Ingenious and Indigenous

People use technology every day, some of it simple, some of it complicated, but very seldom they seem to pause to think "This is pretty amazing!" Me, I can hardly talk on the phone without thinking it's pretty amazing that I can speak to someone who is somewhere else. Occasionally even several thousand miles away. It takes me 18 hours to fly to Doo Seon, but still I can talk to her over the phone like she was here, not there. I hardly ever do though.

Today I began using a cool tool, TinyURL. Not that I really need it, but that's not the point, the point is that it exists, and that it's fun. If you visit a webpage with a very long address, which you need to post in an e-mail, or in a Word-document, you can just use TinyURL and http://www.amazon.com/A-Death-in-Family-Vintage-International/dp/0375701230/sr=1-1/qid=1157055732/ref=sr_1_1/103-0258238-9336637?ie=UTF8&s=books
is magically transformed into http://tinyurl.com/quaub

I didn't choose that particular webpage by accident. A Death in the Family is one of my favourite books, and if you haven't read it, you should. Few books are as intense, personal and beautiful. Start by visiting the link and read more about it, maybe even order it.

Tomorrow is my birthday, I wonder if someone is preparing a surprise for me.