Okay, so I've stuck the first gallery of pictures onto the pics page. I'll be adding more as I go along, which should be pretty easy given the script I'm using. It's actually very short, and is w3c compliant (after some slight modifications, of course), which means it should display the same way on all Web browsers.

Things have been somewhat busy lately. We finished an order for 82 systems on Tuesday so I got Wednesday off. Julie and I went to her local Honda and Toyota dealerships. I kind of liked the Honda Element, but the Scion tC (which we saw at the Toyota dealership) was uber-sweet. It may not have a ton of horsepower, and it may be wrong-wheel drive, but it's one sweet vehicle for the money. The Scion xA was also a cute little car ... I found myself looking for a place to stick the wind-up key.

I got accepted to UIC's business school. That is totally sweet. The Student Access System is horribly confused, though; I can't register for MBA courses. I'll just have to pester the appropriate departments until I get my way ;-)

Two alternate stylesheets are in the works. You can switch between 'em if you have a browser capable of such behavior ...

When you don't talk to someone for over half a year, and you have even the tiniest glimmer of a hint that something may be amiss you do not, I repeat YOU DO NOT greet someone by telling them they're a bastard. That type of stuff doesn't fly anymore. Joking was okay some time ago, but we have both changed since then, and that type of exchange is no longer appropriate between you and me. Bob and Jeff still have the right to joke around with me like that because they have not violated a certain level of respect and trust that I place in them. You, however, stepped out of this circle of trust.

Furthermore, not three days after your girlfriend unloads a load of unbelievable news on me, you do NOT call me and ask for advice on a computer. Look, I know I'm in the business, but with the shit you have pulled (yes, I tend to believe your girlfriend more than I believe you) I'm surprised I even lifted a finger to say hello. I knew something was wrong when you didn't show up to the events that Bob and/or Jeff had invited you to, and Jeff was the first one of us to lose hope, but after hearing what your girlfriend had to say, I was the second and definitely most willing.

Bob himself wanted to do an "intervention," but in my opinion it's too late. You have drifted in a direction that I would never wish upon anyone. How many times did you get busted? How many times did you get behind the wheel drunk? How many times did you get behind the wheel drunk with your girlfriend in the vehicle???! Shit, once is one time too many! I thought you (and her, for that matter) knew better! I thought your new friends would also know better! Wait ... no, on second thought, maybe they do know better. Maybe that's why you put Bob, Jeff, and me behind you, because we don't encourage that sort of behavior or use of those kinds of substances. But it's your body, and you put what you want into it.

You live your life the way you want to live it. The three of us obviously have no say in what goes on; we are no longer a part of your life. As much as Bob fights to keep you as a friend, both you and I know he is fighting a losing battle. I wipe my hands clean; I cannot speak for Jeff but I'm sure he feels the same way. Don't bother calling, e-mailing, or visiting; you will not get responses or friendly treatment anymore. The good times are over. Goodbye.

I gotta say, the new Harry Potter movie left me with some mixed feelings. I saw it at the Woodridge IMAX theater with Julie, her sister, her brother, and her brother's friend yesterday. Yes, it was a good movie, but you can definitely tell that a different director was involved. Furthermore, I think Ian McKellen would have made a better Dumbledore than Michael Gambon, simply because he kicked royal ass as Gandalf in the LOTR movies :-)

Well, the threat of the river entering the freakin' house is gone. The City is sending trucks and Bobcats to remove sandbags. Pretty nice of them.

I'm sitting at work right now. It's kind of slow at the moment. We're waiting for seven Pentium 4 2.8E processors to arrive so we can build the last seven workstations of a 20-system order. Pretty spiffy. No further updates at the moment ...

I just realized that the date on my last news entry was wrong, so I changed it.

Jeff, Bob, and Julie were over here yesterday to fill sandbags and move stuff up from the basement. We got a lot of stuff done, but the house still needs more sandbags. At this moment, the river is at 6.92 feet, with roughly 4.5 feet left until it crests on Thursday. The good news is that it already crested in Russell, on the Illinois/Wisconsin border ... the bad news is that it crested 0.65 feet above what the National Weather Service forecasted. And, it's goling to rain soon. Bummer. We're FREAKING HOSED.