cmiller: The idea of using an apostrophe instead of a real acute accent is acceptable, IMNSHO, in ASCII text, but virtually nowhere else. As for the rest, apostrophes aren't that hard to figure out. I can almost forgive someone using "her's" or "it's", because those are exceptions, but using an apostrophe for a plural is just wrong.

People don't realize that by writing improperly, they're reflecting on their own intelligence, or lack thereof. I certainly wouldn't want to buy from someone offering "BBQ chicken's".

My personal pet peeve "is" when people "use" quotation marks "for" emphasis. Among the glaring examples around here: the old-fart's resort I live in has a sign near the pool that says: "Pool" closes at "dusk". And most people who do this honestly believe that quotation marks are intended for emphasis...

I'm pretty sure I'm one of the few people around here ("here" meaning "this physical location", not "this site") capable of using both the semicolon and the word "whom" correctly.

So far, so good. Most of my classes don't suck.

• Programming Languages

  We're going to be covering Pascal, C++, Common Lisp, and Prolog. These are understandable, except for using Common Lisp instead of Scheme.

• Discrete Structures

  There's still some concern over whether this class will be continued, since there are only 8 people enrolled. I hope they don't cancel it, because it's a prerequisite for damn near everything else.

• Database Systems

  This one sucks. I figured it would be an implementation-level class, but instead it's a course that would be better named "Database Organization". And we're forced to use Access. Suckage.

• Operating Systems

  This is going to be a fun class. Tons of work, but entertaining nonetheless. The professor speaks with a very thick French accent, but it's much better than the Ben Stein-esque presentation I had been lead to expect.

Thanks to Labor Day, I get to attend a Monday night meeting of Go Orlando. Last Thursday, I played against a 4th dan. He gave me 13 stones, and I still lost by quite a bit. And still, a small voice in the back of my mind tells me that he wasn't playing to the full of his ability...

After that, I went to the Go Orlando meeting and, if memory serves, won all of my games. This new strategy of being aggressive seems to be paying off.