When I came into my office this morning, there was a message on my answering machine from my mother. "Hi Seth. Please call me as soon as you get this." Short, and she sounded very... controlled.

I'm sorry to admit that my first thought was that something had happened to Allison. My parents don't like to deliver bad news in an impersonal message.

Heart racing, I called back immediately.

No, everything's fine. Dad just needs an MRI on his hip today, and they're afraid that the bullet that's still in his leg might make his leg get very hot. The pain might make his hip worse making it difficult for him to drive home again.

Good grief. (Yes, I'll give him a ride.)

I just found this smarmy comment in Paul Anderson's editorial at the top of CNET's Web Building newsletter for this week. He's talking about .NET, and the significance of Visual Studio .NET's release this week.

It offers all languages a common runtime (think virtual machine) and uses Web services to reinvent component architecture. Visual Basic looks less like a scripting language, while Active Server Pages (ASP) reciprocate Java Server Pages' (JSP's) flattery with compiled templates. This is progress. Next year they hope to add security.

That last sentence is excellent.

My friend and once-and-future Macrobyter, Brian Andresen, works for Agilent Technologies. He told me today that the project he's working on has finally been announced. In an "alliance" with Cadence, they're developing technology to speed electronic design in the wireless and wireline industries.

Sounds exciting, doesn't it? ;-)

Brian's a programmer, I believe his title at Agilent is Bug Fixer and Code Kaiser. His business card doesn't say that, mind you, but apparently it's just a typo.

Speaking of typos, they neglected to mention him in the Press Release. You'd think a big company like that would be more careful!