Guangqumenwai Avenue (广渠门外大街) - 8th Jan 2008. -4C, Sunday, 30 December 2007. It was windy with harsh Mongolian winds blowing against my face as I made my way to the nearest Carrefour for my weekend groceries shopping. However, I had another agenda. I was on my way to get a 'mouse' for an experiment which I've been longing to work on since I lost my cell phone mid of last year.

(Coincidentally, in a couple of weeks, Chinese from all around the world will be welcoming the year of the rat! Nice timing for my 'mouse experiment')

You see. I bought this cell phone back in 2006, accompanied with a pair of the then latest Bluetooth headphones. Seven months later, I lost the phone to a thief at a subway in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. That very same day, I spent 5 hours torturing the minds of two young handsome and super patient cell phone dealers; deciding in between getting the same phone versus every other models.

My purchasing criteria which drove the dealers nuts were:

1. The phone exterior must be white in color
2. Must have Bluetooth
3. Must be compatible with my Bluetooth headphones
4. Must have expandable memory slot
5. Must not run SD cards
6. Must be at least 3.5G
7. Must have a wide-screen
8. And of course, must have a camera of not less than 2.0MP

I remember them mumbling to me on how crazy I was in Cantonese. It was hilarious.

Anyway. Errr... I ended up buying the same phone. Now let's move to the experiment, shall we!

The experiment with mr. Mouse
Location: Chaoyang, Beijing
Time: 1500hrs, 30 December 2007

Like preparing a proposal, I listed down a list of questions which I needed answered:

1) Will I be able to live without my 8-criteria cell phone?
2) Why was I too dependent on my 8-criteria cell phone?
3) What can I do to change this OCD habit?

Only after that then I went out hunting for mr. Mouse. After 75 minutes of selecting the right 'mouse', I ended up buying a simple cell phone at a discounted price at the electronics shop next to Carrefour. It was really simple:

• Black color phone (this wasn't part of the experiment, any color would do)
  
• Small-color screen, rather pixelated (they don't sell 'yellow' screens anymore)
• Infrared
• Radio
• No music
• No USB port
• No memory slots
  
• No camera
• No Bluetooth

Satisfied with my catch in the trap, I headed home and plugged mr. Mouse in the socket and let it charge for the next 12 hours.

1700hrs

5...7...11..10...hours had gone by. I was twiddling my thumbs even while watching Al Pacino in 88 Minutes. I couldn't concentrate. I was so excited about mr. Mouse and the fact that I was so glad that I finally bought a device which allowed me to be able to live like how my parents lived theirs when they were in their mid-twenties - just that they had no cell phones and depended on big black telephones and snail mail. Well, fine - I just needed to prove to myself that I'm not addicted nor too dependent on my 'happening' white cell phone.

While waiting, I did my weekly household chores, wiped .15mm thick dust everywhere (very common in Beijing), surfed the net, watched Criminal Minds, popped sodas in between.

I actually set my alarm at 5am so that I can wake up and switch to my new cell phone. Talk about OCD? I'm kidding. Yes I did wake up but only to unplug the mr. Mouse - and went back to sleep. 

Next morning. Monday. New Year's Eve. An early start to my resolution for 2008 hey.

Time: 0930hrs, 31 December 2007
The real experiment begins.

So, aside from switching cell phones, I was also switching brands. It wasn't as bad as trying to start writing with my left hand (I'm right-handed). However, the features and keystrokes to get from Point A to Point B left me perplexed, but I was fine. No one called me, so I called cousin back home to tell her about my mouse experiment. she said "you wouldn't last a minute." Thanks for the encouragement, Steph.

Text messages started flowing in, and in between constant frustrations, I managed to reply text messages within speeds that's slightly way below my usual par. I managed, I coped. mr. Mouse was still alive and kicking.

Then things between mr. Mouse and I began to turn sour.

1545hrs.

I couldn't trace a missed call. I felt so lost walking to the subway listening to the only English radio in Beijing (that I know of) with so many ads in Chinese which I didn't quite understand. I had to watch the 'handsfree-wire' while doing every other thing - carefully reaching into my pocket for my lipbalm so that it doesn't get 'ripped-off' from mr. Mouse's torso.

I also had to pull mr. Mouse out of my pocket in order to adjust the radio's volume. The screen's display was so 'pixelated' my eyes got teary trying to send and reply text messages. I don't get to listen to Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive whenever some body calls, let alone my usual mp3s. Whenever my cell phone rang, I get stingy looks from certain hip, young-looking Chinese couples because to them the music was either 'unbearable' or 'odd' (odd as in, 'old-school polyphonic' perhaps?).

It was either the 6th or 7th hour since mr. Mouse and I began seeing each other. I felt digitally-challenged the whole day, and it was seriously driving me up against the wall. "Come on, this can't be happening!" I gasped to myself. I was hoping that this experiment might last a couple of months, at least. Right, wishful thinking...

I started imagining how would those drivers in LA or NYC survive if their GPS system was replaced with a 70s am/pm radio and a map in their hands? Of course not everyone's a Jason Bourne. Would be cool if we could navigate around having Bourne's capabilities after a stint at Treadstone, though.

Whether it's coincidence or the fact that my star sign decided to send friendly signals to my Sagittarius cousin, she texted me the same day telling me that the joystick on her Cell 1.0 phone gave way and she can't receive nor answer calls; but she can still send text messages when the 'joystick' is 'in the mood'.

(For your kind information, my cousin is one of the many endangered species that has been surviving with a cell phone (with a 1.3MP camera, that's it) that has a broken screen. The colors' burst and she can't really see much (probably 35%'s visible) on the phone. But she can't live without her iPod though. If you're interested to see what her Cell 1.0's like, drop me an email and I'll be more than happy to send you a photo of the phone)

2330hrs. I broke the news to mr. Mouse, telling him we were experiencing irreconcilable digital differences and that I couldn't live with his digital incapabilities anymore. I didn't like the way he asked me to answer my call, I didn't like the way he was programmed which slowed me down whenever I had to send text messages swiftly and I didn't like the fact that he can't multitask.

I pulled the plug and that's it, it's so over.

14 hours - that's how long I lasted on a simple cell phone with minimal functionalities. What a defeat! I immediately texted my cousin.

"u knw what, u can hav da stupid phone. just hang in there for 5 more weeks and I'll pass it to u when I see u"

"told u u wldnt last a min"

"hey at least i'm making good use of the phone nw by not wasting it by giving it to ppl like u LOL"

"how sincere of u..." 

Here are the answers to my experiment:

1) Will I be able to live without my 8-criteria cell phone?
    Apparently no. Not at all.

2) Why was I too dependent on my 8-criteria cell phone?
    Because I've grown used to it and I thought I could change for the sake of it. But I couldn't.

3) What can I do to change this OCD habit?
    I don't intend to anymore.

Toward the end of my 'mr. Mouse experiment', I've taught myself an invaluable lesson and this continues to apply to my professional life. Sheryl Crow sang "A Change Would Do You Good" back in 1996. In 1996 I remember spending after-school hours on MIRC, ICQ, and playing pool on Yahoo! Games (which I still do). So now it's 2008. What is there to adjust to in 2008? Do a search on "social media+2008" or "social networking+2008" and you will know what I mean.

What are our old habits and what can we do in order to help our clients achieve desirable, measurable results? 2008 to me is all about picking up heavier knowledge that you can no longer identify only with your clients - you need to be able to identify your knowledge with the endusers that are scattered in various age groups. we need to become one of them. Reading up on Facebook alone isn't good enough - you need to use it. Reading up on competitors isn't good enough, you still need to experience it.

When things call for a change,  

Can we say, "I don't intend to, anymore"? Of course not.
can we say, "Because I've grown used to it and I thought I could..."? Of course not.

It's no longer as simple as switching brands and functionalities. 

I thought I could adjust to mr. Mouse without preparing myself well - I thought it's quite a simple switch because it's so basic - it's about communication. How hard can communication get?

Well, as many industries have come to learn over the years, it is and it still is conversation - and the conversation pool in this industry is getting, well - indescribable; and we need to identify with it fast(er) and make the best out of it.

Happy New Year!

Updates: I just read this article titled "Top 10 Trends in Social Media and Business for 2008" on Response Source and found it pretty insightful. I liked the part when he challenges news credibility - opinion vs. facts.

2008's definitely going to be a very interesting year - and I am so watching out for the Chinese market since Beijing's hosting the 2008 Olympic Games. - 9th Jan 2008
 

It's been five months since I gave up using one of the world's leading free email providers. It started-off with a silent bang in 2004 - 1GB storage space, 10 invites per user, labels etc. and its fame and functionality has never slowed down since. I remember holding back those invitations because I didn't want to share it with friends who won't appreciate it, so I literally screened through my 'VIP list' - yes, it was a very big deal. It wasn't about 1GB - but free? Hello?

Three years down the road, it was decidedly so that I needed a break from all the great tools it has been offering. I had come to a stage where I felt I was doing too much with my email and at times it got so crowded that I totally overlooked important emails - those that were personal to me, emails that came with spam-looking subjects (e.g. 'hi sheena' or 'hey how's it going...') but aren't spam. I usually end up with hundreds of unread emails if I don't check it over the weekend, because I took the increasing storage for granted which leads back to what I was saying: I was doing too much with my personal email account.

Next? I totally switched-off from over-multitasking with a single client - and the best way to do it was to remove myself from that one thing that actually gave me the superpowers to over-multitask.

Here are some steps which I'd voluntarily gotten myself into while switching email providers:

1. Turned on the vacation settings, wrote a note which began with "I'm no longer..."
2. Activated free POP
3. Removed myself from over 30 (at least) subscription/membership emails (again, I took the storage space for granted)
4. Filtered another 20+ and had a blast (truth: migraine) deciding which company deserves a special folder in my next mailbox (Manchester United made the first cut no doubt)
5. Revisited websites which I'm a 'member' of, received frequent updates from; but never actually 'been' there for the past 3 years - and unsubscribed from them.
   

And so I'm back to one of the earliest free email providers which I had signed-up for decades ago (my math: 1 digital year feels like/equals to 4.25 human years). Although it looks slightly more sophisticated now and went all AJAX and Web 2.0, it is pretty much the same compared to 10 years ago (well, except for its 5GB storage of course - which only came about much later).

Since the switch, I started using it to write emails to my parents, my best friend in Dubai, my relatives in LA, and even acquaintances whom I'd met through social networking sites. It just feels so different to be able to anticipate updates and write back with excitement. And that was all I was doing with my email, except for the occasional newsletters from CNet and MediaPost, among others. It's like taking a babystep back to the world of penpals (read my first post here at Collective Conversation) and snail mails but just speedier. Phone calls and IMs never dipped so low in my "Top 5 Communication Tools" list.

I'm pretty sure this will not lead to another nomadic move. This is a significant transfer and it has come to stage 3. First I got bored with simplicity, then I switched to 'enhancement' which led me to complexity; and finally here I am, talking about me switching back to simplicity.

I just wanted something that doesn't come with too much perks. But maybe this will change - who knows? I'll let you know once I make another switch. After all, nomads will always be nomads.

So what exactly are you doing with your personal email? Are you fusing too much work-related stuff with it? Are you using it to track competitor news? Do you subscribe to Marketing-Interactive with it? Maybe it's time for spring-cleaning. In my case, I did mine in Malaysia so since it's summer all year long, my 'summer-cleaning' was nothing but tedious. It's still November, so it's not too late to start reorganizing a significant part of your digital life and welcome the new year with a clean box. After all, many clients' FY08 has already begun (we just welcomed HP's two days ago), and starting with an organized mailbox (both work and personal) will definitely land you a good payback - productivity wise!

Time to head to the subway and hunt for Chinese dinner at Walmart!

Disclosure: HP's a client.

updates [15 Nov, appx 9:50pm]: a post I just read, titled "Email contacts: the natural social network" - a good read. 

The last show I watched that had something to do with Canada was That '70s Show, where Kelso, Hyde and Fez got into trouble with the Canadian cops for, well, Fez (Fez forgot to bring along his Green Card, which was later discovered hidden inside his shoe). I'm not too sure if Eric was involved but it was definitely an episode to remember.

I have family in Vancouver (or Toronto, I admit I'm a bad, bad cousin), and I'm actually waiting for one of my cousin brothers to tie the knot so there'll be a very good excuse for me to fly halfway across the globe to catch up with them. Also, another selfish thought: I need to hunt down my Canadian penpal (I hyperlinked it to wikipedia just in case you never had one)  which I have lost touch with since 1994 or even earlier.

Actually I haven't brought this up at all ever since I started blogging in 2001, and I'm glad to have this as my inaugural post here Colletive Conversations.

It all started when I was reading the Daily Express, probably when I was 9 or 10. Back then the Internet was 'what?' and we only relied on TV and newspapers as our windows to the world. It was around that time when my dad discontinued our subscription to National Geographic (after decades) because I was the only one reading it not for the content but mostly for the pictures (come on, all of us are guilty of this at some point in life), and everyone else in the family was too busy with their own things. So, there was nothing much left to do aside from the usuals – Play Doh, Barbie, Polly Pocket and some computer games such as Tetris and Dig Dug. Reader's Digest was too wordy and TV only had Mind Your Language, Macgyver, Beverly Hills 90210 and Friends came much later; among others.

In the 90s, Doulos made few calls at our harbor and while browsing for coloring books and world maps (I like geography), a crew asked me if I had a penpal. I said no, and she said I should because it's a fun thing to do and it's not too late to start making friends from all around the world. Later, I asked my mom about it and she told me to watch out for some penpal column in the Daily Express.

I remember seeing the advertisement. I wrote to them and I received a letter from some country, I think it's Finland. Inside there was a chain letter with a list of names and addresses; and I get to choose a pal to write to. There were so many names from more than 100 countries to choose from, and I picked this girl because her surname was similar to Tommy Page! Yea I know I'm a loser here...

And so I was got really excited and I started writing to her (and now I ask myself, why didn't I pick a boy?) right away. And her name? Stephanie Paige.

So what do I know about Stephanie? Well, based on my vivid memories, we are around the same age and I think she has a younger brother, and she's a ballerina. We exchanged photographs and among the few she sent me there was this one with her in a ballerina outfit, striking a sweet, angelic pose. I think she sent me that because I was also taking ballet lessons, and tap dancing too.

It's now October 2007, more than 10 years has passed since I lost touch with her. She said she was moving houses and gave me her new home address to write to, which I did. Till today I'm still not sure who was the last person who was supposed to write back. I still have those letters stashed somewhere in my closet and because of this post I am inspired to dig it out and write a letter to her during my next trip back home.

Will I write and ask for her email address and that if she syncs it with her Facebook or MySpace? Or will I ask her to reply to me via snail mail and keep the chain going? Or, even better - should I break this excitement and spam all Stephanie Paige-s I find on Facebook and perhaps on LinkedIn?

I really don't know just yet – and I am eager to find out myself soon.