I was sitting in the Reeves Journal booth at the recent PHCC-GLAA trade show in Long Beach. We were doing a brisk business, helping people start or renew subscriptions, giving away free copies of the most recent issue, watching people send their kids over to grab big handfuls of the candy from the bowl on the table and, occasionally, walking off with our pens and whatever else wasn't nailed down.
    You know, the usual trade show stuff.
    One contractor who stopped by told me how much he had enjoyed Reeves Journal over his years in the business. I thanked him and started to tell him about all of the new things we've added to the package recently--updating and redesigning the Web site, adding videos in our Tool Bin section, bringing on our recently added e-newsletter and even this new editor's blog.
    He listened politely and then asked me the $64 question: "Do you know what computers are good for?"
    Instantly I could think of a number of useful and fantastic things. The personal computer and the technologies that have grown out of its development have probably had as large an impact on the way we live and communicate since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with movable type back in the 1400s. But I needed to hear the wisdom a longtime reader was ready to impart to me. "What?" I asked.
    He looked from side to side for a second as if to make sure nobody else was listening and trying to benefit from the closely held knowledge he was about to impart to me. I leaned in closer and he whupped it on me.
    "Poker," he said. Then he laughed, handed me his completed subscription card, grabbed a piece of candy and wandered off into the crowd.