Betamax killed the Gadget Guy

My father was burned by new technology once in his life. Despite my afflicted memory, I know I was pretty young when this happened, probably 1983. One day this new fangled machine showed up at our house. My father explained that we could program it to record television when we weren't home and then we could watch it later. It was called a Betamax. Even at that young age I remember my father talking about the superior technology over VHS. That in fact was true, however not many people had them since VHS was cheaper. Several things became apparent very quickly.

1. More than half the video rental stores only carried VHS
2. If they did carry Beta, they carried half the selection of movies that they had in VHS

It was a bit like having a Ferrari and only a dirt road on which to drive.

Eventually we admitted defeat and bought a VHS. Movie night got easier after that but I think it permanently damaged my father's early adopter tendencies.

To support my theory, here are a few technology milestones from the last 30 years:

• I recall flipping an actual dial on the TV for many years.
• Cable arrived in 1993. Who needs cable when you get television for free? (Cable? That's just crazy!).
• My parents had a CD player in their car before the house and that was only because it came standard. (Who knows how long CDs will be around and you'll have wasted all that money!)
• The DVD player was purchased sometime in or around 2004.
• Verizon recently offered them free DVRs with their FIOS install, my father said he didn't want them.
• It's entirely possible that I can run to the library and do research faster than my parent's computer loads wikipedia.
• My father boycotted the cell phone after his company made him carry a bag phone in the mid-80's. This boycott lasted until this year when he finally gave in. He used to tell us he didn't want people to find him; I guess he got tired of people not being able to find him.

Now you might be thinking that my father is somehow technology inept. Not so. The man is genius with anything that requires power. I honestly believe the Betamax is what did it. Who knows what kind of greatness could have been achieved in home theater at our house if that awful midget video recorder hadn't shown up?

Mommom Update
On a side note, for those of you who have been wondering where my grandmother is lately. She's back from my uncle's house in Ohio. She's surprisingly more coherent than she was two months ago. I believe this extraordinary turn of events is partly because of some new dementia medication and partly her newly acquired cane. We tried for months to get her to use a cane. My grandfather had a number of nice canes that are now collecting dust somewhere. I think she almost spit the last time we suggested it. She came back from Ohio with a sawed off snow shovel that had a rubber stopper around the bottom. She loves it, won't go anywhere without it. The former snow shovel of my uncle is my Mommom's new woobie. Hey, whatever works.

I called home today and the line picked up quickly. I hear my grandmother yelling, "Will someone please tell me who I was just talking to?". Then I hear my mother tell her, "that was your son Bill". It's pretty clear that the phone is nowhere near any of their ears. Finally they hear me screaming "HELLO? HELLOOOO?" and my mother retrieves the phone from the table.

Good thing my parent's both got cell phones, I suspect I will be getting a lot of busy signals at the old homestead while Mommom is in town.....