Just before sitting down to write this piece, and to make sure that I was heading in the right direction, I did something absolutely extraordinary. No, I did not instant message my editor. I did not look him up on Twitter to see what he was getting up to. I did not text him. I did not e-mail him. I didn’t even phone him.

Here’s what I did: I got up out of my chair, walked over to his desk, and asked him to confirm what he was looking for. I know. Crazy.