Ad hoc

Every time, I say I'm not going to do it again. Then at when its too late and I'm already doing it, I realize I said I wasn't going to do it again, and I'm stuck.

"David - would you mind just giving a quick demo of the prototype?" said the unorganized one. Sure, I think - it's done & delivered, can't be too bad. They're paying for it, right?

Never again.

Comments from the 'board' that saw it:

• "My, but it is slow." (My whole box is slow. Notepad lags)


• "Is that all the FAQs we have?" (What part of 'prototype' did you understand to be 'fully capable deployed system'?)


• "It looks awfully 'square'."


• "The text isn't very clear"

Obviously, not a group that has 1) been prepared to view a prototype-quality application, or 2) understands what the software does. And the unorganized one didn't have much control over the meeting much less over their prior expectations of what the software would do.

We've got bigger issues ahead of us, and it frustrates me to no end that I let myself get pulled in to something where I get kicked around and there's no plan.

TGIF.

BeepBeep! BeepBeep! And then, just like that, I'm in the Netherlands. I'm on a train from Hannover to Amsterdam, and my phone beeps with an SMS.

Welcome to T-Mobile NL - insure you dial a country code, and use this number to load more money on your card.

Informal, just like going from Dallas to Fort Worth. But the license plates are yellow instead of white; the other trains are yellow and blue instead of white and red; and the first language to come over the PA now is Dutch. A border crossing is pretty much a non-event, as it should be. Rumor is that Ryan & Lily are there tonight - might run into them this weekend, considering how small the city is.

Me on the train, setting sun on my face as we head west.