I wasn’t planning to, but I have gone back to using Outlook for my email. I have used many email clients over the years. A year ago at the end of 2005, I was using Microsoft Outlook 2002. Even before then, I had toyed with the 2003 version, but didn’t use it by default. I eventually quit using Outlook and started using Mozilla Thunderbird.

I do like Thunderbird and I have been satisfied over the past year since I started using it. Recently, I have been feeling impatient with it. Creating new messages seems to take an extra second or two when drawing the composition window. The program feels slow. The awesome Firefox browser is sleek and super fast. Thunderbird doesn’t share its snappiness. Also, despite always upgrading to the newest version, Thunderbird still has a few glitches that bother me. A few examples:

1. When I am looking at messages in the preview pane and click the down arrow to display all of the recipients for that message, a bunch of extra space is left over, pushing the message body too far down.
2. After switching message folders, the message text of the last message previewed still shows on the lower half of the screen. Why am I still seeing that message when I am now in a different mailbox?
3. The command to empty the trash folder is listed under the File menu. But emptying the junk mail folder is found under the Tools menu. Why? And emptying the junk folder simply moves them to the trash folder.

After having to do a total system reinstall recently, I decided to install my copy of Outlook 2003. This time, I started a new file from scratch. I set up my calendar, contacts, messages, accounts, etc. I remember how much loved the “Outlook Today” page with my to-do list in the corner. The reading pane is very cool and the junk mail filter works great. I also love how the messages are automatically sorted by Today, Yesterday, Last Week, etc. The 2003 version of Outlook is so much better than the previous versions. If you want to use Outlook and don’t have the 2003 version, then you probably shouldn’t bother, since you’ll be missing out on the coolest features.

Now for some negative. One big dissatisfaction that I have with Outlook is that pictures attached to a message are not previewed in the message window. This annoys me. If they are embedded photos, then you will see them inline, but not if they are attached. There should be an option for this. Another annoyance is the strict security limitations that Microsoft has placed on what file extensions will be allowed in your incoming email. It is worth the time to go in and edit the Windows registry to change this behavior. You’ll have to look that up yourself, as I won’t go into that here.

If you use Outlook Express (heaven forbid!) then you’d be much better off using Thunderbird. But if you have Outlook 2003, you are doing yourself a disservice if you are not actually using this program. I found myself very surprised at how fast the program runs on my slow computer and how instant its actions are. I can’t understand why a program as mammoth as Outlook can run faster and use less memory on my computer than a program as basic as Thunderbird? Granted, the sheer size of my mailbox files may contribute to Thunderbird’s hesitation. I adore the open-source movement and I honestly hate to concede anything to the Microsoft monopoly, but Outlook is unbeatable.

It is ironic that I have posted about these over-the-top horror movies at Christmas time. But nonetheless, I had to post another entry. After reading my last post about Evil Dead 2, I realized that I had to throw something out there about the greatest and most absurd zombie horror movie Dead Alive. Personally, I love zombie movies! This one doesn’t have them coming out of the ground, but it is the wildest of them all.

Dead Alive is literally the bloodiest movie ever made. There are some statistics on the box cover about the enormous gallons of (fake) blood used to make the movie. The whole thing is a scream and is way over-the-top. It starts off slow, so please give it time, but when it gets going, this movie unleashes the goriest movie experience of your life. It is quite hilarious, actually. One scene that comes to mind is of the main character holding a running lawn mower up in the air and walking through a crowd of zombies who are reaching out for him. A fire hose stream of blood is shooting from the blades while he mows down dozens of zombies. Classic cinema at its best!

If you like this kind of thing, watch this movie now. But be warned! You must watch the unrated version of the movie, not the typical rated-R version that you get at Blockbuster. You will miss out on the extreme end of the gore that I mentioned earlier if you rent/buy the wrong one. Either way, you won’t regret watching this movie if you like this kind of thing.

This is hard to believe, but I could not immediately find an IMDB entry for the movie Dead Alive. It turns out that it is listed with the title Braindead. Apparently, it is called Dead Alive in the US. For this movie, I am going to post an image of the box cover, below.

I was just flipping through the channels on Showtime and ran across an old favorite of mine, Evil Dead 2. It is so hysterical. I have always loved this movie. If you have seen it, then you know what I am talking about. It is truly a crazy movie…well beyond the point of insanity. Bruce Campbell is a scream. He opens the Book of the Dead at a cabin in the woods, then all hell breaks loose, literally. Only Bruce Campbell could pull this movie off. Of course, it certainly helps if you see this movie in a setting where you expect and appreciate its over-the-top ridiculousness. This film is certainly not for everyone, but it is a personal favorite of mine.

I just did a little research on what has probably been the most successful video game console in history, the Playstation 2. It hit the shelves in Japan in March of 2000. Later in October of that year, it was made available in the US. I have had a PS2 for many years now and it has been worth the cost, many times over. The number of hours that my machine has been used is mind boggling, both for games and playing DVDs. For Sony, it has been a smash hit during the past six years. In fact, they still have strong sales of the system today.

Now, 2007 is knocking on our door and the very long awaited Playstation 3 is finally here. I stress finally! Years overdue, a massive production shortage, technical blunders, and with a price that equals an arm and a leg, I wonder what we’ll be saying about this machine in years to come. I even wonder if we’ll still be talking about it years from now. From what I have read, the small number of release titles have not been that well received. To top it off, some 200 PS1 and PS2 titles do not play properly on the new machine. That issue is being resolved via a firmware update that Sony is to release online. Combined, these issues just might make this product a failure.

At $600, I cannot afford a PS3. I don’t really want one, either. The games on the PS2 look and play good enough for my taste. I am not going to spend $60 a pop on brand new PS3 releases. For me to be interested, the price would have to be cut in half for the system and the games, and a lot more of the population would have to adopt it first.

If the PS3 had to compete solely against the XBOX 360, I think it would fair well in the long run, as long as prices come down, issues are resolved, and enough games are made. But since Sony faced so many delays to get the system on the market, they now have to contend with the Nintendo Wii, which looks to be kicking their butts. I just want a console game system that plays games well and connects to the Internet for online games. That is it. I don’t want it to serve as a computer, entertainment center, or DVR. I only want to play games. At this minute, if I could snap my fingers and have a new system to play, I would honestly like to play a Wii. After that, I’d like to play a 360. The PS3 is at the end of my list. A year ago, I never would have expected that.

What will come of the Playstation 3, time will tell.

I just found out via The Daily Show that I am Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year”. The Man of the Year award has been a Time Magazine staple since the 1920s or 30s. This year, there is a mirror on the front cover, allowing you to see yourself. Apparently, they say that 2006 was the year that the web, “…became a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people…” Hmmm.

While their statement does hold some truth, I personally think it would have been wiser to choose an actual person of the year instead of copping out and saying that everyone is. Then again, if this was, at least in part, an publicity stunt, then it worked. After all, I just visited and bookmarked their site. I guess they succeeded.

I added a new page to the site, titled Links. I am going to post a short list of websites that I visit almost daily. Not necessarily the best sites on the web, but the ones I frequent the most often. Over time, I’m sure I’ll update the list every now and then. Originally, I thought I’d try to find a way to make an automated list that would pull all of the links contained throughout all of my various blog posts. I don’t know if this could ever be achieved. For now, this is not going to be the case.

I found an interesting website recently. Apparently I’m not the only Craig out there with a hate list. I ran across the website craigspissed.com and found it to be quite funny. This guy’s mantra is “Forget Craigslist. Craig’s Pissed.” It looks like the owner hasn’t updated it much lately, but some of the older entries are pretty funny. If you enjoy reading my hate list, I think you’ll like reading this guy’s complaints.

I have used instant messaging since the early days of the Internet, back in the day when AOL and ICQ were the only games in town. (Does anyone even use ICQ anymore?) Since those early days, each new product version has grown ever larger, bloated, and more complicated. Today, the programs to access these services are crammed full of features and options that hardly anyone is ever likely to use. If you use AOL or Yahoo messengers, check your system processes while it is running. You’re likely to be stunned at the amount of memory being sucked up by each of these beasts. They have ad windows, and aim to take over your system with resource-hogging, unnecessary features.

Enter Trillian. It is a free, polished, and intuitive chat program used to access virtually all of the different chat mediums from a single window. There are no advertisements or extra junk installed on your system. There is a also Pro version available for paying users that has more advanced features. I use the Basic version. I used to use this program a long time ago, and back then, it did have a few rough edges. Since that time, it has really grown up and become very slick and polished. The version I am using now is v3.1.

One thing that I like is that the program uses plug-ins for each of the chat networks. You can choose not to install ones that you don’t plan to use. Best of all, even while connected to all three chat services that I frequent (AOL, Yahoo, and MSN), the program uses approximately 14 MB of RAM. You can’t even run a single one of the native chat applications with that little memory. I’d like to add that I rarely connect to MSN because I do not like it.

If you are using any of the chat services to do video chat, or even just audio, you will probably be better off using the real native program for that. But for everything else, don’t waste your time or space installing any of the instant messaging beasts. Trillian is all you need.

As far as I know, Trillian it is for Windows only. If you use Linux, then Gaim is obviously your best bet. But if you are running Windows, you’ll find Trillian to be much more modern and polished than Gaim. At the time of this writing, Gaim version 2.0 has not been yet been finalized. It seems like it has been ages since the last release came out. Therefore, I am basing my comparison on the current version of Gaim, which is 1.50.

I have been using iTunes (for Windows) since Laura bought my iPod Shuffle, some time ago. Every aspect of it is so straightforward and simple that I can’t image using anything else to buy or play music. In the past, I had briefly used both the MusicMatch online music store and the Real Rhapsody service. I don’t know if either are still going, nor do I care.

I don’t have to tell you that iTunes is far and away the best online music store. Buying tracks and burning CDs could not be any easier. The selection is huge. Nearly everything I have searched for has turned up on iTunes. I have never used the podcast or video offerings, but I am extremely satisfied with their music selection. The Barenaked Ladies, one of my favorite bands, have dozens of full length live concerts available through iTunes. I was stunned to find the endless songs available. Most important, all music files are high quality and produce very crisp sound. Files are in an encrypted AAC format, and all have a .m4p file extension.

iTunes even got me to organize my music using the library. I keep organized file folders of all my music files, but I never before played songs using a library. I always shied away from using the library in the Windows Media Player. Using iTunes as a library and music player is easy and fun to use. Making playlists and searching for tracks are so simple and intuitive that a caveman could do it.

Granted, if you have an iPod, you’ll get a lot more out of iTunes. The way it syncs with my iPod is literally plug it in and go. The software even automatically updated the firmware of my iPod hardware all on its own. I can’t imagine other services having anything that matches the close knit functionality of the iPod+iTunes combo. But even without an iPod, you can still make great sounding CDs. Most albums are $9.95 as a whole, much cheaper than buying the physical CD. All songs are 99 cents, otherwise. you save a little if you buy the whole album.

The bottom line: If you regularly shop at a different music store, then I pity you.

As I mentioned once before, I have been tinkering with There.com. I have learned a lot since I first got started and I want to share an updated view of what I think of the service. If you like chatting, socializing, and exploring, then you must try this. I quite enjoy it.

In fact, I like it more now than when I first began. It takes some getting used to. You learn shortcuts after a while. One worth mentioning is that to make a gesture in chat, such as a laugh or a wave, simply type the command ‘wave or ’smile. It’s easier than using the mouse if you are already typing.

There.com is an incredibly easy way to meet people. Everyone I have met has been very positive and helpful with my learning how to use it and offering ideas. Unlike old-school chat rooms, this 3-D world has hoards of people standing or walking around. People freely walk up and exchange words all the time. You can join games and competitions, too. My only problem is that I have found that most everyone I meet is a lot younger than I am. At 30, I guess I am in the older bracket of users who try this kind of stuff out.

Last week, I bit the bullet and upgraded my free account to become a premium member. It is well worth it. It is only a one-time fee of $9.95. With that you get a lot, including favorites, a compass, and voice chat. I was stunned when the voice chat first turned on. I could hear people talking into their headsets who were standing nearby. You can’t get this in the free version. It takes it to a whole new level. Since you only pay that one time, I would suggest doing it. Also, as a free member, I used to be locked out of half of the places on the map. No longer. I can own property, attend auctions, and go anywhere I want now.

I also picked up a hover bike which has been wonderful. It helps me get around everywhere much faster and also rides uphill, nearly in a vertical state if you are on a steep slope. One frustrating feature of There is that some areas are designated “No Dropping Zone”. Which means you cannot pull out your hoverboard, buggy, or whatever. Sometimes this is not clearly indicated.

I installed There on my Dell notebook computer, which is faster than my older desktop PC. It ran great, but I noticed that the computer was getting very hot from the constant activity. I eventually decided to use my desktop computer when I want to log on. It takes a lot out of the computer and I notice that the hard drive is usually very busy. I thought that over time, I may wear out the small drive that is in my notebook. Also, I’ll mention that it would probably be wise to have a 7200 RPM speed drive to keep things smooth.

See you There.