If you've been unable to access this site over the past 24 hours (or access to it has been sporadic and slow), it was because of a major Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) aimed at one of the main routers of my web hosts, DreamHost. Thankfully, it appears that they've now got the problem under control.
Yikes! Has it really been a week since I last posted? You can put that down to working an insane 48 hours last week for this place. That's the second time this year I've worked that many hours in one week, and I certainly won't be doing it again in a hurry! At least I've got the next few days off to recover now.
The Caps continued their slide towards the very bottom of the NHL last week with three consecutive losses. They lost 3-0 to the New York Islanders, 3-2 to the Atlanta Thrashers and 4-1 to the Lightning. Over this side of the pond Villa beat Charlton 2-1 to continue their push for European football next season.
I've recently finished reading Deal Breaker by Harlan Coben. It kept me guessing all the way to the end, and I couldn't believe it when the mystery was finally solved - it was so obvious! Coben is a genius. I'm now reading The Black Ice (the second Harry Bosch novel) by Michael Connelly, and its already got me hooked.
It's 2004, I graduated in 2002, and I still can't get a job. If something doesn't come up soon I'm going to have to seriously consider my options. If there's any employers reading this who are looking for a Computing graduate, check out my CV, and do contact me if you want to know more. I'll work anywhere.
Time for a quick sports round-up I think. The Caps beat the Rangers 4-3 on Thursday night, and tied 2-2 with the Atlanta Thrashers last night. The Islanders are up next on Tuesday night. Over this side of the pond, Villa lost 2-0 to Blackburn, but didn't deserve to win anyway. Charlton are up next on Saturday.
The Caps lost 4-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Having won just twice in their last ten games (2-8-0-0), goalie Olaf Kolzig's one wish for this disastrous season - to avoid finishing last - might not happen. The Penguins are now just five points behind the Caps. The Rangers are up next tonight.
I'm really looking forward to the release of Windows XP Service Pack 2, which is expected sometime during the second quarter of this year. The improved security features, and the pop-up blocker for Internet Explorer sound great. As soon as it's released, I'm going to format my hard disk and do a nice clean install.
Woohoo! Villa thumped Wolves 4-0 on Sunday afternoon and moved into 7th position in the Premiership table. Over the other side of the pond, the Caps were beaten 5-2 by the Atlanta Thrashers on Saturday night. The Caps are in Pittsburgh tonight to face the Penguins, who are bottom of the 30-team NHL.
The Caps were hammered 6-0 at home by the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. And last night, Chicago mathematically eliminated the Caps from the playoffs (not that they had a chance of making them anyway), with a 4-3 victory. The sooner this season ends the better. Atlanta are up next tonight.
Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks has put Ice Hockey in the national news here. Sadly, for all the wrong reasons. Bertuzzi's hit (sorry, assault) on Colorado's Steve Moore, during Colorado's 9-2 win in a bad tempered game on Monday night, was absolutely disgusting, and I hope he's severely punished for it.
The NHL Trade Deadline passed yesterday. The Caps picked up Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and Bill Lindsay off waivers and traded Mike Grier to the Buffalo Sabres (who they play tonight at home). I honestly thought top goalie Olaf Kolzig and defenseman Brendan Witt would be traded as well, but I'm happy they haven't been!
Today is NHL Trade Deadline Day. It's been a busy day so far, but with just under two hours to go, there'll be a lot more trades to come. I fully expect a few more Caps players to go before the deadline. Anson Carter, who was acquired in the Jagr trade, was traded to the Kings before last night's 4-1 loss to Ottawa.
After pulling Transa's debut album, Chronology, out of my collection a few weeks ago, even though I brought it a few years back, I'm only just beginning to appreciate how good it really is. It's a two-disc, 21-track album of trance, tech-trance, progressive trance, dance and chilled music. Excellent stuff.
I finally got around to purchasing Dido's latest album, Life For Rent, a few weeks ago. It's pretty much the same as her debut album, No Angel, but I think it's much, much better, both musically and lyrically. The irritating anti-copying technology caused problems for my PC's CD-ROM, but was easily overcome.
After a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Rangers on Friday night, the Caps made up for it with a 2-1 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers, who the night before - along with the Ottawa Senators - combined for an NHL record 419 penalty minutes in a fight-filled game. The Caps play the Senators tomorrow night at home.
I've almost finished reading The Black Echo by Michael Connelly. It's his first novel, published back in 1992, featuring LAPD homicide cop Harry Bosch. Having read Lost Light a while back (the 9th book in the Harry Bosch series) it's great reading about some of the characters in that book and their beginnings.
I've just installed a web-based, multi-player space exploration game called BlackNova Traders on this site. It's devilishly addictive and great fun to play. New players might find it quite daunting at first, so I highly recommend reading the game's FAQ before joining in the fun. Well, what are you waiting for? Go play!
Finally for today, I am sad to announce that after four years, GazNET Australia is (technically) no more. I've had to drop my web hosting there for the time being because my finances are stretched to the limit! I still own the domain name, though, and all requests for that domain are currently being redirected here.
Yet another player was traded yesterday. This time the Caps sent forward Michael Nylander to Boston in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2006 Entry Draft. It's not all been one-way traffic out of Washington, though. The Caps recently claimed left-wing Craig Johnson and defenseman Brad Norton off waivers.
The Caps continued to slash salaries and rebuild for the future today by trading defenseman Sergei Gonchar to the Bruins. As with the previous trades, I was hardly surprised when I found out. After learning he was a healthy scratch before last night's 1-0 loss to Florida, I think everyone knew a trade was imminent.
It's saddening to see D.C. area teams doing so badly these days. You've got to feel for the fans. Both D.C. United and the Redskins had poor seasons last year. The Wizards, with an awful 19-39 record, have been far from magical this season, and as for the Capitals, well, the sooner this season ends the better.
I've just had a crazy 13-day stretch of working full-time at this place with no day off. I can't wait for Friday's payslip - I might even have some money spare to treat myself with! I'm still actively searching for a "proper" job, though, and hopefully one of the five I applied for recently will come good for me.
After a week that saw them lose 6-3 to Tampa Bay and 2-1 to Carolina, prior to their 4-1 road win against Florida on Friday night, the Caps traded another star player, Robert Lang, to Detroit. Another loss to Tampa Bay on Saturday night, this time by a 4-2 score line, ended a miserable week for Caps fans.
Villa lost 2-0 away at Everton on Saturday, ending a five-game unbeaten streak. The loss disappointed Villa boss, David O'Leary, who thought his team lacked desire. Still, despite that loss, Villa are 7th in the league and on course for European football next season. Wolverhampton are up next on Sunday.
Finally, make sure your virus protection is up to date because both the Beagle worm and the Netsky worm have spawned several variants! Another five variants of Beagle were unleashed over the weekend, and Netsky.D - the fourth variant of the Netsky worm - is spreading at record speed around the web.