After living in Sydney (Australia) for 5 years (I’m originally from Canberra) I threw it all in and moved to the little-known city of Fukuoka, Japan. Sometimes I fix people’s computers, web sites or office networks. Othertimes I terrorise small Japanese children with English. I’ve been an Apple computer user since my primary school installed Apple IIs back in the 1980s and have worked in companies from small Apple resellers to billion dollar retailers, as well as for myself. I try always to see things from many perspectives, not just one or two.
Contacting me:
Email: contact@currawong.net
Twitter: Currawong
Instant message:
I feel very silly writing a guide to sending me instant messages, but bear with me. It seems where people seem able to call each other on the phone perfectly well, it seems people have trouble with instant messaging. Here’s a tip if you’ve never IM’ed me before: Imagine you’re calling me on the phone. It’s just embarrassing to get random IM’s of “Hi” and have to ask the person who they are and what they want. You wouldn’t call someone cold and just say “Hi” for example, you’d say your name and why you’re calling. If you’re going to PM me on Head-fi, MacTalk or any other forum I frequent, chatting with me via instant message (MSN, AIM, etc.) is more efficient. You can find my IM details in my forum profile.
Here’s what you should do:
1. Your first message is best something like: “Hi this is X from whateverforum.com. Have you got a minute to chat about something-in-particular?” just like you would if you were calling me on the phone. Then I don’t have to ask you “Who is this?”. I think this is an especially good method of communication if one of us is buying something from the other, as the negotiations can be done very quickly.
2. “Are you there?” If I don’t reply (at any time) it’s because I’m AFK or have been interrupted by someone or something important. I’m not ignoring you, don’t panic. If I’m at work, you’ll usually get my auto-reply in that case.
3. I very rarely chat daily to people, except very good friends. IM’ing me “Hi, how’s it going?”every time you see me online is too much. Really, I don’t have anything interesting to talk to random people about unless it’s very specific, such as headphones and hi-fi, Apple Mac computers or very intense spiritual topics (don’t go there, seriously) any more than I get random phone calls from friends like that (maybe your friends do, just not mine). IM’ing me with a specific question or topic is cool and I actually encourage it, just as you might PM me such a thing on a forum.
4. If you want to talk about Apple computer stuff much, try #apple on irc.moofspeak.net too.
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