Well, I can't believe it's taken this long for me to start on a project using "Ajax":http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJAX, but I finally got the opportunity with some new reporting changes at work. If you don't know what Ajax is you should just go read the Wikipedia entry above, but basically it's a way to make changes to a page without having to reload the whole page. Think "Flickr":http://flickr.com. Think "Gmail":http://gmail.com. The whole application that I work on deals with presentation of data in large chunks, so the ability to use this technology is going to make for a much better user experience. Plus, it's nice to be starting with something new. If there's anything I hate, it's feeling stagnant, which is why I try and do "side projects":http://feralboy.com/bsclient/ whenever I can, but I've been pretty busy with life lately, so not much time for side ventures.

One thing about Ajax is that it can be a pain to set up, and a pain to debug when things don't go perfectly. Thankfully people have already put out some "code libraries to help speed Ajax development":http://ajax.schwarz-interactive.de/vbnetsample/default.aspx, and Microsoft is going to be "including something":http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2005/06/28/416185.aspx in their next version of ASP.NET.