Hey fella's, it's been a long time... If you don't remember me, I'm that guy that was always trying to do something, and never quite finishing anything

I've been quite busy lately, with work and all kinds of other things... but I'm really anxious to get back into roleplaying, story creation and game design... and for me, cartography is a huge part of it... I'm very excited to see some of the new featured maps.. and some of the site updates.. looking all snazzy.. I never got a chance to talk to this side of the deal I set up for work... I forget who ended up doing it.. but whoever did the work for Big Iron Vault's Keith Foo.. I recommended this site to help him out.. I saw the final product... and all I can say is wow.. you did a great job.. I hope you were happy with working with him, he's got ideas out the butt, and if it's map related, he's assured me this site will be his best friend.

Lets see.. a run down of what I've been doing (at least stuff that could pertain to map making)... ok ok.. this first one isn't, but it's a big deal, and flows into another big adventure i've been undertaking recently...

This past July my father past away, it was sudden, he was diagnosed with cancer in Dec and past in the summer, while it was a shock to be sure, I'm handling it extremely well considering (some might say i've yet to truely grieve, but the way I see it, I left it in the best terms, I knew he loved me and was proud of me, and he knew I felt the same)... He was a good man, a tinkerer, a gardener, a painter... his skills have already been sorely missed... but his absence during the current reno of our basement, and many other activities we've undertaken have only increased the fond memories I've been recalling of him.

One thing I have taken upon myself as a sort of "tribute" to my dad is painting... My wife was gracious enough to give me an amazing gift for christmas, a beginner class in watercolour (my dad's perferred medium)... I used to paint with him when I was a kid... I mean really small.. you know those landscape paintings people do when they're just starting out? well I did several great ones when I was 7... my highschool art teacher stole them... i believe they are on display in the schools library or something now... Anyways, there's no way I can do paintings that well now, so I've wanted to start out with the basics for a long time.. I've finally made the leap.. I'll attach my first painting here in a second.. I really like it, but it's a pretty simple subject and as of yet it's the only real style I seem to have the hang of... I love the look of watercolour, and I'd really like to try to bring that look into mapping... at the moment however, paper is far to expensive to waste on trying map work at the moment.. I'd rather work on some style for a bit longer Here's the painting

Click image for larger version. 

Name:	426938_571285270892_331100613_1987300_705266949_n.jpg 
Views:	59 
Size:	58.0 KB 
ID:	42670

Also, I've finished a major project at work... an economical development website written in flash for the county I work for... the url is here. I'm quite proud of it, it's my first large scale project, and I did it all myself. Right now I've moved on to make a mobile version of the site for your IPAD or Android devices... it's been a rediculous pain however to become a developer for apple (i never thought i'd have them harrassing me to join them). anyways, in due time i guess..

Well, enough details.. I'm interested to get back into it... I am going to attempt another shot at my "build the town from a series of events" idea I had a long time ago.. that attempt failed, but i'd like to try to come up with a process, so that i'm reacting to different events that happen, and the result ends up feeling more organic...

It's great to be back!