Last week I was admitted to the University of Minnesota’s brand-new Masters of Science in Security Technology (MSST) program. I’m very excited to be in the inaugural class, and I’m glad that I finally found a graduate program that fit my needs, after spending a few years looking and coming up empty.

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• Current Mood: Full
• Currently Listening To: "The End", The Doors

I’ve been busy lately, what with doing wedding planning and holiday planning, in the midst of what is apparently going to be the biggest snowstorm ever in the history of Minnesota…ever, if you believe the news stations, and I don’t. It’s snow, people.

I’ve also gotten sick of the health care debate in Congress, but if you really want to cut health care costs, use a neti pot. I started using one two years ago and haven’t been sick since. Some studies show that it isn’t my imagination that it actually accomplishes something. Give it a try.

• Current Mood: Full of holiday cheer
• Currently Listening To: "The Man In Me", Bob Dylan

On Saturday, Julia and I got officially engaged. Although we’d been planning things for a while, the actual activities were a surprise to her.

We started off at WA Frost in Saint Paul, where we had an absolutely delicious dinner of scallops, filet mignon, and three different desserts, accompanied by a great pinot noir. The staff there was great as well, as they gave us a very nice table right in front of the fireplace after I tipped them off to what we were doing.

We then went to the St. Paul Hotel, where we had champagne and strawberries dressed up in little tuxes. The brunch Sunday morning was great too.

The wedding is set for October 9th, 2010 at the Minneapolis Public Library downtown.

While Minnesota has a lot going for it, when it comes to drivers, no other states has more idiots. I’ve driven through a lot of states in this country. I’ve driven in a couple places in Europe, including on the Autobahn. Nowhere are drivers as stupid as in this state.

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• Current Mood: Chilly
• Currently Listening To: "As Tears Go By", The Rolling Stones

Here’s my computer desk. Three monitors definitely helps…

The latest Think About The Way is posted here. Not sure what I think of it yet. Full text below the jump.

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• Current Mood: Relaxed
• Currently Listening To: "Temptation", New Order

I’ve been going through my old emails lately, trying to see if I’ve ever written anything of importance. The jury is still out on that, but I did find something interesting: an email I sent to one of my friends about my predictions for this new-fangled Internet thing. I sent it on 14 September 1999, a bit more than ten years ago. Tomorrow I’ll talk about how my thoughts have held up over time and whether I can get a job as a professional prognosticator. Here it is below the fold:

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We started out in Philadelphia, then spent two days in New York. Our last weekend was upon us, though, and we in DC. We arrived early Friday afternoon and checked into our hotel in Rosslyn, across the river from Georgetown. Julia used to live in Rosslyn during college, and Mo’s girlfriend also lived in the neighborhood, making it a convenient location. We stayed in a Hilton, which was nice enough, but after the hotel in New York, it seemed wastefully gigantic.

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• Current Mood: Hungry
• Currently Listening To: "On The Run", Pink Floyd

Our first couple days in New York behind us, Wednesday Julia wanted to go shopping, so after sleeping in a bit to recover from the previous night’s barhopping, we headed out to shop first at the Century 21 store (where Julia bought a new purse), then to SoHo. Like our previous shopping experiences, we saw a great deal of things we couldn’t afford, but there were some nice, more affordable clothes that Julia picked up at places like Banana Republic and Esprit. After our shopping spree we went to a sushi place in Midtown for some all-you-can-eat sushi, which wasn’t bad. Post-dinner, we went to a couple bars in Midtown, then back to the hotel for the night.

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When we left off, we had just arrived in New York outside of Penn Station on the Bolt Bus. We grabbed a cab, not wanting to haul our suitcases on the subway, and headed down to Chinatown where our hotel was located, the Comfort Inn Manhattan Bridge. It is a fairly new hotel, in a very convenient location, and had a pretty good price for a New York hotel. As you can see in the review, I would recommend it no problem. And it has a pretty nice view:

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• Current Mood: Monday headache
• Currently Listening To: "New York State of Mind", Billy Joel