I've been trying to get caught up on email over the weekend and hope to get a post up here tomorrow. Lots has been happing in the IT and Communications areas over the past few weeks while I was spending most of the time being a beach bum in Clearwater Beach, Florida.
I've written about shutting down (a friend recently referred to it as "going off the grid") in the past....... well....... if you've sent me some email over the last 10 days or so I apologize if I have not replied yet. We've been on vacation in Clearwater the last couple of weeks - I'm typing this in the terminal of the Tampa Airport.
It was a good vacation - I can always tell it's been good when I answer the question most people ask - "What did you do"? If my answer is along the lines of "Not much" or "Not really sure" then that was a good vacation from my perspective anyways. Sure - we did a bunch of stuff - lots of snorkeling, swimming, eating, fishing - still have not caught a snook off the beach - yet. We did catch a bunch of other fish (some that we still cannot identify) and we got a lot better at throwing a casting net for bait.
We also connected with some old friends and made some new ones. My daughters (12 and 16 now!) have both been playing violin for a long time (12 years for the 16 year old and 9 years for the 12 year old) and yes - they brought their violins with them. They practiced (a little) and played a couple of times for and older couple we know - if I had to guess I'd say they are both in their mid 80's. Turns out the woman had once been an accomplished pianist - she started when she was 6 years old and ended up stopping when she got married. I found it ironic since she has a beautiful grand piano in their beautiful home overlooking the beach and the Gulf of Mexico - what an inspirational place to play.
After my daughters finished playing yesterday both her and her husband told us how upset they were that she had stopped playing and how her sister had not stopped playing. It's a pretty major regret for both them. We've all heard this same advice applied different ways but it's basically the same - don't stop. Pretty good advice I would say. I'm glad my girls had a chance to hear it from someone else and I know they'll remember it. Thank you Bunny and Mel.
I picked up one more little gem that I stuck in the back of my head from Pierre Thiry. Pierre is director of The Institute for Convergence of Optical and Network Systems (ICONS) at the City College of San Francisco. Pierre called me on my cell wanting to setup a call yesterday (Monday) to discuss an opportunity both of us are working with the same company in different parts of the country. I wrote back to him, told him I was on vacation but could still make the call. Pierre got back to me and said let's move the call to Wednesday. He finished with the line "Vacations are precious". Thanks Pierre.
Two excellent pieces of advice.
I'm late on some email - if you've sent me something I promise a reply tomorrow!
I think I first wrote about disconnecting here in the spring of 2006. I've been away for the last 1.5 weeks without a broadband connection - hence my lack of posting. I've been out in North Truro on Cape Cod. Still here actually - am in the town library right now on a library computer - figured I better post something..... I actually got some down time which was pretty nice - not that I did not do any work.
On June 21 I had a great meeting with Joyce Plotkin from the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and Ellen Bemben from the Regional Technology Corporation in Framingham, MA. Thanks Ellen and Joyce for a great meeting and thanks Ellen for picking up lunch!
On June 25 I was in Omaha delivering the keynote for the Midwest Center for Information Technology (MCIT). In the afternoon I did a Web 2.0 technology presentation on the University of Nebraska campus to a Nebraska business and industry group. I flew back Monday evening. I especially want to thank Dennis Kirlin and Dave Vankat, along with the rest of the MCIT staff for making my visit a special one. It's been about seven years since I've been to Omaha - a wonderful part of the country and a wonderful group of people.
So - what else have I been up to? Been spending a lot of time on the beach with the kids fishing, clamming and beachcombing. Truro is a beautiful place which much of the town part of the Cape Cod National Seashore. The establishment of the seashore national park in the 1950's has prevented new construction since - in many ways it's like going back in time. Go to just about any public access beach, walk 15 minutes down the beach in any direction and you will likely be in a place where you cannot see another person in either direction.
Lots going on in the technology world and I'll reconnect once we get back on Saturday. I've been amazed at the amount of iPhone hype in the mainstream media but I think that can wait a couple more days. Also Google, FCC, FTTP, FTTN...... Low tide in a couple of hours and we've got to go dig some more clams..... I hope you also get some time to disconnect this summer.
