I can make fire

When camping, I've been able to rub a couple sticks together and create fire. Yes, it is a bit more complicated that just grabbing the closest twigs and introducing them to each other but....you get my point: I can do it.

Fire, along with other early inventions like the wheel, arrow heads and 8 Track tape players brought man from his earliest origins to the point we are now where I can sit in the bedroom of my youth, type a few words on a laptop keyboard and have those words available instantly at the farthest reaches of the globe. At least in theory I can.

My laptop is on its final legs and, come Monday, it will be retired. It takes about six attempts to upload anything and I am incapable if finding the cause and fixing it. So, while I am able to survive MacGuyver-like, for a week in the wilderness of Idaho with nothing more than the clothes on my back, 18 inches of dental floss and a butter knife, I can't overcome the limits of my personal technology.

This loss of instant access, combined with the impending launch of a North Korean "satellite" has me wondering what we as a nation would do if we were suddenly nuked back to an age before the Internet, I-pods and those fancy light up tennis shoes I see kids wearing at the Mall were available as readily as they are now. Could we survive having to provide for our own survival?

I watched, and fell in love with, the show Jericho on Fancast.com. I recommend everyone watch this bit of fiction and think about what you might do in the same circumstances.

For my part, I give up. For the next few days I probably won't be posting to this blog as I get the new Laptop tweaked to Bald Man standards. I'll be sure to save up for some chilling, witty, insightful and, hopefully, entertaining posts next week.

See you soon.

Two steps forward, one step back. What a stupid dance.

I thought technological advances were supposed to make our lives easier. Sure I can use my GPS to find where the closest donut shop is to Salt Lake City Police headquarters or search for a web cam that will show me the surf on Oahu's North Shore while waiting for my plane to be de-iced in the Minneapolis airport. But for every advance there seems to be an equally innovative way to keep us from enjoying the benefits of frequent flier miles and hotel points. Things like voice mail, text messaging and email on Blackberrys.

To quote the slogan on Research in Motions web page "Connect to everything you love in life through the power of a BlackBerry® smartphone." The only problem with connecting to everything I love is that the connection is a two way street. I need to have my phone on in order for my wife to remind me she doesn't want whip cream on her Frappacino that I am picking up from Starbucks. This open connection also allows the CEO to send a quick little email assigning me a rather important task that needs to be done ASAP. So soon that I better cut my weekend short and head to our Las Vegas office a day early to work on it. At least I could use the wireless network here at the house to log on to the airlines web site and change the ticket! Talk about convenient!

New products constantly promise us time savings and more freedom. Getting out of the office is great except the damn office is now right in our pocket. There is no escaping it. If is see one more guy on a ski lift trying to show off how important he is that the office has to call him on the slopes by talking loudly on his cell phone about inane decisions that would be better made by flipping a coin I am going to scream. Then I am going to tip him over and watch him flop on his back like Ralphie's little brother in a Christmas Story.

The work week is long enough and getting longer. The "statistics" may show the week is less than forty hours but consider these survey results of small business managers:

· 68 percent work on their days off

· 51 percent work on holidays

· 21 percent work while eating dinner

· 18 percent read work-related documents and email "while in the bathroom!"

I actually heard a flush the other day while talking to a co-worker on the phone.

No man can serve two masters. Most of us have families as well as careers and we are slaves to both. It important that, in the quest for advancement in the corporate world, we don't see retreats on the home front. We need to weigh carefully our time, attention and especially our devotion. We also need to weigh in after hitting the donut shop on the way home from paying our parking tickets. Even in this supposedly declining economy, jobs are a dime in a bakers dozen glazed Krispy Kremes but the "love's of your life" tend to be unique.

As bosses, remember that when you are texting your employee on Sunday while at the first tee the recipient of that communication could very well be loading the car to take the son he sees only on weekends to the baseball game. Or, he could be sound asleep with cucumbers on his eyes and a facial full of exfoliating creme but to each his own. The quest for more leads us to demand more. Let's be sure it doesn't leave us with less.

I personally love my job. In fact, I am starting a new position in the company the week after next. This position promises a little bit more money, a lot more exposure to senior management; and along with that exposure I am sure there will be a lot more Saturday and Sunday messaging. I can live with that; for a while.

Living in Utah, the opportunity for adventure is but a few miles down the road. I have access to World Class Skiing, premiere rock climbing and beautiful backcountry where the only souls I see are my wife and two dogs. I remind myself that, sure, technology provides the office a way to contact me at nearly any time. But they won't know where it is that I am talking to them from. I promise to not talk on the ski lift. I just need to remember to hang up before I flush.

S2