So, perhaps Magoo is correct.  Maybe, just maybe, we have too many gadgets in this family.  Here’s what my kitchen island looked like last Sunday:

Magoo was trying to find this one certain picture from that one time with that one guy in that one place two, or three, or was it four years ago.

And, I’m not so organized.

And, Bud currently has our official family laptop because his was hosed with viruses so we swapped laptops and I took his so I could clean it up.  The family laptop is where I house the majority of our digital pictures since we started using digital circa 2003.

So, I figure this should be an easy task.  Pull out LT #1, my work laptop, which I used to temporarily backup pictures.  No luck. 

“Magoo, go get that laptop under the bed… the one Nanni’s been using.”  LT #2 is the one we thought was dying a year ago so we replaced it.  Turns out it was only dying a slow death and is still alive.  But, the picture Magoo is seeking isn’t on there either.

“Magoo, get that laptop sitting on the floor by our dresser.” 

“Mother… why are you making me do all the work”

“Because YOU are the one that wants the picture.”

“Harumph.  Life is SOOOO unfair.”

Oh, yeah, after hooking LT #3 up, SweetGuys’ old laptop, I realize that we also thought it was dying and it has a broken power button, so we let DustMeister mess with it and install Windows 7 on it.  Everything’s been wiped.  It does us no good.

LT # 4 is Bud’s restored laptop.  It’s all clean and happy now, but is going to do us no good, other than sitting there getting in the way of all the other laptops.

“Wait, I have one final place I can try!!  Magoo, go get that portable hard drive hooked up to the broken Mac upstairs!”

Double harumph from Magoo.  I am not even caring about finding her picture anymore.  I’m just delighting in the fact that I am ordering her around continuously.  She’s so much fun to mess with, and I wonder how long I can get away with enslaving her.

I hook up LT#5, my work Mac laptop, to the Mac external hard drive and… and… nope.  The elusive image is nowhere to be found.

So, all that’s left in the wake of this hunt is a kitchen splattered with useless computers. 

And, as I look around and realize that this scene does not even include our actual main laptop, or SweetGuy’s laptop, or Magoo’s laptop, I suddenly kind of get why Magoo is constantly disgusted with the number of gadgets we have.

Perhaps it’s time to clean out the gadget closet.

Nahhh.

And, geek that I am, I did manage to bring the old Mac desktop back to life and find the picture she was looking for.

Who’s the techie queen?!!  Your mama!!!  (Aren’t you proud, Magoo?)

Check out this picture.  I’ll explain in a bit.  Is it not clear that these folks are related?

So here is the setting:

Place:  Peoria Airport (which claims to be International, yet only flies to Detroit and Chicago?)

When:  Magoo’s birthday!!!  And coincidentally the day Magoo and DustMeister returned home from their grand adventure to Singapore and Thailand.

Wh0:  Me, SweetGuy, Nanni, AUBS!, Emmy, EL, Bud, and Grace meeting the long lost DustMeister and birthday girl Magoo at the airport to welcome them home.

I adore this shot.  There’s Nanni with three of her grandkids who MOST DEFINITELY got some of their playful side from her. 

Speaking of Nanni, did anyone notice that she figured out how to comment on one of my posts?  Not at all surprising that it was a post featuring FavoriteChild. 

I’m so impressed with how she’s getting around on the computer after years of tight-lipped cussing about hating the #^*#@ thing.  She told me something the other day that was wiser than she realizes.  Referring to her computer use she said “I don’t really get it” and “I just press a lot of buttons” and then she said the magic words — “But, I usually find if I just read the screen it tells me what to do.”

Bingo!  As an IT Professional I can attest to the fact that with that single statement, she is now more ahead of the game than about 50% of the users I support.  You go girl.

A geek proposes by reprogramming a video game to pop the question once his girlfriend hit a certain score:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24126242/.   You gotta give the guy credit.  He was thoughtful and creative.   And there are a lot of girls out there these days that like their video games just as much as guys.  I just hope he still got down on one knee with a real ring after the video game finished its turn.

I absolutely adore geeks.  I am married to one.  My first born son is one.  Come to think of it, I suppose I am one too.  Last summer Magoo was surrounded by geeks, including Dustin, who might just be the king of young geeks.  Magoo was sitting at the laptop on our kitchen island (did I mention we’re geeks) and had just received a proposition via MySpace.  It took her aback and she went running and shrieking to a corner.   You think I’m exaggerating for effect, don’t you?  Ah, no.  Her reactions are priceless. 

She had a decision to make, and make quickly, regarding the proposition  – which of course had to do with a guy.  But, hey, it was nothing tawdry so stop thinking like that.  She blubbered in the corner for a while while Dustin and Bud decided to harass help her with some advice.  Dustin likened EVERY decision a human could make to playing a video game, and then pulled out of his wallet a tattered printed matrix decision tree he uses for all decisions.  Magoo kept yelling at Dustin “This is NOT helping me.”  But Dustin continued to use his matrix and plug Magoo’s decision data into its input boxes. 

She ignored Dustin and Bud’s assistance long enough to say no to the proposition.  The geeks didn’t understand exactly what this entailed until she explained that she was just pressing Pause on the game and not Start Over.