Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Sins of the Emails


Mind you, I'm more sinning than sinned against when it comes to email. On my main account, the one with that funny M word at AOL, I don't really get much really unsolicited email that doesn't hit my spam folder. But just the AOL Alerts, Blogger comment alerts, Writer's Market emails, and job alerts from CareerBuilder and other sites are enough to fill my in box fairly quickly. If I don't feel like facing up to certain categories of email, things tend to build up until they're truly out of hand. I remember how guilty I felt the first time my in box topped 100 items.

Tonight I cleared out nearly 400 items.

No, really. I remember having 406 for sure, but I think my starting point was 426. At this moment I am down to 30 emails. It took hours and hours, partly because my cable modem was acting much like a dialup over a bad phone line in a thunderstorm. All too often, Firefox failed to find the server. But I got stubborn, and kept plugging away at the task anyway. Now I need to rush this entry and go to bed.

So what's left? A big chunk of it is advertising, from movie sites and Walgreens and Papa John. And that's just the stuff I didn't delete or file. The second major category is the job placement stuff. The third is email from church, mostly announcements and such, including a bunch that I never got around to posting on the church news blog. Mea culpa. And I still owe replies to a handful of real people on a variety of subjects, one of them in response to an email I never even got to read. Last night the mail client gave me an error message when I tried to open it. Tonight the email disappeared entirely, probably accidentally deleted by me, through my most grievous fault.

The thing that set off tis email purging project, aside from the comment alerts, was the need to isolate the job alerts and start going through them, eliminating the junk and outdated ones so I can look at the rest properly. Tomorrow I'll start looking at the actual job listings, and update my resume again, for the third time in month or so. I've been a total slacker about it, but now I've got to get serious.

Why? I was laid off today. My last day with my current employer is May 23rd.

Karen

8 comments:

DesLily said...

oh no! I sure don't understand you getting laid off! I hope you find something quickly and it's a place that will keep you! The fact that they hire you means you fit what they want, but I think many places only want a temp but don't advertise that because people with the skills are looking for perm. work not temp.

Much Luck Karen.

barrettmanor said...

Last in, first out, I guess? Been there, done that, got the pink slip. To paraphrase a friend of mine who also happens to be an accountant: stuff needs to be counted, even in this economy. Small consolation. Hang in there.

Mike said...

That stinks. I'm real sorry to hear about your job. I'm sure you will find something soon. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

What a pain. Here's hoping this means you will end up with a really cool job.

Becky said...

Oh man... again? Wow that sucks. If there is a bright side, at least you have a pretty up-to-date resume that you know "works" and you haven't had time to let your interviewing skills get rusty. And you still have nice interview clothes that fit (for me, if more than a year goes by, no guarantees a new outfit will fit anymore. LOL) OK, enough trying to cheer you up. It still sucks. I know you want to settle in somewhere for the long haul. I hope you find something you really like that pays well and is close to home.

Anonymous said...

I am sorry about your job, I hope you find something that you really like, that lasts as long as you want it to.
Barbara

Unknown said...

That really sucks. I am sure you will land on your feet.

Kiva said...

Oh, no! That's horrible. In the long run, if my life is any proof, it may be the best thing. Hang in there. You've got many talents -- writing, photography -- as well as being an accountant. We're with you all the way.