was there a time when Kevin Slavin had an actual pager? I think there was, but my memory of his electronic devices is even hazier than his own. Are pagers so old school they're cool again?

Yes, I had many pagers, since there's no electronic device that I ever had just one of. A series back in 1988, for real, and then a smaller one in 1995. I remember walking around with a roll of quarters in my pocket: for impact, callbacks, and the homeless. Mostly callbacks.

I think they might be cool again, but they'd have to be those big fuckers. I think they went directly out of style the minute Mountain Dew started using them as a marketing tool. But now that Mountain Dew's moved on, it might be an ok neighborhood again.