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Have you ever been on the phone with someone when they suddenly and inexplicably… just stopped talking? Not like a cell phone, when you (supposedly or for real) get cut off due to signal loss. No, I mean the connection is still there, but it’s like they dropped the phone without hanging up.

Well, ironically enough, that very thing happened to me once when I was out of town on a short, 6-week assignment. See, there was this refinery client in California who needed these special, um, things (never mind what they were) manufactured by a particular vendor in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Now, normally this isn’t a big deal. In this case, however, these… things… were so critical that it was deemed worth the expense to have someone (like yours truly) actually go to their facility and check the finished dimensions as they were built. That way, when they got to the field, there wouldn’t be any worries about ‘fit’ during construction, right? It should all go together like a giant Lego set.

The challenge, though, was the, er, things were being designed almost simultaneously with being built, which necessitated a considerable amount of communication between my boss back in Houston and me. No problem there; we had a good relationship, and I had been loaded down with drawings, etc. before leaving the office.

Anyhoo, one fine morning I was on the phone with my boss, smack in the middle of discussing a potential change to one of the drawings, when I suddenly noticed I had pretty much been talking to myself for about a minute or two. I stopped, called his name on the phone a few times, but didn’t hear anything except distant, sortof random noises. What the heck?

Finally, I hung up and called back. Nope; nothin’. I tried again; now all I got was a busy signal. (This was back in prehistoric times - before cell phones.) I tried a few other office numbers that I knew were nearby, then other friends I knew in other parts of the building. Still nothin’ but busy signals - only now it seemed like it was the whole doggone office! I really started to wonder, how could the ALL be busy? The rest of the day I kept trying, to no avail.

All kinds of things started going through my mind about this time. Had there been a run on the donut cart? Had there been a fire? Was Houston being attacked by Godzilla? I mean, what could it be? I finally went home that day, still completely mystified.

The next day I tried again, but there were still no answers. Finally, the following day I received a call about midmorning - it was my boss! Hallelujah! I no longer had to play “Lone Stranger” with the client, pretending everything was still peachy-keen.

Ironically enough, my guesses hadn’t been too far off. It turned out there had been a sudden and very strong storm passing through Houston at the time, and along with it, record-setting winds (some were recorded at nearly tornado-strength!), particularly in the downtown area where the office was located.

See, our building was one of those that have an outer layer of big glass panes, right? Well, my bosses’ office happened to be in the corner of the 16^th floor, and it just so happened that as we were talking, the wind suddenly ripped one of those panes right off the building - quickly followed by just about every loose piece of paper in the vicinity! Yikes! Holy Cow! Not to mention Whooo-eey!

What would you do? Well, while this was going on, my boss, an experienced Vietnam Vet, dropped the phone and was under the desk in less than a heartbeat (he was very proud of those cat-like reflexes he’d developed while ‘in country’), clinging to the metal supports for dear life.

Hey, I’m not ashamed to admit that, under the circumstances, I’d have done the very same thing (with the possible addition of screaming like a girl). I mean, it’s not everyday you get an up close and personal encounter with an almost-tornado!

It had taken the building crew a couple of days to restore power and put a big piece of plywood over the opening, and finally work resumed. But for a couple of days it was pretty messy. Ah, well, at least everyone was all right; no permanent damage done.

Although my boss did move to another desk away from the windows.

Hello? Hello? Are You Still There?

It occurs to me this is something we do with each other, too. Are there friends, acquaintances or contacts you used to keep in touch with on a regular or semi-regular basis - but now you don’t?

I’m sorry to say over the years I’ve been the worlds worst at keeping in touch. Oh, I’ve had good reasons, mind you. After all, we’ve moved quite a bit over the years, plus there’s the inevitable “out of sight, out of mind” thing, too. Sadly, some folks who were once close to me are no longer even on my radar screen anymore.

The unfortunate results? Well, although it took a while for me to see it (since I’m apparently something of a slow learner), I’ve found my own life is somewhat, well, smaller now than it could’ve been. The addition of my friends’ insights, their friendship, even their laughter - well, it’s simply missing. And even worse, now that I’ve (finally!) noticed the loss, it’s anywhere from difficult to downright impossible to reestablish the connection. I mean, they’ve moved on, too - and who could blame them?

All I can say is, it doesn’t have to be that way. With today’s technology, there are plenty of ways to find people you once knew. Facebook, LinkedIn, and any number of other social networking sites are surprisingly good at that. Even using Google, if their name is unique enough, can be useful. (For instance, as far as I’ve been able to tell, when you Google “Robert Hruzek” you’ll find that, like Tigger, I’m the only one. Maybe that’s why I feel a special kinship with the furry little critter.)

All I can say is, I wish that I had been better at it keeping in touch; I really miss those folks sometimes.

Take a lesson from someone who knows (albeit a bit late). Take the time to keep those connections alive. I mean, you never know; you might just need them one day!

You know, it would just be absolutely finer than a frogs hair if you would subscribe to my RSS feed!