I need a drink after all this...

It's been almost a year since I was at all active here.

I have excuses, but still feel remiss for not giving my column its due diligence. Excuse number one is my ongoing excuse for the last 22 months and will continue to be so for the next 16-20 years I estimate. As none of our readers know, I have several pets in the house; two dogs, two cats, and a 22-month-old daughter. Most of my time away from work is spent taking care of and spending time with my family. When little Baby Face is napping is when I usually catch up on some housework, and when she is down for the night, I will either collapse from fatigue or spend a little time sittin' and sippin' with my wife.

As a sort of indicator of how long it's been since I posted last, my last entry referred to Gina as my girlfriend.

My second excuse is a compendium of life-changing processes which have taken place over the last ten months or so. Moving from one house into another rendered me without Internet access for about five months as we worked out our new budget and went through different jobs, getting married took most of my mental energy away from things other than getting our tax/legal information sorted out, and setting out to buy the house we've moved into has scrambled my brain like a tornado tearing through a poultry farm.

But now that things are starting to settle down a little, I'll do my best to get back on the keyboard and report about my latest adventures in spirits. I feel that it would be the best thing for the World Wide Web if I had as big a presence as possible. But mostly I'm just trying to prove to Joe that I am able to maintain regular attention to a blog so that he'll let me write for Critical Hit.