We all know how I feel about change. (Reminder: I don't like it.) So when my ISP (which happens to be ATT-Yahoo) arbitrarily changed the layout of my home page, eliminating all the personalization I've put into it over the years and denying me access to my bookmarks, I went ballistic. The fact that this happened at midnight didn't help. I couldn't have slept if I'd wanted to, so I stayed up way too late figuring out my next move.

My first move was to complain. I told the ISP exactly what I thought of the change. The fact that the new layout is cumbersome and cluttered, along with not having any of my stuff in it, made it even worse. So I filled in the comment form with a moderate amount of invective, just enough to get their attention without being so much that they would stop reading.

My next move was to find a new web portal. The ones that were available back in the last century when I was new to the Internet are by now either dead or decrepit. And many of the pages that cropped up in the next few years have disappeared as well. But on About.com, I found a whole section devoted to start pages, with examples and reviews, so I started trying things out.

Eventually, I had to try to get some sleep, so I left things up in the air. I made copious notes and saved all the links that I thought I'd need. Today, in what little free time I could find, I went back to the project and sorted through the examples that I'd come across.

Oddly enough, one of the examples was My Yahoo, and when I clicked on their link I found my old home page! With a new url! It was a little miracle, and all I had to do was figure out how to make it my new start page and my new home page. Since I use Chrome, it was easy to find under Settings.

Nothing is stopping Yahoo from eliminating the portal altogether, so I'm still looking at alternative pages, just in case. And I'm definitely not taking back my complaint. For what they put me through, they should have to do some serious soul searching. That's no less than I expect from a megaconglomerate communications giant. AT&T, search your soul!