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So I got back from Dubai. One month to get my bits sorted then back out for 4 months. I was in town for 21 days and accumulated the following memories:

July 1: Leah Redus’s wedding. Leah and I have been friends for 6 years now, making her the person I have known in Baltimore for the longest. And she finally got married. Her and I went from relocated college grads living in the suburbs to city dwelling drinking buddies, to part time Dave Matthews followers (her and I saw two DMB shows together, one in Pittsburgh, one in Central Park), to yearly Fat Tuesday and St Patrick’s day revelers. Now I am an aspiring world traveler and she is an inspiring wife probably soon to be mother.

July 2: Shaq’s birthday. Shaq is another of my long term Baltimore cohorts. The year previous I missed her birthday for lack of sense, but this year I made it out to Bo Brooks for crabs.

July 4th: I ended the night seeing Rose and her husband Stephen. Rose trumps both Leah and Shaq in terms of length of friendship. I met Rose in college when her mother and my Aunt became pen pals on the internet. They got to talking and decided that her daughter was going to the same school as the other’s nephew! So we were put in touch with each other and have been best friends ever since.

July 9^th: JK MRB Day. Julie Keller and I met through a friend resulting from another college friendship, Heather Mills. The two of them are roommates and I am a frequent troublemaker in their apartment. Julie and I hiked around Rock Creek in DC as well as Arlington cemetery and Gravely point where we watched planes land every minute within spitting distance.

July 10^th: HJM-JK-MRB Day. With Heather back in town we set off to central Virginia to tour two wineries and Lauray Caverns. On the way back we drove the final bits of Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Forest.

July 11^th - 13^th: The folks tour, leg 1. Flew up to Buffalo, rented a car, drove to Erie to visit Mom, Grandma, Uncle and home based friends. Met up with Tom and Jay, and also Bill, Ryan, Emily, and Brian in the short time I was there. It was quite fulfilling.

July 13^{th – 16th}: Folks tour leg 2, Raleigh. Drove back to Buffalo, and flew this time to Raleigh to visit pops and yet another college friend Clint and his wife Sara. Dad is in good shape and my sister flew into town and together with his wife Robin we toured the Raleigh museum of history.

The next day Clint, Sara and I drove down to the Atlantic coast and attempted to catch some fish. We ended up feeding them shrimp and catching a heck of sunburn!

Finally July 20th: A going away shindig with my Baltimore crew, its funny, since ive begun

travelling and spending considerable time away from what is defined as home, I see more people when I am home temporarily than I do when Im there permaently!

Those are the highlights. It was a whirlwind tour that ended as soon as it began. Cruel is the person who decreed that good times go by fast.