Dearth of posts for the past two months?  Guilty as charged.  

As is usually the case my absence from this corner of the 'Net isn't because of sloth but rather too many things happening at once, or at least in close succession.  

Now, an update!

First, we did it!  

The child completed secondary school.  Graduation ceremony is now history.  Got her over that wall!  

Please don't misunderstand me--there was never a doubt about her walking across the stage or that she would not be one of the top students.  But with the stress of exams, assignments coming due and preparing/hosting an open house following the ceremony it seemed May 18 would never arrive.  Then it was gone and Geogal and I felt not only residual fatigue but also the sadness of knowing another phase of our parenting concluded.  

And come the end of August another stage will begin.  Best to not think about that just now....

Second, slightly under two weeks after the graduation was a whirlwind trip to Texas for a family member's wedding.  1300 mile round-trip over the course of three days.  Leave early the morning of May 31 and after enduring construction induced stop-and-go traffic in Oklahoma and rush hour crawl in Fort Worth we arrived in Georgetown with not much time to spare before the rehearsal dinner.  

But Saturday made up for the previous day's hurry-hurry.  Leisurely morning segued into a pleasant afternoon.  We explored downtown Georgetown, a town to which I've never been despite having relatives reside in nearby Round Rock for all the time I lived in Houston during those childhood years.  

Speaking of Round Rock, that was our next destination for the day. Reason?  BBQ.  At the Salt Lick.  

Quick aside:  I knew given the brief duration of this trip that I wouldn't be able to feast on the entire holy trinity of Texas cuisine.  (BBQ, Tex-Mex and chicken-fried steak, for those who are unfamiliar with me or this blog.)  So if we had to choose one, the call of the pit was the loudest.  

Long-time readers of this blog might recall my previous experience with Salt Lick BBQ.  Needless to say this restaurant setting was a heckuva lot more pleasant with better ambiance than the Austin airport.  Walking through the north entrance gave us a great view of the prep area (staff slicing that perfect brisket) punctuated with the whiff of smoke.  The good kind.  

Wedding and reception were nice.  Then came Sunday morning.  Another early start to a 600-plus mile road trip back home.  This time we didn't have problems with traffic or construction.  And when we got home it felt we had been away a week, even though it was actually less than 72 hours.   

Third....nah.  

Those two were enough.  But I've got more to share here.  A sports media fast, thoughts on college costs and looking back on one's life in a healthy fashion.  

Stay tuned.  I'm not going anywhere.