Who wants to help me move?

Enough whining for a bit, ‘eh?

Some big news that most of the important people in my life know, although certainly not everyone just yet, but Lori and I are moving to Kelowna!

Last July we drove to Oliver BC for my grandmother’s 90th birthday, and the way luck would have it, Lori happened to have a job interview in Kelowna. One month later, she was starting the job, and we were starting to plan for the move.

We gave it a few weeks to let Lori get the feel for the company, make sure she would be happy committing to stay for a minimum of a couple of years, and once she was sure.

Last week I flew out and we started the house hunt, found an absolutely amazing condo, reasonable price, with pretty much all the upgrades. Air conditioning, two balconies, a nice view, stainless steel appliances, front loading in-suite washer and dryer, dishwasher, granite counter tops, pretty much the works. We formally took possession on September 1st, although we actually got the keys a couple days earlier.

Now I hate moving, but having lost track of how many times I’ve moved in the past six years, I’m somewhat familiar with the process. We’re taking a bit of a different approach, in that we’re trying to get rid of absolutely anything we can, cutting back both the amount of stuff we need to move, and the amount of junk to store on the receiving end, hopefully only keeping what we actually need and use.

We took care of some of the important stuff already, got internet service on day#1, and I’ve got electricity and insurance all arranged as well, mail redirected, now just working on all the other details, health care, address changes, mentioning the move to work, friends, family, trading in the polar bears for brown bears, etc. Did I mention the weather is beautiful?

Based on our current plans, I’ll be wandering back to Calgary every two or three months or so for several months. Why not, it’s a $49 flight ($105 or so with taxes. Yes, that’s over 100% taxes, fees, and other garbage, but still, $105 isn’t bad), and besides, the Calgary –> Kelowna trip is the closest you can get to time travel, you actually land about 8 minutes before you depart.

Anyway, things are looking good, just keeping me busy busy busy, so expect blog postings to be sparse. As time permits, Lori and I are working on another little blogging project, a collaborative effort with a bit of a different focus, but more on that once it’s closer to being ready for human consumption.

So who wants to help me pack?

More Instant Messaging complaining

Every few months I go clear out my instant messaging blocked lists. I’m not sure why. I guess maybe I’m hoping that the people I blocked will have become less annoying.

The results are predictable. On Yahoo, a couple spammers have me on their lists, I’ll start getting offline messages daily from two or three names. I block those right away.

Next, I have a couple people I used to know in real life, but haven’t seen in ages. One or two of them will invariably start asking me to help fix some sort of computer problem. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind helping out once in a while, but when the absolute only time we talk is because you need help, understand that this is not a relationship or friendship that I find beneficial.

Sorry if I sound like an ass, but there it is.

Instant Messaging – How to play in polite society

I’m a fan of instant messaging. And email. And voice mail. Pretty much anything that doesn’t interrupt me unless it’s a convenient time for me.

I use instant messaging as a primary communication method between myself and most of my friends, my work colleagues, and many of my other business contacts as well.

So with that in mind, a few random complaints.

  1. If I don’t respond the second you message me, I might be busy doing something. I might be on the phone, getting a drink refill, or even in the middle of typing a message to you.

    Give me a bit of time before going ape-shit that I’m not answering, k?

  2. Don’t message me and go offline within 30 seconds, then later bitch at me that I never answer you.

    Luckily for both of us, I can solve this complaint very easily, if you’re no longer able to message me, there won’t be any ambiguity about whether or not I’ll answer next time.

  3. If I’m set to “Away” it means I’m not here right now.

    If it’s important, feel free to email me, phone me or otherwise get in touch, otherwise, leave a message and I’ll get back to you when I have time.

    Again, complaining that I never answer you is not likely to increase your odds of seeing me online in the future.

  4. If I’m set to “Busy”, it means I’m busy.

    See: Away.

  5. I’m sure you think vibrating windows are all the rage.  I don’t.  Luckily for me, I use an IM client that just logs the event and do anything stupid. 

    Excessive nudging, sending “???” over and over, or otherwise nagging or badgering me until I answer just tells me you think your time is more important then my time, and the “block” feature was invented to solve this very problem.

  6. If you’re marked as “away”, I will assume that you are away. Weird.

    If you’re marked as “busy” then I will assume that you are, get this, busy!

    If you can’t figure out how to set your status, let me know, I’d be more then happy to walk you through step by step.

    If you tell me up front that you’re too busy to talk right now, don’t be surprised if I respect your wishes don’t bother you unless it’s important

Now hopefully I am not coming across as a giant ass, but if so, please feel free to remove me from your contact list and use email instead, k?