Everything is breaking. Nothing works.

At work today our computers had a new startup screen with two versions of the application we use. We were told to select the older version. But we were never told what would happen if we selected the newer version. I wanted to shout "What does 3.05 do?!" Why do they tantalize us like that? I thought of the old Loony Tunes cartoon where Porky Pig is in the "house of the future," which is laden with buttons & switches. The realtor tells him to feel free to explore the house, but "whatever you do, don't press the red button!" which of course is the biggest button of all, huge and delicious and all by itself on the wall. Eventually, after a protracted bout with his own curiosity, Porky gives in and presses the red button. I forget exactly what happens then, but if vague memory serves, the house is raised miles into the air on a single sturdy column, leaving Porky trapped. Ah, Porky, the common man's avatar, when will you learn?

Several times at work today I was gripped by nostalgia for both my early childhood and more recent times. So I dealt with it the only way I know how: I came home and Googled everyone I can ever remember knowing, ever, anywhere. I also looked for aerial photos of all the places I've ever lived.

During the course of my nostalgic meanderings, I discovered that the camp I used to work at is having a reunion in August. Maybe I should make it a goal to go. If any of my former co-counselors are out there reading this, check it out and write me.

Just now I was going through the books in my room, looking for the next thing to read. I was thumbing through Tom Wolfe's Hooking Up when I noticed that the second essay in the book is about Grinnell. More specifically, it's about Robert Noyce, the Grinnell native and graduate of Grinnell College who, it's generally agreed, invented the microchip. As a small-town kid, I'm not used to opening books at random and seeing the name of my town, much less chapters that begin with "In 1948 there were seven thousand people in Grinnell, Iowa ... " Yeah! Grinnell! Whoooo!

It was just neat. That's all.

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