email reconnaissance

n. an efficient survey of three or more days worth of past emails in one sitting. This strategy is used to catch up on the important business that those emails may require. May be employed either by the busy or the lazy.

"I need to take a half-hour to do some email reconnaissance."

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, I've not been paying much attention to my email for a while, so I just need to get the lay of the land and find out if there are any land mines waiting for me in the form of uncompleted tasks or neglected personal friends. After that we can go to the game."

"Weird. Why didn't you just say that you were catching up on your email?"