Guess Who Sets The Clocks After A Power Outage

Last month my mom replaced her 1999 Chrysler 300M with a 2008 Mazda CX-9 (she apparently hates cars with actual words in the name). And since technology has changed quite a bit from 1999 ("It's got a CD changer!") to 2008 ("It's got a touchscreen!"), there's a bit of a learning curve with her and the car.

And like most parents with technology, it's not about learning how to do something. It's about learning how to undo something. It seems that if anyone born before 1964 configures a setting on an electronic device (computer, television, microwave), then that's the way it's gonna stay for eternity. And yes, my older blog followers, I know there are exceptions.  So don't flood my comments section with your defense of the greatest generation (actually, please do flood my comments section, it strokes my already large ego). Because the reality is the vast majority of people from that era are fairly predictable in this respect. That's why the clock in my father-in-law's truck will never celebrate Daylight Saving Time and why my Dad's ringtone will always be "AT&T Tone."

Well my older brother and I know this fact all too well. I once changed my mother-in-law's cell phone wallpaper to a picture of me wearing a child's fireman's helmet with my eyes crossed. And it stayed like that for almost two years (until she upgraded to a new phone).  I don't know how many times I heard her say to people, "I know.  But I don't know how to change it." And my older brother can make the outgoing message on my parent's answering machine say whatever he wants because they don't know how to re-record. ("Hi, we're home, but we're screening your call because we don't like you.  Please leave a message at the beep that we can immediately delete.")

So my brother was riding with our mom in her new car and helping her set up her Bluetooth speakerphone voice controls. He guided her through her contacts list, and she went through everyone's names and spoke them clearly and saved them to the system. But when she got to his name, she said "Landry" and he added "favorite son!" really fast to the end of it. So now, because my mother has no idea how to change it, she is forced to say "Landry favorite son!" whenever she wants to call him from her car. And you might think that would bother me since it implies that I'm not her favorite, but you're wrong. Because it's too funny to get upset about. (Plus, I know I'm her real favorite.)