Well, it's been quite a week. And the week's not even over yet. AND the main event of the week hasn't even occured. AND I have about two days of drinking before the main event even gets close. Let's recap:

Last Thursday, the 24th (give or take), a few of us were sitting on the tarmac at Newark airport for a few hours, waiting for a plane to take off to take us to Vegas, for Ben's bachelor party (so huge). It was well worth the wait, since it resulted in about 10 good friends in a suite at the Venetian, ready to get heavily involved in some serious jackassery. I've known most of these guys for some time now, and I'll tell you - if being a jackass were a competitive sport, at least half of these fellows would be nationally ranked, and the others would be well-known at the pro-am level. I won't say too much about this trip (not because I don't respect both of my avid readers, but rather because I'm under contractual obligation to remain silent. That's either an advantage or disadvantage to having friends who are not only complete buffoons, but also accomplished lawyers). Suffice to say that we learned that there are very few gentlemen at a 'Gentleman's Club,' but a number of very nice young ladies. I think one really like me, too. Hi Grace!

After Vegas, I took a plane to Albany, NY, by way of Boston. This was a travesty, of course - it definitely involved me being told that the best course of action was to cancel my ticket and rent a car; this I did, at which point I was told that the plane which definitely wasn't leaving Syracuse to get to Boston for another few hours had actually taken off half an hour before, and that it would probably be a good idea to get a ticket on it, cancel the car, and make sure my baggage (which I had of course requested be taken off the plane so I could put it in the trunk of the rental car to be driven to Albany) was on that flight. Sigh. Since I got home safely and not too late, the only thing I can really complain about is the fact that it would have cost 8 bucks to get access to the wifi in the airport, which is total crap.

Got picked up in Albany, to be taken to Friends Lake, NY, where my entire family was waiting for me. Best thing ever. My brother and sister-in-law were there, with my 10 month old niece; my niece who is, without question, the cutest thing in the entire world. No debate required. She could use something of a better vocabulary at this point (everything is 'dat,' right now). We spent some time on the plu-perfect subjunctive, which I think may have been difficult for both student and teacher (since everyone in the room at the time was a little unclear on what exactly it was, or if in fact it was actually a part of speech at all).

And now I'm on a train back to NYC, so I can pick up a car to drive to some campground in Massachusetts, or Vermont, or something, for the three days of religiously sanctioned debauch that will be Ben's wedding. Since I am obviously incapable of taking any form of transit and have it not be a travesty, I am on the train after a two hour delay in the train station. Here I was figuring that solving the operational problem of moving trains would be easier than that of moving around planes . . . but no. Anyway, I'm on my way, and will be home before tommorrow, which is about all I can ask for these days.

I'm fairly psyched for wedding, since it's mostly going to be a continuation of the bachelor party, with much less losing money at craps tables (and since my special lady does burlesque, a dancing girl whom I don't have to pay per dance!). Really, it's win-win. Evidentally I'm giving a speech, or a toast, or something on Saturday night. I've been working on it for a while (since last October, really), and at this point it's 9 pages long (college ruled). I'm going to have to cut it down, probably, but a lot of it is really good. So I think I'm going to release a 'directors cut' on the blog. You know, for posterity.