Quick tip! July 21, 2004 - FREE E-mail

Here's a quick tip for today.

As part of my blogging I like to share things I've found on the internet. I work as a Network Administrator and part of my job consists in looking for information, services and software on the Internet. From time to time I come across little tidbits, hints and links to software or services. I'm not affiliated in any way to any of these companies, but offer these to readers who might find them interesting and useful.

I recently came across a company who offers free POP3 compliant email accounts, you can find them at Nerdshack ..::.. Home. You will get a 100MB Inbox and you can use either Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, Incredimail, Thunderbird or any other POP3 compliant email client you wish. They don't have email access from the web, but you can do that from this site mail2web.com. Mail2Web is a free service that allows you to check any POP3 email account from the Internet, you can send and reply to email as well.

SPAM control??

OK I'm sitting at work and just went through what has become quite a ritual for me, the sorting and subsequent deleting of SPAM from my email Inbox. The funny thing is that I receive SPAM telling me how to fight SPAM. Now seriously what are these people thinking? Do they expect me to buy or use a product from someone who uses the very delivery method that their product it designed to alleviate. Besides why would I trust my business to someone who uses rather questionable tactics to get me to read their email in the first place, things like making cryptic subject lines or adding a whole bunch of legitimate or seemingly legitimate phrases at the bottom of their emails to ward off email filters just doesn't inspire confidence in me. Email is getting less and less productive and at times there is so much junk mail that I can actually sit here and watch MS Outlook's email filter working away on each email that comes in. OK back to work and my wonderful email (tongue firmly planted in cheek)

ARGH!!!! Or why I hate shopping at music instrument stores

Alright, so perhaps I don't look like a rock star and yes perhaps I don't know a C Major Chord from an electrical Cord, but give me a break. I was just at a music store this afternoon shopping around for a USB - MIDI Interface and the store clerk didn't treat me all that well or perhaps was it just me. I don't know, but of most of the music store clerks that I've met all but one has given me this feeling like they are all frustrate wanna be musicians that never made it and now are mad at the world. Basically what bothers me is the attitude most of them give me, it's like they don't have time for me nor do they want to bother with an obvious beginner (re: please see chord referal at top of this blog entry) What this lolely little clerk did not realize is that at moments like today when I'm in buying a small adapter I am at my most vulnerable and there I was staring at some digital drum kits. These days I've been obsessed with playing drums and recording some kind of tunes on my computer. I will have more information on this on my music page, but basically I've been slowly buying up parts to create a small home studio. It's all based around a synthesizer I purchased a while ago and will have more details on my music page. Right now I don't have a very good setup for drumming and so I was looking at building a set of digital drums and was asking this chap at this store, that will remain nameless, if they had drum practice pads to make the trigger pads. He showed me them, but proceeded to explain to me that my plans were not going to work, but what he didn't do is offer me an alternative! I would have perhaps listened to him at that point. This is all besides the point as I plan on keeping with my original plan and building a set. More on this later.

So what has everyone lost it?

I've been noticing that people seem to be getting more stupid as time goes by. Take for instance holiday weekends, just this past Canada day 16 people lost their lives in Quebec due to car accidents and this while supposedly enjoying a holiday weekend. Have you seen the way people act on holiday weekends now. They start sometime around mid-afternoon on Friday as is apparent when they leave work early and clog up city streets with their frantic pace to get home and start relaxing with their families. You see them running around like chickens with their heads chopped off going to and through pushing anything and anyone who gets in their way. Now I'm not against people having a good time and enjoying their weekends, but come on can they not slow down a bit. The stupidity doesn't end here, there seems to be an abundance of it in many different facets of living from buying a simple device down the road to dealing with people in the hospital. I just don't understand it at all. I'll try from time to time to blog some of my situations and when I get into these predicaments just to show you what I mean. In the meantime keep your eyes open and you too will see that people seem to be getting more stupid as time goes by.