Have Dog, Will Travel!

As tradition dictates, I type this from 35,000 feet; this time, instead of the Atlantic Ocean, I’m now over the Gulf of Mexico, headed from Miami to New Orleans.

The past two and a half weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. Here’s where I’ve been and what I’ve been up to since we last spoke:

New York: I hung out in NY at my Mom’s house for a couple of days after flying in from Argentina. Nothing too exciting to relate from my time there, other than a couple of trips to the dog park. My mom just got a new Jack Russell Terrier. He’s a cute little guy, aside from his freakishly large organ. Seriously; if there was any money to be made in doggy porn, he would be the next Ron Jeremy. I also had a chance to see my New Jersey relatives, if only for an afternoon.

Asheville: From the Northeast, I flew to my Dad’s place in Asheville, North Carolina to celebrate Passover and his 60th birthday. As far as the town itself, I highly recommend a visit. It’s one of the few places in the U.S. I would actually consider living in at this point (which is really saying something). He’s really got a good thing going on down there; we sat down at his local breakfast joint, and the lady who owns it came over to wish him a happy birthday, before inquiring about my time in Argentina, and how my brother was faring out there in Arizona. We also stopped by his office, bringing a cake to celebrate with his coworkers.

Richmond: Assorted fun with the family.

Washington D.C.: I caught a ride from my Mom up to Washington, where I stayed with my brother Rob, who was just named the New Media Director for the Democratic Caucus. As I understand it, that means he’ll be using his CrackBerry (which is really just an extension of his arm, a la Scarlett Johannsen in Terminator 3) to direct the Democrats’ online efforts. He’s got a huge budget to work with, and I think he’s going to do some really awesome things.

I was only in D.C. for a short bit, but I managed to check out a couple of the highlights (which I’d never seen before). That included a tour of the Capitol, including the chamber where the President gives the State of the Union each year. Much smaller in person than on T.V. I even sat in Laura Bush’s Michelle Obama’s seat!

Rob also taught me how to ride his motorcycle. It’s definitely a form of transportation I’ll be exploring next time I settle down. Cheap, fun, and great gas mileage.

I also got a chance to go see the Grateful Dead with my friend Andrew from high school, and I hung out with my buddy Paul from Tulane. The second to last night I was in town, Rob and I got dinner with my cousin-in-law Dan.He gave me some tips on the blog (less bloggin about blogging, more blogging about bloggable events). We also had dinner and drinks with my cousin Kim and her husband Brian; all in all, a very enjoyable 2 days in our nation’s capital.

Miami, Florida: After a bit of a disaster in DC (the Green line goes to the airport? I’m on the Yellow!), I arrived in balmy Miami, staying almost a week with my grandparents up in West Palm Beach. Lots of sun, lots of pool, lots of downtime. The highlight (if it could be called that) was our trip to my Grandpa’s local synagogue for “Yom HaShoah”, the annual day of remembrance for the Holocaust. Both of my Grandparents are survivors. I’d never been before, but it was a very powerful experience. As events grow more distant in the past, it becomes easier to forget them, and that’s simply not an option in this case; I’ll be making an attempt from now on to pay my respects on this day each year.

My brother Jon and I also spent a nice day on the beach with my Aunt and Uncle. In general, it was great catching up with the fam, after 6 months away.

My last night in Miami was spent with one of my good friends from College. Mikey now lives in a church devoted to teaching people that medicine is bad and Jesus is good. On that note, I’m going to sign off to pray away these shin splints that have been bothering me the last week or so. I can kinda dig this “God cures all” philopsophy; seems way cheaper, now that I don’t have health insurance.

Now I’m off to New Orleans, popularly known as “The City That Forgot to Care”. Lots of music, so get ready for some videos!

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 11:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.