In case anyone reads this thing (and oddly, my pageviews do tick upwards along with the occasional fave or even more occasional comment left) I figure I'm somewhat obliged to update this journal.

Yes, I absolutely miss dA. Much more than I thought I would. I mean, it was only a part of my life for a relatively few of my 40+ years. At times I've pondered whether I could return. Whether I could put all that has happened behind me and re-enter the community that I came to love. Sadly, not that long ago I realized that the reason this is not an option is not within me, but rather that the community I miss is simply gone. It is not the same place in any recognizable way. While I have my own opinion as to whether it is a better or worse place, this is not about that. It is just about the fact that the place I loved is gone.

I've also seen that many, no, most of the people I felt made the place so special are also gone. Where, I don't know. It is for them I write this and will update this from time to time - on the off chance that they will read this at some point. I'd love to hear from you, and I'd love to have a beer or two with most of you if you are ever in Washington, DC.

And so on with the update...

What's new...hmm, well, we bought a new house for one. New for us that is. Built in 1948 (or 1946, I can never keep things like that straight), it is a red brick house on a quarter acre in the City of Falls Church (a small municipality in the Northern Virginia metro DC area). The house is great, although we bought it with the intent of putting an addition on in the not too distant future as many of our new neighbors have done. Fortunately, there seems to be an effort to use one of several local architects, so the additions that have been done are in keeping with the feel of the original, and in most cases an improvement aesthetically as well as functionally. I've been relearning the joys of home ownership - mowing, plumbing, installing things like closet shelving, etc. If you know me at all you will not be surprised that I couldn't bear to buy a gas powered mower, so I am now the proud owner of a battery operated lawn mower and string trimmer. The mower is great, the trimmer...well, we'll see. Of course if I need to I can always "upgrade" the battery in one or both with some aerospace ones, heh.

By the way, locking in a new home mortgage right before all hell breaks loose in the mortgage market - priceless.

Travel, as many here know, is one of my favorite things and this year has been fairly busy in that regard. I've been to France twice, the second time last month for two weeks (sandwiched between closing on the house and moving from our old places (my wife selling her condo in Philadelphia and becoming a telecommuter and us actually living together full time since being married!) and consisting of time spent in Lyon, Nice and Monaco, and Paris. Of the places we went, I have to say that Lyon is the only one I don't have a need to return to, although if I return to Monaco it would only be worthwhile once I've added a zero to my annual income. Or two. I also made another trip to Kyoto, Japan in April for work although this time there was no sight seeing of any significance. I did manage to have some of the best food I've ever had in Japan including my first trip to a rather well known tofu restaurant in Kyoto. It was amazing, and somewhat funny since it was the first trip to Japan for several of my colleagues on the trip.

Work, which pays for all of the above, is crazy as is usual. Since I've joined my company (NYSE: ORB) I've seen the stock price essentially double as a result of the sometimes crushing growth we have been experiencing. My area - building GEO communication satellites for customers around the world - has grown from building one or two at a given time to having seven in production right now. We will launch four of those between now and Thanksgiving. What that all means is that when we find the inevitable problems in our hardware, there is a heck of a lot of long hours making the corrections, testing the fixes, and getting back on track. By the way, these things have to last 15 years once launched. When I'm not cursing the work I'm loving it. Here's hoping I survive to the new year.

Photography is still a passion, though it is sporadic in its execution these days. I've taken some images that I'm very proud of this year, but at the moment I'm sharing them only with my local friends and family. One of my long term projects is an illustrated alphabet book for children's, so when out with the camera I'll sometimes be thinking 'Is this a "K" image?' or some such. My biggest problem is that I'm not particularly good at the straightforward shot (as you may have noticed), so I wonder if it might not be easier to do an adult's version. Beyond that project, I can tell you that France continues to be what I consider one of the most beautiful developed places in the world. While Germany, like Japan, are pleasing to the eye, and especially to the engineer/right brained creative in me, and Italy is, well, Italy, France is simply stunning in its sophisticated beauty everywhere one goes. Unfortunately at the moment it is also stunningly expensive due to the fact that we are driving our currency into the toilet. Such is life.

Speaking of life, it is generally grand. Just about the only negative in it is the sense of loss I feel when I come around here. Nevertheless, I do visit once in a while and I'd like to think that some of you still do. Or maybe you don't. What I do know is that the number of journal updates and new deviations in my watch list of something around a hundred people changes much more slowly than it used to. Hell, if it weren't for `tangledweb and ^Davenit the journal and poll counts would barely move. So, let me know if you are around and if so what you are doing. Drop me a note or leave a comment, or...update your journal, lol. If you have a new home on the internet, I would love to know where it is as well.

Peace.