Thursday, August 14th, 2008
I have something in common with Carmelo Anthony?
And no, it’s not that we’re both athletes - far from it (he boasts a 6-pack; I boast a keg).
And it’s more than the fact that we’re both blogging (he is a regular contributor to the New York Times Olympics blog this month).
No, it’s the fact that he’s traveling for his career right now and the one thing he misses is his family and his 16-month-old son. In his most most recent blog post, he acknowledges that “a lot of things can happen in four weeks. When I come back he’s going to be a totally different person.”
By this time next week, I’ll be able to really relate. I’m taking Ink on the road to visit both our UK and German offices over the next two weeks and, although I’ll get to attend my cousin’s wedding in the middle of the trip (my 93-year-old Grandpa is going to be my date because my wife is too pregnant to travel), I’ll really miss my family while I’m gone.
Like Carmelo I’ll be taking a lot of technology with me to keep me going in between meetings and work. My iPod has 12,814 songs on it so I’m set there, and I’ll bring my portable DVD player with me so I can watch past episodes of Rescue Me when the jet lag kicks in.
It was the conclusion of his post though that made me chuckle:
But the best technology is Skype, which lets me call home and talk to my son. I think that’s the best thing that’s happened to me and some of the other players on this team. We have it set up with video here, and I had it set up back home. Right now, my son doesn’t really understand what’s going on. But he knows my voice and he hears my voice and he’s starting to put the picture and the voice together a little bit.
I’ve been spending the better part of this week when I get home from work, getting my wife up on Skype so we can chat more regularly when I’m working abroad. Will be interesting to see the results. If I don’t get my daily dose of “Hi Daddy!” from my daughter, it will feel a lot longer than two weeks!
Cheers,
RBH
Tagged: carmelo anthony, olympics, skype, travel, work
TheBrewsNewsOn 08.14.2008 at 1:36 pm Said:
Webcam — the single best piece of technology a travelling parent can own.
Based on personal experience… one parent away from home for 2+ years on multiple tours in the Middle East, one parent at home with two small children and a growing business …. webcam is the single thing that kept the sanity intact for everyone. Voice is great… but SEEING is believing, especially for children.
HenriettaOn 08.14.2008 at 11:52 pm Said:
Skype did not work out here. I was enthusiastic and bought a special Skype phone so I was not tethered to the computer but even when tethered it would drop calls. You got about ten minutes if lucky and the quality made everyone sound like they were at the bottom of a well.
My current phone service is also VOIP and I can call the UK for free and talk on a crystal clear line as long as I like.
DennisGOn 08.15.2008 at 9:04 am Said:
I can tell you how much Skype has helped me and especially my wife to keep contact with the family at home.
Living far from home is not easy, especially if you have small kids that would like to talk to grandma & grandpa.
The video quality has been amazing lately, and I’m looking forward to the new full launch of 4.0.
Have a good trip Richard, enjoy London and Berlin
cheers
Dennis
JayOn 08.15.2008 at 9:04 am Said:
I love Skype. I use it for pretty much everything. IM/Webcamming the family/phone calls.
It’s awesome that Olympians can use Skype even thousands of miles away.
Doctor DealsOn 08.15.2008 at 8:20 pm Said:
@RBH,
“My iPod has 12,814 songs on it”
That is a lot of money to invest in songs for your iPod.
Did you really pay iTunes $0.99 for each one of those songs?
How much does eBay pay a Blogger these days??? 
DD
HenriettaOn 08.16.2008 at 4:01 pm Said:
@ RBH Hope you are having a good trip and look forward to hearing about it on INK
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