I did beat Mario yesterday, but not without warping yet. My first run through resulted in dying at world 7-4, so I decided to just run through and do what I could as quickly as possible, and I beat the game that time. I then went back (in the 'second quest', as it were) and started at level 5, and I was able to make it all the way through and beat the game again.
So, in total, I went from 1-7, then 1.5, 4.5, 8, then 5-8. Which still means I didn't really beat it all the way through, but shhh.
I was in a crappy mood all day. Not enough food, not enough sleep, not enough doing what I want. I think that finally got fixed around 2:30 AM after I had some sugar (soda) and hacked with Schuyler and Shekhar for a while.
Hopefully today is better.
Kinda funny since I've never met you, Jess and the girls in person ;)
I love Grasshopper. I've had food from there twice, and I couldn't have more nice things to say about it.
Speaking of which -- you sent me an email about hosting that I realized late last night I never responded to :/ Are you still looking for something?