Change is Inevitable

The only constant is change. It used to be (for those of us who remember the days of black and white television) at a fairly slow pace. Adoption of new technologies was at a slower pace. You had time to adjust – albeit some were dragged along kicking and screaming about the old days.

But the speed of the changes started to pick up and today, you barely have time to buy a new technology before the newest and more advanced product is available. We face it daily, so why is it so hard to accept the inevitable.

I am still using Adobe Audition 1 on my editing computer. I like it. It still works – on my XP operating system. All my computers are XP. But, I know that will have to change the next time I have to upgrade the hardware. I will not like this change – at first. I’ll kick and scream and bitch and moan. But eventually, I’ll find the groove and ignore the steady stream of new changes until the inevitable happens again.

My Musicam Prima 120 ISDN codec is a dinosaur, but it still works. When that decides to die, I may not need to replace it, because the writing appears to be on the wall for the death of ISDN.

One major sports network that depends on ISDN for rock steady communication lines has been alerted by Verizon that they will be cutting off ISDN service in East Coast markets this coming May.

http://www.rwonline.com/article/alert-for-isdn-users/218605

This truly makes me sad. My best times, other than actually being in someone else’s studio face-to-face with a dedicated engineer and producer/director, is being in my booth using my ISDN lines with a dedicated engineer and producer/director.

It works. I’m happy. The producer is happy.

But, because of the early warning signs, I have already invested in Source-Connect and have used that effectively with a couple of regular clients. It isn’t quite the same. It is much more complicated to establish the connection. The connection isn’t as reliable. I have to do so much more “engineering.” All of these things detract (at least in my own mind) from my ability to just perform.

So, now, for the first time since the undercurrent of mutterings predicting the demise of ISDN began, it looks like it might actually be happening. It is ironic that my lines have been working more the past year or so. Some of those clients are on the East Coast, so perhaps the change will affect me sooner than later.

So, time to let my technology advancement radar system loose to be sure that I am ready for the inevitable.

Mmmm – I want S’More! FaffCon 3 – Hershey PA

So, I pull the circulars from the mailbox the other day and there, stuck in between the Vons, Henry’s and Pancho Villa grocery ads and various requests for money was a large flat “chocolate bar.”

My postcard to myself from FaffCon 2 in Atlanta had arrived! I had forgotten all about it. Our fearless and extremely brilliant (did I mention funny?) organizer Amy Snively had us write down 5 things we were going to do after our energizing weekend and it would be mailed to us about 3 months after FaffCon.

I was afraid to turn it over to see what I had actually written. So I put it off for a while, taking it to my desk where I prepared myself mentally and emotionally. I feared the worse. That not only had I not done any of the items on my list, but that I would have no idea what they meant!

An hour and a half later after being distracted by YouTube and Wimp links from Facebook, I flipped the card over.

Right off the bat, I had to think about the first item on the list. The cancellation ink was covering some of my messy handwriting, but finally I deciphered it – and shook my head in dismay. The very first thing and I had not done it.

But glancing at the rest of the list, I saw that I was going to get a B for effort (maybe a B minus), because I had done 95% of the rest of the list. The last item was a two-parter.

Of course you are wondering what was on my list – well, that part is sort of a secret. But suffice to say the action items stemmed from my personal ”golden nuggets” exposed at FaffCon 2 in Atlanta.

The post card was a great idea! Not only am I re-energized to look at the list again, but I am getting excited about FaffCon 3 in Hershey PA in September. George Washington III just blogged about his experience in Atlanta - relating it to summer camp for adults.

Since we are going to be in Hershey PA – I’ll bet we’ll get S’Mores this time and it will really feel like camp!