Thank you Steve.

Edit: after some thought, I decided to share two stories.

I got my first Mac in 1988. My boss bought them. I’d been using computers since 1969, and hated them. I had never used a Mac. It sat in the box for weeks. IT was supposed to set it up, but kept dragging their feet.

Finally, I decided to do it myself. I had used mainframes, terminals, and computerized typewriters for years, but never set one up. A few minutes later, I had it up and running. Even networked it to my bosses’ printer. It was as if I’d been using it for years. I loved it!

Some time later (same job), we were working on a big project for IBM. At that time, all PCs had limited fonts and very few graphics. But, our Macs had lots of fonts, desktop publishing (Quark 1.0), and drawing tools too (MacDraw!).

We put together a huge presentation, with manuals and training materials (under really adverse conditions too – the copier drowned) and sent it off. I wanted to put tiny apple logos on the pages or the cover sheets, but my boss wouldn’t let me.

After everything arrived, we got a phone call from IBM, “How did you do this!??? It’s amazing!”

Yes, it was.

My dad called me the other day.  He was excited by Google’s doodle honoring Freddy Mercury (it was pretty fabulous, you can see it here if you missed it).

The funny thing is, my dad had no idea who Freddy was.  He never heard of him, or the group Queen.

So, no nostalgia, or great memories for dad.  He just saw something he really liked and wanted to share it.

If you do something really great, people will want to share it (even if they don’t quite know what it is!).

Image via Wikipedia

Were you in Irene’s path?

The forecasts conjured apocalyptic visions of NYC transformed into New Atlantis – flooding in the streets, power outages, tunnels full of water.

The subways were shut down. The buses stopped. Millions of people were ‘trapped’ on the island.

Apocalypse?

Instead of an apocalypse, we got some rain, a small storm surge, and some wind. I’ve been out in a small boat (28 ft) in a nor’easter that was worse. The only damage I can see from my window is a few broken branches. A neighbor’s yard flooded, but dried up fairly quickly.

The dire predictions didn’t come true. The news people seemed almost disappointed that it wasn’t worse.

The sky is falling?

My question: when faced with a big business problem, or an error, is it better to scare everyone?  Shout that the sky is falling? Or advise people of the situation, apologize or make recommendations to fix it, and then do so.

On the other hand, in one week, we’ve had an earthquake and a hurricane.  What’s next?  Zombies?

What do you think?

Battening down the hatches and doing my “panic buying”.

If you’re on the east coast of the US (and in a low-lying area) be careful and stay safe.

See you on Monday, after Irene passes through.