My other page was growing rather large with all the links I was amassing on it, and since it seemed to have a theme of really (or at least semi-so) useful pages on it, I thought I'd seperate out those links which were slightly more fun, playful, or personal in nature, and put them on their own page instead.
I hope you enjoy my little collection of off roads on the information superhighway. If you don't get your fill here, you can also try my other links page for more cool stuff. When you're done, head back to the foyer or the main page.
This area is dedicated to Matt's friends in real life and in cyberspace. Check out the homepages of some people who are cool enough to appreciate me for all the insanity in my life. :)
As a child of the '80s, my life was enriched by the many formulative experiences impressed upon me by the world of commercialism, and neither I nor any other Xer will soon forsake allegiance to the cause. ;)
The most significant part about growing up in the '80s for me was the Cold War. This was the decade when Reagans walked the White House, and the Soviet Union was the Evil Empire. (I'm still in search of a good link on Mikhail Gorbachev.) If you want to "read more about it", check out the Cold War History Project. To truly let out your agression, however, and feel MAD...
If walking on the brink of world annihilation isn't your cup of tea, the '80s were also marked for the distincitve impact they had on music and pop culture. In addition, it was a time of renaissance for the human spirit, as once again mankind reached to the stars in ways he had not done since the 1960s. Perhaps the visit of Halley's Comet in 1986 had something to do with inspiring this...NASA's development of the Space Shuttle probably didn't hurt either. :)
PAC-MAN this video game guy deserves his own special section, not just because he was cool in the '80s, but because playing the windows computer version of the game I had in 1999 helped me keep my sanity while I was writing my ba paper. ;)
Hey, I'm a Nerd, a Geek, a bookworm, and every other nickname there is for someone like me. I spend my free time playing College Bowl, watching Jeopardy, impressing people at cocktail parties with my vast repository of strange facts, etc. I can't get enough opportunities to show off my Random Knowledge Freakishness, but when I want to use my Official Knowledge Whore skills for the powers of good, here are some places I go. Further down, there are sites which extoll the virtues of Nerdness and Geekdom even more. :)
Sony Station Play Jeopardy! and other games online. (Watch out for that guy named Judgekeeper if you do though; he's good! :) )
JETS Page - When I was a senior in high school, I kicked some major butt in this groups TEAMS competition, finishing 7th in the state of Illinois in Biology, the highest anyone from my high school had ever placed at that time.
Know of another site where you can flex your mental muscles? Please email me and let me know!
Celebration of Geekdom
Nerdity Test - Find out how much of a nerd you really are. ;)
For Better or Worse - Lynn Johnston does a wonderful strip that has had extremely deep and personal meaning for me at several times throughout my life; I like to say that Michael and I went through puberty together.
I love to play games. They're fun!!! And fortunately, there's a load of websites devoted to 'em on the internet; I guess cyberspace really is the last refuge of geeks. :)
The Diplomatic Pouch - a website devoted to the game Diplomacy,a game produced by Avalon Hill, and an addiction introduced to me by Jason Arvey.
Diplomacy Websites - Someone else as geeked out on the game as I am set up this web page. You can also see more Diplomacy Links at this site too. And if you want to be hard core, you can join a Clan.
Cheapass Games - this company offers a great selection of simple, yet really fun, games. Especially make sure to check out "Kill Doctor Lucky". Credit this as another influence of Jason Arvey.
Steve Jackson Games - for my friends who like Illuminati. Personally I find Tile Chess to be pretty interesting. Warped, but interesting. :)
Wunderland.com - The People that brought the world FLUXX!! This will shortly be enshrined similarly to Pac-Man on my website, thanks to the ensuing obsession it cultivates with Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Banana Slug Store - Your one-stop shopping place for all your UC Santa Cruz Fighting Banana Slug gear. :) I owe this one to my friend Cheryl at Wash U. It's not a game, but its _really_ cool nonetheless. :)
DCYoungPro.com Looking for something fun to do on the D.C. social scene? This place claims to be a prime mover and shaker for the twenty-something crowd in the nation's capital.
Searching for the Real U of C - an organization founded by a group of Alumni concerned over the actions taken by the administration of Hugo Sonnenschein.
U of C Scav Hunt homepage - the insanity is immortalized on the web; can YOU build a nuclear breeder reactor in 3 1/2 days?
Perhaps one day, this will also be the location where I will put a eulogy to my old dorm, Woodward Court, marked for demolition, whose razed grounds will become the site of the new GSB.
This is the collection of things, which don't really fit into any of the above groups, although, there are sorta groupings within this seemingly random assortment.
Government & Policy
NATO - Homepage of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Aviano AFB, located in Italy, is one of their major bases.
New York City Homepage - I suppose to be fair, I should put a link to the Chicago City Homepage since now I suppose that is my adopted hometown, being where I spent my formulative college years. There are also some nice links about Chicago on this page, and if you want to see aerial photos of Chicago, you can go to this site.
Firstgov.gov - your portal for the United States government.
Money
Okay, so I want to be a millionaire just as much as the next guy, but no way, no how will I put up with Regis to do it, if I don't have to. Instead, I take the tried and true "save and invest" route. Or at least til there's a sale on something cool. :)
My Best Friend's Wedding - What can you say? I'm a romantic at heart. A girlfriend of mine and I first hit it off actually, because she found the sentimentality with which I approached this movie very attractive. Of course, it helped that Cameron Diaz played a University of Chicago student, although don't expect to major in architecture yourself if you go there. The quintessential U of C movie, however, still remains When Harry Met Sally.
What's Left
Okay, so there are a few links that I can't lump into anything, even within the leftovers. So these are the "miscellaneous" Miscellaneous. :)
These are things which I had formerly linked to, but which during updating things, I found to be expired. However, just because they were so cool or so strange or so wierd I don't want to just abandon them completely, I'm creating a graveyard for them. I'm hoping one day that they will either reappear of their own volution, or that I will be able to recessitate them by tracking down an equivalent link.
Unabomber Manifesto - okay, so maybe Ted Kacynzski doesn't have a web page. ;)
