Dispatches from the dining room: Who's running this show, anyhow?

I couldn't have timed it more perfectly if I were starring in a sitcom. Just ahead of our scheduled podcast recording on Wednesday afternoon, I tucked myself away in my quiet bedroom, phone, laptop with script, and headphones at hand.

Ahead of calling our special guest (in this case Apria's Bill Guidetti), Liz and I always connect on the phone to make sure everything is copacetic.

And it was, until it wasn't. At that very moment, my fire alarms went off. All of them.

“Ohmigodohmigodohmigod” may have been uttered by me a few times before, thankfully, the alarms shut off.

At which point, my computer with the podcast script I needed outlining my preplanned, insightful questions, froze up.

I could go on, but you get the gist. It's all in a day's work from home. We managed to pull it together in the end (we always do).

As we slog our way through month five of this dystopian experiment known as COVID-19, we all continue to make adjustments, in how we work, think and do things.

One big change has been the switch to virtual events. In the past few weeks, I have listened in on a few Heartland at Home sessions, and while I missed the hog roast and getting reacquainted with folks in person, the sessions were well done and well attended.

Our HME Business Summit, scheduled for Sept. 15-17, has also moved online. The programming has just been finalized and it looks top-notch, as always.

I was talking to Gary Sheehan, who has participated in numerous Summit panels over the years and he's gung-ho about online events.

“This should be the best HME Summit ever,” he told me. “There's the ability to attract really premier leaders that you've not been able to because of the need for travel and multiple days out of the office.”

That, dear readers, is music to our ears.