How Many Marketing E-mails Does One Person Need?

My wife and I are constantly thinking about possible vacations and I have ours planned for the next year. One of those vacations will be an Alaskan Cruise. I'm not sure if I should be sharing that as I already receive too many e-mails trying to help me plan that specific vacation. My fear is that announcing something on the Internet will only invite more e-mails.

I have been to Alaska several times in the summer and have a good idea of what to expect. For instance, I know that Alaska is a huge state and has many different experiences to offer. A week up there doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what there is to see and do. The idea of doing a cruise allows us to see some of the coastal cities all in the same trip, which is why we are planning it.

Unfortunately I made the mistake of letting one of the major cruise lines know I am interested in doing a cruise. Now I am receiving 2 e-mails every day from the company. Is there any difference between the e-mail in the morning and the one in the afternoon? The content seems different but when you click on any of the links in the message, you end up at the same spot. I'm surprised that any marketing department in the world would think it acceptable to send that much e-mail. My wife has suggested that I simply unsubscribe from the company. That is what a sane person would do but I find it just as easy to delete all of those e-mails. My justification is that when I am ready to book the cruise, I'll have the list of specials right in front of me. The funny thing is that we know the cruise we want to take and it isn't from the cruise line sending me daily information.

The reality is that there needs to be a way to tell marketing people your threshold for e-mails. Some people may be interested in multiple e-mails a day while others may only want to see something once a month. There should also be an options for daily and weekly. People may start out interested in all of the specials but it won't take long for them to sour on your messages if you send too many.

Life Without E-Mail

Yesterday I woke up early and got ready to head to my morning workout. Before doing so I like to check both work and personal e-mail to make sure I am not missing an important meeting that got scheduled overnight. My work e-mail and calendar showed a clear morning. When I went to get my personal e-mail, I couldn't connect to the server. I didn't worry about it and headed out for some exercise.

I got home and still didn't have access to my personal e-mail. I tried to log into my e-mail service provider's website and couldn't get there either. At this point I knew they must have done something big. I wondered if it had anything to do with the wildfires in Southern California (It did not). On a whim, I logged into my company's VPN which make it looks like I am located in Southern California and managed to get to my e-mail service provider's website. There I could log a ticket with technical support and try to get help.

As a side note, it is tough to get e-mail-based technical support when you can't get your own e-mail. I had to periodically check the website to see if they had any updates. Doing so allowed me to see that they had moved my e-mail server from an old machine to a new one and propagating those changes takes time. Fortunately those changes came through much more quickly on the VPN and I could use a web client to see all of my e-mail. I really only had one important message letting me know I am involved in testing a new outdoor product. That is always exciting.

I went to sleep knowing I could access my personal e-mail from my work laptop. I hoped that everything would be working when I got up in the morning. This morning I headed down to my computer after breakfast and still didn't have access. 

I logged into my e-mail provider's website and looked at the ticket to see if they had any information. They asked for a traceroute. A traceroute is a command you can run in a command-line terminal window to see the path data travels to get from your computer to a specific server on the Internet. On Mac and Linux you just type "traceroute www.google.com" and on Windows you type "tracert www.google.com". Unfortunately my personal network at home traps that information and doesn't allow the path to be seen. This is a security protection and I needed to open the firewall to allow the data through. In desperation I pinged my e-mail server just to see if I could get to it from my home network using "ping mail.myserver.com" and something happened. I started receiving packets back. I tried checking e-mail on my computer and everything seemed to work.

Naturally I updated the ticket with my e-mail service provider and let them know I could get my e-mail now. I read through the useless messages I received overnight and felt a huge wave of relief with that problem solved. I then sent out a very important e-mail that I put off sending last night.

One would think that life without e-mail would be calming. I found it to be quite the opposite as I have become conditioned to getting useless messages throughout my day to prove I am connected. Without e-mail, small-unrelated problems became magnified into larger issues than reality. Now things are working and I feel much better even though I don't have any important messages that need my urgent attention. I wonder if I am addicted to e-mail? Probably.

The Marriott Pillows Scam E-mail

I just checked my e-mail this morning and received an interesting message that is obviously a scam. The subject line says, "Welcome to Our Marriot Luxury Pillows Survey Zone." The first thing I noticed is that they spelled Marriott wrong as there are 2-T's at the end of the name, not 1. My curiosity drove me to figure out what the scam is.

I am not foolish enough to click on the link in the message and so I typed the subject of it into my usual Internet search engine and came across a nice Reddit post explaining the scam. Unfortunately it is a world-wide scam as people from the UK posted about it as well as fellow Americans. It seems you fill out the survey and then to get the pillows you have to pay a $7 or $8 shipping fee. Later they go back and try to charge you around $60. If you use a debit card, you have to rely on your bank to catch the fraud as credit card companies provide protection from such nefarious individuals.

I am a big fan of Marriott hotels having recently stayed at one during a trip to Orlando with 2 of my grand kids. I hate to see a good company like that associated with such a scam even though they can't control bad actors on the Internet. Hopefully others will see my post and not fall for such an obvious fraud. I also can't believe the thieves are only trying to get $60. That seems like a lot of work on their part for very little reward. I wonder if they think that is the threshold where people don't pursue recourse. Whatever their thoughts, don't click on the link and stay safe online.

Internet on a Plane

I have been traveling a lot with recent trips to Alaska, Mexico, and Hawaii. This has given me the chance to test Internet conditions for a lot of different environments including on a cruise ship. I spend all day working in front of a computer and while the device is important, an Internet connection is usually required to remain effective.

So why do I need an Internet connection? I spend a lot of time communicating with my fellow employees. E-mail is good for this but I also use Microsoft Teams and the messaging included with it. I can live without those connections for only a short amount of time before people begin to worry. I also spend a lot of time working on shared documents. While I may have a local copy that I can edit on a plane, it sure is nice to have my changes seen immediately by others working on the document also.

Delta Airlines has started offering free Internet connections to all of the passengers that are members of their frequent flyer program. You don't have be any special status to use the service, just a member of the program. I gave it a try on a recent trip and discovered it works well. Unfortunately you cannot make voice or video calls but you can use it for e-mail, instant messaging, and editing shared documents. Delta claims that it is fast enough to watch a streaming movie and so I don't see why one wouldn't be able to use it for video calls other than the FAA regulation that prohibits it. I did notice the service felt choppy in some instances and I am not sure how the upload speed is so it may be a prohibiting factor.

I also had the chance to check out Alaska Airline's Internet service on my recent trip to Hawaii. While I flew out on a Sunday, I returned on a Thursday and worked on the plane as I flew home. I made sure to let my boss know I wouldn't be available for a meeting during my flight time. Unfortunately the service is not free for everyone. As a T-mobile customer, I had an hour of free Internet service which I never tried. However I did set up texting from my phone and remained in contact with people during the flight.

The overall lesson learned from using Internet on a plane is that as long as I don't have any meetings, it is a viable option to remain productive. Unfortunately for me, I generally have meetings daily and so it is probably impossible to take a day to fly somewhere and count it as a work day. That is something I will need to remember as I make plans for future travel.

Storing Electronic Files

Ever since my first computer I have had to work hard to best organize my electronic files. It started with school papers that I thought I would want to keep around forever. Then the problem seemed to explode as film cameras gave way to digital ones and I started storing photos on my computer. Throw in how to best keep e-mail messages and you can see how having a good filing system is required.

Back with my original computer I used floppy disks to store all my school papers. The documents never got very large and so I could use one disk for each class. Even if I still had those disks, I don't have a computer that can read them. Computer operating systems evolved to have a default storage directory or folder for your documents, appropriately named "Documents." There are also picture and movie folders. You can then nest folders inside of other folders to help you organize your electronic files even more.

In my pictures directory I have created a number of folders by subject. I have one folder that I use to store all the pictures of my grand kids and another for my trips to Disneyland. What happens when I take pictures of my grand kids at Disneyland? This is why it is important to have a good filing system. Unix and Linux allow you to easily create symbolic links. This means you can have one file with links to that single file appearing in multiple directories. Unfortunately that is a lot of work to set up when I am just dumping photos onto my computer. Instead I just know all photos related to a trip will appear in the trip folder even if they contain pictures of my grand kids. The "Grand Kids" folder is just the repository for all other pictures of my favorite little people.

What about multiple trips to Disneyland? That is easy. I have a top folder named, "Disneyland," with sub folders inside listing the dates of each trip. I should probably do something similar with my grand kids folder so I know which kid is who while I can still remember. Once kids get older they become much more difficult to differentiate between siblings. I'll save that for another day.

Finally there is the dreaded e-mail organization. I am one of those people that just keeps everything important in my "inbox" until it is no longer needed. Speaking from experience, that is a horrible way to store e-mail. Every week or so, I will go through and delete unneeded e-mails. I also have other mailboxes that relate to major categories. My work e-mail has a mailbox for each project I am working on. My personal e-mail has categories like skiing or Sony, should I receive a work e-mail in my personal account. About once a week, I take an hour and go through both e-mail accounts and move messages from my inboxes to appropriate mailboxes. A lot of the time I will delete messages as they become irrelevant. If I am really on top of things, I will move a message into the appropriate mailbox as soon as it comes in, which is ideal.

So what is your best electronic file storage tip? I'd be interested to know as it may help me. I'm sure others would be interested too. 

My Personal Dashboard

I do a bit of volunteer work using my amateur radio skills. Sometimes this allows me entrance into community emergency operations centers or EOCs. They tend to look like NASA's mission control or at least what we see of it in movies. There are generally large screens showing all sorts of information that is helpful for dealing with an emergency that might be taking place.

Lately I have been thinking about information I find useful as I go about my daily routine. After all, I generally spend most of my day at my computer for work and have my personal computer next to my work one. I thought I would give a rundown of what my personal dashboard looks like in the hopes of giving others ideas of what might help them.

I would say that the most often visited application on my personal computer is my e-mail. About 90% of the e-mail I get is immediately deleted and so while I spend a lot of time looking at it, the information isn't that useful. 

Next I have my web browser open and have 4 tabs that I constantly view. It doesn't matter if it is summer or winter, I am always looking at 4 websites. One of those is weather.gov. This is where most news organizations get their information and so instead of picking my favorite local site, I just go to the source. In the winter, I focus on the forecast for Alta ski resort. In the summer, I shift down to my own neighborhood.

The second website I check is for my stock portfolio. Right now the market is pretty depressed and so I only check it daily. When the market is up, I probably check it 3 or 4 times a day. Naturally when I am looking to invest, I spend a lot of time here.

My third website is that of my YouTube channel. I like to see if I have any comments to respond to as well as see how many people are viewing any of my videos. I don't have a lot of daily views but it is interesting to see trends and how the weather effects the number of views. Let's just say that in May of this year I was seeing 8,000 views in a single day.

Finally I have this blog in the 4th tab of my browser. I don't check to see how many views a post is getting. Instead I keep the window open to remind me to post something every few days. I only get about 10 reads of each post and I never get any comments. This is in sharp contrast to my YouTube channel where I average around 150 views every day.

Inventorying what I have in my personal dashboard has me thinking. Are there any other tidbits of information I should be reviewing on a daily basis? Perhaps traffic? As I work out of my home, I don't see the need to keep a traffic map open. It is nice to know it is there if I need it though.

Digital Privacy

This afternoon I checked my personal e-mail and received a message claiming to be from my company. While I work for Sony, my personal e-mail is through a domain that I own and it looks like another company. The message claimed to be from the admin account and said that I had 3 undelivered e-mails because they were SPAM. My e-mail account has a different filtering mechanism and I would never get an e-mail from the "admin". I had a link I could have clicked but I'm sure the results would have been nefarious. This is what is known as a Phishing attack. Paying attention helps ensure I don't inadvertently install a virus or malware on my computer. This has the potential of releasing all sorts of personal information to bad actors that can steal my identity, drain my bank account, and ruin my credit.

Your digital privacy is very important and you should do everything you can to protect it. Being aware of potential phishing attacks is only one step of many. I also limit the information I share with various websites where I have login accounts. I never provide my social security number nor do I provide my birthday. There are many websites that require a birthday simply to verify age. I use the same fictitious date for such occasions and avoid providing my real birthday if I can help it.

Another trick to maintaining your digital privacy is to limit your payment information. There are a lot of websites that want to make purchases as simple as possible and so they offer to store your credit card information. Then you just have to hit the "purchase" button and it automatically bills your credit card. I actually have my primary credit card memorized and re-enter the information every time I make a purchase from infrequent accounts. It only slows me down a few seconds but gives me piece of mind every time I receive an e-mail about websites being hacked and payment information stolen.

One final word of caution is to severely limit who has access to your bank account information. This includes debit cards. Once someone gets into your bank account, it is very difficult to get your money back once it is gone. By using credit cards for all payments, you have a level of protection that ensures you don't lose any money. You just need to notify your credit card company about fraudulent transactions and they will credit your account while they investigate. You may have to provide additional documentation but most credit card companies will catch the invalid purchases before you do.

Unfortunately there are some thieves out there and the ubiquity of the Internet makes it easy for a small number of bad guys to inflict harm on a large number of good ones. Taking your digital privacy seriously will help reduce damages. I just wish there was a sure-fire way to keep yourself 100% secure.  

Efficient E-Mail

I spent last week traveling around the United States. I had to go to Los Angeles for work during the first half of the week and then to visit my son with his family in Ohio. During that time, I built up quite a bit of e-mail and so I spent today going through all the messages I put off until I got home.

While in Los Angeles, I got to spend some face-to-face time with my boss and could see that he has very few e-mails sitting in his inbox. I consistently have over 100, and that is much better than I used to be when I had close to 1000. I could still improve and so I hope to share a few tricks that I hope to use more myself.

Growing up my dad always counseled that you should try to touch an item only once. He generally meant that for cleaning up the house but it also applies to efficiency with e-mail. When you get and receive an e-mail, you should try to deal with it immediately instead of going through all of your messages and then going back to respond to the important ones. This is an area where I could use some help.

My wife is someone that likes everything put away. If she sees something out, she will put it away. If it is a new item and there is no home for it, she will make one, sometimes without telling me where it ended up and so I have to hunt for it. I tend to let things rest on a shelf or counter for way too long. The same holds true for my inbox. Most e-mail programs have folders to help you sort and keep those important messages. I have started creating folders but could probably be better at it. Then so many e-mails won't clutter my inbox.

Finally, not all e-mails need to be saved. This is one area I am great at. I have my trash folder set to delete messages after 1 to 2 months depending upon if it is my personal or work e-mail. Should I accidentally delete something, I can always rummage through the trash and find it for a short time. There are a lot of unneeded e-mails that can be deleted and so don't feel bad throwing them away.

I'm sure there are a few more ways to keep your inbox down to only a few messages. I would be interested in finding out other tricks so don't hesitate to leave a comment and let me know what works for you.

Apple's Email Update for Big Sur Blows

Generally I am a fan of Apple products. This is not because they are technically better than the competition but because they have a more polished look and feel. When you buy something from Apple, it just feels easier to use. On occasion they make a mistake and that happened with the latest update of their operating system. They made certain things more complex than they need to be and it is painful. The latest update to their e-mail program is a prime example.

A few days ago I was going through my e-mail and accidentally deleted a message that I still needed. I opened my trash only to discover that it wasn't there. Wait a second, does this mean that all of the e-mails I deleted got permanently removed from my computer? That is bad as it is easy to delete a group of messages when you only want to delete a single one in the thread. This sent me on a search to solve the problem.

The first thing I did was check my e-mail preferences. I had everything set to copy deleted messages to the trash and then purge the trash of all messages older than a month. I also experimented with deleting a message and then undoing the action. As expected, the deleted message reappeared in my inbox. That means the e-mail program was storing them somewhere and I just needed to find out where.

My next source of help came from an Internet search. I had to go through a number of messages on Apple's support forum but eventually found the culprit. The engineers decided that people might have multiple e-mail accounts and so they created multiple trash bins. When I looked at the trash folder "On My Mac," it didn't contain a single message. I needed to locate the trash bin associated with my e-mail account. Normally I would expect it to show up along with all of the other folders on the left side of my e-mail program. It wasn't there and so I needed to add it. How do you do that? There is a search box on the upper right side of the e-mail program and I searched for "Trash." Sure enough I had 2 trash folders: one on my mac and the other for the domain name for my e-mail. I clicked on the account trash folder and it crashed the e-mail program.

I found the right trash folder but couldn't get to it without crashing my e-mail. I did find a solution though. I simply clicked the "+" icon next next to the "Favorites" section on the left of my e-mail and added "All Trash" to it. Now I have to click on "All Trash" which brings up my 2 trash folders and I can see all of the e-mail I have deleted in the past month.

I don't know why the software developers at Apple went out of their way to complicate something that should be so simple. I wouldn't expect this from a company that generally creates intuitive user interfaces. Apple, you failed me on this one.

Don't Hack a Hacker

This morning I got done skiing and had to work from my home office. I sat down at my desk and got an e-mail that began with the following:

   Hello!
   My nickname in darknet is HckD4*.

The poor grammar indicates that the person does not speak English as his/her native language. Already I am preparing for a SPAM e-mail, however I am intrigued. It goes on:

   I hacked this mailbox more than six 
   months ago, through it I infected your 
   operating system with a virus (trojan) 
   created by me and have been monitoring 
   you for a long time.

Interesting. I wonder if HckD4* is as tired of all the SPAM I get or if he/she thinks I get a lot of important e-mails? The message goes on:

   If you don't belive me please check 
  'from address' in your header, you will 
   see that I sent you an email from your 
   mailbox.

Well that's not that hard to do. If you know anything about Simple Mail Transport Protocol or SMTP, then you know that is a fairly simple task. Any hacker with about an hour of experience can fake a message to look like it came from your own server. The trick is to look at the headers for the e-mail to see if that is actually the case. In my e-mail client, I selected the box to show all of the header information and see that the message came from a server named z3.hck7.pro, which is located in the country of Panama. Needless to say that is not even remotely close to where my e-mail server is located. My original hunch is correct and this is just a SPAM e-mail.

For your enjoyment and mine, the message continues:

   I have access to all your accounts, 
   social networks, email, browsing 
   history. Accordingly, I have the data 
   of all your contacts, files from your 
   computer, photos and videos.

Even if I believed this person, there is nothing of value there. I don't do a lot of social networking. I don't visit questionable or incriminating websites. All of my photos on my computer are tasteful and probably boring to most people besides me. So at this point, there is nothing compelling me to be to afraid. Now we get to the point of the message:

   I was most struck by the intimate 
   content sites that you occasionally 
   visit. You have a very wild imagination, 
   I tell you!

Wow! If I didn't know this was a fake before now, I do now. Sure I visit a lot of video game sites but that shouldn't be embarrassing. What else would make me embarrassed?

   During your pastime and entertainment 
   there, I took screenshot through the 
   camera of your device, synchronizing 
   with what you are watching. Oh my god! 
   You are so funny and excited!

Oh if this was real, he/she must have a picture of me picking my nose or something. That really isn't that embarrassing. Furthermore my e-mail computer doesn't have a camera connected. My laptop does, but it is from work and so locked down with security software, there is not a chance in the world that someone has hacked into it. Trust me, our IT department takes a lot of crap because we have so much anti-virus software. For once I am glad it is there. Oh, my laptop is also a Mac and there are significantly fewer virus programs written for the Mac.

Finally, the hacker tells me what he/she is really after:

   I think that you do not want all your 
   contacts to get these files, right? If 
   you are of the same opinion, then I 
   think that $1000 is quite a fair price 
   to destroy the dirt I created.

The message then goes on to give me a bitcoin wallet and where to send the money.

Messages like this really make me angry. I have been using computers for a long time and know how to verify if the message is real or not. What about other people that don't? Hopefully you don't fall for such an obvious fake. How can you tell if it is a fake message? Well think about legitimate e-mails from people like your credit card company. An extortion e-mail should include some of the following:

1. Your actual name - This e-mail did not contain my name at all. It had my e-mail but that is necessary to contact me in the first place. If the hacker had really been spying on me, he/she would at least know my real name.
2. Some other information about you - Credit card companies always tell you the message is from your account ending in 4 specific digits. If those digits don't match any of your credit cards, you know it is a fake, unless someone has opened a credit card in your name without you knowing about it (but that is a topic for another time). This e-mail had nothing like that.
3. Some sort of proof - If you are going to try and extort $1000 from me, you better have some sort of proof that I have done something worth hiding from all of my contacts. How hard is it to send an image with proof? If you have the images claimed in the e-mail, it isn't. If you don't, it is impossible.

The more I thought about this e-mail, the more I realized how fake it actually is. Let's assume I have spent some of my computer time doing something I want to hide from my wife or contacts. Is it actually worth $1000 to keep hidden? Most of the people I know that cruise the Internet for pornography don't try to hide it. They may not brag about it in mixed company, but they are also not ashamed of it. Sure some people will be embarrassed but it might start a conversation that needed to take place anyways.

Hopefully none of you fall for such a scam. If you would like another source talking about this same e-mail in more detail, here is a good article.

E-mail Marketing

Like most people, I really hate getting unwanted e-mail. It clogs my inbox and instead of making me want to buy someone's product, it makes me hate it. In fact, every day I go through my e-mail and click the "Unsubscribe" link if it is trying to sell me a product for which I have no interest.

Every day I still get about 30 to 40 messages that I never read and just delete. The difference is that the e-mail comes from a place where I may eventually have an interest. For instance, I love playing the guitar and I get a message from Guitar Center and one from Musician's Friend every day. If you ask my wife, I already have too many guitars and so rather than be tempted to buy something that may get me in trouble at home, I just delete the messages without reading them. Every once in a while I discover I need something from a music store and so those are the first places I go to see what is available. Therefore I don't want to unsubscribe from them.

When you are looking to make a purchase, communication of any kind from a vendor that sells what you want to buy is seen as helpful. The rest of the time it is annoying.

A few months ago I received an e-mail from a company that provides a service to me and my wife. It announced that The Brian Setzer Orchestra would be playing in Salt Lake City on December 18th. As my wife and I are always looking for some fun Holiday activities I jumped at the chance to get early discount tickets to the sold-out show. My wife had never heard of them but agreed it would be fun. As we rode home from the show last night, she remarked about how much fun she had. I had to agree that it is one of the best Christmas shows we have ever seen. They even had an ode to the Nutcracker Suite at the end. I leaned over and asked my wife if that meant I could get out of seeing the ballet version this season. She said it counted.

Should you wish to sell your wares via e-mail marketing, remember that most people won't even bother to read your message. The exception is if they are looking to buy exactly what you are selling. Even then, that is questionable. So be careful and screen your recipients meticulously.

Is it Really Hacking?

I have a son living in Armenia. He has been there for about 18 months and will be done with his assignment, ready to return in August. When he comes back he will be enrolling in the University and will begin classes in September. In order to get him ready for class, my wife has access to his e-mail account. The University is starting to send him information now and my wife wants to make sure everything is taken care of and he is ready to go. My son is relying on my wife to help with some of these tasks and is glad my wife can get into his e-mail. Is this considered "Hacking his e-mail?" I don't think so.

My son is in Armenia with a number of other American young men and women. The parents (mostly the mothers) of these kids sort of have a support group that remains in constant contact with one another. They even go to lunch on a monthly basis. Every Monday we get an e-mail from our son telling us how his week has gone. The parents in this support group also get e-mails from their children and then there is a flurry of e-mail exchanges that take place between the parents so we get an idea of how things are going for others. If any of those expected e-mails to the parents are late, there is a mass of group texting among the mothers to see who has received an e-mail and who hasn't. Sometimes e-mail servers are down and it takes an extra hour or two for messages to get through.

This past Monday happened to be President's day and it also happened that some of the e-mails were delayed. I got to listen to my wife's phone get group text message after message. I asked her what was going on and she explained about the frantic worries of mothers that had not heard from their kids. We got a letter from our son and so I knew there wasn't some sort of terrorist attack or massive earthquake over there. Eventually the mothers started calming down once they were able to "hack their kids' e-mail." They all have the passwords to their children's e-mail accounts. So they logged in and checked the "Sent" folder. Sure enough, the messages had been sent, just not yet received. I had to laugh at the term used by all of the mothers: hacked e-mail.

So that leads me to my question: Is it really hacking? Again, if you have your child's permission to log into his or her e-mail account and also have the password, I don't think it is hacking. It is more like "logging in." Perhaps I am being a bit too literal. What do you think?

Waking Up Early

Every time I think I have this jet-lag thing figured out, I prove that I don't. I got home from Japan Friday evening and immediately went to bed. I woke up at 4:30 am and started the day as I couldn't fall back asleep. That gave me time to go through all of my accumulated e-mail and postal mail before the family got up and we went skiing.

I stayed up as late as I could on Saturday evening yet found myself asleep at 8:30pm. I thought I would sleep through the night but was up at 1:30am, unable to do anything more than force my eyes closed. I got out of bed at 3:30am and did a few quiet projects around the house.

Last night I stayed up and made it to 10:30 before I fell asleep. Then I was up this morning at 4:30 ready to go. The nice thing about being up so early is that I was able to get an early start on the day. I finished watching a YouTube video from a recent ham-radio conference. Then I read my e-mail from the weekend. When my wife woke up to get ready for work, I talked to her. I really felt like I got an early start on the day and appreciated what seemed like extra hours in the day.

Unfortunately it is only 5:30pm and I am ready for bed. My wife got tickets to go see a high-school play this evening in support of our niece. I hope I actually get to watch it and I don't end up taking a nap. Stupid jet-lag.

E-Mail is Bad on Vacation

I just got back from a week in Hawaii and learned a very important lesson. I should say I re-learned a very important lesson: Avoid e-mail and as much technology as possible while on vacation. As usual, I brought my laptop so I could stay up on my e-mail. Each time I would turn on my computer, I would have at least one message that required immediate attention. It got to the point where I started getting mad at people for sending me work to do while on vacation. Then I realized that while some people knew I was out of the office, not everyone did.

Friends asking me to help with things in the neighborhood or with Scouts assumed I was just away during the week like I normally am. They didn't know I was trying to get some rest before the chaos that happens in the video game industry right as Christmas approaches. Once I realized that people were not going out of their way to upset me on vacation, I also figured out that the best way to keep from getting angry was to stop reading e-mail and checking my phones. In fact, I left them in my hotel room during the day and tried my best not to check them at night. I wasn't perfect, but it was nice to unplug from technology for a few days.

My 21-year-old daughter that came with my wife and I on this trip remarked how her generation found it difficult to unplug. She followed my example and left her phone in the hotel room as well. She noticed how others her age would float along on an inner-tube on the resort hotel's extensive lazy river with iPhone's in waterproof cases unable to refrain from constantly looking at the screen. She was disgusted with her contemporaries. I also noticed that younger children quickly snatched parents' phones the moment they were put down so electronic games could be played. Parents and adults were no better as they constantly ignored family members to stay in contact with their hand-held devices.

I enjoyed my trip to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I especially enjoyed not being connected to the rest of the world. My hope that at least one person reads this and follows our example and disconnects on their next vacation. It may only be for a day or two but you will be richly rewarded.

A Day Without E-mail

Yesterday I flew from London, England to San Francisco, California and spent a lot of the day in the air. I actually had a layover in Los Angeles but never bothered to check my e-mail. Last night when I got back to my boat I was so tired I didn't bother checking e-mail either. I just went to bed.

It was nice having a day off from e-mail. I don't suggest you do it every day, but every once and a while, it is nice to do something else. In addition to catching up on movies on the flight, I also finished reading James Mitchner's Tales of the South Pacific. What a pleasant day.

The only downside to reading e-mail for a day is that eventually you have to turn on the computer, tablet, or phone and get back to work. Today was not fun. At least I got caught up on e-mail though.

E-mail on the Phone

I love being able to check my e-mail on my smartphone. It is very handy and useful when I am out and about. I can instantly check to see if there are any important messages that need attention while at the grocery store or even at Disneyland. However I much prefer to do e-mail on my laptop or desktop computer. There is something nice about being able to type on a full-size keyboard.

My day was spent in a very important meeting with other parts of my company and it was nice to have my laptop that I could pull out to read e-mail. Sure I could have used my phone but since I had my laptop, I used it. One of my colleagues from New York wasn't so lucky. Her Windows laptop inexplicably died and so she was stuck using her phone. At lunch she turned her laptop into our IT department and they started working on it. At the end of the day I found her wandering around trying to find our IT department so she could pick it back up. I walked with her to their lab and we found the guys still trying to bring her computer back from the dead. Unfortunately they were not done.

My colleague was happy that they were helping her and she told them that she would just try and use her phone to deal with the 225 or so unread e-mail messages. They worked some magic and gave her a loaner laptop complete with her e-mail loaded onto it. She was so happy not to be relegated to her tiny on-screen keyboard for the evening. I have to say I was happy our IT department could set her up with a loaner laptop so quickly. After all, 10 e-mail messages is about my limit on a phone, then I run the risk of destroying it out of frustration.

Time to Find a New E-Mail Provider

Last Thursday I stopped receiving e-mail. I get enough daily e-mail that I knew something was wrong fairly quickly and so I called my e-mail service provider to register a problem. The first level of support took my information and passed it onto the second-level team. I was in a meeting when they called back but the resulting voicemail informed me that I had two invalid name servers associated with my domain name. I promptly removed the offending name servers. I was also told that there was a problem with one of their e-mail servers where and my e-mail was effected. It didn't bother me to be without e-mail for a few days but I continued checking on things over the weekend.

Monday I still didn't have e-mail and so I logged a call with their technical support. Tuesday I was tied up in meetings and didn't have the chance to check with my e-mail service provider. When things still were not working yesterday, I gave them a call again. As luck would have it, I got a call back when I was out of my home office for just a moment. The voicemail message was very similar to the one I had gotten on Thursday telling me there were two name servers that needed to be deleted. I immediately called back only to discover that level two support was done for the day and I would have to wait until this morning to hear back from them. When I called back this morning, level-two support was busy and couldn't help me. I talked with a supervisor only to be told they would have to call me back.

A week without e-mail is ridiculous. That means it is time to find a different e-mail service provider. I really don't have many requirements. I want to be able to use a webmail interface to read messages while I am at work. When I am home, I want to be able to download the messages using POP3. The only other requirement is that it comes with a good SPAM filter. In doing a bit of research, WEB.COM seems to have some fairly good packages for about $6/month. I am currently paying $10/month and so I will save myself some money. Now I just need to figure out a way to get my cached e-mail over the last week.

Waiting for E-mail

It is a little after 6am here in Tokyo this morning and I am busy going through my morning ritual. One of the best ways I know on fighting jet lag is to try and stay on your old schedule as much as possible. So in Japan that means waking up at 4 or 5am and going to bed fairly early. The time difference is as much as 8 hours from home and so that is not a foolproof way of dealing with being a third of a way around the world, but it does help.

I have been up since 4:45 this morning and running through my daily routine. I start by trying to sleep as long as possible. Then I sit in bed and read the daily newspaper that is delivered to my hotel room. English papers in Japan are only about 10 pages and so that is a quick read. The stories haven't changed much since I was last here about 2 months ago. After the paper I sit down and read e-mail. I start with my personal e-mail and even though I received about 45 messages, thanks to a good spam filter, there were really only 2 or 3 messages that were important to me. Then I log into my work e-mail and that is where I am now.

Unfortunately it takes a while for Microsoft Outlook to sync with the servers and so I am patiently waiting for my e-mail to download to my laptop. Once that is done, I can attack all of those things from the office back in the States that have been happening while I slept. After all, it is a little after 1 in the afternoon back there and everyone has had an entire morning to flood my inbox with inquiries and requests. Perhaps now is a good time for a shower.

A Relaxing Sunday

Tomorrow I don't have to wake up early and catch a flight to the Bay Area. Instead I will work the first three days of the week from home and have the next two days off. I try to make the most of my weekends and enjoy them up until the last minute. Knowing I don't have to catch a plane tomorrow has me much more at ease.

Normally I go to bed on Sunday evenings around 10:30 pm. That is because I have to wake up at 4:45 am on Monday to catch my flight. Tonight I can relax and not have to worry about what time to turn in. I also don't have to worry about packing my bags or making sure I have everything I will need for the week. Tonight is a much needed break.

So what am I going to do with all of this extra time? Read a book. Several years ago I picked up a book that contains journals from pioneers moving West in the mid 1800's. This morning I was able to crack off a chapter and realize how easy we have it today. While it may take me 11 hours to drive a car from my home in Salt Lake to the Bay Area, it took wagon trains months to cross the same distance. I also don't have to worry about my children dying of exposure along the way.

As we head into the Thanksgiving season, I have to say that I am thankful for the technology we have. I constantly utilize speedy transportation whether it be an automobile, train, or airplane. I also enjoy the benefits of instant electronic communication. This morning I sent an e-mail to my son in Armenia, half way around the world. I will have a response waiting for me tomorrow. Yes we live in wonderful times and I am thankful for that. I hope you are too.

The Humor in Spam E-mail

I have a pretty good filter that eliminates a lot of unwanted e-mail. Unfortunately it may be a little too good as I have to go through my filter list daily to make sure I am not missing any important messages. I quickly skim the subjects and the sender. If there is anything that I think might be important, I can view it without having it sent to my inbox.

Weird Al Yankovic did a song about a decade ago making fun of the absurdity of horoscopes and so with a little creative license, I would like to add my thoughts about all of the Spam e-mails I see on a daily basis.

Lose 20 pounds overnight - As someone who has lost about 30 pounds in the past 3 months, I know what it takes to lose weight. It really is a simple trick: eat less food and exercise more. Unfortunately the only way to lose 20 pounds overnight is to have one of your legs amputated. I've grown attached to mine and want to keep them so I won't be trying to lose 20 pounds overnight.

Reverse diabetes with this one simple trick - For a lot of people there really is one simple trick for reversing type 2 diabetes and that is to lose weight. However I think those that have type 1 diabetes are offended by such claims. Losing weight also doesn't guarantee you will reverse diabetes, but you may keep it at bay for a while. I'm sorry as I really do want there to be a magic cure for diabetes. Unfortunately it is not that simple for everyone. If you do have diabetes, please see your doctor and get help.

These women want to date you - If I was living below the poverty level of some 3rd world country and you offered to fly me to the United States or some other equally wealthy country, I'd want to date you to. There are much less expensive ways of getting a date though. Besides, this is most likely a scam.

Have an affair tonight - No, I like my wife and wouldn't want to do anything to hurt her. I suppose there are some that might find this e-mail entertaining, but I'll pass.

Find out if he is cheating on you - I think this e-mail is sent by the same people that sent the previous e-mail. Anyone who responds to the previous e-mail is put on a list and all they have to do is check to see if your name is on the list.

I will pay you $2 Million if you help me deposit this money - I get something like this on a daily basis. Remember that if something is too good to be true, it generally is. This is a good way to have someone give up bank account information that bad guys use to clean out savings accounts.

You've won a prize - Ok, I'll admit that once I really did win a prize and they notified me by e-mail. However they provided information that I had given them when I signed up for the contest and so I knew it was real. Generally speaking though, you didn't win anything and it is just another scam.

Repayment of the money lost in a scam - This one is just sad even if it is a bit clever. If someone was gullible enough to get scammed once, they just might fall for it again in the hopes of getting their money back. Too bad it doesn't really work that way. 

I'm stuck in a foreign country and need your help to get home - I actually almost fell for this one. I got an e-mail from someone I barely know claiming that he was stuck in some foreign country and needed me to wire him some money so he could buy a plane ticket home. I didn't know him well enough to just call his family and ask if he was traveling and so it was tempting to respond and send him a few bucks. However I travel enough internationally to have seen the holes in his story and figured it was a scam. I was tempted though.

I wish there was something I could do to keep people from sending me so much junk e-mail. Unfortunately that is just the price we pay for being able to exchange messages so easily. Every once and a while I do crack a smile as I read some of these unwanted messages. Perhaps I just need to view them as entertainment and humor. After all, that is what the small print says about horoscopes.