Sunday, 07 October 2012
Today marks the second day in a row that I did not ride in or drive a car. I consider this a win.
In fact, the only time this weekend that I even stepped outside the borders of my property was when we walked to the park this evening.
A few years back, I actually kept track of the days when I did not get into a car. This turned out to be more complicated than I thought, becuase there was one day that I only got into my car to move it from the street into the driveway, and another day all I did was back one of our cars out of the garage. Even counting those days as no-car days, the year ended up with something like 12 days of not getting into a car.
This is deplorably low. But that was when we lived in a smaller town. I think living in a big city affords greater opportunity to not get into a car, since we can walk to soooo many places.
Monday, 08 October 2012
Back on Friday, a man emailed me and said he wanted to purchase this item I had for sale on Craig’s List. We made arrangements to meet on Monday, which is today.
So I drove to the parking lot where I was supposed to meet him. I got there at 9:57. The meeting time was set for 10:00.
By 10:10, there was still no sign of him, so I called him…
ME: Hey, this is James, the guy from Craig’s list.
HE: Oh, hey man…
ME: Yeah…uh…we were planning to meet at 10:00…are you on your way?
HE: No, sorry, dude. I forgot that the utility guy was coming over today so I had to stay home and wait for him. I got your email earlier reminding me about today, but I didn’t have your phone number to call and cancel. Sorry. Can we meet another day, like tomorrow?
ME: No.
So, what’s the deal with him being unable to call me? For one thing, we spoke on the phone on Friday, so couldn’t he just hit the “reply” button on his phone? I suppose he might be using a landline or some other old technology that doesn’t tell him the number of the person who is calling, but did then why didn’t he email me? He said he saw my email this morning, but he didn’t know my number. What’s with changing the medium of our communication? He couldn’t simply reply to my email?
This happens often on Craig’s List: I post something, then someone emails me and says something stupid like: “Hey, I’d like to buy that, give me a call at 555-xxxx.” What’s with that? Why can’t we just talk via email?
This is like if I post a flyer somewhere, with little flags on the bottom with my phone number. Would someone call me and say: “Hey, I would be interested in buying the item I saw on your poster. Why don’t you give me your email address and we can write about it?” No. How about we just talk on the phone, since that’s how we started this conversation.
The other day, I got to work at 6:00 in the morning, and there was an email waiting for me from someone interested in buying something. He said: “Yeah, I’ll take that, give me a call.” He sent the email at midnight. So…was I supposed to call him that minute? Should I wait until 9:00? Or midnight? I just deleted his email.
Several months ago, I sold some shelving to a man, and there were some pieces he didn’t want. But then he emailed me about a month ago and asked if I still had those pieces. I wrote back and said I did. He said something like: “Okay, great, I’ll be in touch with you about getting them.” Um…you are in touch with me! How about just talking to me now?
Next time I see something for sale that I want, I’m gonna email the person with my phone number, and then, when they call me back, I’ll ask for their address. I will then send a carrier pigeon with a message saying to look for the smoke signal I’ll be sending that tells them which Western Union office they can go to to get my telegram that gives them my Twitter account name so that I can tweet them with information regarding a post card they will be receiving in the mail about a video conference I’d like to hold with them regarding the item in question.
Makes perfect sense, right?
Tuesday, 09 October 2012
I arrived on campus a wee bit early today, so I went in to the cafe’ (or bistro or whatever they call it) and got some lunch. The overpaid powers that be at Hamline graciously awarded all students $25 preloaded onto our student IDs to use at the cafeterias this semester and I plan to use every last cent of it.
Anyway, I sit down to eat my lunch and I pull out the book we’re supposed to be reading for class. I get about three pages read of the book and 75% of the sandwich masticated, and then – guess what? Fire drill.
So I, and everyone else in all the buildings, filed outside.
Damn, it was cold. I mean, it wasn’t really that cold, but my only weather-resistant clothing was a wind breaker; I wasn’t counting on hanging out outside.
I sat down on a cement wall, which instantly chilled my butt. I thought about standing again, but with a backpack, bottle of iced tea, a plate of food, and a textbook, I kind of needed to spread out a little bit.
About ten minutes later, they gave the all-clear signal, and I walked across the campus to class.
So my point it…Summer’s over.