I'd first have a look at the query execution plans.

Compare the estimated plan against the actual to see if the statistics differ much, use DBCC SHOW_Statistics to clarify because these might...

Using profiler with some of the security event classes should give you enough info.

Easy read and to the point, nice article Steve!

Yes, its definately the same SPID, the table has a clustered index and according to the excution plan (posted above) is being used with an index seek, but profiler indicates a...

First of all check to see how much of the log is being used

dbcc sqlperf(logspace)

If the logspace is heavilly utilised then I'd look at setting up maintanance plan to backup...

The symptoms sound identical to the Microsoft Q&A.

Are you using POP3/SMTP or Exchange in your mail profile?

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315886&sd=tech

Q12: Why does SQL Mail stop responding (hang)?

A12: If SQL Mail hangs periodically, the most likely cause is the loss of a connection to the mail server. Experience...

Try using Set Dateformat at the start of your query/sproc

The equivalent is

Select TOP 1 id,amount,date

Use that with your order by clause and you will be able to get the first...

Try using the 'convert' function i.e -

select convert(char(10),getdate(),8)

Try converting the dateformat before your SQL statement ie: -

SET DATEFORMAT ymd

SQL Statement

You could try xp_cmdshell to execute the package?