So It's Come to This

I just received an email from my wife. Before detailing its contents, let me explain our communications pecking order:
- Phone Calls are for urgent or deeply emotional issues
- Emails are for family or SmartNoise business
- Instant Messages are for updates, questions, and communication through the day

In terms of volume, most of our Monday-Friday 6am to 7pm communication is via IM. It allows Denise to reach me without going through my assistant, which she prefers. It also allows each of us to try initiating non-time sensitive conversations without interrupting the other. If one of us is busy or away for a few minutes the message waits until we can deal with it. It's a good system.

One more bit of background. Last night at 11pm I finished upgrading the wiring and electrical outlet for Denise's computer equipment. Since it was well past my bedtime, I selfishly chose to sleep instead of setting up her computer.

Here's Denise's email in its entirety, "Sorry no IM on your comp."

Apparently she sat down at my computer and discovered that I don't have an instant messaging program installed. So now we are incommunicado despite the landlines, mobile phones, fiber optic internet connections, email programs and Blackberries that clutter our lives.