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FROM THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
It's still a small world
By David Gewirtz

About this article
I originally published "It's a small world" in DominoPower back in 1998. It was the story of a female Notes administrator who was most unfairly treated, late one night at Newark airport on the eve of Thanksgiving.

I'm reprinting it now, exactly 10 years later, in honor of Thanksgiving, that woman, Notes and Domino people everywhere, our new President-elect, and the American people. It may still be a small world, but maybe - just maybe - we're growing up.



It's a small world
You might not expect social commentary in a technical magazine like DominoPower, but sometimes the real world asserts itself when you least expect it. In my case, I watched the real world happen right in front of me at about 1am, standing in the Taxi line at Newark Airport, the day before Thanksgiving.

Managing Editor Denise Amrich and I had just returned from a grueling business trip. Newark to Pittsburgh to Fort Myers, Florida to Charlotte to Newark, all in less than 24 hours, with an eight hour presentation (spell that "inquisition") with prospective investors sandwiched in the middle. This kind of pace can be tough on the best of days, but on the day before Thanksgiving, air travel is not fun.

After the four-hour flight home (half of which involved dislocating my shoulder to fit in the window seat), we were fried. Our post presentation debriefing consisted of grunts and whimpers about wanting to go home. We were most definitely not at our best.

But finally - finally - we were home (at 1am, even Newark airport can seem like home). We'd gotten off the plane, made a personal pit stop, and had stumbled our way through the airport into line at the taxi stand. Things were going slowly. For whatever reason, the taxi dispatcher (the person who controls who gets what cab) was moving realllll slooooow. Denise and I were in a bit of a fog. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something familiar. Weirdly familiar. Almost too familiar for 1am.

What out of the corner of my eye did appear but a woman carrying a Lotus Notes 4.5 Administrator's Guide. She held this six hundred-page book clutched close to her breast, much as a little child might possessively hold a much-beloved Teddy Bear. While I didn't register much about her appearance, I did notice the book. Ever the editor (foggy though I was), I turned to Denise, mentioned the woman and her book. I then jokingly suggested Denise give the woman a card and invite her to write for DominoPower. Denise, in as much of a post-trip funk as I, simply grunted. We both forgot about the woman and her Administrator's Guide almost immediately.


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