In which we work

Out of the blue the old DJ asked if I was interested in a little writing project. My only criterion was that it be truly little, no more than a week, which turned out to be the case. Now I’m in the middle of that week. It’s strange writing under the eyes of an editor again (actually, two in this case). Normally I just plunk stuff down and devil take the hindmost. But now I’ve got to engage in give and take, which essentially means getting directions, throwing something down on paper (in a manner of speaking), passing it along, getting new directions, throwing something else down on paper, rinse, repeat, and with any luck, zeroing in a good end product. The funny thing is that I like being told what to do, and I have no compunctions about throwing out what seemed perfectly good at the time and trying something else. And I like writing to order. I wouldn’t want to make a living at it, but a little can be fun. A change of pace, in any case.

I Zoomed for the first time yesterday, a discussion of virtual tournaments, and I have to agree with the general consensus that the software is easy as pie. I loaded the app onto my iPad, also following the general consensus that the IOS app is safer than the PC app. Maybe. Of course, the issue with a virtual tournament is not the presentation software per se but the rooms. One-off meetings are simple enough, but when you have an army or two you’re trying to manage, that becomes problematic. Given the youth, shall we say, of present solutions to that issue, I am extremely reluctant to believe that we are anywhere close to a reasonable set of best practices. Given how much of our lives is run by Google or Microsoft, how long will it be before those folks come up with something that turns Zoom into Geocities? If, say, my mail and document storage and communications software are all connected at the root, and I never have to leave the Google garden, why would I? The same could be said of Microsoft, at least in the enterprise universe. So, expect change. That said, one has to live now. We’ll see what happens.

What I’ve seen among my friends, in and out of debate and the DJ and the poker table slash golf course, is a complete agreement about the future, to whit, everyone thinks something different. Literally. Opinions range from the marching in the streets tomorrow to I’ll see you in 2022. Personally, I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic but simply hopeful. My biggest horse in the race is the family in the UK, which I only visit via software these days (for which, thank God). Today was the day we were originally going to fly to London for a visit. Now all I have is a Delta voucher, and lots of emails from Cameron Macintosh (sp?) telling me that the Stoppard play for which I had purchased tickets will happen and to hold tight while he holds my money. Sigh.

Oh, well. Back to work. For the DJ.