was a kid, and I was probably more tech saavy as a kid than my parents, and so on and so forth. But seriously? I sometimes wonder if kids even know what it is like to a 'non-virtual' toy, or actually go outside and play 'non-electronic' games. I have noticed that even my students have stopped using paper and pencil... most of them take their notes on a laptop, and 'jot' down information quickly into their cell phones. Perhaps I am getting old and cranky, but for some reason, this kind of worries me...

Keep your Ibuds kids... I prefer my rubber bouncy ball.