Does Illustrator have dementia? (CS3, Windows XP)

Question

I use the pen tool a lot for tracing, and most of the time I use a blue .25 point outline and no fill. Why can't AI remember this? For example, if I save the file I'm working on and close AI, when I open AI again, the stroke is set to 1 point, the outline color is set to black, and the fill is set to white. Why isn't it set to what I was using when I last saved and closed?
It is not only when you first open AI that the stroke, outline color, and fill are reset to some arbitrary default either. If you use another tool or function, and then go back to the pen tool, you can find things changed as well. When I select the pen tool, why can't it simply go back to what I was using the last time I used the pen?
I wonder how many hours I've wasted during the forty-eleven thousand times I've clicked on the stroke drop-down menu and selected .25 point, clicked on the stroke color drop-down menu and selected blue, and clicked on the fill color drop-down menu and selected [none].
The same thing happens with fonts. Sometimes it remembers what you were last using if you do something else and come back to the typing tool, but most of the time it figures 12 point Myriad Pro is a better choice.
I have an old version of Adobe Photoshop (version 7) and it remembers everything, even after you close it. I just opened it and it is showing the same shade of red in the "set foreground color" box that I was working with when I last used the program. When I click on the typing tool, it is showing the same 200 point homemade font I was last using. When I click on the paintbrush it is showing the same huge 965 px diameter round brush I was last using, etc.
So what is AI's problem? Is this the way it is supposed to behave? And if so, are there any settings I can change to make it remember certain things?

Answer 1

Jacob,
I never noticed the pattern, but that doesn't make the situation any better than if it was random. You still have to constantly change the layer color back to the one you want. What purpose does constantly changing the layer colors serve? Did it ever occur to Adobe that a good deal of people out there want the layer color to always be the same; and for the few times that a different layer color is desired, then it can easily be manually selected?
You say that you prefer red, which I assume means that you are constantly having to change the layer color back to red (unless you know of a way to make a new layer always default to red, in which case, I'd like to know what it is). I prefer yellow, so I'm always having to change the layer color to yellow.
I doubt we are the only two people who prefer a specific layer color. In fact, I would guess that it is common for people to prefer a specific layer color. I can see little use for an arbitrary pattern of imposed layer color changes, which is bound to cause a conflict eventually; e.g., when the new layer color matches or closely matches the color of your stroke (or the image you are tracing, if you are indeed, tracing an image), and then you can't see your anchor points or path indicator lines.