The End of Summer

So this will be a rather long post. Its been a while. In July I went out to San Diego to see an old friend, Katie Slusser, get married. I've known Katie for about 20 years and it was a simply beautiful wedding. I was also able to catch up with old friends and make new friends. We all had a wonderful time fellow shipping together.

This is my favorite picture of Katie and her husband: Stephen Jeltema.

This is our little east coast crew: Bethany, Dave, Me and Gavin.

I was able to head home to Maine again in August: Lily's from the garden. And thankfully caught up with an old high school friend, Luke. Hanny's house warming party was the same weekend so I got to spend time with her and her friends. She has a great little apartment in a fabulous location. Once I made it back to VA it was labor day. A group of friends from the gym decided to rent kayaks for the day and putter up and down the Potomac. It was a beautiful day! We had a lot of fun but as a small side note; the Potomac is not a clean river, please don't swallow the water and be careful swimming in it :)
A great view from the river.

Off we go! That is the Kennedy Center in front of me. They have very nice concerts. Last fall Tina and I attended the orchestra there. The ceiling looks like multiple benzene rings.

We pulled up to some rocks and relaxed in the sun for a while. I didn't rub my sunscreen in well enough and got some weird burn patterns on my legs.

Vivek, was going to swim but once he sunk about 8 inches into the mud he changed his mind. The same weekend Amy, Travis and I went out for a night on the town. We headed into the District to the K St Lounge.

Ames and Travis.

Ames and I like to goof off for the camera.

September was also the month that my company, CPA, took our annual Staff Outing. We had a guided tour of DC and got to hang out at the Crime and Punishment Museum. I highly recommend going if you ever get the chance. It is really cool. This is a photo of my entire company (minus 1) in front of the White House. The President wasn't in the office that day. I'm not sure where he was but he was hosting guest form Ghana. Random fact: there is a woman who has been protesting nuclear/biological warfare in front of the White House since 1984 or 1985. She lives in a plastic tent. You are no longer allowed to protest in front of the White House, anyways, she is allowed to stay because the clerk who filled out her protest permit never put an end date on it. She went to court and won. She is a bit loony but will converse with you.

Other news my Muay Thai instructor, Dave Kaplan, is fighting on Spike TVs "The Ultimate Fighter." He is hoping to win a contract to fight for the UFC. The UFC is basically mixed martial arts fighting that is done in a caged octagon. Dave is the one landing the punch. He won this fight by a rear naked choke.