Kurtopia

Now that Gmail offers IMAP access, I’ve moved my personal email to Gmail using Google Apps.  However, I’ve found a few characteristics of Gmail’s IMAP implementation that make it less than ideal, and they are quirks (to put it mildly) that seem a little baffling.

My biggest annoyance is what happens when you delete a message using an email client.  Instead of actually deleting the message, it removes the Inbox label from it, but otherwise leaves the message in your mailbox.  Huh?  Silly me, I would have thought that pressing Delete in my email client would have the same effect as pressing Delete in the Gmail web interface.  Instead, you have to move the message into the Trash folder, rendering the Delete function of your email client totally useless.

I’ve also noticed that messages with HTML content don’t show any content whatsoever in Windows Mobile 5.  Now, I realize that Gmail’s IMAP implementation doesn’t necessarily support Windows Mobile 5 (it specifically lists Windows Mobile 6–err… at least it did at one point), but come on… showing absolutely nothing for HTML messages is a little ridiculous.  Every other IMAP account I’ve ever configured on my Windows Mobile 5 smartphone hasn’t had this problem.

I thought this was going to be the answer to my email dilemma, but at the moment, that’s questionable at best.  Unfortunately, I’ve already transferred a lot of my email to Gmail, so I suppose I’ll muddle along for now until I find the Holy Grail of personal email hosting.

UPDATE:  Fortunately, I’m not the only one who ran into the Windows Mobile problem, and apparently it’s affecting both WM5 & 6.  Google knows about it, and is allegedly working toward a solution.  If they fix this, I think I can live with the Delete weirdness.

I never thought the day would come, but within about a week, I should have a shiny new iMac on my desk at work.  I’ve never really been interested in let alone actually used anything Apple-related (yes, that includes the iPod).  But the new deputy dean at Wharton is a Mac man (complete with an iPhone to boot), so in my new position, which includes indirectly supporting him, I feel it would be a good idea for me to get some Mac experience.

My fears of switching to a Mac are somewhat mollified by virtualization software (like Parallels or VMware Fusion) that will allow me to run familiar Windows applications in the OS X environment.  Thank God for that, because I hear that Entourage is crap compared to Outlook.  I’m even wondering if I can take my current Windows Vista installation and plop it into VMware Fusion on the iMac.  That would be HOT.

And if I totally hate it, I’ll just use Boot Camp to install Vista (if that’s even supported yet) and be on my merry way.  But at least I’ll have tried!

UPDATE: I can take my current Vista installation, turn it into a VM, and use it in VMware Fusion.  Totally hot.

While I’m certainly no expert on spelling or grammar, I am pretty good.  More than that, I have an acute attention to detail.  So when I see widespread misspelling of a word or incorrect structure of a phrase, I cringe!

Here are two of the biggest offenders, in my experience:

• There is no "a" in the word "definitely."  It is not "definately."  (And if you’re not using spell check on your email, you really should.)
• "I could care less" is not how the phrase goes, and in fact does not convey the proper sentiment.  Instead, it is "I couldn’t care less."  The idea is you care so little about something that it’s impossible for you to care any less.

Got it?

(Ironically, when I first published this post, I had typed "deal" instead of "detail" in the first paragraph.)

It looks as though Gmail finally got IMAP!  This should drastically improve my email situation.  Word.

Another great Star Wars clip on Robot Chicken.

Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino® Blended Crème is not that great.  I much prefer the Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino® Blended Crème and the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino® Blended Crème.  The Blueberries & Crème Frappuccino® Blended Crème sounds good… how come I’ve never seen this one?

And what the heck am I going to get from Starbucks when it’s really cold out and I need something hot, given that I’m completely caffeine-free?