Your Presence is Requested

I would have written a post yesterday, but I had to check my calendar.

Now I don’t know anyone who actually carries a calendar / datebook / planner / intern with them these days, and who can blame them? Those things are HEAVY. If you’re Joe Brescia, you probably have some gadget that will alert you of upcoming appointments intravenously. But other than that bizarre option (which I may or may not have just made up,) the majority of America must rely on their computers to figure out where they have to be, when, and why they have to be there with whom.

But this is how life in the 21st century. Convenience is king. (Sorry, buddy.) And just like Guster’s sound, the computer datebook has evolved. The three levels are as follows.

1) In the Beginning – In the beginning, when computers were little more than word processors and Oregon Trail mainframes, there was little date-keeping such machines could provide. Unless your Friday night poker game could 1) be sketched using the pencil tool on some primitive paint program or 2) die from cholera while fording the river, we probably weren’t ready to abandon the wallet-sized notepad calendar we carried just yet. A calendar could be little more than a Word Perfect document with a list of places to do and things to see. (Strike that. Reverse it.) And nothing says “I’m going to be on time for my 2 o’clock like waiting for a dot matrix printer to print out an itinerary. And yes, it’s impolite to tear off the line feed in front of others.

2) In the Middle – In the middle, Microsoft got their programmers in gear and found a way to harness the power of the Internet, the ease of an electronic graphical calendar, and found a program that could capture “off-gold” in its dazzling area of Microsoft Office product icons. Yes, Outlook was upon the world, and this pleased us. Being able to have a calendar that would link to one’s e-mail was helpful, as transcribing RSVP details had grown tiresome by the mid-nineties (much like playing the Oregon Trail) and we had little patience. A computer, by means of Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, put millions of scriveners out of business. (Ok, there were like 12 left, but it still was a sad day.

3) In the End – Contrary to the views on Linkin Park, it does in fact matter. Outlook has gone through many improvements and upgrades, but for one who is planning an event, how can they be sure that all potential invitees also believe in the Microsoft product? Well good news, skeptics, there is and has been a web-friendly alternative for years, and it has no doubt been caught in the mainstream for quite some time. Yes, friends, if you want to plan something and want to know for sure who’s coming and who’s not, the only answer is…EVITE.

It’s not like we’re writing this post today because we just discovered this wonderful tool. We’re not behind the times like that. If you still believe we did, stay tuned for tomorrow’s entry titled “Oh my God! I’ve just discovered mp3s!!” Nay, we write on Evite because while responding to an invitation for this weekend earlier this morning, just for fun, I checked to see how many time my e-mail address has turned up in the hands of an excited Eviter. And sure enough, I was aghast at the number.

141.

Yes, in the last three years, 141 people have decided my company was worth having, or at the least, forgot to delete my email address from their guestbook. (Ok, slight mod on that fact – 5 of them were from me, so I guess that doesn’t count.) How is this possible? I definitely haven’t attended 141 events. I don’t even know who 12 of the Eviters are.

However, I predict that Evite will only be a passing fad. At some point in the future, we as a society will advance to the next wave of technology for event planning. You ready for me to blow your mind?

The telephone. FWOOM.