Temptation

To be fair to my new friend, he finally took my advice and I could use my own slides – certainly with some new additions suggested by him. The meeting on Saturday went smoothly, and it served as an excellent example of Humphrey Appleby’s teaching:

As in all public performances, the real work is done in rehearsal, behind closed doors.

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Nonetheless, a minor incident in the morning was worth mentioning.

It went like this: I arrived slightly early for the meeting, which took place in the function room of a local hotel. Naturally, I turned on my computer and did some work of my own. A few minutes before the meeting was formally started, a secretary approached me with a little card, "Sir, you need a password for the wireless Internet connection. Here it is."

"Oh, that's very kind of you." I smiled, stretching my arm to take that tiny piece of paper.

But, in no time, I stopped - before I actually reached the card. All of a sudden I saw light and withdrew my hand, "Thank you, I think I don't need this."

"Wouldn't you like to check your email and go on-line?" The secretary looked puzzled.

"Exactly, I would not like to. That's the only way I could do away with all temptation and focus on some serious work." For a moment I was serious.