Here I am, your humble editor, almost back from the dead with only a little bit of explaining to do. Many, many changes have occurred since the last issue of AIM. The good news is we are not dead and gone after one issue - it just seemed that way. It seems that when you lose your day job it is very difficult to concentrate on your hobbies. The entire editorial staff of AIM woke up one day in early June to find that we did not have jobs any more. Well...I should clarify. We did have jobs if we wanted to work for the next two months or more and agreed to not get paid. (Leah and I were both employed by the same vacuous start up company) After putting things in perspective and weighing the "working for pay" against the "working for no pay" decision carefully we decided to seek new jobs.

Standing under the freeway with a cardboard sign did not fare me well. I was quickly pushedout ofthe freeway offramp rat race by the much more experienced uneployables so I actually had to email my resume off to a million and six people. Eventually someone decided, "Yes, we want this guy". I am almost at a point again where I can afford to eat more than Ramen and Safeway brand raisin bran (by the way this is not a recommended diet).

All of this could not have happened at a worse time. I was away on vacation and was planning to post the newest issue of AIM up to the web server as soon as I returned. What I returned to was a pay check drawn on insufficient funds, a tapped credit card following a trip to Manhatten, a hungry cat, a landlord that needed to be paid, and denied access to the server that AIM resided on. You tell me folks.....If a company cuts you a bad check and then locks you out of their computer system should you believe them when they say, "Don't worry we will pay you. We are just short on funds now but there is a big investment check coming anyday now." Should you continue to believe them when they finally have miniscule funds available in their account and they put a stop payment on your paycheck at the same time they make their deposit. .....I think not!

To make a long story longer......AIM is alive again. We have a new server, we have a new domain name, we all have jobs. My sincere apologies for not coming through with the second issue on time, especially to the people who contributed to this fine issue. We are going to keep going no matter what. By the way......if you would like to complain to the person responsible for the editorial staff of AIM having to give up their day jobs you can write to Paul W. Green, the CEO of the delightfully vacuous business adventure called Nanothinc. Be sure to let him know that here in America we pay our employees for the work they do, little as it may be......

Special thanks this month to the folks who helped stave off certain doom in the face of unemployment......