I admit it. I’m addicted to my Crackberry. I get a lot of emails and while my Crackberry may not be the status symbol that the iPhone is, its really good with Novell’s GroupWise email – (un)affectionately know as GroupWoes at my institution. Its not the enterprise RIM server that ensures my Crackberry is in sync with my email account, that makes it appealing, its because it has an excellent filing function. Its actually better than the desktop application.

I used to get overwhelmed by email, but now I’m in control. To me, email is a game of tennis, someone serves me an email and its my job to get rid of it, either file it because its informational (un-returnable volley), reply to it requesting some clarification (baseline return) or answer it outright (overhead smash). The object is to get the email out of my side of the court – in business its called getting the monkey off your back.

My Crackberry allows me deal with email anywhere, anytime. Sitting on the loo is the perfect time to multi-task – is that a guy thing? Probably. If you ever email me and get a very thoughtful and considered response, chances are I answered it while, well, you know…

I’m in D.C. at an AAM Board meeting which is being held in the National Building Museum. (I’ve been elected to the board, but that’s another post…). When I used to work in D.C., I would pass this building every Saturday and Sunday when my regular Metro stop was closed. I never went inside, but its an amazing building. The interior is inspiring and there is an exhibition on Parking Garages, which is infinitely more interesting than its title would suggest.

Given that I love my Crackberry so much I was intrigued and excited to get an email a week ago from United (my preferred airline carrier) telling me that mobile check in would be available to me.

No friggin’ way… Yes, friggin’ way.

I couldn’t wait. 24 hours before my flight I logged into mobile.united.com, checked in, gave my email address (how come they didn’t know that already, given that it was they who emailed me?) and waited. Sure enough, an email arrived with the word Beta in large font at the top.

Uh oh. Not a good sign.

As I scrolled down the email, my excitement turned to disappointment. The three-step instructions were less than clear:

That’s Beta alright. Really? Nobody read the instructions? Undeterred, I deduced what the steps were and voila, what I thought was a QR code appeared on my mobile, but is in fact an Aztec Code. So much for standards, the airline industry appears to be almost as bad as the museum world when it comes to standards.

At LAX, I approached security, handed over my driver’s license, flashed my Crackberry like it was some kind of FBI badge and mumbled something about mobile checkin. The security officer motioned me to the laser reader, I waved my Crackberry over it like I was at the Self Service checkout at Whole Foods. It beeped an affirmative beep.

Friggin’ awesome.

Then there was a moment of confusion. You know that little purple ink stamp that they stamp on your boarding pass? No boarding pass, ergo no stamping opportunity. The security officer was genuinely perplexed. It was obviously less to do with security protocol and more to do with some OCD-based requirement on his part to stamp something. He tapped the desk with his stamp, which seemed to signify I was cleared.

So far so good, but I still had the airline’s “gate people” to deal with, which turned out to have its own problem, since they were not content to have me wave my Crackberry over their laser reader. In a similar OCD-based compulsion, I think she had to do the waving. As I handed over my Crackberry, either she or I inadvertently pressed right-hand “convenience” key, which turned out to not be convenient.

Given that I made it to D.C. you’ll know that the wave was ultimately successful and I embarked on a paperless flight. Friggin’ awesome. No more begging for the use of an office computer, no more paying the $5 minimum charge to log onto the hotel’s computer and then the 20c/sheet cost of printing, and no more tolerating that incomprehensibly designed boarding pass printing application that has sprung up in hotel receptions. Now that’s friggin’ loren ipsum…

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