The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash., The Slice column

April 30--There are flu seasons and then there are flu seasons.

Retiree Mike Storms recently got a notice from his health insurance company. It said it was not too late to get a flu shot for the "2014-2105" season.

As it happens, Mike and his wife get flu shots every fall. But maybe they should have waited for the immunization that lasts 90 years.

Kids and old technology: Sandy McBride saw the item last week about the teenage girl unfamiliar with using a hand crank to open an old van's door-window. It reminded Sandy that this sort of generational disconnect is not new.

"Nearly 30 years ago, our daughter took a typing class in high school. I happened to mention that I had a typewriter in the basement that she could practice on. I brought the machine upstairs and got her set up at the kitchen table, then I went to the other room to read."

After several minutes, Sandy realized there was no sound of typing coming from the kitchen. So she went to check on her daughter.

She found the girl staring at the typewriter. There was a confused look on her face. Sandy asked if there was a problem.

"Where do you turn it on?" the girl asked.

Yes, of course. The typewriter in question, an old Olivetti, was a manual.

Speaking of items that ran last week: Vicki Deschaine saw the one about the little boy who said he "slightly forgot" something and how his grandfather said that might be a handy phrase for people his age and older.

"For years, whenever my dad (a WWII vet, now 86) was asked to remember something, anything, he would say 'I've slept since then -- I don't remember.'

"I picked that up 15 years ago and have repeated it often. Now some of my friends have repeated it back to me and it tickles me no end. We're all on the march toward geezerhood but with a smile."

Today's Slice question: Let's see a show of hands. How many drive vehicles that do not have power steering?

Write The Slice at P. O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210; call (509) 459-5470; email [email protected]. When Janet Culbertson is getting gas and there is an announcement over the filling station's loudspeaker, she never understands what is being said but always worries it is directed at her.

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