The Modern Man
I remember my dad walking around with his Bluetooth headset...wearing it all the time and bellowing into it. "It's not a trunk call you know, they can hear you at the other end", I would point out and receive a not-at-all-appreciative-of-your-sarcasm-look. He wanted all the best gadgets but was usually quite foxed on how to use them - Sid and I getting frequent calls on his laptop not turning on, how to copy paste, where is the button to turn something on, now it's stuck how do I turn it off, and so on. He liked a good phone but beyond calling, his texting abilities were restricted to "tks, merry Xmas 2u2" though he did improve a bit over time. He would get taken in by silly spammers often, calling me to tell me he had inherited a million dollars from Nigeria and all he had to do was send them his bank account and they would transfer the money! When I told him that it was rubbish and why would anyone in Nigeria want to leave him money, he pooh-pooh'd me and went on to call some of his friends to tell them about his sudden windfall and what was the harm in emailing the person back! He was endearingly, albeit frustratingly, silly that way 
Apart from technology, he did indulge in designer clothes, great cars, the latest music and much more...he was classic but very "with it" But it wasn't just externally, he was very progressive in his views as well, though sometimes we joked that he wanted to appear more progressive than he was. A conversation that always makes me laugh out loud when I remember it, was one my mom, my dad and I had about sex changes. My dad claimed he would be fine if someone he knew had one, he'd be totally cool with it. My mom and I kept laughing and saying "Oh please you would be so uncomfortable", while he argued back saying "that's what you guys think, I'm very progressive!" and he carried on arguing with us for a while. Until my mom got tired of the argument and said "what nonsense, tomorrow if Reem became Rahim you wouldn't be so cool with it". I burst out laughing, as did my dad and tried to cover up with a "No no, that would never happen. She'd make a terrible boy in any case!" My poor dad, he was quite outnumbered with three women but despite the hard to digest Reem-to-Rahim bit (which I know if I happened to be in that situation he would have accepted), modern and progressive was what he was, even if he struggled to understand how spam worked.
But it wasn't just externally, he was very progressive in his views as well, though sometimes we joked that he wanted to appear more progressive than he was. A conversation that always makes me laugh out loud when I remember it, was one my mom, my dad and I had about sex changes. My dad claimed he would be fine if someone he knew had one, he'd be totally cool with it. My mom and I kept laughing and saying "Oh please you would be so uncomfortable", while he argued back saying "that's what you guys think, I'm very progressive!" and he carried on arguing with us for a while. Until my mom got tired of the argument and said "what nonsense, tomorrow if Reem became Rahim you wouldn't be so cool with it". I burst out laughing, as did my dad and tried to cover up with a "No no, that would never happen. She'd make a terrible boy in any case!" My poor dad, he was quite outnumbered with three women but despite the hard to digest Reem-to-Rahim bit (which I know if I happened to be in that situation he would have accepted), modern and progressive was what he was, even if he struggled to understand how spam worked.
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