Cy….you’re sweating in that photo. I thought women only glistened. Great to hear that you’re really really really good at this tennis stuff, though, because I plan to bring my racket (that’s racquet for the Nova Scotia people) and attempt to thrash you before I have a stroke and fall down.
Anyway, I’ve finally pretty much finalized my vacation plans for the summer, so I’ll put them here. If I disappear during the first week of July, please call the RCMP.
I’ll be leaving Duluth sometime on Friday the 30th and taking the short route to Canada (up 75, crossing at Detroit). Will probably stop somewhere around Toledo on Friday night and either camp or hit a hotel. On Saturday, I’ll continue northeast and hope to his Oshawa, Ontario, sometime Saturday afternoon, where I’m hoping to grab lunch or dinner with Bill Doten, with whom I’ve been exchanging emails for the last several months. I haven’t seen Bill probably since we were both about 10, so it should be fun – with any luck, we can start a grass fire with smoke bombs (not that we EVER did that in North Reading, mind you).
After Oshawa, I’m heading north to Algonquin Provincial Park, which I believe is Canada’s largest national park. I have a campsite reserved at Pog Lake in the park from Sunday the 2nd until Saturday the 7th and I’m really looking forward to spending the week looking at moose, swimming, wearing lots of Deet, drinking Canadian beer, and taking my blood pressure every hour just so I can watch it decline.
I’m sure that doesn’t sound overly exciting to most of you, but I’m REALLY pumped about it. If all goes as well as I expect it to go, I may talk a friend of mine into trying out the park’s interior this winter – snowshoeing and all that good stuff. The two of us have been camping three times so far this year (last weekend we canoed down the Chatooga River – where Deliverance was filmed), and we have a great time being mountain men.
On the 7th, I’ll make the relatively short trip over to Magnetawan to join Cy, T, Karl & Dianne (Neuse) and I’m anticipating having yet another excellent week there….I *think* this is my 14th year there. Is that right, Cy? Cy and T have informed me that the perfect woman that they’d lined up for me will not be in attendance, but T has promised to be on the lookout for a suitable replacement.
Probably sometime on the 14th – possibly early on the 15th – I’ll head south via the eastern route through Kingston, crossing near Niagra Falls and heading back to Atlanta through Pittsburgh. Audrey will be moving to Philly next week, so she and I may try to hook up somewhere in PA (possibly Gettysburgh) before I make a mad dash for home, arriving sometime on Sunday the 16th.
By the time I get home, I *might* have a housemate – none of that’s really been finalized yet (as far as the dates go). Her name is Maria Garza, she’s a career Army major stationed at Fort MacPherson, and she promises me that she’s an excellent cook and I will be *expected* to partake in her Mexican dishes (she’s Mexican, if the name didn’t clue you in to that). In case any of you are wondering, Maria is in her mid-late 40’s, has two grown children and a boyfriend, and this cohabitation is strictly economically-driven. She’s getting a place to stay for cheaper than she could ever find with an apartment and I’m getting a pretty nice chunk of change every month. Her plan is to leave Atlanta in the next 6 months or so, at which point I’ll probably start looking for another tenant.
Work continues to be incredibly boring – most of my projects were cancelled when AT&T announced their intention to buy us – and I really don’t see how I’ll manage to stay with the company if the merger actually goes through. Yet another reason I’m thrilled to have that extra income for the time being. If any of you know of job openings in your area – not necessarily computer-related, but I’ll consider that if the money is right – please let me know.
Larry and Mar – Jenny and I are coming to Nashville on August 11th and 12th to see some sort of Egyptian (?) thing at a museum there. If you’re going to be around, we’d really like to do dinner on the night of the 11th – call it a birthday present. I’ll be in touch with you in early August to nail down the details.
And that’s pretty much all the news that’s fit to print on my life at this point. Hope everyone is well and happy.
