I have a Hotmail account which I use almost entirely for signing up for random crap online: message boards, giveaways, shady services….it is my spam repository for the most part. I don’t check it as regulary as I do my GMail account because usually, I am just mass deleting spam. I also use Firefox (2.0.0.4 at the moment). Recent reports say Firefox has a 25% market share which is pretty significant…I have been very frustrated lately just to open and read emails in Hotmail because everything has been painfully slow. It doesn’t matter what my connection speed is when I check it, the interface is always painfully slow to respond to the simplest requests.

I decided to test Hotmail in IE7 … works like a charm. WTF? Is this a Firefox issue or a hotmail issue. Given the fact that many other sites with similar AJAX-like functionality work great in Firefox, I’m going to guess it is a Hotmail issue. I have a couple options (unless someone has a tip on how to speed up Hotmail in Firefox):

• Stop using hotmail (I have too many accounts tied to this address to give it up and am too paranoid that someone from my past won’t have my new email)
• Use Hotmail in IE (never!)
• Revert to “Classic” Hotmail (very tempting and may happen…but why must I revert to an old version simply because Microsoft doesn’t optimize their software for multiple browsers?)
• Deal with and hope they fix the issue (not holding my breath)

This got me thinking, how long have I had my hotmail email address (which was also the first email address I ever had). http://account.live.com tells me I signed up October 14, 1996 (apparently Hotmail went live July 4, 1996). Anyone else remember when Microsoft didn’t own “HoTMaiL”?

This past December, I received Christmas cards from most of my family as is the tradition. Unfortunately a few of the cards never made the trip to my box. They were sent back with a yellow sticker saying address correction was needed. Originally when Katie and I moved in, we were given a Lansdowne address, but were told that the address used to be Leesburg. I thought maybe, the US Postal Service did not recognize the town I lived in as valid…however I was getting most of my expected mail so I did not think much of it.

Last night I got an email from Geico saying they sent me my policy renewal papers via snail mail, but that they were returned to them. This could be bad as tax season is upon us and I should be getting some important documents in the mail soon! I went to the post office this morning, then after that I went to the correct post office, to figure out what the problem was.

Armed in my hands were two pieces of mail, the welcome letter I got form the USPS after I mailed in my change of address form (which was sent to my new address successfully) and a bill from my apartment complex that showed my address and the apartment complex’s addresses in Lansdowne, VA. After explaining my situation I even got to talk to the guy who delivers my mail (well, some of it). He told me there was some list with everyone who had lived at that address over the years, and since it was an apartment, the list was long. At the top of that list was Katie, followed by me….he said Katie has been getting all of her mail but he wasn’t sure that I lived there. Because of this sometimes he returned my mail to its origin. He told me that he would try to pay more attention in the future but that he isn’t always the one who delivers the mail.

What kind of answer is this? He doesn’t pay enough attention? What good is a change of address form if the delivery person is just going to decide who lives there? I would have rather he told me there was a glitch in the system, and that he corrected it and it won’t happen again…even if it was a lie it would have made me feel better. Instead he’ll just “try to remember” to deliver my mail.

Lesson learned: Always put your name on your mailbox, especially in an apartment complex.

Because of this, I’m adding the USPS to my shit list – remarkably no one has received this honor since July 8th 2004 when Wal-Mart was added to the list of elite. Unfortunately unlike the other businesses on the list, you cannot simply stop using the postal system all together.

• United States Postal Service
• Wal-Mart
• SunCom
• Shenandoah Automotive
• NTC
• The Commons Apartments

Kevin and I stopped by Heavenly Ham yesterday for lunch since we were both in the mood for sandwiches. I had never had the god-like meat from this fine establishment…should I get the namesake ham? Maybe turkey? Maybe go all out and get turkey AND ham?!? Well we were promptly informed that they were out of both turkey AND ham. So much for that idea…we ended up getting lame subway instead – oh well.

If you didn’t hear, today President-Non-Elect Bush signed the Port Security Act (HR49543 – Safe Port Act) . There’s this nifty thing Congress can do – sometime’s it’s called piggybacking…. the basic premise is to add a few small bills which are less likely to pass on their own to a big bill that is sure to pass. In this case an online gambling bill was added to the port security bill – what Senator in their right mind is going to vote against a port security bill? Certainly not one that wants to get re-elected. So the bill passed by a landslide – it doesn’t make online poker illegal (well no more than before). What it does make illegal is the transferring of funds from financial institutions to companies that accept wagers online. There are a lot of questions yet to be answered – some companies have already ended business in the US, others say they are staying. I’ll wait to see how this plays out, but right now it doesn’t look good. Stupid congress….if only there was some way we could all get together and decide which ones we want to keep and which ones we want to replace… I for one think decisions of morality should be left up to the individual and not decided for me.

Oh – and Guitar Hero II comes out November 7th. With songs from Nirvana, The Police, The Allman Bros, Spinal Tap, and (Stanus boner inducing) Guns N Roses, number 2 is going to rule.

Haven’t gotten my fire remote yet…. or my toyota keychain…