New Mexico: Cleaner Than Regular Mexico

I was pretty much rolling on the floor when I saw this t-shirt at Urban Outfitters a couple of months ago. I felt funny buying the shirt because of the dirty looks I would probably receive from others. It took all my willpower not to make the purchase. People are now up in arms over this t-shirt. Personally, I am not offended by this at all despite being Hispanic myself. Then again, I am not Mexican. Maybe if someone had a t-shirt that said, "Colombia: We Have Drugs and Bugs", I might be slightly upset myself. Doubtful though.

Salem-oh!

Lots of crazy shit happened leading up to my attendance at a Connecticut wedding this past weekend. It is actually a small miracle that I made it to the wedding on time and conscious. All of the trouble was worth it though as I got to see my old friend Mike get married.

This was the first wedding that I have attended since my own wedding, and I must say that I was able to enjoy and appreciate the event much more having just gone through the experience myself. Mike and his new wife Regina put together a very nice event if I do say so myself. From my vantage point, all of their guests had a good time (picture proof is still to come)...I know I did! (Thanks open bar!)

I have known Mike since elementary school, which puts our friendship somewhere around twenty years. Despite the fact that I got married less than two months ago, watching a long-time friend get married was an eye-opening experience for me: we must be getting old! That aside, Mike and Regina seem very happy together and appeared to enjoy their big day thoroughly.

Best of luck to them in the future and congrats to the Salemos!

Nobody Up But Us Birds

If you happen to be up working at 5am like I am, or you just happen to be awake, check out the coverage of The Open Championship on PGA.com. You may be more familiar with the name "The British Open", but I affectionately call The Open Championship "The O.C.". Please so not confuse the golf O.C. with Fox's hit show The O.C.. I highly recommend both the golf event and television show.

Sold!

Congrats to my parents who sold their house in New Jersey last week. The closing will be in a couple of weeks and on August 15th, they will be on their way down to Georgia to begin the next chapter of their lives together.

After seeing how much of a pain in the ass it is to sell a house up there, I am very happy that I do not have to go through it. Thank goodness that everything went fairly smoothly though. When mom and dad came down to Atlanta for the wedding, they found a house that they both really liked, but could not move on it because the NJ house had not yet been sold. Since then, a couple of deals with potential buyers fell through, but as luck would have it, the owner-to-be came along and wanted the process to move swiftly and it did as they reached an agreement in only a couple of days. As for the new house, couple of obstacles had to be removed, but the road seems to be clear for them to finalize the deal (and no, nobody was killed). I am so excited for my parents!

Mom and dad have wanted out of the Northeast for a while and now it is all coming to fruition. What makes this all even better is that they are moving about 40 miles north of where Sarah and I live in a town called Flowery Branch. The house is only about a mile from Lake Lanier and is a fast drive along the interstate. Not that I will see them all the time (college football season is an exception), but living near family for the first time in almost 10 years will be a welcome change.

Selfishly I am happy for myself, of course, but most of all I am happy for them as they will have the chance to greatly improve their lives. Hooray mom and dad!