Ten years in bullet time

I realized a few weeks ago that it has been ten years since one of the greatest movies of all time came out - The Matrix. It was mind-blowing and groundbreaking when it arrived in theaters on March 31, 1999. I remember going to see it with my buddy Mark Barry and just being completely inspired.

I decided to go back and watch it recently, which I did over a series of lunch breaks and while Kristi was in Houston. I was really surprised to find that it holds up very, very well after ten years - especially for a movie so much about technology. You can't say the same thing about a lot of movies about high tech. More often than not, what was once really cool now looks completely cheesy.

I think about has changed in my life since then. I had dialup. I had just bought my first computer. I had never yet rented or even watched a DVD. I was married less than a year and we were still four years away from having kids. We lived in Spring and it wasn't uncommon to have a whole Saturday just to watch football. I still had all my hair and none of it was gray. What was gray was my old Chevrolet Cavalier (ugh!).

I'm not saying I'd trade any of it (okay - well, I 'd like to have my hair back). It's just amazing how much changes in ten years.

But most importantly, those two abominations of Matrix sequels hadn't been released yet. It was a simpler, better time in that regard.