Making the Move to Google Apps

Up until a few months ago, I was running SquirrelMail on my own server to handle all of my email. I have been using SquirrelMail since way back in 2004, and I always liked the simple interface. Over time, the spam situation got worse and worse, and I got fed up trying to get Spam Assassin or any other filtering software to help decrease the amount of spam that was getting to my inbox. It got so bad that I was routinely getting hundreds of spam and especially backscatter messages coming to my inbox every day. My email basically became unusable because of this.

Eventually, I realized there was no point trying to play server administrator, because the hassles just weren’t worth my time. So back in April, I moved my email hosting to Google Apps. It’s free for personal use, and was fairly easy to get set up. Now all of my robmaeder.com email goes through Google’s servers, which do an incredible job of spam filtering. All my email is read through GMail, which is so much better and easier to use than any other web-based mail software I’ve tried.

Since making the switch, I can recall only seeing 3 or 4 spam messages actually reach my inbox. My spam folder currently has 27,931 emails in it from the past 30 days. That’s getting close to 1000 spams per day. I highly recommend Google Apps for this sort of thing. It’s way easier than rolling your own, and you don’t have to worry about updating software regularly, since it’s all taken care of for you. Thanks to Google, my email is now usable again.

Welcome Wagon Comes for a Visit

Yesterday I was putting out my garbage at about 6:30pm when a lady showed up at my house carrying a large basket full of goodies. She was from the Welcome Wagon, which is a company that offers a free “greeting service” to new residents in various communities.

She gave me a bunch of pamphlets and information about Oshawa, coupons for discounts and free offers from local businesses, and some free samples as well. Check it out:

I got a free sample from Mary Kay, a coupon for $10 worth of business services at the UPS Store, a bunch of random coupons, a toothbrush, popcorn, some pens, fridge magnets, a diaper, and a six week old copy of the Oshawa Express newspaper.

The Welcome Wagon has been around since 1930, and does visits for other “lifestyle events” such as brides-to-be, new grandparents and expecting a new baby. It’s basically a way for local businesses to advertise to you, but it is pretty neat, and I did get some interesting and useful things out of it.