How good is your mechanic? Maybe he forgot to put the thermostat in? When you start the car from cold, the thermostat is supposed to stay closed until the engine warms up. What this means is nothing should flow in the radiator (and radiator hoses) until it is warmed up. What this means is that the hose to the radiator should stay cold until the temp guage gets up a ways. Soooooo, if you feel that hose getting warm right away, then something is wrong there, but you already knew that. Maybe someone else has another idea.

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1998 C230 330,000 miles (currently dead of second failed EIS, yours will fail too, turning you into the dealer's personal human cash machine)
1988 F150 144,000 miles (leaks all the colors of the rainbow)
Previous stars: 1981 Brava 210,000 miles, 1978 128 150,000 miles, 1977 B200 Van 175,000 miles, 1972 Vega (great, if rusty, car), 1972 Celica, 1986.5 Supra