Welcome back my fellow travelers in life,

I must apologize for my absence but alas, social duties prevail! I spent this past weekend up in Pittsburgh visiting a bunch (“bunch” in my definition is not five. Let’s lean more toward fifty or more) of friends up at Carnegie Mellon. CMU has an event each year called Carnival and yes, it truly is a carnival. Aside from the rides and games that are brought in, it is a time to catch up with many (and sometimes debauchery is involved) and enjoy both old and new friendships. This one lived up to that promise as I arrived Thursday evening, caught up with people I haven’t seen in a year, played some games and then continued on with the weekend. I was even lucky enough to be invited to a friend’s 10 year wedding anniversary gathering over the weekend (which is of course an honor for me to be invited to something as grand as that).

I won’t go through the weekend blow-by-blow rather I just want to mention that it was a weekend full of energy, activity, friends and fun. This whole weekend was done rather affordably too. Aside from the airline ticket (which was purchased rather cheaply nearly six months prior) the entire weekend cost less than $50. Yes, it IS possible. True, it would have been fun heading out and partaking in some of the off-campus activities but nonetheless I had a blast and was glowing (while also recovering) from a great weekend.

After I returned to Atlanta I met up with a good friend for lunch on Monday. We had a great meal at Radial Cafe on DeKalb Ave and used a 2-for1 coupon that was on the back of a grocery receipt. Next up was a quick trip to a CD store where he dropped off some CDs to sell and we perused the new music that was out and about. It was fun seeing some of my friend’s bands with their new releases out there and it reminded me that I need to go see more shows (usually another cheap activity for me…hurray!).

But wait! I think I WILL go to a show! Another one of my good friends is involved in a new gig – Prognosis …an industrial sounding project that has recently been signed and is getting ready for a big tour including a European tour. (He’s also the guitarist for Novocaine and Brass Knuckle Surfer) It was cool seeing him up there with new music (if you haven’t noticed I love hitting the local music scene and supporting the peeps) and also catching up with other friends (Dan, the drummer from Zoroaster was also there and it was cool as hell catching up with him again).

All in all it’s been a very busy time BUT it’s been a good busy. Some people assume that being social means you’ve got to spend loads of money to go to this bar and that restaurant. Such is not the case. You can live a social life and even run yourself into the ground (in a good way of course) by living on the cheap. Hurray!

To all the other social beasts out there, don’t let this economy bring you down. Go out, have fun, enjoy life and let’s show them who’s boss!