I'm here, just not every day.
There is a better way to connect to Hotmail than the one you're currently using, but I only enabled it a couple of months ago.
Please remove the account from Aqua -- and add it back, by entering your name / email / password and pressing Next, without changing any server settings.
This will use IMAP, and the read/unread state of each message will be in sync with web mail. You'll also be able access server side folders (if you have them).