I had an experience last weekend that has seemed to be repeating itself more and more. I shared my story with a few others and I have found that I am not alone in my distress. 
My distress? When did going to the bathroom become such a difficult thing? I don’t mean “going” to the bathroom in the more personal sense of the word but perhaps “using” the bathroom would be the more correct way to say it.
Let me recount by experience.
I was traveling in a different part of Ohio and using a bathroom that was unfamiliar to me. I approached the sink, put my hands underneath the automatic soap dispenser successfully getting the perfect “dime-size” drop of soap. I rubbed my hands together, then proceeded to place my hands under the handle-less water faucet. I pondered: is this the “wave”-type of faucet? The touch type? The one where you use a foot touch? So, I waved my hands over and under, tapped and gave voice commands — all to no avail as the soap became a gooey dried combobulation on my hands.   
There I stood, holding my soapy hands out in front of me, cursing technology. Was anyone watching me, laughing at me, using me as a guinea pig for some wicked type of water faucet experiment?  
I then decided to try those tactics on the adjacent faucet, thinking maybe the first one perhaps had a “technical glitch.” Finally, the perfectly-passed wave did the job and I shouted for joy as the water washed away the sticky mess from my hands.
I truthfully am getting a complex about going into restrooms in places I have never visited. When I enter, I scope the scene watching others as they wash and dry their hands, trying to get a clue as to what awaits. Do they have those hand-blowers you just walk by and they go off unexpectedly, sounding like a 747 scaring the #?#?# out of you? Do they have the type you dip your hands in and out of or the kind you push to start? Or do they have the dispensers that wildly shoot streams of paper out at you?
All of this and I have not yet even mentioned the toilets. To put it delicately — they scare me sometimes. I wonder if someone is watching me and knows just the precise “moment” to SWISH! Occasionally, the timing of the “swish” can be a bit off and once again you are left in a not-so-pleasant predicament of figuring it all out in a place you don’t really want to spend a lot of time.
I’m all for making life easier through modern inventions but I am not yet totally convinced the bathroom needs to be improved. All I need are the basics — a clean bathroom with running water and some paper to wipe my hands. Makes you kind of wonder, though, what might be the next step they would surprise us with in the world of restroom technology. On the other hand, I just don’t think I want to know.

As I rode into work on Friday evening, I was looking at the Christmas lights and listening to Andy Williams’ version of “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”

There was snow here and there and a crispness to the air. One you really can’t appreciate until you have to walk a dog or stay outdoors for an extended period of time. I know; it gets way colder than this.