Whoa! Sorry Netscape users, I was at a friends house the other day and I looked at my site with an old version of Netscape Navigator and found that what I was looking at in no way resembled my site as I am accustomed to viewing it (with ie 5.5 and up). That is in part due to my own laziness, as I long ago gave up checking to see my design was Netscape safe. It did make me think though that I should consider simplifying the design. Maybe when I get the time.

We had a pinewood derby last weekend and Chase's third birthday party yesterday. I took plenty of pictures and hope to get them up soon. Mom and Katie are here visiting from Germany, they're leaving tomorrow en route to the MTC.

After eight years of marriage and at least 17 years of chocolate chip cookie baking I think I have finally perfected the art and achieved the Platonic form of the chocolate chip cookie. The following recipe consistently yields soft, chewy, rave-worthy results. They never turn out too flat, too greasy, or too crunchy.

I love my husband dearly and am so grateful he has dragged me kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

"The letters are Hex, of an ancient mode, but the language is that of Microsoft, which I shall not utter here..."

The official Army is happy with the new film Black Hawk Down, a movie about the Army's 1993 battle in Mogadishu, Somalia. A classmate of mine in medical school was a delta force medic involved in that incident--I'm anxious to see it.

Last night I ate at Does Eat Place, a Little Rock hole-in-the-wall famous largely because it was a favorite haunt of Bill Clinton. The smallest steak on the menu was 2 lbs (they went up to 6 lbs--they're served "family style," that is, cut into smaller pieces and typically shared). The art on the wall was a bit disturbing though--of course there was the predictable: a sticker declaring "I slept with Kenneth Starr" and a poster of Reagan with Bush (senior) in a dress captioned "the first couple." It was the obviously Marxist stuff that caught me off-guard (e.g. the huge portrait of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara--the Argentine Communist revolutionary and guerrilla leader). I was torn. I love a good steak, and I have to admit, the steak was good. On the other hand, I hate Marxism. A conundrum.

Help, someone changed my IP address! If you've had trouble reaching this site lately, it's because I recently moved it to a new server (and hence changed it's Internet Protocol number). Every computer that is on the Internet has a unique IP number; if a machine does not have an IP number, it is not really on the Internet. Many computers (especially servers) also have one or more Domain Names that are easier for people to remember. You type in the domain name "westhoff.net," which gets looked up in a database called a domain name server (DNS) which translates it into "64.6.235.191" (machines apparently understand numbers much better than words). To understand this great mystery go check out How Domain Name Servers Work. This site was down for a while because it takes some time (usually days) for all the domain name servers all over the world to get the news that "westhoff.net" has a different IP. Those servers that have not yet gotten the word will continue to direct you to the old IP address (i.e. the old server from which I've deleted all my files), and you'll get the error "file not found" or "page not available." If you're reading this, it's because the word has spread to your neck of the internet that Westhoff.Net has a new home (a process called "propagation"). Neato eh?

My tax cut in 2001 will be $1,000 (after the plan is fully phased in, it will be $2,764, based on my current income). This is according to The Heritage Foundation's Tax Calculator. Thank you George W.!

I have opened the "Study" portion of my site with an excerpt from the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Happy New Year! I went for the first run of the year this (very cold) morning. I was feeling great, but had to stop at mile four or so (I was planning on 6.5) because of shin splints in my left leg--dooogh! Must... keep... running, already... paid... twenty... bucks... for... Jan 12... marathon!. No problem, it's probably just time for some new shoes. I found a great deal on some Asics Kayano VIIs at efootwear.com. Some new shoes, some ice, a little ibuprofen and probably no more running until the 12th and I should be good to go.