In the past, I used to use Hotmail extensively without opening an account with Yahoo. I was loyal, maybe. Or stubborn. It was not until my Hotmail account flooded with tons of email and spam mails that I finally make the decision to switch to Yahoo. Indeed, Yahoo was faster and easier to navigate. Best of all, the email spaces keep on increasing until today’s unlimited email spaces. On the other hand, Hotmail is still restricting its users to 5GB.

Sadly though, the spam or junk mails that I was getting at Hotmail suddenly disappear by more than 70% while my Yahoo account’s spam mails have grown substantially. Well, it can be easily explained by saying that I use Yahoo more often and eventually, I get more spam mails. But my Hotmail account is still active and why it is getting lesser and lesser spam mails? Does Hotmail have better quality control?

Hmm… one thing that frustrates me is that Yahoo keeps diverting my subscribed newsletters into the Spam folder. Those newsletters contain latest information from some of the forums that I read the most as well as promotional product recommended by major online stores such as Amazon, Play.com, Pixmania and Maplin. Well, I have to often scan through the emails in the Spam folder which can get up to 100 spam mails a day in order to make sure that I do not miss out of any news or offers that I have subscribed. Frustrating indeed.

Is it time to switch back to Hotmail?

Yesterday trip to London did not go quite well as expected. Somehow, I did manage to do what I wanted to do but not all. I chatted with Mee the night before and she suggested me Chinatown when I mentioned to her that I have got no interest to go anywhere in London but I do not want to waste the travel card. Gosh, I completely forgot about Chinatown. The weather was gloomy all day long and it rained when I was in Chinatown. I just went in to two shops and bought some food, that’s it really. I reached home around 1600 which was a good time even though it was still raining because anytime later than that, the tube and the train will be packed with people while the road will be packed with cars.

When I came into the office this morning, I found out that my manager was off sick yesterday and he is still sick. I was also kind of worried because I did not turn on my out of office reply status. A few people did look for me yesterday but luckily their requests were important instead of urgent. Important as in the tasks need my attention and should be high priority. Urgent as in the tasks need to be solved as soon as possible or immediately.

Few days ago, I have the urge to purchase the new computer hardware that I have been planning all this while. However, I am still waiting for the best time to make the purchase. My existing computer is acting weird and was infected with Win32.Backdoor-DNM. Well, Win32.Backdoor-DNM was solved but I still get Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) once a while. In the coming days, I have to monitor it closely and note down the type of BSOD that appears. Hopefully, I will be able to solve it without reinstalling Vista.

Even after I assemble the new computer, I will still be using the old computer for testing and gaming purpose. Most probably, I will setup a remote desktop connection or third party software with similar function. Once I have the working new computer, I can do whatever I like with the old computer. For your information, my previous computers were utilised until the end of its life and this will be the perfect opportunity for me to own two computers even though I only have one monitor.

Another thing to consider is that the existing room space is limited and does not really allow the addition of a full set computer. Right now, I am still trying to figure out the existing computer desk setup and hopefully it will fit the new computer without having me sourcing for new computer desks. The attached picture is quite similar to the computer desk that I am using at the moment. Since my next purchase will be a desktop type, it should be able to fit.

The weather is bright and sunny at the moment while it was icy in the morning. My colleague had her 30th birthday yesterday. Earlier, her sister, who is working in the same department, collected about £5 from each of us and bought her some gift cards and food. Later this year, there will be two colleagues celebrating their 30th birthday as well as another colleague celebrating her 50th. It is going to be a busy year!

I have applied for a day off tomorrow as I need to go to Mee’s college to get some documents. Well, ex-college to be exact and it is my ex-college too. You see, during my one year study at the college, they changed their administrators all the time. They have now been taken over by London College but the situation is still the same. Mee has requested some documents for almost 3 weeks and they are still not ready yet. Thus, I have to make a trip to the college to ensure that they are and will be issuing the correct documents.

I hope that they will not be wasting my time tomorrow. Surely they will not be using up the whole afternoon just to create some documents of not more than 200 words. I wonder what I can do in London. I will be alone and no one shop with me. I thought of going to Oxford Street but I have nothing to buy. I believe that it will be crowded as usual. On the other hand, I will be paying an all zone travel card which is kind of a waste if I am not going to fully utilise it.

Anyhow, it will depend on my mood, the time I have as well as the weather condition.

The service and MOT went alright yesterday. The car passed the MOT test with just a change of a pair of wiper blades. With the logo of FORD on both the wiper blades, they cost me £20. The whole service and MOT took just under 2 hours than the initially suggested of 3 hours. When I asked the technician, he said that he did not want to keep me waiting. Well, that was nice but I was hoping that he will do a good job rather than service and MOT my car in a hurry.

I was told to do the next service after 12,500 miles or a year, whichever comes first. 12,500 miles?!!! In Malaysia, a normal service will only keep us going for 5,000km let alone a year. A better service will only take the car to 10,000km.

The newspapers reported that March is a month where car dealers will be expecting good sales because the new 2009 registration will be out. Indeed, there were a lot of people and calls to the Ford showroom as I was waiting inside the showroom. Some models of Ford even have a waiting time until November. I particularly interested in Ford Kuga. The name is not the nicest to read out but it looks great. I am also impressed by the new technology that they put in to those new models a car.

There is an intelligent fuel pump detection to make sure that you do not pump in diesel into a petrol car or vice versa. I remember there was once when newspapers reported Wayne Rooney accidentally refilled diesel into his petrol Range Rover. Yes, the footballer and his expensive Range Rover. Well, if I go to the showroom a few more times, I will soon see myself in debt.