We're Frozen

In the passenger plane crash in Greece a few days ago, one passenger managed to send this text message: "The pilots have turned blue. Farewell cousin - we're frozen."

Chills down my spine. Hairs raised on my neck. I close my eyes, and shake my head, trying to get rid of the feeling of dread and sadness, reminding myself that I'm alive.

I think about that text message. I think about the sender of that message. I think about who received it. Did that person know?

As I write this, another plane has crashed in Venezuela. And both of these follow the missed runway incident at Pearson Airport in Toronto.

With a recent job change requiring more business travel, I'm on airplanes a lot more these days. All these recent incidents give me pause.

Tax Free Weekend

Massachusetts just had a "tax free weekend." Shoppers throughout the state could make purchases on most items and not pay the 5% state sales tax.

I bought a cordless mouse, and I like it. Where has this little device been all my life? A few months ago, at a big meeting I was at, a consultant pulled out his laptop and then pulled out a little mouse without wires. He attached a transmitter device to his laptop's USB port, and all of a sudden he had a nifty little mouse. And just a few weeks ago, someone was telling me how his daughter would take the wireless mouse from his home desktop computer and hide it among her toys. I was thinking about these stories during the Saturday of "tax free weekend", and realized I knew what I wanted to buy.