I may have done it now. I politely asked a friend of mine to stop sending me forwarded jokes. Now she won’t answer my instant messages. Might have to work some damage control. Friends, if you are reading this, PLEASE don’t send me any of those jokes or inspiring stories. I won’t read them…..it means very little to me. I’ve already been through the email stage where I forward each and every joke, urban legend, or virus alert to my friends and family. That heyday has ended. It’s time to move on. I always enjoy reading personal email messages, but forwarded jokes I can do without.
It has happened before. In years past I met a lady at a church function. She asked for my email address. I told her I’d give it to her, but told her please don’t send me any of those forwarded jokes. A few months later the forwarded jokes start. Usually it was a few jokes every few days. Here’s how the dialogue went down:
Me: Hey I appreciate you thinking of me, but please don’t send me any of those forwarded jokes via email. I just don’t have time to read them.
Joke Forwarder: No response
Later on the forwarded email jokes start appearing again.
Me: Hey, could you please stop sending me those forwarded jokes?
Joke Forwarder: You’re rude!
Me: I apologize if I sounded rude. I didn’t mean to hurt you.
Joke Forwarder: That’s okay! 🙂
Later on, I still get an occassional forwarded joke from her. ARGH!!!!! Some people just don’t listen.

I get weird emails at times. One example:

Thu Mar 28 13:04:21 2002
To: Me
Subject: Trying to contact Jeff Whittle
I’m trying to contact Jeff Whittle. The one I’m looking for attended [some] university and is a
member of [some] fraternity.
Obviously if that’s you, please reply to me. If that’s not you, and you wouldn’t mind replying, I’ll
see to it that you’re not bothered again via this e-mail address.
Thank you.

Ever notice how many songs mention Superman:

• Five for Fighting � Superman
• R.E.M. � Superman
• Spin Doctors � Jimmy Olsen�s Blues
• Our Lady Peace � Superman�s Dead
• Eric Clapton � Superman Inside
• 3 Doors Down � Kryptonite
• Crash Test Dummies – Superman’s Song

By the way, this next week is your last chance to mail stuff using those 34 cent stamps. After June 30 it will be 37 cents. So save some money and mail your stuff early. Postcard rates are going up from 21 cents to 23 cents.

Stayed up late tonight watching the Survivor finale.
Henceforth I will never use a Microsoft based product as my primary email client. It’s just too open for viruses (viri ?). Got a call today from a lady at church who’s computer was infected by a virus. Sure enough, she was using Outlook Express. I think a good 50% of these viruses would stop spreading if a multiplex of email clients were used instead of the old standby, Outlook Express.

I get emails all the time. The only problem is that most of them are not of the variety that I want. Many times it is those mindless forwards that friends tend to pass along my way. I use email for personal communication, not as a drop box for jokes and other dribble. I never read emails of that variety. I’ve already seen all those lists….How to Drive Your Roommate Crazy; Life After 40; and those never ending Urban Legends. I am convinced that 70% of online users have email for the one and only purpose of forwarding these type joke emails around. I don’t think I’d mind as much if friends would learn to use the Bcc field. I don’t care for others to see my email address. Just a pet peeve of mine.
I’ve tried telling friends not to send me these type of emails. Most of the time it works. However sometimes it backfires and the friend gets mad at me for not wanting to accept their forwards.

“Stop logging our national forests”…..was what was written on a bumper sticker on a car I saw this weekend. What was significant about this was that the car was carrying a live freshly cut Christmas tree. When I first encountered the car it was pulling out of a recreational lake area near my house. I speculated that perhaps they had cut down the tree at the recreational area. Go figure….
It was announced at church this week that a little girl who is deathly ill is requesting everyone to send her Christmas cards. This request was verified to be true by calling the postmaster of the town in which the girl lives at. While on the surface it may seem like a good idea to try to grant this little girl’s wish. However it is opening up a Pandora’s box. It was relayed to me that the girl is already receiving thousands of Christmas cards…way too many that she and the family could possibly read. I’ve seen this card request scenario before….last time it happened with Craig Shergold and it wasn’t pretty at all.
Instead of asking for Christmas cards, why not ask people to take the money that would have been spent on the Christmas cards and donate it to the American Cancer Society or some other worthy charity?
Please do not take this as me being uncaring. I am very sympathetic to the great stress and pressure that the family is feeling right now. Just this past year I had a young friend of mine pass away due to a brain tumor. I just don’t want this request to become another Pandora’s box.