I'm still here. I've just been sitting around with my head stuffed firmly in two C++ tutorial books, two C++ references and copy of Stroustrup's "The C++ Programming Language". I'm getting myself at least up to the same competency I have in Python. Eventually, I might be able to contribute on the source code side of the game.
To top it all off, I've re-enrolled in the university I dropped out of ten years ago, starting with the intro C++ course (hey, I'm already hurting my brain, why not get credits for it, right?). My contributions will be a bit on the slow side for a little while.