Trying a new chat app 

Flash chat. I'm installing it tonight on a work server. We've been using the same chat box I have here on my blog as a kind of IM in my department, but it doesn't beep, so it's hard to use. Wish I could get everybody to try the OPML instant outliner. I tried to explain it once, but it's so different from anything anybody has ever heard of that I didn't get anywhere. That thing has so much potential. One of these days somebody, probably Dave, will figure out a hook, and on that day eyes will glitter like twinkling little stars around the globe, and instant outlining will take off. (Meanwhile, I'll continue to promote it as a portal to an alternate reality.)

Later: Pretty nice! Want to help me try it out? Now I'm going to try installing the add-on modules. I'm especially interested in the whiteboard. Those have been around for years, haven't they? Seems like a likely thing to get discovered as something brand new by the two-oh crowd. There's also a built-in radio station. That sounds kind of interesting, too.

Still later: Oh. A live whiteboard needs FlashComm. Can't afford that. I'll see how much it can do in unlive mode. In the dead zone.

Yet later: Whiteboard is rudimentary, but works asynchronously. I'm done for tonight, but sometime I'll try the mp3 player plugin. It's more what I thought the radio station was. You have to have the audio files on the server, but anyone in chat can hear. Might be a good learning tool. You have a podcast or lecture and people listen at the same time and chat. You could pause the podcast for discussion, then move on. This would have been a good combination of tools to use for Anne's Office 2.0 Podcast Jam.

I want: 

A cool cartoon interface to UPS or FedEx tracking. There's a GPS device in the truck or plane and I am shown a map with me as the center of the universe, while my prize comes to me.

Hierarchies - Chapter 3 (continued) 

(Archive)

Brian checked the time: 5:50 a.m. He didn't feel like calling Meg, not right now. Maybe I'll tell her I'm going back to bed, he said to himself, trying out the escape option. Sounded reasonable. He typed an instant message:

sorry. got busy, then got sleepy. talk later this morning??

But Meg already had left the computer, and left a "Back to bed" away message herself. That worked out.

Brian really liked Meg; don't get him wrong. It was just that he had planned to get up early to make some extra time today.

He had to tend strictly to his list today, and not let his curiosity make him wander off course. That was Meg's trouble, he considered. She used to be efficient as could be when she was busy and working. These days she'd become a total airhead -- the opposite of the efficient project manager he met six years ago when they both worked at E.E. Platt.

They had become the most sought-after team for the tech consulting firm's internet projects, due to Meg's great client and organizing skills, to his programming wizardry and their synchronicity as a team. Once Meg and Brian dove into a project, it got done fast and right, so their reputation was earned.

Brian made the smart move once he saw he had some leverage, and worked out a contracting deal three years ago with old man Platt's son, the COO. His retainer paid the same as his old salary. No benefits, but he was obligated to a measly 35 hours a week for Platt, and he gained the freedom he craved to work on other things, or not. Meg was so bright; why hadn't she negotiated the same deal?