Well, I was unemployed for about 18 months a little over a year ago. It was voluntary (wanted to watch my newborn daughter grow up a bit), but I had intended it to last only 9 months or so. Unfortunately, almost immediately after I left, 9/11 happened and the job market tanked. Even though I had 7 or so years of experience as a Programmer/Analyst, my resume simply wouldn't get past the HR firewall at companies (no Computer Science degree). Frustrating, to say the least.

Well, I've now played with/tried a number of different Linux distributions for a full-time desktop machine for use at home. At first blush, they were all beautiful, perfect machines--seemingly perfect replacements for the Windows 2000 that had been on the machine!

And for my first journal entry, I'd like to whine for a bit.

Now, free web-based e-mail sounds, on the surface, like an absolutely fantastic idea. You start to use it, and you're thinking, "Wow, this is a Good Thing!"