What did we do before we had the internet?

This morning Audrey asked me what a sycamore tree looked like. I told her I didn't know (we're strictly a maple, oak, birch, pine neighbourhood around here). I then whipped the iPod out of my bra (yes, I've been keeping it there lately) and found her a couple of photos. Nice tree.

There are so many times a day I do things like that. I'll watch a movie and check IMDb for the trivia. I'll hear the best song ever in a commercial and before my show is back on, it's on my iPod. What's that? Henry has to be a bishop for a class presentation? Let me look up some information on feudal England online then go to a craft website for the cheapest way to make the costume:

The neighbour offers me a grocery bag full of nasty string beans? I'll take it thanks, there's got to be a bizarre cake recipe using them somewhere out there. It goes on and on.

What did we do before the internet? Remember when we had to do projects for school? We'd have to go to the dusty old library and crack open an actual, honest to God, book. You'd have to use the photocopier to get black and white photos into your project, then painstakingly hand-write and double-space your work. Remember that? Kids today are so lucky. I still have a full set of vintage 1974 encyclopaedia in the spare room. Those 22 books take up 4 feet of shelf space and must weigh a hundred pounds. What I should have done was gotten Audrey to kick it old school and look up a sycamore tree the way I used to. But time rolls on and technology advances. Besides, think of the technology required to carry 100 pounds in a bra.

kxx