Home next weekend!

I'm still flying high from Sunday's ALS Walk for the Cure and all of my friends who were there to support us!

Even so, it's a tough week at PennDOT - the HPMS deliverable is due to FHWA next Monday, so every day is critical.  I made some more good progress today, fixing some data items and working on the HPMS supplemental files.  Tomorrow I need to start on the GIS data submission.  Last year I spent about 3 weeks working on the GIS data, this year I have about 3 days.  Fortunately, I take good notes. :)

We're heading to Charleston, WV Friday afternoon to see mom and some friends for the weekend!  Looking forward to catching up with mom.  I was last there in March for a business trip for my City of Charleston Stormwater project.

We're staying at the Marriott Residence Inn off Greenbrier Street and hope to see friends on Saturday.  Eddie has offered up the HPCBD law office for a gathering of friends, so if you are out and about Saturday afternoon, we hope you will stop by and visit.  I'll have my camera of course, and hope to get some pictures of my friends and with my friends. 

Plans have gelled for our Knudson Family Reunion North Carolina trip in August.  We're staying in a large cabin near Grandfather Mountain and all of my family is flying or driving in.  One of Chuck's friend's/patient was kind enough to let us have the cabin for the week.  It will be awesome to see all of my family, this time with Kim.  We met at Chuck's house in Charlotte last fall, but Kim was not able to join us due to her father Bill's illness.

Chuck is coming up from Charlotte for a visit at the end of the month.  We're looking forward to his visit and planning some guy activities we can do together during his visit.

Today I had lunch at Bricco's with my good friend Bruce S.  He shared the story of his trip to Israel and walking 50+ miles to Nazareth over a week's time.  He has posted his pictures, travel log, and GPS coordinates online - fascinating!  He also gave me the book "Tuesday's with Morrie", which I have heard of but never read.  I never realized that Morrie had ALS, and I look forward to reading it.

My good friend Eric J. also gave me a book several weeks ago written by a woman who had a serious neurological disease, which I have enjoyed reading.  It's by Sarah Manguso and titled "The Two Kinds of Decay".  It is sometimes scary, humorous, and very insightful about the human condition, the medical system, and our short time on this earth and what really matters.

Thank you to my friends who have shown how much they care and my supporters who are still making donations to the Team JFK website!  Kim and I are much richer for knowing you and sharing in your lives!