The dirty, secret life of an email hoarder.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this postI hoard everything.
Really, the more polite word might be "save" but when the saving of stuff goes far past what's necessary...it's hoarding.
If you've ever sent me an email, I have it saved. I mean, hoarded. Oh, they're all organized logically in sub-folders of sub-folders of folders, but it's there.
Just in case the FBI should ever need proof, I think to myself, the wild-haired and insane professor on my shoulder chuckling with glee. And I save. Save emails. Screen capture web pages. Save all IM conversations -- all of them -- as text files. Alphabetized. Numbered. Systematic. Organize IP addresses and necessary information connected with them into a database. I have a 350MB external hard drive and I'm going to pack it full. You may think I'm nuts, which I am, but it has come in handy at times.
Like now.
I have a friend who writes the most unintentionally hilarious emails, and I laugh whenever I read them. I'm going to share a few golden oldies with you from 1999 - 2002.
Yep. 1999. Enjoy.
-----
2/07/2002
I'm on this email list-- yahoo list---for (unnamed). I've spoken of it of previously.
There is one lady, with a Mac, who sends her posts in HTML. Half of the people on the list can read them, the other half send notes list "I can't read (unnamed)'s posts? What am I doing wrong?"
Then she sends a note back, "Does this work?"
No.
"What about this?"
No.
"If I send it this way?"
No.
"What if I update my program?"
No.
"what if I reply to a message?"
No.
Now I mentioned that since (unnamed)'s other mail to yahoo group email lists comes through fine the HTML function of the (unnamed) vendors list should be shut off just to see if that fixes (unnamed)'s problem-- which I'm fairly confident that it would... but nope. Instead we get:
"What about now?"
No.
"Or now?"
No.
"Like this?"
No.
"How about this?"
No.
ARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!
-----
2/23/2002 (written by me to my friend)
I still think of how you said AJ was your favorite BB because you knew he was going to self-destruct, and then, days later, he did.
Flawless.
-----
2/01/2002 (by my friend)
Did I mention that I hate my computer? Scan & print baby. That's all I'm asking. Nope. Not gonna do it.
Grrr....
(my reply: So, today was an angry day then?)
-----
11/2/1999 (by my friend)
"After literally hours of work by several tech people, many of whom could speak conversational Klingon, we had a successful Server Crash Recovery ."
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
-----
8/30/2001 (by my friend)
When my brother was very young-- like many small children he had some trouble with words. He had a stuffed Dinosaur that was named Baxter, but he misunderstood and frequently called it 'Bastard'. He had similar trouble with 'Horror' or"Whore." (Sometimes I still have trouble distinguishing between the two...)
-----
12/21/2001 (by my friend)
Locally produced Valley Wireless commercial attempting to sell the "rover" cell phone package. Tag line is..... "Simplify your life" ..... Get a Cell Phone.
Ahhh.... yes. That makes perfect sense.
-----
2/01/2002 (by my friend)
Want that "safety cut" pseudo linoleum. So i just made a fruitless trip to Mathisons. Closed for inventory today and tomorrow. So drove north to NDSU. Suavely avoided an accident on the way there. Got as far as the parking lot. No thanks.
So I'm back home 45 minutes later with the piece of old gray battleship linoleum I started with.
I'd like to gouge out the Mathison's management's eyes, but I'm afraid the only thing gouged is going to be my thumb.
Weeeeeeee.... ain't art fun.
-----
Ever sent me an email? Don't worry; it's safely filed away.
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 10/06/2006 06:00:00 PM
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5 Comments:
Juls, you have just left me sitting here thinking of our earlier IM! Or was it phone call, they are all running to gether. Why would you save EVERYTHING?
By 
, at
6/10/06 20:03
I save everything because I am insane.
And also, because I want to be ready to blackmail at a moment's notice. That's a handy place to be in.
By 
Julie, at
6/10/06 20:51
I save most of it, too. I just wish I still had my e-mail from when I first had an account, back in '88.
It's changed since I started blogging, but once upon a time most of the e-mail I sent was conversational: what was happening in my life, what was happening in my friends' lives. It was a kind of a journal, so I'm not inclined to get rid of it.
That said, I could do better about getting rid of all the impersonal material I get -- not strictly spam, but messages from organizations I'm involved with.
As hoarding goes, e-mail doesn't take up much space at all. And you never know when you might need an old message.
By MichaelBates, at
6/10/06 23:54
Unfortunately, my computers have been Arminian in theology where I would prefer them to be more Baptist. Once in a while I've backslid and deleted emails I thought would be unimportant, and later regreted it. Unfortunately, computers have zero grace, and there is no restoration of the unsaved.
I'm just glad my computer isn't Calvinist. Then I'd never know whether an email was saved, or not. I'd have to wait till judgement day to discover which missives were the elect.
Rich
BlogRodent
By Rich Tatum, at
7/10/06 06:10
Do you have a bit of New England Yankee in you? This behavior would seem perfectly normal to them. My wife (whose own New England ancestry is leavened by her Irish ancestry) has a book about an example of this New England syndrome. The book is String Too Short to Save. The book's title is from a discovery made by the author when sorting through a deceased relative's possessions. The author came across a box labeled "string too short to save". Sure enough, that is just what the box contained. I hope I haven't started you on a new saving obsession with this. Bill in Spokane.
By Wilhelm, at
7/10/06 07:32
