I dont have the pictures yet,

But I'll get them soon and post them--it was one hell of a weekend with Johnny Crockett, Timmy the Greek, and Ponticelli, as they made the trek up to Fairfield for a weekend of fun, laughs, rafting, and reminiscing. I only took a few pictures, and mostly took video of the occasion. But, hopefully, the three morons will send me the photos via email soon . . .and I can post some pictures on here.

Jason and I have been buds since kindergarten, Johnny and I since 3rd grade (except for 5th and 6th grade, when he used to pick on me for being fat, having buck teeth, being a boy scout, having a funny looking bike, and not having Nintendo), and Timmy and I since he got off the boat at Ellis Island. All through high school, we were the tightest group of friends, and, although almost 4000 miles of geography separates us, we still pick up right where we left off, with our incessant quoting of the Jerky Boys, The State, Wet Hot American Summer, and an array of other pop culture has-beens that, for some reason, we still hold on to.

Not only did they get to meet Callum, see Amanda, and tour our (new to them) home, but also, they got to experience some of the finest central Maine has to offer--starting with a great dinner on Friday night at Asian Cafe where the Pengthong family treated us to a Thai feast . . .with complimentary "Thai Scramble and Chile Sauce," sticky rice and custard, fried bananas, and mango with coconut sauce. Awesome. We drank some wonderful local beer from Oak Pond brewery while we watched some Olympics. On Saturday, we said good bye to Callum and Sally Piles, as they left to go to Grammy and Gramp's house for the night (John Jay and Tim scare Amanda deeply). Then we made our way up to The Forks for a day of floating down the Kennebec--AFTER most of the rapids have ended, that is (after my kayaking accident a few years go, I would NEVER go white water rafting). Basically, Northern Outdoors drives you 5 or 6 miles up the river, drops you off where the Dead and Kennebec Rivers meet, and waves goodbye as they shove you off into some nice class I water (it was moving at about 7 mph). Two of us sat in each inflatable "ducky," and just had a blast as we soaked up the sun, floated down the crystal water, took a little swim (Jay more so since I threw him in the river for bugging me), and listened to each other tell stories about when we were cool. I think that went on for a week or so (us being cool . . .not the stories . . . .with school starting Tuesday, I've got to get into a grammar state of mind!).

After rafting, we hung out on the deck outside the lodge, ate some food, drank some brews, and wondered who the 24 burly women who walked past our table and into the screened in dining hall were. I asked if they were the US women's soccer team, and then I congratulated them on winning gold . . .but their arcane reply was "we wish . . ." After kicking Ponto's butt in air hockey (you KNOW I did . . .dont be a Eugene!) we went back to watch Wet Hot American Summer, Team America, and some Different Strokes (which, unknown to me, is on, regularly, on Black Entertainment Television!).

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'm really proud of my buds for both their life choices, and the success they've found for themselves. Jay, after getting out of prison for that statutory mishap . . . .I mean . . .um . . . .Jay's got a great little boy and a little baby girl on the way in a month--he teaches social studies in Mass. Timmycocks is a stellar superintendent for a major construction firm in Boston, and gets to to build some cool stuff. And Johnny C is living it up out in Tahoe, skiiing, backpacking, librarianing, and enjoying one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Tomorrow is the LAST DAY of vacation. I'm really, really looking forward to school starting actually--I'm ready to get back into the classroom and pretend kids give a crap about what I say. Ha ha. I think I wont go in tomorrow. I'll just spend some time with Amanda and Callum, and maybe we'll hit the Windsor Fair. Talk to you soon . . .