By Larry King, USA TODAY Friday November 30, 2001 Friends, it is my good fortune to let you know about the newest, most important advance in corporate communications since the advent of the ditto machine ... it's called Jetnet and the good folks at American Airlines and American Eagle are all over it ... I was talking to my golf partner Bobby Crandall about it, and he agrees ... it's news, it's features, it's travel, it's employee resources ... what more could you want in a portal, Silverbird? News and Views ... Can you even remember back a year and a month? October 2000 ... The Yankees were champs, TWA was still a competitor, and the "Core Team" meetings were just underway ... it's a different world, gang ... Another key date in aviation history? On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earheart was reported missing ... sixty-four years to the day later, Jetnet launched ... just something to think about, compadres ... If you find yourself working on a portal someday and your CEO says it's a "done deal," think again ... it might be a demand for the quality of a "Dunn Deal," right, Diane? ... Tellya what, KariAnne Harmon earned that capital "A" in the middle of her name ... she's all aces ... Put Keven Markham and Abhijeet Karmase in a room for a couple of hours, and your development problems are as good as solved, captain ... You say to-may-to, I say to-mah-to, we all say Talana (as in "banana") Hamilton ... Come to think of it, put Talana and Carlye Birdwell on a project for a couple of hours, and they'll give young squires Markham and Karmase a right good run for their money ... People use the word "genius" far too often, but the tag applies when you're talking about Matt Ploszaj, don't you think? ... Craig Cannon is as funny as any comedian working today ... When will the execs in 6 North wise up and give us a steady diet of Plumtree gadgets everywhere American Airlines flies? ... You know what I think? There's no better reward for a job well done than toy plastic water guns ... I miss "Timeline Tom." Because I want my loyal readers to keep up with their civic duties, here's a reminder ... get those interview summaries to Erin Marshall by 5:00 today, OK? ... I'm afraid if someone forgets, they could end up in "The Cage" on Saturday night at 10:30 ... Here and There ... We owe much to our Canadian neighbors to the north ... they've given us Anne Murray, BareNaked Ladies, and now Kyle Kramer ... I can only describe Cindy Hoffman's standout work with one word: Ripsnorting ... If I could buy stock in just one application, gang, that application would be David Shanahan's Employee Directory ... My friend Andrew Watson and I agree ... there's no better way to test a developing Web site than through AOL ... I used to think Exodus was just the second book of The Bible, but now I know it's something far more critical ... In fact, when you think about it, if Pharoah had the same level of firewalls in place, Moses never could have led that jaunt across the Red Sea ...Is it just me, or do those wacky kids over at Luminant seem like an MTV Real World: Dallas just waiting to happen? ... A lot of folks seem to think that trip to California was a turning point for Jetnet, but give me a show of hands ... who really remembers much about that trip? ... You want a good story, on any topic, any time? Drew Cardwell's compendium is literally a national treasure ... Take it from me, people: Though the Internet is all the rage, newsprint is here to stay. She is a grand old lady ... Speaking of terrific ladies, how about that Jean Walker? ... Gone but never forgotten: Viki Bardossy and Kim McCracken ... Thinking Out Loud ... Designing my ideal morning, folks, is no harder than imagining this: coffee with the ever-cheerful Stephaney MacLeod, a hallway chat with Eagle-eyed John Dixon while he skulks around trying to get someone to listen to him, swapping amusing anecdotes in French with Erwan Perhirin, then settling down to solve a problem with the brilliance that is Mike Madero ... it just doesn't get any better than that, kids ... Overheard in the hallways ... my sources tell me "the notes Karen Pullen distributed after meetings made more sense than the meetings themselves" ... When I was just a lad, my folks taught me never to pass the buck ... and after meeting Becky Buck, I finally understand why -- she's too good to pass up ... You'll never convince me there's a better thinker in the American Airlines family than that young Denzel lookalike, Andre McMillan ... They wrote poetry about ye olde Chicago Cubbies Tinker, Evers and Chance at the turn of the last century, but if a muse ever inspires verse about making and executing decisions, I guess we'll be looking for rhymes to Leibman, Barker and Clair ... Just my humble prediction: future awards for effective implementation of "help" structures will be known as "The Shockleys" ... Would the wordplay be too obvious to refer to Karen Cartier as a real jewel? ... I consider myself to be a pretty smart guy, folks, but the other day I met up for lunch at Pappadeaux with Brad Brownfield and Clive Miskin, and I'm not ashamed to admit I was the quiet one in that most engaging conversation ... King's Things ... A meeting just wouldn't be a meeting without Mike Lovejoy's beeper, now would it? ... I'm here to tell you, there's no harder working man in the portal business than Scott Pettigrew -- unless it's Rob Sanchez ... Can you even count the number of times someone (here's looking at you, Ms. Dunn!) said "Rob will take care of that"? ... Hey, Sue Gordon, have we chosen a name for this thing yet? Just joshing, doll ... Speaking of meetings, did the daily 9:00 meetings start running into the daily 4:00 meetings, or was it the other way around? ... I hear some folks had to look around for donuts to figure out which was which ... You know, whoever designed that Interwoven Teamsite thing needs to take a crack at the Federal deficit ... For my money, at least now we know why "Waterhouse, Cooper" starts with "Price" ... Humming showtunes is a hobby of mine, and this morning it was "You Gotta Have Hart" ... Janet, that is ... I'll tell you one thing I don't miss: dial-up modems ... I don’t care what anybody says, if you're looking for a few good "associates" to work with, Dale Campbell and Ron Brissette should be right up there ... If there's a more underrated Pope than John XXIII, my money's on Adam ... He may be tall, dark and soft-spoken, but you don't want to get in the way of a motivated Sean Tanner, my friends ... Maybe I’m off-base here, but I'm not sure the Average Joe or Jane really understands what "SSL" is ... Shawn and I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Ellen Johnson and Brett Ragan for lunch the other day -- they're good people, gang ... and say, that salad bar in CP5 is terrific ... Shawn and I recently took a rare trip out to the movies and reached the same conclusion: Harry Potter's got nothin' on the technical wizardry of folks like John Neyman and Susan Mischkot ... And finally, a note to Sarah Wagner, who I hear has inherited the Jetnet captaincy ... Sarah, if I could legally wager on portals, I would bet the ranch on Jetnet ... Seeya online, gang ... Larry King Live airs nightly on CNN and the Westwood One Radio Network. His column appeared weekly in USA Today through October 30, 2001. This particular column was not actually written by Mr. King and fits the precise legal definition of "parody," and so cannot be considered libelous. In other words, Larry, if you see this, don't sue us ... we're just goofin'. USA Today is protected by international copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. Representations may not be modified or redistributed in any way material and may be adapted for personal, non-commercial use only, provided all copyright and other proprietary notices are kept intact. Representations on this page © USA Today and Larry King; text on this page © American Airlines, Inc. |
