My screen shows new email, and when I check it, it shows an open envelope for the message - some show as a closed envelope, but most show as an open envelope. How can my email messages be marked opened if I hadn't checked my email previously? How can I mark them unread until I open them to be read?

any suggestions?

Thanks.

Wirelessly posted

From within your e-mail, press the "T" button, the activate the menu and select the "Mark Prior Open". Now if the notification is still there after that. Activate the menu again and choose the option to "View Saved Messages". If its not there, then do a battery pull and see.

Also regarding email notification, when I receive a new email, my phone vibrates twice quickly. Is there a way to change this so that it doesn't vibrate at all?

Yes. Give this a read for how to edit those settings.

How do I edit my notification tones (profiles)? - BlackBerryFAQ

This was very helpful. Thank you! Changing this seems a little complicated, but I guess I'll get used to it.

Not really. Think of profiles like the sound themes on your PC (assuming you're on a PC).

This was a problem that perplexed me for a while too. Ultimately I learned that the curve has several different folders for different email addresses. This also includes a message folder for all messages. First go to the Home Screen and press the menu / Blackberry button. Select "Show All". Now scroll through until you see the offending folder indicating there is a message there. Delete that message and you should be back to normal. My problem had been a saved unread message in the saved messages folder that wasn't being displayed initially. That should take care of your problem!