The stress of moving and changing jobs has kind of put me off blogging... so for updates I refer to you Paula's blog.  She has been much better than I about blogging as of late.

At any rate... after a much delayed flight from Dublin to Chicago we're relaxing in the American Airlines Admiral club.  I must say, AA is going down hill.  The aircraft here from Dublin was a total beater (our seats had no functioning lights and the channels on the AV system wouldn't change).  The Admiral's club is not much better, the seats all look like the upholstery hasn't been cleaned in a decade.

Yep, delaying my flight for several hours forcing me to have a 5 hour layover makes me grumpy.

Bah!

Paula and I are complete old fogies... we rang in 2008 from bed.  On the plus side... it's the first time in several years we've actually been awake at midnight.

Have a wonderful, safe and peaceful 2008!

One of the things Paula and I have found is the off season is really nice.  The weather may be cooler but the prices are lower and (my favorite part) the crowds are lighter.

There is, however, one more thing I was noticing today: the lighting is dramatic for most of the day.  If you're trying to take pictures during the summer, they really look best at sunset and sunrise.  During the winter, however, the sun is lower and the light is more dramatic.

Grenada has been a joy so far.  I was a bit stressed at the beginning since my grasp of Spanish is pretty much nil, but I've decided to relax and let Paula handle it all.   After spending most of the morning traveling yesterday we had an early dinner then walked around a bit near hotel.  We slept about 12 hours then spent today going up and down the hills that surround the Al Hambra palace.  Tomorrow we head up the hill to see the grand Moorish complex, we can't wait.

I've got a new job (soon)!  The beginning of next year I'll be joining the Sharepoint team in Redmond, Washington.  I'm super-excited about this new position.  I'll be moving into the greater Office organization and getting a chance once again, to work with friends from the past. 

While Paula and I are both really excited to be moving to Redmond we're still a little bit stressed and sad.  We're facing down our second international move in less than two years (can you say "gluttons for punishment"?) and are a little disappointed to be leaving Ireland. We love the Irish people, the country and especially the convenient travel.

We will, however, be over the hump soon and are working hard to distract ourselves (went to Waterford last weekend, going to Spain this weekend, going to western Ireland in early December and to New York for Christmas with my sister <phew>). 

January 14th is my first day... so I'm sure the time will fly.

... because this may take a while.

If you're like me and like to adjust the look and feel of your SmugMug site then you'll love this: a visual reference for the SmugMug Class and DIV IDs.

I was poking around Chris MacAskill's SmugMug galleries and came across this wicked cool reference.  I'm now going to load the printer up with 8x10 photo paper and print this beauty for my wall.

... Fight Like Apes!

With an EP title like "David Carradine Is A Bounty Hunter Whos Robotic Arm Hates Your Crotch", how can you not love these folks?

The quirky title might grab your attention but the Dublin quartet will definitely please with great tracks and a style described as "synth-grunge".  Check out their My Space page and have a listen.

Note: I realize "Whos" is not "good English"... but that is the album title.  They are, after all, quirky.

I've made no secret of how much I love SmugMug.  Great price, straight-forward UI, unlimited photo storage, open APIs... blah, blah, blah.  You want loyal customers?  Simple: make a great product and support it well.

Well, here's another tip for loyal customers: give 'em free stuff for no reason whatsoever.

I logged into SmugMug tonight to check the stats on my pictures and guess what?  They're going to send me stickers and a camera strap...  just 'cause.

I'm feeling the love.