A Series of Unusual Events

What do the following possibly have in common?

• Free Drinks
• 80's Music (including the Go-Go's)
• The Back Room of a Porn Store
• Baseball
• Racial Slurs
• Expert Legal Testimony
• Gun Oil
• Lectures on HIV
• Hashing

Give up? These are some of the highs and lows of my recent vacation.

I have a great schedule for travel -- I work one week and have the next free. Unfortunately, I haven't had anyone with whom to travel for most of the year, so I haven't done much. The only major trip I had planned, to the Bahamas, was superceded by a death in the family (some day I will say more about her).

This all changed when my friend took a new job. He works for a cosmetics company, and now jets around the continent to help open new stores. This gives him long stretches of time on and off the job. He told me about a trip to New York at the end of April, and I altruistically volunteered to go meet him for a few days after the opening.

As the NY trip was developing, an old friend invited me to his going away party in Atlanta. (He's joining the CDC in a few months, and moving to New Hampshire.) Since I was going to be on the East coast anyway, and my boss agreed to cover me a few extra days, I added Atlanta to my itinerary.

I consider this my first "adult" vacation -- I've never had a real job and money to spend before. I had a blast. I'm going to break it down in the next two blogs, and let you in on the zaniness and debauchery. I wish I had taken more photos, but somehow, I always forget. Maybe next time -- my buddy's opening a store in Austin soon.

(Photo from oops-music.com and cnn.com)