Hey, look who's back! That's right, it's me. I was bound and determined not to even touch this site during finals week, as tempting as it was. I would rather have done *anything* than study for finals and write papers, but that's kinda what I was paying sixteen grand a year for, so I figured I'd better. Anyway, here I am. No, I didn't forget about this place...I was just waiting until someone emailed me and complained or prostrated themselves at my feet. It's nice to know if I'm actually reaching people or not, you know?

So, there's three reasons for this update: 1) My site showed up on Google when I was searching for Strider art; 2) Someone *did* email me; 3) We finally got pushed over the 1000-hit mark. I'll tackle each of these in order.

Now, I don't regularly search for Strider art anymore, because there's just not that much of it on the net that I don't have already...but I was trolling through pages and pages of hits on Google the other night, because I was undeniably bored. My site had never, *ever* shown up on Google before, so imagine my surprise when it's the number five hit on the first page. I was ecstatic. That made my evening, right there.

Now, as for the email someone sent me...basically, it was my very first piece of fanmail ever. A Mr. Thomas Leenders sent it to me, gushing with adulation over my brilliant use of html and innovative web design. Well, sorta. Actually, what he really wanted to know was how to get into the "restricted files" sections. Well...here's the deal. There actually *isn't* any restricted sector. It's just more interesting, I think, to have that pop up rather than a 404 error message. All that insufficient clearance jazz is a crock. I haven't been keeping track of anyone's attempts to get into my secret files, because there aren't any.

But since you were so kind as to draw my attention to my nonexistent download section, Mr. Leenders, I'm going to put up what I can. I've got some MIDIs around here somewhere, and I think I'll put up that old Strider 2 movie I've got lying around...other than that, I don't really know what I can do. I'm totally against posting ROM images, because that will get me kicked off my server faster than anything. Will that work? It better. Do you know how hard I worked to find that Strider 2 movie? Man...back in the day, that mpeg was *it*. I remember the first time I saw that sucker...I downloaded it on a friend's computer off of Michael Varley's old site on Ticnet. Took forever, too. But back then, Michael was the only one around. It's not like now, where if you don't like my content, you can go to Bueno's site or one of the other links I've got (and I've got almost all of them)...nope, back then, Michael's site was the *only* Strider site on the net. Neostrider and [mezzanine] came along after...but I digress. Basically, I got that Strider 2 movie off of CHV.net *just* before they shut down. I wish I'd gotten more, because they had like six of 'em...but oh well. Live and learn, I guess.

Now, as for the final bit...YESSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My site finally made it past 1000 hits! Jeez, what happened? I mean, I got 500 hits in the first three days this site was open, and then it just all dried up and slowed to a trickle. My thanks goes out to anyone and everyone who still comes to this site, despite my long absence. My thanks also goes out to Lady Maverick81, who made the following lovely poster for just such an occasion:

Great, isn't she? Elisa's one of my favorite fan artists...mainly because she *always* gives me her own stuff to put up. I just always lose track of what I *did* with her illustrations, is the problem...

Anyway, check the Access Log for the updates I made for the site, nab whatever you can, and I'll see you later! Take care guys!