NP: Aston Villa v. Manchester City

From the front lines of my personal war with technology, an update:

Sadly, the progress reported previously was either short-lived or a bad, overly hopeful reading of the situation. Comcast has proved to be unhelpful to the point where I think they've made a deal with the machines so as not be vaporized when they take over, missing three different technician appointments in the past four days. And corrupt database files apparently had nothing to do with the PC instability.

There are glimmers of hope. I've been given a secret codephrase ("resequence the order of the channels") that, when relayed to the traitors at the cable company, may identify freedom fighters still committed to the human cause. And I've seen reference to a man -- some sort of oracle, perhaps -- who can see into the hearts of these machines and understand their defenses and their vulnerabilities. I think his name is Roy.

If all else fails, there is technology that actually may allow me to travel back in time, technology that I've heard called "reinstalling Windows," that could give me the opportunity to stop the uprising before it begins. Time travel is not something to be treated lightly, and this is the last resort that I hope not to have to engage.

I depart on a quest to find these pockets of resistance, to find some way to beat back these ruthless machines. If you do not hear from me soon, fear the worst. The machines have risen.

(Any resemblance to plots from The Terminator and/or The Matrix is, um, purely coincidental?)