Serendipity

Two nights ago, I was checking in to my hotel and realized when I got to the room that I had forgotten something in the car. So I went back out to get it, and just as I was walking through the lobby I stopped to answer an email on my Blackberry.

When I got back to the lobby, I realized my phone wasn’t in the holster …or my pocket …or my other pocket …or that pocket …it was gone. So assumption dictated that it was still in the car.

An hour later after tearing the car to shreds, the hotel staff calling my cell constantly, I finally accepted that the phone had vanished into the time continuum. Or I had dropped it and a car had smashed it, or it was stolen by the world’s most masterful pickpocket.

While I was looking for the thing, someone yelled my name. It was a colleague I had worked with in radio who is now running the marketing and promotion department at a music label. He was picking up one of his bands and suddenly he and the band were helping with my dilemma.

When I finally had time yesterday to get a replacement, I immediately called my label friend to thank him for his help the night before. He then invited me to his band’s show in a few hours. So I went. The band is Thriving Ivory if you wanna check them out.

At the gig, it was great to see a bunch of people I hadn't seen in a while. Some say stuff happens for a reason and perhaps some say it to cope with stuff when it doesn’t go their way. In this case, it truly was Serendipity.

And the guy who was yelling "No! No! No!" 24-hours earlier whilst tearing apart his car was suddenly reminded - it was just a phone. We learn lessons from the strangest places and most of the time it is all for a reason.

km

Did You Get My Email?

I had one of those couldn’t sleep nights and decided to clean up the email. It’s great fun if you ever have the time.

If you have a PDA, you may have it set up to get your email on both your device and your account. So when you open your mail on your computer, you are greeted by a yet to be sorted pile of duplicated data. As I tried to file old emails and get a sense of what was left, it reminded me of an often used phrase these days; “Did you get my email?”

We are fairly secure in knowing their server received it and sent it to them. But we feel the passive aggressive vague question works best.

The real questions are; “Did you open and read my email?” and “Do you have a response or any thought about my email?”

Gizmos and gadgets have made us lazy. We hide behind hurried thumbed half-notes between meetings and we count that as follow-up. You may not have discovered yet but your PDA probably also has a phone option. I forget sometimes too.

Does this exchange sound familiar; “Did you send it to me?” “I did, didn’t you get it?” “I didn’t see it.” “Well check when you hang up and call me back”. (callback) “Here it is”.

Electronic correspondence was supposed to speed up our lives, ease the burden, and afford us the ability to communicate quicker and more efficiently. In theory, that sounds pretty good. In theory it doesn’t always work.

According to Newyorker Magazine, we send over a trillion txt messages every year. We may all be busy but with what, no one is sure. Sorry dude, I'm way too busy to answer your email because I'm answering eveyone else's email.

How many emails lie patiently in your in-box awaiting a reply or to be opened? There's a bunch of reasons why we don't get back to people right away. As I looked at a few emails that haven't been returned, I discovered some I hadn't returned. I think perhaps I'll try that phone option today.

This does not include people who are simply trying to avoid you or have no intention of replying to your email. But that rarely happens, of course ;-)

km