Lots to say, not a lot of time to say it....

just a very quick post to say the following:
- I went to Georgia, had a very productive trip.
- had a really long trip home.
- enjoyed a great weekend with the Ogbornes celebrating the life of their wonderful mother and wish I could have spent more time with both Ron and Rob and their great families.
- follwing that, I received an Ali-style knockout punch for 4ish days. I was boomerang-ing between a temperature of 103 and about 95, going back and forth between shivering and exploding with heat. I was easily the sickest I've been in at least 10 years, couldn't get off the couch for anything. Went to the doctor, they were useless...and I say "they" because I never actually saw my doctor (although I did speak to two others), even though this is the first time I've tried to see him in like 5 years. In fact, couldn't even get him on the phone over the course of 4 days. F-ing useless, anyone know a good general physician?
- things seem to have turned around, but I'm pretty exhausted.
- had to skip the trip to Texas with Nance. I spend so much time travelling alone, not that fun that I had to drop my wife off at an airport for a plane I was supposed to be on with her, also had to cancel dinner plans with my Uncle in Houston who I rarely get to see, bummer all around...
-I will say one thing though - Delta refunded the full price of my ticket - as much as people slam the airlines, that was cool...I didn't expect that at all, and they upgraded Nance to first class on the way there, so pretty sweet...

So, as much as this post might sound negative, I always try to be a half-full sort of person...I'm looking forward and not back...but I will say one thing looking back
- Here's to you Mrs. O: You were too amazing of a person for me to describe here, and you left the world a better place than you found it!!

Knodel's wedding

I tried to come up with a witty or creative title for this post, but it's actually pretty straight-forward. My good buddy from college Matt got married last weekend in Buffalo and I was extremely honored to be apart of it. Matt and I were teammates and roomates in college and for another year after college. Since then, he's settled in Buffalo where I've hung out with him quite a bit over the years. For a while after college, Nancy lived in Buffalo and it seemed like I was there every weekend hanging with that crew.

There were a lot of other RIT baseball alum at the wedding including my other college roomates. Since I missed alumni weekend this year, it was the first time I'd seen many of those guys in over a year if not longer. I'm always amazed that we all came together at the same school at the same time and became such close friends and although we don't see eachother that often, as soon as we come together, it's like we've seen eachother everyday for the past ten years.

The weekend kicked off on Thursday night, when I made it to Matt's house after getting lost in Buffalo (my GPS led me awry again). I stayed Thursday and Friday at the house of another college buddy, Doogie (pics below) and helped Matt with wedding prep stuff and met up with a bunch of other Buffalo friends. The rehearsal dinner was Saturday at Pearl St and the wedding was Sunday in Delaware Park. The whole weekend was a blur and went by too fast, but it was great to see everyone and great to see Matt and Sarah so happy on their big day. Oh, and we also made sure to act like college-age guys as much as possible. Here are some pictures:

Sarah and Matt right after the ceremony.

This is us waiting for Sarah to come down the aisle.
Matt and Sarah's lovely daughter Julia, also the flower girl.

Three sharply dressed gentleman, if I do say so myself.
Here's the RIT baseball alumni picture. As always Joe B in the orange tie (future mayor of Rochester) is front and center.
Two outfielders, a pitcher and a catcher walk into a bar...Left to right - Brendan, Doogie, Joe and I.
Erin and Jeff, Ski and Courtney. Interestingly enough, I have a friend that we all call "Ski" that doesn't ski at all.

...and for two random pictures from the weekend:

The day before the wedding we had some time to kill before the rehearsal, so logically enough, a few of us found ourselves in a bar. The people in the picture are (L-R) George, Allison, Drew and Jeff (also a groomsmen). Two things that are unexplainable in this picture - 1) what is Jeff doing with his phone? 2) it appears that he's drinking his beer with a straw. This might be ok for some people, but Jeff sells beer for a living...here's to hoping Sam Adams never gets a hold of this pic.

On the way walking to that bar, I saw this sign. I am very happy to know that in the event of a nuclear attack, I know that I can go to this church to avoid any danger.

All in all, it was a great weekend, although it did take a few days to recover from (getting too old to act like I'm in college, if you get my drift), but it's always great to see everyone and worth every second of the time we get to see each other.

I'm currently writing this from the JFK airport on my way to Georgia. I get home on Friday and the Ogborne's are in town this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing their ever-expanding family. Although I do wish the circumstances were better, it will be great to see them nonetheless. Hopefully I will have time to update again in the next few days.