DX

For my daughter's 7th birthday, my wife got her a Nintendo DX - known to all cool and hip children as simply a "DX". Despite my self-professed computer saaviness, I had no clue.

A DX is an electronic pocket toy with interchangeable modules like Prison Yard Gang Rumble, Lap Dancer and the more benign Pet Puppy and Mom The Cook.

Being our home's official pet maintenance person - though not by choice - I was very much in favor of an electronic critter; no kibble, no poop, no trips to the vet for shots. Seemed like a really good idea until the stoopid thing started making noise. . . LOTS of noise. . . OFTEN. . . and my kids started talking to it. . . INCESSANTLY. . . and my kids stopped hearing anything said to them by their parents - which seems to be a regular by-product of children affixed to electronic devices.

Then my kids tried to convince me that Spot was really smart and could be trained to listen to commands.

"Great!", I said. "Can you teach Spot to format himself? That way the hard drive that Spot lives on can be blanked, deleting Spot, and giving me some peace and quiet!"

For some reason my kids didn't consider that a good idea.