It appears that some of you may not know which communication tool to use or when to use it. Here is a helpful guide: (Note: Sync = synchronous means real-time communication, asynchronous means not real-time.) Name Privacy Sync Speed Form Description Postal Mail (Snail Mail, USPS) medium to high asynchronous slow printed text This is the original form of written correspondence. It is still useful and relatively secure from eavesdropping, provided you didn’t compose the letter on a computer to start with. Telephone (phone) medium synchronous real-time voice What one gains in instantaneous communications, one loses in the ability to compose thoughts before communicating them.

Well, I’ve thought about it, and I thought I might have something more insightful or pithy to say on the subject matter. But I don’t. I can, however, tell you how I am approaching the matter in our particular circumstance: Intensely absorb all available information on all properties in your area, price range, and style, in that order, and as quickly as your neurochemistry allows. If there are homes already under contract that you would seriously like to own, make a backup offer. Set up instant email alerts matching your criteria.

Our world is on the verge of a revolutionary change. Can you see it? It’s coming. The powers that be will fight – hard – this change. Empires will topple. Seismic shifts are now underway in our energy economy. Since the industrial revolution, humans have been poisoning the planet with our various byproducts. The biggest one we contribute on an individual basis comes from the energy required to move ourselves around in these gigantic wheeled metal, plastic, and glass containers called automobiles. Automobiles have shaped our society over the past hundred years and pervaded our lives in so many ways that most of us in this first world now cannot sustain our livelihoods without utilizing one of them on a daily basis.

This is a rant, but it also serves as a note to my future self for when I’m a manager. Hopefully that will never happen, but sometimes leaders have command thrust upon them. NO MEETINGS. Not Ever. Never. Never ever. The meetings that are scheduled are strictly optional, for diversionary purposes only. Every minute you’re in a meeting is a minute you’re being paid not to work. They’re a waste of time. Okay, well, with one exception: getting people together who ALL have to communicate in a synchronous manner to solve some sort of problem, like multiple coffee tables that all hold different pieces of the same puzzle: at some point they all have to coalesce.

I like to leave plenty of following distance on the road. Many drivers American* drivers don’t seem to understand that it makes traffic much safer and, coincidentally, better-flowing when you leave a minimum of two seconds between your front bumper and the rear bumper of the car in front of you. They also don’t seem to understand that leaving a safe distance isn’t the same thing as driving slowly. Once I’m at a safe distance, I drive the same speed as the car in front of me – up to a safe speed which may or may not be over the speed limit.