Serving the Lord, helping the kids, and spending the last third of my life working my way back to the place where I can hang with the boy.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Contrast

I posted a blog about a month ago about taking my 15 year old wife to see Taylor Swift (turns out she was 13 but with that make-up and those cloths, who would know?)

Last weekend we went to see Reba McEntire at the new Allen events center (first show there - the inside of the building wasn't quite finished).

I noticed a contrast that really had something to say about how the world has changed between the time I graduated high school and when my kids got out.

(I have to interupt this post and just say that Pandora (www.pandora.com) might just be one of the best things to happen on the Internet - EVER)

Reba showed up on stage in a black shirt and a pair of jeans. She had 5 band members, simple lighting, one spot light and no props on the stage. When she sang the songs, well, she sang the songs. It was like the CD but you got to see facial expressions and such. When she finished her set and left the stage - she (and all her band members) were wearing the same cloths and the stage was the same.

Taylor Swift was a completely different world. Hydrolics that lifted stages (and people). Multiple stages in different parts of the arena. Many costume changes, props that turned her stage into different movie sets to match the songs, lazer lights, colors and spotlights all over the place, tripple video screens that sometimes showed Taylor, sometimes showed scenes, sometimes had completely different people talking, dancing, singing along - whatever. Some songs had her in different cloths at the start of the song than she wore as she sang the last verse. There was even a period of time when they had the capacity for people in the audience to send text messages to the big screens over the stage. The target was to engage all the senses and overload them. The goal was to change things constantly in an effort to keep an A.D.D generation engaged.

They were two different worlds.

When I was in my early 20s I left the sleepy little town in Wyoming and "engaged" the big city. Since that time I've solved problems for the biggest corporations in the world. I've been called in when everyone else was out of ideas. I've lived thorugh the pressure of needing to be the guy to figure it out. I've been flown to all corners of the planet to jump start the next generation of computer solutions, reached my "lifetime elite" airline status by traveling over a million miles and literally worked on every contenent but Antarctica. I make my home in the biggest city in Texas and drive highways with 8 lanes.

Every now and then I drive back to Wyoming. Once I clear Wichita Kansas I literally leave the "Taylor Swift" world and re-enter the world of Reba McEntire. When I turn north and enter Wyoming, my cell phone has no bars and the FM radio stops working about the time I get to Chugwater. I can push the seek button and it will just fruitlessly search the dial for a signal finding nothing. Driving northwards there are two lanes on my side of the highway, a generous chunk of unused land in the middle and two lines going the other direction. There are times when there isn't another car to be seen to the horizon in either direction and it's rare to see a building during most of the drive.

It allows the senses to relax. It stops engaging every part of my brain. It's simple.

I used to think this kind of simple was worse. I was wrong.

Friday, November 6, 2009

I watched TV with the kids last night

It doesn't really seem like much. I watched a little ESPN (World Series of Poker) and an episode of "The Office" with the kids last night.

The reason we needed (Michelle was with me) to watch with the kids is becasue we don't have cable but the kids have Direct TV and you can't pick up the WSOP on an antenna.

It was amazing (so suck it Mr. "It doesn't really seem like much"). First, for those who require background, the WSOP is the biggest poker tournament in the world. The main event crowns a new world champion every year. This year the event started with nearly 6,500 players paying $10,000 each to enter the tournament. Nine people make the final table and each of them will win over a million dollars but first place gets nearly 8.5 million. Big money but that's not why it was amazing.

When the show started (there have been a series of WSOP shows each seeing the main event field shrinking) there were 18 people left in the tournament. Nine were eliminated during our viewing last night getting to the final table. The nine who went all in (each losing literally millions of chips) with the wrong cards will fade into obscurity. We just won't remember who they were but the nine who survived will be remembered for years. Pretty exciting stuff but that's not why it was amazing.

The best part of the night was when a couple of the top stacks tangled. Both of the players were a sure thing to make the final table. Both of the players had over 20 million chips. Both of the players were dealt two diamonds and then the flop came with three more diamonds giving both players a flush. That hand was magnificant, but that's not why it was amazing.

When the 10th player was eliminated it was a hand where one guy was dealt pocket aces and the other guy had a pair of eights. Big money, big excitement, big disappointment, big emotion. Watching the field go from 14 to 9 was simply....

Well, that last episode was pretty ding-dang nice but the amazing thing was that we were watching TV with the kids. I didn't walk next door to Jack and Mandy's house. I was watching TV with Shane and Cassandra. Their show recorded on their Direct TV DVR in their house.

In Boston.

1800 miles away, Boston it is.

When they paused the show to go to the bathroom or get a snack, we had to wait (because as I said we were watching with them) but Michelle and I were sitting in our livingroom in Dallas.

It's the technology that's amazing. The kids have a high definition slingbox. We have a device called a sling box catcher and using that technology we can sit together and watch TV. Then we can fire up the webcams and even see each other and talk as we enjoy a show together, 1800 miles apart.

And to think I was impressed with pong.