I haven't posted in far too long --> I just had this email forwarded to me from Eastern Europe, where someone has bumbled across an incriminating picture of yours truly :)

Go ahead, try and find it (halfway down the page) -> http://phottle.com/blog/funny-wedding-photography?commented=1

Source: Alex A.

So much to report. I didn't live up to my promise to start blogging more often. Why may you ask? Well a sequence of tragedies have befallen yours truly.

First, I managed to catch pneumonia and had to go the ER to get diagnosed. I felt absolutely terrible. Forced me to cancel a plane ticket to Colorado for a weekend visit. I was and am seriously bummed about all of that. My lungs are still not feeling great, and I'm not supposed to do any aerobic exercise for another couple of weeks. what a mess!

Second, our house got robbed just after I got better and started back to work. Thief broke the window by our front door, and unlocked the door to make him/herself at home. They took an empty suitcase and went shopping. Took my iMac, Powerbook, 2 iPods, digital camera, some jewlery, and some other material goods. As if that wasn't bad enough, I had my IRS refund check sitting out and they nabbed it as well. Also, for good measure, claudia's checkbook, my passport and social security card, and a debit & credit card. That's right, armed w/ my identity they ended up with a $3015 spending spree all around Ausitn. what a mess!

So that's what's new. Just a heads up. Trying to keep a good attitude here, looking for some good karma and hoping bad things don't come in threes...

Haven't written much in awhile on the old blog... why you may ask? Well I've been venting all of my free energy into both my new job and my new workout program at Gold's gym. I've been wiped out by the time I get home and felt like doing nothing else except for playing Wii.... sweet sweet Wii.

This is probably a good time to state that, hey -- I'm taking a many vacation. Heading up to Utah to Alta/Snowbird to see what Utah skiing is all about. Should have 3.5 days of skiing ahead of me. I'm dropping in on my folks for a few hours in Denver on the way (via airplane). Claudia will meet me out there for a couple days of the skiing. It should be pretty sweet.

Thanks for continuing to check the page -- I promise to make a better blogging effort in the near future...

I think the website is fixed now... Not sure what went wrong, something to do w/ changing servers and me not getting to use the cgi-bin folder anymore; and ipower.com has been terribly unhelpful in the matter. Hopefully it is all fixed now -- blog on!

Well there you have it, the quietest month of blogging by yours truly. One may ask why -- well here's a long overdue update:

1. Work has been crazy. I know its cliche, but its true! I recently have decided to change roles at NI by moving into Project Managment from development. It's an unexpected move that I hope will hold off the burnout that can set in by sitting at a desk all the time. The process of moving to this new role has been painful, because it pretty much means I'm doing two jobs at once (old job responsibilities winding down, new job responsibilities torquing up).
2. Heading to Romania in a week. I'm leaving for a month long work trip to Romania, in 7 days! This I've been looking forward to for almost a year, and I'm really excited to get a chance to go over. Whenever you leave for a month, there's a long laundary list of things to take care of. Also, I have to get a bunch of work stuff together for the trip. Best part will be - weekend beforehand in Amsterdam! What a layover :)
3. Got a new Mac. If you haven't seen the new redesigned iMac, you are really lame. It's got a dual-core Intel based chip, and gobs of RAM -- but the most impressive thing is just how it feels. It's like straight out of Star Trek - a single, sexy flat-panel screen with wireless mouse and keyboard. Now I've just gotta find the time to set it up.
4. jumphook.com is censored in China. What did I ever do to the Chinese Government? So lame - but they've got my site on the blacklist it seems. Justin (who has arrived in Shanghai for his 7-month work-stay) just reported this to me from China. Is this site all about free love and democracy and capitalism or something?

Anyway, be sure to note that blogging will ramp up when I leave for Amsterdam/Romania :) Much love to my dedicated jumphookers out there that still occasionally check.

Had a great time visiting the fam in Estes Park for the weekend recently. Watched a lot of movies, had a lot of home-cooked food, and played a bit of cards. Also, on the way back from Estes I managed to get a Sunday night out with Shaun and Kee (and Kee's new girlfriend Jenn) in Uptown Denver.

I didn't even know such a thing as 'uptown' denver existed -- I thought it was 'lodo' or nothing when going out. Denver keeps on changing though, and its no surprise that its getting awesomer all the time :) Had some good food at Stuebens down there, and then hung out at the local Tavern for some good times.

Good times in this case meant jager shots and bar games -- including this naught-often-seen mini-bowling game. Hilarious that the pins were suspended by strings and dropped down like puppets to reset the frame. Special thanks go to Shaun (once again) for letting me crash at his place, and big thanks to Keeler for getting up at 5am to drive me out to DIA monday morning. Great visit guys -- and great to meet you Jenn! (Kee you've outdone yourself :P)

New Photo Album

Photos are up from the Housewarming party welcome me to Claudia's little casita. Great turnout despite the rains, and had an absolute blast. My only regret is that the maximum conversation length with each person that attended was in the neighborhood of two minutes. Oh well, we cashed those pony kegs before 11pm so that's the sign of a good party. Thanks to everyone that dropped by!

New Photo Album

In the midst of moving into Claudita's house and refinishing kitchen floors, I found time to disappear into the fields of Manchester, TN once again into the magically music offered by the Bonnaroo Festival! Thanks to an extra ticket from Scott, I flew in and made it to all the great shows I wanted to see: Brazillian Girls, Flaming Lips, Tool (2nd time in a month), and many many others. Flaming Lips was the top act, with just insanely awesome music and a complete visual experience. Check out the photos!

I've tried recently posting some things to sell on craigslist:

• Crown Saxaphone - Asked $120, got $100
• NOT SOLD Oak Entertainment Center - Asking $300
• NOT SOLD Electric Guitar with Amp - Asking $120
• Kareoke Machine - Asked $50, got $30 from Anu

Help me unload my things before I have to move out of my apartment! All prices are flexible :)

New Photo Album

Potpourri of the spring time 2007 the year of our lord. First up we have the parents visiting, than the Grafitti party at Anu's pad, then we've got some pictures from the Galveston trip to visit Lindsay.

And to round off the album, some lovely photos of the Dallas Anti-Wedding bash with DQ. Gotta love that fantastic grub, totally worth the drive. Now Claudia's green bug needs an oil chezk after all these road trips this spring :)