SOMETIMES I'M SO stupid I amaze even myself.

There's a commercial running out here for an appliance store named Carlson's. (I've never been there, I don't know the guy, and they don't give me anything. I'm just mentioning the name because they make those clever, local ads that are often fun. Of course, if they see this and decide to give me thirty TV's, that would be fine, too, but I'll let you know first.)

Anyway, one of their ads is about a new washer-dryer they have that washes, dries, and folds the clothes at the same time. Are you getting that? At the same time. All you have to do is put the clothes in, press a button, come back later and, presto, they're all folded, cleaned, fabric-softened, and stacked on a rack inside: jeans, polo shirts, socks, towels, everything. One door, one button. I think it even sorts.

The guy who performs the ads--Carlson, presumably--is appealingly low key and funny in a dry, wry way. Very likable, which makes the ads effective. I keep thinking, "Boy, I've got to go to Carlson's one of these days and get a sink or something."

The point is, and I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but the first few times I saw the ad I thought it was real. I thought it was folding the clothes. I knew it wasn't, because it couldn't. You can't put dirty clothes in a unit that cleans, dries, folds and stacks. It's a joke, and the guy's teasing. Obviously; and you'd have to be an idiot to think otherwise.

Well, then, I'm an idiot, because I thought it was real. Just for a few seconds, maybe, but I actually looked at all those clean clothes each time he opened the door and thought, "How in the world do they do that?"

Maybe I was tired and only half watching (I hoped). Maybe I was having a snack and chasing some potato sticks around the plate. Maybe I was reading or playing solitaire. Maybe I was making out with my wife like a sophomore, or engaged in the kind of deep thinking I do so often.

Yeah, and maybe I was tequila-drunk with John Saxon and arm-wrestling over scorpions nailed to the table.

No, there's no way around it. I thought it was real. Briefly, but I thought it was real.

YESTERDAY I WAS DRIVING with one of the kids, and he asked why the car had so many noisy safety gadgets, and it sent me into a big speech (so rare for me) about the over-safety-fication of American society that insists on protecting us when we don't need it and haven't asked for it. Yeah, he agreed, and brought up how they're not allowed to run or wrestle on the playground at school. "You know what the sign at school should say?" I asked. "No playing on the playground."

He laughed, which always makes any father feel good, and then I said, "You know one that's really been bugging me? The new Lexus ad for the car that parks itself. Parallel parking is a big part of learning to drive a car, and a source of pride. I don't want the car to park itself, or do anything by itself. I take care of my own life, and so will you."