It's been a long day coming...

Hey all,
This is the first post in a while. I'm hell-bent on posting more than last year (128), and I haven't been doing very well with that resolution.

The main cause for the delay has been sheer busyness. But, everyone's busy, so that's really not much of an excuse. My grandma died on 21st of February, and I could use my grieving as an excuse for not posting, but that's not it either. Sometimes I lose interest, and sometimes I don't. I think that's about it.

I am planning a long write-up on my grandma, my thoughts on her death, and how she's impacted my life, but this isn't that post. I need to think more on it before I post something.

I was out at NASA Ames Research Center last week and this week I'm off to Houston (to buy me some pants -Beck) then from Houston to NYC until next week Tues. Then home for four days, and I'm off to the UK for two weeks. It goes without saying that I'll be as busy as always, but it shouldn't stop me from posting and updating. I will make a conscious effort to post more over the next few weeks as I bounce from one side of the country to the other, from one side of the world to the other. I have recently updated the cool-ass Google Map on the right-hand navigation bar with my visit to NASA, and will update it as I pop around the next few weeks.

Updates:

1. As I mentioned before, my Grandma (on my father's side) died on the 21st. She wanted the funeral and visitation to be done with as soon as possible, so she died on a Thursday, the visitation was on Friday, and the funeral was on Saturday. Mandy and I literally jumped on a plane and did a crazy circuit with family and friends for the few days we were there. I will write more on this later.

2. Nikki, our dog, graduated from her Pet Smart Beginner's Training course. The cool thing is, the class has a practice exam before the real one, that way the dogs have two chances to complete the list of commands they have to obey. Nikki passed on the practice exam, a week earlier than the time normally allotted. Only her and one other dog out of a class of ten completed early. The teacher of the class told us we should run her through the rest of the classes because she's smart enough to complete them, so we're signed up for the intermediate. Hopefully she'll pass, and be as well-behaved as Mandy's sister's dog Stormy. Either way, Nikki did really well and has been adapting to her new behavior modification like a champ. She's so smart... (*Note: If this is how I talk up my dog's training, just wait until we have kids... there will be no end to it)

3. The house here in Denver is really shaping up. Thanks to all the help from Mandy's parents, we have a fully functioning set of curtains in our newly painted kitchen and an awesome fold-out spice rack on its way in the mail. Mandy painted the upstairs, and we've put in a faux-bamboo roll-up to cover the closet, and bought new office furniture. As we find places for the rest of the crap, the upstairs is finally turning into a work / living space. Our next steps are to finish the furnishing of the living room, paint that area, then start working on the master and guest bedrooms. By the time people come out to visit this Spring / Summer, we'll be mostly done decorating and organizing.

4. Work has been crazy for both of us. Mandy is hard at work pointin' out bugs in her HR software. Point of fact, the other day, she found a bug so devastating it might delay the whole product launch. Go Mandy! My work has involved lots of traveling, big displays systems, and crazy dancer / astrophysicists (it's true). I have begun my HSPD 12 security clearance process, which should take about six months. It's a security clearance I need to access NASA computer system as well as gain access to any NRL (National Research Laboratory) sites. Some of you will be getting calls from the goverment asking about my ability to handle sensitive government docs. Whatever you do, don't tell them about that time I ruled the small island-country of "Kalembesh" in the Adriatic sea.

That's about it from here. Many of these items need more info and updating, I realize. I will be doing my best to fill in the gaps of these past few weeks, and will work harder on putting up more content.

Thanks for tuning in!