The Mindset List for the Class of 2015

If you've been on Yahoo today, you might have seen this, but in case you haven't, read this and try not to feel too old! 



The Mindset List for the Class of 2015 (entering college freshmen)



1.There has always been an Internet ramp onto the information highway.
2.Ferris Bueller and Sloane Peterson could be their parents.
4.The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.
5.There have always been at least two women on the Supreme Court, and women have always commanded U.S. Navy ships.
6.They “swipe” cards, not merchandise.
7.As they’ve grown up on websites and cell phones, adult experts have constantly fretted about their alleged deficits of empathy and concentration.
8.Their school’s “blackboards” have always been getting smarter.
9.“Don’t touch that dial!”….what dial?
10.American tax forms have always been available in Spanish.
12.Amazon has never been just a river in South America.
13.Refer to LBJ, and they might assume you're talking about LeBron James.
14.All their lives, Whitney Houston has always been declaring “I Will Always Love You.”
15.O.J. Simpson has always been looking for the killers of Nicole Simpson and Ronald Goldman.
16.Women have never been too old to have children.
18.Jim Carrey has always been bigger than a pet detective.
24.“Yadda, yadda, yadda” has always come in handy to make long stories short.
25.Video games have always had ratings.
28.Jimmy Carter has always been a smiling elderly man who shows up on TV to promote fair elections and disaster relief.
30.Dial-up is soooooooooo last century!
56.They’ve always wanted to be like Shaq or Kobe: Michael Who?
57.They’ve often broken up with their significant others via texting, Facebook, or MySpace.
63.They won’t go near a retailer that lacks a website.
65.When they were 3, their parents may have battled other parents in toy stores to buy them a Tickle Me Elmo while they lasted.
74.“PC” has come to mean Personal Computer, not Political Correctness.




Copyright© 2011 Beloit College


Mindset List is a registered trademark


For list in its entirety, visit http://www.beloit.edu/mindset

Another Painful Goodbye

I posted a good while ago about losing our Blockbuster.  Say goodbye to strolling the aisles and renting a movie.

Today there is another painful goodbye.  To our Borders. 

We have a Borders bookstore very close to our house.  Not that long ago I had signed up for their e-mails and enjoyed their online coupons.  Whenever my kids were invited to a birthday party, I watched for a half-off coupon from Borders, printed it, and bought the birthday kid a book.  My own children, especially Gogurt, loved to go into Borders and shop around.  He loves, loves, loves books so to walk into a bookstore was a kind of heaven to him. 

I received an e-mail from Borders CEO the other day about fighting a good fight but having to close up shop anyway.  That very same day, I started seeing the announcements on the news programs, "Borders to Close Their Doors."   

Life as we know it is ending.  No, I'm not just being dramatic about Borders, or Blockbuster either for that matter.  I'm afraid there will come a time where no business is safe from the online competition.  Blockbuster went belly-up because of their Netflix competition.  Borders went the same way.  Kindles, Amazon, etc., is the way of the future. 

Well, I for one, think this STINKS.  

TO HIGH HEAVEN.  

We are headed to Borders later today to cash in on their 40% Closing Sale and to say goodbye yet again to one of our beloved stores. 

I predict that many years down the road, when people are so stuck in their computers, relying on online stores for every single thing, that someone on the other side of the screen will have this wacky, radical idea.  "What if? What if we took our business to the people, you know face-to-face, set up a storefront, and actually interacted with the customers?"  To which he might get this response, "You know, that's the craziest idea I've ever heard, but it just might work." 

I Gave Up On Twitter and I'm Not On Facebook

I really thought I would dig Twitter, and I do enjoy reading it occasionally and seeing if the people I follow have said anything lately. But as far as me "tweeting," it's just not happening. I am giving up on Twitter. Maybe not forever, but for now. I see how it could be useful, but I just don't feel like my (very, very few) followers really want to know what I just did or what I'm about to do. I just felt a little silly, ya know?

Now about Facebook. I have nothing against Facebook, but I personally have never even laid eyes on a Facebook page. I have a few people really trying to persuade me to get on there and I guess at this point I am just being stubborn. Could I be the last person under the age of 40 to hold out and NOT join Facebook? Maybe that would win me some kind of award? Or not.

When I first started hearing about Facebook, I was lumping it in with MySpace, etc., but now I know that it is a pretty safe place to connect with others. Basically I have no excuse other than my stubbornness.

One day I will probably break down and give it a try, but until then we'll just have to connect with each other here!