I've got big changes ahead of me. I'm leaving Blacksburg, and moving to Charleston, SC. My last day with my current employer will be May 30, and I'll start at my new job June 18th. This leaves me about a month to find a new place to live, pack all my stuff, and move it 6 hours south.

It has been an incredible 3 years working, and almost 7 years living in Blacksburg. When I set out looking for a new place to live and work, I wanted to find something as close to Blacksburg as I could. It's a wonderfully unique little burg nestled here in the New River valley, and I soon realized there is no other Blacksburg.

While not exactly what I set out to find, Charleston seems like a great city. I'll actually be working (and hopefully living) in a suburb of Charleston called Mount Pleasant. My commute will get a little longer (it's hard to find 90 second commutes these days), and my morning will start a little earlier, but I think I've made the right decision.

I'm going to miss Blacksburg, and all the wonderful people here. I've worked with an incredibly talented group these last 3 years. I've made friends that I hope to keep for a lifetime. Luckily, I'm not that far away, and neither is football season. I can't wait for my season tickets to arrive, to start planning tailgates, and to see my Hokies play again.

I'm about done rambling now, I just wanted to keep everyone posted on why my life is about to turn upside down for a bit. We'll see what happens when the dust settles, and I find my feet in the sand.

First, eat tasty leftovers. Then, sit down and fix a half-dozen Pidgin bugs. Next, take out the trash, and realize that the weather is absolutely perfect for a run (it helps if you've been meaning to go running, but have been a lazy bum). Grab some appropriate running clothing, a water bottle, and your keys. Proceed back outside, get halfway across the parking lot, and feel the rain on your head. ARGH!

I guess I'll go back to closing those Pidgin bugs.

...is the only way to describe how I feel right now. Myself and my immediate friends are all ok, but it is going to take a long time for the Virginia Tech and Blacksburg communities to heal. The atmosphere here is surreal. There's plenty of words I could fill this space with, but nothing seems appropriate. I'm not sure that the appropriate words exist. My thoughts are with the victims and their families.

I replaced the hinge on my laptop about a year ago, after dealing with it being broken for about 2 years. About 2 hours ago, I ordered a new laptop, since this one is 6 years old. Just now, the (replacement) hinge broke, in the same way the original did. I think it knows the replacement is coming.

In painful news, I had my wisdom teeth removed on Monday. On Tuesday, when I once again became aware of my having a jaw, I noticed something sharp stabbing my tongue. I went back to the oral surgeon on Wednesday, and was told that there's not much they can do. Apparently I have a "bone spicule" which is basically like a bone scab. They can't grind it down, and I basically have to wait 1-2 weeks for my gum to heal over it. If you're ever given the choice between having your jaw bone stab you in the tongue, or not...choose not.

You'll probably notice the AdSense ads are now gone from this site. I determined who was doing the clicking, and they agreed to stop. However, Google just replied to my appeal, and the answer is "no". If anyone knows of an ad service similar to Google's, please let me know. Until then, you'll get to enjoy reading my words of wisdom ad-free.

I just got an email from Google AdSense alerting me that my account has been disabled. This is a serious bummer, since I was just about to accumulate enough for my first payout. If you know me (or even if you don't) and you thought you were helping out by clicking the ads, please stop, and let me know it was you. I'd like for Google to reinstate my account, but the fraudulent clicks have to stop first. Thanks.

to me.

OK, the server running this site is brand new, running a fresh install of Ubuntu. After wrestling for hours with jabberd, saslauthd, postfix, apache, and a million other little things, I think I've finally got everything back to normal. If anyone notices any quirks, please let me know lest they go completely unnoticed.