So how was your weekend? I had fun. Katie and I bummed around pretty much the entire time. Went to Naperville on Friday and hung out with some of my old friends who wanted to celebrate the fact that Katie and I are engaged. Other than our hapless waiter, it was a blast! Saturday, we went to see Reindeer Games with Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron. It was, in Katie's words, "interesting". Kinda weak in the whole action sense of it all. Slow moving and bogged down by what turned out to be not-so-great acting and scripting. Only thing that kept it alive was the plot twists. This has not been a good year of movies so far for Katie and I. First, it was Eye of the Beholder and now this. By this time last year, Katie and I had seen Shakespeare in Love and Waking Ned Devine--two choice flicks. Where have all the good movies gone?!?

Well, I turned in a rough copy of my thesis today to my committee. That's one more step towards having the entire thing finished so that I can move on to more pressing issues like my comprehensive exams in April. Let's see, my final draft of my thesis will be turned in two weeks before spring break, oral defense the week before spring break, and then a whole week of relaxation before studying begins. And there was much rejoicing.

Woo hoo! I'd like to give a shout out to my brother's girlfriend Becca. We finally finished a commercial we were working on for a contest. I don't know if you've seen the ads on TV for this contest. It's sponsored by Country Crock and the grand prize is $25,000. Not bad if it can actually be won by our entry. Well, the commercial is done and it will be sent out tomorrow. Yes!!!

Sunday, 20 February 2000: I was at Katie's house this weekend as per usual every other weekend when she's home working. It's good to get out of DeKalb every once in a while. But, while I was in McHenry (where she lives), I was having a conversation with her brother Scott about the state of the presidential election as it stands. As you know, Steve Forbes dropped out. We were trying to figure out who would win. I say that Bill Bradley doesn't stand a chance against Gore (unfortunately) for the Democratic nomination even with Michael Jordan's endorsement. That's almost a given. However, on the Republican front, McCain has been creeping up on Bush rather steadily. If he keeps up this way, he could actually stand a chance. He's even won a couple of the primaries. I'm not sure what to think. All I do know is that I'm probably voting Republican. Sorry, I just can't stand Al Gore. Any opinions?

I'd like to give a big ole "Happy Birthday" to my girlfriend... oops... fiancee Katie (gotta get used to that new moniker). She's now a ripe ole 23 years old. Even went out and got her a cake with her fave ice cream on it -- cookies and cream. Unfortunately the cooler that we kept the cake in didn't keep it so cool. Just a bit molten when we brought it out. At least it wasn't too hard to cut and eat. Heh heh. Sorry, hon!

Happy Valentine's Day, Katie! I love you and I will marry you!

You wanna talk about eerie? Charles Schulz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip (you know... Charlie Brown and Snoopy) died last night in his sleep. Nothing too strange about that until you realize that he died the night before the publication of his final Peanuts comic strip. He was retiring so he could concentrate his time battling colon cancer. Instead of being able to retire, he died of a heart attack. Well, Kate and I thought it was eerie.

Hey! Kate and I had a grand old time in Chicago today. Despite the fact that most of the day was spent searching for parking spaces, we still managed to find some time to go to Navy Pier and a few shops on Michigan Avenue. We also took a carriage ride around some of the downtown area which is when I asked her to marry me. Yep, ring and all. She was a bit shocked to say the least. Somehow or another, I was able to get down on my knee in that small, cramped carriage and ask her if she would marry me. Guess what? She said "yes"! Great day!

Yippeee!!! I had my day in court today (and there was much rejoicing). Actually, it was for that ticket that I got back in December for speeding in Burlington, IL. Yeah, I know I was driving too fast. Doesn't mean I have to like it, does it? Well, I don't. I'm now $110 poorer and I've got two staple holes in my driver's license. Yippee skippy. Gotta love it, don't ya?

So, what are you doing for Valentine's Day? Katie and I are gonna have some fun in Chicago. It's something we started last year for our first Valentine's together. Well, we'll be going in on Saturday. I know it's not exactly Valentine's Day, but it's close enough for government work. So, we're going in to Chicago to simply hang out and have some fun. Probably hit Navy Pier and see the IMAX presentation of Fantasia 2000. At least, this is what I'm hoping will happen. Katie and I have a lot of fun no matter what we end up doing. It could be the weirdest thing in the world that no one else in their right mind would consider fun, yet we'd enjoy it just because we're together. Too mushy? T.S.

Howdy, once again. Found a pretty interesting website today. It's for the upcoming film American Psycho. It stars Christian Bale and Willem Dafoe in the highly controversial adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel. It's a pretty cool Flash-enhanced site. It's not complete yet, but it should be soon. I remember hearing about this film a while ago except it was supposed to be starring Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm sure it'll be much better off without DiCaprio, though. Not much of a fan of him myself. Looks like I'll have another horrific film to take Katie to. Heh heh heh.

Well, yesterday was an interesting one indeed. I went in to get my hair cut and it turned out pretty nicely. I like University Barbers. Good stuff. However, then I got home and experimented a little bit. I went ahead and shaved off my goatee. God, do I feel naked right now. I've had my goatee for 5 and a half years and it's become such a part of me. Katie used to tease me about wanting me to shave it. So what happens? I shave it and now she's freaked out about it. She had trouble kissing me because I didn't feel the same. She's used to it now and actually starting to like it which is not what I wanted her to do. No! I'm growing it back, hon. Sorry. I feel like Linus without his blanket. Blech.

Today was pretty cool. I went in to talk to one of my advisors about my thesis. He checked it out and really like it a lot. Not much left for me to do on it which is pretty nice to say the least. Yeah, I know I promised to have some of it posted by this week. Well, I lied. You'll just have to wait for the grand unveiling.

I'm also a bit ticked about something. Like I've said before, my thesis is an online cemetery, right? Well, another online cemetery opened up recently and its rationale for existence is exactly the same as mine. All of our reasoning is the same. That T's me off so much! Well, I guess I should expect it. There are only so many original ideas that can happen in a world with... how many people live on the earth now? If you wanna try to check it out, the URL is www.pazeterna.com.ar. Yep, it's Argentinian. It's kinda difficult to view... you have to be a member. C'est la vie.