Sorry I've not been around and have been a bad "friend." Two people I know died over the weekend, one was a girl I used to skate with (she was only 25 years old and was brutally murdered by someone else she knew), the other a former coworker who had been battling cancer for some time now. I wasn't incredibly close with either of them but it's all still very sad. I had one wake yesterday and the other is today. On top of that the weather has been absolutely horrible. Yesterday it was a clear, bright day, then all of a sudden, in fact not long after the girl's wake had started, it started pouring buckets, and we had a tremendous storm. Thank goodness I was safe inside for the moment and hadn't left yet for the wake, there were moments I would've sworm I'd accidentally teleported to Mexico and was in the middle of Hurricane Dean! (Being a Midwesterner maybe that's a bit melodramatic as I've never actually experienced a hurricane, but they did report gusts of 60 mph, and countless trees were downed in the course of the storm.) If I didn't know any better I'd have thought it was nature's way of a temper tantrum, howling in grief and bawling about the senseless murder of the girl. It did calm down sufficiently about four hours later and I made the wake. Not that any wake is ever a joyous occasion, but this was particularly sad due to the circumstances. My former coworker's wake is today and I am going later in the evening with some other former coworkers.

Anyway, sorry to ramble, but I've not been in the best of moods, hope you can forgive my absence, and will make the best attempt to catch up with you guys.