I Need a Rosie the Robot

I remember watching The Jetsons when I was little. I loved it.

I also remember how far-fetched the idea seemed... you know, talking on the phone while watching video of a person very far away. I vaguely remember watching Mrs. Jetson pop out her fake made-up-cardboard self to put in front of her real sloppy-at-home self when answering the phone. This was not something the rest of us had to worry about when we answered the phone. I mused that it would be a problem - having to think about your appearance before you answered the phone - if that sort of video phone thing were ever really to become possible.

Which, of course, it wouldn't.

It all seemed so ridiculous... so impossible... kind of like the idea of "beaming up" to a new place when I watched Star Trek.

(Will we really be able to do that one day, too?!)

Well, this morning I just logged onto the video chat on my new laptop... in Google chat and with Skype. The fact that I can call - talk to - and SEE a friend of mine living across the ocean - for FREE - is astonishing to me.

"The only surprising thing is that you're still surprised," as my husband often says to me...