Life in context..or..what matters, really..

An ant, doing ant stuff. We had a brief conversation, then he went off to go about his ant work.

Well here we are. July is upon us. Being born in the summer, this is my time. Iam peaking and all my rhythms are at full power. apology for little to no blogging, but between golf,poker,work (I use the term "work" to mean enough to say "i have a job" but not enough to hold off impending bankruptcy) my birthday, my sister visiting and just kicking ass in general, I havent put much down. My birthday and the 4th of July are all in the same week, and I used vacation time to take the week off, so I partied my ass off ALL WEEK. The photo below is the first time in probably 12 or 13 years that my family has gathered together and shared good times and a meal, so that photo is truly one of a kind.

And of course, Iam the center of the group (theory proven..the universe does revolve around me..hahahah). Jeni and her parents adopted me, so to speak, so they have a spot of honor in the family photo ( they are the folks in the back row).

The B-Day party was awkward a bit at times, but, after a half hour or so, everyone was laughing, sharing stories and eating all of my favorite summer foods. The menu included Hickory Hamburgers, watermelon, sweet corn, pasta salad, cole slaw, various relishes, deviled eggs, some VERY good pulled pork BBQ (courtesy of my wonderful sister/brother-n-law) and a big 39 chocolate and yellow cake. Lots of nice gifties as well including a tripod AND a mono pod for my camera, digital photography for dummies ( thats me ) CASH..one of my favorite things..a BRAND NEW lawn mower from my dad. Normally, most people wouldnt get excited over a lawn mower, but we're weird like that. ALSO....my lovely wife bought two tickets to see Judas Priest (my all time favorite metal band) along with a brand new JP T-shirt for the show. This will be the second time I have had the pleasure to see JP. Say what you want about 70's and 80's rock bands, but I dont care. They were good times, and I kicked butt then, just like I kick butt now. I just have A LOT MORE gray hair....thank you to my Employers for the stress needed to provide the excess gray..hope you all slide under a gas truck..but not really. Did I mention how my wonderful wife gave me the new Dave Mathews Band CD also. She's the best, and I dont deserve such a wonderful wife/partner or a wonderful family like I have. They all made my day very special and I got hugged and kissed all day..it was great. I have been on an incredible hot streak due to my summer birth status. I have won all my matches in my golf league over the last 4 weeks, winning by an average of 6 strokes ( ass kickings for all the duffers ), in 5 weeks I lead the Hold em Poker league by a good margin and have won 20 bucks short of 500.I have 4 of 5 final table appearances with two third place finishes, one total victory, one 8th place finish and the first week I was eliminated in 16th out of 40 ( no points). Things are good , except for the looming loss of my job. Just 12 years of my life and wasted college, no biggie. I refuse to worry about it to the point of chest pains. Ill just retrain/reeducate and start over...again.

More blogging from here on out. Its just about time to gear up for football season and my quest for Boccee fame and the ritual fall rights associated with MSU whuppin it up on some Big Ten foes.Peace, love and good times for all my friends.