I wish to thank Drew for his response. Within 24 hours of my original post I received a response to both of my issues from MR.

In both cases I went to MR Home and scrolled to the bottom of the page and clicked "Customer Support" One of the options on that page is "Contact Us by e-mail" which I selected. This brings up a pre-filled form with name, phone no, e-mail adr, MR acct # and mailing address inserted. Then a block for free form comments and a submit button. I know that I would not have gone to the effort of composing messages and not hitting submit.

I filled out my inquiry twice for a verification of my Lifetime Points but the response today indicated that neither of the two e-mails had been received--but today I did receive an answer,

Regarding the birthday bonus night the response was that the bonus night had been posted in the bonus "promotional" category. However, it was not actually posted until today when my bonus nights increased from 42 to 43 (my birthday was mid February). I keep a meticilous spreadsheet of my MR activity.

So all has been resolved--but it might be worth it to keep in mind that your birthday bonus (for those eligible) will (supposedly) show up in the promotional category within 48 hours or so. If you do not see it posted make an inquiry.

Thanks again Drew.