The following is the text from an email I received on July 27, 2007.  I did check this out on Snopes.com before posting on my blog.  Get a tissue.

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As a parent and a pet lover, this is one of the kindest things that I've ever experienced. I have no way to know who sent it, but there is some very kind soul working in the dead letter office of the US postal service.

 

Some of you may know that our 14 year old dog, Abbey, died last month (10/23). The day after she died, my 4 year old daughter Meredith was crying and talking about how much she missed Abbey. She asked if we could write a letter to God so that when Abbey got to heaven, God would recognize her. She dictated and I wrote:
  

 

Dear God,
Will you please take special care of our dog, Abbey? She died yesterday and is in heaven. We miss her very much. We are happy that you let us have her as our dog even though she got sick. I hope that you will play with her. She liked to play with balls and swim before she got sick. I am sending some pictures of her so that when you see her in heaven you will know she is our special dog. But I really do miss her.
Love,
Meredith Claire
        
PS: Mommy wrote the words after Meredith told them to her
 
We put that in an envelope with 2 pictures of Abbey, and addressed it to God/Heaven.  We put our return address on it. Then Meredith stuck some stamps on the front because, as she said, it may take lots of stamps to get a letter all the way to heaven) and that afternoon I let her drop it into the letter box at the post office. For a few days, she would ask if God had gotten the letter yet. I told her that I thought He had 

Yesterday, we took the kids to Austin to a natural history museum. When we got back, there was a package wrapped in gold paper on our front porch. Curious, I went to look at it. It had a gold star card on the front and said "To: Meredith" in an unfamiliar hand. Meredith took it in and opened it. Inside was a book by Mr. Rogers, "When a Pet Dies." Taped to the inside front cover was the letter we had written to God, in its opened envelope (which was marked Return to Sender: Insufficient address). On the opposite page, one of the pictures of Abbey was taped under the words "For Mer e dith." We turned to the back cover, and there was the other picture of Abbey, and this handwritten note on pink paper:

Dear Meredith,
I know that you will be happy to know that Abbey arrived safely and soundly in Heaven! Having the pictures you sent to me was such a big help. I recognized Abbey right away. You know, Meredith, she isn't sick anymore. Her spirit is here with me--just like she stays in your heart--young and running and playing. Abbey loved being your dog, you know. 
 Since we don't need our bodies in heaven, I don't have any pockets so I can't keep your beautiful letter. I am sending it to you with the pictures so that you will have this book to keep and remember Abbey. One of my angels is taking care of this for me. I hope the little book helps. Thank you for the beautiful letter. Thank your mother for sending it. What a wonderful mother you have! I picked her especially for you. I send my blessings every day and remember that I love you v ery much. By the way, I am wherever there is love.
Love,  God

 

(and the special angel who wrote this after God told him the words.)

  

What in the world does DNS have to do with my delayed or lost email?

 

The issue of possible delayed email involves a very technical issue involving the Domain Name System (DNS) that we will try to explain.  If you don’t really care why it could happen then you can disregard this “book.”  But, just keep in mind, we did explain that there is the slightest possibility that some email could be “lost” and most all email sent to you after the cut-off time, will be delayed for 12-24 hours.

 

Every computer and website on the Internet has a specific address, just like every house has a specific nine-digit zip code.  But with computers we don’t call them zip codes, we call them IP addresses. .  Humans cannot remember these addresses, so we use names.  The DNS (Domain Name System) translates Internet website and host names to IP addresses.  DNS automatically converts the names we type in our Web browser address bar to the IP addresses of Web servers hosting those sites.

 

So when someone types in http://www.cnn.com their PC looks at it’s assigned DNS Server, like a card catalog in the library, and your DNS Server looks up “thecomputerguysllc.com” and says oh, so you want “64.236.91.24”.  I guess it’s also sort of like “Sarah” on The Andy Griffith Show. When Andy would pick the phone and ask to be connected with Aunt B, Sarah connected them and then was supposed to disconnect herself.

DNS implements a distributed database to store this name and address information for all public hosts on the Internet. DNS assumes IP addresses do not change (are statically assigned rather than dynamically assigned).

The DNS database resides on a hierarchy of special database servers distributed across the entire globe. When a user types in a URL or Domain Name in the internet browser, a piece of software called the DNS resolver (usually built into the network operating system) first contacts a DNS server to determine the server's IP address. If the DNS server does not contain the needed mapping, it will in turn forward the request to a different DNS server at the next higher level in the hierarchy. After potentially several forwarding and delegation messages are sent within the DNS hierarchy, the IP address for the given host eventually arrives at the resolver, that in turn completes the request.  At this point, your web browser would attempt a connection to the web site and request the “home page.”

In other words, your computer asks it’s designated DNS server to look up www.cnn.com, or whatever site you are trying to look at and then if it doesn’t know, it asks a “smarter” DNS server and so on up the line until eventually if none of them know it, you get that infamous screen…”Internet Explorer Cannot Display the webpage.”

Now, to what this has to do with the issues.  Most large companies host their own website and email.  So, if 64.236.91.24 is the IP address it would be for their website and email.  But, most small companies don’t host their own website.  And when you don’t host your own website but you want to control your email, then you have a web hosting company host your website and you host your own mail server, or subscribe to a hosted exchange system like Western Kentucky Hosting.  In this instance, the web hosting company must make an entry in the DNS that says, for all email, use such and such IP address.  This entry is called an MX Record.  This stands for Mail Exchanger, and it is critical that the MX record point to the right address to get to the right mail server. (Other entries may be needed to also go through a Spam Filter.)

For an example of this in the normal world think about when move your office.  You will need to provide the USPS with your new address and they will need to setup mail forwarding.  If this isn’t done right, then some of your regular mail will not make it to your new location and will likely be “Returned to Sender, Addressee Unknown” as the Elvis Presley song said.

When making a change of servers, such as the one we are scheduled to make on Friday, a new MX record must be made in the DNS.  If the web hosting company makes an incorrect or incomplete entry then problems will occur.  As mentioned previously it takes 12-24 hours for an entry to make it all around the world to all the DNS servers.  During this time someone sending you email may experience a “bounce” without explanation or the email may be held until the sending server gets a response from Western Kentucky Hosting’s server.

The possibility of problems is greatly reduced if you move both your email and web site to WKH.  This is why we strongly encourage moving your web site. It isn’t just about a few more dollars of web hosting fees.

 

Thanks for wading through this lengthy book and I hope it will help you understand why it might take so long for your email to start rolling in. 

I know I know. You learned in high school science it takes 212 degrees to boil water, but really it only takes one!  Going from 211 to 212!

 

Watch the following clip to see what I'm talking about.  It is a great way to get pumped up about whatever it is you do with your life.

 

Please please please stop the madness!

 

If you are not an I.T. professional, please quit sending/forwarding email warnings about specific worms, viruses or trojans without first verifying the authenticity of the information you are forwarding. 

 

Why?  Good question.

 

It's like Chicken Little and the falling sky!  So many of these things are simply not true that when a real problem is detected and we need to warn users, a lot of people just plain ignore it.

 

Here is a great place to look before you forward: