As I mentioned a few days ago, I just bought a little 10″ Eee PC that I am genuinely very happy with. Whether or not I actually need it is up for debate, frankly,  I just wanted a new toy. I’ve probably spent more time talking about it than I have actually using it. I especially like picking up other people’s laptops and saying, “Oh, this is soooo heavy and huge, how do you deal?” This is partly because I’m a pompous ass, and partly because it’s true. Use a netbook for a hour and then sit with a normal-sized laptop on your lap - it feels like you’re using Zach Morris’s cellphone, just comically large and outdated. That’s not to say that staring at my tiny 10″ inch screen won’t make me go blind within the year, it more than likely will, but at least I’ll look cool doing it.

Anyway, I had my first video chat with my parents (to whom I gave a 10″ MSI Wind netbook for Christmas) on Skype. I gave them the netbook almost solely because I figured, at the very least, they would enjoy videochatting with me and my sister (who lives across the country in Portland, Oregon). My sister has a baby on the way, and since my parents live in New Jersey and won’t be able to “see” the baby that often, they can at least see it (I meant him, it’s not an “it”, it’s a him, I’ve been told) in this very Jetson-esque setting.

So my parents and I video-chatted away, both of us giddy to be using our new futuristic toys. This led to the highlight of the chat - my parents showing me the new toilet they installed in their bathroom. Seriously. It’s one of those dual-flush models (one flush size for #1, one flush size for #2) and it will save them money on water bills, plus it’s better for the environment, plus it has a seat that lowers automatically, which is better because it doesn’t slam and wake people up if you pee in the middle of the night, plus . . . (and on, and on they went as I stared at the screen in disbelief).

So years of technological breakthroughs, free software, and the purchase of two new computers culminated in this: Me staring at a toilet, via the Internet.

Isn’t technology grand?