I'm not going to lie, I'm short on time this week because, well, I'm on vacation. But that doesn't mean I shouldn't give all six of you something to ponder for at least the next eight minutes.

I've been trying all day to download Macster, a cousin of Napster. It's just not working. At least I have been able to get a few other things taken care of, such as shearing my sheep.

I'm becoming rather disappointed in the Internet's search engines. The other day, I couldn't find my keys, and neither could any of them.

I was talking to your computer the other day, and he said you were a little perturbed. He said you didn't appreciate me or anyone else, especially NATO officials, being able to find all kinds of information on you. Wasn't the Computer Age founded on simple things, like privacy and freedom to practice whatever mathematical calculations you wish?

If you're like me, you could use a big bowl of ice cream about now, and you are tired of hearing dot-com this and dot-com that. Soon, you won'tn be hearing this crap anymore. Instead, it might be dot-crap.

The International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has decided to expand the current list of top-level domains -- http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,16268,00.html?nl=int

Things seem to be getting more hectic as each year passes. I suspect some day, we'll have 26 hours in a day, but until that happens, we'll have to settle with getting everything imaginable taken care of in a normal day. As for me, I have a few new projects going, which is why I haven't had as much time lately to write articles and respond to comments. Have no fear! In 2009, you'll see plenty on this site, including the following:

Unbeknownst to me, robots are starting to pop up all over the place. Not that I am the head robot counter or anything, but I thought I would have a better handle on what is being built. Apparently, though, EVERYTHING is currently in the process of being built.

While it's fairly simple to find just about anything on the Internet, author Ben Woods says there's one thing that sticks out the most: crazy people.

Woods will be signing and discussing his new fictional workplace humor book, "The Developers," 2-4 p.m. Sept. 29 in the Lawson Commons area in the new Lawson Computer Science Building (305 N. University St.). He will also take part in the Barnes and Noble Authors Day 4-7 p.m. Sept. 30 in Lafayette (2323 Sagamore Parkway South).

I'm not absolutely certain about this, but I think I have a similar basic understanding of Leonardo Da Vinci as your typical educated U.S. citizen. I know he was a brilliant artist during the Renaissance and dabbled a bit in science and engineering endeavors.

Being an author (occasionally) and having book events (rarer than occasionally), people often recommend other books or authors I should read. Usually the books pertain to what I have written about (technology) or possibly the style in which I attempt to write (sarcastic humor?).