Workplace Friendships

I was reminded of the unusual and sometimes fragile nature of workplace friendships by the presence this week at Chez Schindler of my long-time associate Martin Heller. He was here because a) we have known each other for years, b) he is now a senior contributing editor of Byte.com, c) I was paying for him to cover JavaOne and finally d) a hotel would have stretched my budget.

By the way, if you know someone casually, have them spend a week at your house. You'll get to know them a lot better.

Martin is one of a handful of my professional colleagues whose company my wife enjoys. He can talk about things--many things--other than computers.

Anyway, the funny thing was that when I left WINDOWS Magazine in the fall o f 1996, I lost track of Martin until March of 1999, when I took over Byte.com. He became a columnist, and we were back in each other's orbits. Ditto Tom LaSusa, who was out of my direct purview for much of that time, after being my assistant at WINDOWS. He is now my producer at Byte.com.

So many people whose company I have enjoyed who dropped off the map when their job or mine changed. I miss Jeremy Barna already.