What a time I have had lately! I have been on a bit of an unintended hiatus thanks to some unfortunate computer problems. I seem to have the worst kind of luck with these machines.
On and off for about six months I have had some strange problems with my computer, and things got really bad about 6 weeks or so ago. As always, my good friend Fionn (chivalrous gent, he is) came to my rescue, and offered to poke around inside, and see if he could figure out the problem. I quickly sent it along to him and he was able to find and fix the problem. he went ahead and sent it off to me, so I could finally get back to work, but when I recieved the package, it was a mess! Not only was the hard drive damaged, but the case was falling apart on the outside, and bent in some crucial places on the inside, among other problems. It took some to to get the computer to boot up, but it did, and I am able to do certain things on the computer, albeit with a fair amount of difficulty. I am not sure if the damage is more severe than is visibly obvious, but I am in the process of finding out. Until then, I will doing my best to work with the computer as it is, and submit some long overdue updates.

Just wanted to let everyone know why I have been absent, and assure you I will be back on track soon. I would also like to kindly suggest that all of you folks avoid using FedEx for your more delicate shipping needs if you can manage. They have certainly given me my fair share of headaches lately.