Hey, a new year already. They seem to come so fast... But now for the contest. The month of January started out almost immediately (just a few minutes in) with Rebecca sending me an email which said:
"I will resolve to make 1999 the year where I regain my throne and send you the most e-mail per month as well as the year. I haven't had a year like that since 1996. And even then I did not win every single month, did I? ... Of course, I refuse to send crap. I am a woman of high standards. I only send quality e-mails and will continue to do so. So here's to starting off the year. Besides, it might be our last year with e-mail. If all goes as you hope, Y2K will bomb us back to the stoneages. Yippee!"
So thus the challenge has been issued. In the first month Rebecca started by seading a slow and steady stream of email. Not neccessarily a lot every day. Perhaps just five or six. But consistantly. Even if I hadn't sent her any mail that day. She gathered a head of steam and chugged along, keeping ahead of Ron, who was also going slow and steady... but just a little slower. In the very first week of the month it looked like Geoff and Reni were in the race as well, but they soon dropped behind and slowed to crawls. Chad, who had gone somewhere for the holiday, got back in the second week of January, but was already behind and was very sporadic with his email. He caught up some, but not enough. It look like Rebecca had January in the bag and was well on her way to her goals for 1999.
But then someone got wind of Rebecca's goal and started mounting a defined challenge to rob her of her goal. Who was this evil person who would try to thwart the Rebecca's New Year's resolution and deprive her of the joy and happiness which she seeks by winning the contest? Who was it that was trying to break her poor little heart? With great shock and horror, I am afraid to say it was Rebecca's own husband, Chris.
From the 21st to the 26th, Chris mounted an extensive email campaign, sending tons of emails. On five of those six days, Chris outemailed Rebecca. By the 26th he had closed the gap. The two were within just a handful of email messages of each other. Then, undoubidly due to his wife's great wrath, Chris's email slowed almost to a stop. Rebecca's however continueed and excellerated over the last week of the month. A comfortable lead was once again in Rebecca's grasp.
But then on the 31st, whatever had held Chris back failed, and a new deludge was unleashed from Chris, and he sprung forward once again to try to kick the heels out from under his wife just as she was approaching the finish line...
In the last few hours of the month Rebecca stoked up the fire and made a run for it. She sent out one final deludge of her own, once again opening up the gap and pulling ahead and, yes indeed, winning the month, just as she had planned.
So, at least for the first month, Rebecca has succeeded. I wish her luck in the remaining 11 months! But I'm sure there will be some competition!
| Rank | Total | Name | Address |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 285 | Rebecca Livingston | Rebaroni@aol.com |
| 2 | 203 | Chris Morrow | morrowc@his.com |
| 3 | 128 | Ron Adams | bat13@westol.com |
| 4 | 118 | Chad Hunter | cnh2r@virginia.edu |
| 5 | 45 | Reni Gorman | renshine@yahoo.com |
| 6 | 37 | Geoff Washburn | gw2@andrew.cmu.edu |
| 7 | 28 | Iván Bou | ivanbou@compuserve.com |
| 8 | 17 | Al Michael | Albert_Michael@mgmt.purdue.edu |
| 9 | 15 | Betsy Lott | betsy.lott@netmanage.com |
| 10 | 12 | Kathy Gosselin | kathyg@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu |
| Dave Peru | dave_peru@ml.com |
| Dec | Feb |