And, as you showed, they look great on the refrigerator.

One reason that online info is problematic is the issue of multiple generations of computers and software, especially when the software disappears or isn’t supported after a while.

But it’s also easier to keep information together on the computer. It’s easier to search for it, too. And it looks less messy on my desk.

It’s been nearly twenty years since my last ocean voyage, but I still have a box containing almost every letter sent to me while I was off in far-away places that almost seem like a dream to me now. Every once in a while for fun, I dig some of those letters out to see what people wrote to me, and I treasure each of them dearly. Some are hand-written notes from family members no longer living and these are especially dear to me.

These days, sailors have access to nearly instant electronic messages, anywhere in the world. I suspect that “Mail Call” has lost some of it’s luster that it once had. Yet I cannot imagine some future sailor twenty years hence going back and lovingly perusing his e-mail collection that he is currently amassing. It is doubtful that most of this sort of correspondence is even being saved for posterity.

To me, the suggestion that paper is of limited value is ludicrous. Yet I find that I have fallen into a hypnotic digital trance, rarely bothering to make any written correspondence anymore. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I’m off to go write some letters!