Revenge of the Confusers

My wife Carla finally got Skype, allowing us to talk via computer between Los Angeles and Rome. The microphone's not working yet, so thus far she can hear me but I can't hear her. It's amazing how annoying this very temporary inconvenience seems. I was flying from Rome to L.A. once by way of Milan, where a two hour delay was announced due to problems with the computers in Air Traffic Control. (And by the way, the Milano airport is named Malapensa, which tanslates as "bad thought.") A nicely dressed African gentleman next to me began to complain loudly. "Two hours," I said to him, "it used to take months to get there from here, and we're still going to arrive this afternoon." Nothing makes us more annoyed than the absence of something intended to make our lives easier. Real progress is when we learn to live with the momentary lack of so-called convenience.