1993 One of my most life-changing experiences, I started to learn Spanish. This was key to virtually everything that came later in my life, both personally and professionally. 1994 A year after starting to learn Spanish, I spent a month in Cali, Colombia and met some excellent friends. I also got to travel with them to Ecuador. It was a very memorable month, and I returned to Cali for New Year's at the end of the year. 1995 I got to know, more and more by mail and phone calls, the person that would later become my wife. In June, I spent a week in Monterrey Mexico to meet her in person. I went again in September--a few days after two of my friends from Cali came up and we took a road-trip to Las Vegas and Disneyland.
	1996 In January of 1996, I quit my job in the U.S. and moved to Mexico so my relationship with my wife-to-be would have a chance. By March I had a job in Monterrey and was re-establishing my life in a foreign country. 1997 My job in Monterrey led to me moving away from Windows development and more to embedded and microcontroller development. This was a major shift that would impact my professional career from then until now. I set up the 8052.com website which quickly became the premier website on that topic and currently (as of 2007) has over 15,000 members. I also got my first three consulting contracts in 1997 while still working full-time in Mexico. 1998 For the most part, 1998 was a continuation of 1996 and 1997 in that I was simply living and working in Monterrey, getting to know my wife-to-be more and more. At the end of the year, I proposed to her on her birthday. She accepted. 1999 In April, I quit my full-time job in Mexico to dedicate myself to full-time consulting (I've been self-employed ever since). Also, in October I got married to my wife in Cancun. Actually, in Xcaret to be exact. 2000 My wife and I took our first trips to the United States together in 2000. Our first was a weekend trip to visit friends in Dallas. A month or two later we road-tripped with other friends in Monterrey to Alabama to meet up with still other friends, then we road-tripped to Orlando, Florida and took in Disneyworld. Finally, in May my wife and I road-tripped up to Colorado and she was able to see Denver for the first time in person. 2003 My wife and I took a vacation with her mom and her sister to Cancun, including Tulum Mexico. A few weeks later, in September, my parents visited us in Monterrey for about a week and had a great time seeing where I had been living for the previous seven years. And a couple weeks after that, my wife and I drove to San Antonio, Texas, to meet up with our friends where we subsequently flew to New York City and spent a long weekend there--we visited the typical sites... The WTC/Ground Zero site, Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum, Empire State Building, and went to a baseball game. 2004 My wife and I took a very enjoyable road-trip through Arizona, Nevada, and California where we stopped at the Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Flagstaff (which she really liked), Las Vegas, drove through Death Valley, and stopped in Ridgecrest, California where I grew up. I also started writing a book on the 8052 microcontroller--this would take up the last few months of 2004 and a lot of time in the first half of 2005. 2005 In May, I spent two weeks camping in Death Valley with my best friends. I then drove back to Denver for my sister's wedding where my wife flew up to meet me. We (my wife and I) then took a trip to Ouray, Colorado and did some camping in Mesa Verde. In September we took a quick trip to Cancun since we hadn't been to the beach for over a year. In 2005 I also finished the book I had been writing since 2004. It was finally published in September.
	2006 In March, my wife and I moved to Denver for personal reasons. It was at this time we bought our first house. My wife took some intensive English classes (even though she already could speak English well). By the time her classes were done in October, USCIS had sent her her work authorization so she could legally work in the U.S.--and the week after she finished her classes, she had a job waiting. Luckily her USCIS exit permit came before Christmas and we were able to spend Christmas with her family in Monterrey. And that almost didn't happen since our flight was on the day of the '06 blizzard -- so we ended up driving to Monterrey, leaving the same afternoon that I-25 southbound opened. But we made it! 2007 Soon after returning from Christmas in Monterrey, my wife's green card came in. So we're done with immigration paperwork until such time as she files for citizenship. My wife continued working at her job until July, and I continue doing my independent consulting, currently working with clients in Las Vegs, two in California, and another back in Monterrey. We went back to Monterrey for Christmas, but I had to come back the next day and was home alone for the last week of 2007. I also got the flu which was a spectacular way to spend New Year's. My brother and his wife had a baby in December. 2008 Just working, working, working--mostly with my vineyard client. My wife's mom came to visit in May for a family wedding. In addition to attending the wedding we took her down to the Royal Gorge and Glenwood Springs hot springs.