I'm at work today. Those of you who know me understand that this, in itself, is a rare event. Anyway, the IS guy is migrating my laptop to Outlook from Netscape Mail, which we've used there for the last few years. And while I'm glad to go back to my old friend Outlook, I'm not so glad to be using some less-than-perfect webmail version since I do work mainly from home. Ah well. I could go on.
But that's not what this story is about, not really. It's about what I said to him, as he worked away magically on my faithful Dell's email app. To pass the time, I open my mouth. Surprise.
"You know what weblogs are?" I ask him.
"No. What's a weblog?"
The question you love to hate.
"Somewhere between a journal and journalism, and like that, but not like that at all." I say, and then explain how clusters of these weblogs, which are really just interconnected conversations around things people care about are springing up around, among, and between every instance of knowing that exists," or something like that, because I stopped when his eyes glazed over.
So he says, "Let me call Antonio. I bet he knows."
Anthony. A tech wiz in the web services department of our company, who works on the floor below me, someone I've passed in the corridors dozens of times, think I've been in a couple meetings with him, all without having a real conversation. That's who he's calling.
So he dials Antonio up.
"Antonio. I'm here in Jeneane's office. Do you know what a weblog is?"
I hear this: "Oh, really? okay... something like a personal site, a diary, huh. Do you have one? Oh, you do?"
At which moment I shout, "He BLOGS? Give me the phone!" and grab the receiver.
"Anthony, no way, you blog?"
"Yeh, do you?"
"YES! Seriously, man? Holy cow, I can't believe it. A blogger. I want to come hug you."
And we laugh, and we talk about what we use--I think he's still a little scared of me, but he's warming up. Says he uses Blogger too but hosts his blog on his own site [and I want to shoot myself because I lost his URL after I wrote it down... anyway... I already emailed him to get it tomorrow.] And I ask him what he blogs about, and he says a little of everything, mostly tech, and I say yah, me too, but mine's got kind of a marketing slant, and I tell him about Blog Sisters and RGE, and he takes down the addresses, pulls this very blog up on his screen while we're talking, says, Ya, I got yours right here. Cool. And I say, Hey I'll stop downstairs sometime and we can talk about it more. And we agree that would be great. And we'll do it.
To me this is a Holy Shit moment of maximum importance. A person I've been physically working with and not connecting with for what, one, maybe two years, in physical proximity, MISSING each other all the while, then bingo-bango connected in an instant. How? This web WE'RE weaving here. Not through the org charts in the office that have us in separate disciplines, on separate floors. But HERE. Right now. Check my archives. Read me. See me. Hear me. I'll know him and he'll know me, and when I get his site and put it on my blogroll, you'll know him too and he'll know you and how fucking great is the world gonna be???????????????????????????????????????????
