My father, a machinist by trade who probably could’ve cut for you a threaded bolt from a chunk of steel, never could seem to figure out the cordless phone. I remember the attempted conversations when I’d call home as an adult. They’d start with my mother, who’d pass the phone to my father, and I’d hear something like, “Wha…? How do I…? Is this…???” Sometimes, he’d get to the point of Arlo, but most times he’d finally figure it out: put the phone to your ear and talk, Daddy. It seems as if we absorb everything new to a point in our lives, and after that we absorb relatively little. Maybe that point corresponds roughly with the point when we realize most new gadgets aren’t going to change our life at all. That point is different for all of us, I suppose.