The Pack Rat Gene

I have it. I’m not a hoarder or anything (I’ve moved too many times -- if I were a hoarder I would have been lynched by a band of angry movers long ago), but I don’t like to throw things away. Especially if I think they might be useful… someday.

Throwing things away usually involves a long internal debate and my tendency towards pack-rattiness became even more obvious to me last week.

Who has Gmail? And how many of you have used 78% of your allotted storage space? Me! *waves hand wildly*

Clearly, it was time to do something. Probably the fact I had over 37,000 unread threads (yes, you read that right) should have clued me in, but I kept thinking maybe I’d go back and read them. I can hear your derisive, hysterical laughter from here, you know, and I’m hurt ;)

Now, I do my best to read personal and business emails. Most of the unread emails are excerpts and whatnot from various yahoo loops I belong to. My intentions are pure. But I‘m able to read those emails only infrequently.

So, after I submitted edits last week, I started hacking down the weeds. I’m now down to 13,900 unread threads! Woo-hoo! Yes, most of them were deleted unread. But not all. It might take me the rest of the year, but I’d like to be at a point where I have NO unread threads. I’m not sure what that sort of accomplishment will feel like, but I’ll definitely deserve a gold star for my forehead.

KC Burn