After the salmon fishing, I was in a hurry to get to Missouri to see a particularly special person! I spent a great 2 weeks with my amazing girlfriend
Michelle. She was working at a local nursing home, so we snuck out for dates on her days off to Kansas City, St. Louis, and Columbia.
I had a great time with the whole family and really had a chance to relax. 7 months is way too long to be away... (oh and that's a hair dying adventure above - maybe I should move into hairdressing)
While she was working, I researched and ordered parts for my new computer. I've been living with my trusty Dell laptop for almost 5 years now and it has served me well. However, the fan sounds asthmatic, it's reliability has gone downhill, and it's just not powerful enough anymore. Thus a new beast was born. Big kudos to Eric, Daniel, and
NewEgg.com for guiding me towards excellent parts.
For those who care, the specs can be found
here.
Third annual trip to Cumberland Island! This amazing island is located just off the southern Georgia coastline. It's a great place to meditate, talk with friends, swim in the ocean, and just relax. It is run by the National Parks Service, so it has a much more rustic/wild feel than resort islands. There are wild horses, deer, turkeys, raccoons, armadillos, alligators, and ... mosquitoes.
Unfortunately, this year we came during the hottest few weeks of summer. The sand dunes (with heat index) were 112 F according to one of the rangers. We were also told that the mosquitoes were like a plague "of Biblical proportions." Even layering on pure deet repellent didn't save me. Still it was a great getaway to spend time with Jason and catch up on the last year of insight as well as discussing plans for the future.
The last morning on the island, I took an amazing hike up the beach and then through the middle of the island. Not only do I like like walks on the beach, I like long walks on the beach... at sunrise... with wild horses :) It turned out to be a 20 mile walk which was a bit more than I had anticipated. Still, a great experience. I definitely have a greater appreciation for air conditioning now!
