Long time no blog!  For those of you that haven't removed a bookmark or unsubscribed from my RSS feed, thanks!  I'm alive, I'm here, and I'm still blogging.  You might notice some aesthetic changes here, but rest assured they are only temporary.  The server software I use (Community Server) has released the second beta of their 2.0 software, and I've upgraded the site to run on beta 2.  Unfortunately, this means I'll need to re-skin the site to meet 2.0 standards, which may take a few days.  For now, I'm running an out-of-the-box minimalistic skin.  Also, comments are temporarily disabled, so look for those to be turned back on soon.

So where have I been?  End-of-year was particularly busy at work, due to a client's project that was due around Christmas, as well as some career news -- I've been promoted to the manager of web development, which has kept me extra busy the past few weeks.  It's been an interesting transition, and I'm really looking forward to the challenges I'll be faced with in the coming months.  But now that things are settling down, I'll have some time to blog.

Despite not having time to keep the site updated, I've had plenty of time to play games.  December was my busiest gaming month to date, with 25 games played.  However, that's sure to change in January, as I'm already up to 20 games, with half the month to go.  In addition, I'm heading out to visit Karl, my uncle, at the end of January.  He's the one responsible for my gaming habit, and I'm sure we'll pack a number of games into my 3-day visit.  I'm really looking forward to taking some of my new favorites from the past year with me.  Railroad Tycoon, anyone?

That's all for now.  If over the next couple of weeks you see any glitches with the site, bear with me.  In addition to upgrading my blog software, I'm also replacing the hardware. 
I'm turning my old gaming rig (a P4 2.4 GHz machine) into a new web server / home theater PC.  All the parts are on order and should arrive this week.  I doubt I'll get to it before my trip to Tampa, but hopefully by early February I'll have lumbersmiths.com running on new hardware.  I expect to see a marked improvement in performance, especially in the photos section.

But now it's time for bed.  Goodnight, blogosphere!