Plenty of questions but no answers

I used to be smart.

Now I know nothing.

So help me out here.

Perhaps you can tell me the answers to some of the stuff I don't know.

Often, when I turn on my computer, there is a story about Kendra Wilkinson. How did she get "famous" in the first place? I vaguely remember something about a reality show, but she came across as rather dumb. Must be another reason for her fame. Anyone?

OK, here's a big one. I don't get this country's fascination with the Kardashian family. They just don't go away.

Well, I do know if they didn't exist, life would be harder for tabloid writers. Aside from that, I don't get it.

My son-in-law Greg Kohs is a talented filmmaker who makes wonderful documentaries. I think he should make a short documentary of people trying to open one of those plastic enclosed packages.

Maybe you're smarter than I am and don't have any problem opening them. But I've actually ended up bleeding and still couldn't open the package.

When something is wrapped in hard plastic, I get the scissors and try to get it. Even when I cut as close to the product as I can the plastic is too stubborn to give. Yesterday my scissors couldn't even cut the plastic. I needed my favorite engineer to help get the darn thing off.

After I bought a camera battery in an electronics store, I asked the clerk to cut the plastic package for me.

"Why?" he asked. "It's easy."

I told him if it was so easy he could do it for me.

He struggled and struggled and still couldn't do it. He had to call another clerk to help. So much for easy.

The same ridiculous packaging is true of some over-the-counter medicine. I had immediate need of some anti-diarrhea medicine but couldn't get the plastic away from the pills.

Perhaps with meds it's a case of protecting against tampering. That I get. What I don't get is why manufacturers don't come up with a better way of packaging.

Any ideas?

I'll tell you this: Life gets a lot harder for some of us once the kids leave home and the grandkids aren't around.

My aspirin comes in a kid-proof bottle. With a touch of arthritis, I can't open it, but any kid who comes into my house seems to be able to do it for me.

I miss my grandkids for a lot of reasons. One reason is that I'm clueless how to fix my computer without them.

The other day I watched a 2-year-old who can't talk work his way around a laptop until he got the video he wanted.

How did he know how to do that? Does today's DNA contain something that lets kids come into the world computer-savvy?

I dislike the two times each year when we have to change our clocks. I can now change my car's clock because it walks me through it. But I can't change the time on my wristwatch.

The last time that happened I asked a male friend who's a computer whiz to do it for me. He was embarrassed when he couldn't do it.

I needed a kid to do it. My young neighbor did it in about two seconds.

I often hear the expression, "life is a challenge." I just didn't think it would be a challenge to do simple things.

I went to the store to buy a simple alarm clock. I didn't want one with anything more than an on-off button. When they didn't have what I wanted, I had to take a clock with two alarms.

How can anyone need two alarms at one time? Is it because one alarm will wake someone then the second alarm will let a partner sleep until later?

I don't know. All I know is my version of simple is hard to find.

You know that complicated clock I told you about? For reasons unknown to me and my husband, the clock will sometimes change time in the middle of night, (no, it's not because of daylight saving time) causing havoc for me in the morning when I don't realize it happened.

The clock on our lanai tells us the inside and outside temperature, along with the time. But it keeps going crazy, gaining time until it is hours ahead.

"Why is it doing that?" my husband asks. He's way smarter than I am and much more patient. He tackles every household problem and can usually fix it. Although he's determined to fix our crazy clocks, so far the clocks are winning.

Is it my imagination or were things a lot simpler in the past?

Today, nothing comes with just an on-off switch. I want my Fitbit to tell me how many steps and how many miles I've walked in a day. It does that. It also has many more functions I don't need and have yet to figure out.

This much I do know: I could spend the rest of my life learning how to get the most out of my smartphone and I still wouldn't understand it all.

"Just fool around with it," says my grandson.

Young people are better at "fooling around" with gadgets.

Why is that?

I have plenty of questions but no answers.