I’ve installed your fine, fine MMORPG called City of Heroes on my computer here at the office. (It’s a long, slow Sunday spent waiting for backups to run. What do you expect me to do for the next seven or eight hours?) Having double-checked the various agreements and your not-too-clunky Knowledgebase, I know that I can install the game on another computer besides my home gaming rig, as long as I only use the actual account from one location or the other at a given time. No worries. I have no intention of abusing terms-of-service or anything like that.

Here at the office I use a handy dandy proxy server for all of my connection needs. This provides me with protection while also granting me much more freedom than the main corporate firewall (the one I can’t configure to my own requirements) provides.

But for some reason, your game is the first piece of software I’ve seen that is apparently incapable of using said proxy server. So I look in the Readme, under “Configuring your Firewall.” I’m referred to the appropriate section of “Connectivity Devices and Issues,” which refers me to… “Configuring your Firewall.” That’s it.

Er, what? Nice bit of work there, guys. Really nice. Time to shoot off an email via your regular support channels…

Well, well. Take a look at what arrived from Right Stuf this morning:

I know what I’m watching tonight…

I decided to sign onto Neopets this morning and feed my famished pet. While I was there I did the usual rounds, including the Tombola. For the first time in ages I actually won something nifty from it.

And when I saw my prize I started singing the Bottle Fairy theme song… because I acquired a “Bottled Air Faerie.” I’m pretty sure it’s Kururu, on account of it being a blue bottle…

(Yes, I’m a big ol’ geek. Your point?)

Fine. I gave in. And do you know why? Because one, I’m insatiably curious, and two, I couldn’t resist the urge to get a lock on the one Gmail address I’d ever actually want. (Or, more accurately, I wanted to keep anyone else from getting it.)

You can probably guess what my Gmail addy is. And if you can’t… who are you and what are you doing here? (Heh.)

Yes, folks, it’s true: I can be a sheep, too.

So far I’ve turned down not one but two offers of a Gmail account.

Yes, I’m that much of an iconoclast. Besides, I have my own domain and mail server. What the heck do I need another email addy for?

We now return you to your regularly scheduled, much more interesting, broadcast day.

UPDATE: Of course, the very day I post this, Dawn announces she has Gmail invites available. Heh.