I just want to take a moment to give props to my buddies Voidious and Mikedude for two distinctly different accomplishments.

- Mikedude’s glorious kitty, Simon , recently appeared on Stuff on My Cat sporting an impressive collection of iPods. Look at that handsome old bugger!

- Not to be deterred by looming school project deadlines, Voidious’ relentless obsession with Robocode propelled him to the number one ranking in the “Robo Rumble”! He’ll tell you he’s technically only got the second best tank (out of more than 400 by the way) but we aren’t fooled. :)

-Matt

I remember walking into the office one day in March of 2003, after watching U.S. tanks on CNN the previous night as they rolled into Baghdad. In the days prior we’d been following the news, waiting for this invasion to begin. My co-worker, an intelligent, pragmatic liberal with whom I’d often discussed world events, inquired of me, “How was Gulf War 2″? With an air of flippant enthusiasm I replied “Way better than the original!” (more…)

Well I’m back on-line after more than two weeks without internet access (the problem was clerical, not technical; basically, Verizon screwed up.) Lack of internet access seems trivial compared to life’s larger problems, but it was a difficult experience, and it made me realize how much I take the ‘net for granted. I went through phases eerily similar to the “Stages of Grief”: denial, anger, depression and finally acceptance. At least it gave me a chance to play through some of the Mega Man X Collection, so I guess it wasn’t a total bust.

Anyway, it’s great to be back. See you around cyberspace!

-Matt :-)