Patch me through.
Thursday, March 19th, 2020
Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett talks to whoever he darn wants to.
The first time I thought I saw a glimpse of the future was on the late 1960s Hawaii Five-O, where ace investigator Steve McGarrett would yank on the microphone of his 1968 Mercury’s police radio and use it like a car phone. A phone, in your car! All you needed to know (it seemed to a very young me) was the secret incantation “Patch me through to…” and then, well, it could be anyone. “Patch me through to the Governor!” “Patch me through to the Hong Kong Police!” “Patch me through to Chin Ho Kelly!” “Patch me through to the President!” And then, without missing a beat, he could have actual voice conversations while driving or by the side of the road.
I had no idea of who exactly was doing the patching, or the maze of 1960s-era audio cords, relays, and transmitters that helped accomplish the miracle. I just enjoyed the end result.
I think this came to mind today as we connected (re-connected) with a handful more people important in our life, just to make sure they were doing OK in the midst of all of this. Some we just typed to. Some we spoke to and heard their for-real voices, our words chopped into LTE and TCP/IP bits. But it was still a connection.
Hope you’re feeling connected as we proceed one day at a time.
