I got this email from Google after setting up my new account:
Congratulations on creating your brand new Gmail address, ****@gmail.com. Please keep this email for your records, as it contains an important verification code that you may need should you ever encounter problems or forget your password.
You can login to your account at http://mail.google.com/
Enjoy!
The Gmail Team
There is a verification code at the bottom, but when I use the login, it asks me to create a new account and there is no place to put in the verification code. Help!