The World has changed (and that's good)!

Sitting at a large table in Spankey's South side, the group was finishing up lunch when one pulled out a stack of square, white envelopes.

"I've got a present for y'all," he said handing each of us one.

He is the second generation of a three generation family business with locations in Georgia and Florida. Nearing the end career, his son is positioned to take over. My table mates opened their envelope and pulled out a calendar. Embossed on it is the name of his company. Flipping through the pages it was filled with stock photographs depicting whichever month. His business card was also included.

When I got to the car, I threw the calendar on the seat and hit my I-phone. The calendar app reminded me where I was due next. I checked the instant messages, emails, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter before I put the car in reverse. It only took a minute.

I send a text to Sarah to see if she needed anything, Tweeted to let followers know what I thought about things and checked out a video that my friend Mitch had posted. This only took another minute.

Then I put the car in reverse and was on my way to pick up the girls after school.

As I drove my I-phone buzzed with phone calls, beeped with email notifications, dinged as a text message came and sounded like a rattle snake when Sarah communicated. (Before you go jumping to any conclusions, she chose this sound to let me know it was her. I had nothing to do with it! So there!)

The calendar remained quiet and I noticed no activity.

I had an hour to kill so I opened my Netbook and connected to the world and was productive working on proposals customers want as I checked the six open screens. Rhapsody played more of the music Mitch had sent. Facebook noted I had twelve action items, LinkedIn and Twitter had too much activity for me to pay attention to at the moment, Google was open in case I needed to look something up and I'm writing a blog for our company (www.letustellit.com).

The calendar lay there with empty white spaces and colorful displays of somewhere else.

When the girls arrived I shut the Netbook off though the I-phone kept me connected to everything I'd been doing.

Turning up the old fashioned car radio I heard what other people wanted me to hear rather than everything I have at my disposal. After flipping through each channel searching for something I liked, I turned it off, opened Rhapsody on my I-phone and listed to Laura Nyro until the girls arrived. Then the girls turned the radio back on so we could enjoy the crap that's played on Top 40 radio these days.

The world has changed. You don't have to actually go anywhere to travel the world. Our business serves customers across the country and we deliver on the spot. My office is the table under the umbrella on the back deck. My partners have offices five blocks away with a terrific ocean view but our communication is instant and constant. We actually see each other about once a week.

Once home the girls need help with homework. I haven't done school homework since my kids were in school ... I rarely ever did it when I was in school. I Google every question they ask. They think I'm a genius.

Cooking dinner, I can't remember how the sauce is made. Grabbing the I-phone I remind myself.

As night falls I light a fire in the outdoor office and think about everything that was accomplished today. It was actually a lot though not nearly as much as I intended. Grabbing the phone which softly plays music, I typed notes to myself about tomorrow's agenda.

Cleaning up before heading to bed, I see the calendar laying there. I only felt guilt for a moment as I throw it away.