From: Timothy RueDate: Fri, 6 Jun 97 07:43:00 Organization: MindSpring Enterprises This is only the beginning. Take Heart not to make any judgements but put Heart into any actions you may take based on this first part. For those who have the ability to translate this into other languages, please do so, for this IS for everyone. © Copyright 1997 - Timothy Rue -------------------------- The AAi Meeting with Petro -------------------------- Petro had come back to the United States in an effort to find someone to fill a needed position at Amiga International. Petro did not say who he had in mind but did say he failed in his efforts. Petro arrived in Atlanta just after midnight (early saturday morning), and was greeted by Lamar Morgan (President of AAi), Skal Loret (representing the Jay Miner Society and the ICOA), and Myself. Lamar and Skal took Petro to the hotel. I took on the task of being Petros' transportation the following day. From the Hotel to the AAi user group meeting, from the meeting to the Food SIG - Malones Bar and Grill, and then back to the hotel. It really wasn't luck that I had the opportunity to spend time with Petro but it sure seemed as though it could have been. A combination of numerious communication efforts of mine to the Amiga community, emails to numerious individuals, and a few to Petro. Lamar had been trying to take advantage of Comdex being in town and had delayed the AAi usergroup meeting so that it would be right before Comdex. The idea was that Comdex could add some weight to being able to get someone from Gateway or AI to address the User Group. But it didn't seem to be working. A week or so before: There are several of us who are working on the AAi Bylaws. When I had arrived the power had been down, traffic was nuts. It gave us some time to talk and we even thought about moving the meeting to another location. But something was up, Lamar had some news. Lamar had already told Bob and Mike, but I had arrived late. I stopped them before Lamar was able to say anything. I had something to say first. What I proceeded to communicate was that I wasn't so sure that AAi would not have someone from Gateway or AI to give a presentation at the coming general meeting. Bob asked me why I thought that. I responded that things in the Amiga community are coming to a focal point and Petro had said something about things needing to happen quickly in one of his public statements. Of course the response from Bob was that I didn't know how right I was and handed the conversation over to Lamar. Petro was coming! Thinking back I don't know if they expected me to get excited, but I took it as good news and stayed focused. Then the power came on and our focus turned to the Bylaws. A few days before the general meeting I received a message from Lamar on my answering machine that several of the AAi members where meeting to talk about things that needed to be done to prepare for the meeting and the day after, taking Petro to a studio for some Q & A taping. Also to ask me to drive Petro from the hotel to the meeting. By the time I got the message, it was to late to call Lamar back, so I headed out to the location given. There it seemed like I both did and didn't need to be there. I knew this meeting with Petro was important, not only was I being given at least a little bit of time to talk with Petro (the short trip from the hotel to the meeting) but that it was also a chance to meet and talk with Skal (the ICOA). So many things seemed to be falling into place, and this continued to evolve way and far beyond any possible planning. I figured I only had a short time to talk with Petro, and I had to make it count. If there has ever been anything I have put my heart into it was this opportunity to talk with Petro. The reasons are not likley to be what you may think, but I will go over this in this post. As it all worked out, on the way to the meeting with Petro, I mistakenly missed the turnoff, an honest and verifiable mistake. This resulted in having about an hour with Petro. At the meeting, there where four chairs up front marked reserved. One for Petro, one for Skal, one for Lamar and one that remained empty. I drifted to the back and stood, watching all that was happening. I didn't speak with Petro until the meeting was completely over and time to go to the Food SIG. I figured it was only fair to everyone that they get their chance to meet and talk with Petro. It took maybe ten minutes to get to the Food SIG, where the seating arrangement fell into place beyond any planning, there where no place names nor did we know how many where going to show, the table would end up growing. I had sat down next to Petro, because I was saving it for Lamar and the activity caused me to do so. When Lamar arrived I gave him the seat and ended up taking the seat across from Petro, again it was just the way it worked out. And again I kept quite during the Food SIG. The seating working out in other ways to. But Skal, I was hoping he'd gotten closer to Petro than he had. Perhaps I should have made a greater effort to give up the seat I landed in, to Skal, but it seemed that I was supposed to be there, given the conversations going on with Joe Torre on my right and Mark Adams on my left, both with Petro. In time things began to thin out as the night set in, I knew those of us remaining where working towards eventually leaving. I noticed Skal gone from the table and went to find him, and I did. He'd been talking to those seated around him and this had moved over to the bar, done out of his consideration for others. Smoke break, and I needed one, two too. When I returned to the table, things had thinned out even more and I was waiting for some action of leaving. I had sat down in a chair or booth seat near Petro and at one point said something to Petro, thanking him for taking the time to come to the meeting on his way to Comdex. Petro responded, that he didn't come to to see Comdex but "for you". Well the crowd moved outside, where I again stepped back to let others talk with Petro. Eventually, this all ended. It was just before 10 p.m. when we left. The trip back to the hotel didn't take that long, but Petro and I sat outside in the car talking until near 11 p.m. I'd had a total of about two hours to talk with Petro, with about a ten minute intermission in the middle (seprated by the user group meeting and the Food SIG.) I did most of the talking, Petro listened, asked me questions and made some comments. But he knew exactly when to opened the car door. I didn't get to bed until about 5:30 am. I had something I needed to find the answer to, to solve and I did. And this despite my roommates relapse with alcoholism and effort to get my attention. It was sunday and I needed to rest. ------------------ COMDEX __________________ Monday was the beginning of Comdex, I knew Petro would visit the Gateway booth and I hoped I would see him there. My car had begun to give me trouble and at one point in the trip to the AAi meeting I thought we (Petro and I) wouldn't make it. But monday, I made it to the Bank, only to have to call a tow truck. I didn't make it to the Keynote session, which I had previously thought and mistakenly told Petro it was going to be Bill Gates speaking. I did get to see and say hello to Petro at the Gateway booth, where Joe Torre and Lamar where showing him around, but I had something I needed to do and went off into the show. On the show floor Joe caught me as they where going to the lower halls to see a few exhibits and meet a few people. I tagged along for awhile but eventually had to break away and continue with my objectives. I never did get a chance to say bye to Petro but rather just lost track of them as I was sizing up the show. Good thing too, because I wasn't ready to say bye, this ain't over yet. But I did make an effort to cross paths by going to the MARTA entrance and waiting until a little after two (when Petro had to leave for the airport). On my way out I grabbed one of the Microsoft Litature bags because it hit me what was ment by what was printed on it "Where do you want to go today?" Monday evening I called Lamar and at some point in our conversation I asked him if he had checked to see if there was any way that I could have known Petro was coming (refering back to when I had stopped him from telling me the news, so that I might say something first). There was silence on the phone. I didn't know what to think, had Lamar been distracted and left the phone? Then I heard some breathing. Of course I was trying to get him to respond. Eventually, being a bit irritated, I said "Lamar, do you want this conversation to end?" A moment later he came to and said he was sorry that he fell asleep. The conversation picked back up as Lamar started talking about something he saw at the Keynote address with Petro. The Bob Beman (sp?) story. A 1968 olympic story of a long jumper who was a little know and little supported athlete. Now the long jump record had only been broken by fractions of an inch or in a good year an inch and a fraction. Bob Beman broke the record by over two feet. This story was used to close out the Keynote Address by Lotus' CEO Jeff Papows push for JAVA to become the standard. As Lamar and I closed our conversation, Lamar wanted me to participate in the Susan Rook Talkback Live show the following day at the CNN building. Lamar was thinking that maybe Bill would be the guest. I told him that Bill would not take such a risk as this, but agreed that I would seriously consider doing so. Funny, but Tuesday I had opened the GWCC front doors for the ones I ended up being in line with. I had over heard the lady saying how she was a frustrated engineer. I didn't tell any of these people listening about the Amiga, but only enough to get them to think and do a little bit of research, that I know will lead them to the Amiga. I didn't sit with these people during the Keynote, but I know what I had told them must have really sunk in deeply during Bills Keynote. As it turned out there was only theatrics in the line waiting to get in (an intentional show biz delay) of which I made some jokes about as I brought the reality of it to those around me. I recall a man on a nearby phone somehow seeming to not want to be noticed as I looked over at him. But once I got inside, I intentionally sat in the back row. Well, as big business is, there were those placed around to also view and pick up what the audience was thinking and saying. One such person, a fairly attractive lady, keyed in on me and eventually (about 15 minutes into Bills Keynote) worked her way to the empty chairs next to me. Now I'm sitting in the middle of the last row and there where other chairs easier to get to. The Presentation was billed as an interactive Q&A with Bill Gates, but the reality was that questionaires were used the day before and Bill was going to respond to 14 of the questions people supposedly asked. I was very polite and picked up the info placed on the seat next to me as the lady sat down in the next seat over (which didn't have the info) and I handed it to her. At one point in the presentation I turned to the the person on my other side and asked a question, after a short pause, I leaned back over and gave him the answer. He acknowledged I was correct but was focused on the presentation. This lady then moved to the chair next to me. Acting as though she was paying attention to the presentation, well I know better. I seriously listened to Bills presentation and my responces where honest ones. One of which was "he doesn't know!" (You'll not doubt this when you finish reading this post). When the presentation was over, it was very clear to anyone with their eyes and ears open, that Bill is falling and he knows it. The crowd was well under their way out the door before Bill finished. This woman had gotten up and moved to just behind the center of this back row. I was taking my time, didn't get up until Bill finished. I noticed this woman standing where she had been in the beginning and almost ignored her, but I turned and approched her for a brief moment. And I said to her, with honesty and heart, "Poor Bill, he's going down", with my head down in sadness. And I left not only the auditorum but the GWCC Building. I just needed to get away from all of it, to have a smoke and get over the sadness I felt for Bill and not without thoughts about how this was going to affect his new daughters future. I had things to still do and I didn't need sadness. When I went back inside, without realizing it, I took a bee line to the Gateway booth. I suppose I just needed something to cheer me up. I had been wanting to see if I could pull up my web page on any of the on-line browsers throughout the show but just never found the opportunity. But at the Gateway booth it somehow seemed to present me with the opportunity to do so without other customers looking over my shoulder. So I tried several times and even tried the AAi Web page but to no avail. I thought "cool - smart move, Gateway is protecting themselves, good for them". I noticed this salesman (Duane) kinda watching me but then an AAi member aproached and said hey. In all that had been happening and my focused objectives, I didn't recognize him (And I don't recall his name - hey I really am just bad with names. Why do I remember Duane? I don't know, maybe because I saw it written on his badge and was told days before that Ted Waite (?) could go under cover (as the lady who sat next to me had). But when I was told this, my responce was "I don't care what T.W. hears me say" and in the truth of all this, I did want to talk with T.W. Anyway, I started talking with this AAi member (Mike?) and as our conversation evolved I clairified Gatways position regarding the Amiga and encourged him to watch the presentation. That there was alot of good information about Gateways Customer service and that although AI is a separate entity, there is much about what Gateway can do to help the Amiga. Like treating it as an individual with different needs the way Gateways personalized customer customization service is, but on a platform level rather than a customer. Refering to the fact that Petro had said he is keeping the Amiga Distribution network in place. Wednesdays Keynote Address was Ted Turner (for CNN) with Larry Ellision (CEO & Chairman of Oracle). All I really wanted to do was see if Ted had lost the edge, but the same sort of waiting in line thing happen again. I began talking, but this time with no joking around. I was saddened and even a touched scared with what I had seen in the keynote the day before. An active system handeling billions of banking transactions around the world and the individual in this video unplugs one of the hard drives (nothing was turned off) to show fault tolerance was in place. What was scary was that he didn't plug it, with some 20 thousand transaction, back in (the question and answer I communicated to the man sitting beside me during Bills' presentation). Waiting in line, those around me started listening in, and the man I was speaking with eventually told me he was involved in CADD. I told him how I had worked at an exhibit house applying effort to integrate the different departments in order to streamline CADD usage through the different departments. This only caused him to think more about what all I had been saying. As we walked up the steps to the auditorium I could hear him in deep thought, you know the "Hmmm" here and there but without conversation. Again I did not sit with those in line around me. But watching the presentation, I could only Imagine the shock this man must have been experiencing. You see, the presentation was about the teaming up of CNN and Oracle to produce a personably customizeable Web news service. The pictures on the screen where mostly of major tragedy and war. *** You'll understand the impact this must have had on him, a bit later in this post. I really didn't have anything left to do after the presentation, and yes Ted has lost the edge, if for at least the reason of Oracle slowing him down. And this was apparent as Ted demanded performance that simply was not there, though in good sportmanship Ted did follow the team spirit. Having time to kill while waiting till noon to pick up the audio tape of the days Keynote address, I sat down and watched the loop video presentation of the overall theme of the Comdex show. I found it interesting and informative, what the directional push in the industry is now, which followed the shows overall exhibitors contents, but much more focused in on key areas. I'll refer to this later in this post. I had done other things during the show but such as these other things are, it's more prep work than something worth telling at this time. But I will say that the last exhibitor I let swipe my badge was a company dealing with data duplication equipment for multiple hard drives and could handle various drive types all at the same time. This was the only party I let do this on the third day. --------------------- My Talk with Petro --------------------- I had once accused Petro of not listening. I don't know, maybe it's due a change in who is above Petro in the scheme of things, but I do know this: Petro, single-handedly, saved the Amiga from being liquidated with the rest of ESCOM. I am as sure of this, as I am now that Petro does listen. I was to pick Petro up at 2 p.m from the hotel. He called me around noon to let me know the room number and to ask if the hotel was downtown. He was near Lenox Square so it really wasn't downtown. He'd asked me if there where any malls around and decide to walk over to Lenox. Now I'm about twenty minutes aways and I didn't think to have him wait for me. But after the call I decided to go over to Lenox, that I might cross paths with him. At best I'd be near the hotel at 2 p.m. and my car had been acting up so if it broke down I knew there would be plenty of time to find other transportation. I never did cross paths with Petro at the mall but it was a good and needed distraction for me. You see, I figured I only had, at best, twenty minutes to talk with Petro on the way to the meeting. I knew what I needed to talk with him about and was trying to relax. I found a copy of Computer Currents, read an article on how general office software was beginning to become automated, then I ended up in the GPTV (Georgia Public TV) Knowledge Store. I found this puzzle "Binary Art" and started to try and solve the hardest of the three solutions. For a short time it seemed like there were five or six kids around me, checking out other puzzles. All but one little girl went on their way. Soon this girls father showed up. I'd handed her the puzzle and her father and I watched as she tried to solve the simplest solution. In this effort, she solve the second solution, but didn't seem to care. She wanted to solve the easiest. She finally gave up and went to another puzzle. I picked up the puzzle and went for the hardest solution but I gave up on this and just tried to figure out the equasion of the puzzle. In the process the simplest solution became just a simple step away. I asked her if she wanted to "go for it" but she responded "no." So I sat the puzzle down figuring some other kid would find some fun in making the last move. I left the store and just walked around, keeping my eyes open in the chance I might cross paths with Petro. I decided to go on over to the hotel and wait in the lobby. It was about twenty after one, so I let the desk clerk know what I was doing there. I went to the gift shop to look around, going thru a smaller area where there where some older people showing grey, reading or watching the news on TV. After the gift shop I went back to the main lobby and watched as a few people passed by, some going to or coming from the dinning area. At one time there were some young adults gathered waiting for help with luggage, there were also three young adult jewish men and down the hall, talking on the phone, a woman whom was pregnant enough to be showing it. I seemed to recognize a black man working at the hotel, but I wasn't sure from where. In time the main lobby became empty again. * It is Late Thursday the 5th of June, And I need sleep. This first part may be revised as I integrate more. This work is copyrighted 1997 by myself - Timothy Rue. But only so that no alteration be done. You may copy it but only in it's complete context or with notice that it is only a part of larger work. ***
Email: timrue@mindspring.com
Copyright © 1975, 1988, 1994, 1996, 1997 Timothy V. Rue