Salut to all faithful MSU fencers, former fencers, and visitors.

I've been redesigning the web site throughout the summer, and am racing to see one hundred per cent of its initial content posted by the beginning of the fall fencing class on Tuesday, August 24. It's been a tedious and lengthy process, complicated by my ever-abounding lack of time. As of late, I've posted a steady stream of documents, however, and only expect this volume to increase in these final few days.

Our existing site at Geocities will be terminated tomorrow. Our new address is more meaningful as well as easier to communicate, remember, and type. Additionally, our new domain host offers more reliable and much faster access than does Geocities. Best of all, you'll never again have to endure a stinking Geocities banner, pop-up window, or watermark. Life is good, and getting better. <g> One notable short-term setback is inevitable: Geocities does not allow forwarding links on their site. Therefore, we'll look like a dead club until the search engines catch up with us.

As always, suggestions, comments, and content submissions are encouraged. Long-time MSU/Louisville-area sabreist Spencer Cook has suggested that we lighten up the site with some humor. As this is not one of my strengths, I'd especially appreciate some assistance in this area.

As always, I appreciate your continued patience. I'm looking forward to another exciting year at MSU, as the club has been revitalized due to Greg Valentine's presence at the helm. He's blazing new territory for MSU fencing. More about this in a column or two. Regards.

Jason M. Purcell
jpurcell@prefer.net