Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Theodore Roethke once said that "What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible". These days, one can only imagine what was viewed as “impossible” from the perspective of a young man living in the first half of the 20th century. The word seems to have taken on a very different meaning for us here in 2011. Rapid changes in technology have made the once impossible … kind of ordinary.
Consider the fact that the world of today is more interconnected than at any point in human history. Then consider how easy it is to take that for granted. Seriously. It’s understandable to have a little “wow moment” while on a Skype call with someone on the other side of the world... but think harder. Think about the news stories that seem ordinary at first glance. Consider how strange this headline would have looked just 15 years ago: “Russia blames Google for stirring Egypt unrest”. I can tell you that, in 1996, my 27-year old brain was just beginning to wrap itself around the idea of the internet. I would have had no idea what a Google was or what kind of power would enable it to plunge an entire nation into turmoil.
We know now what that power is. It’s the power of information at our fingertips and over the past 15 years, it’s been changing our world so quickly that we often don’t realize how much it’s changed.
Consider that Internet Explorer, the most popular web browser in the world made its debut on August 16, 1995. That same year, Bill Gates wrote a book called “The Road Ahead”, in which he made this observation about advances to come: "There will be a day, not far distant, when you will be able to conduct business, study, explore the world and its cultures, call up any great entertainment, make friends, attend neighborhood markets, and show pictures to distant relatives--without leaving your desk or armchair. It will be more than an object you carry or an appliance you purchase. It will be your passport into a new, mediated way of life."
That was pretty heavy stuff in the mid-nineties but not so heavy now that my 7-year old is playing Mario Kart in real time with kids in Japan. And he’s doing it on a video game console that’s way more powerful than the first home computer I ever owned. Come to think of it … I bought that computer just 15 years ago. It’s crazy when you take a minute to really think about it. Then again, when you live in the moment like most of us do … it all starts to feeling pretty ordinary again.
Now, it is worth mentioning something else that happened 15 years ago. Something that … well let’s say was less significant than the release of Internet Explorer but still important to me and a small group of people who’ve become like a family to me. The company that I work for decided to start a web development division. That company, Levi Ray & Shoup, Inc., was no stranger to information technology. It had been developing software and building custom IT solutions since its founding in 1979. This new thing called the World Wide Web was making headlines of its own back then and web development seemed to be a natural fit for a company committed to innovation.
Today, our group (LRS Web Solutions) remains committed to that same spirit of innovation. And while we might not be ‘specializing in the impossible’, each new day does offer us the chance to take our clients places they’ve never been before, to help them reach potential customers across the country and maybe even ones on the other side of the world. That’s a pretty special feeling and while it’s never been more possible than it is right now, maybe it’s just a little bit extraordinary after all.
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Jeff Enlow is our fearless leader here at LRS Web Solutions. He manages our team of 24 employees and the adventures we go through each day- go Jeff! As you can tell from the above entry, he likes to appear serious on paper (or desktop/mobile screen), but in reality he spends his days singing loudly as he walks through the halls distracting us with cheesy inspirational attacks.
At least he sings catchy tunes.
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| The team's first website (1997) |
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| Our second website (2002). Edgy. |
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| Our team's third website (2005) |
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| Our fourth website (2008) |
