Just to make it more clear - after installing syslogd package, and running into this problem, just copy your /var/log/syslog file, upload it somewhere, and post in this thread (as link to upload, *not* whole syslog as quotation!).

As for dmesg, you don't need to install anything - you just open terminal, write dmesg, and put output here (also, important to do it quite immediately *after* you got hit by the problem).
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For the records, no such issue here,modest works fine, same for mail notifications.

/Estel

//Edit

freemangordon, how he is supposed to get dmesg output, if, when hit by the problem, he need to reboot device for getting out of it (desktop "freeze")?

I would say:
"gain ssh access from other machine before problem, and check if you can still invoke commands via ssh, when desktop is "frozen". If yes, get /var/log/syslog remotely (still via ssh, for example, copy it to microSD card inside N900), and for records, try killall hildon-desktop (to see, if desaktop comes back to life)"

Of course, as he is quite new user, it require him to install and configure OpenSSH or dropbear (which he won't regret, anyway, for other occasions).

/Estel