When I returned to Richmond from the Outer Banks, I went back to work on the attic, which at this point was completely drywalled. While I was gone, Lauren had painted the entire room yellow!

I hit some golf balls down at the driving range, working on a corrected grip that I learned from the range in Northern Va. A few days later, I joined up with Paul and Chris at a small par 3 place down on the South side. We had fun, but I think the course was just a bit too long for my attention span that day. Tip: Never golf with loafers and no socks. Blister city, baby.

I went up to New Jersey for a funeral in Michelle's family, then came back to Richmond. She came down to join me and see more of the city. Since things are winding down for her in Maryland, I was helping her see the benefits of living in a quieter but equally thriving city. We had a great time during her stay.

Since then, I've been doing much of the same, working on classwork, visiting with friends, doing housecalls and odd jobs here and there. I caught Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, then saw it again in 3 hours. What an amazing movie! It was so neat to see how Lucas tied all of the storylines together. I haven't had this much closure since the LOTR: Return of the King. (and on that note, the extended edition of that movie is exceptional!)

My brother Mike came to town on his last day as a civilian. We hung out working on the Sos' attic and then watched Madagascar. It was nice to see him again, as I don't yet know when I'll get to see him again. We're all very proud of him.

Back in the attic- We got more work done, hanging cabinets and doing some finishing work. Mike worked on the entertainment center as Lauren painted the office and bathroom. Now, she's moved onto tiling and Mike & I got the electrical working again. We had one tricky event where nothing in the attic seemed to work when the power was turned on. As it turns out, the drywallers had covered over an outlet area, where two wires were left exposed. So, when the power was on, no connection was being made. We were not happy about this, but when we figured it out, we punched through the wall and made the connection. All was well after that. More work is still needed up there. We have flooring to do when the woodworking is complete, and much more.

This past weekend, Jeff, Mike, Chris and I took our motorcycle safety course. This was recommended by Jon, who had already taken the course. I had never been on a bike, and knew nothing about them. The training course started Friday night with some videos and instruction. On saturday afternoon, we went over the basics of the mechanics and began to ride the bikes through various levels of involvement. By Sunday, we were doing more advanced drills and eventually were tested individually on our skills. We all passed!

The course was so much fun. Chris and I are both free in the daytime now, so we visited the DMV today to get our licenses and make it official. It took 3 hours of people using various levels of competency, but eventually, I got a new license with a new photo. I have a Class-M now, which means I am legally able to ride in cars and on bikes. \m/

After all that's been going on, many have asked me, "what's next?" I'm not quite sure what the future holds, but we'll see.

...I have some ideas.