Random | And the beat goes on

The news of the last 24 hours was one of those Al Stewart moments that collapses the bookends of (nearly) a decade into a single moment.  I (like many folks) was immediately transported back to that Tuesday morning in September 2001.  The sights, sounds, smells and the feelings of that day that also lives in infamy flooded me. 

As is common in these human milestone markers (the birth of a child, your 40th birthday, MJ dying), we can often take stock and ponder the delta of all the things in our lives that have changed over that period.

I heard the news back then, oh boy

In 2001, I was in my recently purchased first home and my just as recently acquired unemployment status.  Just 3 days past my 3 days of severance, I sat in my spacious home office that Tuesday morning massively searching online for a job and scheduling networking meetings.  I was listening to KSTP-AM (talk radio - the social/edgy/viral/ media of that day) when (the late) Mark O’Connell announced “a private plane” had struck the Trade Center in New York.

Still in my work outfit of that day (running shorts and a wife beater), I headed into the living room and turned on the TV and flopped onto the couch.  Moments later,  I witnessed a second plane hit the other tower.  For the next 3 days, Max (my cat) and I remained similarly splayed on that couch watching all the gory details unfold on broadcast/cable news (primarily through the eyes the late Peter Jennings and the now retired Tom Brokow).  There was little else to do - my anemic job search ground to halt as quickly as civilian air traffic that day.

Who told you this guy was in here?

Fast forward to last night.

I am in the same room as 2001 – but now it is my master bedroom.  Max the cat is still there – but also my wife (who I did not know in 2001).  She was watching The Housewives of “Whatever” (since I was not paying attention).  

I had my headphones plugged into my iPad and had resumed streaming “The Sting” via Netflix (as I often use movies as sleep inducing white noise):

Billie: Who told you this guy was in here?
Lieutenant William Snyder: Nobody. I just know what kind of woman he likes. Going to check all the joy houses till I find him

The movie had just rolled by the above scene (with Charles Durning and Eileen Brennan) when a muted beep from a KSTP-TV “push notification” informed me that President Obama was about to speak.  Soon thereafter, we all knew why he was to speak.  It would be over an hour before he came to the podium – by which time both my wife and I had fallen asleep.

The next day, reports chronicled (that like so many recent events around the globe) that Twitter was the source of the first credible reports. 

History has turned a page, ah-huh

As I am wont to do – linking and transitions filled my mind and my morning commute (although dressed in a real suit as I headed to a client site today). 

Of course, in 2001 I did not have a blog (let alone this one).  In 2021, I doubt I will.  What will be the social media killer app of that day? 

October 23, 2001 – one month after 9/11, the first iPod was introduced to the market (white only).  Many colors and variations of iPods, iPhones, iTouches and two iPads would follow. In 2020 – what will be the mass communication media platform of that day…the holodeck?.  If so – I hope I have the life size (virtual) Paul Newman and Robert Redford acting in my living room

There are countless other examples that remind us that drums keep pounding rhythm to the brain….

All I know is we don’t really know what is to come in technology and media that far in advance (although we get closer to the Jetsons and jetpacks every day).   All I know is that I look forward to the journey to come. 

Oh – and don’t worry.  My wife swears that Max will beat the odds and still be with us in 2021 (at a  spry 25 years old). 

Random | Happy New Year and all the jazz – but where’s my jet pack?

Happy New Year everyone!

As another year (and another decade) falls, we’re all getting ready to start our New Year’s resolutions.  Some of us may be reflecting on where we are on our journey through life.  And as you ponder that, didn’t you think you’d be flying around in a jet pack by now?  Two my Facebook friends have asked that questions today.

If you grew up watching as much of the tube as I did (and that’s the cathode ray tube of a television– not YouTube), surely by 2000 (let alone a decade past that) we all assumed we’d be jetting around town like James Bond or Buck Rogers (the real one – not Gil Gerad)?

Dan Wilson is author of a book Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future that Never Arrived. Although many things that science fiction promised us have come true, I still have to drive my Jeep® to work .

"For me the jetpack is a symbol really of all the technology that I thought we should have by now but which we don't seem to," Wilson lamented on CBS Sunday Morning (back in 2007).

So what happened?

So why no jet packs?  In short - some good ideas just aren’t feasible:

• Jet packs are kind of hot (1,300 degrees). If we sue McDonald’s over spilt coffee – I don’t think this won’t fly (as it were).
• They are dang heavy (135 pounds). That might be okay for Ed White in the weightlessness of earth orbit – not so good hoisting out of your Mazda MPV.
• Limited range: how far can you go in 43 seconds (that’s as far as they go today)? I know don’t want to move that close to work.
• Quite simply - they are hard to fly (described as standing on a ball with a fire hose),
• Most people can’t even merge onto the interstate properly or navigate a roundabout (especially here in Minnesota) – I don’t think the FAA is ready to handle all these take-offs and landing.
• Texting while jetting?  That will be the next jihad du jour.

But if you really want one – there is a company (Jet Pack International) that claims to have some ready to go for sale to qualified folks (although soft-pedaled with “more details” to be coming).  No prices are mentioned on their website.

For me – I would settle for an iPhone battery that would hold a charge for at least half of a day before we ring in 2011.

Random | Merry Christmas Everyone (and let’s hope it is a good 2010)

For whatever reason (judging by the playlist count on my Nano), I have been tracking a lot of John Lennon music lately. I find this happens more prevalently when I am in a reflective state of mind (as many of us are this time of year).

For my grown up Christmas list this year, I wish everyone a wonderful Christmastime (giving equal time to Sir Paul).  Special thoughts go out to those on the front lines that are in harm’s way (be that in our armed forces or on the job transition front – both of which feature men and women fighting for the betterment of us all).

But back to John, I also wish you a happy New Year.  Let's hope it's a good one - without any fear.

I’ve got a feeling, it will be.