You wouldn't get any with just an "I luv u".

Yesterday I had a long conversation that resolved many of the world's problems but kept coming back to the topic of cell phone usage. I have been paying, for a long time, for a friend's cell phone. Over the years this accounts payable relationship has been a mini experiment in social habits and communication; my version of The Medium Is The Massage . We survived the first $500.00 phone bill. She was a high school student taking summer courses at a college. I increased the fixed voice minutes on the plan. We also survived the advent of text messaging; a $300.00 bill. She had spent a summer as an intern in Mexico where text messaging was free. I upped the plan to 500 additional text messages.  Recently, after a long period of few surprises, the bill had a surcharge for a slew of text messages; new boy friend and "text games" played among co-workers. We resolved this by her assuming all costs for the cell phone. She's all grown up.

However the bill is not the sole inspiration and purpose of this post. I'm old school. I've never sent a text message on my cell phone. I do text occasionally with Skype as it works well in conjunction with my eBay store. Our conversation kept circling around the lack of refinement in the communication skills of the young. Refinement was my term. In my corporate life I witnessed a degradation of the basic communication skills of the younger generations beginning with the dumbing down of the educational system and the advent of Voice Mail and Instant Messaging. I left the corporate world before I injured someone as the result of a text message. According to my friend one of the biggest benefits of text messaging is that she can text all day while at work (note to self: send text message to John McCain: US workers are the most productive in the world?). My friend did agree that text messaging has negatively impacted one part of her life: the slow death of romance.

One of the first 'Life" bits of knowledge I passed on to my friend was" "Never date a guy that can not afford to give you Godiva Chocolates". You might interpret this as materialistic, but I believe that there is a lot of value to some of the niceties of romantic acts and traditions. During my courtship and marriage (I'm now divorced...I stopped being romantic!) we struggled to find time together for shared activities. Living on pennies, we would fill garbage bags with our laundry and take the bus to the laundromat. We would enjoy pasta and a movie for a few dollars at a local diner while our clothes went through the rinse cycle. The money that would have been used to dry the clothes paid for the pasta and the movie. This shared activity was as enjoyable (in truth, the memory of an old man tells me more enjoyable) as when we had advanced in our careers and could afford to tell the wine steward to bring "whatever you recommend" to our table.

During our long rambling, but enjoyable, conversation, my friend made the observation that her generation doesn't even say "I love you" anymore.  Romantic niceties have been dumbed-down to "I luv u" in a text message. Not even a voice message with the cracking of the voice, the slight hesitation between "I" and "love".

I made lots of mistakes during my married life. Some I learned from, some I blindly repeated (dah, I'm divorced). When traveling I used voice mail and e-mail to communicate home. As a credit to so many teachers and professors throughout long years of formal education, I distinctly remember one mistake that I seldom repeated. I quickly learned that I wasn't going to "get any" when I returned home if I ended my e-mails with "i luv u". Like Skinner's rats, I learned that the extra effort to spell out "love" could improve the quality of the welcome home.

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The Silver Surfer (Norrin Radd) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero created by Jack Kirby. The character first appears in the comic book Fantastic Four #48 (March 1966), the first of a three-issue arc fans and historians call "The Galactus Trilogy".

Originally a young astronomer of the planet Zenn-La, in order to save his home-world from destruction by a fearsome cosmic entity known as Galactus, Norrin Radd made a bargain with the being, pledging himself to serve as his herald. Imbued in return with a tiny portion of Galactus' Power Cosmic, Radd acquired great powers and a silvery appearance. Galactus also created for Radd a surfboard-like craft — modeled after a childhood fantasy of his — on which he would travel at speeds beyond that of light. Known from then on as the Silver Surfer, Radd began to roam the cosmos searching for new planets for Galactus to consume. When his travels finally took him to Earth, the Surfer came face-to-face with the Fantastic Four, a team of powerful superheroes that helped him to rediscover his nobility of spirit. Betraying Galactus, the Surfer saved Earth but was punished in return with everlasting exile there.

Stan Lee enjoyed the character and decided to feature him in his own individual title in 1968. John Buscema was penciller for the first 17 issues of the series, with Kirby returning for the eighteenth and final issue. The first seven issues, which included anthological "Tales of the Watcher" backup stories, were 72-page (with advertising), 25-cent "giants", as opposed to typical 36-page, 12-cent comics of the time. Thematically, the stories dealt with the Surfer's exile on Earth and the inhumanity of man as observed by this noble yet fallen hero. The Silver Surfer comic book series became known as one of Lee's most thoughtful and introspective works. Englehart writes that Buscema and Lee were "pouring their souls into the series".

Waldo County, situated in mid-coast Maine along scenic Penobscot Bay, has genuine New England character evidenced by working port towns and quaint rural villages. Visitors are awed by the area's unspoiled beauty. From striking coastal views to sweeping mountain vistas, dramatic natural settings abound. In addition great care has been taken to preserve and refurbish numerous historic landmarks, homes and buildings. Consequently, the Maine of yesteryear is still found here.

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