Finally a movie about.... ME!!!

Paramount has wisely chosen to cast George Clooney to portray me in the upcoming "Up in the Air" (releases in Dec?). It's hard to explain to people what I see / go through when on a trip. The visuals from the trailer are fantastic. 30,000' aerial shots of farmland, mountain ranges, looking down on clouds, etc. Hordes of people dragging a suitcase in one hand and a trench coat draped across the other. Each one focused on arriving at their next way-point on time.

I laughed especially hard at the part where Clooney takes his trainee through the security line. If you travel frequently and you're NOT assessing who's in line in front of you - you're wasting time. Note: The movie makes it a racial/profiling joke out of the situation. The reality is those of us in analytical jobs are always trying to find a way though faster - independent of race.

If you ever wondered what it's like to be on the road - the trailer pretty much sums it up.

You know you've been traveling too much when you can identify an airport by the carpet. :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xIUtRrTlgo

Where it diverges from my life is that cold, unattached, "relationships weigh you down" business. Clooney does pull off an impressive monologue in the official trailer.

There is no space, only time

Every once in a while the impact of technology on our lives hits me. It usually the same general revelation, but always with a slightly different context. E.g. my kids will have difficulty comprehending or lack cultural references to:

• Newspaper (we don't have a subscription)
  
• Spending hours researching something in the library - by hand
• TVs with tubes
• Carrying around a large, bulky, music playing device with a limited selection of music
• Fixing a cassette or VHS tape that's come unspooled.
• Playing a respooled tape and enjoying the bad parts, 'cause it's your favorite and there's no way in the world you'll go without it.

"The Internet" is largely the answer to the above list. I could go on, but won't.

To my random thought for today.... Over the last couple days a friend/colleague has been in Dallas installing equipment while I was training the very same people he was installing it for in San Francisco. I'm now waiting for a plane to take me to SNA. I will meet up with him in the OC to work overnight together for a completely different customer.

What a crazy, crazy world. I'm sure it's overstated and obvious, but, sometimes when you stand back and look at it, modern travel and communications has eliminated the concept of distance. All that's left is my aching rear-end after hours in the same airplane seat.

Better walk around for a few minutes. Boarding starts soon.