Where I’m @

Last week I finally decided to get rid of an old email address -- one I’d had for about seven years -- in favor of moving over to a new Gmail addy.

The primary reason for the move is the added memory Gmail gives for free (15 GB, I believe), whereas on my old account I was actually limited to a measly 100 MB and couldn’t get more without paying for it. Thus for several years now I’ve been constantly backing up messages offline and deleting so as not to go over that absurdly small limit.

When I decided to make the switch, I sent a mass email to everyone in my address book announcing the change. I knew there were a lot of dead emails in there, and indeed I’ve received a lot of bounce-backs since sending out the note. I’ve also enjoyed hearing from lots of folks emailing me back, including some whom I haven’t corresponded with in years.

In a weird way, between the responses and failed messages it’s been a little like reviewing a sorta-skewed history of poker and poker media from the past seven years, with my inbox flooded with reminders of various now-defunct sites and outlets, of how certain individuals have moved on from one place to another, and of how fast everything has evolved over that period.

Making the switch also caused me to remember how I had first created the email address shortly after starting the blog (in April 2006), using the “shortstackedshamus” name for it. It was probably only a couple of years later that it became the primary email for me; that is to say, for a long time it had been the email I checked first and most often, rather than the couple of email addresses I had which were associated with my actual name.

But despite the frequent inconvenience of the email provider, I stayed with the address mostly out of stubbornness. I’d compare it to how I often used to play online poker, sticking with the same game and stakes for months or even years even after I’d grown tired of doing so, if only because of a non-specific resistance to change borne from several causes, among them risk aversion and simple indolence.

Anyhow, I finally got up from that lousy table and have taken a seat at this new one, email-wise, so for those looking to get in touch, that’s where I’ll be.