That new post I mentioned last night, the follow-up to the article on Usertalk and (simple) pattern matching, has to be put on hold for at least a day. I'm totally exhausted today.

So, stop holding your breath, at least until tomorrow. I don't want to be responsible for anybody turning blue...

Not everything about 2004 was bad, even on the personal front. Things I'm pleased about:

• Corinne and I found a new level in our relationship, and discovered that our love can weather the foulest of all circumstances and events.
• I worked out an important issue with my brother and feel a lot less tension with him now than I did a year ago. Then again, we're brothers, so who knows how long we'll go without him doing something wrong again? (Just kidding...)
• My best cycling season ever. There's still a lot to improve, though. I'm hoping for a 4500 - 5000 mile year starting tomorrow, and I have a new goal: by September, my training rides should regularly be hitting 21 mph. I came close this year.
• Well it's still not exactly "back on its feet" (certainly nothing like it was in '99), the bid'ness is showing signs of life. Business clients are showing an interest in our services again, the software is getting some major improvements, and a number of long-term customers have me looking (and working!) in directions I've never been before (deep science being one of them). You know who you are, and I thank you.
• Some new, newly-improved, or renewed friendships. Especially Darren, Steve and Andrew. (Even though I have to let Andrew beat me at ping-pong on a regular basis.) Corinne has some of those, too, like Katie, Ellyn, and some of the girls at the bank where she works.

On the other hand, let's be realistic. How would you like to be described as "not all bad?" That's the best I can say about this year. "It wasn't nightmarish 100% of the time." Whee, what a party!

From Shane dying in March and us reliving it 150,000 times, to 150,000 people dying horrific deaths in one insane day in late Decmeber. From the country I live in being split almost exactly in half by a non-choice between two greater evils (or "the devil we know, and the devil we don't want to know"), to a "we can't lose" invasion which has eviscerated a nation and turned into a civil war.

I'm stronger for surviving this year, and perhaps more focused, but what a price to pay. Good riddance, 2004. Let's see what your child has in store for us. Perhaps this is finally the year? (Bah. Optimism is for the weak. ;-)