Hello Ya'll ... I guess I knew yesterday when I posted that I might be away for a few days thatI wouldn't be able to stick to it =P

Besides, in our grand travels from P-Town to Seattle I had a topical conversation for this blog. As luck would have it, my daughter and I ended up sitting across from a suited guy who was extremely harassed and distracted by the multiple beeps and buzzes emitting from various parts of his body. In addition, he had forgotten his power adapter for his laptop and I was kind enough to offer my own (oh Dell, your adapters are so compatible). So turns out this dude ... let's call him SquarePants ... just got a job @ a large company based out of Seattle (company shall remain nameless). On his first day he was given what they called his "Mobility Package" and was told that it was his responsibility to utilize those tools to be 100% accessible at all times. I am not sure if this was an exaggeration on his part, but he seemed panicked enough about it that I tend to believe it is true.

What Is A Mobility Package???
Always the inquiring mind, I asked if I could take a look @ this alleged technological leash ... he said sure, and maybe I could answer some questions for him. Not feeling entirely confident that I was the correct person for that job I asked him if he was directed to anyone @ the company who could help train him or get him setup using these tools. "No" he said ... as he handed me a sheet of paper and said "Read this". Okay, first of all, I was soooo tempted to snap a pic of the stuff he showed me, but I didn't want to put him in a weird spot so you will just have to put your imagination hats on and use my imagery.

Welcome Letter
Wow, what a welcome ... I don't have it verbatim by any means but generally it was as follows:

"Welcome to XXXXX,

Enclosed you will find the following:

• Blackberry Mobile Device & Manual (device and service chosen based on your company role)
• Device: Blackberry World Edition 8830
• Plan: Verizon Enterprise Corporate Voice & Data (Int'l Included)
  
• Notebook Computer & Mobile Accesories
• Dell Latitude D630
• Wireless Broadband Access Card
  

Passwords (it is your responsibility to change your initial passwords):

• BIOS: XXXXX
• Network Username &  password:XXXXX / XXXXX
• SalesForce: XXXXX
• .. there were some others I can't remember ..

Please be sure to acclimate yourself with these tools as soon as possible, if you have any trouble setting up your device please contact the Technical Help Center: XXXX."

Um, okay - not so welcoming ... but also not so confusing, and I pointed out that there was a number to what I assume is a Help Desk. He said he doesn't feel comfortable calling them, because he has a problem that he thinks might be stupid. erm ... okay ... what is your problem? Well, apparently he can't even log into the laptop to do anything - and he is afraid that if he keeps trying he will lock himself out. wow ... pressure! In actuality, the issue was pretty easily solved - he had forgotten to choose the domain when he entered his username and password ... I (kindly, I think) pointed out that they really didn't call that out in the letter, and maybe he should give them that feedback. (uh - yah right).

So now he can get into his laptop - yay! Problem number two is that he has never seen a Broadband Access Card, and had no idea what to do with it. It occurred to me @ this point that this clearly intelligent guy was just plain in technology overload ... I mean, the thing came with software to install (I did wonder why that wasn't done in advance by IT - but whatevs) ... and after we got the sw installed it pretty much worked with no problems.

After that, I showed SquarePants some random Blackberry tips (he claims he has been functioning up until how in corporate land without one) and then I turned his Blackberry to vibrate ... because at that point even my daughter was getting irritated by the noise. He pulled out the source of the other beeping noise and it was ... omg ... and actual PAGER ... a two-tone green on green pager! And he uses it for personal communication, eesh. Okay, so then it dawned on me that SquarePants was probably an exception ... where as originally I was forming this whole diatribe in my mind about how his company is really handicapping their new employees by not giving them more of a training session with their "mobility package" ... now some of that edge is off.

BUT - it did get my mind percolating ... memo to self: future blog post: if I were to equip a new employee to be fully mobile, how would I do it ... and where to the boundaries of being corporate "accessible" end and stepping into personal life infringement begin.

off to conquer the space needle (eep - fear o' heights, check!)
boo-tothe-yah. angirankin - OUT!