Party Details

Ok!! Here's what we're doing.

We'll be gathering at the park in my folk's neighborhood at 1pm on Sunday, March 22nd. There are grills, beautiful fields of green grass, and lake access (Let my mom know ASAP if you've got a boat/jet ski/etc. you'd like to bring). So come one, come all, and feel free to bring a friend.

My mom has picked up the tab for the hall, which gives us some air conditioning and bathrooms, but NOTHING ELSE IS PROVIDED. We'll call this pot luck. If you're so inclined, you can post a comment with what you'll be bringing- drinks, coolers with ice, paper products, charcoal, chips, meat, etc.- or just show up with whatever suits you. Just don't do the thing where you bring one bag of chips and eat 4 hamburgers and drink 3 beers. That's just not cool. Don't be that guy.

Oh, wait. Ivan, you get no choice. You bring ribs. I've heard you've gotten a new recipe, and Jen and I have huddled together on many a cold lonely night with only thoughts of your ribs to provide some small measure of comfort.

Ok, that's crap. But still. Bring ribs.

Few other points:

• I became an honorary uncle repeatedly over the last year. I'd better see my new nephews.
• We're not doing a Facebook or Myspace event. I just don't want to deal with it. You can invite folks, pass the word, etc. but this is a low stress event. Whoever shows up, great.
• We will need help with clean up. I'm not stressing because we've always had plenty of people willing to, but please keep it in mind here.
• Yes, beer, wine, and spirits are fine.
• Yes, this is a family friendly event.

Have I mentioned how incredibly stoked we are to see everyone again?

I've got another post coming soon detailing our Australian adventures. Don't have the time to do it now, but I'll give you a

SIGN TIME!!! as a sneak preview.

I love it. I love it I love it I love it I love it.

But no, I didn't act aggressively. It was too early in the day to hear the words "escort you off the property," even with the cool accent.

See ya (next) Sunday!

-Al

We're Going Home.

Yup. You read it right.

I know a bunch of you already heard, but not everyone, and I thought I'd expand a little on what happened for anyone who is curious.

For the record, we still have an adventure or two left before we get home, and I'll try my best to get those up soon. I'm finishing this blog right, damnit.


As to why we're going home, it came down to a combination of God and numbers. I mentioned before the uphill battle we were having with currencies and timing- well, we got to Queensland, in Australia, to find it about to be hit with a typhoon (hurricane), and posting the highest unemployment in the country- higher than Orange County, too. Combine that with the thousands of displaced workers trying to escape the wildfires and flooding, and we've got a problem.

But we could have prevailed. We had work lined up at the beginning of April, and a good housing situation. However, when we crunched the numbers it just didn't add up. Australia is not the cheapest place to live ($3.15 for a 2-liter of Coke), and we would have dipped into the money we had set aside for the down payment on our house. We already don't have nearly as much as we wanted in there. It just wasn't a good call.

Now, don't let all this negativity make it sound like Jen and I are upset. We're stoked to be able to see everyone again, and we're thankful beyond measure to be able to do what we've done. We plan on traveling out again, though not nearly so long, as soon as we can. We want to get our PADI certifications, most likely on some islands we missed in Thailand. When you're traveling on the US dollar, it's not a bad deal at all.

We've seen some amazing stuff, and we're going to see a bit more before we're done. But as we wrap up, I start to think about what we missed- birthdays, holidays, several friends becoming parents, friends coming home from Iraq, the loss of a grandmother... it's not even something you can say was or wasn't worth it. When I met Jen, I had no intention of leaving Central Florida for longer than a 2 week vacation. Now, with just under a year of trotting the globe under my belt, I've made friends from every continent and have seen things I'd only dreamed of. If I had it to do again, would I? Undoubtedly. Would I do it again now? Honestly, no. I've wandered far and wide, and still come to the conclusion that Central Florida is where I want to live, raise my family, and grow old. I don't know that I'd really want to log another year wandering anytime soon. But who knows? I may feel differently in another year.

I'll post some pictures of Cairns (Australia) really soon, hopefully with some cool Australian animals and all that. We love you all, and miss you terribly.

OH! Before I forget- we come into the Orlando airport on Thursday the 19th, around 10pm. Don't meet us there. Seriously. We'll have logged almost a full 24 hours of flying, and I will not make for good company. We'll set up something where we can all gather, and I'll make sure I even post it here. The jet lag coming into Korea took over a week to get straight, I doubt it'll go much better now.

That said, I'd better see each and every one of you soon...

-Al