A smaller world

I was chatting this afternoon with a friend in England. I commented that our tiny chat room had, at that moment, 12 people in it representing 7 different countries, throughout the world. He thought it was kind of silly of me to keep track. Yes, IRC has been around (mostly without me) for quite some time now, long enough to qualify it as old news.

May I still be allowed to marvel now and then at technology? We have figured out how to do some pretty neat stuff, from the airplane I flew on today to the digital watch that got me there on time, to the semiconductors and networks that make this blog possible.

I say that as an engineer, one who sees behind the curtain every day. How many people really understand the inner workings of their cell phones, computers, or cars? How many people ever even stop to think about the people like me who help build those now-commonplace devices? How many engineers, who think up and implement techology, think regularly of the end user, rather than the demanding boss or the deadline?

Once in awhile, I try to notice these everyday miracles, the person who gets to know friends around the world--friends she would otherwise never have met--and talk to them without even putting her shoes on.

So let me celebrate a bit, please!