Top five

On the way in to work this morning, the DJs on the morning show were doing top five lists of inventions that have happened in their lifetimes that improve their lives. We only caught the last one, but we did hear a caller comment on the fact that none of them picked the credit card for their lists. Apparently, the whole crew there is money stupid and can't really handle credit cards. One guy uses an American Express card so that he is forced to pay it off every month, and the other guy, his wife gives him cash if he needs money! Talk about lacking common sense (and yes, I do include basic money sense in that category). In any case, here is my top five list of inventions that have make my life better.

1. The credit card. I hardly ever carry cash around, and now that almost everyone takes credit cards I don't have to. The smallest amount I've ever charged: 31 cents for postage.

2. Wikipedia. This makes up for my deficient historical education (as well as being the first place I go to if I want to know more about anything). It's been really helpful lately, as we've been watching the British "Whose Line is it Anyway?," and they keep dropping all of these British cultural references that we then have to look up.

3. Silica gel cat litter. Without it, I don't think I'd be able to keep cats, as the dust from every other sort of litter I tried just made my nose go crazy. Of course, I have yet to try a mechanical litter box, so maybe some day that might take this spot on the list.

4. Laser eye surgery. This might be cheating, as I haven't actually had it yet, but my mom and all my uncles have been thrilled with theirs. I will be getting it as soon as I can, but they want you to be 25 so that your eyes are done changing (mine did in fact change last year and the year before, after having been stable for several years). I can't wait to wake up in the morning with clear vision.

5. Digital music. As nifty as records are, I'd hardly ever listen to music if I had to carry around individual albums. The portable mp3 player is where it's at.

There are so many other things in my life that also make life better and easier (the rice cooker, the microwave, cell phones, the Internet, the printing press), but I can't include them, because they were invented before I was born.