About to start a delightfully long Memorial Day weekend.

Nothing much to speak of...I really need to buckle down in June and pass two Microsoft tests. But until then, I am in post-semester coasting mode. Not that my life without school for me is anything like coasting, but I'm thankful for the temporary comfort the semester's end has brought.

IT workers are like artists...they have alternating moments of frenzied productivity and dull stagnance. Welcome to an instance of the latter.

Somewhere I read a suggestion for the ultimate "Black and Tan", being made from Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA and Dogfish Head World Wide Stout. Probably best shared with a friend as that would put you out for the night, methinks. But worthy of trying no doubt, as both are astonishingly good on their own.

Damn those currant plants. They tear at my soul. Briefly springing to life and bringing resounding joy to my heart, then fleeting away to a quick and brownish death. Can I ever love...errr....plant again?

Thanks be to Signor Talberto for his great gift for me from Europe...a Union Jack from the honest-to-goodness British soil of Gibraltar. Old, eternal rock of the Empire, standing guard over the Mediterranean. I haven't decided where to hang it (no, not on my flagpole...I may be an Anglophile, but I'm no traitor! Patriot blood runs steadfast in these veins!).

Gun purchase has been put on hold. Too much money that could be put elsewhere...besides, I'm reasonably well armed with two automatics, a revolver, and a Brit battle rifle at the ready. Perhaps someday a FAL or CETME will enter the arsenal, but its by no means essential.

Perhaps someday I can finagle my work into sending me and my wife to the British Isles. Check up on our dealers and such. Well, who knows?