Kayaker:
I'm assuming you know that you can go to a person's profile and click 'Read last 50 messages'
That will take you directly to their most recent messages, no searching.
Also, if you have that person personmarked, it will keep track of their posts, where you left off, and if you click the 'number' next to their profile in your favorites, you just read the ones by that person you haven't already read...
MB