In the meantime, I've decided to enter this year's Dominance War, the annual 3d modeling and 2d concept art competition, now in its 4th year (I never finished my entry from last year). I was representing 3dTotal last year, but this year I've joined GameArtisans (I have no particular allegiance to any forum- I pick according to what best suits my entry since the rules require incorporating forum colors/logo).
I'm really just looking to take this opportunity to update my portfolio. Here's a link to my thread:
http://www.gameartisans.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8525
UPDATE 6/24
I dropped out of the competition (again). However, my brother made it to the top 75! He didn't place among the finalists, but that's some nice company to be in regardless.