Oh, the toys we entertain ourselves with in this day and age.

Just purchased myself a new cellular phone the other day. I have an account with T-Mobile and felt like after three or four years with the same generic freebie phone you get when you sign up for an account it was high time I treated myself to sparkling new fresh piece of technology. I went on-line and upgraded to a Motorola RAZR V3i, probably one of the more popular lines of cellular phones floating across the market today. It's got all of the latest bells and whistles like an MP3 player, camera, text messaging and a video recorder. If this were the 80s it would be the equivalent of someone packaging a Walkman, a Commodore 64 computer, a Polaroid, a VCR and a Bell telephone all in one, except this phone would weigh approximately 25 pounds and drain C batteries with all the regularity of a fat man after frequent doses of Metamucil.

And just think: It wasn't too long ago that we discovered fireŠ

So I've got a new phone. Well, not yet. It has to be shipped from somewhere, but should arrive in a couple of days and I'll more than likely spend the first day swapping phone numbers from my old phone into my new one. Then I'll spend the next year figuring out how to actually work the thing.

And just think: It wasn't too long ago that we discovered gunpowderŠ

What about the new high definition televisions? Once computers started becoming sleek notebooks, it was only a matter of time before the big, bulky Brontosaurus analog televisions went the way ofŠthe Brontosaurus. You can even mount televisions on the wall now, freeing them from the confines of entertainment centers.

And just think: It wasn't too long ago that we discovered if you strap two pieces of plywood to a soapbox racer we could flyŠ

I'm sure there's a newspaper company somewhere that has not made the transition from film to digital cameras, but you could draw the needle in a haystack comparison when discussing that one. Digital photography has been a boom to the publishing industry, this newspaper included. I remember having to develop our own film, fumbling around blindly in a darkroom and hoping the chemicals were properly mixed. Shooting sports was particularly discouraging because you never knew if you had captured an adequate enough image of the game you'd just covered. With digital you can see right then and there what you have and delete what's not usable.

And just think: It wasn't too long ago we discovered color televisionŠ

Seriously. Technology has moved fast and is moving faster.

And what's behind it all?

You know as well as I.

Aliens.

Kevin Pearcey is Group Managing Editor of Greenville Newspapers, LLC. He can be reached by phone at 383-9302, ext. 136 or by email at: editor@greenville.advocate.com.