I’m fairly certain the few get the unfortunate chance of capturing that exact moment in their life when things change.  To extend the metaphor to the absurd imagine a traffic control camera snapping a picture of you and your car blowing a red light milliseconds before you t-bone a school bus.  That picture which will be automatically sent to you via the Hall 9000 will undoubtedly remind you of the time you tried to get away with something but didn’t.  Similar situation here except I only ran over myself and received the appropriate “I told you so”.

In a nutshell, what is being welded there is a piece of metal that has no business ever being welded as such.  Later forensics certainly illustrated that.  Too bad too since up until this point, that part had been the salvation and testament of my technical abilities. Now it is in the Box of Destruction with the rest of the Suck Fest.

Ahhh, one of the greatest parties in town and I’m always honored to host it.  This years Massey Manor Halloween Bash was nothing short of spectacular.  Record attendance, amazing bands, and no drama (or cops).  Perfect.

First off, a picture of the crew who calls this joint home:

Though pictures seldom do the crowds here justice, this one actually does a good job.  The only people not pictured were those in the front room with the bands.

Looks like the suck sponge has been working overtime these days . . .

I really wish I could expound upon my latest European trip in a single post but we all know that no justice would be done there. Instead, I’ll foster the completely unrealistic belief that I’ll eventually tell some worthy stories about what happened across the pond. At least we’re on the same page though right?

In a nutshell though, Europe was great. My only gripe about it was our visitation to the most touristy sights on planet Earth. That and I hate shopping - I’d rather have boiling oil dropped on me. In retrospect, I would have rather spent the time hiking the Alps rather than surfing the street vendors. Auch so, such is life - next time I will rectify said mistakes. In anycase . . . Munich was awesome. Here’s the proverbial Oktoberfest picture:

It really is just like in the movies. I’d highly recommend it to anyone who can afford the beer to go.

Before Oktoberfest we also spent some time in Italy (Florence, Pisa, Rome, Venice). I’ll go out on a limb here and post three of the Rome pictures:

I was attempting to hide during happy hour in Rome. I’d say was rather successful?

Next up: Rome. To be completely honest, we went skinny dipping in the Mediterranean after what could only be stated as “too much wine”. Anyway, it was an absolutely stunning evening. The moon was hauntingly beautiful as it stretched over a span of water where ancient water battles transpired.

In any case, we opted to go for a swim in the nearly bath warm waters of the Mediterranean and I have little guilt in saying that it was easily one of the best swims I’ve ever had.

I was abstaining from posting until I reached the one megameter (1,000 km) on my bike.  Obviously then I eclipsed that goal today on a four hour ride out to the east coast of the Keweenaw.  Needless to say, I’m absolutely exhausted and about to tip over.  I promise more regular updates now - starting tomorrow.