Well, I've really been bad with the journaling lately, though I figured those that read this probably know me and know the various things I've been through the past month. But, to recap:

The first full week of this month, I went to Las Vegas with my wife, Janel, and two other guys (Dave and Pat) to do an oral history research project of a Vietnam Veteran's group, the LZ Russell association. We thought it would be a worthwhile project, doing interviews by day and enjoying the Vegas night life by night, but it turned into quite an emotional project. We found it difficult to distance ourselves from our subjects and, as a result, gained a greater appreciation for the unglorified parts of any war, and the daily battles these men face.

During that sojurn West, we were able to visit my brother for an all-too-brief visit at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse (hooray for gift cards!) and a trip down to Fremont Street, aka "Old Vegas." On Fremont, we saw an Elvis Impersonator Tribute competition, and it was interesting to see at least one of the stereotypical Vegas symbols... aside from the chain-smoking old ladies gambling away their social security checks, and the number of "free porn" kiosks down the street advertising companionship and strippers- my favorite was the card advertising for a "Hot T.S. with 9 inches." It took us a while to figure out what that unattractive lady was advertising for, but then we figured it out and collectively laughed, as no one in our group had ever run across advertisements on the Strip for such a thing...

After returning from Vegas and taking a few days to recover, I was off again for Pittsburgh, this time to be part of a panel discussion at the American Association of State and Local Historians (AASLH) conference. After much preparation and desperation and exasperation, we went in and did our thing and, by all three accounts (the sum of attendees to our session, aside from significant others and fellow panel members), it was interesting and informative, the dynamic duo of words that signifies either:

A. a job well done
or
B. thank god its over.

After finishing that presentation, we clomped around Pittsburgh the rest of the day, seeing the downtown area and enjoying the sights of the waterfront. As I had never been to Pittsburgh before, and only armed with the knowledge that it was the center of the American Steel industry, I expected to see smokestacks, smoke, and big burly steelworkers. Instead, we found a very pretty downtown area that closed up at 8. We also got to see the stadiums for the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Pittsburgh Steelers... both of whom had games that weekend... neither of which we got to attend. C'est la vie...

After coming back from Pittsburgh, it's been back to business- finishing up another issue of the magazine, and trying to keep both our vehicles on the road- car maintenance and repair is always a pain, and driving can be hazardous, too. I also have coworkers dealing with illness, in one case personal, and in the other case, familial... So I've had the "listening cap" (is there such a thing) on about that as well.

Until next time (Hopefully sooner rather than later)...