Ahh New Year's Eve. The time when many of us see how poorly we can hold our liquor all in the name of watching a clock strike midnight. Seems rather silly if you think about it. I guess it's really about who you are sharing the night with, be it friends, family or loved ones. I remember when New Year's Eve was a big party for me, but not so much any more. I don't feel the need to go out to a party, especially when I don't know anyone there. Being up here in Ohio certainly doesn't help when the majority of my friends are in Tennessee. Whatever you decide to do this evening, be safe and have fun.

I will be over at my in-laws celebrating by playing board games and snacking myself silly for a few hours. All of you should know how I feel about playing games. If there is a contest, I'm a participant.

Speaking of games, it was unfortunate that I didn't win the lottery yesterday. 150 million would be a mighty nice Christmas present. However, I was fortunate enough to beat Metroid Prime today. That last battle is a real pain, but I managed to get the last shot in. Looks like 2004 will see me trying to beat Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.

Thanks for stopping by and have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Here's today's interesting tidbit. Apparently, a disgruntled ex-employee of Safeguard Properties was removed from the building on Monday, December 22. For those of you that have worked there (or still do) I'm sure you share my laughter. An ex-employee of Safeguard disgruntled? How is that possible? Isn't it common to get on the CEO's s#!t list because you didn't follow obscure rules about e-mail subject lines that aren't listed in writing except for an e-mail residing on a computer in the Human Resource department? How long will it be before we hear about an ex-employee going in with a gun and shooting? I'm surprised it hasn't happened already. Funny thing is I thought ex-employees weren't even allowed in the building. Perhaps this person got the 4:45 pink slip. Somebody from Safeguard fill me in.

Ah, the holidays are over. Well at least the religious holidays. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and received most of the things you asked for from your friends and family. I enjoyed the time away from work and time spent with family and friends. Now I'm back in Ohio waiting for August so that I can move back to Tuscaloosa or Birmingham with my wife as she completes her dream of getting a PhD.

This week begins what I hope is a long string of updates. Tonight I put up a review of Mona Lisa Smile. I'm going to update the trivia tomorrow and finish out the week with more movie reviews. I've got a lot more planned in the weeks ahead including the addition of a message board and some site revamping.

My apologies for not posting in almost 2 weeks. It's been rather hectic preparing for the holidays. Last weekend I spent quite a bit of time away from the apartment and this week wasn't much better. When I wasn't at a movie, I was at home preparing for the Christmas party we are having Sunday. Being that next week is Christmas and I will be at my parents' house, don't expect many updates at all until I get back next Sunday. I hope to have the new trivia set up over the weekend and then take a break. After Christmas expect a preview of Mona Lisa Smile and The Return of the King. I've also been playing around with some message board software so expect the Weekly Topic and Pet Peeves sections to be available by the end of January. In the meantime enjoy the review of The Haunted Mansion that is long overdue.

What a week it's been. With the start of a new quarter and the death of my wife's grandmother, things have been pretty hectic to say the least. Some of this stress could have been avoided if ITT had told me before classes started that the books had changed. I found out 10 MINUTES before my algebra class that the books were new. I didn't get a new calculus book until 2 days before the class. In both cases my lecture for the first few weeks had already been prepared. So, I've had to go back and make the appropriate changes. I still don't have the new algebra book. The publisher swore to the assistant dean that the algebra book was the same as the old one as far as page numbers. The only thing different was the removal of the chapters used for college trig. Guess again. I had to borrow a student's book and make copies of the exercises in order to assign homework. Thankfully I'm back on track and slowly getting ahead in my lesson plans.

Anyway, the Trivia section has been updated with another round of questions. Feel free to jump in and take a stab. It's all in good fun.