When you register as a member of the media for the Consumer Electronics Show — hitting Las Vegas this week, in case you forgot – apparently your e-mail address is disseminated to every tech-related public relations agency in the universe. (No, really, the universe – I’m pretty sure a few of these e-mails came to me from Mars or Pluto or something.)

The takeover of my inbox by CES exhibitors, guests, speakers, etc. began in November, at which point I took action: In Gmail, I created a label “CES2009” and filtered all related e-mails to that label, also immediately archiving them. So they’d show up on my Blackjack II but not in my inbox, leaving me to deal with them at a later date.

Well, that later date should probably be soon, as the official show kicks off in three days.

So to those of you out there who generated the 200 or so unread CES-related e-mails awaiting my perusal: Sorry, I swear it’s not personal. I’m sure your DLP projectors, disaster proof disk drives and GPS navigation systems are awesome technological advances without which our society would still be banging rocks together just to light fires. I’m just really slow to get to these things, and as I’m not working on any specific deadline for coverage of the show in post, I can slack a bit.

However, I will get through these the next day or two, because vendors I specifically want to check out such as Gibson and Roland (musical instrument manufacturers for the unfamiliar) will be at the show, and I want to map out my booth stroll to maximize time at the cavernous Las Vegas Convention Center.