Playing pool

Playing pool at Marathon with Daniel and Jo Ann.

The brothas: then and now

The brothas. Provence, 1987

The brothas. Africa, 1998

The brothas. Wisconsin, 2010

Ruben and Hannah's wedding

I went to Minneapolis to Ruben and Hannah's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding in nearby rural Wisconsin, on Hannah's family's (the Joslins') land.

Ruben and Hannah

The wedding party: Autumn, Angel, Susie, Hannah, Ruben, Daniel, me, David

The brothas, together again.

After the ceremony, we had cake and presents at the reception.

A painting made by Mom

And then we all got a little wild and danced to some African music.

It was great to see the whole family once again. It happens every 5 years or so...

The Eagletons, together again.

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Pictures taken by various people. Professional shots done by Eagleton Photo.

Still grabbing the bull by the horns and climbing that ladder

I don't usually talk about work but last week they did away with my department, so me and the former head of our department (we have a huge department: 2 people) each gained a new title: Implementation Specialist. Now we each head our own implementation team.

With this came a small raise earlier in the year, but I am still a long way from being able to pay off debt as fast as I'd like. Still living as frugally as before. Any extra money goes straight to pay off the credit cards and student loans. Yep, the thousands of dollars of credit card survival debt and the student loans from college: I want my financial freedom! Lame as it sounds, that is my main goal right now. As I mentioned before, that is the main reason why I had to move back to the US from Brazil.

New York, 2009. Grabbing the bull by the horns.

Don't get me wrong: I'm glad that I have food to eat, a roof over my head, and that I can afford to live on my own. I'm not suffering because I can't afford the latest shit at Target. I prefer a pretty spartan lifestyle anyway (even if I had money). It's just that progress has been slow, and the fact that I had to deal with some unexpected financial issues last year also put me back some.

But I am not alone in this situation. Millions of Americans (especially homeowners) are in the same boat or worse, not to mention all those without jobs that got laid off in the economic collapse of 2009. All in all, I'm glad I still have a job. Still grabbing the bull by the horns and climbing that ladder.

On the boat

Every year we go out on a boat on Percy Priest Lake. This year we did that for Chantelle's birthday.

With Brad as our captain, we boarded ship and set sail for a day of fun in the sun.

Rehoboth Beach, DE

After the 4th of July in DC, Amy and I headed to the beach in Rehoboth Beach, DE.

"Where are you going? Am I going? Are you coming back? Who will rub my belly while you're gone? How will I eat?" On the way we crossed the huge Bay Bridge which spans across the Chesapeake Bay.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge

The boardwalk

We spent Monday and the hottest part of the day on Tuesday cooling off along the bars and walking along the boardwalk and around the town.

Tuesday afternoon we enjoyed some time on the beach.

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