Happy Halloween from New Orleans!

We are waiting outside our hotel for Karen & Craig! It is a little after 10 and past time for our breakfast cocktails! People are already walking the streets drunk and in costume. Yes RJ, we've already seen a man part...clearly A fake nude, but an enormous third leg a swinging! The city may still be in recovery, but the quarter is the same old thong and dance!

Beach Ball 2008

Thankfully the rain stopped!

Remember

The Alamo. My Pee Wee Pilgrimage is complete. Time for breakfast

The Capitol

The TX Capitol in Austin really is beautiful.

Salt Lick Barbecue!

Fun times Blake, Denise, & Brandon!

Austin!

I finished work and safely made it to Austin! Three day weekend here I come!

Camping Rocks!

We had the best time ever this weekend. Make sure you watch the slideshow now. As the attendees see what I've posted on Picasa, they will undoubtedly ask me to remove a few of these. A few "live" updates were also posted on Kevin & Catrina's blogs. I'm too tired for fancy links, but I am VERY happy to utilize running water.

The Nature Gays

We are officially camping fans! It was only one night, but what a fabulous time. We met some cool new friends who will also be there on Labor Day. I need to upload the pics, but here's a Google Map - We stayed by the "ledge" at site 9 this weekend and have site 5 reserved for Labor Day with our peeps! It's an open invitation - let me know if you can go and we'll add you to the email chain.


View Larger Map

Good Friends

We arrived safely in Cincinnati just in time to head to the Dayton Airport to pick up Elena! We had some snacks and drinks at Margarita Village on the way back with Shannon! Several more fun things are planned for today after we visit Timmy's Dad in the hospital. Yes, another heart attack while in the hospital recovering from pneumonia. The man is amazingly resilient despite his brittle health.

We passed this church on the way to Dayton. It is apparently known as the "Touchdown Jesus." I saw it too late to get a good pic, but if you click on the picture, you'll see other people's photos. I've received some of these before in junk mail from friends, but I've never seen the place in person. It is surreal. Click here to see the church Timmy wanted to visit.

Fun times in Phoenixville! This is the theatre where the Blob was filmed.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July! We are getting ready to attend a family reunion that we haven't been to in many many years. I am most excited about seeing my Great Aunt Vania! Here's a snapshot from last night's fireworks.

Mom, Whitney, Keith, and I got great seats in Bicentenial Park. While we weren't in the middle of the action, we were appropriately positioned for a good view and a quick escape. Despite the torrential rains that filled the day, we only felt a few sprinkles on the walk and it stayed dry until we got back to the car after they were finished!

As usual, Columbus outdoes itself every year with a giant festival and amazing fireworks display. I don't have my trusty Mac with me to upload the video to Youtube, but I did capture the finale and may add it later. Here is someone else's video, but it doesn't do the finale justice.

Red, White, & Boom 2008

I didn't have a chance to summarize our literary and historical adventures from yesterday, but today we spent the day taking care of Mom's Dr. appts. and visiting dear friends. We have walked a fair distance from the original Max & Erma's in German Village where we had dinner to Bicentenial Park. The clouds are rolling in as we pray for no rain before Red White & Boom in Columbus! The District has now been away for a week and misses The District.

Outdoor Adventure Day

Despite the rain and high rivers in the Midwest, we decided to go canoeing and Dotster came along! Here are the ladies getting ready to board the ship.

Fun time in the river! We survived!

These pics were originally mobile blogged, but due to the cracked camera lense, I have replaced them with pics from the real camera.

Lisa made a fab spaghetti dinner and then we went to Grandma & Grandpa's house where we played Shanghai Rummy until nearly midnight. Grandpa won and I came in last, but only by 4 points worse than Grandma and 14 points worse than Whitney. We all think Grandpa cheated.

Morning Run

The bad thing about arriving so late last night (or rather this morning) was that it was too late to meet up with my friends. I had a nice chat and a cold beer with Jack & James; then crashed.

The good thing about it was my early wake up time! I was able to get up, handle a few voicemails/emails, and then take a nice 5.61 mile run this AM! It wasn't supposed to be that long, but I took a shortcut and got lost by selecting a street that doesn't cross theirs. Nice work slick.

I did have a nice surprise on Gould Street when I passed the Lustron Home pictured above. I've always wanted to live in one of these and perhaps one day I will have one! Sorry the picture is bad - Apparently wiping off my phone camera lense with my drenched shirt was not very effective. Despite the profuse sweating, this sighting made the run completely worthwhile. I still want to be an architect when I grow up.

Time for a bit more work and then off to lunch with old colleagues.

Boston Weekend Pics

Sunday Funday Boston!

Everyone had a great time yesterday, but it was quite the long day; especially for those of us from DC who got up at 4 AM. With intentions of the mandatory disco nap before clubbing, we quickly ate dinner and came back to the house. Then...we all fell out.

Clarification....Jym/RJ decided they needed a little club action and escaped somewhere around midnight while the rest of us went to bed. I can't wait to hear the stories, but of course they are still sleeping. I am ready for a boozy breakfast!

Here are two more pics of note from yesterday. RJ found Daddy Stephen (one the Pedicab drivers) and made Siobhan take a ride since she didn't get the experience earlier. I think RJ just wanted to check out his azz one more time as we literally were going less than 1 block away. He of course talked him into the scenic route.

Earlier in the day we had treats at The Green Dragon Tavern, a super old restaurant that is considered the "Headquarters of the American Revolution." Jym had to pose with their statue greeter.

Fritz Street Festival

Story later. Mens everywhere. We might need a disco nap soon.

Edit: We stayed for awhile and found a random stranger to capture us on film. Blood Killer Death Man acted out and f'd with Bosox Siobhan's hat, but it's still a cute pic.



We decided to leave shortly after seeing these two women. One was digging franticly in her purse for another $4 for a beer and the other digging franticly at the coke closet, allegedly to empty herself of the beers she had already consumed. You have to appreciate a street festival with big hairy bears, little crack freaks, drag queens, and especially the hot mens with their shirts off everywhere. Fun times!

Boston Pedicab

We're on the way to find Laura.

Edit: Why we paid $50 for two pedicabs to take the five of us to the Festival is beyond me. Later, when we took a taxi returning to the exact same location, it was lest than $9.00. We do love a nice pedicab! Here are some other shots.

One of our own

There she be! I had to yell to Bosox Siobhan to turn around since i was busy looking at the Manhunt boys on one of the floats in front of her.

Edit: Here are some other pics from the parade. You might ask why I'm up so early. I had a dream about the Manhunt Boys (one of them pictured left.) Bad I know, but you dress up a bunch of hot men like savage hunters and it burns an image on your eyeball.






Here's the start of the parade. We didn't walk far enough forward to see all of the Dykes on Bikes, but we did watch the entire parade!




I couldn't help capturing this woman in the building. Had she been a little closer, I could have determined whether or not Tisha was spying on the parade and on us. This chick had the same mannerisms that we observed from a distance.

I do love a nice fern.











Click here to see "Queens at Rest" as Bosox Siobhan so elegantly put it. I had no idea she had previously blogged that post. I caught these same queens "in action."




Finally, besides the Obama Pride Marchers, which I found very personally moving, this was the most socially significant entry in the parade. I don't know his name or the details, but this peaceful activist was carrying a US Flag to show his patriotism and pulling a wagon filled with memorials to and personal items from soldiers KILLED in this war to demonstrate the human lives that have been lost. I wanted to help him push his cart all the way back to Washington, DC.

Boston Pride!

Jym is overstimulated and this is just the parade lineup

Edit: We had a fantastic time at the parade celebrating Boston Pride. I am fairly certain this man's giant "flower" arrangement on a stick was a bit disturbing for Mr. Jym, but he had no idea what was yet to come. Check out all the pics posted from the day by Bosox Siobhan and Blood Killer Death Man at Boston Steamer. Make sure you look to see which of them posted each pic. You'll also want to check out Rita Jean's live blogging at Between U and Me.