The Novelty of Face-to-Face
Cell phones, email, TV, Blackberries, laptops, pagers, Facebook, AIM, MSN Messenger, Google Chat…the list just goes on.
I’ve had some pretty solid conversations in the past few weeks. I’ve spent time with John Kelm, chatted with Kurt (both of them), and even had a few run-ins with my neighbors. What’s interesting to me is how much of a “novelty” the idea of getting to know your neighbors has become. I lived in a complex last year, and made a point of getting to know my next-door neighbor, Blake Spindler: sometimes we’d sit around and talk about our ridiculous landlord, and there was one time I even tried to fix his TV after an electrical event occurred. It’s struck me recently how few people have the time or inclination to get to know the people around them.
When I was at Microsoft for interviews, my HR contact Raquel Garcia talked about a hobby of hers: “building communities”. I think I’m going to put some time and money into doing some of this “community building” down here in Urbana. Now, if I could just find some time between interviews, holidays, and travel…