CODA
BY KEVIN G. SUMMERS
I
t’s freezing cold this week in Amissville. The water troughs are frozen when I come out in the morning and I have to drain the hoses at night. Sure, we were wearing t-shirts and shorts last week, but that’s another story. It’s freezing cold this week, and that must mean that all of my co-workers are headed to Oahu. Yes, PTC is here again and I’ve spent the past few weeks updating brochures, updating websites, and finalizing this issue of SubTel Forum magazine. And I did it all from my farm in the Virginia Piedmont, in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Moutains when the sun goes down. I spent a grand total of 6 hours in the city this month, which is about all of the city I can stand these days.
I love working from home. Seriously, I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it for years, and now here I am. I’ve got a MacBook Pro, a somewhat reliable internet connection and a license for Adobe Creative Suite... what else could a person need? My internet connection here in rural Virginia is a little box manufactured by NetGear. It connects to the Sprint tower over by the fire station through the magic of 3G and, occasionally, when the stars are in alignment, LTE. That tower is connected via underground cables to the whole, wide world. I sent a proof to my friend John Horne in the UK this afternoon. Magic. I hope everyone has a great time at PTC. Don’t forget to have a mai tai for me, and a glass of fresh-squeezed pine-
apple juice at the Royal Hawaiian. I’m going to be here on the farm, milking cows and feeding the hogs. And if you need me, I’m just an email away.
Kevin G. Summers is the Editor of Submarine Telecoms Forum and has been supporting the submarine fibre optic cable industry in various roles since 2007. Outside of the office, he is an author of fiction whose works include ISOLATION WARD 4, LEGENDARIUM and THE MAN WHO SHOT JOHN WILKES BOOTH. +1.703.468.0554 editor@subtelforum.com