So this is 2003. A year that sounds like Arthur C. Clarke or Ray Bradbury's visions of hovercraft, personal communicators and clones, but consists of slush in the streets and Ovaltine(TM). No hovercraft, the jury's still out on the clones, but it is strange to see everyone talking to themselves on cellphones.

Yes, the future is here -- and someday it will again be the past.

As I take stock of the state of the world...I am turning 35, the official old fart age, in two days, after all...here are what I see as the two most influential inventions of our modern age:

1) By far and wide, The Internet. Nothing has connected us with each other and with all the information in the world quite as efficiently. Grumble all you want about clunky dial-ups and spam; just think about the days pre-internet, or "P.I.", when we had to go to the library or get on the phone to get information -- or heaven forbid, write a letter!

2) Cell phones. This might even be a tie with #1. All those movie plots about being stuck somewhere, like in an elevator, or in a snowdrift without a phone are now obsolete. Just make sure you haven't used up your free nighttime minutes when Jason comes knocking at your door. Isn't it amazing how we've become accustomed to (or just grown increasingly annoyed with) overhearing one-sided conversations in public?

Some would disagree, and say Viagra(TM) has been the #1 invention of the century. Personally, I am neutral on the subject. To each their own :) Enjoy.

I'm looking forward to more frequent rants upon the Blog! Huzzah!

Lenka Reznicek on the Web

---