as of may 2005, nine years will have passed since i have been in school. i finished my undergrad days on a snowy mother's day back in 1996 at syracuse university. i have long carried the itch to return for grad school, but have balked many times for lack of time & money to do so. but damnit, i want that mfa in fiction writing . i think i am going to make my attempt right now - as a part time student, while i still have a semblance of sanity remaining and while i am not old enough to be a potential classmate's father. my school of choice is columbia university, but i do not believe they offer part-time graduate programs. nevertheless, i am sure there are many schools that do - and some which offer short-stay resedencies while completing programs off-site. i will explore them. if anyone has any experience with such programs, give me a shout as i would definitely like to talk to students that have gone through this or are currently in similar situations.

over four years ago, i worked at a company called smallworld (later acquired by the sporting news), where we had access to a soda vending machine that was free for the employees. i think i averaged roughly 3-4 cans of coke a day. needless to say, it almost did me in. my blood-sugar balloooned and i felt myself falling apart. i canned the regular sodas for good - and started drinking diet sodas (and not as frequently) in an attempt to curb this addiction. forming of course, a new addiction. i have been a diet soda drinker for close to 4 years now... and i have learned that this stuff is not backward compatible. anytime i drink a regular soda, i feel like i am going pass out. i can't believe i used to drink this stuff. am i alone on this one?

i picked up a super cheap ibm server from some guy on craigslist that was bouncing out of town. i got a pretty sweet deal on it and i think i will replace my current pc with this by gutting that piece of isht dell that i have and loading this sucker up. it has a faster processor than my home pc, but it needs some work with other parts. what is it with dell, anyway? i guess the old adage "you get what you pay for" rings loud and clear here. everything about my three-year experience with dell machines has been quite a disaster. i thought it was just a pc thing since i am a biased mac-supporter - but once i got my hands on some ibm machines, my views have skewed considerably. they make - by far - the strongest, most durable machines with top quality parts. ibm has re-established my faith with the pc world and going forward, i will stick to their machines to take care of my pc side. i know there are rumblings that they will cease to produce computers and there is also a rumored apple merger (which would be a dream for me) - but until all that transpires... they will have my support. f.u. michael dell.

part of the reason the blogs have been absent in recent months is because a great deal of my free time has been concentrated on the resurrection of my old literary ezine, purpleprose.com. yup, it's back. for those of you that have known me for years, you will know how saddened i was for temporarily discontinuing the project several years ago. i invite you all to check it out and see the amazing works that have been posted there for the past three months. of course, i am very open to suggestions on how i can make it stronger & better, so by all means fire away. in any case, i am happy that it is back and rolling - and i am looking forward to an awesome 2005.