Do you yahoo or google?

For years after we (we being X and I) got our first computer (thanks, Dad), we shared an email. It was an nycap.rr.com address, through our ISP. X did the whole outlook thing, and for years - and years - that was how we got our email.

When that wasn't going to work anymore (re: divorce), I had to come up with my own email solution. For a while, that email was mine alone, since it was still being delivered to the account at the house, and the computer set up hadn't change.

I knew it would though, and in anticipation of that, I set up a gmail account.

The thing was - and I'm just being honest - I didn't like gmail at that time. It's set up was...confusing to me, probably because, for better or worse, I was accustomed to outlook.

Then another problem disaster challenge presented itself: online dating. I'd meet guys through a site, and want to move communication off that site to somewhere more convenient - but I learned pretty fast I didn't want random men cluttering up my gmail.

Enter yahoo - which, it turned out, was much more appealing to me. It's interface was more like outlook, I could chat right from the inbox, and everyone did the same thing I did (used yahoo as their "I'm not really sure I want to 'know' you" account). So, yahoo stuck.

Recently, yahoo released a beta version of it's new email format, and I switched over. I do love it - it will keep tabs on my friends who are online in facebook and yahoo, and I can chat right from my inbox. I can view facebook and twitter updates, and I can update my yahoo status - and send it right to those other social networking sites at the same time.

One problem....because this is an update, and I work in a technological vacuum, I can't use yahoo at work anymore. Well, I can - from my phone. Not especially convenient.

So, I turned to old, reliable gmail to save the day.

Yahoo is soooo last century.

I started emailing friends from that account during the day, instead of yahoo. I've started using gchat more often - and it turns out, it works really, really well, even on my work browser - which I'm pretty sure is the same one Wilma used to chat with Betty.

As it turns out - the interface is a little different - or maybe it's just different than I remember. In any case, it's easier to keep track of emails, to sort them, and of course gmail's storage is practically endless. I'm still having trouble with how a "conversation" is saved - but I'm getting used to that.

Importing contacts is, naturally, easy (hey, it's freaking google) and all my most important friends have a gmail account. So I can totally save yahoo for sign-ins and petitions and free online accounts.

And all the cooties.