Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

From Wendy's World

It never ceases to amaze me how things can come completely out of the blue to whack you on your rear.

Case in point. Lately my personal email account has been a bit ... well ... goofed up, for lack of a more technical word. The delivery has been a bit erratic in the past few weeks, but I got a message from the folks that oversee the program with an assurance that all is well. Of course, they also announced that theyre working to improve the system and will soon have some issues resolved. That in itself told me that things werent grand in e-mail land.

I like e-mail. In fact, I love it. I can remember in college that I was offered bonus points for sending an email to the teacher. It was simply too much trouble and I could never get the syntax correct. I wrote off those points and figured Id continue using a computer for what it was made for - solitaire.

But things change and anyone who isnt willing to change is likely to be left behind, so I reluctantly followed suit and eventually be acclimated to the technology. Today, I typically get several dozen e-mails each day. Many are junk but its my favorite way to stay in touch with family and friends. As I said, I now love e-mail.

Usually.

This morning I opened my e-mail box to find some 7,000 messages - 7,647, to be exact.

Naturally, this is mostly junk. Boyd wants to remind me that I can get super-duper refinancing at an all-time low rate. Chris wants me to know that shes mailed my order, even though I havent ordered anything. Felicia wants to know if Id like to earn a degree without spending a single hour in a classroom.

Darnel wants to know if Id like to lose a few pounds and Brad wants me to know that he has a product that will replace all the hair Im losing. I want to know how Darnel and Brad know that Im having issues!

Im just amazed by the amount of junk mail thats coming through my e-mail, but I think that maybe - just maybe - its better than getting 7,467 pieces of junk mail in my regular mailbox at home. And the postal service thinks so, too.

I resolutely started deleting e-mails but had only gotten through about 200 when I gave up. Thank goodness someone in e-mail land figured out that I was having an issue and when I logged back in a few hours later I was back to the 40 or so messages that I expected. Of course, both Brad and Darnel are still in the mix. Maybe I could take out a loan to pay for hair plugs and a tummy toning program.