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.

Come on all click this link and enter to play. Read the rules and make your picks. Click Here

$10 to get in ; more players --> more to win Just fill out the bracket online & kindly give Darin your money to play. Something new this year for my buds out of state, I'll accept PayPal! (I'm no longer accepting credit cards via PayPal, sorry...)

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...

This is a little late, but I wanted to put a quick note up about my trip with Cosmin and his fiance Paula to visit his familiy in Brasov and to see the infamous castle Dracula in Bran.

In short, it kicked ass. Here I am next to the freaky vampire sign at the entrance:

The castle Bran was inhabited by 'Vlad the Impaler' in the 1500's who was known for skewering his enemies on wooden stakes on the nearby hill. He was a cold-hearted leader, but he was loved by the folks here. He was somehow attached to the Dracula fiction, mostly by the fact that his last name was also Dracula.

The inside of the castle was remade into a home by some Queen in the 1700's, and looks quite nice.

Of the things I saw here, the creepiest was this old cross with some ancient lettering that looks straight out of an Anne Rice novel or something. Though it was really touristy, it was totally worth the visit to dispel the last of the vampire myths of Romania...

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!

In case you didn't see who introduced the CU players on ABC on Friday, here it is! Apparently Nebraska's defense wasn't the only joke in Boulder!

Offense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9kp6l6bWNc&feature=related

Defense http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69nIToQ24i4&feature=related

Thanks Ryan!

I wanted to definitely say a few things about Romanian culture on this blog. First off, driving is freakin' crazy here. Everyone's in a rush and they drive fast and pass close with these tiny cars. We're not talking Cairo level of craziness, but we're in the same ballpark. 50% of the cars on the road are 'Dacia' brand cars. This was the car that was made during the communist era here, where they continued to make the same make and model of Dacia for 25 years. So there are plenty of them. Some number of years ago, they updated the model. Here's a picture of how someone personalized it even further.

I couldn't help throwing in a funny picture of a guy trying to pretend to be carpooling, or trying to pretend he had a hot chick in his car. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you'll notice that the girl is definitely an airhead.

Dracula is a word here that is synonomous with good luck. Fitting then that you'd have a dracula casino nearby.

There is a lot of social strife in this country with regard to Romanians versus the Gypsies. The gypsies here are a group of folks that have set up sort of a parallel (but weaker) government and social system but still live in Romania. They have a King, and en emperor, and these crazy gypsy castles all over the place. Money is highly valued in this culture it seems, as the building are topped with Euro and Dollar signs. They walk around wearing black hats on the street. And they are totally maligned in this culture. Everyone thinks the gypsies are a pain in the ass and wants them the hell out of this country.

More randomness, check out the assortment of fur hats! I'd buy one as a souvenier, but I generally don't agree with the wearing of dead animals for glamour's sake. Besides, I don't see much practical usage for a fur hat in Austin.

While we were visting these old castles and museums, we saw some seriously medevil shit.

These suits of armor worn by the ancient knights were really cool. And really heavy. It also looked like they were about a foot shorter than most folks nowadays. I cannot believe these nasty weapons they used -- ball'n chain, katanas, heavy broadswoards; you name it, they kicked someone's ass with it. Imagine bringing something like this back through US customs...

Another hour car ride away we journeyed to the town of Hunedoara. The city itself was not much to look at -- mostly old former communist factories that have been shut down. It really sounds cooler than it really was. The real gem in Hunedoara is the Corvinesti Castle. I will remember it as Hogwart's School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.

This castle was built in a very strategic location over the years, with each civilization building up a more impressive fortress on the same location. Originally, the Dacians had set up shop here back in the thousands of years ago time frame. Sometime in the 1500's, this Baron started building up this castle which has been restored to its former glory. It even has a moat w/ a really cool bridge up to the front door (no drawbridge, but pretty damn close).

The inside was pretty cool, though I think its funny that the baron had a stained glass picture of himself in the castle's chapel. The dining room was straight out of the Lord of the Rings movie I swear, big wooden chair with long wood table with no side chairs.

On the outside of the castle, there were some bizarre things to see. The picture on the left shows the giant 'beast pit' where the Baron would throw down his unwelcomed guests. Supposedly he had some bloodthirsty pet animal that lived down there. And to finish off the movie themes, there was a 4-5 story well that looked like the well from the Ring. 3 Hungarian dudes were thrown down there a long time ago, and stayed alive for a long time by digging and living off of the well water. Definitely didn't look like a good way to end your days.