So, what was the big thing for 2008?  Well, I traveled a shit-ton.

• Florence and Venice, Italy – This was a friends and family vacation that spanned over New Year’s.  It was great, except for Alitalia losing my luggage for six days.
• Chicago – I met up with my friend Jordan and some of his friends for a weekend of fun in the Windy City.
• Las Vegas – My company sent me to Las Vegas to work on our data center there.  I got to spend time with my friend Bryan, as well.
• Kansas City – I went to go hang with my friend Mac for an extended weekend.
• Minneapolis – I went to go hang with my friend Jordan for an extended weekend, as well.
• Toronto – A bunch of friends and I went to Toronto’s gay pride celebration and had a total blast.
• Washington, DC – I went with Dad and Jake (nephew) to check out the nation’s capitol.  It was my first time there and got to hang out with my friend Mike who lived out there, at the time.
• London, England – I spent a week in the UK with my friend John.
• Detroit – A vendor asked me to come up and give a presentation about how we use their product.  I also got to hang out with my friend James who showed me a little bit of Detroit.
• Saint Louis – My friend Bryan and his boyfriend Skip invited me out to spend the New Year with them.

Of course, I did manage to do some other things, but this was the year that I wanted to take a bunch of little trips, and I did.  I love to get out of town, honestly, and I plan to do a lot more this coming year in 2009.

Next up will be a weekend cruise with some friends.  Stay tuned.

… I was on my fifth mojito last night at about 8:30, and some dumb bitch came to my door canvassing for McCain. She asked if I was excited that Palin was in Noblesville today. I said, “No, I’d rather have my cat on the ticket than Caribou Barbie.” She just walked away.

I love my friends.

Photo Set: Garrett’s Toga Party 2008

I had a blast with everyone, and hope this becomes a new annual event.

I’m staying with my friend Jordan who I last saw in February in Chicago.  I also plan on visiting my cousin Lori and her family.  I haven’t seen them in a couple years, if I recall correctly.  My friends Andy and Lou recently moved to the Twin Cities, so I plan on spending a bit of time with them, as well.

Overall, I’m expecting to have a good, relaxing time with everyone, and hope to get some good photos.

Ciao!

Good times included eating just about every ethnic food one could have in a weekend: Chinese, Thai, Indian, and Mexican. We also spent a good part of an afternoon at the University of Kansas, where I took a bunch of photos. It reminded me a lot of Bloomington, actually, and I had no idea it was so hilly. I assumed it was all flat!

Here are some snapshots.

Another highlight was making it into Kansas City itself to see the Plaza, which is this outdoor shopping mall created back in the 1920s. Here are some shots from the area, but nothing specific of the mall itself. I guess I forgot to take pictures.

The last highlight I want to mention is that we saw Iron Man at the movie theatre Friday night. I thought it was a fantastic movie (except for the blatant product placements). I highly recommend it if you feel like hitting the movies in the near future.

Photo Set: Kansas City – May 2008

On my way home, I dropped by Steph and Stephanie’s house in the Old Northside. My friend Jonathan was there with his two dogs, Jackson and Jefferson, having a cookout with them. Not too long after my arrival, Dan and Doug showed up to pay a visit, too.

As it was getting dark, Stephanie decided to make some brownies. Have I ever talked about how much I love chocolate?

Anyway, at about that time, Steph and I started obsessing over history, architecture, etc. It turns out she has an historic postcard collection of Indianapolis just like me! Sometime soon she and I will have to do some card trading. Nothing fancy — just your average nerd fun.

After getting home tonight, I watched the Darjeeling Limited. I’m definitely a fan of little esoteric films like that. Have you seen it? What did you think?

I asked Andy P. and Laura to model for me.

Yes, it is, but I’m still going to do it.

To be honest, there isn’t a ton to report. The majority of the rest of my time in Las Vegas was spent working in a cold, loud data center cramped for space with some of my co-workers.

Fortunately, I had time to see more of my friends out there: Rick and Allison. Rick and I have known each other for years online, but didn’t get a chance to hang out until recently. Allison used to be my manager when I worked for ExchangeNet in Cleveland way back in 1998. It was great to see them both!

In conclusion, I’m convinced that I wouldn’t visit Las Vegas if it weren’t for my job. I can’t really see myself visiting there otherwise, except for the people I know, but at least I got a chance to experience Las Vegas a little bit and add it to the list of places I’ve seen.

Saturday was a family day, for the most part. It was my nephew Jake’s 17 birthday and the whole family got together for it. My sister and brother-in-law from Louisville even brought their parrot for the party.

After we sang “Happy Birthday!” and ate ice cream cake, I took Jake to Fry’s up on 96th Street to buy him a new keyboard and mouse for his new computer that we built a few weeks ago. This set was the replace the old, nasty set he had been using.

Saturday night was also a good time. After working a bunch in the afternoon, I met up with my friend Pete for some late dinner at the Old Point Tavern. After sharing a huge plate of nachos and downing a few mixed drinks, we did the obvious thing and went over to the homo bar — to drink some more, of course.

I ran into all kinds of people I knew. What I don’t remember, for sure, is the reason why I was in a face-slapping contest with my friend Carlos. Oh well!

The rest of my weekend was mostly work and sleep, which seem to cancel each other out, as far as I’m concerned.

Good times were had, including dancing at Berlin on Beltmon, real Ukrainian food at Sak’s, Millennium Park, wine drinking, tea drinking, and even some brunch.

Photo Set: Chicago – February 2008