Wow it has been a hectic month, especially over the last two weeks, which is why there has been a lack of updates. My apologies. For the past week, I have been on what I call my Awesome East Coast Reunion Tour. I had to travel back East for work so I decided to also take some extra time off and visit my family. It was my sister Angie’s prom weekend, and since I was unable to be back for her high school graduation, and I hadn’t seen them in a few months, I really wanted to see the fam.
Last Thursday evening I arrived in Pittsburgh. I had a terrible experience at the airport, which I think is unusual for Pittsburgh but was just the icing on the cake. I found the signs to baggage claim to be horrendous. On top of that, I sat there for an hour waiting for my suitcase. Finally, I headed to the office to inquire, and saw tucked away in a corner you can’t see, my suitcase off to the side. It appears as if someone checked to see if it was theirs, and when it wasn’t, they set it aside instead of putting it back on the conveyor. Soon, I had my car though and was ready to go.
There was an IxDA Pittsburgh event going on at Games ‘N ‘At I heard about through their local leader, so I thought I would drop in. I got there a couple hours after it had started, but still was able to have a couple hours of hanging out and socializing. It was nice to see Jack again and to visit the infamous gaming location I hear about from my Pittsburgh coworkers. Additionally, I got to meet some of the Viz crew that I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. Being handed the Yuengling I was craving made everything much better. I stayed a little longer than I expected, and forgot that you had to buy liquor at a liquor store in PA so I wasn’t able to bring back any Yuengling to ship either. I headed to Dover and arrived about 1am.
Friday I discovered my dad had taken off work to spend the day with me, and I was insanely happy. I went with my parents and my sister Maddy who was home from college to run some errands in the morning. I was then getting really excited that it was almost time for the girls night we had been planning for weeks. Maddy, Angie, Julie and I have not spent quality time together in ages. Earlier in the afternoon, Julie said she’d be over around 5 because she had some errands to run and had to take her boyfriend to work. When she got there we had some amazing dinner my mom made which included a cake that failed in the oven and the broccoli cheese noodle soup I LOVE. Julie said she could only stay a few hours. We had planned this for ages and she said she was in it for the night. I was really upset, considering we hadn’t seen each other in almost a year. It ruined the night a little bit. I had to leave the house before she saw me cry.
Saturday my parents and I along with Charley went off to Amish country to hit some wineries before prom stuff started. We ended up not going to any of the wineries we planned on. First we hit Silver Moon winery which is new and right off of 39 on the old route. This is one of my new favorites. I bought quite a few bottles to ship back, including a Fire & Ice ice wine that is truly spectacular. Next we headed to Broad Run Cheese House which I never realized made their own wine too. This meant I also picked up a few bottles there. Afterwards we rushed back to take tons of prom pictures and hope that the rain held off until the kids were on the bus. Prom walk-ins will be explained in the next post. The night ended with fam game night.
Sunday, I had to rush from church to head back to Pittsburgh. I was ecstatic to receive a 2010 mustang convertible to occupy me for the less than day I was going to be there. After I checked in, I went to a coworkers for a barbeque and to start on some work. Monday we rushed to get some work in during the morning and then hit out flight to Miami. The rest of the week was pretty rushed. We got some great work done although it was storming in Miami for almost two days. I was able to have Colombian and Argentinian for the first time. The last night we were there, it was finally a nice night and we had some free time so off to Miami Beach we went. Ended up at a great dive bar, Zeke’s that had an amazing beer selection. Then we walked around a little bit, followed by dinner at a nice little pizza place on Lincoln. We did make it to Miami Ink, but a little too late to get a tattoo. Afterwards I had to walk along South Beach, even if it was midnight.
Thursday was a mad rush to the airport as it was impossible to find the Hertz rental return with all the construction. The signage would end and put you on an infinite loop back onto the highway. Ugh annoying.
However, I did make it home mid afternoon and it was nice to get back. Now to play catch up 
The full photo stream is available on flickr.
