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Re: [RC] Man O' War - Truman PrevattWe are in a constant 24/7 world today. I tried to explain this some time ago to a customer I have had a long term relationship with. I first met him when I was working for his boss as a system engineer for his program. Murray was fresh out of college at the time. This was the mid 80's. I've had a professional relationship with Murray ever since and have seen him rise the ladder in his organization. At one design review at dinner, Murray was complaining about the pace of his programs and the stress it put on all of us. I point blank told him it was his fault. He looked at me funny and said, "how's that."I went on to explain that when I started working with him, he'd call and say, "I have some data you need to look at - something is strange." Since the data had to be couriered, and that took about two weeks I'd fly and analyze it and if it were easy solve it then if not I'd hand carry it back to my facility. I added, I get up in the morning and go for a nice ride on my horse. Then I would climb on the airplane in the afternoon and head up. I would take only a day or two and I'd be back home one way or the other and have a nice relaxing ride on my horse, a nice dinner with Kathy, etc. I told him if I didn't want to deal with him, I would let the phone go to recorder and deal with it later. Then in 1996 you stuck all you people, contractors and subordinates with pagers. The pager was my first lease. That sucker even worked at my house on the weekend. Then it was, answer the pager, and be in England the next day. Then classified networks came about. Now it wasn't a call to come look at data, it was an Email or call saying the data was on Retriever in a folder "For Truman" and BTW we want it yesterday. A lot more difficult to slip in a few good rides that way. As our ability to communicate anytime, anyplace has become a reality - it has robbed us of our tranquility. I find the only way to replace that tranquility is on my horse, preferably alone in the woods. It doesn't need to be an endurance ride. All it needs to be is me and my horse. My wife wonders why I refuse to carry my cell phone. On my horse in the woods is the one place where I am not bound by multiple leases. I am not going to carry one there. Regards, Truman Bruce Weary DC wrote: I agree, Truman. We clearly live in the "sound bite" generation, with escalating cases of ADD and ADHD, shorter attention spans and the need for constant entertainment and distraction like texting, video games, and movies. Our television newscasts can cover an entire story in less than a minute, and a few sentences. I see some of this lack of attention span in myself, at times. That's one of the reasons that I think endurance riding is therapeutic. It forces us to be away from TV, computers, emails and constant dialog for long periods of time. It's been said that all man's troubles can be boiled down to the fact that we aren't able to sit quietly in a room for fifteen minutes alone with our thoughts. Some truth in that, I think. Dr Q -- "Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true." Bertrand Russell =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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