It's a Beautiful Sight (but it won't last...) 🔗

February 3, 2008

I get a lot of e-mail each day. A whole lot. And that's not counting spam -- we're talking actionable e-mail here, that warrants at least a reply. Especially during the ski season, when I receive a number of e-mails from readers with comments, questions, and leads; stories from writers to edit and publish; story ideas and announcements from the resorts I cover; updated ads from advertisers; and on and on. I like things to be orderly and neat. I start to stress out when the inbox in my e-mail program fills up enough to have a scrollbar pop up. So, even though e-mails keep streaming in, I desperately try to act on them enough to beat the scrollbar away. This often results in replying to easy e-mails first (there's no FIFO algorithm at play here), increasing the size of the mail window (with a 30" monitor, that buys you a bit of time), decreasing the list view font size, or continually shrinking the preview pane to provide more room for messages in the list above. I know, it's pathetic -- but I do all of these things in an effort to keep the scrollbar from popping up and reminding me how hopelessly behind I am. I usually have e-mail firmly planted at the top of my inbox that's at least 3 months old -- and still waiting patiently for a reply. I am an e-mail triage ninja.

But, today I achieved a minor, fleeting victory. In between bouts of sleep (courtesy of and required by my continuing health issues, which are like a house guest that won't leave), I managed to spend a lot of time acting on older e-mails. And this is the beautiful result:

That's right, I completely cleared out my inbox. This probably dropped a point or two off of my blood pressure.

But, alas, it won't last. By tomorrow morning, the scrollbar will once again be rearing its ugly head.