Woohoo! I no longer need to get my HIV tests done at an anonymous clinic: U.S. Lifts Ban on HIV-Positive Foreigners.

Anyone want a good bookshelf? It was my last upright bookshelf and I don't need it anymore, as I've moved everything in it into my main wall bookshelves. It's a sturdy Billy bookshelf from Ikea that's lasted me awhile, and it's in great condition. Approx. dimensions are 42" (H) x 24" (W) x 11" (D). Free to good home as long as you can pick it up.

A friend and I are going to see Ockham's Razor on Thursday at 8 at Kells Irish Pub near Pike Place Market. Anyone else interested in coming with us? We can meet up at my place and walk down from there or just meet at the pub. It'll be a roaring good time for sure!

Current Music: Ockham's Razor - Ten Thousand Miles To Bedlam

So I was just trying to share a cool YouTube video with my brother, and it took me about 15 minutes to get him going, which was really frustrating, to say the least. Short story: if you're a Canadian and want to watch an awesome video on YouTube that's marked as US-only without having to use a proxy server, just go to http://youtubeproxy.org and enter the URL of the YouTube video on that page.

Also, if you want, you can fake which country you're in by using a proxy server listed at http://www.xroxy.com/proxy-country-US.htm (by editing your proxy settings via your browser's connection settings); however, many of these proxies have sites such as YouTube banned, so you won't be able to access them through the proxy. There can also often be a significant lag as all your browsing is redirected through the proxy.

I also found out my brother was using IE, so I informed him of the surfing benefits of Firefox with Adblock Plus. :-)

I just had a meeting with the Excel developer who's been reviewing all my code and he randomly, out of the blue, called the code I've been writing brilliant. :-D

Woohoo - I just figured out my Puerto Vallarta itinerary. Thanks everyone for your suggestions and info. :-)

I won't give more details here because I'd rather not reveal too much online about dates I'll be out of town, but if you're curious, feel free to give me a shout.

Anyone want my old stereo? It's a good system, but I've realized it's been simply sitting in my closet for far too long. It's a Philips FW-M55. More info can be found at Amazon.

( Image of Stereo )

I am *so* freaking sick of DRM. DRM is the main reason I refuse to use the iTunes music store. (They've made their DRM-free tracks traceable, containing such things as e-mail address and full name of the purchaser so that's not even an option.)

And if you think that this would never happen to [insert company here], there's this article as well. I should buy something from Amazon MP3 just to make a point. If I buy music, I should be able to do whatever I want with it, and I should not have to worry about stripping personally identifiable information from a track I bought either.

P.S. Actually, when iTMS first came out, I did try it out and bought three or four tracks with a gift certificate I was given from a friend. The next time I formatted my machine, I didn't realize that iTunes had put my iTMS music downloads in a folder separate from my main music folder. I didn't think to copy this other folder over and I lost the tracks I'd bought (admittedly for free). Of course, I couldn't get them back without purchasing them again. Yeah, silly me, and not DRM-specific, but I had never had to worry about special downloads before. Though I've since made changes just in case I do decide to download an American Idol performance (David Cook ftw!) or something.

Does anybody have any experience with good Mexican resorts? I want to take a week off to relax in April. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :-) The resort doesn't actually have to be in Mexico, but warm, sunny, and in North or Central America. Thanks!

Whoa - I just discovered I can make US political donations now that I've got my green card! I had assumed that because I couldn't vote, I also couldn't make political donations, but I can now do anything politically I want except vote itself. Now the question I must ask myself is, "Do I want to?"

Indeed, I could have even participated in the Washington state caucus discussions. I don't see much point in that, though, seeing how I couldn't have voted for or been a delegate.

Edit: Okay, I've made my decision.