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| Mark Silverman |
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Going steady with Mac
Still chugging along with my partner in our niche within the golf industry, which is golf practice facilities, learning centers, and short courses.
This is my 10th year as exec vp of the Golf Range Assn. of America and Editor-In-Chief of our magazine, called funnily enough, Golf Range Magazine. We do 64-80 pages an issue, 6 times a year, all in color. It reminds me a lot of the process on the Cannes/Mifed/NATPE Show Dailies, only not as hectic, and with less help.
I am a dyed-in-the-wool Macintosh user, and have been since I bought the old DOS-based WYSE 286 (anyone remember those?) from the Park Ave. South offices for only $1, and realized I overpaid. I pretty much taught myself the Mac (with a few Help calls to Variety Mac meister Bruce Brosnan) in 1993-94, after I exited.
Now, in addition to using the Mac for editorial purposes, I also run the business on it, and handle multiple functions we used to have to hire other people to do: bookkeeping, banking, circulation, database management, membership, book sales, ad sales, network issues (my home/office is all Wi-Fi),you name it. As Mort Bryer would describe it: “chief, cook and bottle washer.”
If you hadn’t guessed it by now, I think they’re wonderful machines . . . the computer has allowed me to telecommute (I was an early adopter of that), saving wear and tear on the body, and has allowed me to do the work of 10 people, which wasn’t really the idea, but is now the reality. I also got to watch my kids grow up working from home the last decade; I’m not sure they think that’s as wonderful as I do.
And I got to play a lot of golf, more than I deserved to, and have gotten pretty good at it. Haven’t won any amateur events worth mentioning, but I’ll keep trying until I can’t hit it past the college kids anymore. It always surprises them to see an “O.F.” put it 270- 280 in the fairway when I need to.
Oh yeah, and I went to Ireland with some Reed Expo guys (they each run a show: golf, jewelry, restaurants/food) in October to play golf, first time in 22 years. Last time I went was when I worked in London with Roger, Jack Pittman, John Willis, Bert Baker et al. in 1981-82. They say the best Scottish links courses are in Ireland, and I agree, since I’ve never been to Scotland. Will keep you posted.
For those who don’t know, my wife Pam (my male friends say she should be canonized shortly by the Vatican for living with me 19 years) is a breast cancer survivor, and is now past the all-important 5-year post-cancer window. She’s doing great, thank you.
The kids are bigger, too. Carolyn is 16, a junior at Deerfield and is probably going to letter in 3 sports: diving, field hockey and tennis. And she’s a great student, too. Alex is 14, plays on the football and baseball teams at school, minoring in PlayStation. Melanie is 11 and must have gotten Marie Saxon’s vaudeville genes, and the “baby,” Olivia, 8, also dances, plays piano and sings up a storm. And they all got their mother’s looks, lucky for them.
PHOTO ALERT: I’ve been tapped by the 100th Reunion Committee (basically Syd/Peter Besas/Mort Bryer) to put together a multimedia slide show for the dinner next September. If you’ve got photos from the old days, send them along to me, and I’ll scan them for inclusion. Just I.D. them with a post-it on the back, so I know who’s who—I wasn’t around pre-’75 for the most part. We’ll make every effort to return them to you in original condition. Or for the technically savvy, email me a folder of your photos in .JPG (jpeg) format.
Silv Hartford -- Dec 16, 2004 |
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| Mark Silverman – can still swing, he says |
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