Newspapers, Celebrities, and Phones

Today I was sitting at Starbucks with my friend Jen and her one year old daughter Addison.  We had chosen a table in the corner with big comfy chairs, and windows that looked out onto the street. Unfortunately, there were newspapers everywhere on our table, chairs, the window sills. One paper was the local paper with headlines that read “Pain Meds hurt as well as heal.” A very profound headline, unless you have one iota of common sense and realize pain meds are just like any other drug a person become addicted too. Another headline read “Gregoire asks State to build Ferries” (Not a verbatim recreation of the headline, but you get the point). Its a very good idea, but I wonder where they are going to get the money for that…hopefully not an increase of the gas tax.

But what struck my attention the most was a little corner add on a national paper. If you text a certain number you can receive celebrity birthdays on your phone. Wow! What a great idea! I always wanted to know when (insert celebrity name)’s birthday was so I could send them a card, or throw them a birthday party in their honor with all my friends. Why is this important? Most people have a hard enough time remembering their family and friends birthdays or other important dates. If Myspace, Facebook, and other social networking sites can send you birthday reminders, why don’t we text a certain number to get our friends and family’s birthdays to our phones? I would much rather have that, then knowing what day happens to be Paul Rueben’s birthday.