Today I'm sitting in the Westnet Conference listening to a recap of what is happening at campuses in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. It's amazing how much of my life is spent sitting in meetings.

It's getting toward the end of the second day and my mind is wandering. Additionally, ASU has provided me with a high speed wireless link to the net. So I started to surf while keeping one ear on the meeting. I found a couple of articles that made me smile. The most interesting reading was about the importance, and productivity, of playing.

You should check out the Wired article on having fun. There are several provocative ideas. Playing is something that often gets us technical types in trouble. We are criticized for playing with our technical toys, as if this is a completely useless waste of our time and other precious resources. As budgets get tighter the scrutiny regarding play will get more intense, I fear.

But isn't playing at the very core of being technical? Most of the really good techs I know grew up playing with technology. That's were most of us learned our trade. We are now employed in highly specialized play.

We shouldn't forget this part of our heritage. And we shouldn't be ashamed of the enjoyment we derive from playing with technology. Recently I've forgotten that this job should be fun. It's good to be reminded every now and then.

That's all for now.......
4:06:30 PM    comment []