>I logged in to UT today aroud 1600 hr est. adn the response was way way way way way way slower than ever before! I mean slow. I think there were 22 messages when I finally got in, and it is now 1710hrs and I have just finished getting through them. AND I SKIPPED SOME!!!

Not locally, I am responding you from the University and everything is as fast as before. I didn't receive any other comment today.

Have you tried to clear your browser cache? There is a known problem which is slowing down the browser related to a cache problem.