Hi all,

Has it occurred to anybody that we are living in the middle of the most
incredible changes in society? Steve's solder pot temperature and the helpful
responses that have come out of that thread are just one example of changes that
are simply overwhelming.

We are working in a "virtual" group spread all over the world in real time,
helping each other in ways that even just a few years ago was impossible. I'm an
"old fart" too, and I remember when making an international phone call from
Australia required a one week wait time, and was very, very expensive. Man, has
comms come a long way.

Guys like Steve and Earl and innumerable other regular "brothers/sisters" on the
TechNet make an already enjoyable and challenging job more meaningful, more fun
and more instructive, and I for one feel part of a large, diverse and very human
engineering community that has solutions to my problems, and where I am happy to
also help others in need when I can.

That's near enough to the definition of "community" for me. In this context,
it's no different to the community in my apartment block, and in some ways
better. What an enormous, and still-evolving change in how we think of
co-workers and where they are physically.

Having said all of that, how in this "super-web" age are we all going to get
together and have a "virtual drink" for Christmas?

Cheers

Andy Kowalewski            Voice:   Business hours   (972) 550 6365
Senior PCB Designer
NEC America, Inc.           Fax:     Office                 (972) 518 4715
1525 West Walnut Hill Lane
Irving. Texas. 75038              Email:   [log in to unmask]

##############################################################
TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c
##############################################################
To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in
the body:
To subscribe:   SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name>
To unsubscribe:   SIGNOFF TECHNET
##############################################################
Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional
information.
If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or
847-509-9700 ext.5365
##############################################################