Wednesday night I got into Washington Dulles Airport at about Midnight, or about 84 minutes behind schedule. Circling somewhere west of our nations capitol in a holding pattern, I found myself become increasingly annoyed. Then, as we landed, I began to understand the delay. We were pushed around by a quartering wind and heavy rain. It was apparent that the pilot had to really fight the conditions. Upon further review, being on the ground safe felt great.

I thought about that landing as I waited just a few hours later at Reagan National Airport for my return trip. My time in Washington was spent by sleeping for 5 hours, meeting for 6 1/2 hours, commuting for 3 hours, clearing airport security for an hour and waiting at my departure gate for 2 hours.

Hmmmm. Add another half hour at the gate in the plane, and I believe that accounts for all my time on the ground. My flight home was full. So it was one of those dream sequences when the doors were closed and the aisle seat in my row was still empty. For some reason I had been placed in a middle seat, not my favorite.

Just as I began my move into the empty seat another passenger beat me to it. All the luck! The newly arriving gentleman offered me his middle seat directly in front of the emergency exit row. "No, thanks," was my abrupt reply, "I'll just stay here to torment you." Not the most cordial greeting, I admit.

For the next five hours we were companions. It turns out that this interloper really was a gentleman, a friendly sort with an engaging demeanor. In the course of our conversation I discovered that he is a consultant who is traveling this same route twice a week for meetings with a prominent religious organization headquartered in Salt Lake. These meetings take place each Monday and Friday. My new friend has been doing this for over a year, traveling from his home in North Carolina and back. All this without pay, simply as a favor.

I suggested that he reduce the face-to-face meetings to once a month and use video conferencing technology for the rest. We spent the last hour of the flight in consultation. He should have all the information necessary to make video conferencing a reality. It would save him over a hundred hours in travel every month. The technology would pay for itself in no time at all. I hope he follows through. I gave him my number and asked him to call if he ran into any problems.

Wouldn't it be great if technology could always be used to solve real problems..........
10:21:28 PM    comment []