Jul
6
Written by:
Sean Obrien
7/6/2009
I've heard that statistically you'll get in some sort of auto accident every 75,000 miles or so.
I've heard this so often that I'm usually relieved when I get bumped in the parking lot in some insignificant, no-damage encounter.
"Ah," I'll chuckle, unreasonably giddy it wasn't serious, "I'm good for another 75,000 miles of reckless driving!"
Work can be like that too.
Back it 2006 I did an amazing interview with Bobbie Abdulfattah of Jack's Surfboards. He was frank, interesting, and candid. It was one of those interviews where I knew I had such good stuff that I was actually excited to transcribe the tape.
Now I think of it as the "Great Jack’s Interview Debacle," because when I got back to the office the tape with the two-hour interview on it was nothing but white noise. Calling Bobbie to explain the situation was one of the hardest -- and embarrassing -- calls I've had to make.
We've all had computer crashes where we've lost work. But it's no fun when the phrase, "It's always easier the second time" becomes something of a mantra.
And sometimes "doing it all over" is simply impossible.
Years ago, a very well known photographer got back from a ten-day trip to Mexico with a big group of pros only to discover that one of the leaves of his shutter had broken -- unbeknownst to him. Every single of the more than 2,000 photos he shot (and this was all slide film) had a huge black triangle through it.
I recall that he holed up in his house for weeks.
Crap happens to everyone. Oftentimes I'm just glad when it's not too serious. Which brings me to today, when I visited the new offices of TransWorld Media.
TransWorld Business Publisher Rob Campbell was nice enough to give me a tour and I barged into a dozen offices, camera blazing. Unfortunately the auto focus on my lens was still set to manual. (I shot fireworks on the 4th and forgot to switch it over.)
I could struggle like hell and wrap this into some sort of, "When adversity strikes, you've got to persevere" spiel. But I won't. Instead, I'll chalk the whole thing up to being my 75,000-mile wake-up call and slink away grateful that it wasn't worse.
TransWorld Business Publisher Rob Campbell.
TransWorld Business Web Editor Kailee Bradstreet.
The "new" offices of TransWorld Media. (Yeah, they've been there for months, but it was my first visit.) It's sleeker and nicer than the old, very eclectic Louise Balma designed version in Oceanside, but they retain that important bit of DNA that she created for the brand.
Skateboarding Magazine's Skin Phillips would never forget to turn his auto focus back on.
The lunch room.
Skateboarding Publisher Jamie Stones is all bizness.
TransWorld SURF publisher Charlie Anderson.
Senior marketing director Ken Lewis has a great deck collection (too bad you can't see them).
Creative Director Marc Hostetter with TransWorld SURF editor-in-chief Chris Cote.
TransWorld SURF managing editor (and proud dad) Casey Koteen. He also would never forget to turn the auto focus back on -- even when chasing the big scoop.
TransWorld Business Senior Editor Joshua Hunter.
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