Just back from the high country. Pamela and I spent the weekend at my grandmother's house in the mountains near Florissant (in Teller County, west of Colorado Springs). While there, I made friends with a dog, helped her fix some computer troubles, did some exploring of the wonderful world of C-band satellite TV (OK, if we ever have a house of our own, I want one of those monster dishes!), and started feeling like I understood my grandfather (now alas deceased) more. We had Sunday brunch at my aunt's house, just up the road from my grandmother's, and then I got dragged in to play this card game called Spades...which seems to combine certain features of Hearts, Whist, and Contract Bridge while being just different enough to royally screw you over if you don't know what to expect. (I mean, what kind of card game penalizes you for overtricks? Really!) All in all, it was a good weekend.

Naturally, once I got back, I logged in and checked on icq-t. Seems to be still running, but it may still have that odd buzz in there. I may have to do that rewrite of the libicq-erbo layer after all. (Actually, before that happened, a minor miracle happened: the fX network aired the final episode of M*A*S*H ("Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen") in its entirety, and I taped it for Pamela. If you only knew how much she's wanted that episode on tape...)

Just read the Phil Katz article. Sad that a man so brilliant would wind up destroying himself in that fashion. But, as long as people are still using his compression algorithm (and it really does have 1001 uses), he will never be truly dead. And, to all those Slashdot wankers who got all jazzed thinking that the dead man was Jon Katz...well...[REDACTED] you! Honest to Pete, if you don't like what the man writes, go see if you can do any better!

Well, new morning tomorrow, new week, new trading day, new work day...I could probably use some sleep first though.