Email - the bane of my life

So about this paperless revolution. Anyone remember that, or am I showing my age? I had planned on looking for more Prague photos tonight but instead I've been hunting through email and putting paperwork in order. I've been finding problems with email for a long time but it just seems to get worse. I've now got a reliable system, mostly by cutting out as many links as possible, but I have to have a spam filter in place. That is where the problems start. We have 10,000 spam messages per day. These are just the ones the filter is sure is spam, I also have a few hundred I have to check. Unfortunately it seems that a few good emails are being stopped. It's very hard to track, and at the moment we can't see a solution. It's very frustrating for both sides to have this failure of communication.

If the email gets through it then needs me to do something about it. That is usually not too much of a problem until you have a few that need something looking up. I keep falling into the trap of 'it will just take a minute'. Well a minute or five, or ten. Then you look up and an hour has vanished. Argh. Still that at least all works. I then often have to print out the information and instead of being a couple of lines it is three pages, so much for paperless.

The worst part is when I need to remember an email from months back. Of course, first you have to remember it exists (darn aging, it really does eat your brain doesn't it) then you have to find it. There are thousands of messages stored on my computer (yes I do need them all, well mostly) do you think I can ever find the one I want quickly?

So is there a point to this post? Well yes. A while ago I instigated a policy that I would only make a booking if I had spoken to the person making the booking on the telephone. I am now going to extend that to anything that needs to go in my diary. So if you want to see me, for quilting, workshops or talks I need to actually speak to you. If you email me with your number I will call you or my number is on the website. Firstly I remember things far better if I hear them, secondly it makes me go through the appropriate paperwork and gives me the time to put things in my diary. It also means we both know we have achieved communication. In short, it's safer, more reliable and both parties know it has happened successfully.

We have just updated my online diary. If you have me booked for an event it is worth checking the calender to see that it is listed correctly and if you have a web site I would love to include a link for it.

On a more quilty note, I've finally given in to the idea that more of my patterns will have to be pieced by other people. It's a shame as I would really enjoy making them myself but I just don't have the time. On the other hand I think at least one of the people I have doing the piecing will really get a lot from doing it, which is pretty cool . She is a really good piecer and I think she will enjoy the challenge of this one. I can't wait to get the tops back so I can quilt them. They both will have great areas for quilting, and hopefully be striking and popular patterns. I have also started writing the pattern for the Phoenix. I have had so many requests for it, that I am giving it a go. Bear in mind it was never intended to be a pattern, and it is very different to any patterns I have ever seen. It's taking a lot of writing and re-writing and even then I am not sure if others will understand it. I'll let you know what the testers say when I get that far.