When I was a kid receiving mail was always an exciting thing. Pulling an envelope from the mailbox with my name on it was a delight that was difficult to describe and having a parcel arrive was THE VERY BEST. The mailboxes back then were huge things compared to what the rural mailboxes are today. Right up until a few years back we still had one of those old boxes (Great for parcel delivery) until one day the snowplough banged it up, damaging it beyond repair. Here in E. Dalhousie Canada Post has graciously supplied several of the big green mailboxes for the homeowners who live on the lakes. But the majority of the mailboxes in the area are the kind where the mail driver can pull right up, open the door and load it up!
These past couple of days I’ve been cleaning out my mailbox. No, no, no not the regular mailbox that sits out at the end of the driveway, my inbox. I love my inbox for the sheer convenience of it. I don’t have to worry about the snowplough hitting it or Canada Post telling me I must move it to the right or left, but I do have to contend with things like viruses and power outages, not to mention the dreaded computer crash.
My how times have changed!
Most of the mail I get today comes into my inbox at all hours of the day and night. While it’s more convenient in some ways, it actually makes more work for me— sorting, deleting, and reading the mail. Before I know it my inbox has over a thousand emails in my inbox, my sent messages and my deleted messages (Yup, I have to delete from my inbox, from my sent meassages and then I have to go through and delete all the deleted one…sheesh!) That’s a lot of emails to contend with and time consuming since I tend to wait until it is out of hand before deciding to deal with it.
But I am getting organized. Yay me!
As for any fellow bloggers out there whose blogs I am subscribed to through WordPress do not feel snubbed if you notice that I am no longer subscribed. I’ve discovered Google Reader awhile back and while I have many of my favourite blogs added to it already I didn’t have you all. That’s been changed or soon will be. Google Reader is great. It lets you know when blogs have been updated without having the emails arrive in your regular inbox. (Much less deleting for me.!)
Now I’m off to unsubscribe and subscribe. But not to worry, I’ll still be seeing you all later.
Laura Best 
newtowritinggirl
/ June 3, 2010Google reader sounds brilliant – just the kind of thing I need I’ll have to take a look at that. Thanks for mentioning it!
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Laura Best
/ June 4, 2010You’re most welcome. It is a great way to keep track of blogs. I’m glad I found out about it.
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Melanie
/ June 3, 2010I still think getting mail is exciting! Except for when it’s a bill lol. E-mail is conveinent and all, but it’s just not the same as a real letter. It makes me a little sad that less and less people send letters by post anymore…
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Laura Best
/ June 4, 2010I kind of agree, there’s nothing like getting mail the old fashioned way. I much prefer cheques to bills any day!
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Carol J. Garvin
/ June 3, 2010An ISP change can simplify the sorting in a scary kind of way. Everything not saved to a separate e-mail folder on my computer disappeared today when my old service terminated! Fortunately I was expecting it, but it certainly made short work of my task.
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Laura Best
/ June 4, 2010Yes, sounds as though that would be one way of getting rid of emails. Quite quickly, too!!
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dave ebright
/ June 3, 2010Yeah I know all about mailboxes & snow plows. I wiped out our mailbox (in Pa not Fl) backing Deb’s car into the driveway to get ready for the plow to come through (Crunched her mirror too! Had no idea they were worth $500) My neighbor laughed @ me – I replied with something unkind. He went in the house. Chicken.
I’m thinking email is becoming intrusive. I keep winning millions from around the globe & some lady keeps calling me “Dear One” – howz she know I’m a “Dear One”?
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Laura Best
/ June 4, 2010I’ve never won any money, never had promises of it, either. I actually get very little spam. Always makes me laugh, though. There’s something about an email that starts out with, “Dude” that makes you want to hit delete immediately.
You get “Dear one” and I get “Dude” they must have us confused. 🙂
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Tricia
/ June 5, 2010google reader? What do I know? I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the tip.
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Laura Best
/ June 5, 2010You’re welcome, Tricia!
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donthangupthequill
/ June 5, 2010I used to love getting mail! And then college hit, and all my mail contained was bills, bills, bills. Heh. When I was in grade school, my mailbox was first base for the neighborhood baseball games. 🙂
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Laura Best
/ June 5, 2010It’s too bad that bills have to put a damper on what would otherwise be a wonderful experience. I tend t pass the bills along to my “better half” and keep the cheques for me! 🙂
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wrightwriter
/ June 6, 2010I was at a conference last week and one of the presenters, a very savvy business-to-business freelancer, uses direct mail to cold-call new clients. She said that people get so little letter mail today that there’s an excellent chance that they will read what they do receive and your message will get across. Something to think about. PS Hi Laura. Thought I’d visit your blog in return! I’ll be back. Heather
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Laura Best
/ June 6, 2010Hi Heather. Nice to meet you. I’ll be visiting your again as well. Good luck with your writing!
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