Except, really, it isn't. Aside from these little enclaves of cyber hip, which, by reading this you demonstrate your membership within, the world cares not for the future.

But if it did, we would all study Future Shock Levels and reflect on what it means to be comfortable living in science fiction universe.

A Shock Level measures the high-tech concepts you can contemplate without being impressed, frightened, blindly enthusiastic - without exhibiting future shock. Shock Level Zero or SL0, for example, is modern technology and the modern-day world, SL1 is virtual reality or an ecommerce-based economy, SL2 is interstellar travel, medical immortality or genetic engineering, SL3 is nanotech or human-equivalent AI, and SL4 is the Singularity.

Jump the senses through hoops of excitement and despair. Plain yogurt and deep fat fryers full of transfats. 'Future Shock' already seems old hat. Okay...we have change. Oh, now we have a change in the rate of change. Change is accelerating. And the rate at which change is accelerating is accelerating. And on and on. Just the thought of all this delta this and sigma that is sort of annoying. Because deep down, on the surface, where we live, things change slowly.

My kids are bigger now than a year ago. But they are still Themselves. Their beings enfused with the pure essence of Molly-ness, of Maddy-ish, of Spencer-ite. My relationship with Heather goes up and down and around and it deepens and we grow close and we grow apart and then close.

We lived in one place, and then another, and another. I need to use the geocoder schuyler wrote to get the coordinates of these addresses so I can explore the spatial dimension of my life.

So one place and another for days or months or years and we saw people, lots of people, and we have the kids and all of this change is...human.

And about the singularity...want to know a little secret? I'm not really all that interested in spending milleniums and eons and other Big Time periods hanging out with "a rather shy but sweet hydrogen core cluster intelligence in a class nine star in G445 zone." (to quote from Terry Bisson's story Meat.

so if future shock doesn't get you, the future schlock will.

The Sauna Van is a panel van with a changing area and sauna in the back.

There are lots of reasons why this is just groovy...but the main one is that it makes me smile. And anything that makes me smile is good.