On the Kindness of Strangers!

So there I am on another flight – a long trip, with 5 1/2 hours from Toronto to San Francisco, a two hour layover, and then a 1 1/2 hr flight into Palm Springs, where I have a keynote today, Tuesday morning.

After takeoff, I get set to get to work, and take out my Mac and power wire. I plug in the wire. No power. I assume that maybe my seat power hasn’t been turned on, so I ask the flight attendant. I’m told it is on.

I then look at the small wire that connects from the ‘power brick’ to the Mac, and at the ‘brick’ it is completely frayed. I give it a tiny tug, and it comes right off.

Obviously, I have a problem. You can’t easily source a new wire at 36,000 feet!

But maybe you can. When I first go to the airport, I went to the airline lounge. Opposite from me was a young lady using a Mac.

And moments after my awful discovery on the plane, she went up to the front lavatory!

My mind sprang into action, so when she went back to her seat, I took one of my books (“The Future Belongs to Those Who Are Fast”,) asked if she was going beyond San Francisco, and if not, would I be able to buy her power cord for $100.

She agreed!

Saved!

She needed to use it throughout the flight, she said, but would give it to me near the end. And she did. So I got to Palm Springs, have power, and go on stage in about 1/2 hr.

I won’t mention the young lady by name, but she works for Facebook as an account manager in Toronto, and she is my new hero.