A Year in Travel

Yes, I am a bit late getting this out there, but I haven’t really had a chance to sit down and really think about what 2008 was like for me.  All-in-all, I have to say that it was a good year; no complaints, really.  No one in the family passed away, unlike in 2007, and, thankfully, my employer has managed to do well in this recession.

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 Love My Friends

I was chatting with my friend Jason this morning, and he told me about a little incident he had last night with someone working for the McCain campaign.

… 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.

To Minneapolis, I Go

I’m heading to Minneapolis tonight for a long weekend vacation.

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!

Kansas City Wrap Up

It was a bit of a fiasco getting to Kansas City, but it was a lot more relaxed once I got there. I had a good fun and it was really great to spend some time with Mac, who I haven’t seen in a good year and a half.

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

A Day in the City

Today, after visiting with my family, I went downtown with my camera. It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time walking around our many urban green spaces.

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?