Past flipse.com Updates

Updates

I may have, nah, I certainly did miss a few along the way. That's expected and healthy.

For Flipse.com Updates from before 2001, please go to the Old Updates.

2008/8/2-So...I'm a doctor now. The really nice thing about my job as an Emergency Medicine resident is that in the Emergency Department, an attending is always physically present, and will hear about most decisions I make before they are put into action. I tend to spend my shifts alternating between genuinely expressing confidence to patients that I will gather the necessary data and formulate a plan of care for them, and faking the same confidence. These mental gymnastics are not always easy to cope with. For example, I am quite sure that I spent a several day stretch of last week not knowing how old I am without doing a simple bit of mental subtraction. I also definitely gave Neil Bardhan some *terrible* directions for driving through a section of Philly that I know well. FDC readers tend to be interested in statistics, and I do have a few...my shifts are generally scheduled for 10 hours, and will last between 10.5 and 12 hours once all my work is wrapped up. I also generally figure for a 20-30 minute commute each way, be it driving, riding my bike, or taking the subway. The majority of months, I'll work six of those in a row, then have 48 hours off. (Other months I do rotations outside the department, some are better, others much more punishing.) Attending conference is also a required weekly activity, for a few more hours. The four weeks I worked in July added up to 240 hours and some change - 60 hours a week is much, much more sustainable and safe for all parties than was common practice just a few years ago. The other big challenges thus far have been to enjoy the time off that Surabhi and I are lucky to share, trying to read and learn medicine outside the time I'm working, keeping the house in good order, and keeping a social life going.

2008/7/3-My hospital orientation was all day Tuesday. It mostly boiled down to the following-

~~LAWSUITS~~

(My apologies to Scrubs.)

2008/6/20-The first day of summer seems like a fine day to get caught up on what I've been doing. The biggest thing has just been waiting for residency to start. I have some orientation things, and then real shifts start on July 1st. Surabhi has had a more robust orientation, and her first shift was today. We took a trip to Boston for Shan's graduation from Harvard and had a great time staying with long-time friend of flipse.com Pat Lally. We met up with Philadelphia's Sons of Ben for an extremely raucous trip to Giants stadium for the Argentina - USA international friendly on a very hot, then very wet day. We've also been tremendously entertained by the Euro 2008 soccer tournament. It's pretty much the next biggest thing to the World Cup, the level of play is probably higher, and games are still going on every day on some TV station that you probably get at home. I took a quick detour from Philadelphia down to Manchester, TN for my second trip to Bonnaroo. Eric Dougherty and I made the trip, and in the process saw all or part of sets by Vampire Weekend, Dark Star Orchestra, Jose Gonzalez, Umphrey's McGee, The Swell Season, The Raconteurs, !!!, Rilo Kiley, M.I.A, Chris Rock, The Wood Brothers feat. John Medeski and Kenny Wollenson, Donavan Frankenreiter, Ben Folds, Jack Johnson, Pearl Jam, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Sigur Ros, and Kanye West. On the trip back, I did all the driving while Eric ran the co-pilot gig, while my nifty new GPS told us that we spent 12+ hours with the car moving, and a bit under 17 minutes with the car stopped. Finally, Surabhi and I grabbed the trains to New York, met up again with Shan, and helped him enjoy the box seats to the Padres-Yankees game on Thursday afternoon. Long work weeks for the recent med school graduates are already here or about to arrive, but we're determined to have a good time.

2008/6/1-Surabhi guest hosts today's update - "The newly minted Flipse wife invites you all to peruse our honeymoon pictures. As Dylan wrote before, we went to Paris, Santorini & Prague. Only a portion of our photos were assigned captions; hopefully these are enough to give you an idea of the sights & the story of our travels." Those links take you to the pictures with captions, we also have a larger set available as a photo album, though nothing close to to nearly 1200 pictures we took for the whole trip. We also had a second wedding reception this weekend, hosted by my mom in Williamsport. We saw (and Surabhi met) many friends of the family, and generally had a good time. Aunt Barb also made the trip, specifically requested these honeymoon pictures, and brought us a beautifully printed and framed print of this picture from Mitkof Island, Alaska by my uncle Doug.

2008/5/28-Got this text message a few hours ago from Sam (and Liz) - Katherine Alison Corbett, 7lb15oz, 5/28 at 1:50am. Everyone is doing well. Damn glad to hear it, guys.

2008/5/23-I'm willing to quote Tom Smith, and I'm trying to graduate over here.

2008/5/3-Somehow, I've gotten into the habit of just writing travel updates. Not sure where that came from, and I'll try to break it, but here goes anyway. Much to Surabhi's semi-surpise, our honeymoon actually took us to Paris, Santorini, and Prague, though I've been assured that the Canadian Rockies are beautiful this time of year. Since then, we've been back in Philadelphia, working through our last month of medical school. (Tangential thought on that - Is the sum total of my "work" thus far basically just whatever's stored in my head and the letter offering me a contract to be Temple Emergency Medicine resident? That's not half bad, it's just alarmingly brief in summary.) Tomorrow morning we're flying to New Orleans. On Monday, Surabhi will have a poster presentation of some research she did at ACOG's annual meeting. Before and after that, we'll have a few days in New Orleans, including hopefully catching the last day of Jazz Fest. We'll return to wrap up medical school at the end of the week, then I'm going on a treasure hunt on Saturday, and to the Outer Banks with a bunch of our friends for a week on the beach.

2008/4/1-The wedding was great, thanks to everyone that showed up to party with us. So many people have asked about the honeymoon, and Surabhi never reads this site, so I figured I could safely spill the beans here. She thinks we're going to Europe, but that's not quite true. Our first stop is a brief trip to Sandusky, OH. It's the home of my favorite amusement park in the world, Cedar Point. The park won't be open till May, but we can still enjoy looking at the coasters from outside the gates. Then, we fly to Florida for a tour of the wonderful baseball spring training facilities there. Again, our timing isn't great, as spring training is over and all the teams are playing in their regular cities, but I'm really looking forward to seeing all the little towns and ballparks anyway, and I think Surabhi will really enjoy it too. Finally, we travel all the way to Banff to enjoy the Canadian Rockies. Since we don't like skiing much, this should be the crown jewel of our trip, as we enjoy watching the spring thaw in Banff National Park. Really excited about the trip, and can't wait to share our pictures when we get back.

2008/3/29-Getting married today!

2008/3/20-Today was Match Day - essentially all the graduating medical students across the country found out where they'll be doing their residencies. Surabhi and I are both doing Emergency Medicine. She's at Cooper University Hospital and I'm staying right at Temple. Those are great, great results for both of us. We're damn happy over here.

2008/3/18-I saw my last patient as a medical student today. It was my last day of this rotation, an HIV outpatient primary care clinic. We have class meetings the next two days, with the highlight being the Match on Thursday. Hopefully an update soon after will let you know where Surabhi and I will be training for the next three years. After this weekend, it's a week off, then the wedding on the 29th, then honeymoon in *classified*. In unrelated news, I've been playing a lot of Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii, and it's a blast. Highly recommend, especially if you can manage to get two or more people together for multiplayer.

2008/2/28-Jacta alea est.
Yesterday was the deadline for both residency programs and applicants to submit their rank list for the Residency Match. It was a day for (mostly) quiet celebration in med student land. I went out and played Quizzo with some classmates. For most of us, the decision about where we'll spend our next three or more years is completely settled, but we just won't know about it until noon on March 20th.

2008/1/24-Now, for the second time only, a house built by Scruffydog Construction is available as the house at 858 Willard Street is now on the market. It's also now listed on the realtor's site. My dad was pretty pleased with the pictures that appear on both, though for me they show up a little distorted on the second one.

2008/1/20-Here Follows Adventures Involving Epoxy
One week ago yesterday, I had to drive to Pittsburgh, with the intention of then continuing on to Detroit on the next day, my birthday, for multiple interviews. But, the day before that, my drivers-side side mirror was unceremoniously disconnected from my car while it was parked on the street. I was able to, somewhat securely, kind of snap it back on. It was no longer adjustable by the controls in the car, but it seemed like it would stay. Surabhi of course suggested taking her car, but I overruled her, for reasons including stubbornness and also a desire to have XM radio for the 20+ hours of driving (including the lengthy Detroit-Philly solo leg I had ahead of me on Wednesday.)

Other than running behind schedule to get her to a wedding-related appointment, the trip was going well until a rest area stop halfway across I-76. As I accelerated out of the rest area, we hit several imperfections in the pavement which I believe were spaced perfectly to amplify the magnitude of the vertical travel of the vehicle on each bump. The results were predictable, with the mirror half falling just as I completed my merge, pausing just long enough for me to register what was going on, then falling off into the Turnpike.

Panic, etc.

I was able to pull over, run back, endure several sphincter-tightening moments as cars narrowly avoided hitting the mirror, then dart into a gap in traffic and retrieve it. There were now some cosmetic imperfections on the housing and a hairline crack in the mirror itself, but otherwise the thing was remarkably intact. Back in the car, we nervously resumed travel. Somewhat unnerving to glance at the mirror and see only smooth interstate concrete, but extra over-the-shoulder checks made merging left as safe as could possibly be.

The next time one of those travel plazas was available, I stopped there and looked for a suitable fixative. Gorilla Glue grabbed my attention, but it had a dismaying long setting time and the instructions were unworkable, involving wetting the surface and so on. But they had two kinds of epoxy, including one that advertised only four minutes to set. It appeared to be similar to the grey/black stuff I'd worked with before. I obtained that and two plastic spoons and took it out the the 35F parking lot. It was a messy operation. That stuff is so temperature-sensitive, it was almost rock hard, and I essentially had to rip both tubes open from the bottom to get any significant amounts out. Also very tough to mix. But I got it onto the parts of the mirror housing that appeared to match up with parts on the car, and leaned on it for about 10 minutes, and there it stuck. That I found out several days later that my old roommate Duff is doing graduate work in two-part epoxies is, I believe, no coincidence.

2007/Rocktober/18-Took Step 2 of my Boards today. Woo!

2007/Rocktober/13-I have new content! Believe it or not, when I first wrote about my trip to the Arctic Circle one year after the fact, I didn't plan on a similar (longer) break before I wrote about the second week. But there is is, Year Late - Week 2, and only some 27 months later. Please enjoy/scorn/reply at your leisure. In other news, wedding planning is going well, with Surabhi and her parents by far doing the majority of the work. People always ask about school, so I'll say that I'm studying for Part II of the medical boards. We're also in the middle of the application process for Emergency Medicine, waiting for letters of recommendation and other documents to go out and interview offers to come in. If you are in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, DC, Baltimore, NYC, or Boston, Dylan and Surabhi's Winter Interview Tour 2007-2008 may be coming to your town, so please ready the couches. Rachel moved to Philly to start law school at Penn, so we see her quite a bit more.

2007/8/31-So many things keep me from writing on FDC. I think one of them is that I feel like I have to do something bigger or better than my last update, and in this case, how can I beat getting engaged? Well, I can't. So the quick update is that I'm still engaged, planning to get married on March 29, 2008. Mark your calenders, kids. An official FDC Wedding Page is in the works, though I am not the one working on it. We also had an engagement party last weekend, and pictures from that are forthcoming sooner than later. In the interim, I've been doing my emergency medicine rotations, liking, but not loving The Deathly Hallows (Until the final battle, which I thought was amazing. I'm a total sucker for a storyline that has people rallying for the greater good, even if it's fake wizard people.), now reading How Soccer Explains The World, and this weekend, heading to Ohio for Chetan Patil's wedding, during which I'll see lots of good and old college buddies.

2007/7/4-The big news is that I got engaged to Surabhi Gaur on Monday. Was doing that two days before Independence Day some kind of statement? Probably not, but Surabhi and I are both fantastically happy. People have asked lots of questions about wedding dates, engagement parties, and other things, and we don't really know about any of that yet, but details will be forthcoming.

2007/6/25-I've been keeping myself occupied, as always. Recent activities include completing the third year of medical school, watching US soccer beat archrival Mexico in the Gold Cup final, very grudgingly adding a smidgen more information to my Facebook profile, and the long, long moving in, then settling in process in my apartment in Chinatown with Surabhi.

2007/6/15-Doc Heaps died last month, at age 76. I wouldn't be where I am today or who I am today without him, and most of you that find yourself reading this page probably feel the same way.

2007/4/27-Tom's a tricky one, he snuck some banner ads in here without me noticing a few weeks back and broke the counter at the same time, but that's all sorted out now. I've been mostly in Danville, PA for the last month, with one week still to go on my rotation there, and I'm back in Philly this weekend to, among other things, be around while a new washing machine is installed in my new apartment. This task reeks of grown-up responsibility, and I am not fond of it.

2007/4/1-So, vacation was good, but as always turned out to be pricey. It's no big deal, but there were some unanticipated costs involved, and money is going to be a little tight for a while. Still, it was a great trip, and if I've gotta run a few banner ads so I can keep paying for the hosting, so be it. Hopefully we don't need those for long. I plan to have the album up with the Puerto Rico pictures as soon as possible.

2007/3/23-Heading out of the 48 states, but not out of the country, as Surabhi and I, accompanied by five classmates and other hangers-on, venture to scenic Vieques, Puerto Rico. Expect us back in a week, loaded with pictures.

2007/2/24-Apologies, as always, for the lag in updates. All the usual conditions applied, with the addition that venting my spleen on the war really burned me out, and took away my motivation to write about...whatever it is I'm doing. I'm done with psychiatry now, moved on to internal medicine. Tom had some hip news the other night when I was on call. He'd met Dr. Rosser, the guy behind some fancy-pants medical technology, and recently in the news, a study that correlated video game skillz to certain surgical skills. On that subject, I've been working on my surgery skills recently, with my new(ish) Nintendo Wii. We play a little ExciteTruck, mess around shooting bunnies, and otherwise have a good time before getting serious with the Wii Tennis.

2007/1/16-I turned 25 years old over the weekend. It was a good birthday, with very nice birthday wishes from many friends and family, lots of NFL football on TV, no weekend calls in the hospital, and Surabhi's All-Bacon Dinner. I never want to do this too much, but I hope as I write a few lines about my thoughts on the war in Iraq, you'll tolerate a diversion into seriousness enough to read them.

I admit to being wrong. In 2003, I made the argument many times that our "Hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction" was completely bogus, but we at least had a good and decent mission in the sense that Saddam Hussein was a horrible person and the Iraqi people deserved to be free of him. By the end of that year, we were hunting down terrorist leaders in Iraq, who had plans to attack the United States. In 2004, we were "fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here." In 2005, we started to talk about instilling democracy in the Middle East. I'm honestly not sure, but I guess we're "fighting terror" there now. I don't see this as a political issue, as much as I disagree with the current administration on many political issues, but I want to make it clear that we don't have some kind of "mission." Our leaders made a choice, probably motivated by some kind of misplaced rage and desire for revenge, and that alone is how we got where we are today.

We cannot change the past. But it is cathartic to admit that we were wrong. Only by doing that can we look at the present with clear eyes. And if we do that, we can see that our presence in Iraq is currently not helping anything. Are we guarding Iraq's borders, to keep out the "terrorists" and "foreign agents" our government is blaming for much of the violence in the country? No, we are mostly in a few cities, where are our troops ride out on patrols, with no mission other than to hopefully return to base safely, without being shot at or blown up. We have no mission, and our presence is like a splinter. As long as we remain, we will irritate the opposing sides, causing conflict to continue to fester. When we leave, and we will leave eventually, there will be more pain, and more blood. But we will leave eventually. Do not let anyone, Senator McCain, tell you that the only problems have been issues with tactics or troop levels. The American military and people are too good, too important to be fed that load of lies again and again. And when I say that, do not be so false and so hollow as to suggest that I should think otherwise, that I should be should be supporting our troops.

I support our troops. More than anything else, I support our troops. These are good people, and I wish that 130,000 of them were at home for Christmas, not hopelessly trying to officiate a civil war halfway around the world. More than that, I wish that 23,000 with horrific injuries and many more with horrific memories had never had to endure what they've gone through. 3019 American soldiers who have died in Iraq since the war began, and this is terrible. Soldiers are sometimes called on to sacrifice their lives for their country, but there is no mission, and this is an absolute national disgrace. Any leader who supported the war who will not tell you "I was wrong" with no absolutely no qualifiers does not support our troops. Any leader who does not support removing these men and women from harm's way as soon as humanly possible does NOT support our troops.

I started writing this for two reasons. One is the story of a friend of my family's. A mother is relieved that her son has suffered a traumatic injury, with possible lifelong loss of function, simply because he is home and will fight in this war no more. She can't explain why he or anyone else was ever put in that position. The second reason is the Iraqi people themselves. Our president brought them up on 60 Minutes this week- "Iraqi people owe the American people a huge debt of gratitude." He explained, "That's the problem here in America, they wonder whether or not there is a gratitude level that's significant enough in Iraq." There is gratitude owed, I suppose, because by the most conservative estimates, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died violent deaths since we started this war. I can't think of a way to convey in real terms what those innocent-looking words "hundreds of thousands" really implies. Hundreds of thousands is more people that you will ever meet in your life. Iraq's population is about 1/10th the United States', so try to imagine millions of dead Americans. There is nothing so awful as war. Why does this war exist?

2007/1/4-New in Flipse Albums, I've got pictures from winter break this year. We're calling them Rocky's Horror Picture Show. It's not as scary as it sounds.

2006/12/30-As Neil and other sharp readers have noticed, the guys in the Flipse.com Tech Department didn't get any time off this year, and the final (?) piece of FDC NT is in place - our own RSS feed. I've tested it in Google Reader and Firefox's Live Bookmarks, the feed should in fact work on the RSS Aggregator of your choice. Please let the team know if it does/doesn't/burns down your house. The last few days went essentially as planned, visiting the Liz/Sam/Lily Trio, Neil delivered a pizza, Rocky and I meeting Nicole in Buffalo and making a quick trip to Niagara Falls to see the falls and enjoy a Canadian arcade, visiting with the Smiths (always mealtime, always delicious), and driving back here to State College. Just a few days off remain, though New Year's Eve in Philadelphia should be great fun.

2006/12/27-Despite most appearances, I've been hard at work, burning through my two weeks of vacation like it's going out of style. Surabhi and Dana had XROX (Christmas in Roxborough), their big annual holiday dinner party blowout. We recovered from that for a few days, tied up loose ends in Philadelphia, and I came home to State College. I finished re-reading The Baroque Cycle, which was a tremendously rewarding thing to do, and after almost 3000 pages, only left me wanting more. That may free up some time to start on the stack of books I received as presents, mostly falling into either the "for med school" or "travel" piles. Surabhi came up and attended Christmas at mom's house, and I visited with her family in Canonsburg. My kitchen received several new additions, among them a digital scale, very nice roasting pan, stock pot, and immersion blender. Rachel, dad, Pepper and I had Christmas at home, and granddad joined us for dinner, as the Eagles beat the Cowboys to complete their run for a playoff spot. Today is Flipse Family Christmas, and later, Rocky should make an appearance. Rockstar and I will eventually head north, with plans to see Liz, Sam, Lily, the Smiths, Neil, Luke, and eventually make it as far as Buffalo.
With all that, I've also been working on the website. The content of Prose (Things to Read) and Pictures (Things to See) is basically complete, though I hope to tidy up their designs at some point. This is only one part of what I'm calling FDC NT, which is a joke maybe four or five people will get. What else is new? Well...I went through almost every HTML file on the site, which is, let's say, a lot of files. Colors are now handled by CSS, META tags are now present (most pages had these), Google Analytics code is added, and I'm removing all text/link email addresses, in favor of a image, in an effort to put a dent in the increasing flow of spam in my inbox. A great number of pages got little updates here or there in the process, and I'm pretty much happy to have a simple, if inelegant, way to index all the content on the site.

2006/12/21-Happy Solstice, everyone. Is it Merry Solstice? Joyful? Anyway, pay attention, it'll be dark a lot today. I'm done with the first half of the 3rd year of medical school, and mercifully seem to have come through it all relatively unscathed.

2006/12/3-Again, this is the new flipse.com hosting, with Bluehost. I'm working on rolling out some really up to date technology, should be able to bring the site up to 2002 or so. Observant readers will notice some positive changes already.

2006/12/2-New flipse.com hotness. Welcome.

2006/Rocktober/18-Do you remember 1996? We were in the throes of puberty... or at its threshold... or just finishing those awkward, halcyon days of youth. Clinton was in office. The Pentium was brand new. And #gifted was even newer.

Friday, October 20, is the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Undernet IRC channel #gifted by Neil Bardhan (Neilshire/Knile) and Dylan Flipse(Flipper1). In the beginning, it was meant as a substitute for web chatting for a few friends from a summer camp. And it has grown into whatever it is today. A grown man? A grown channel? A blossoming social something or another?

Join us Friday for a celebration, from about 5:00PM EDT until it gets too late. (Check it! No bedtimes anymore!)

If you need more of a refresher, check out http://flipse.com/gifted.html. If you want a refresher on how to GET onto #gifted, visit http://flipse.com/getonirc.html.

Cosponsored by Neil and Dylan

2006/8/24-The fix is in, my friends. Sam and Liz had a baby girl named Lily Evalynn on August 12 at 2:14PM. Baby Lily weighed 8lbs, 14oz, and both mother and baby are said to be doing well. As for my life, I'm going to ban myself from using the b-word in this context in the future, but one last time is ok - I'm busy. The hours for trauma surgery are long and often hard. There are interesting stories and also many, many hours of tedium. I have about three weeks of surgery left, so I'll probably live. I hope everyone is is doing well.

2006/7/31-Many moons have passed, yadda, yadda, yadda. We're not here to talk about that. Liz and Sam are, of course, about to have a baby, and now that we've reached and passed the "due date" I thought I'd give loyal FDC readers the chance to enter a baby pool. Let's say $10/person, half of what's collected goes into a savings bond for the Young Corbett and half goes to the winner. Criteria will be the date, sex, time, and weight, in that order. For example, if Rocky and Bill Rogers both get the date and sex correct, the tiebreaker would be the closest in weight. Price is Right rules are not in effect, one can "go over" without being penalized. I'll take entries by email or any other means up till Liz goes into labor. Spread the word.
Addendum - My guess is August 4th, girl, 5:55AM, and 7lbs 7oz (3374 grams), just so everyone knows this is on the up-and-up. Oh, and to keep the shenanigans to a minimum, enter a max of two times per person.

2006/6/18-Week One of West North - One Year Late is up, only...let's see, one year and one week late. Not bad. I took the boards about ten days ago. It's about the least fun you can legally have for $400, but at least it's over.

2006/6/6-Got a new project. Calling it West North - One Year Late for two reasons that should be fairly obvious. My boards are in TWO DAYS so I've had no time to do much with this *yet* but that should change after Thursday.

2006/5/3-So, the deal is, I'm kind of homeless. Twice. First, in the real world, there was a fire in my apartment building, from which all men, women, and children escaped without serious bodily harm. However, the building was *quite* harmed, and quite smokey, and in general, legally uninhabitable. So, while much of my stuff remains there, I'm living with Surabhi and Friends in Manayunk. So don't cry for me, Flipse.com readers, I've got a pretty good deal going until I move into my digs for next year. Now, on to the second order of business. Google has seemingly disowned me. A Google search for dylan flipse refuses to come up to this page. Heck, I can't even find it anywhere on the results for flipse. The last time the Google Spider visited here was Jan, 2005, according to the Google Cache, so maybe that's part of the problem. And after all the good times we had. This vexes me.

2006/4/4-All kinds of pictures from the spring break trip are now available on the album page. Surabhi and I are calling it Borrowed Money, Borrowed Time. Oh, plus, I hate Tom.

2006/3/4-Hey! It's March! Crap! Wow! No time for details, but Surabhi and I are leaving in a few hours for London till Tuesday, then Rome till Thursday, Barcelona till Sunday, Alicante till Monday, and back to London then Philly by Monday night. You want to contact me? I'd recommend sending email, because I don't think I'll be answering my phone.

2006/2/22-Thanks to Sam, this one is for anyone still trying to figure out what "learning imagines you" means - Mansfield University, where anthrax infects you!

2006/1/31-Uh, sorry this is late, but I've got birthday present for Rocky.

2006/1/19-Lack of content be damned! Today, Thursday, brings us not one but two new photo albums. First, there are pictures from Rich and Heather's wedding in October. This includes not only the wedding, but the trip there and back as well. After that, check out Christmas in Manayunk 2005. It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the best potluck of the year! Learn new, exciting ways to take the trash out without carrying it through the middle of the party! Now, you'll notice that these albums are sans-caption. I decided that if I waited till I had time to put pictures up *and* write captions, we'd continue at about the old rate of...no pictures going up, ever. Then I realized, hey, other people were involved with these things, maybe they want to write captions. The solution could hardly be simpler. XMYK is already being handled, but anyone who wants to caption the pictures from the Indiana trip, drop me a line. It's really easy, you'll be typing them right onto the album page. I'd like to change topics slightly, if I could. I promise, this will be less of a dramatic change than the "Weapons of Mass Destruction" to "Democracy for Iraq" to "Fighting the Terrorists There and Not Here" reversals that have been given as our reasons for occupying Iraq. Read the full text of Al Gore's speech from Monday if you've got some time. If you don't have that kind of time, search out your own source of analysis or read this one from the Moderate Voice. I'd readily point you to numerous articles at Salon or other lefty sources, but if you're interested in that kind of perspective, you're probably already reading those kinds of things. The short story? This administration constantly says "Trust us." This administration is repeatedly wrong about big, big things, is consistently in bed with the biggest industries and wealthiest Americans (and Saudis), spies on Americans, lies again and again, and above all else, conceals, hides, and obscures what's going on. Why, again, do we trust them?

2006/1/13-Emma is wrong, it is I who is old. This is not necessarily true, but a barrage of well-wishers today have assured me that I'm approaching "downright decrepit." Thank you all very much for the kind wishes. Next update (say, sometime sooner than two months from now) - I'll have some pictures!

2005/11/3-I didn't ever really hate Rich. His wedding was a crazy good time, albeit, as I mentioned, one that was held annoyingly far from where I live. I've been, you know, doing med school things.

2005/Rocktober/21-I kinda hate Rich right now. Steve and I are up early, about to hit the road, meet Brandon and Brit, and drive to Indiana for Rich and Heather's wedding. I've got nothing to complain about, Steve's the one who had a 12 hour bus ride yesterday just to get to Philly, so he could make this trip.

2005/Rocktober/14-Back in time update. So...the server hosting Flipse.com and associated enterprises crashed last week, and through some kind of assclownery/awful luck, the most recent intact backup dated to late July. All updates, etc have been restored, but the super fancy new album from the roadtrip this summer has not been restored, and basically won't be. I'll get the pictures back up, but I don't have time to re-do the captions right now. I had three exams this week, and still have one to go on Monday, before things start heading to Indiana for Rich's wedding.

2005/Rocktober/3-Plenty of good stuff to report. Veeeerrry early on Saturday morning, Surabhi, Jon Ford, and I took part in EPEX 2005. We were assigned "injuries," received injury makeup, watched them ignite and extinguish a training airplane, then arranged ourselves on the tarmac (with the other hundred-plus victims), to be triaged, placed on backboards, and transported by ambulance to hospitals all over the Philadelphia area. Things we learned - backboards are very uncomfortable. I have picture of some of it, as always, those will be up "someday." Speaking of things that were scheduled for "someday," I found the time to finish the captions on the photo album from my big summer road trip. If you've been waiting to check those out, now's the time.

2005/9/18-Time for another installment of FDC Recommends�. This week, I'm recommending that you get to your local auto parts store and pick up a can of Fix A Flat. There may be excellent comparable products, but I can personally recommend this one. You can easily, quickly fix any kind of non-catastrophic flat tire without even using a jack. It's pretty awesome.

2005/9/8-School started up on August 15th and hit like a ton of bricks. While I was off vacationing, Dave Haeffner managed to snag the picture that's the new top logo on this page. I think it's snazzy, and I thank him. And as for that vacation, some of you might've seen a few of my photos, but I now have them all online in my new Album. I'm using Gallery, which seems slick (you guys can leave comments, etc) and I think I'll be using it for future projects from here on out. Rocky, your late birthday present will have to wait a bit longer.

2005/8/4-The Flipse.Com writing and editorial staff was on vacation for all of July, and we're all back at work now, just in time for an Airport/Mansfield/Wedding/Delaware/Beach/Demolition Derby kind of ten days in which updates will probably also be scarce. We traveled to Alaska, the Arctic Ocean, Machu Pichu, Rochester, State College, and many places in-between. We'll be sure to write all about it and show all the pictures the legal team will allow us to show as soon as possible. Also, Rocky, your birthday gift is in the works, it's all a question of getting that done right now, or leaving Tom at the airport, and the last thing I'd want to do is have the reputation of the good people at Vagabond Dog to suffer needlessly.

2005/6/29-What I really like about Northwest Canada is that a grown man can wear Tevas, black jeans, a t-shirt, leather vest with fringe, and his hair in a ponytail, all without a trace of irony. (Also, I knew I was in for it when I got into the Yukon, and I realized I could get three radio stations, all rebroadcasts of the same feed, all playing Billy Idol's "Dancing With Myself.") But, hey! We're having fun.

2005/6/2-I leave Philadelphia tomorrow and from State College (to begin the trip proper) on Sunday morning. I'll be in Pittsburgh/Cleveland on June 5, Chicago on June 6-7, Seattle on June 13, and Eagle Plains, Yukon on June 21. After that, things get fuzzy, but look for me to show up sometime in mid-July. A few updates from the road are also certainly possible. Many thanks to those who contributed book suggestions and books, snacks, advice (Yes, including those who questioned my sanity), or anything else. Emailing me your address could result in you getting a postcard, but I'll make no promises.

2005/5/24-The days just fly by, and I'm afraid I'm suffering from a bit of writer's block. Still, life is good.

2005/5/9-Just made reservations for a party on June 21st.

2005/5/2-I've heard nice things about the current logo, and I wanted to mention again that Sam made it. I, too, dig it, as well as the source material. Today brings you a quick update to the Concerts Page, but I'm afraid I don't quite have the time to do real writeups for any recent shows. At least they're catalogued. In entirely different news, I managed to get myself elected as a class rep. I'm not entirely sure why. In my spare time, I've been doing things like looking for cool places to camp in South Dakota or deciding which of, for example, Nine Innings, Middlesex, and Brock Biology of Microorganisms I'd like to read, either in South Dakota or elsewhere this summer. Oh yeah, plus I study.

2005/4/28-I love all the random shout-outs that The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy has been getting. The official ads are all over, and the long-awaited movie opens tomorrow, sure, but I think that it's even cooler to see things like articles titled, "(Fill In The Blank)'s Guide To The Galaxy" all over the place. It's great. I think that Rocky and I will be seeing the movie on opening day. Speaking of Rocky, many were left wondering what the Rocky Protocol is. Well, it's not too exciting, I'll admit, but if you're any good at clicking links, now you know. Speaking of the Rocky Protocol, that was used on my trip last weekend to some of New England's finer institutions of higher learning. I stayed with Cutter at Brown University and we spent some good times with Caitlin there and at Wellesley College. Many thanks to both of them. Speaking of that trip to Wellesley, I picked up a new friend there. Unfortunately, this "friend" was a tick. Naturally, there were hilarious antics involved in this tick's removal, subsequent bite wound, and especially the display of said wound at otherwise upstanding social events.

2005/4/14-The verdict is in - Pizza Hut Buffalo Chicken pizza does NOT match up. It's not bad, but it's just not worth your time.

2005/4/11-I present a quick smattering of pictures for you this evening, because, hey, everyone likes pictures. We begin with three of the less scandalous shots from my spring break excursion to Amsterdam. Nick Cavallaro was my copilot on the whole trip, and is a classmate at med school. Here he's checking a map with a Canadian girl we met, unless I'm mistaken they're either trying to find the Heineken brewery or perhaps a mailbox. Rob and Mike are the blokes on either side of me here, in a picture taken over one of Amsterdam's many fine canals. I can call them "blokes" (I hope they don't mind) because they're both from Manchester, England. (Extra information for you, the flipse.com reader - this trip was the first time Rob and I have met in real life, but we've known each other for a long time through email and IRC AND we originally came into contact after he accidentally found this page.) You probably recognize me, Dylan Flipse, standing in front of a coffee shop, cleverly positioned to place my head next to the word "Temple." That seemed funny, but isn't really. I look like I've been crashing in some youth hostel after a few long nights, which was entirely true. Changing gears, and in fact entire modes of transportation, we have a beeeeautiful picture of the field during pregame for Opening Day for the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. It was also the first game ever for the Washington Nationals. JP and Matt came up from Arlington to join me and fellow Temple Med students Surabhi, Dana, Robyn, Leanne, Eric, and Frank, plus local riff-raff Jason, to witness the Nats first throwing error and three strikeout game, among other fine highlights. Finally (who knew med school was going to be this much fun?), Surabhi and I went to the Prom on Saturday night. No, we didn't crash at a high school, that was just the nickname for the Med School Formal. It was very, very nice, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the one slight oddity of the event, namely that the neighboring Mutter M�seum was open for us during the event. That Megacolon has to be seen to be believed.

2005/4/6-Tom was at it again, up to his usual April First tricks, but I hope no one got too upset by all that. Other quick updates are a new logo at the top of this page (inspired by possibly my favorite program, and expertly created by Sam The Fantastic.) and my new, awesome bumper sticker idea, prominently displayed elsewhere on this page.

2005/3/28-Right, right, I haven't written in forever. Amsterdam with Nick was fantastic. Weather was a bit chilly, perhaps, but it's a great city, fun to walk around, and we had a blast staying at the hostel. Rob and Mike coming over for about a day from Manchester was also very, very cool. I'll have some pictures for you sometime, though you won't be the first to see them. The US Customs agent in Detroit insisted, but that's a whole different story for me to be agitated about another time. In any case, Europe was followed by a trip to DC, where we saw JP, Matt, Dan Meismer, and Rachel. All of those shenanigans were followed by, no!, a return to real life, with an annoyingly full week of school. I can deal with that, though, as long as they keep making Arrested Development. If that stops, all bets are off.

2005/3/10-I've been on the MBTA, RTA, BART, SEPTA, the Underground, STCUM, MTA, the Metro...maybe a few others. Planes, trains, and automobiles willing, I'll add NS from Schiphol to Amsterdam Central on Saturday morning. Return trip is on Wednesday. (More clever readers have no doubt assumed, correctly, that this trip is a Vagabond Dog production. Our most clever readers stopped reading this page a long time ago.)

2005/3/1-This is the Homeland Security Flipse.com update. First, and of vastly more substantial content is this article on John Gilmore from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. I urge you not take the view, "Of course you have to show an ID to fly, this guy is a moron!" because that's not what Gilmore's actions are about. It's an incredible thing, to be governed by a law you aren't allowed to read. (Not to mention, hey, I know exactly how easy it is for idiot college freshmen to get fake IDs. How hard can it be for someone with motivation that extends beyond obtaining a few cases of Beast Ice?) Now, on a much lighter and more personal note, I'm proud to announce that, despite my well-voiced objections to the theft of personal liberties in the prevailing political climate, we here at Flipse.com are doing our part to contribute to the security of the United States of America, specifically our crops and animals. I got an email over the weekend from someone asking to use my roadblock picture from Sonic Booms and Cornfields in training material for the "National Initiative for agroterrorism with the Dept of Homeland security and the Office of Domestic Preparedness." Of course, I gave permission and the guy later sent me the page of material where he used my picture and I admit, it works quite well. The entire document is apparently "First Responder Sensitive" so I didn't see the whole thing, but ask me sometime and I'll show you the page.

2005/2/21-In the course of my travels and adventures over the weekend, I enjoyed many excellent conversations with Dave Eck. One of the things we talked about is how we don't understand how people are bored. Maybe it's different if you're not a full-time student, but neither of us could fathom how people have extended periods of time in which they'd like to do something, but can't find an activity to fill that time. Anyway, great weekend. Thanks to Eric for the accomodations, and it was good to see Cutter, Caitlin, JP, Camp (Yes, I will put those pictures up), Dave, Eric, Paul, and everyone else at the Herdic House. Now I've got a week till my Neuroanatomy midterm.

2005/2/9-Today, I was wearing Dockers Stain Defenders pants and my Gortex jacket. Almost totally waterproof. When I got out of the rain, I could shake off like a dog. Try it sometime.

2005/2/7-Well, yesterday's game was a helluva downer, but I'll be honest - I'm glad that my car and/or person weren't harmed in any of the potential riots if the outcome had been different. (That said, it would've been pretty great to see them win, and I'm sure I could've stayed with my new friends Robyn, Leanne, Dana, and Surabhi while Manayunk burned.) Notes for Neil, who has been giving me much pub as of late - I doubt you'll need a tent for a drive like that. Never underestimate the ease added to a situation by simply sleeping in your car, or overestimate the comfort offered by the floor of a tent. Plus, I'm willing to bet you can crash on couches for any trip in the PA/NJ/MD/NY area. Also, if it creates friction to tell your dad about such a trip, then don't bother. What's the worst that'll happen? He'll get a hankering for a garbage plate and decide to drop in on you unannounced? You have a cell phone. You can make something up. Addition by omission, I say.

2005/2/1-I'm very bad at mornings. If there was some morning where I both ate breakfast and packed a lunch, I think I'd throw a party to celebrate the event. Anyway, my apologies about any confusion over the Flipse.com date system. We are now ISO 8601 compliant, and Rocky is happier, I hope. I'll also be changing logos at the top of this page more frequently than every five years (hey, maybe the sunrise will make a guest re-appearance) so, if you don't like "Think flipse.com," don't fret, it'll be gone soon enough.

24/1/2005-Keeping the birthday thread going, I've got a Happy 25th to Sam (a little late, on the 21st) and a very Happy 21st to Emma (who has been waiting a very long time, so I though a little early for the 25th) wouldn't hurt. This city is nuts about the Eagles. When I was waiting in line at the grocery store last week, I overheard part of a conversation between a couple that must've been in high school. His back was to me, so all I could hear was what she was saying, and it went something like this-

Her - "What jersey are you going to wear to school tomorrow?"
Him - ...
Her - "Do you own ANY Eagles clothes?"
Him - ...
Her - (With a disgusted look) "Don't you think you should?"

I think she wanted to leave right then and there.

13/1/2005-Many thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday today, including many classmates, my family, Jennifer, and many friends. Double thanks to Temple Med '08 People, including Josh, Frank, Jonas, Dan, Christine, and Jon, who celebrated with me. Special thanks to Josh and Sue for making me dinner and dessert, which was really much too nice of them. It was a good day. Here's hoping for a good weekend. (And happy belated birthday wishes to Brit, slightly early birthday wishes to Neil.)

10/1/2005-I am now accepting suggestions for books to read while I'm driving around North American this summer. Of course, I won't read the books while I'm driving, I intend to stop, park, get out of the car, and read books. I have plenty of ideas, but if you have any good ones, by all means, let me know.

4/1/2005-Which is more reasonable- sticking with a system that's cleary backwards because (certain) people understand it, or switching to a logical system that will confuse people (self included) but in the end makes More Sense? The management at Flipse.com voted (unanimously, as always) for making sense. Other bits of news include my completion of a first reading of The Baroque Cycle and beginning of a second semsester of medical school, after a "break" that was not exactly restful, what with much traveling on routes 322, 15, 220, I-80, etc, fun with people too numerous to name (But I would be remiss if I didn't single out Tom and Rocky as particularly exemplary traveling companions), diverse illnesses seen, imagined, and experienced, and, of course, quality time with the family.

12/18/2004-Quicky, because I'm about to hit the road, I have two (count 'em) pieces of news. First, the good/bad news - we have a buyer for the house in Williamsport. The closing is on the 22nd. I've lived a few places, but that's the house I identify as where I grew up, it's sad to see The Flipse Compound passing on to new management. But, with the new place in State College finished, looking great, and moved-into, it was time. In recent years, that house surpassed the Arnot Mall and Corning East High School sporting events as the place where "we" would meet in the largest groups. So, don't drop by there any more, unless you'd like to meet some new people. The second (and this is just good news) is that I've finished my first semester of medical school intact. Elaboration on that subject is available upon request, but I won't belabor the point here.

12/14/2004-Coming out of my exam today, Shuffle on the iPod served up - the end of Lynyrd Skynyrd - Freebird, Moxy Fr�vous - The Kids's Song, Soul Couging - True Dreams of Wichita (A gem, thanks to Jodi Bunting for turning me onto that one), Violent Femmes - Add It Up, Simon and Garfunkel - The Boxer, and The Grateful Dead - Uncle John's Band. It was a beautiful, cold, sunny day. If you were trying to draw it before 1990, you would've been out of luck because you'd need that Cerulean crayon. Anyway, it was a pretty good day. If you want to waste a bit of time, I suggest checking out my photo album for the Case Camping Club. The captions are all pretty much half-assed, but that's all you get for now.

12/9/2004-Studying in cadaver lab with Jonas, Kevin, Frank, and Josh last Friday, someone decided to play Michael Jackon's "Thriller" on their laptop. You might've heard of the video for that one, it got a little publicity when it came out. Something about a bunch of dead bodies coming back to life, dancing and carrying on. That was about enough studying for that day.

12/4/2004-How long, exactly can I live on rice, my mom's chili, and my dad's chocolate chip cookies? Not much longer, I'm out of chili.

12/1/2004-We are entering The December Of Studying. Really, it's only The December of 54% Studying, as my Histo Final is on the 17th (frightening as THAT is). I'll be more than happy to take be taking December 18th to January 2nd off.

11/21/2004-Just wanted to take a moment to point out one of my favorite webpages, Flipse Dot Tom. It's pretty new, but it's so hip, I'm surprised there isn't a line outside of people waiting to get in. You can read there about the #1 thing that I'm most excited about for the next calendar year. The only question is - which of us is Calvin, and which is Hobbes? Yukon, ho!

11/18/2004-As always, I have the best intentions to write fun, exciting, and new things for the web page. Life gets in the way.

11/10/2004-I had a suggestion for last week's update. Could've just written, "Booo."

11/3/2004-A resounding vindication for Karl Rove and the politics of Fear and Meanness. A strong vote for ethocentricity and intolerance. A referendum telling us that God is with the Right. Big win for eliteism behind a veil of appeal to common folks, and for big corporations everywhere.

Rocktober/31/2004-Boo!

Rocktober/27/2004-My major league baseball season started when Dan, Rich, and I saw the Red Sox and Cardinals in a pre-season game in Jupiter, Florida. As you might've noticed, the season ended tonight with the Red Sox's World Series win. It's been an incredible thing to watch, and I'll leave any further description to those more gifted with prose. Now, I should be able to get some studying done.

Rocktober/25/2004-I voted today. Dropped by absentee ballot in the mail. For me, it's pretty much over. My contribution to the political process this year has been in the form of many discussions, a few small monetary contributions, and those votes. That is, more or less, what I imagine most of you have done or will do. Not so for one friend of flipse.com, Andy Rachlin. Here's a link to a Google news search for "Andrew Rachlin" that might be of interest. Andy got a little more involved with the effort to have Samara Berend elected. As Pat said - "Andy Rachlin, mudslinger." Good times. In almost entirely unrelated news, My Boot is back online. The website has been AWOL for the better part of a year and, in a stunning fit of hubris, I'm willing to declare that I was one of the first people on the Web to realize that it was back. Anyone that's been paying much attention knows I'm a big fan of My Boot in general and more specifically, She Hates My Futon. (Standard disclaimer - I find "Futon" very addictive, you may too. It's long, it takes a while to read, if you have something to do, now would not be the time to get into it. It is a sort of novel(la?) in progress, but while most of the chapters were posted rapidly, 23 came about a year after 22, and it's been about four years since 23 was posted. Craig put a chapter title for 23 up last year, which as very exciting, and he says he's writing it. I can see how it'd be hard. My point is, you can waste a lot of time getting yourself invested in this story and...end up stuck like the rest of us. Consider yourself warned.)

Rocktober/23/2004-Happy Mole Day. That especially goes out to Mr. Bonislawski and Mr. Poechmann, who made me love chemistry, long before I got around to hating it, sometime right around March 2001. In an entirely different note, thanks to everyone who made it to the Reunion of Sorts we had online Wednesday. I can't speak for others, but I thought it was great fun. A lot of people made it on (Peak somewhere around 28), and there was fun discussion on old times, new times, some politics that got only a little mean-spirited, and Game 7 of the ALCS provided a very exciting backdrop, as well as an ongoing topic. I ran some stats that night, and have some new #gifted stats for you today. They've done some nice things with that program. It's fun, and it's funny how you can remember a specific conversation from a few years ago, just reading some of the random quotations from that page. The nick connection file needs some work. Oh, and now that Flipse.com has been discoverd by some of my fellow first-years at Temple University School of Medicine (mostly in search of the Dylan Flipse Theme Song) I should throw out a "welcome" to all those people, as they've had no idea what any of this was about up to this point. Hey guys. Frank? Josh? Jon? Devon? Just guessing. See ya Monday.

Rocktober/12/2004-Hello. If you're reading this, you're invited to a Reunion, of sorts, next Wednesday, the 20th at 8PM. Neil Bardhan and I first had a conversation on IRC on October 20th, 1996. Next Wednesday will be the 8th anniversary of that conversation. We thought it'd be fun to be sure to meet up to talk about old times for a bit. And, as I said, we'd like you to join us. Anyone's welcome, but we'd especially like to see you (on and active) if you've ever been active in #gifted. But new people are fun, and would be welcome. (Quick primer - Download mIRC, connect to any Undernet server, join #gifted. Slighty more verbose primer - Get On IRC. It's easy, I promise. Ask if you have questions.) If, somehow, you're really lost at this point - IRC is a system for chatting online, based more on "rooms" (called "channels") than 1-to-1 conversations like AIM and #gifted is the channel started by Neil and I, which is active to this day.

Rocktober/8/2004-If you only have time for one new band this year, make it The Shins. I listen to "New Slang" or "Young Pilgrams" and I can't remember when, if ever, I've heard music before that's so good it hurts. Check it out.

Rocktober/5/2004-Early results from the Vice Presidental Debates - the whole deal is set up where I used to play IM Floor Hockey.

9/29/2004-And now, an Ode To The Bachelor Life-

I live here, alone
So I can dip soft pretzels
Right in the cheese jar

9/28/2004-I need to either get better at taking naps, or better at not taking them.

9/21/2004-Periods in which I go a long, or relatively long amount of time without writing on Flipse.com sort of baffle me. I always seem to think about the web site a consistent amount. Over the last, say, nine days, I'm sure I've thought of something to write on here at least once a day. Maybe some site maintainence thing that should've been done in 2002, or a good idea for a new page, or a bad idea for a new page, or something like that. I frequently wish I did more with current pictures. Anyway, maybe I don't always realize that me thinking about something for site is a step or two short of you being able to read it here. So, actually, I'm going to sleep right now. It's 11:30PM. People that knew me in college ought to be "shocked, shocked." (That's in quotes because I was specifically thinking of the time Joan Cusack's character says that in High Fidelity. But we digress.) I've done an awful lot of web site stuff after midnight over the years, so maybe that's a bit of a reason for occasionally sparse updates. After midnight these days, I'm either in bed or trying hard to get there. My freshman roommate, Duff, went to bed after me exactly two times in the entire school year. Class here is at 8:00 every day, and I need to step out my door at 7:30AM to walk to the subway, ride my train in, and walk to Kresge. None of this is a complaint, just a bit of an update on a major change in my lifestyle these days. I really don't have anything to complain about, being in medical school is great. I also like living by myself and cooking for myself. In case anyone was wondering, tonight I made twice-baked cheddar/bacon potatoes and a breaded, pan-fried mesquite chicken. It's good. Maybe I'll take pictures of what I make for dinner, and make a page for that...

9/12/2004-I want to be in comic books.

9/3/2004-I discovered today that I own a cookbook that includes recipies from my mother, Sally Butterfield, Margie Shaw (those two names will mean something to Williamsport-types), and former President of the United States, Bill Clinton.

8/31/2004-I got more comments on my shirt than I really expected to today. All were positive. I guess I really shouldn't have known what to expect, as I haven't really worn my Corning East High School "Hot Soup For You/No Soup For You" shirt since I played high school-league hockey at the Williamsport YMCA, which was a while ago. Med school is going fine.

8/25/2004-I live in Philadelphia now. The Contact Flipse Page has been updated accordingly. Classes haven't started yet, that happens on Monday, but we've had plenty of orientation stuff to do. I've also still have much work to do before I consider myself "settled" in my new apartment, as I showed up in town around 10:30PM Sunday. More on all that, maybe even pictures and stuff, in the future. For now, I'll just say that I'm glad Emma talked me into buying a Brita pitcher. It may even just be the placebo effect, but I rather enjoy drinking from it.

9/19/2004-Last night, I got two phone calls from people (Pat Lally and Liz) who were calling me entirely because they figured I'd be near an internet connection. In fairness, it was a reasonable assumption. In (further?) fairness, I was at least expecting Pat's call, as he'd called on a few other Wednesday nights asking me to look up the answer to some bar-based trivia question. Anyway, I was at home, but the internet connection was out. Pat's bar trivia probably wasn't life-or-death, and I'm sure someone's let Liz into her building by now, but either way, I'm sorry, Mrs. Corbett and American Man.

8/13/2004-Live image from the Flipse.com Weather Center.

8/4/2004-Well, Tom lit a small part of my jeans on fire, and I feel that pretty well sums up the events of June 29-August 1, but in between flaming trebuchets, phone calls concerning German moviemaking, phone calls concerning the location of Rich Hosler, far too much food (Thanks, Smiths), views of waterfalls, and a bit of wine, we can now refer to Mr. and Mrs. Corbett. It was a beautiful, fun ceremony, and the whole weekend, really, was a blast. I've uploaded a zip of pictures from my camera (after shrinking them to 640x480). It's an inelegant solution, but I'll leave it up till I think of something else.

7/27/2004-So, as it turns out, Liz Learn and Sam Corbett are getting married this weekend. Rose Linnell and Tom Smith will be flying to this part of the country, and we'll be getting appearances by Marshall Roupp and other luminaries. Should be a party. By the way, in case you missed it, please check out my new business, Vagabond Dog, Inc. and do yourself a favor, learn Two Ways To Avoid a Pyramid Scheme.

7/19/2004-There is no better example of serenity found in day-to-day life than the brief calm as you drive under an overpass during a hard rainstorm.

7/14/2004-Well, I have no real new content to report, but I can certainly babble here for two hundred words or so before I go to bed. First news to report is that I have secured a place to live for the next year. I shall be residing in the utterly un-fabulous Academia Suites. Places downtown were certainly a temptation, but I think that getting away from the part of the city where there's a bunch of stuff to do will be a good thing for me. I have (fairly obviously) returned from the beach in one piece. The amount of digital (or digitizable) content from that trip is quite large and fairly unsuited for distribution on the web. Erin Shaw and Catherine Liebman came over, and just between the three of us we had over four hundred pictures. A multimedia CD-ROM is in the works (doesn't that sound so 1997?) and perhaps some selected images will make their way to the web. Plans for the upcoming weekend involve time at various locales in New York state, to be spent with people who have first names like Neil, Sam, and Beth.

7/2/2004-I've got some more good stuff for you before I get the hell out of Dodge for a week. I've updated the Building a House page (and reorganized it a bit). On that note, I wanted to say Hi to Jen, Norm, and anyone else who has been checking here for updates on our progress. I might've complained about driving out to Punxsutawney, but I really like going there. Anyway, some good stuff there, check it out. Moving on, I'm about to head to Philadelphia, hopefully to find a place to live next year. That would be nice. From there, it's to DC for a night with future Transportation Secretary JP Morgan, then down to Corolla, North Carolina for up to a week at the Outer Banks with Paul Carlson and a miscellaneous crew of other troublemakers from Williamsport. Finally, while I'm gone, be sure to check out the page I made for my new business, Vagabond Dog, Inc. I'm really excited about it.

6/30/2004-I'm about to drive to Punxsutawney, just so I can get some shots. Helluva way to spend a day. New stuff for you though. I spent some time the other night writing Two Ways To Avoid a Pyramid Scheme. It's a zany Tom/Dylan adventure from our high school days, a madcap romp, if you will. Also, dropped some updates on the Concerts Page. I didn't do extensive writeups for most of the new things, but at least it's (basically) up to date.

6/28/2004-Coming soon - Vagabond Dog, Inc.

6/22/2004-I continue to get all fired up about politics. I read Salon every day (I subscribe, but watching an ad for a Day Pass takes about fifteen seconds), just saw Bowling For Columbine, try to catch The Daily Show every day (Hey, Stewart can call it "Fake News" if he wants, but he says things no one else can or will say, and he's fun to watch), and I had a number of great conversations at Piefest with people including Luke and Daniel Hollister, Danny Schmitt, and (drumroll please...) Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Brown (Though we aren't entirely sure what we'll be doing with the names. Not to put too fine a point on it, but I'd like to point out that your kids will be *pissed* if they end up with Brown-Schmitt as their last names.) As I was saying, the Jesse and Johanna's wedding was on Friday, and was quite lovely. It was personal, interesting, not boring, and fit them perfectly. I'll say once more (this time in "print") that I wish them the very best. Following that, the 30th annual Piefest was as or more fun than usual, at least till a stomach virus damn near killed me the next day. And that next day was especially rough because it included a roadtrip to Saratoga Springs to see Phish with Rachel, Eric Dougherty, John Campanelli, and "Crazy" Dave Eck. It was not an ideal way for me to see my first and last ever Phish show, but I managed to enjoy it, and everyone else had a great time. Due to my weakened condition, we took the Echo instead of the Civic and stopped for about 3 hours at a rest area overnight, so comfort was a bit of a problem all-around, but we lived. Which was nice. Back to my original point, if it wasn't clear enough, I recommend all of those sources for various political insight. My issue of the day that I'm fired up about is the senseless banning of photography in places like subways and outside government buildings. A few good reads on the issue might be this article from the Village Voice or this thread on ArsTechnica. It's a small thing, but it really pushes my "Eeeek! Protect civil liberties!" button for some reason. Finally, I apologize for the scatter-brained nature of this post, it's just the nature of my brain sometimes.

6/15/2004-Against the predictions of most professional odds-makers, Rich and I survived our trip to Bonnaroo. Even managed to have a pretty good time and catch some great music. Writing web page updates is hard when you come back to your computer after being gone four and a half hours to find 376 emails, just about all of them spam, much less after you've been gone for almost a week. Sheesh.

6/8/2004-Headed out of town today, first Cleveland, then Tennessee for most of a week.

5/23/2004-Put some new pictures of the house up. Enjoy.

5/16/2004-Not much to say. Made it through graduation without falling on my face, everyone's happy about that. The always-rewarding task of cleaning out my room awaits me. To the other grads, of course, I offer my congratulations.

5/12/2004-I like that there are people out there who keep the dust jackets on absolutely none of their books. Oh, and by the way, every time I think about it, I can't believe the results of the Presidential Election in 2000. Say what you will about Bush-Gore in November, but how the hell did Bush beat McCain in the Republican primaries? I mean really. Who has ever listened to a single sentence from each of those guys and votes for Bush? The world makes little sense to me.

5/10/2004-Watch out for vineyards.

5/4/2004-5AM update, just because I want to remember the night. The evening started with my last ever official cases as a TAC (two Sasser removal/Windows patches). I studied EECS 381 with Meismer, Mark, and Ira for about a half hour before they decided to go to the computer lab and I decided to play poker with Rich, Kevin Artista, and Jim Cole. Lost a little money, then I was able to focus my full attention on the fantastic, fantastic finish of the Red Wings-Flames game, won 1-0 by Calgary on a Martin Gelinas goal with 40ish seconds left in the first overtime, eliminating Detroit 4-2. I read some good baseball blogs and some even better reading material before deciding to get some food. So I watched the last 45 minutes of an episode of the X-Files from 1994, remembering how great that show was for its first few seasons while I hard-boiled some (I think it was seven) eggs. I'm not sure why, but my choice for a late night (3:30 at this point) meal was all those eggs, a piece of plain white bread, and a glass of Kool-Aid. Someone (Chris Bowley?) had convinced me to TiVo Arrested Development earlier this semester, and I watched one the episode I had on the TiVo. I'll be watching more, it was pretty funny stuff. Finished the night up with I Love The 80s Strikes Back 1988, which features some stuff I remember and a lot I just know about through stuff like this show. Now I'm writing this, listening to Urge Overkill's album Saturation, from 1993. I have no memory of this from the time, but I recently picked it up on a hot tip, and it's good. Listen to Sister Havana, at least. 12:30PM today, I'll take my last test in college. (Bonus content, some other stuff I've been listening to : Bob Dylan - Tangled Up In Blue, Tenacious D - Tribute, Beatles - Eleanor Rigby, Eels - Mr. E's Beautiful Blues, Boogie Pimps - Somebody To Love Remix)

5/1/2004-Happy Uno de Mayo! I took a CHEM 302 exam yesterday, effectively finishing my Chemistry major. Just two tests left, I'll be completely, totally finished as of about 3PM on Tuesday afternoon.

4/26/2004-My legs hurt, a lot. Walked (on maybe four hours of sleep) about thirteen miles yesterday with a group of Betas and a few Beta alums. But that doesn't matter, because today, my plans include, but are not necessarily limited to, my last day of college classes. Have a good one. Oh, I should explain a bit - there's nothing going on with the person mentioned below. Instead, (it was late, Friday night, nearing the end of my time in college, draw your own conclusions) I was trying to explain how wild it'd been to meet someone that's just like a much, much cooler (female) version of myself. Doesn't happen much. Kinda gave me some insight into what I might want to be like in a half decade or so.

4/23/2004-A Friday night with no plans can turn into something you'd never expect. For example, you could meet a girl you "click" with better than anyone you've ever met before, and she's 28, with an established career in Cleveland while you're moving to Philadelphia in a few months, and she's already sort of seeing a good friend of yours. You'd never see that coming.

4/22/2004-The number of "lasts" I've been experiencing is starting become pretty noticeable. Sometime tonight or in the next few days, I�m going to play in my last IM sporting event. When I see someone that I know casually around campus, I often realize it�s probably the last time I�ll see that person. Earlier today, I sat in on a class with my favorite teacher from my time at Case. Michelle Martello (call her Martello) teaches freshman English. (She refers to herself as a �rogue professor� on the grounds that it sounds a lot better than her official �part time lecturer� title.) Anyway, I probably won�t see her any more, and she�s responsible for one of my best experiences here. I�m excited about doing new things, of course, but some of the stuff I�ve been doing has been pretty good, and I�ll miss it.

4/18/2004-My last week of college classes starts tomorrow and not a moment too soon. I'm almost totally functionally useless when it comes to schoolwork right now. I'm not sure why, but I'll do things like stay up super late, reading whatever I can find online (like looking up Jonathan Richman tour dates or reading only the last chapter of She Hates My Futon on Myboot just waiting for that damned "The Stew Man Cometh" chapter") until some ungodly hour, then be good and miserable when it's time to get up for classes. As for what I have left, it's something like...EECS homework, Chem homework, Chem lab presentation, two Art History papers, Art History exam, Chem lab exam, Chem exam, Chem final, EECS final, Biology final.

4/8/2004-Well, I visited Neil last week. I was contractually obligated to visit whoever won the Spent The Night Contest. I had some fun, hung out back stage at a musical, met a girl I once called at 3AM, spent time with a turtle, and visited Jefferson Medical College somewhere in there. Awesome school visit, by the way. Recent updates lead me to be absolutely positive that I'll be in Philadelphia next year. Neil is a good person, he also provides me with good links. For your continued enjoyment, I present some people I'd likely have a lot of fun with - the Whimsy Progress Administration.

3/26/2004-And now, for your enjoyment, Jim Cole Wields A Shoe.

3/23/2004-Sheesh. It's about time I wrote this update. I think I've been putting this off because of a combination of being sorta busy and just wanting to do an amazing job on it. Well, I'm not going to. I was accepted last Sunday into the Temple University School of Medicine. I don't want to ramble on, but it's very hard to get into medical school. About 1/3 of people who apply (often to more than ten schoos) will get in in any particular year. Many more people try for some part of their college career, but then don't even apply because their grades/scores aren't good enough, or they decide to do something else. Medical school is very, very hard. But most people that go will eventually become doctors. And that's what I want to do with my life. So, in conclusion, the day I got that letter was a big day for me. If anyone wants to sit down and watch Gross Anatomy (especially the first two scenes) with me, I'm game.

3/6/2004-In this age of Amazon and Half.com, isn't there something decadent about going to a bookstore and looking around till you find something you like, and actually buying it then and there, instead of waiting 3-5 days for UPS? Anyway, we are about to hit the road for W.H.O.O.P. Our agenda isn't exactly settled, so no matter where you are, you may be on it. Anyway, any week off in the middle of a semster is a great time. 3/6/2004-In this age of Amazon and Half.com, isn't there something decadent about going to a bookstore and looking around till you find something you like, and actually buying it then and there, instead of waiting 3-5 days for UPS? Anyway, we are about to hit the road for W.H.O.O.P. Our agenda isn't exactly settled, so no matter where you are, you may be on it. Anyway, any week off in the middle of a semster is a great time. Reports to follow.

2/29/2004-I'd always regretted missing my last chance to make a Leap Year post, and damned if I was going to miss this one. Along those lines - do we have an extra day of classes this semester on account of the Leap Year, and if so, can I use that as justification for sleeping through some hypothetical day of classes at some point in the future? Sam showed up this weekend, with slightly less damage than previous editions of that trip. No ankles were harmed in this visit to Cleveland, is what I'm saying. We did visit a variety of bars, and sample the best foods of both Cleveland and Corning. A mere five days of classes stand between me and spring break. Nothing terribly exciting is planned, but much fun is to be expected. Rich, Dan, and I will "drive around" for the duration.

2/23/2004-I've taken to wearing other people's clothes recently. It's a great way to expand one's wardrobe. Jim Cole leaves a sweater or a coat sitting around? Rich Carpenedo steals a pair of your shoes but leaves his own in their place? A strange set of circumstances leaves you with the ability to borrow any clothing you desire from the school bookstore so you can wear it in a fashion show of sorts at a school dance? All these are great examples of ways to expand one's wardrobe. In a basically unrelated note, I drove from Cleveland to Oxford, OH on Saturday with Reed Mattingly and Chris Bowley, starting at 4:30AM. It's about 4.5 hours each way, and I was there from 9:30AM to 3PM. Sunday, Rich, Tom Rafferty, and I left Cleveland at 3PM, drove with minimal time wasted to Arlington, VA then to the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC around 9:15PM to see Leona Naess, Rachel Flipse, Rob Judson, and Fountains of Wayne. Went to a diner, left down at 1AM and were back in Cleveland just a bit after 7AM. That trip was far more adventurous than I could begin to describe in a small space. Rest assured, it was unreasonable enough to make tomorrow's activities seem almost sensible. Waking up at 4AM, on the road at 5AM, Pittsburgh before 8AM, interview and tour at Pitt Med School all day, overtime in the afternoon, then 2.5 or so more hours driving back to Cleveland.

2/16/2004-Mission Return Some Shoes was pulled off without a hitch. Actually, there were many hitches at at HNMUN. Maybe I'll get around to describing them after the statute of limitations runs out...anyway, Pat Lally has dress shoes again. Ladies, if he's been using that as excuse not to take you out to dinner, the time to attack is now. As for me, on a whim, I took a series of pictures on the flight out to Boston. Not wordy, just pictures, but if you like flying, you might check them out.

2/12/2004-Mission Return Some Shoes, which includes large amounts of bravado, trickery, and a trip to Boston, is getting underway this morning.

2/9/2004-My new coat has generated more comments, compliments and concerns alike, and any other single piece of clothing I own.

1/31/2004-I know for a fact that I can eat three pounds of applesauce in a single sitting. Rich can eat four, though.

1/25/2004-I managed to get through all of Thursday eating only Cocoa Dyno-Bites, and then the first thing I ate on Friday was lobster bisque. Next weekend, I hope, will prove to be extremely exciting. Plans include a possible tur duck en cooking adventure and, if the weather gets a bit friendlier, a trip to see America's favorite prognosticator. Finally, a bit of a news announcement - Tom Smith has arrived in Florida. He seems to be well-established, having procured for himself modern convienences such as a cellular telephone, 1972 Chevy pickup truck, and indoor plumbing to go along with his shiny new job and friend.

1/19/2004-I just returned home to Cleveland from 1943 miles of driving since Friday afternoon. It's a bit of a story, one that I hope to relate at a later date, and illustrate with images, but Tom needed a ride to South Carolina. Dan came along for the ride and the free food.

1/13/2004-I am now 22 years of age. I can finally...

1/5/2004-Sorry if you couldn't make it to the New Year's Eve party here, I think most people had a pretty good time. Perhaps some pictures will be posted at some point in the future. I'm about to go to bed, as I have to get up early tomorrow to hit the road by 8AM to get to Temple for med school interviews. After that, it's a quick trip to Princeton to spend the night at Emma's place and then back to Philly on Wednesday for my interview at Penn. As it turns out, The Student Doctor Network is awesome as one is approaching these interviews.

12/29/2003-Christmas Break has been great, once I got over the horrible sickness that destroyed the end of my semester. Playing cards, working, and hanging out around town have been, as usual, the orders of the day. Tomorrow I'll be driving to New Jersey, taking my mom to the airport so she can fly to India. She'll be headed to one of the poorer parts of the country to volunteer her services as a nurse for a few weeks. But I'll be back! Day after tomorrow, of course, is the annual Event at my house for New Year's Eve. I checked the weather forecast, and tons of fun is predicted, so I hope to see you there. Get in touch with me for details.

12/16/2003-Tom, I hope you feel better. Clean your room.

12/10/2003-End of the semester is always kind of a blur. I want to issue the following thank yous - to Rocky, Sam, Tom, and Brandon and anyone else who helped me organize or run the LAN. To Eamon, Tommy, Bill, Lauri, Chad, Jon, Danni, Mitch, and Paul for coming. Most importantly, to Dave Haeffner, for killing Tom whenever possible. Results of the Spent The Night Contest are in. Pending review, Neil Bardhan will be the lucky recepient of a visit from me at some point in the next year. His entry of 35 was the closest (by virture of being the lowest), and it was received way before Emma Somers's 30-35 entry that might be a little closer. Anyway, I mentioned a review, I need you to go to the page for the contest and see if I've missed any in my official count of 34. Seems unlikely, but there's a chance that Katie Somers's 38 could be the real winner. 96 from Brandon, 52 from Sam, 260 from Haeffner, 42 from Aaron Young, Jeff Roberts, and Rose, and 49 from Rich Hosler probably don't have much of a chance. I'll be home on the 17th, barring unforseen circumstances. Sounds like a good day to see a movie to me. Let me know if you're interested.

12/5/2003-It's the last day of classes, it's 3:51PM, and I've been celebrating for over three hours. Raise one for me, I'll raise one for you.

11/24/2003-Beta Date Party this past weekend, organized largely by me, was a heck of a good time, I'm pretty sure. Let's be honest, though, I may not be a reliable source of information on the subject. Perhaps some pictures are to follow. Applying to medical school is going well, I have a few interviews scheduled, which is the beginning of the next step in the process. This is going longer than I'd intended it to go, but I'll take entries (just email em in) to the Spent the Night Contest for a few more days. Details in earlier updates. Finally, remember to come play computer games at my house this weekend. It'll be fun.

11/14/2003-Highlight of my Friday night - Operation Patrick. Rich Carpenedo, two girls we didn't really know, and I went to the apartment across the street from Rich's. We barged in, started talking to one of the girls that lives there, then grabbed a giant pink stuffed starfish from her room and took off running out the back door.

11/10/2003-Advice for concerts that isn't bad for life as a whole - You'll have a lot more fun when you forget that you're too cool to be having fun.

11/3/2003-Happy 21st birthday to Tom Smith. Against all odds, he's made it this far. In celebration of Tom's Birthday, we're going to have another Flipse.com Contest! Simply email me with your best guess/estimate for the following question - How many different places have I spent the night in the last calendar year? So, we're looking at 11/3/2002-11/3/2003. Sleeping on a couch and a bed in one house just counts as one, each dorm room on a campus counts as its own, each time my car/tent is parked/pitched in a very different place counts as its own, et cetera. I came up with a rough count as Finch and I were driving back from Athens, OH for Ohio University Halloween. We stayed with Caleb and Marissa, partied it up, and in general had a hell of a time. About 454 more miles on the car. Anyway, so after I feel I've collected enough entries, I'll post a list, people can help me complete it. Winner gets a complementary night of me sleeping in their dorm or home, to be cashed in at an agreed-upon date.

10/29/2003-This past weekend was an easy one for the driving, a mere 108 miles. However, it certainly wasn't a weekend where I took things easy. It was Beta Paintball and Camping in Doylestown, OH. Dallas Boyan and I were running the show - renting guns and buying paint, supplying food, organizing transportation, and so on. Dallas is awesome, by the way. Friday night, we had about thirteen guys out, nice cool weather. Saturday, some people left, a few more arrived, and we played paintball all day, with five on five much of the time. Eventually it got dark, and then it started raining. The people that left, well, they're just quitters. Those of us hardcore enough to stick it out under the tarp had a great time. More travel is predicted for this weekend, as a trip to Ohio University is in the cards. Anyway, I have real content today, too - a near doubling of the number of pictures featuring Scruffydog Construction LLC building a house. They go back to spring break, and cover quite a bit of progress, be sure to check them out.

10/26/2003-And now, the rest of the story - arriving in Las Vegas during my roadtrip resulted in quite a fiasco, as I, fresh out of three days spent in the mountains, met up with JP and his cousin in a casino bar. Problems ensued as a) I was smelly and 2) we drank a bit, then met up with JP's parents. With all the excitement of seeing Vegas and JP, basically, no one bothered to remember where the car was, in a mammoth six-story parking garage, when we walked out there with JP's belongings. Obviously, we found it eventually, but Mrs. Morgan was not pleased. Also, while watching the Giants game, Emma and I left our seats to score some garlic fries, when we came back some local kids had sat down beside our spot. An inning later, one of them asked me for a fry. A little weird, sure, but of course I'm going to give him one. Then he said, "You just cost me five bucks. I bet my friend you wouldn't give me a french fry. Thanks." Finally, it's mentioned cryptically on the page, but the karaoke singing during the camping part of the trip was at a general store/bar way, way, in the mountains, actually about two miles past the Quaking Aspen campground. It was me and four locals, one of whom was tending the bar, and as far as I could tell, most nights were karaoke night there. Gotta do something. I've only much later realized that it was one of the best chances I'd ever have to buy a round for the bar, and I missed it.

10/22/2003-Back at school, and just wanted to give you fine people the rundown on the rest of "break." Drove to State College and worked all day Monday. Met up with Mike Brion for some quick wings, went to Erin Lindsay's apartment and caught up on life and travel, met Letitia Montgomery and her friend Joel for a beer, ran into Justin Penfield, met Laura King and Kendra Westerhaus (Case people) and Kendra's friend Joe for a bit of hitting the bars. Late to bed, sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor of the house we're building, up early of course, another day of work, and here I am. Final mileage count over the long weekend - 752. My "break" was not especially restful. On an unrelated note, #gifted more or less began on October 20, 1996, as Neil Bardhan and I met up on the long, long extinct Chicago Undernet server. That means that Monday was the 7th birthday of...the entity that is our IRC channel. As always...just downlod mIRC, point it to an Undernet server, and /join #gifted. If you haven't been by in a while, drop by some night.

10/19/2003-Easy driving weekend last week, just 594 or so as I came home, picked apples, squished apples into tasty cider, and saw the delicious Kill Bill with the likes of Katie and Emma Somers, JP Morgan, Joe Garczynski, Vaughn Mallory, and Randi Rapp. Go see it. Also, the final activity of my weekend this week was to see School of Rock. Backing up, I drove home on Friday with Jason Marr and David Bartholomew, dropped the former off at his house and waited for the latter's parents to come get him at my place. Tom, Luke, Brandon, and Rich showed up, we drove to Glen's place in Treverton in three cars. Met up with Glen, transferred some gear, and drove out to some place by a river in two cars. Then we took all the gear, but zero cars, and started walking. It was very dark, and around this time, I started complaining. We walked in the dark, crossed a railroad bridge in the dark, stumbled around what seemed to be a jungle island in the dark, and set up camp, yes, in the dark. High points here included Luke's improvised tarp and rope sleeping setup, and my beginning a smore binge that would last throughout the trip. I woke up at the crack of 10:30 the next day, and the others had already played a round of paintball. The day was spent eating smores, MREs, and food out of cans between rounds of paintball. Worst hit I took involved the palm of the hand from no more than 20 feet, which wasn't as much fun as it sounds like. Most of my best strategies involved lots of crawling around on my stomach in the mud and just generally getting as dirty as possible. Camped out again last night, played paintball again in the morning and early afternoon. Brandon went directly home, Glen stayed, and the rest of us tripped up to the Lycoming Mall, where, as I mentioned, we saw School of Rock, which rocks. Back home, hanging out with Pepper, I'll be working the next two days in State College, and back to Case on Tuesday night.

10/9/2003-Two weekends ago, I dropped about 660 miles on the Civic, pulling a quick trip home for my dad's birthday, with a Punxsutawney side-jaunt on the way back to Cleveland for some computer troubleshooting. Last weekend, it was just a smidge over 600 miles as Dan Meismer, Dallas Boyan and I went to Toronto to see The Frames and hang out with Toronto Betas. Anyway, I'm headed home again this weekend, hopefully to have some fun, see some people, and pick some apples.

10/6/2003-Ever kind-of sort-of forget that you have a website that a certain small, but very dedicated (and believe me, highly appreciated) segment of the world's population visits with high regularity? I have, once or twice. What I'm saying is, I'm still here. I thought the FlipSEE Cam was going to be up and kicking again, but that resulted in computer problems far too bizarre to describe here. I should have House stuff and some other new content available in decent time. Thanks for reading. I'll write more.

9/22/2003-I know this is a crappy update, but this is what I've been working on...for no good reason. Perhaps you can suggest one? Thanks to Reed for the idea.

9/9/2003-Camping on the Quad is going very, very well. Basically, I've taken a tent, set it up right in the middle of the Case Quad (Right in front of Strosacker Auditorium, to be precise, but if you can't find the blue tent (and possibly more, starting tonight) on the quad, you're not too swift, and may not be qualified to join the Case Camping Club. The Case Camping Club exists, inasmuch as I made a sign that says that and put it near my tent. Otherwise, the whole thing is happening mostly because I think it's funny. And we've been having fun. So if you're a Case or nearby, come out any time this week. We have beer and smores. If you like, bring a sleeping bag and if we've got room, you're welcome to spend the night. It makes it incredibly easy to get to class in the morning. I do hope to see you there.

9/2/2003-I love long weekends. Great (if short-lived, like James Dean) off-campus party on Friday, good times at the Indians game on Saturday, tasty burrito and some highly random stuff on Sunday night, and a Monday that, strangely enough, ended up with me having a very nice time with some BIOL 346 studying. Rachel, if you're reading, I hope your first day of classes goes extremely well. The Littlest Flipse (well, immediate family only) is starting today at George Washington University, in a course of study that, as far as I know, is still to be announced.

8/31/2003-As far as life accomplishments go, I may have peaked a bit early, specficially around 8PM on Friday night. We're all familiar with Super Mario World, the flagship game of the Super Nintendo, recurring guest star of Left Arm Suntan, and still one of the most fun, satisfying video games of all time. The time elapsed from the first time you can actually control Mario (as the map screen comes up) until you can no longer control Mario (after hitting Bowser for the 6th time) is, I think, a reasonable measure of "how long it took to beat the game." You might go with some other endpoints, but that's what I used, and by that measure, I beat the game in fourteen minutes and 47 seconds. I might, perhaps, be able to cut ~20 seconds off that, but it's pretty freakin close to perfect, if you ask me, and my goal all along in the Mario Time Trial was to beat 15 minutes. I'd love to see someone do better.

8/26/2003-I know I've been in Cleveland for just about nine days now, but things are just barely calming down enough for me to have some time to sit around, now that classes are starting. I don't have one of those senior year schedules you hear sophomores whispering about after 216 and before O. Chem Lab, but starting at 10:30 and 1:15 isn't half bad. Yellow t-shirts are always awesome, for what that matters, and fraternity rushing within all the rules would be really, really lame. That's all for now.

8/13/2003-Sorry, went to the beach and apparently I didn't tell enough people ahead of time. Questions concerning my whereabouts abounded. The usual family trip to Rehoboth, this time accompanied by Rob Judson, Dave Bartholomew, and Kacie Weaver. I've been back just a few days, working, trying to get my stuff together for the move back to Case, Cleveland, and all the fun, fun, fun times to be had during my senior year of college.

7/25/2003-I've been hard at work. What've you been doing? I finished (I think) my work on what I'm calling Left Arm Suntan, my wonderfully illustrated account of the recent west coast roadtrip. Questions, comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcomed.

7/16/2003-To the surprise of all, I survived. Many, many thanks to Rich, Sujal, Emma, JP, Rose, Marshall, Zerek, Bob, Reed (and friends), Charlie, Molly, Steve, and anyone else I stayed with or spent time with on my little odyssey. Details to follow before too long, I hope.

7/12/2003-If I had to name my favorite American president of the 20th century, it would probably have to be John F. Kennedy, Jr. This is simply because youth, idealism, and nailing Marilyn Monroe are all things I deeply admire. But, if I were to name my second favorite American president of the 20th century, it would be General Dwight D. Eisenhower, because the Interstate Highway System is a brilliant concept, carried out by an amazing feat of engineering. That said, I'm in Georgia, I'll be home pretty soon.

6/29/2003-The Trip, though I hope not to jinx it, is working out quite nicely. Fun with Rich, two days of over a thousand miles of driving each, sleeping in my car, great times with Emma in San Francisco, and fantastic hospitality from Sujal (my cousin's wife's cousin). Tomorrow starts camping, then Vegas and the rest of The Trip.

6/17/2003-A few quick notes. First, I'll explain last weekend, that being the one that occured about 10 days ago. Emma Somers needed to get to the airport, specifically Dulles airport, near Washington, DC, for an 8:40AM flight on Saturday morning, which presents something of a problem, when leaving from Williamsport. I'll spare the details, but just give you the starting and ending points. Start-Emma's mom will drive Emma, from Williamsport, starting at 2AM, to the airport, turn around, and drive back. End-Emma, Tom Smith, Jesse Brown, Johanna Schmitt, and I drive, from Williamsport, starting at about 8PM on Friday, to Baltimore, where we stay at Neil's place, collecting a total of about 8 hours of sleep among the five travelers, steal his roommate's Amelie DVD, take Emma to the airport after some directional mishaps, eat Cinnabons, see Emma off, directionally mishap our way into Washington, find the Washington Monument (or close likenesses thereof) a good half-dozen times, expensively park, soggily take some touristy pictures of Amelie, find the The National Museum of Natural History, part of the Smithsonian Institution, view many exciting things, including a nifty 3D IMAX Bugs movie, touch a piece of another planet, depart, eat soft pretzels, find Silver Spring, MD, eat tacos, take in the wonder that is Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns), overhear and join a conversation on one of my favorite topics, find a Geocache, and drive back to Williamsport. As a founding member of the "More is Better" School of Planning, I can only say that the final plans were much, much better than the original ones. Second, the trip is happening. The pictoral form will soon be updated with the information I'm now providing to you. No camping on the drive west, but I will stop at Rich Hosler's place in Indiana for the first night, and perhaps in Cleveland too, as I'll have some time. No trip to Vancouver, I'll instead camp somewhere in eastern California during those days where I have no set plans, before Las Vegas. Molly West does not live in Puerto Rico, she lives in North Carolina, and that's where I will visit her. Finally, I intend to stop in on Steve Glassbrenner in Virginia on my way home. I'll be seeing some of you quite soon.

6/10/2003-I'm thinking about going for a drive.

6/5/2003-It has very much been one of those days. Everything from fun with a GPS to being involved in a conversation where the following phrase - "I will not make you give birth to the Savoir Flipse in a stable" - coming from Neil Bardhan, made perfect sense.

5/31/2003-News flash! Dylan Flipse is not dead.

4/23/2003-Sorry for no updates in a while. Putting the MCATs right at the end of a semester is a very polite Fuck You to me and the rest of the pre-meds out there from the nice folks at the AAMC. The test is this Saturday, and after that's over, I'll be a happier person, at the least for the 4-6 weeks until the scores come back and I decide if I need to take it again in August. On a vastly different subject, a few years ago, I refused to use AOL Instant Messenger. IRC has so many advantages, especially the group nature of the conversations, plus, it's so easy to hate AOL. I started to use it, though, because it let me talk to people that couldn't/wouldn't get on IRC. (I had a self-imposed rule that only girls would get this exception for quite a while.) Anyway, I sort of slid into using it just as much as I use IRC, mostly because everyone at college was doing it. I'd still prefer IRC just about any time, though. A long time ago, I identified one advantage of AIM - the profile. Some people don't bother, but for the rest of it, it's a form of self-expression entirely new to our generation. Recently, I realized the second advantage of AIM - there are so, so, so many people using it that new and interesting applications are possible. Case in point - BuddyZoo. I think that's neat, anyway.

4/4/2003-Beta Formal was last weekend, in our wonderful northern state, Canada. Niagara Falls is kind of close, fairly cheap, very pretty, the drinking age is freshman-friendly, and most importantly, it's not Cleveland, so that's where we've gone for the last five or so years. Emma Somers was my date, and this was the third formal event we have attended together. Add that to Katie Somers's total, also three, and the Somers sisters have been to six formal events with me. (You could take the total of the Learns, Baumbaughs, Lindsays, Linnells, Joshis, Dills, Dennhardts, Anistons, Pattisons, and Buntings of the world and only come up with ten events total.) Anyway, Emma and I (And all the Betas) had a great time, staying at the Fallsview Radisson, watching NCAA basketball at the hotel bar, eating at the Pinnacle Restaurant, and partying on the Observation Deck of the Minolta Tower. I have the obligatory "by the falls" picture of Emma and I, as well as the not-so-surprising "in a restricted area" picture featuring Dylan, Emma, Danielle, Eric Pace and Tommy Raffay.

4/3/2003-I really hate Tom.

4/1/2003-Hack/update by Tom. Suckers, close your CD-ROMs. Flipse.com was on a "Green" level of security, and you see where that got them.

3/24/2003-First, let's endorse some candidates. Maureen Holland is an old friend of Flipse.com, and I urge you, dead reader, to support Maureen and Gita if you are in a position to do so. Now, back at the Case front, we have both class elections and those for USG officers coming up. I mention this because my fraternity brother Jason Pieczonka is running for re-election as USG President. More amusingly, Bret Kiraly is running for Senior Class President. I am all for this, because this will result in some very funny things happening. Exactly what, I'm not sure, but I will laugh. I have some evidence, and I'd like to call exhibits - 1, 2, 3, 4, (Note-B.O.B. is a party Bret is throwing this Friday) 5, 6, and 7. Ok, finally, that's enough politics crap. I'm just going to briefly mention my view on the war in Iraq. As much as I feel like our leadership's stated views for this action are terrible, I'm glad it's happening. My views came together upon reading an article on Salon and listening to this audio clip. I really, really enjoy Salon. I'm a paid subscriber, and I'm working on finding the link to that article from last week. As for the audio clip, if that link breaks, let me know and I'll put the MP3 up on flipse.com. The Iraqi guy is pretty hard on the girl, but I believe what he has to say. Take a listen, you might learn something, and you'll probably laugh.

3/19/2003-I was 40 minutes late to a 50 minutes psych class today because I was getting Ben Folds tickets. Time well spent, I think. Pictures and such are likely to follow, but here's the spring break summary-DC with JP and Neil, Williamsport, Rochester, Williamsport, two days working on the house, and back to Cleveland. Dave Bartholomew (Don't call him "Fish.") was along for all 1592 miles of it. School is especially frustrating right now. I get my work done just fine, but then it's late and it's terribly hard to sneak in time to study for those MCATs. I mean, this lab or that homework is due *tomorrow* and the MCATs, well, they're off at the end of April. Anyway, go to this Duke Athletics page and vote for Nic Testerman, because if you don't, Katie Somers will be very mad at you.

3/3/2003-Ever think of cloning yourself 231,500 times, and sending those clones to work at your old summer job so you can make $500 million over the course of a summer? It's the best plan Emma and I were able to come up with.

2/25/2003-It's Tuesday. So wear a hoodie.

2/20/2003-I have a new old picture for you. It's called Satchel Paige, in honor of the man that the quotation included in the image is attributed to. Now, I don't believe an old, crusty baseball player actually said it, but he's as good a source as any. I call it a new picture because you haven't seen it before. I call it old because I made it my freshman year to print up and keep in that clear pocket on the front of my binder. If you'd like a higher resolution version that's more suitable for printing, just let me know and I'll get it to you. There's lots of Marshall Roupp in that picture, and everyone should like that. While I'm thinking of it, I'd like to say hello to Mark Burnworth, a recent initiate to the Lambda Kappa-Beta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi. Mark's name doesn't show up in nearly enough web searches, and damnit, I feel obligated to do something about that. Final note for the day-Sam is coming tomorrow. I think we'll have a lot of fun, but hopefully not the kind of fun where people steal underwear, fall down stairs, or even just pass out by the toilet.

2/16/2003-Fun stuff, real content today. The Concerts Page is now about as updated as can be, with a group of older shows and one upcoming show added. The "older" shows include Sarah Slean at Oberlin, which was a mere two days ago. My cell phone antenna has broken off. How vexing. Anyway, the other thing I have going is the Fifth (That's just a guess.) Return Of the FlipSEE Cam. So now you can see if I'm at my desk...or not. And maybe you'll see me do something really exciting, like blink or something. Have a good day.

2/12/2003-A number of you have seen the picture I cleverly call Beach and Beer. The beach in question is the roof outside my window, the beer is a pair of Yuengling bottles. Yuengling lager is probably my favorite beer, tasty enough that I like to bring a case of it from Williamsport to Cleveland (Can't get it here.) when I come out to school. On what was the last warm weekend of the fall, I spent a large part of Saturday night sitting out on the beach with someone that's been a huge, huge part of my life for almost the last six months, talking and enjoying those two Yuenglings. I took that picture the next day, and it so perfectly reminds me of a near-perfect night. I got back to school this January, and took a picture from the same vantage point. The picture itself isn't so great, but you'll get the idea in Beach and Beer 2. The other bottle is gone thanks to wind or some other, unknown force. Which, at least as I see things, is just a terrible, sick joke about my life. And this is what I see outside my window. Song playing right now - Bob Dylan - Visions of Johanna.

2/10/2003-Not so much happening on the Cleveland front, just more of this neverending damned snow. We actually had a few hours yesterday afternoon that involved honest-to-goodness blue skies. I felt like that kid in The Giver. Anyway, happy 18th birthday, Rachel Ann Flipse. Now go vote. Now. I mean it.

2/2/2003-I tried eating yogurt for the first time today. There's a possibility that I've had it before, but it would've been when I was quite young and in any case, this was the first time I remember eating it. And would you believe it, my perceptions were exactly correct. The taste, while ok, wasn't anything close to good enough to get me past my misgivings about the texture. Other interesting food stuff that happened today. I was studying developmental biology, and I took a trip down to the kitchen for a snack. Of the scores of choices available to me, which one grabbed my attention? A few hard-boiled chicken eggs, of course.

1/30/2003-I've got a ten MB zip file with 189 pictures from the New Year's Eve soiree. Thanks for those pictures (other than the ones taken with my camera) go out to Sam and Luke. Just let me know and I'll send it to you one way or another. In other news, I'd like to remind everyone that they are encouraged to visit me out at CWRU (The Flipse Compound-West Wing, as some people like to call it.) at any time during the school year. Parents excluded, I'll be having the third visitor of my collegate career tonight, as Erin Cowell is expected to arrive in Cleveland sometime around 8:00. (This follows the near-legendary Tom and Sam visit Case debacle from last January, which included large volumes of medium-grade beverages and The Ankle That Was Nearly Broken.)

1/22/2003-Tracks 3, 10, and especially 17-21 of the Violent Femmes album "Add It Up" are remarkably good listening for me right now. But I've said that before.

1/20/2003-Rich Carpenedo and I ended a losing streak in Euchre tonight. We had never won a game as partners, compiling something like an 0-12 record, mostly during the spring of our freshman year.

1/13/2003-This may be a fairly arrogant position to take, but I believe I have some of the greatest friends in the world. That being said, it may help explain my odd, near obsessive at times, interest in bringing groups of my friends together. And with THAT being said, one can only imagine how happy I was with my New Year's Eve party. Not only did Neil, Sam, Liz Learn, Brit, Pat Lally, Rocky, Brandon, Jesse, Johanna, Paul, Aaron Beaver, Dave, Lauri, and Chad make it down from my "Mansfield camp/Internet" group of friends, we had JP, Rob Judson, Dave, Katie Somers, Kenny, Erin and a whole bunch of other Williamsport people, and even Rich Carpenedo, from my fraternity out at school. Speaking of school, I'm back there now. A slight bummer, as not only the party, but basically my entire break was extremely awesome. Hung out a lot with Tom Smith as we worked on the house with my dad. Put 2600 miles on my car, driving around PA, NY, and NJ. Perhaps best of all was not having to go to classes. In any case, it's my 21st birthday today. This seems rather absurd of course, as I've had many friends turn 21, but until very recently they've always been people significantly *older* than myself. (Quick additional note on 21st birthdays - Brit was the 11th and Neil is tomorrow, if you know them, be sure to send some wishes along.)

12/26/2002-Day after Christmas and not too much to do, I've been taking care of some things around here. If you'll notice, the "navigation" area of the site has been re-worked a bit, and items that have and probably will be stagnant have been removed. Of course, one of our goals here at flipse.com is to keep all content online once we put it online, so I've moved any stuff you no longer find here to the Archives. My Christmas presents included a number of CDs and that page was a good deal out of date, so I added my new stuff and anything else I noticed was missing along the way. Anything I added to day is marked with an asterix. Updated the Links page too, mostly to reflect the things I visit on a daily basis, plus a number of random oddities and pages of friends, and I removed stuff that doesn't exist anymore. Updated some info on the Contact Dylan Flipse page as well. Anyway, finally, I've got a round of new stuff up all about how it is we build a house. In other news, if you haven't heard, there's a party at my place on December 31st, and you're all invited. (I mean, probably. Like if you're the Dark Lord of Breaking Stuff, you can't come.) Let me know if you can, but I enjoy surprises too, and if you're reading this, you probably know where I live, but if not maybe you can find some directions somewhere on the site.

12/17/2002-"We usually get a quality flipse.com update when dylan's putting off doing something really important" - Tom Smith, talking in #tmbg. Anyway, it's the truth, I'm surprised I haven't had several updates already during finals. This is the last night of them for me, and I should be back in Williamsport in 24 hours, after my anatomy lab practical tomorrow afternoon. Anyway, I'm in the midst of a serious time wasting spree. This includes a 27775 on Curveball, by all accounts a solid score on an annoyingly addictive little game. Anyway, perhaps this isn't such a quality update, but there's sure to be more of substance at some later date. It'll be nice to be not in Cleveland for almost a month. Something about the winter months here that just makes me want to stay in bed all day, every day.

11/27/2002-Flipse.com, edited as always by notepad.exe. Anyway, I'm about to head home for Thanksgiving break. I'll be in Williamsport by sometime Wednesday night, State College most of Thursday, back to Williamsport Thursday night, and headed out to Cleveland by the middle of the day on Sunday. Sometime between Thursday and Sunday I should be in Mansfield at Tom's house for about a day. Thankgiving leftovers, you know. Actually, we're going to be playing some computer games, just like old times. Anyway, last time I was home (fall break) I did some work on the house, so be sure to check out that page for fancy new pictures and whatnot (at the bottom).

11/22/2002-There are times when I think that I'd like to get some sleep. If it was at night, that'd be even nicer. Eating something like three meals a day would be sweet, especially if we can get like some cereal in before class. Showers and clothing changes, it'd be cool if those were basically daily events. Remembering everything that happens, well, I think that's just a bit too much to ask for. Anyway, I don't want to give the impression that I'm complaining. It's just been that sort of week, and I can admit that it's been a bit much.

11/17/2002-I think you need some sort of special license to have a better weekend than the one I had.

10/28/2002-I was supposed to fix this laptop for work today. Windows XP, pretty nice laptop, the girl installed Novell and it broke her network connection. Fine, so part of my plan eventually is to delete the Local Machine\Software\Novell directory out of the registry. I hit delete, click Ok, and then I get "Cannot complete deleting Local Machine\Software." I'd gone up one level somehow, and deleted most of the Software directory. Which...is very bad. I've done this operation a thousand times, and probably backed up the registry, oh, five of those. Luckily, I did it this time. So, no harm done, but that would have been easily in my personal top ten all-time computer repair screwups. School sucks, a whole lot. Bio lab report to do tonight, anatomy lab practical on muscles of the back and back of the arm, plus the heart tomorrow evening, bio exam Wednesday, They Might Be Giants (!) Thursday night, Physics homework and exam Friday morning. TMBG doesn't suck of course, but it's not the best timing.

10/20/2002-Six years ago, I figured out how to work mIRC v3.something, then Neil and I got our timing down and met for the first time in #gifted, (probably on the Chicago server) on the Undernet. I think the whole project has turned out pretty well. I had an event planned to sort of celebrate, but it fell through. I would like to say thanks if you've ever hung out there, and thanks again if you're still doing it.

10/8/2002-I knew the night was headed in the wrong direction when the conversation turned to which Spice Girl I would be for Halloween.

9/30/2002-I got pretty excited last night when I came back to my room to find an IM from Josh telling me that My Boot had been updated. It's true! But alas, She Hates My Futon has no further additions.

9/27/2002-Yeah, I had a hard end of the week. Anatomy exam on Thursday, Physics homework due, Physics exam, and Anatomy practical on Friday. Plus Wednesday was three very cool birthdays. Jodi Bunting turned 18, Matt Dudek turned 21, and my dad turned 50. September 25th just straight rocks, I guess.

9/14/2002-Take that, 1994.

9/3/2002-First of all, my Hanson tshirt was a gift from Tom Smith, and I will be getting it back from JP as soon as possible. Sooner, if possible. Second, I'm in my second week of classes. Short week, thanks to Labor Day and thanks to my schedule. Basically, I have nothing to go to on Thursdays, and it's really quite nice. It makes Wednesday night a nifty little time that combines the "Just got out of class!" feelings from Friday night with the "Nothing to do tomorrow, but class the next day" feelings from Saturday night. It's good stuff.

8/26/2002-Early morning update. It's 2:29AM and my first class of the year, Physics 115, starts in eight hours and one minute. But whatever. I'm having fun out here, but I've also got some things that I'm bummed out about. It's all a long story, I suppose, and I guess that the best thing for me to do is listen to the Violent Femmes album Add It Up, tracks 17-21. On another note, quite randomly, I did a little work on the Archives, nothing anyone is going to call a press conference about, though.

8/23/2002-I'm at work, and not doing anything, so that's plenty of motivation to update the webpage. Not just with this crap either, but I actually have fun new content in the form of Building A House. Not fancy, but some pictures and a little bit about the house building work I did over the summer. Enjoy!

8/20/2002-Hello from Cleveland. I've been here like ten days, but just managed to secure one of these fancy new network cards a few days back. I'm actually at work now, but the card installation business is really slow, so I certainly might as well catch up on all the things I need to do. Just to update real quick like, we had a killer time at Rehoboth. Wake up late, hit the water and hang out reading on the beach for a while, then eventually go out to eat and walk around the boardwalk at night, then back to the room to watch some rented movies or work on the puzzle. Anyway, after that, I pretty much came right out to school, which was pretty boring for a while, but now my room is just about set up, and it's basically pretty cool. People are fun around here this time of year, it's not for a while that everyone's just anti-social and stuff. In any case, I'm headed out to an interview at University Hospitals, in the Volunteer Services department. I think I'm highly qualified to be paid nothing to work, so it shouldn't be much of a problem, right?

8/3/2002-Here today, gone tomorrow. And yesterday. I just got back from a week on Somers Island, which is on Sharbot Lake, which is in Ontario, which is in Canada, which is supposedly part of North America. Whatever. I'm leaving for a week at Rehoboth Beach. Tom will be showing up here in the morning, and we'll be driving to Blain, PA (of all places) to pick up Erin Cowell, then on down to the beach. More importantly, just to make sure that no one has missed it, there's been important goings on in the lives of four of my friends this summer. Sam Corbett asked Liz Learn to marry him, and a