We all have impossible missions in our personal as well as our business lives. Yet when reflecting upon so many of the major hurdles I've had to overcome, I now realize that a large portion of them have been cleared primarily due to technology. To be more specific, I get the job done because of the power and access made available to me via the use of my computer and its connection to the Internet.

I know I'm not alone when I say that I truly don't know how I would have made it to where I am today had it not been for the personal

computer and the Internet. It has truly changed how we live today.

And even if you've never touched a computer keyboard in your life, it's a sure bet that the computer has made things easier for you indirectly. But to those of you who use their online computers on a daily basis, I'd like to talk about one particular piece of

technology that can make your life a joy to behold or a living hell.

That's right, I'm talking about email.

Email used to be a simple thing until the advent of junk email better known as spam. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that every day, I receive over six THOUSAND pieces of spam and it's still increasing. The literal glut of junk email is choking away its usefulness. As a stopgap measure, I have in place junk email filters, white lists and a host of other technologies I incorporate to stem the tide of digital garbage. And for now, it's working so I can only hope that other technologies, consumer awareness and laws will help to stem the tide. Recently I came upon a website that offers a really unique service that could indirectly help you with your spam problem while solving another.

One of the ways you get placed on a spammer's list is when you give

out your email address to an online service for whatever reason.

Most of the times you have to give your email address out and hope the company isn't sharing it with some other nefarious service. But with the 10 Minute Mail website, you now have an alternative way to deal with some specific email problems. Let me just quickly say that this is not the answer to spam. But when you need something like 10 Minute Mail, you'll be glad it's available. Here's how it works.

Let's say you're online and you come across a website that asks for your email address. Depending on what they want, they may insist you put one in and even make an attempt to verify its validity. No problem for the 10 Minute Mail user. By simply going to the 10 Minute Mail website, you are instantly assigned a unique email address. You can then have email sent to the new address, you can read it, click on links within the emails sent to you and you can even reply to them. It's a real email address but the kicker is that it's only there for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes are up, it's gone forever. Poof.

So why would his help fight off spam? Well, if you use an email address that will cease to exist in 10 minutes, then they won't be able to put your real email address on any more spam lists for starters. But why else would you want to use a self-destructing email address? Well perhaps you just wanted something from a website but in order to get it, they required you to first sign up with a valid email address. Or another example is when a website will only send information such as a receipt, a password or a serial number to an email address as kind of security measure. Still, you don't want to give them your real email address to get it. No problem with the 10 Minute Mail website. It's quick, effective, totally disposable and completely untraceable.

Just log onto the 10 Minute Mail website, get your 10 minute email address and that's it. To check any email coming in, just go back to the website. Your browser's cookies will let it know you're back to check that assigned email address and it automatically displays any incoming email you received. You see the name, subject and the sender's info in an easy to read grid. Just click on the email you want to see and there it is. And if you realize that you need more time, no problem. Just click the link that says "Give me 10 more minutes" and that's exactly what you'll get. As long as you don't exceed the expiration time, you can continue to increase the 10 minute span with another 10 minutes. The site even displays how many minutes you have left before it self-destructs.

So there you have it. Now you have a great way to give out your email address without really giving it out. With the 10 Minute Mail website, the only thing that is going to self-destruct is your email address and not your privacy.