Hearing that Tom (“Big Al”) Schreiter is in Singapore, I email him to see if he and Ana might meet up there. Turns out he has just left for Thailand, but will be returning in August. Hey, we’re going in August, too, I write him, maybe we can meet up then.

I also write this:

Ana and I are in full-screen communication, laptop to laptop, courtesy of Skype. It’s better than Memorex. I sit at my desk at midnight while she picks up her MacBook Air and points it out the window — and I’m staring at a blue Singapore sky and white clouds and yellow sun real time with a blanket of pitch-black midnight wrapped around my home office.

Amazing. I can’t decide whether it makes the world feel really small — or really big.

(You’ll notice in the photo above that it’s morning where Ana is — and notice the midnight sky out the window behind me.)

Here is Tom’s reply:

Yes, the world is really small. Think of this:

We can only survive in the 3 miles (15,000 feet) from sea level to where the oxygen is too thin … and only about one-fourth of the earth is habitable land … and the next closest habitable area is lifetimes away …

There is only a small space in the universe where we can survive.

I do a round-the-world travel every three months to see my friends … and I realized, this is all there is where we can survive.

Yes, the world is really, really small — so let’s enjoy it!

Well said.

Indeed: let’s.