Saturday, February 18, 2006

Aren't Communications Great?

So, it's just before 11am (eastern time) in Rochester, NY and I get a call from Brendan in Seattle. He's heading up to take the ferry from Anacortes to Orcas Island - presumably to do some camping. He's calling me to get the ferry schedule from the Washington State Department of Transportation website. Of course, I have no problem finding what we're looking for, and I let him know that the weekday schedule is different from the weekend schedule, and that they can stop speeding to catch the 8:30 ferry... cause the next one they want isn't until 10:00am.

In reflecting on these events, it's really amazing how far communications have come. That a person in Seattle can phone a person in Rochester - with no long distance charges - and that the person in Rochester can tell him the ferry schedule in Washington State. Now, with the right technology, Brendan could have found this info himself - with a blackberry, or laptop hooked up to a cell phone, or whatever - but it's still interesting. Fifty years ago - hell, TWENTY years ago - none of this would have been possible. He could still have called me, but rudimentary cell phone plans would have probably charged him $20 or more just to make the phone call. Then, I'd probably need to go looking through stacks of papers to find the schedule - assuming I have one - and then hope that it's not out of date!

Just an interesting observation. Up next? Flour City Tavern Tour 2006!!! Just gotta sit down with George and finalize our route. This year's going to start on Monroe Avenue, it appears, probably at Monty's Krown or Jerremiah's Tavern. Jerremiah's would be good for beer and food to start... and then go to the Krown. From there, it's a LONG walk to anywhere... except Enright's... and unless they miraculously add 5 or 8 new taps with excellent beers on them, that'll be a pass. The old Tom Thumb restaurant is good if you're looking to get drinking at 8am, but beyond that it's not really up to tavern-tour expectations.

Once the route is down, then come the t-shirts. In fact, this weekend I'll probably try and pull together the graphics so it's ready to go. Then it'll only be like $10-12 per shirt.

Cheers'