Editor’s Notes

Kevin Henry

January 17, 2008

Happy 2008 to you and yours. I hope your New Year is off to a good start. I’m preparing to head to Boston in a few days for the Yankee Dental Meeting, so the travel and meeting season has officially begun.

So how was your 2007? If you watched the news, you know things in Tulsa unraveled quickly at the end of the year. A massive ice storm moved through the state, causing the worst power outage in Oklahoma’s history. At the height of it, one out of every three Okies were without power. That number included me and the rest of the dental division, including the PennWell home office.

What caused the outages? A couple of inches of ice on every tree limb in sight. I don’t know that I’ll ever forget the sound of huge chunks of trees cracking under the weight of the ice and crashing to the ground. If you’d like to experience a little of it, go to YouTube and search for “Tulsa ice storm.” The audio on some of these clips just can’t be described in words.

At one point during a night when no one could sleep because of all of the branches crashing to the ground (and on to roofs and cars), I went out to try to help a neighbor move a huge branch off his truck. As we were trying to move it, the tree across the street from us split down the middle with the most horrifying crack I have ever heard. We looked at each other, then he said, “It’s 2:30 in the morning and we’re standing under bigger limbs than that. Forget the truck.” I didn’t argue with him.

I learned something while being without power for five days in below freezing temperatures — I wouldn’t have made a good pioneer. I don’t have the fortitude of the Pilgrims or Lewis and Clark. If it had been up to me to blaze the trail during winter conditions, America would still have 13 states.

I also learned something else — during times like that, you learn to appreciate things you really didn’t before. I can’t tell you how many times I walked through the house and flipped light switches on, just expecting the power to be there. Heat? Light? I appreciate them now more than I did, that’s for sure.

Certainly there are worse stories than mine, and certainly all of us have been through times where some sort of natural disaster has made life not exactly fun. Five days without power doesn’t compare to the devastation of Katrina or the California wildfires, but it certainly made me appreciate things that I often take for granted. It also prompted me to make a different kind of New Year’s resolution — take time to appreciate the things I would miss horribly if they were gone.

Just before the New Year, I received word that Mary Elizabeth Good, whose name is synonymous with Proofs, passed away. The long-time editor was loved by so many people (I am asked at least once at every trade show about her) and I know she made a huge impact on the dental industry. With this issue’s deadlines, there wasn’t sufficient time to put together an appropriate tribute. However, work has already begun on that and you’ll see it in the March issue. If you have a Mary Elizabeth story you’d like to share for the issue, please send it to me at kevinh@pennwell.com.

One of the articles in this issue comes from Steve White (page 66). He asks the question, “To blog or not to blog?” The blog has become a part of our daily lives, yet it remains a mystery to many people. I have two blogs (on MySpace and eDentalSpace) that I try to update on a regular basis, and I have several friends who have their own personal blogs to share their memories, photos, and/or frustrations. I have frustrated my co-workers in the past with blog rants about the greatness of Chicago sports teams, but as White says, “It’s now considered cool to blog. Bloggers see the world with no filter.” Take a look at the article and see what you think about blogging, then feel free to check out my blog pages on MySpace and eDentalSpace.

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