Never let it be said I don’t follow through.


I said a couple weeks ago I’d sort of throw together a rough idea of what my uh… I wouldn’t call them rules so much as, um… guidelines, I guess, around that whole communication thing. A sort of “if you actually want a response…” kinda thing. ‘Cuz sadly, as much as a few of you have several dozen ways to get a hold of me, there’s only so few of those that are actually viable at any given time. And certain members of the select group don’t seem to be accepting of the fact that yes, they *can* use said methods of getting a hold of me if they want to. Sooooooooo, kick back and learn a little something about just why in the hell I can be so damned hard to reach sometimes. Or not.

In order from most to least likely to get an immediate response, I’m usually reachable fairly easily by:

  • Email/LJ comment
  • IM
  • Text message
  • Phone call

Why so? Easy explanation: I work/am not always home/am not always at the computer/am not always paying attention to IM. However, I can check email *usually* from both home and at work, as well as my parents’ place on the rare occasion I actually go there. And… anywhere else that generally has a computer I can make use of. As a general rule, if you have the information, it’s with the implied intent of you using it if necessary. Just sent me 5 IMs in the last half an hour and didn’t get a response? I’m probably not in the room/apartment. IE: I’m probably going for a walk. Call the home/cell phone. Don’t have the number(s)/don’t feel like calling? I’ll see your IM/email when I get back, and if you’re still online at the time, I do actually return those reasonably quickly. Some of my readily available contact information’s conveniently stuck over here just for that reason. You may or may not be able to see all of it, but there’s probably a very good reason for that; specificly, if everyone I know had the same multiple ways to get a hold of me I’d never get any sleep.

Now with that said… on to what makes certain contact methods an issue.

  • I can check email from just about anywhere I can access a computer (home, work, parents’, neighbours optionally). Same goes with LJ, so long as places like the great firewall of Dell don’t block it.
  • I usually only bother with IM from home, for two reasons. I can’t be bothered installing it on other people’s computers who don’t already have it, and the multitude of web messengers out there have pretty much one thing in common; they’re about as secure as a small town church.
  • I get extremely craptastic reception at work, which is where I spend most of my not at home time during the day, so text messages and phone calls aimed at my cell may not get picked up until I’m in a position where the phone can actually get a signal.
  • Somewhat making up for the craptastic reception though, both my home and cell phone have voicemail. So in that respect it’s more reliable than text messages, unless you’re also the victim of nearly nonexistent reception. At which point I can only say I really hope Murphy was hit by a bus.

That’s me, in… well, not exactly what most people would call short. I like to be available to people when they’d like me to be. Life, on the other hand, has other plans. But so far I dare say it’s working out okay. And if not… plans can change. And with me, they can change on 30 seconds’ notice.


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