Swell, now they're responding to email via snail mail! I prefer email Congressman. The present danger is not just to our physical health from Anthrax, but more to health of democracy when policy makers are inaccessible to constituents. My concern now is that they don't seem to value email as an effective way to communicate with voting public. The average person in this country now has four email addresses and can be reached at work, at home and on road via web-based email. This could be said to compare to having multiple writing pads and pens at work, at home and on road.

While famous "Carnivore" email intercepting technology sought by FBI will now easily track and monitor our correspondence with Presidential approval, Congresspersons and Senators seem to want to continue to communicate by snail mail when it makes even less sense now to do so. Nevermind that email doesn't cost nearly as much as regular postal mail. My Congressman continued . . .

"Again, thank you for your e-mail message. I am privileged to serve as your voice in Congress." I want to know who is serving as my EARS in Congress since email seems an unreliable method of communication with representatives and regular mail is "being held by capitol police" as email goes unanswered but for canned responses making excuses for lack of response and then promising to send me expensive postal mail to answer my concerns.

We take email seriously (well except for silly urban myths and endlessly-forwarded-cutesy-pass-it-on-absurdities) in that it is a routine part of nearly everyones life now. Physical access to government office buildings is blocked and communication by snail mail is nearly impossible, while phone access is much more cumbersome. It's time our representatives began to take email just a bit more seriously. It'd be nice if they answered it too.

Contact your own elected representatives:

http://www.house.gov http://www.senate.gov http://www.firstgov.gov

WRITE RIGHT. Stationery files are templates for outgoing messages. If you find yourself repeatedly writing same thing, just save message as a stationery file -- ready to send when needed. This way you don’t have to start all over when you get a similar request or query. And you can always personalise and edit stationery as necessary.

YOU'VE GOT MAIL! Get into habit of only checking your mail twice a day. There's nothing to be gained from checking it more often -- you're simply wasting time and lessening your productivity.

STASH OR TRASH? Act immediately on all your incoming emails. By scanning subject bar you'll find some that can be trashed at once. Don't even bother opening emails like this:

¤ Earn $??? Easy Way!

¤ Make $??? on every Sale!

¤ Earn $??? while You Sleep!

¤ 1000% Profits Selling ?

These are SPAM should be trashed at once. If you're plagued with spam, you can set up filters to automatically delete messages with certain keywords.

Open rest of your emails. Some may simply require filing into particular folders while others may need a response. Simple responses should always be dealt with straight away, while more complex replies can be filed into your To Do folder.

FANCY A BREAK? If you start working email like a pro, you'll easily save enough time for a two week holiday. I've already planned mine -- have you?