A love story.

Who knew that googling "I love my printer"
would yield such a perfect image result!?

Last night I realized that I haven't told you all about my newest love affair. Ladies and gentleman.... I am in love with my printer. That's right, my printer. You see, Dr. H and I haven't had a printer in our home for almost 5 years and it's never mattered much because we both had access to one at work. Sure we had occasional "why don't we just buy a printer?" moments, but generally we were fine. Then I decided to work from home.

For nearly 5 months, for reasons I cannot entirely explain (that warped laziness where you're too lazy to do something you know deep down will actually make life easier?) I did not get a printer for my home office. Then, a few weeks ago, I was in the neighborhood of the best photo/video/printer/gadget store on the planet (fo reals) so I marched in there and came out a changed woman. For a price waaaay cheaper than I was anticipating (why did I think printers were like $250!?) I can now print papers and pictures and annnnything I want and I can do it wirelessly and I can even do it from my PHONE! As in I can snap a picture, print it and have it in a frame on my wall in approximately 90 seconds (haven't actually timed this process, but I'm sure it will eventually happen). Plus the printer is so small! When did they figure out how to make printers small!?

Now I'm sure some of you are thinking I'm crazy (I am), because this technology is not exactly new, but I was behind the times in printer world and man how it has changed!! (I imagine I'll have a similar experience when I someday purchase a car, 5+ years since I last owned one... which had a tape deck). So here's to being surprised by the awesomeness of a new gadget and to marveling at how something like a printer can unexpectedly brighten your whole day. (I think I'm going to ironically print this blog post).

Love in a digital age?

Romantical.

I recently watched the movie Sleepless in Seattle [Warning: plot spoilers below] for the first time (late to the party I know, but SO worth the wait!) and after I recovered from my Nora Ephron-enduced moony love trance, I started thinking about how modern technology has absolutely obliterated the plot of this "timeless" romantic comedy. For starters, not too many people are listening to radio these days and even fewer are writing letters. If Tom Hanks' Sam Baldwin was around today, his inbox might have been flooded, but not his mailbox. Additionally, Facebook, Linkedin and Google pretty much guarantee that Meg Ryan's Annie would not have remained a mystery to Sam for long. They both would have had pictures, employment histories and countless other pieces of personal information to judge the other on prior to having an actual conversation. The mystery and romance of the Sleepless love story are just not possible in our internet dominated world!

Dr. H and I are of the generation that grew with the internet, meaning we fell in love just before the proliferation of the smartphone, when Facebook was only an idea floating around Harvard's campus. Other than over-analysis of AIM away messages (song lyrics never had so much meaning) we fell for one another face to face. Our romance felt organic and real. I wonder for today's generation if the internet has ruined falling in love, just a little bit. Though it's great to "know more", for me, the mystery and anticipation of learning more with each minute spent together was one of the best things about falling in love. I'm grateful there was no internet history for me to cross-reference or pre-judge. Because even though it took Sam and Annie months of "near misses" and cross-country wondering to find one another, without a single text or tweet, the crazy power of love led them to the Empire State Building. You can't find that kind of magic on the internet:)