Come out, come out, wherever you are.

This year's Navy Musicians Association will be my fifth. Attending has become an important tradition.

Even this pre-reunion period has its pleasures and traditions.I begin to get news from all over the country. Long-time members and first-timers tell me who's coming, who has to miss the event this year. I send announcements to all NMA members whose email addresses are listed on the roster.

Great traditions. Well, most of them. The one I don't look forward to is the Big Bounce: after sending a mass mailing to NMA members, my mailbox becomes clogged with emails bouncing back from members with nonfunctional email addresses.

It just happened again. Fully a quarter of the email addresses listed on the NMA roster don't work.

This can happen for a number of reasons:

• You have a new email account, but forgot to notify the NMA.
• Your mailbox is full.
• Your settings are refusing mail. 
• You wrote it unintelligibly on your membership application, registration form or other correspondence, 

Folks, email is the wave of the present. Go to the NMA roster and check your email address. The point of belonging to a reunion organization is not to hide from your buddies.

Go to the roster.

If you use Outlook Express, or a similar email client:

• Left-click on your name. An email will open, addressed to you at the address you supplied the NMA.

If you don't host your email in your computer (you use Yahoo, Gmail or some other web-based email):

• Right-click on your name.
• A menu will let you put your email address into the clipboard (something like "copy email" or "copy shortcut.")
• Copy your email and paste it into the search box at the top of your screen and have a look.

Welcome to the 21st century. We're glad to make your acquaintance.