Originally published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal, January 31, 2005.

My poor wife. There she was, a born and raised Flint girl: urban, large corporations, Catholic. I married her and took her away to the west side of Michigan where she got a job in Zeeland: rural, small companies, Christian Reformed. It was, as you might imagine, a bit of a culture shock.

Of course it wasn't all bad, and I don't mean to imply that it was. Most people would agree that it's generally a positive step, the one made away from Flint. But there was a fair amount of adjustment.

One particular point was trying to understand what was and what was not acceptable behavior on a Sunday. Jane would share with her co-workers on a Monday morning that she had relaxed the day before by doing some gardening or going to the beach and they would blanch, "Oh I would never do that." Uh... what was wrong with gardens and beaches? Gardening, apparently, was work. And the beach was just not... what's Dutch for "kosher"? Napping was good. Softball was not. Bicycling was a maybe. Depended, I think, on what you were bicycling toward and how fast you were going. A sprint to the liquor store over the county line would have been a "no."

Anyway, it all seemed so arbitrary. I know, I know -- this coming from a Catholic. "Hello, kettle? This is pot. You are black." Any non-Catholic who has experienced the bizarre standing/sitting/kneeling calisthenics of a Catholic mass would have a great deal to say about "arbitrary." But I think what caught Jane off guard was her co-workers rather overtly encouraging her to cut out these gardening and beach shenanigans. If they would have had the power, it seemed to her, they would have made her cut it out.

Recently, a local technology guru, Keith Brophy, gave a speech that included some predictions about what we all might see technology-wise in the future. This was my inspiration for this week's comic. One prognostication was that in the next three years a small percentage of us will accept chip implants with personal information -- save us the trouble of remembering our drivers license and debit card. It was a bold thing to say because most of us would sooner revolt and form our own nation than accept being tagged by MasterCard. But, you know, it might just happen -- not because people want it but because some people would want *other* people to have it. The idea of controlling other people's behavior is always appealing.

And I'm not saying that I'd be willing to sign up for this. But if I could finally get my "Jetson" car that flies around with gentle ease and great speed, and if I could get a caustic but lovable robot named Rosie to clean up after me, I just might listen. After all, I already have "Jane, his wife."

Cue Jetson's theme.