That, my friends and dedicated readers, is the old man. My dad. He's a wily old rascal. And today is his last day of work. Ever. After careers as a teacher, a tech guy, and eventually as a tech guy for teachers, he's on to the next great adventure: retirement. Totally. Awesome. I must admit, I'm more than a little jealous. In between some serious uninterrupted swathes of tinkering time and pursuing his life-long hobby of attempting to sail literally anything that floats, he and Mom already have several trips planned. That's the big thing I suppose: it's not just the old man, they're both retired now. My mom retired a few years ago...sort of. She got antsy though and went back to work again part time, but this time I think they're both going to take it a little more seriously, really buckle down and be retired. And they ought to, they've earned it. Congratulations Mom and Dad.

To all my regular readers (by which I mean my mother, Hey Mom, how's it going?), my apologies for the long gaps between posts lately. I've been shooting a ton of new work, but I haven't really had any time to show anyone. And what's the fun in that. So here's a random smattering of new photos with little to no explanation of who, what, or where. Take them as they are, just some pretty, new blotches of color to peep at.

But it hasn't been all work this week. I also had a birthday. 28. Jesus, I'm not ready to be 28. That's just 730 days (now 725.5 days) shy of the dirty thirty. And as anyone who's anyone knows, 30 is old. I'm not ready to be old. I really need to pack a lot into these next two years. "Make 'em count," as they say, before I begin the long, slow downward creep towards the grave.

Okay, to any of the post-30 crowd that's currently winding up for an epic rant in the comments section-- fingers twitching above the keys with early mid-lifed rage-- I'm just kidding. Not about the "making it count" part, that still seems like sort of a good idea. But I am kidding about the "30 is the end youth" part. Frankly, I think a lot of the 30-something crowd are still rockin' it harder than I am at this point, but I have been thinking a lot about the things I want to check off the list in the next few years. I'm not going to reveal my plan here. I don't want to jinx it. But I am going to start actively pursuing some of my whacker ideas. Why not, right? In the event that any of them pan out, you, my dedicated readers, will be the first to know (I'll also give you call, Mom). Check back for updates from the field. In the mean time, enjoy the weekend.