Today, work could not finish quickly enough, as tonight was the start of another road trip. Not a large road trip, but the destination was something quite exciting.

I was picked up from my apartment at about 9pm by Eric and we stopped by his apartment to pick up a few items. From there it was off to a party at Indian Trail (a suburb in north Atlanta) where we met up with a number of Eric's skydiving friends. Some of these people I had met a few weeks earlier at Eric's housewarming party. This party served two purposes: one, it was a party; two, it was the meeting point for the other people who were going on this road trip.

Much fun was had at this gathering, and I met some friendly and cute people. But at 12:30, the road trip began in earnest, as Jen (yet another Jennifer; I can't seem to escape them), Eric and I jumped into Eric's car (a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse - very nice) and Trey, Scott, John, Tony jumped into Trey's jeep. Roughly four hours later we met again in the town of Pigeon Forge in Tennessee, a little bit north of Knoxville. A cheesy hotel was acquired and we bunked down for a couple of hours...

3 June

Everyone arose from slumber between 7am and 8am and we headed off in search of food. The place of choice, "Pancake Heaven". Heheh. After eating we headed over to Flyaway, the real destination of our adventure.

Flyaway is a wind tunnel. It's about 5-6 in diameter, and about 10m vertically between the nets. Underneath the bottom net is a huge fan, that can be cranked up to simulate a wind speed of up to 150km/h. The walls are padded, and there is a lip of about .75m of padding around the edge of the bottom net.

But before we could jump on in, we had to pay our money (~$100 for five "flights" of 3 minutes), take a twenty-minute flying and safety class, and get geared up.

Let me tell you this, the first time you jump in, it is hard. Very hard. The key to it is to relax your body. But once you've sorted that bit out, it is so much fun. By the end of the day I could go up and down, and turn in circles. Granted, I had difficulty when it came to stopping my rotations, but hey, it was fun. I only managed to do three flights before realising that my muscles were not used to this sort of abuse. I lay on the ground for a while to recuperate, and when I push my arm down to force myself to my feet, my arm just turned to jelly. But it was worth it.

On the way home, we stopped in Knoxville for dinner and then it was Eric and me for the ride home. Halfway through Tennessee, Eric was feeling the effects of a late night and nine flights, so I took the wheel for an hour. I didn't mention that I hadn't driven a manual transmission since landing in the US, let alone a left-hand drive manual transmission. But everything feel into place fairly easily; I guess all those years of playing Virtua Racer paid off...

We got back into Atlanta around midnight - another twenty-four hour road trip complete.

4 June

Ouch. I'm sore. That'll teach me.

I have to install some new hard drives in the server this weekend, so it's off to work I go. It's unusual to not be feeling hung over in the least on a Sunday. The installation process doesn't take long, so I give Jenny a call and we get together for brunch at Denny's. The service is really slow, and the food is mediocre. A word of advice - skip the Denny's on Delk Road on a Sunday.

Later in the day, Jenny came over to my place to massage my sore muscles. Ah, it's nice to have friends that care like that... A little later, John made his way over and we ended up watching the final game between the Oregon Trailblazers and the LA Lakers. Now, I'm not a basketball follower by any means, but it was very obvious that the referees were definitely on the Laker's side. Just not cricket, really.

Stacy joined us, and after the game (Lakers won) we all watched some more TV and then went to our respective beds. Nice and relaxing.

5 June

Work work and then fly to Cleveland, Ohio, for a meeting tomorrow. The weather was atrocious when I landed, but I picked up my car (well, an SUV) and found my hotel with little trouble.

6 June

Return from Cleveland. Not much to report about that journey. When I got back I met up with Lauren and John at the pub. Vanessa also joined us for a while. Quite pleasant.

7 June

Trivia at the Local. We fail miserably, but have a good time in the process. The team consists of Kevin, Lauren, John, Stacy, Jenny, me. After the game we all jump on over to MJQ, where it turns out that Underwater is playing a gig. There to see them was Will and Christine, who I hadn't seen in ages. Underwater weren't too shabby, but I didn't catch the whole show, as Lauren and I went exploring the newly opened room back behind the bar. We have dubbed it the Make-out Room, because, well, it just seemed suitably sleazy to be a make-out room, I didn't stay much longer after that as I was feeling pretty toasted . Sherrod and Josh were also at MJQ..

Prior to going to the Local, I finally set up my Savings and Investment Plan. I'm automatically putting 10% of my salary (tax-free) into an investment plan, and Marconi will also match 1.5% of my salary as a an incentive as well. I think that's how it works...

8 June

Cosi Fan Tutte at the Fox Theater with Lauren. This was awesome; Mozart's comedy of trust and betrayal. Unfortunately, due to the lack of sleep over the last few days, I kept on having moments of extended eye-closing. Point to note for next time - don't go out until all hours on the night before. After the opera, Lauren and I went to Waffle House for a bite to eat. Hehe, turning up to Waffle House at midnight in all our fineries scored us (especially Lauren) a few interesting looks.

9 June

I think today can be summed up quite simply with: Long day at work then Local then Vault. Very drunk

Stacy sent me a picture of her friend Heather and herself from 1984. Heheh.

10 June

I had to do some work this weekend, so I foolishly tried to do it today. When I arrived at work I realised that I was way too hung over to be anywhere near productive, so I ended up going home and blobbing.

That night, John, Linda, Stacy, Jenny and I congregated at my place before jumping into my car and going to the drive-in. This was the first drive-in movie I have ever been to, and it was really fun. We watched Gladiator and Road Trip. I hadn't planned on seeing the latter, but it was entertaining silliness. Gladiator I really enjoyed; not too many historical errors.

11 June

Today I did the work that didn't get done yesterday. In the evening, John and Stacy came over and we watched TV.

12 June

New York Business Trip Hell

I got a call at 7am to say that my 9am flight had been cancelled. The next 20 minutes were spent hunting down an alternative flight - eventually with US Airways. This flight was scheduled to leave at 9:10, but stopped in Baltimore, where I was to get on another plan (a twin prop jobbie) for the remainder of the journey to New York. In the rain. And low cloud. Bumpy? Oh yeah.

So after a half hour wait for a cab, I was over an hour late for my meeting. It was an interesting meeting, and then it was over. So back to the airport. It's about 5:00, so I wander up to the check-in desk to see if I can get on an earlier flight than my original 9pm departure. Well, it's fortunate that I turn up then, because my original flight back to Atlanta has been cancelled. There's a 6pm flight, leaving at 6:20, so I get the agent to confirm me on to that flight. I wander over to the terminal, have a beer or two and wander over to the gate. Boarding doesn't start until 6:30, and then stops when it turns out the altimeter on the plane is faulty and they have to get a part in. From Boston. Arriving at 8pm. Back to the bar... Boarding starts again at 9pm. We pull away from the gate around 9:30. And wait. The weather is bad. They start playing the in-flight movie (My Dog Skip or some such thing). At about 10:30, we finally take off. It's 12:45 before we finally land in Atlanta. What a pig of a day. The highlights: an interesting business and engineering opportunity, and the friendly girl that sat next to me on the way back from NYC.

13 June

I was going to go to Piedmont Park to watch Singing In The Rain but I didn't quite make it. I was planning on getting some food and then an early night. Well, part of the plan worked out. I went up to the pub and had some food and a couple of beers. Rico and Sierra were in, and they bought me a beer, as well. Bear turned up for the first time in ages (he's been rare since he moved to the other side of Ponce). I gave Stacy a call to see what she was up to, and she elected to join me at the pub with her friend. We hung out for a fair while there, and then went up to the Majestic for a bite to eat. I was home around 11pm, so it wasn't really that late a night.

14 June

Myra's back from her month long adventure in the wilderness, and she joined us for Trivia. I actually met her at the pub around 7ish to catch up and check out photos from her trip.

The team tonight consisted of Myra and myself (obviously), Jenny and Stacy. We did not fare well. Steve and Tim, did, taking the game with a perfect score. We hung out for a while; I explained to Steve how cryptic crosswords work. At least what I could remember of them. Sandy, Kelley, Leslie, Ed, Heather, Marianne, were also playing trivia, but they did no better than us.

15 June

Tonight was catch up on the web page night. I'm tired. It was 91F (32-33C) at 5:30 this afternoon. Now, at 7:10pm, it's about 84F (28C). Yep, summer is definitely upon us...

16 June

A relatively quiet night. I had a few beers at the pub and then headed home to watch a movie. Stacy had left a message so I called her back and popped over to her place to hang out, watch TV, and have a couple of beers. Quite a pleasant evening.

17 June

Michelle's 21st Birthday Party. Also known as excessive alcohol consumption.

But prior to the hedonist extravagance, I spent several hours at work and then stopped in at Target to pick up shelves for my overflowing CDs. Then I came home and watched Little Shop of Horrors as I put my shelf together.. A fun movie. Afterwards, I got myself sorted out and popped up to the pub for a bite to eat and a drink with Stacy. Eight thirty rolled around and as John arrived, I took my leave and headed up to Sandy Springs.

I found Amber/Michelle/Mary's apartment without difficulty, and got stuck in to the vodka. Paula had already arrived, and Amber's boyfriend Mark was also present. Michelle was still at work, so we all had a merry catch up. Herb was next to arrive and finally Michelle got home and sorted herself out.

At around 11:30, we jumped into the limo (complete with full bar) and headed into town. This was seriously good fun, although I was starting to feel the effects of my vodka habit. When we got to the club, I decided that perhaps I wasn't really all that capable of dealing with the club, so I stayed in the limo. I vaguely recall Billy coming over and chatting to me.

18 June

Recovery from last night's excessiveness.

In the evening, John, Linda and I went to the Starlight to see that b-grade cult classic, Faster Pussycat Kill Kill. It was preceeded with trailers for many other really bad movies.

19 June

Trivia and dinner Taco Mac with John, Barry, Kerry, Kerry's friend and then John, Kerry and I went up to HexensNacht.

20 June

Dinner at Cafe Tu Tu Tango in Buckhead then drinks at the Local with Lauren.

21 June

Meetings then dinner at Pricci then Local with John and Stacy.

22 June

More busy work stuff and then dinner at Jason's with the Marconi Online team. Afterwards I had a drink with Stacy. She quit her job this morning. Bad Stacy.

This morning, while people were trying to sort themselves out, Vanessa poked her head in the door of my office to say "Hey, I'm starved; is there anywhere I can get a burger?" Unfortunately it was still breakfast menu time at all of the local fast-fooderies, but we sneaked out anyway and went up to McDonalds for half an hour. They were promoting these new "breakfast bagels" which we had. I had the ham and egg; Vanessa had the steak and egg. I wasn't impressed by mine, but Vanessa seemed to be happy with her breakfast. And then it was back to work!

23 June

Sonic Fucking Youth!!! They played so many good songs, including Schizophrenia, 100%, Cool Thing. They kicked ass. They rocked so damn much. We caught the last twenty minutes of Stereolab before Sonic Youth came on. Today was Steve's birthday. After the gig, we hung out back and I got my ticket signed by Kim and Thurston. Rock the fuck on. Then we went to the Vault and hung out with Billy. Not a lot was happening so we went home.

24 June

Went in to work again today for a few hours. In the evening, hung out with John and Stacy. We played scrabble. Stacy won, only because she used all her letters up and John had 16 points worth still in his hand that were added on to Stacy's score. John went home to get changed (we were going to go to Deux Plex, and Sharon and Victor arrived home. So we had a drink with them and then I went off to meet John at the club. Also at the club were Christian, Anne and Christian, Lauren, Thompson (who I spent much of the night talking with). Late night.

[D: 151, J: 129, S: 161]

25 June

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Read more of The Brothers Karamazov. Jenny came over and we watched TV. She brought over her photo album from her trip to the UK last year.

26 June

Stay at home after work. Read and sleep. An early night - almost unheard of.

27 June

Fight Club and Sid and Nancy arrived today. The DVDs for both are packed with extras.

Big night at the Local. A small $210 tab. But there was a few of us: Jesse, Lauren, Christian, Andie, John, Linda, Sarah, Skippy Will, Billy, Carly, Jen, Brad. It was much funness.

28 June

Drove to Nashville. When I was on I-24, about 20 miles from Murfreesboro, my front left tire decided to blow out. Terrific. So I pull over to the side of the road and change the tire. This is especially fun when you have trucks rocket past you at 75+ miles per hour (120+ km/h). But I changed over tot the spare with no problems and then had to hunt down a tire shop so I could put a proper tire on.

For those that are unaware, it appears to be common practice in the US to supply cars with a small spare tire, useful for travelling small distances only. So there I was cruising along I-24, at 45mph (70km/h) with people zooming past me and make friendly gestures. I finally got to Murfreesboro after what seemed like an eternity and bought a new tire. Then I was on my way again. In sum, a trip which should have taken three and a half hours, turned into a five hour journey.

The hotel I stayed at was pretty nice (The Renaissance). And dinner was had at The Merchant. And then sleep. Sleep good.

29 June

After driving back from Nashville (in the appropriate three and a half hour duration), I went out to the Masquerade with John, Stacy, Jenny and Linda. This turned out to be an excessive evening. Mike Cucarro was at the club, so I talked to him for quite a while, and he introduced our bar tender, Tina. Shane and Steven also turned up. We had beer; we had rumplemintz; we had tequila. I think the last might have been a mistake.

Anyway, Stacy and I had our pictures taken in the little passport photo booth that is in Purgatory (one of the three bars at Masquerade). Here's Damon and Stacy and here's another Damon and Stacy. Then we all went dancing in Hell (another of the bars - bet you can't guess what the upstairs bar is called...).

30 June

DragonCon weekend - also known as Freaks Invade Downtown Atlanta! This time I'm going to take my camera. But tonight, John, Stacy and maybe Linda are coming over to watch movies.

We ended up eating KFC and watching Sid and Nancy. Very cool. After the movie we watched The Simpsons and then everyone went home.