Finding New Ways To Get Less Work Done

Typically, I’m not one to participate in the New Years Resolution tradition… That’s not to say that I consider myself perfect, without flaw, or the apogee of human evolution. Ha! Far from it! It’s more like I’m lazy. No, not lazy, let’s go with busy. Too busy to modify my flow. This year, however, I will be participating. I will be resolving to add something to my pre-exisiting repertoire.

I resolve to be an active participant in the Instant Messaging community.

Yep… Instant Messaging, for some reason, is an online communication medium that I am simply not comfortable with. I just don’t use it. It’s an odd discrepancy, because I consider myself to be a very connected individual.

The rational behind my election to participate in the Instant Messaging community is not really of any practical purpose. Sure, I’d like to be more connected to the people I care about… but that’s not the direct impetus. My immersion in this culture will be more of the academic sort. I want to understand the population’s fascination with Instant Messaging, I want to learn the cryptic lingo (the first time someone “brb”ed me, I thought they were having some kind of online gas attack), and I’m always interested in adding one more way to procrastinate to my current repertoire. It’s really all about finding new ways to get less work done.

In preparation for this scheduled full-frontal assault on Instant Messaging culture, I’ve spent the last week collecting the screen names of various coworkers and friends, along with certain tips, tricks, IM clients, and the occasional good-hearted piece of advice (apparently, it’s very important to the slickness of one’s online persona to maintain a chic, constantly revolving, collection of clever Away Messages. A good Away Message, according to my IM mentors, should be able to impart the following, without actually saying any of the following: Even though I’m away from my computer (or quite possibly just ignoring you) right now, I still want you to know how hella cool I am. Just take a gander at this movie quote/lyric snippet/fascinating URL that I’ve provided. See, I’m cool, hip, and in-the-know. Let’s drink beer together!).

So now, in what’s sure to be a colossal mistake in retrospect, here is my AIM screen name: robotsrgr8

I showed you mine, now it’s your turn to show me yours.