R & B

No, not Rhythm and Blues.

Ranting and Bitching.

Which, in addition to Miss HIGH MAINTENANCE, also includes my neighbors. My first year of home ownership I attended the association meetings. Overall, they were fairly informative and not unpleasant. No major griping. Good times.

Since then I've joined the association's Yahoo group. And now, on ocassion, en masse, see the flock of dullards who spew their malarky electronically. It's off putting. People take umbrage at other's comments - from assuming a stolen political sign was for a Republican (or was it a Democrat) - that became a rash of emails about judging and taking offense. That was in 2004.

The latest barrage concerned dumpster divers, panhandling, kids playing in the alley, and a stolen bike. All fair things to be discussed, but it derailed into a ten car pile up. Fatalities included gays, aldermen, police, retail outlets, and much more.

Mixed in between it all were a few positive comments, thankfully, and a rather misplaced usage of "my bad." I still don't understand that term.

The challenge with email - professionally and personally - is how flat it is. It can be cold, harsh, and one-dimensional. Caps, bold, and too many punctuation points or question marks are offensive. My aunt usually types in all caps - I don't think she understands that it seems like she's shouting. And for some reason I don't tell her. She probably hates that I often respond in all lower case. So between the two of us is a happy medium I suppose.

With email - particularly professionally where no prior relationship exists - the lack of an opening, closing or any niceties can seem coarse and impersonal. At work, I remember when shared Wang computers with their yellow typewriter font were the norm; when we had a 'fax man' at work who handled all of the incoming & outgoing faxes; when a word processing team took our handwritten edits to documents and typed them up; when work was busy but not as frenetic and sloppy as now.

One woman who's worked at my company for more than 25 years now starts her emails as if they were letters. In the body she types the date and is rather formal throughout. The only exclusion is the omission of the mailing address in the top left section. Sometimes I think she's got the right idea, other times I think she's rather antiquated.

Back to the R&B of the neighborhood group. I still subscribe to the Yahoo group because there can be good information (such as a rash of car break ins in the area, recommendations for a good plumber, a new shop opening up in the area, etc.) but it's like removing layer upon layer of wallpaper in an old home where it was never primed. It's tedious and takes a lot of work.

I'm beginning to wonder if the occasional tidbit gleaned is worth the headache. Just like friends who have gone from old homes with character (and frequent repairs) to brand new homes with new plumbing, new wiring, and less headaches ... maybe. But I'm happy where I am.