August is nearly over, and that’s a good thing… it’s been a crazy month. Spent the first half of the month on my own, followed a weekend trip to a wedding in Ohio, then a flight to San Francisco for work, then a flight to Phoenix to see my parents (including a weekend trip up north to Sedona and Page), then a flight home to Pittsburgh. Travel is almost done (still an upcoming flight to Albuquerque for another wedding), but I really wish timing had worked out better or I’d had more advance notice for some of this.

Anyway, yeah. A little more than two weeks ago was Chris’ wedding, and it was pretty. It was held in a small building on an orchard, and had pizza for dinner, and was generally low-key and awesome (thanks in part to the board games in a smaller, quiet room on the side).

Two weeks ago, I flew to San Francisco for work. If the trip had been planned out more than advance, I would have flown straight there from Ohio. Instead, we drove back to Pittsburgh and I got a bit of sleep before waking up early for a Monday morning flight to make it to afternoon work meetings.
It was a nice trip, and I saw a lot of awesome people, but I think I’m getting too old to really do as much stuff with people on trips. There were two dinners with friends, a lot of nice meals with coworkers, and surprisingly many early evenings.

Flew to Phoenix that Friday, and my parents and I made a trip up to Sedona and Page over the weekend. We visited Horseshoe Bend, Antelope Canyon, and the Glen Canyon Dam, and also had a quick stop in Sedona. There were lots of photos and it was generally a nice time. It would be nice to have more time next time and do things like rafting or boat rides down the river as well.

Managed to see a few Phoenix people as well… caught David, Matt, and Jennie for coffee and dinner, and David again for lunch.

Flew home to Pittsburgh yesterday. Things were uneventful, until the Supershuttle started approaching the house, at which point the light rain that had appeared downtown suddenly picked up a lot… and it started hailing. Fortunately I only had a short distance to go from the street to the house, but everything got rather soaked. Fitting, I suppose, for the misery that comes with so much travel.

More photos of everything can be found at photos.

Here’s some random photos of fun things:

My mom got these seatbelt cover things that are remarkably nice during long car trips… you can sleep against the large head part, and it means your head isn’t flopping around everywhere.

Cute.

Ew.

“Not actual size.”

Interesting.

Odd.

Ice cream crane game!

Faces!

Draft beer jelly beans…?

True.

In other, entirely unrelated, news, Rock Band has been coming out with awesome DLC lately, including songs like Uptown Girl, Africa, Heaven is a Place on Earth, Everything You Want, Famous Last Words, and Pompeii. I’ve been going through and watching the music videos for the older songs, and they’re extremely *bizarre*.
I think the current winner for “most bizarre” video goes to Heaven is a Place on Earth, although Uptown Girl is probably a close second, and Africa is a reasonable third.