(Insert heartfelt, obligatory apology for delinquency here)

Anyway, jumping right into the last two weeks. Last weekend Shelly and I traveled down to Concord to celebrate Shelly's mother's birthday. After a late arrival Friday night, we had a full day on Saturday, going to the park--

-- where the triple digit heat nearly felled the three of us, though Mary's vehicle thermometer stubbornly insisted on a relatively balmy outside temperature of 84°.

Following the pilgrimage to Frank Liske park, we went out to Concord Mills mall. Being still without cash or debit resources, I was deemed useless to the shopping expedition and abandoned in the bookstore, where I happily passed the time while the two ladies browsed. After a near eternity, rivaling Tom Hanks' island stay in Cast Away, they returned to collect me, at which point I employed my rarely-used American Express card and purchased a book.

Later that same evening we were supposed to host the Kuda clan, and they showed up right on the dot at their appointed time of 7 P.M. Just kidding- the hamburgers were attracting scavengers by the time they made an appearance! ;)

We all had a great time. Julius regaled us with stories of his Discount Tire woes, and we passed the night watching recaps of the Republican and Democrat presidential candidate debates. I manned the grill, one of those big, stainless steal jobs that hadn't been used before. My stewardship was impeccable aside from one unfortunate incident with a hot dog and the set of tongs. Contrary to all expectations, there was no playing of Pictionary.

Here are a few other pictures of the affair:

Sunday we had lunch with Shelly's father and then came on home, reaching Chapel Hill by 5:30 P.M. And then it was off to the races for another week.

Not insignificantly, my sister Danielle had her fourth and (according to her) final child. Despite a desire to dub him "Oliver", my sister caved in to the relentless negative reaction that name garnered from the rest of the family. I, for one, liked it. She ended up naming him "Matthew Spencer"; I tried to broker a compromise with the name of "Oliver Spencer", but my mildly groggy sister, in a stunning display of frankness, advised me to "think about what you're saying!" By all reports, little Ollie is doing well even now, a week and a half after his birth.

And thus we reach this weekend, when once again the sanctity of my apartment was breached by a marauding twosome, this time one from Charlotte. Here at the invitation of my wife, this duo swept in Friday night, keeping us up until the wee hours of the morning and inhabiting the office, which was rendered unusable for the remainder of the weekend and off limits to the lone male resident of the domicile. Whisking Shelly away for much of the day Saturday (during which time, judging from the receipts I just tabulated, a great deal of moolah was also whisked from my bank account), they returned late in the afternoon, at which point they added yet another member to their band before departing in the dark of night for White Collar Crime, a club in Raleigh. Here is a picture of the group, right before the commencement of their debauchery:

Misty and Lerissa came into town, for any who failed to interpret that last paragraph, or who don't know what they look like. All jokes aside, it was great having them here, and they're welcome back whenever they want.

Just an aside here, Shelly and I watched several episodes of Man Vs. Wild this afternoon. I think the guy who does this show, Bear Gyrlls, deserves every penny he makes, probably one of the few people on TV that do. If you've never seen it, check it out on the Discovery Channel sometime.

Alright, everyone, Shelly's informed me that she's bored, so I need to wrap this up and go attend to her. It's not like she had any entertainment at all this past weekend... oh, wait! Hey! :)