It's been a busy couple of weeks here in Hoosier country. Jennifer and I have been run through the gamut of attending major life events. We caught up with old friends, attended a graduation and welcomed a new baby to the world. It's a good thing we quit our jobs, we're too busy to go to work.

After spending about a week with Jennifer's family on the ol' farm, we headed to the metropolis of Nappanee to stay with my parents for a while. On our first full day in Nappanee, my sister Dawn was rude enough to make us wait in a hospital all day while she had a baby. Some people. Dawn and her husband Aaron welcomed a baby boy on May 11 at 7:08 p.m. Gavin Embry Morey weighed 8 pounds and 10 ounces and was born with more hair than my father has. Since we're soon taking off for our madcap adventure, we tend to get first dibs on holding the baby. After all, the next time we see him he'll probably be dating the Olson twins. My dad did buy a digital camera though and if I show him how to work it, he promises to send us photos of the baby. In return we promise to send gifts from afar. I'm leaning toward things like Javanese fertility idols and pictures of Thai transvestite prositutes just to hear how Dawn explains them.

From the beginning of a new life, we also attended beginning of a new phase of life as Jennifer's brother Keith graduated from Franklin College. The graduation was as exciting as any I've ever been too, which is to say not at all. Keith now has the joy of trying to find a job at a time when he can barely afford to buy the gas to get to a job interview. I'm not envious of him. I could probably pursuade him to join us in world travel, but his parents would kill me.

I have also been lucky enough to catch up with a few old friends while back in my hometown. Jennifer and I went to dinner with our friends Nik and Mandy and, on another night, Charles and Kim and their rambunctious kids.

Nik was my first boss when I worked at the local video store while in high school. After I learned that Nik was a cool guy and what his interests were I proceeded to get all my friends hired as well by telling them what exactly to write on their applications to get Nik's attention. Nik and Mandy are a rare breed for Nappanee. They enjoy Indian food and tapas and follow bands that most around here wouldn't know if they discovered them playing a live show in their backyard. Nik is quite possibly the only police officer/comic book writer/martial arts instructor in the world. He published his first comic Rocket Girl last year and issue two comes out this year along with a slew of other projects through his publishing company, Pickle Press.

I met Charles many years ago when I was a freshman in high school. He was a creepy guy that was basically kidnapped and forced to play in the band with us. These days he's a creepy guy married to Kim with two kids, Gabriel, 5, and Dannielle, 4. Jennifer and I had a fun evening of dinner and learning about the kids. When we took off for Portland four years ago, the kids were still barely mobile. Times have certainly changed. They ran us all over the place and then Gabriel proceeded to trounce me on a Playstation 2 game that I actually own myself. Jennifer's favorite moment of the night involved little Dannielle. While Gabriel was arguing with his parents that he was actually six years old, despite his parents insistance that he was indeed only five, Danni walked up to Jennifer and tugged on her shirt. Not to be left out of the conversation, Dannielle told Jennifer in a sweet voice, "I'm 22."

I'm on my own here for a week or so. Jennifer is off on a vacation with her mom to Prince Edward Island, Canada. I know it seems odd that Jennifer's on a vacation right before we take off for such a big trip, but it had been planned long ago and is someplace the two of them have dreamed of visiting. As most girls could probably tell you, Prince Edward Island is the home of the Anne of Green Gables series of books.

With Jennifer gone, I'm left to my own insidious devices. That seems to consist primarily of drinking Mountain Dew, watching television and rambling on far too long in this journal entry. So with that, I should probably sign off and find something more productive to do...like watch more television.

--Shawn