I wrote back in July about getting control of your e-mail inbox. The idea is process your inbox to zero periodically during the day. As you parse through the messages, delete as many as practicable. If you can answer others in two minutes, then do it. If an answer requires more research, or if there is a further action you need to take, then move it to a folder (I use @action as the name). Then periodically batch process your messages there. I also use folders @blog and @news for messages that I want to write about in the near future. I also have an @waiting when I am waiting for a reply from someone. The @sign moves the folder up toward the top of the folder list. I also maintain folders for various topics and for each monthly issue of Automation World.
This was working fine until I went to Germany two weeks ago and had little access to the Internet. I came home to 660 messages in my inbox and another 180 in a spam folder on the Web that I didn't know I had. Then I went to ISA last week. I have just finished cleaning up the entire mess. Now I have a bunch of stuff to post in the next few days as I also try to finish my November Automation World article on remote monitoring and diagnostics. There's a couple of soccer games, of course, plus I pick up my wife after her two weeks of babysitting the new grandchild.
10:45:45 PM 
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