GEEKNOTE: Thursday went along pretty much like most Thursdays: Breakfast with my NPI networking group at iHOP, a couple of visits with business customers and then into the office for the usual phone calls, infected computers, and so on. I debated whether or not to check out this year's Chamber Spelling Bee, but the day wore on and I just couldn't decide.
At a quarter to five, my wife got a call from our daughter about another quarter...the one our three year old granddaughter had swallowed. Grandmama headed out watch the other grandkids while our daughter and her husband took the three year old off to the emergency room. Suddenly, I'm trying to figure out what to do about supper. No problem. I headed over to the Spartan Manor for the 11th Annual Chamber Spelling Bee.
There was plenty of food and chat with a whole bunch of friends. Interestingly, the monitors collected participant cell phones before the spelling bee began, presumably to keep someone from cheating.
Since I was there only to watch, I got to keep my new phone, which was good, because my daughter immediately started a series of text messages keeping me up to the latest as the ER diagnosed the problem and ultimately sent daddy and the three year old off for an ambulance ride to All Childrens Hospital.
Throughout the evening, I got regular updates, including a really sweet picture of my granddaughter in a car seat, strapped to a stretcher, and holding a beach ball. I'm guessing they figured the beach ball was too big for her to try to eat. One of the few apps I've installed so far on my phone is one for facebook and I used it to send updates to my brothers.
My friends from Gladiator Construction had the dubious distinction of being the very first team eliminated from the competition. Paula and Larry made up for it at the end of the event when Paula was chosen to pick one of the lunch bags and her bag was the grand prize winner. They probably ought to save part of their winnings so they can bribe the judges next year and NOT be the first ones eliminated. (It is "legal" to bribe the judges during the first and second rounds of the spelling bee.)
For all the downsides of being plugged in 24x7 these days with cell phones, email, facebook, etc.; it was really nice to be able to get regular updates on the family medical emergency and not having to worry about things. Sometimes all this technology IS a blessing.
All's well that ends well. The docs at All Childrens retrieved the quarter and nobody has eaten any spare change since. I'm definitely putting next year's spelling bee on my calendar. You should too.
Rob Marlowe, Senior Geek
Gulfcoast Networking, Inc.
http://www.gulfcoastnetworking.com
