Happy New Year! I went to TracerB+Neeners party last night. It was a fun time. I am always glad to spend some time hanging with them. Neeners is a new grad. Did you know in the computer field you are considered a “new grad” until you have at least three years of experience. It sucks because many places do not pay new grads very well and, probably consequently, mistreat them.

Now some thoughts on Linux. I was trying to convince somebody at the party that setting up a Linux server is an excellent idea for a home network. I have one here. It stemmed from the need to filter email. The software I had just did not give me what I wanted to filter out the junk. So I decided to configure a Linux box as my mail server and let it handle incoming and outgoing mail. After reading a ton of documents and traversing the minefield initialization files that sendmail uses, I finally worked out a system I like. I currently have a file of over 200 email addresses whose email are immediately discarded upon arrival.

Now for a look-ahead to the coming year. I see 2001 as a year of new ventures for me. I will either start writing a book or produce a small game this year. I will also try to date more this year. That means asking for dates, there is no guarantee of a date, of course. I plan to lose weight this year. I was on track last year until I started working at a job that was a 45 minute drive from home. The president stubbornly refused to provide a refrigerator. Consequently I ate out a lot, skipped the gym and spent too much time sitting in front of a monitor and not enough exercising. I now weight more than I have in four years. That will change.

I look forward to the year and am excited about what the future holds.