CFLs Who else here hates them?

I just had another one of them pop in the basement. It was screwed in about 6 months ago or so, used everyday for at least an hour. Now these don't burn out like regular incandescent bulbs or even a regular florescent tube, these make a loud "pop" and smell like burning plastic. The last 3 I had all burnt out that way. I opened one of the 3 that popped like that and have found that it was the electrolytic capacitor. The only other time I have ever had a electrolytic capacitor blow was in a old tube radio. The radio was 70 years old and worked for about 2-3 hours at least once every few weeks. I have since fixed the radio and it still sings today. A regular florescent light that uses replaceable tubes either has a ballast or a starter that was built to be used over and over therefore it lasts. If they would make a compact screw-in ballast that was built to last and sold spiral tubes that could be fitted to the top of the ballast, then maybe more people would like them and they would be more safe. My cousin is a firefighter and he said they have responded to so many calls about CFLs smoking, flaming, smelling burnt and melting. They have also responded to a few fires that were ruled to to have been caused by a faulty CFL. I myself do no like them. They are not a perfect replacement for every application a incandescent bulb would be used in. These bulbs including my florescent shop lights do not like to light up in temps below 20°F and in these Minnesota winters, it can go well below that! I currently use 2 regular 100 watt incandescent bulbs in my garage since a CFL is going to fail in the winter. Either it will flicker or glow very dimly, the shop lights just flicker for about 15 minutes until it warms up while the CFLs seem to take much longer. I do not like the light output of most CFLs, they can be a fire hazard, the mercury vapor is highly dangerous (even though it is a very small amount) and do not last as long as advertised to.
I know exactly why they are not lasting as long as they should, I turn them on and off too much! I would get close to a year out of a incandescent bulb when I have been only getting 5-6 months out of a CFL. I am not very happy about the 30sec-1min warm up period either, I want my light when I turn it on! Just last June, the Minnesota EPA did some tests on the landfills and noticed a spike in mercury since the last test in 2007. People are not recycling them so mainly it is doing more harm then good. I noticed that our local hardware store will only take CFLs or regular tubes if you buy replacements from them. Our local Menards takes them for free but who wants to drive your bulbs away each time you need to change them. Since they will be removing my 100 watts from the shelves in the beginning of 2012, I have stocked up on them! I do believe we have to be energy efficient but not by ruining the light you use everyday.

Sorry about all the typing about CFLs! I don't hate them, I hate the fact that we are being forced to use them in every application. I do believe they have to have a better made ballast since the ballast is usually the first to go far before the tube goes bad.