Last night, I came back from picking up dinner at Koo Koo Roo and was greeted by this picture. Yes, that would be beFrank, in front of a pair of newsroom computer monitors, but what I want to point out is that itty bitty screen next to the two monitors.

That would be a netbook. Isn’t it cute? As soon as I saw it, I came over (I didn’t walk far; my desk was just on the other end of that row, facing the other way) and started grilling him about it. He said it cost about $250 and worked pretty well once he stopped using the packaged software. It’s smaller than a piece of 8 by 11 paper when closed. The size of it reminds me of one of those portable DVD players. However, that’s not the funny thing about this.

As I stood there, grilling him about the little netbook, I kept exclaiming, “It’s so cute! It’s so little! It’s so small!” Finally, Bryan looked at me exasperated and said, “could you stop saying it that way?” Hehehe. So I did. Eventually, I went back to my desk and started eating my dinner and working again.

Problem was, I wasn’t the only one to think the netbook was so cute. A writer — another woman — walked by as he was working and exclaimed the same thing. Bryan just started laughing, and I was like….see! I’m not the only one!

I know its stereotypical to assume that men want to use big gadgets. Obviously, that is not the case, since gadgets are getting smaller and smaller. But a computer? The size of a folded piece of paper? (Almost.) Bryan’s hands are just about bigger than the keyboard! Plus, can manly men handle the (mostly female) exclamations of  “It’s so little! It’s so cute!”?

Heheh. I guess you just had to be there.

P.S. To be fair, Bryan had no issues until we started cooing over it.