I check the first six of these accounts on a regular basis; (Most are redirected to one of my primary mail hosts) so it really doesn't matter which one you use. I tend to use various Robs World! addresses for matters related to my web site. I use the Vaessen.net addresses for family related and specific purpose correspondence. I use the mac.com/MobileMe addresses for mailing lists. A few of the addresses are used on and off for specialized purposes and projects. I use the Vaessen.name address(es) for contact within the Vaessen family. The hotmail, yahoo, and geocities addresses are web based e-mail accounts which I don't check very often.

You may have noticed that these email addresses, and all the email addresses at my web site, are in the form of graphics*. I've given up on mailto: links and textual email links of all sorts. They're all vulnerable to the email address harvesting techniques used by spammers. If you're interested in protecting your email address(es) from evil spambots, you may want to read about how I converted ascii text into a .png image file. I don't always use image files for email links; lately I've taken to using a JavaScript solution, which seems to be working rather well. As I move forward with updates,

My guestbook:
Long ago, I had a guestbook. People even signed that guestbook. Then something changed, and guestbooks became magnets for spammers. A place where some low-life could tell people about his latest get rich scheme, architectural porn, or discount viagra. That's about the same time (three years ago) that my guestbook stopped working. I spent some time troubleshooting it, looking for alternatives, and contemplating the usefulness of said guestbook. In the end, I decided to leave the guestbook broken, and not replace it. Well, times have changed (a little). With the help of a 'distant' relative (thanks Jan), I've located a guestbook with relatively good spam protection. It's not hosted on someone elses site, it's not covered with advertisements, I was able to configure and customize it with relative ease, and best of all; It's Free!

So, the new guestbook is up and running. Hopefully it'll stand up to the legions of spammers looking for a place to deposit their steaming heaps of spam. I encourage you (Brian) to leave a little note, a small blurb regarding your experiences, a delightful disertation on the merits of "Rob's World!". I promise I'll read your note, and others may as well. My public bulletin board (guestbook) is back in service. I've even imported all the old entries (it looked kind of vacant without those).

Facsimile:
The correct spelling for 'Fax'. I can send and receive faxes directly from my computer/multi-function printer. Thanks to my new multi-function printer (an Epson Artison 800), I can now send and receive faxes without having to disconnect and reconnect my phone line. That was a pain in the butt having to reconfigure the phone line (from telephone to computer and back again) in order to send or receive a fax.

Chat:
I use Apple's iChat for most of my chat requirements. It's audio, video, chat and file transfer capable (if you've got a Mac you can even initiate slide shows, screen sharing, and media streaming through iChat). The video conference capabilities are great. I chat with my friend Rob in Japan on a regular basis (for free). With all the enhanced capabilities, it's way better than the telephone. iChat uses Apple's MobileMe network as well as AIM and Jabber for chat connectivity. You can contact me on iChat with my mac.com/me.com address , my AIM name (vaessenrobert) or my Jabber.com or Jabber.org address (rvaessen). If you connect via AIM, GoogleTalk, Jabber, Yahoo!, MSN, Facebook, Apple's MobileMe/.Mac/iChat service, or any XMPP compatible client, we can chat. If you're on an XMPP compatible client, we can even participate in an audio/video chat (if you've got the hardware (video camera/microphone)).

Newsletter:
I try to send out an electronic newsletter once a month. I try to get the newsletter out during the first week of each month, but sometimes it's a little late. The newlsetter covers what's going on with Kim and I, as well as the latest happenings at Rob's World! If you'd like to receive this newsletter, just send an email to newsletter-subscribe at robsworld.org. Additionally, if you're currently receiving the email, and you'd like it to stop please send an email to newsletter-unsubscribe at robsworld.org. I will honor all remove requests.

Encryption:
I use GnuPG v1.4.9 and the GPGMail plugin 1.2.3v62-10.6.4 for Snow Leopard (10.6.4), for Apple's Mail.app Version 4.3 (1081) for encryption, decryption, and message authentication. My upgrade to Mac OS 10.6 (released in Aug, 2009) disabled that capability, until now (July of 2010). Recently, a developer has managed to release a Snow Leopard compatible version (10.6.4 only). It's compatible with Apple's newest Mail.app, which has some built in support for encrypted and signed messages. The 10.6.3 update improved the support for built in encryption and signing, but the implementation is still a bit confusing. For now I'll stick with GPGMail plugin. It's far more flexible and easier to use than the 'built in' capabilities of Mail.app. If you would like to correspond in secret, please take note of my Public Keys. In addition to my self published keys, my public keys are also available on various keyservers.

Thanks:
If you're one of the many individuals who have left comments in my guestbook (back in service as of 15 Feb, 2007), or sent me e-mail with your comments and suggestions, I'd like to thank you for your input. It has been most instrumental and constructive. You're input has helped me build a better web site.

Sincerely;
Robert L. Vaessen