Corporate meetings

Have you ever started a posting, set up the title, then never wound up writing anything?  Okay, perhaps I’m alone on that one.  I think the title was there to either mock corporate meetings, or to discuss how easy it is to blog during corporate meetings.  Of course, if you’re writing about the meeting, that’s even better…but I don’t think that was the case for this.  Either way, I am on a conference call and yet find myself here.  Is there really efficiency gained with conference calls?  I realize it is much better financially to not travel and easier on keeping your carbon footprint small without burning fossil fuels (never mind using electricity, poluting the air with breathing, etc.).  However, I know most of us do not put 100% of our attention into calls like this.  For every person on the phone asking a question, there is someone on the line who has to have the question repeated once they realize it was directed at them.  “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question…” is really a way of saying, “I was totally drifting out, or checking my email, or checking the scores and not paying attention.”  Of course, even when we’re face to face, how many are spending time checking their blackberry devices for email?  Really, your email is that important?  You have to answer that now, versus waiting five or ten minutes until I’m done speaking?  Not to mention that people love stepping into your office while you’re on a call and then talk to you for five minutes before saying, “oops, I didn’t realize you were on a call.” 

Of course, I’ve been venturing into Second Life for the past 9 months.  Armed with a work avatar and a personal avatar, I have seen things, man.  I’ve seen things and done stuff.  Things like virtual buildings and stuff like flying.  Yeah, it’s a real adventure out there.  Truthfully, we have been meeting once a week on our work island to have discussions and brainstorm.  It’s not a bad venue and has certainly brought people together who never would have met otherwise; but is that all there is?  I know you can buy and sell there, but the main commerce is clothing, ironic when you can really make your own, if you have the patience that is. 

 

Not the greatest showing

Hey, me, not a great showing on the blogs here.  I think I put much more effort into my work blog, which I guess is the right thing to do considering that’s how I get paid and all.  Of course, now that I mention it to myself, that’s not really what I’m paid to do.  I was thinking about what to discuss and finally decided just talking about what I do.  The band has not practiced in about two months.  We’re having some challenges getting our schedules to coordinate.  With no gigs on the horizon, it’s sometimes tough to commit to a practice time.  One week our bass player was in Virginia, the next our keyboardist was in the UK, the following, I was in Vegas.  If we can get our guitarist to travel for business, we’ll be 4 for 4 on trips while going 0 for 4 on weekly practices.  At last, the light is appearing, we’ll be on tomorrow night and even have some sort of plan for practice.  There is nothing like the excitement of getting to play again coupled with the frustration of not really knowing which tunes to do and sorting through sheets to pick a tune.  I think we finally have the right line up for Pink Floyd’s Money.  We tried this in Ned Pepper, and performed it once.  Back in September 2002 (conception month it seems), we pulled a three shows in two days stunt.  The tour started at a Labor Day festival called Groundstomp down in Belfast, NY.  This was a show we had done before and shared the stage with the likes of the Park Ave Band, Long Trip Johnny, and Sunny Weather.  It was private land with camping and a home built stage.  We had played this same show for three years, with each having mixed results.  It always seemed to be fun, then would go too long, the would be fun again, and then I’d have to knock down and old drunk dude…. but that’s a story for another time I guess.  We launched into the 7/4 start of Money somewhere around 3AM and ended it some 7 minutes later allowing it to die a nice slow death before launching into Hard to Handle…set list irony at it’s finest.  The song was ever heard from again.