Hi there

I get lots of e-mail from people I don't know, usually asking questions about Austin, but sometimes wanting comment extensively on some blog entry I've made. Some e-mail with the above heading or its variations (Hi, there! Hi! and more) are sent to the junk or spam folder automatically, not by me. I save them to open and then open them using various precautions. What's amazing is how often this heading is atop legitimate e-mail. Yet my first inclination is always to believe that mail with such a heading is spam. It would always be better if people were to furnish a useful subject heading. One of our oldest friends sends mail with no subject heading at all. If it came from a stranger, mail of this sort would be regarded with suspicion. I never remember to ask: does e-mail with a blank heading originate from a PDA or something? I'm never suspicious of e-mail headed with "Howdy!" but now that I've said I'm not, perhaps in the future I should be.