Your Connection Stories

• Connection Story 5: Every Connection is an opportunity…
  Contributor: Des Kennedy (again!) A number of years ago, I had occasion to fly, one Friday afternoon, back to New Zealand where I was living at the time. On arriving at the gate, I was surprised that the wonderful Qantas staff at the gate had upgraded me to Business Class. My seat was in the centre aisle, and so I took my seat, opened my book, and sipped on the glass of Champagne offered by the crew. Shortly after, an older gentleman arrived at the seat adjacent to mine, put his bag on the seat, his passport on the armrest, and proceeded to take [...]
• Connection Story 4: Small World I - The Irish Connection
  Contributor: Des Kennedy I left Belfast at the age of 27, with my then wife and two young children, and migrated to Sydney, Australia. When in Belfast I had worked for a number of companies including the IT function at the largest bakery in Belfast, the Ormo Bakery. After a number of years in Sydney, I was offered a consulting role in Broken Hill putting a fibre network down the mine shafts, and broadband across the mine surface. As part of that project, I needed to spend nine weeks actually on site working at the mine. With the heat of the day, [...]
• Connection Story 3: Too old to learn to use the internet?
  Contributor: Des Kennedy  My mother-in-law, Norma Bathurst, who is approaching 80, spends quite a bit of her time at the local library teaching the “old people” how to use the internet, the keyboard, and computers in general. Interestingly, she is teaching folk who are generally younger than her – in their 60’s and 70’s. Norma is extremely conversant with email, Internet Browser, etc.  
• Connection Story 2: Unselfish Connection
  Contributor: Martin (martinsellingzoe@aol.com) It was a quiet white room. About six people sat in reclining chairs next to long silver polls.  Small clear veins snaked their way into each person’s arm. I was hooked up to one of these silver trees. Plastic veins carried chemo into my arm on a robotic schedule.  This was my first time sitting in this chair, the chemo chair. There was a strange routine. I remember feeling support from every fellow traveler and family. I was alone. The first hour was hazy, quickly lost. Just after that first hour a series of chimes on the silver tree played a short [...]
• Connection Story 1: Virtual BabySitters
  Contributor: Jen Bewes (www.twitter.com/jbewes) from Sydney, Australia. The hardest part about being a Brit family living in Australia, is the distance between our kids and their grandparents. Standard phone calls never really cut it and you begin to feel the kids becoming more distant and their grandparents more saddened. That was until we turned to digital to help out. Now, instead of having to demand Miss 9 & Mr. 7 make an effort to call their grandparents each week, they’re up and talking / interacting before we’ve even stepped out of bed. Yep, thanks to digital, we now have virtual babysitters. Here’s how [...]