Books?! I couldn't even believe he said books...

Last night, while sitting on the couch with my laptop researching deals for a possible upcoming vacation, tpd and I had the following conversation (paraphrasing, I may have been a little more rude - if that's even possible - and used a few more cuss words in real life):

me: tpd, how about this one...(insert long desc. of trip here for XX amount of dollars.) that sounds like a good deal, doesn't it? that even includes airfare...

tpd: well, yeah, but look behind you on the end table there.... i put some books there. i got those books from the travel agent today, why don't you look through those?

me (almost spit out my wine): books? seriously? did you just suggest i look through books to find pictures and cruise packages? (insert creeping giggling here) i mean, i have the entire internet with 3-d zoom on the SPECIFIC stateroom we would get in front of me (giggling turning into big time laughter) and you want me to look through "2008/2009 Cruise Deals" books.

tpd: i hate you.

So, I was harsh, right? Yes, definitely harsh, he puts up with a lot. But, in the light of the morning, this little exchange really got me thinking about technology and how people have substantially different mentalities about life events because of technology. My immediate reaction was, "Books? Seriously people, do we still use books to research vacations?" After thinking though, I guess my mentality was more why would I use a book IF I have a fast-as-a-T1 internet connection, a Firefox tabbed browser where I could simultaneously be checking 4-5 different travel sites AND have the ability to get real reviews from real people who have ACTUALLY been to these locations. But, his point of view (equally as valid, I might add) was that these were from the travel agent and were "up to date" and not a bad place to start a vacation search in a more relaxed, unplugged way. Totally valid and probably a good idea, but so not where my mental state would be when starting a vacation search. For him, though, it would be his first stop. So, basically my point here (if there even is one-this definitely falls under the Erin's Ramblings category) is just how differently people can think about things these days. Where one mentality about a simple thing like planning a vacation can be so differently viewed because of things like the internet and (I hate to even mention the phrase around tpd) Social Networks.

Take the other night, I was having trouble finding a vacation planning site that I could really connect with. The sites I was searcing on - the old school travelocitys, expedias, etc just weren't working for me anymore. So, I turned to one of my newer BIF's (best internet friends), Twitter (cause after all, you're no one if you're not on Twitter, right tpd?) for suggestions on a good site to look for vacay deals. Within an hour, I had about 8 different suggestions from my tweeps of sites I'd never heard of (bookit.com, vacationstogo.com and more!) I'm now possibly having a small internet affair with bookit.com, but that's a whole different story.

Things like this just remind me of how rapidly technology is changing and that I'm at a very unique point to see it happening. My generation is one in which we can still very clearly remember a life before technology, but is now very much a part of today's tech as well. We're neither too old nor too young, it's a very unique age where we can see both ends of the technology spectrum. We can remember AAA books and trip planners, route maps, and even going with our parents to AAA where the lady at the counter would highlight the road construction hazzards and alternate routes. My kids will never know that. They will more than likely only know what we know now - real-time traffic on their GPS or mobile phone/laptop, etc and MORE! And planning a vacation, I can almost promise by the time Bridget and Shane are my age, no one will think of picking up a book first. I'm definitely not saying this is good thing, there is plenty to be said for being unplugged and the calmness of thumbing through pages, but if I already am having trouble thinking that way, imagine how they will think.

Lastly, I'd love to hear what you think - anybody have an opinion on this particular rambling of mine? I'd love to hear it since this is a big source of debate in our household - leave me a comment!

Happy Weekend Bleeps! (I just made that one up right now bleeps - get it? Blog-peeps, oh I crack myself up...)