Having Too Much Technology and It Still Won't Work

I have become a tele-seminar junkie. I just can't get enough information. Today I ran into the ultimate dilemma of having two conference calls at the same time. What to do? They both had great information and neither one was being taped for a later playback.

My first idea was to have a friend listen to one of the calls for me. Unfortunately his schedule did not permit this urgent request on my part. It's terrible when a job gets in the way of helping out a friend.

Idea #2. I would put one call on speakerphone and have the computer record it. Then I would listen to the other call on my cell phone. In theory, a great solution. In reality, I discovered 1/2 hour before the calls were to begin that my computer did not have an internal microphone. It never crossed my mind, and, of course, I do not own an external microphone. That will change very shortly.

Idea #3. I went to my backup computer. Surely it would have an internal microphone. Nope. Strike 3. But wait, another idea popped into my mind.

Idea #4. My boom box! I know it had a recording button. I set up the boom box next to the speakerphone, scrounged through a drawer to find a cassette tape (never thought I would use them again) and did a sample run. I really felt that I had found the solution. I hit record, said a few words and stopped the tape. When I went to play what I had recorded all I heard was shhhhhhhhhhhhh. It didn't record. Of course I tried to find the owner's manual with 10 minutes left before the calls. The manual was no where to be found. My only conclusion was that the boom box can only record from another tape or the internal radio. Now I was really running out of time and no more options. The solution...

Idea #5. It was now conference call time. Here's what I did. I dialed the first conference call on the speakerphone and the 2nd call on my cell phone. I listened to the first call just enough to see what the agenda was and then quickly switched phones to hear what the agenda was for the 2nd call. I spent the next hour listening back and forth to each call hoping to get the messages that I needed to hear. Talk about multitasking.

I can't believe with all the technology I own I couldn't get a recording. This happened about a week ago. Today I remembered that I had a digital recorder. I did a test run and it worked perfectly! Why didn't I remember that last week.

The solution - I'm buying an external microphone!