Well I'm late again, but it's been a busy month. First-up, I turned thirty---with the help of a surprise party courtesy of Wendy, Matt and Mary. Then there was camping at the Lost Creek Wilderness, buying a car ("Gerald the GTI"), checking out the Garden of the Gods, some baseball... I went to Hannah and Andy's wedding, too. And not to forget, of course, the source of today's Englishman in Colorado wonderment: I went to my first ever drive-in bank. And I'm not just talking about a drive-in cashpoint; this was an entire full-service bank where you didn't have to get out of your car. So you drive up and kind of speak into this post thing, and a disembodied voice tells you to put your money, chequebook, ID, deposit slip, whatever, into this capsule wotsit. Then you sit the capsule in a little alcove in the post, whereupon a little door closes in front of the alcove and the capsule disappears, sucked down a tube to God knows where. A couple of minutes later it's sucked into reappearance and now contains your receipt, cheque, money, whatever, and the little alcove door opens. "Thanks for using Wells Fargo", says the voice, and you drive off. Weird!

Perhaps I'm overcompensating for weeks of website neglect, but here I still am. In the UK at the moment doing final packing and cleaning of the flat before the very final goodbye to London. Am truly hating it (packing and cleaning; not London). Yuck. Here's another US-UK anthropological observation. A few months ago, I was telling this American woman that I'd been going out with Natalie for seven years. She was agog: "That just doesn't happen here". "So what does happen?". "Well, after two years you'll sit down and decide if you're going to get married or not. If you are, you do it; if not, you split up". Blimey.

Dave says "your website has a kind of Marie Celeste feel to it", and he's right. I've not been on the blogger case so much recently. But there's some new stuff to see: some photos I took in LoDo and some more from Denver botanical gardens. I also went to James' and Kate's wedding the other week, and took some pictures there too. I'd never been to the South Downs before, and it was lovely: super-lush rolling countryside. Quite a change from the semi-desert of Colorado. There's stuff I'm learning about the States too. I discovered the other day that cucumbers are different: kind of darker, smaller, waxier, and usually served peeled. Normal cucumbers [sic] are sold as "English cucumbers", reassuringly complete with shrink-wrap (and erroneously described by Wendy as "gross"). I found this, which explains the difference. I liked the title "Cucumbers Explained".

So packing is going OK, though it's left the house something of a mess. Can't believe Pickfords charge 50 quid for a small set of cardboard boxes, of all things! They're very nice boxes for sure, but 50 quid? The weather in London has been supergorgeous, which makes it into quite a lovely city. I've not really had much chance to enjoy it, though---now I'm an American I even had to work on Good Friday. But anyway, hospital Tuesday and Wednesday, Pickfords Thursday, flying Friday and then I'll be back in the land of permanent sunshine. Many of you have asked "Who's Wendy?". Ian handily provides this by way of answer.

Back in London for a couple of weeks to pack up the house and finish up at the hospital. Can't believe that it's just been the warmest March on record here and I missed it all. And even though I got to see Denver's worst snow-storm in 90 years instead, now I'm back it's 70 degrees in Denver and freezing here. Ho hum. Rob sent me this yesterday, which I thought amusing. Plus, did I show you this, also good?

Well here I am in San Jose, checking out the Spring 2003 VON conference. The weather here is OK, but kinda disappointing for California, even if there are palm trees lining the streets. Anyways, I'm looking forward to getting back to Denver and my new apartment---and beyond that to the UK on Monday. Can't believe that the Hyatt in San Jose doesn't have broadband in the rooms... how crap is that? Isn't this supposed to be Silicon Valley?

Lordy; what a week. Moved into my new apartment on Thursday and have been shopping wildly ever since. It's amazing how much stuff you need to make a completely empty place habitable. Was so tired yesterday that I accidentally fell asleep in my "pimpalicious" lovesac (don't laugh). And gradually I'm beginning to exist out here; not only do I now have an address but I also have a bank account, Social Security number (finally!), even dollars. Felt like I'd truly landed when on Friday I drove through Denver in my ridiculously large SUV with a fuck-off-enormous TV in the back. Even treated myself to a new stereo. There's just no stopping me now. Not looking forward to packing up the London flat; feel free to volunteer to help...

So this weekend sees the beginning of flat-hunting out in Denver; there's kind of a lot of lofts to go and see. But for now I simply bask in tonight's Siedler victory... End of yet another busy week at work, mixing SIP Servlets with Leapstone meetings with brainstorming new product ideas. Today was another gorgeous sunny treat---72 degrees and counting; how can I not move out here? We'll see what the realtors come up with.

Woo hoo---got my hair done today; very exciting! It has highlights and everything, though you can't quite make them out in the photos I've just uploaded. Ali G on HBO was great last night; a fantastic return to form. Funny that they provide a glossary for the American market... "me: my"; "not in da house: missing"; "innit: isn't it, that's right, that's correct" and so on. Enjoyed "The Economists"; a bit of genius.

Back out in Denver again, enjoying Coloradan sunshine. Rob's been jolly flattering about my new photos, as have a few others, though they haven't yet seen the self portrait. Discovered a great clothes shop in LoDo, where I accidentally spent too much money the other day. Apart from that not much is new; still SIP Servlets at work, gym in spare time, Matt and Mary playing perfect hosts. Enjoyed this fascinating article about pricing. Did you know that Coca-Cola tested "a vending machine that could sense the outside temperature and 'automatically raise prices for its drinks in hot weather'"?

So a busy busy week; SIP Servlets at work and going on the march at the weekend; and have already been to Milk and Honey too many times. I just uploaded some photos of the demonstration:

• crowds; and
• individuals.

I've also added a winter section to my portfolio and a couple of old photos of Natalie I came across. Found this cool game, and this colour-blindness test.

Great to be back in London! The flat is still standing, though water has mysteriously found its way into the study. Hmm. Had lunch with Natalie today, which was nice. She's looking very well and happy with her news; cool! Sent her the thing I found about Double Dactyls, but she didn't comment. Apart from that, not much new. Joined Milk and Honey, so now I have somewhere to go in Soho...

Sitting here in Denver in Paris on the Platte, catching up with some email and drinking the o-so-civilised pitcher of Espresso they do here. It's another beautiful day---wonderfully mild, with bright sunshine---in a very un-January way. Have been very busy at work this week having Ubiquity training. In a way it's quite refreshing to have no money and no way of getting any---due to lost wallet---but undeniably it has its fair share of concomitant hassles too. Matt's been giving me an allowance of dollars to get me through the day. Randomly came across this, which apparently wasn't good enough for Rob, but which amused me nonetheless. Chemistry next week beckons...

All change! So, a new-look isaachepworth.com for the New Year. Let me know what you reckon; does it work? Does it not work? Having problems with Netscape or a Mac? I'm not convinced myself yet about the orange, but we'll see. I've been fairly busy out here in the States recently... visiting Microsoft in Redmond... seeing downtown Seattle... attending an offsite... losing my wallet... finding it again... Looking forward to coming back to the UK in a week or so: will be going to Chemistry with Mark and Becca, which should be interesting. The singles life continues; watch this space!