I thought I would write a poem or two tonight...
I had my iPad out in front of me at the desk, with my leftover dinner heated up in the microwave downstairs in this Howard Johnson hotel in Salem, Oregon. My intent was to take this free time between 7 and 10 pm and do something useful with it.
But before I start, let me check my email. Several new ones, some that require responding. OK, that will only take a couple of minutes. There, done. Now I should check Facebook, because I haven't all day... Several new postings, but nothing important. What's this? An IM from my son about his interview at Microsoft today? Things went well, but no offer yet. Damn. We share several messages back and forth as though we were on the phone, but of course it is the new way to communicate, through the fingers instead of using the tongue. Whatever. OK, let's start..
Wait, a familiar "bling" and another email is in. Better check that, and it is from my salesman in Bangkok who is up and at it in the morning of tomorrow. My tonight is his tomorrow morning, of course, and he has questions about the messages I sent him from work today. Better answer them now so he can be productive with his day and I don't have to deal with them tomorrow, my time. He is obviously up and at his computer because as soon as I send one message he responds with 2 more, and here we are off in a conversation about his projects and my recent visit to Thailand. What should we tell this customer, and how can we move that project along, and what about the problem we are having with this installation down here, and so forth. Normal communications within companies all over the world, and in this case it really is global in scope. 14 hours difference in time zones is just about as bad as it gets. There is no common "good time" for us both.
What time is it? Time to call Judy and get caught up on the day. How about FaceTime, she on her iPad and me on my iPhone? It turns out she is just back from a dinner out and is ready to talk. We get things set up and we chat for about a half hour with the cats wandering through the camera's range from time to time. Both cats, which is unusual. I think Judy's voice and stationary pose draws them in. They don't respond to my voice even when I do the normal kitty, kitty stuff we all do. Apparently the ability to understand FaceTime takes some sort of higher brain function that cats don't have. Maybe the guys at Apple need to work on making the interface even more simplistic?
We end our conversation and I see that there are several new emails, including ones from Thailand. It takes only a few minutes to dispatch these. The wine is having an effect at this point and if nothing else, my will to be creative and write the poems I had in mind is fading. It is not gone, but it is fading.
"Bling", and new emails are in. Judy has taken my advice and checked my blogs which I updated earlier this evening. She has commented which generates an email for me. OK, now she is up to date not only on the things we talked about in our phone conversation but also with the things I put in the blog which are beyond normal topics of discussion. My "Inner Voice" which drives me to write the blog in the first place has been absorbed by her and she has processed it and responded. Good. Now she is really up to speed with where I am and what I am thinking. No response is necessary this time so I just read them and smile.
So, now it is 10:21 and I am finally ready to write a poem. What was it going to be about, I wonder?
How about, "How does technology today impact our free time?"
Yea, that sounds about right.
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