Dropcam Setup on Verizon FIOS

After researching dozens of products to be used as a baby cam, I purchased the Dropcam home video monitor primarily because the video stream could be accessed through computer, iphone, ipad and other mobile devices from anywhere in the world.  Setup was also marketed aggressively as quick and easy and should be completed within 90 seconds, however, that was not the case.

Step 1: unboxed the unit, followed the instrucions (30 seconds)
Step 2: attempted to connect to Wi-Fi on my Verizon FIOS network (60 seconds)
Step 3: received the error "Wireless network not found. Please make sure the camera is within range of the router, MAC filtering is disabled, and the password is correct." (15 seconds)
Step 4: I searched the support pages and found that changing the wireless router (which requires logging INTO the router admin screen) channel to 1 or 11, but that did not work (5 minutes)
Step 5: called Dropcam support, but at 9:45 PM EST, they were closed (1 minute)
Step 6: woke up Saturday morning, 9:30 AM EST, spoke to Aaron at tech support, he helped me test my internet connection speed at speedtest.net, reboot the router, and move the camera to about 10 feet away from the router.  None of those tests worked, so he indicated that I would have to speak to advanced tech support, but they are not available on the weekends. (20 minutes)
Step 7: went online to Verizon chat support and the agent typed "I regret to hear of the trouble that you are having. For Technical Support for your Home Monitoring and Control system, please call 1-800-VERIZON (1-800-837-4966) and follow the prompts for Home Monitoring and Control Technical Support" (3 minutes)
Step 8: that agent directed me to call 866-785-8153 which turns out to be closed on the weekends... (6 minutes)
Step 9: I finally spoke to a higher level tech at Dropcam who was actually pretty nice.  He walked me through setting up a higher level of network security so that the camera would work.  

1 Month later... Now that it's working, I actually love the product.  I can access it from any device and/or multiple devices simultaneously. I would highly recommend this product after using it for about a month! 

Smart Mailbox in Apple Mail

I love the "unread"mailbox on my phone.  It's a quick way to see exactly what has not been read yet, and hides all of the other emails that I have already read.  I don't know why it took me 5 years to realize that I could do this on my desktop as well, so I opened my Mail application, went to the Mailbox menu and chose "New Smart Mailbox...".

Then I created a new rule and from the drop down menu, selected "Message is unread" and labeled the new mailbox "Unread".  Now I have a new mailbox and can quickly see my unread messages at a glance.  Kind of psyched, but I'm sure the excitement will wear off in a few hours...