Catching Up - Home Sweet Home Pt. 1

I've got a volleyball match on TV tonight - no I'm not playing, I'm working it. Florida State plays Florida on Sun Sports for those of you in the south or anyone with DirectTV/Dish Network. I need to leave for the gym in about an hour and I really don't want to get any projects started so I'll recount my trip back to Brookville last month.

With my mind pretty much made up about what job I wanted, it was time to enjoy my annual summer trip home. My friend Josh picked me and we headed to his new apartment in downtown Pittsburgh. The apartment is your standard one-bedroom place but it sits about 100 feet from the Alleghany River with a perfect view of PNC Park and Heinz Field just to the west. You can see home plate from his balcony, it's pretty sweet.Unfortunately was very little going on in the Burgh that night, the highlight was really a one-man band playing "Rhinestone Cowboy" as we walked into one of the bars.

The next day my parents pick me up and we head off to Vincents, a local pizza place near Forest Hills, where my dad grew up. Nearly everytime we went to see my grandparents we went to Vincents. It's one of those family-owned restaurants where they still hand toss the crust and topping are just throw about so one slice may be covered with pepperoni while the one next to it may have none.

Thats about the extent to the relaxation for the rest of the trip. Josh comes up to Brookville Thursday evening since there is nothing going on at his firm. Around 9 we met up at Dirty Ehrma's - a bar my friend Dani owns - to start a long night. Somewere in the middle of the night we make our way up to another bar to check out a band and then its back to Ehrma's. Like most nights when I'm home, someone has the bright idea of going back to Josh's for afterhours - he has a small house on a golf course in Brookville, nice life I know. That evening winds down with me going home at 5 a.m. after a dip in the hot tub and some other nonsense.

I woke around 10 on Friday morning, but didn't actually get out of bed until noon when my mom asks if I'm to join her and my father for lunch. I'm playing golf with Josh, Neil and Dan, but before I play nine holes with her. I played lights out on the front - shooting 37 - but fell apart with a 45 on the back, but still won some $.

The four of us have dinner with Neil's disgrutled girlfriend then I take Neil back to his place and head home to shower so we can go back out. For some reason Neil has me drive his truck to my parents place instead of him dropping me off. His truck is a stick and going up the hill to get back to his place it stalls on me. I hadn't driving a stick in some time and the hills of Western Pennsylvania aren't the best place for a refresher course. Ehrma's is packed, but it's a young crowd and i don't know that many people. I'm sure that's how it was for the people that were 5-10 years older than me when i was in that 21-25 range and knew most of the bar on any given night. The evening kind of drags on because i'm exhausted from the lack of sleep, but I also have to get home at a reasonable time because I have to drive to Ottawa, Ohio for my friend Dave's wedding on Saturday. I manage to get home around 12:30 a.m., which wasn't that bad.