Cell Phone School

I think it is amazing
How cellphone technology
Has become so complicated
For simple guys like me.

I use one in my business
Because of what it lets me do
Like answer e-mail on the go
And talk to people too.

But, I can also surf the web
And then pull up Google maps
To see where I am going
Or, where I've been perhaps.

I can even take some pictures
Of the things I do and see
And post them all to Facebook
Where friends guess where I might be.

There are lots of applications
I can get upon my cell
Like for making reservations
At a major chain hotel.

I get spreadsheets and reports
Every afternoon at three
That help me know what's going on
At the places I can't be.

There are icons on my phone
That are never even used
'Cause every time I go to them
I just get more confused.

I wonder what Ma Bell would think
To see what she has done
And how her simple invention
Now does everything under the sun.

I guess it's interesting,
And actually kind of cool,
They now teach you how to use the thing
At a special cell phone school!

Writing the Wind

My posts have been fewer than intended these past few weeks.  It is partly a matter of too much travel but, also because of the wind.  It seems the wind just won't stop in the Texas Panhandle this year.

Why is the wind preventing me from writing?  I guess because it is incessantly in my head and when I sit to write, all I can think to write about is the wind.  I don't want to write about the wind.  I want to write about something more cheery.

I guess I could write about my travel.  I have been traveling almost constantly since the first of the year.  I just looked back on my calendar to see where I'd been and it is crazy.  Here is a list of places I've been since the first of this year:

Belville, TX
Kakamega, Kenya (via London and Nairobi)
Nashville, TN
Pigeon Forge, TN
Denver, CO
Montgomery, AL
Columbus, NE
Hickory, NC
Nashville, TN (again)
Bowling Green, KY
Belleville, TX (again)
Lumberton, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Bowling Green, KY (again)
San Antonio, TX
Garden City, KS
Kenansville, NC
Harrisonburg, VA (via Washington, DC)
Garden City, KS (again)

Probably some other stops along the way that are hidden in the blur.  And April isn't even over yet!

I guess the advantage of all that travel is that I don't have to endure the wind every day like I would at home.  The travel is just me out there riding on the wind I suppose.  Even writing about my travel turns into being about the wind.

From Bone-Dry to Beautiful via the Armpit

It is another day in which I will see a big chunk of the country from around 30,000 feet if there isn't much cloud cover.  The Amarillo area is a great place to live, but it seems that more and more it is a long way from where work takes me.  Fortunately it is central.

Today I'm headed east.  I dread the drive once I reach my destination airport because today I fly into Washington Reagan.  I do look forward to seeing the Virginia countryside though.  Last week in North Carolina the dogwoods were in full blossom.  I wonder if it will be the same in Virginia.....

I do know that it will be quite a contrast from the bone-dry, windswept, fire-blackened plains of West Texas.  It is time for the spring thunderstorms to start popping on the plains.  Usually by this time we will see them dancing along the horizon to the east of us late in the evenings.  I hope they are just late and that we are not experiencing a weather cycle such as the one that led to the Dust Bowl.

Who knows, I might even get to see rain while back east!

Office Time

Traveling as much as I do with work, I sometimes find it necessary to get in some office time while on the road.  If you talk to any "road warrior" you will find they do the same.  It might be something that has to be scheduled into an otherwise full week.

Many times, the best way to get that office time is to just work from the motel room in the mornings or evenings.  There are times though, when that is not enough.  That's when you book a flight time that gives you extra time in the morning or afternoon.  With high-speed Internet in most hotels, it is easy to just plug in the laptop and go to work.

The other alternative to a motel room is a coffee shop.  Many of them are set up with Internet access.  But, one of the best things to come along in recent years is FedEx Office.  (No, this is not a paid endorsement of them.)  They are in most cities and are great for copying, shipping, editing and creating documents.

Now, we are seeing WiFi on airplanes.  I'm not sure I like that.  Airplane time has usually been "down time" for me.  I prefer to read a book or something -- maybe even nap.  With WiFi I may have to work!