I got a voicemail from my Manager while I was away at corporate sales training last week saying that the HTML newsletter I created using CSS "wasn't working anymore" and she couldn't figure out why. It was working fine when I left work the Friday before, so I was wondering what she did to somehow make it stop working.

I get to work Monday morning only to discover that she's installed Outlook 2007 on her machine, which made my HTML newsletter "break". I'm probably really late voicing my opinion on this, but what was Microsoft thinking with Outlook 2007 using the Word 2007 engine to render HTML emails instead of Internet Explorer?

She's since insisted that I use tables to design all e-marketing materials. I have to resort to using simple CSS as I can't float layers or use background images in my layouts anymore. So much for creating table-less layouts for better web standards. The Campaign monitor blog is totally right in saying that Microsoft has taken design back 5 years as email designers HAVE to adhere to Outlook standards in fear of ostracizing too many recipients if they don't.

On a happier note, I got my YesAsia shipment today. I bought the Oguri Shun photobook 'High', Otsuka Ai's new album 'Love Piece', which is pretty good so far and Arashi's latest movie 'Kiiroi Namida'. I have a new HanaKimi moodtheme thanks to the lovely chochajin. I was getting tired of the Supernatural one.

I went to karaoke with Lisa yesterday at Echo Point on Park St. It was surprisingly cheap, just $5 per hour. They had a fair selection of Japanese songs, too. It made me miss Japan again. I love going to karaoke with Lisa because both of us sing well enough that there's no terrible warbling going on. Terrible singing is my pet peeve and going to group karaoke sessions, well, that's something I have to deal with.