It's raining and I'm bored

The rain started yesterday evening and has fallen pretty steadily ever since. Some parts of the campground are beginning to look like a lake, so I dug out my Wellies again this morning.

Yesterday after reading Rick's blog about the information Google keeps on folks I decided to check it out. I have always disliked this part of anything-Google, and so I decided to delete some stuff. My mailbox was showing I used about 240 MB of 7389 MB total, so I deleted the trash, sent mail, and a few folders I no longer need, along with their contents. After each delete I got a message from Google to the effect "You have 7389 MB total, why do you want to delete anything?" This makes me sort of suspicious, but I kept on deleting. I didn't touch the inbox, nor did I go near certain folders. When the message at the bottom of the inbox showed I was using 8 MB out of the total 7389, I started looking closely at things. I had intended to leave about 40 emails that were in the inbox - now there were only 18. The trash and sent mail folders were empty, as were folders pertaining to my workamping applications and correspondence. I no longer have any record of the mail I've exchanged with Lassen, Dinosaur, or Ft. Pulaski. That means I have no record of my contacts there, and with Ft. Pulaski coming up in a couple weeks I need to touch base.

I know this is all automated and there isn't a little gnome sitting in Mountain View deciding that gypsy is going hog wild deleting, so I'll fix her! But it makes me wonder how they have set up their controls. And if anyone thinks maybe I just hit a folder by accident, I want to say that I am extremely careful about deleting anything, ever. I go by a variation of the rule, "Measure 3 or 4 times, cut once". I deleted items from one folder at a time, and not several at once. So if I made a mistake and hit delete for Ft. Pulaski, it isn't likely I made the same mistake for Dinosaur and Lassen, while leaving my genealogy folder intact.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking "Good lord, what if I turn on my computer in the morning and can't get into gmail or blogger. Well fortunately Google is not that vindictive, all was not lost, and here I am. I am seriously thinking about an alternative email, even if I have to pay a subscription fee. Of course my first thought was AOL since I had that for about 6 years back in the 90's. Oh no, I won't go back to AOL again. And forget Yahoo, Hotmail, etc., as they no doubt do the same things as Google. Maybe if I ever get cable or satellite service I can find one that comes with an email program. In the meantime I am open to suggestions. I would also keep the gmail address simply because I have given it out to so many people, companies, etc. I even included it on the passport application, and it is printed on my business card. But I could switch many contacts over to a new address.

Blogger might be more of a problem. It's what most of the RVing community uses and it is simple to add links to someone's blog in your own page. Good Sam Trip Journal looks ok but it seems like a lot of hassle for readers to go through - get an email saying there is an update, click and go to the home page, then click on the date you want to view. With blogger you click the link and you are there. If anyone else is looking into an alternative please keep me in mind.

Now at 10:51 in the morning I should get dressed and do something! I keep my eyes averted from the cabinet I was going to clean out and rearrange today, and have nearly justified leaving it "as is" until I get settled for 3 months at Ft. Pulaski (if I ever find a way to contact them and get directions).

An addendum here: I just read two new emails; one I read and deleted, and the other I read and replied to. I decided to go back and retrieve the deleted email and send a response to it, but the Deleted Messages box is empty. A check of the Trash box doesn't show the deleted email at all. Now where in the world could it have gone? Maybe there is a little gnome out in Mountain View . . .