Below is a copy of the letter I sent to Onebox which I will refer to from now on as One(kitty litter)box::

Sir or Madam:

You may add this e-mail to your list of complainants. I'm sure that
I am not the first one to send an e-mail about your unilateral decision
to eliminate free e-mail service. For some reason I vaguely remember
a slogan your company used to have which stated "Free e-mail for life"
or something close to that.

It would seem to me that a more equitable option would have been to keep
a free scaled down version of your service for those that depend on their
Onebox account but can't afford to pay. You could have done what everyone
else does and include advertisements or some other options for maintaining
free e-mail service. It would have been inconvenient but it would have
been an option. Fortunately I am not one of those persons who depend
on Onebox and I will be canceling my account as soon as I send this message.
If you would like to send me you patent pending form letter reply you
may send it to the following address:

paul.l.thompson@mindspring.com

Regards,

Paul Thompson
paul.l.thompson@mindspring.com

"I can remember back in the day when that shopping mall over there was an apple orchard. My good friend Jimmy and I would run through the orchard and would grab a couple of apples. We were always scared that Mr. Brachard, who owned the orchard would get mad but he didn't mind. Yeah, those were the days"

The same can be said about the current state of the Internet. I remember back in the day when just about everything on the Internet was free. Content was placed out there just for the taking. If you had something cool you would post it for everyone to use, tweak, whatever. It was truly an open forum for everyone. Oh, porn was much easier to get back then too. You didn't get 10,000 pop-up ads like you do today. Back then the Internet was not owned by corporate America. In fact corporate America wasn't even interested in the Internet! Well, that is what I'm pissed off about today. My friends Reyna and Jose (along with myself) all have Onebox accounts. Onebox is a great all-in-one e-mail, voice mail, fax service. You can get an e-mail and call the number that you are issued and have your e-mail read back to you through a text to voice program, you can send e-mail via the phone or you can listen to your voice messages through your computer! Hence the name Onebox. This was advertised as "Free e-mail for Life." We all recently received notices that Onebox will no longer be free. The company will start charging about $6/month for the service. Makes you wonder who's life they were talking about when they advertised the free e-mail. I'm certainly still alive.

What ticks me off about this whole thing is that most times when companies decide they want to make a profit from an Internet service they usually leave a generic/anorexic version of their service for poor people like ourselves to continue using the service. Onebox is basically saying, "Fuck 'em!" Well Onebox, we are all saying FUCK YOU! I may not be able to have my e-mail read to me over the phone but I sure the hell ain't paying for something that you told me I could have for free! The one thing that sucks is that I use this account for my resume and job search. Now I have to change everything! Ugh!! So for those of you who were still sending me e-mails to paul.l.thompson@onebox.com you may now send those e-mails to either paul.l.thompson@mindspring.com or pauly@casperboo.com. Fight the power! Down with the Man!!!

Back in Chicago and still looking for a job. Just thinking about my recent trip to Italy and it all seems like a dream. This morning I got up and routinely did everything that I normally do. Turned on CNN, checked my e-mail, made oatmeal for breakfast and put a load of laundry in the washer. BORING!!!!

I visited my folks yesterday for the first time since I’ve been back. My dad asked me, “When you went to church in Italy did you understand what they were saying?”
“Dad, I didn’t go to the church service. I just went inside the church.” I replied.
I guess he is just latching on to any hope of me attending a church service even if I don’t understand the service. Keep hope alive, dad!