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While not about vacationing, the 20-year-old hit song by Chicago that began with those words described my goal. For my family vacation this year, I wanted to take time away from the pervasive sameness that I see in the cities and even small towns that I spend time in. For some reason, I was convinced that making a pilgrimage to my Dad’s home in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia in Canada would take me back to a simpler time before Wal-mart and the technology revolution.
Before settling in Baltimore in the late 1940s, my Dad and his family were immigrants to North America, living in a number of places in Canada. Glace Bay, a coalmining town on the east coast of Nova Scotia, was their last adventure.
Based on the stories that were told over the years, I had this romantic notion that a visit would provide a respite from the global pervasiveness of the 24x7 world that we technology types call progress.
The technology of the trip. The path of our journey took us through parts of Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Surprisingly, the escape that I was looking for was not to be. The only indication of a simpler and more innocent time was the hitchhikers of all ages that we passed along the interstates.
Being familiar with southern hospitality, I now learned of northern hospitality. In those two provinces, technology and humans seem balanced and committed to improve the tourist's experience. Some tourist information booths have both people and free Internet kiosks with printers available. There were signs along scenic, but remote roadway indicating "Internet here." There were even roadside ads for tax Efile services on the country roads.
Cell phone reception was quite good everywhere. I unexpectedly received a vendor phone call while on a tour of the waters of the Bras D’Or Lake. Ironically, this was near Baddek, the city that houses the Alexander Graham Bell Museum and not far from where he tested many of his inventions including a high-speed hydrofoil.
Near St. Andrews, Nova Scotia, I talked with a researcher who was studying blow sounds of whales passing through the Bay of Fundy of distinct whale. His focus was to gather data that may be used to improve voice recognition technologies.
Lessons. As a result of the trip, I do have some lessons that may be applied to us here in the states.
Charles Dickens said, "Take nothing on its looks; take everything on evidence. There's no better rule." What did I find in Glace Bay? One of the 4,457 Wal-mart stores greeted me on the outskirts of town. The movie theatre that my father frequented as a pre-teen had been renovated. I had crystal clear cell phone reception as I called my Dad while standing in front of the long-ago demolished site of his boyhood home.
Glace Bay had progress too!
CHAIM YUDKOWSKY, CPA, CITP is Chief Information Officer at Textilease Corp., a uniform and first aid services company serving the Southeast. He may be reached at 301-937-4555 or cyudkowsky@ByteofSuccess.com. Chaim is available to speak to your group or business on a variety of technology topics.
2002 SmartPros Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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