@LARGEHeadway on the runway
By Scott KirsnerNow that EMC Corp. cofounder Richard Egan is on his way to Ireland to serve as US ambassador, which local biz/tech exec will take up Egan's crusade to get Logan Airport its much-needed fifth runway? The new rocking chairs in the terminals are swell, but even better would be spending less time in them.
The Department of Transportation says Logan was number four on a list of airports with the most delays for the first five months of 2001. ''It's vital that the local business community lets the folks down in D.C. know that this is still very much a priority,'' says Massport spokesman Jose Juves. The remaining barriers? Massport must prevail in a lawsuit to lift an injunction on runway construction, and the agency still needs final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Chris Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, says his trade group is helping to take up the charge. ''We're going to do whatever it takes to bring this 30-year process to a successful conclusion,'' Anderson says. Egan has served on the council's board of directors, and now two other directors - George Chamillard, CEO of Teradyne, and Mitch Tyson, CEO of PRI Automation - have gotten more involved in lobbying for the runway, according to Anderson.
''People from EMC and people from the council's leadership will continue to be active,'' Anderson says. ''Dick [Egan] has to be more subdued now that he's ambassador, but wouldn't it be great for the ambassador to Ireland not to have to sit on the runway at Logan and wait because of northwest winds?''
That would be great ... for the rest of us, too.
Bocce tourney
The Second Annual Network World Bocce Tournament wraps up today at lunchtime at the trade publication's offices in Southborough. Sadly, you can't watch it on NESN or ESPN ... or even as streaming video on CBS.Sportsline.com.
The tournament was started as a lunchtime diversion by Rocco Bortone, who happens to be the network manager at Network World, a weekly owned by International Data Group that covers the computer networking field.
This year, it has evolved into a morale-booster, as many of the companies that Network World covers have been downsizing or declaring bankruptcy, and the magazine itself has attracted fewer ads - though it is still profitable.
About 75 percent of Network World's employees participated in the 2001 tournament. Today, the office will close early for the final match between the two surviving teams: the Testing Terminators, and the Tims. Italian sandwiches and beverages will be served, and Bortone has produced commemorative baseball cards for everyone who has played this season, which started in the spring.
''It has taken on a life of its own,'' says Wendie Larkin, Network World's public relations manager. ''Everyone has gotten into it, from our publisher and our editorial director on down. It has unwittingly become this great activity that brings people together on different levels.''
Who knows? Maybe next year, Network World will invite a guest celebrity, like Desh Deshpande of Sycamore Networks or Malik Khan of Sitara Networks, to throw out the ceremonial first pallina.
Face lift
The MIT Museum is in the midst of getting an entirely new facade and entrance and, so far, it looks great. The work is by Wellington Reiter, an MIT architecture professor who also has his own firm, and it manages to make the museum look welcoming for the first time in its 30-year history. There are banners outside, a large display window containing some of Arthur Ganson's amazing kinetic sculptures, and a doorway that doesn't seem like a service entry.
''The goal is to reflect what's inside,'' says Kathleen Thurston-Lighty, the museum's director of marketing. ''We're showing cutting-edge technology, the forefront of science.'' She expects the work to be finished late in the fall. The museum is open throughout the construction, and its Web site is web.mit.edu/museum.
Summer sabbaticals, 2
Last week's column, which investigated what newly-jobless techies are doing with their involuntary summer vacations, generated a rush of great responses.
Kirsten Lewis of Verilytics, a Burlington software firm, sent an e-mail to report that ''many of my female friends who've been laid off are trying to have a baby now. Literally every lunch or dinner I've attended during the past two months involves some talk of fertility drugs, etc. I think we're going to see a mini baby boom!''
Michael Feldman of Silicon Valley wrote to tell me about Recession Camp. It's an activity series he started out there to help the unemployed occupy their days. ''We are taking a lighthearted and optimistic look at the downturn by helping people be happy, healthy, and social while they look for their next job,'' Feldman said in an e-mail. Activities have included horseback riding in Half Moon Bay and attending a mid-day Oakland A's game. The Web site is www.recessioncamp.com.
Steven Cohen, who lives in Sharon, wrote to say that he, too, has been reading some of the Greek classics, like The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid, since being laid off. Inspired by his reading, Cohen has taken up spear-throwing. ''There's something simple and profound about it,'' he said via e-mail. ''It's very much like the javelin, except you're more concerned with accuracy, like in archery.''
Don't be alarmed by the sudden appearance of bands of spear-wielding ex-dot-commers in your neighborhood. They're probably just hunting for food.
Finally, a number of people wrote in to say that they're taking the losses of their jobs very seriously, and have been spending the summer writing cover letters and tinkering with resumes. I know there are a lot of people who haven't been treating sudden unemployment as the chance for a summer vacation, and I didn't intend to trivialize the seriousness of losing one's job.
Scott Kirsner is a Boston freelance writer and a contributing editor at Wired and Fast Company magazines.