Boston, NASA, and handguns

I haven't updated this in 2 weeks, but I have somewhat of an excuse... I've been gone (mostly). I spent July 11-13 in Boston visiting the main office of the people I work for remotely from campus. Not much to report on that trip because I spent over 8 hours a day in a cubicle in the basement of a government building. Sucked. Made me really not want to continue there full-time after I graduate. Plus I'm not big on living in Boston forever. I'm not a big baseball or Red Sox fan by any means, and I heard my share of baseball talk in the boston accents in the 3 days I was there. I think I took one picture of my cubicle, maybe I'll post that.

After that trip I got to go to Hampton, VA to visit NASA Langley as part of this Graduate Student Research Program. It was a mandatory trip, and while a "free" trip to the VA Beach area sounds nice, it was extremely boring and I'd rather have been in Atlanta. Mainly because I didn't have a car, so I was basically confined to a mile perimeter around my hotel, which was in downtown Hampton (nowheres-ville), but also because the planned events at NASA were just a huge waste of time. I'd rather be working and making $$$. I did have a nice view of the harbor from my window, which maybe I'll post a picture of.

The highlight of the trip (besides the awesome japanese restaurant I went too... can you say Unagi?) was when Carl took me to the shooting range just before my flight out. I finally got to shoot a 1911 (.45 caliber), and it was glorious. This was only my 3rd time ever shooting a handgun and I could get very accurate with that thing. Turned out it was an Isreali model, named Bul, and is only $300! Considering most 1911's are $500 or more, this blew my mind! The guy in the lane next to me let me shoot his Kimber 1911 (cost around $650+), and it wasn't even as good! It jammed on me on the second shot! I need to look more into this Bul brand...

Now I am finally back in Atlanta for the remainder of the Summer. It's good too because I am really sick of travelling, especially by air. Just the thought of being in another airport or crammed in an airplane listening to the captain explaining the delays makes me cringe. I'm off to see Wedding Crashers... later!

Charleston/Folly Beach, SC

I went down to Folly Beach, SC (Charleston basically) July 2-6 for Rachel's brother Chris' wedding. I had an absolute blast of a time. The house was right on the beach (See pictures), and the beach itself is not a crowded beach by any means. The town doesn't have much (only one hotel), so it's mostly rented houses, which keeps the number of visitors to a reasonable level. To compare, it is more like the higher streets of Ocean City compared to the boardwalk sections, except like I said there are no hise-rise hotels in sight, which makes it more pleasant.

I thought I would hate the wedding, just cause I usually do. But this wedding was different than others I have been to. First of all, it wasn't in a church, which I really liked. Also, the preist didn't read any long-winded, cliched passages from the bible, and we didn't have to sing any hymns or listen to anyone sing them. The service was outside at a Charleston country club on the water. GREAT location. As a side-note, all the houses in this private community, named I'on, are brand new but are built to resemble the old Charleston plantation-style homes. Beautiful homes. Anyways, the service was short and to the point, yet still very respectful. I was amazed at how well the whole setup was, considering the wedding was planned in about one month. So I wouldn't say this completely changed my mind about weddings, but it's a good start.

Check the below pics for the highlights.

Newleyweds. Picture courtesy of Nathan and his good camera.

Rachel, her brother Chris (the groom), and Allison (family friend)... bride not pictured.

Rachel and I after the wedding.

Playing some Cranium, always a good time.

Rachel's cousins. They woke me up at 7:30am every morning (I slept in the living room), but you gotta love 'em.

My first kite flying experience in a looong time. It was one of those "stunt" kites, not the ones you can just tie to your chair. Took a little bit to get the hang of it, but it was real fun because you can steer it around and do tricks.

The house we all stayed in. Right on the beach and no crowds made for a real enjoyable experience.

Charleston/Folly Beach, SC

I went down to Folly Beach, SC (Charleston basically) July 2-6 for Rachel's brother Chris' wedding. I had an absolute blast of a time. The house was right on the beach (See pictures), and the beach itself is not a crowded beach by any means. The town doesn't have much (only one hotel), so it's mostly rented houses, which keeps the number of visitors to a reasonable level. To compare, it is more like the higher streets of Ocean City compared to the boardwalk sections, except like I said there are no hise-rise hotels in sight, which makes it more pleasant.

I thought I would hate the wedding, just cause I usually do. But this wedding was different than others I have been to. First of all, it wasn't in a church, which I really liked. Also, the preist didn't read any long-winded, cliched passages from the bible, and we didn't have to sing any hymns or listen to anyone sing them. The service was outside at a Charleston country club on the water. GREAT location. As a side-note, all the houses in this private community, named I'on, are brand new but are built to resemble the old Charleston plantation-style homes. Beautiful homes. Anyways, the service was short and to the point, yet still very respectful. I was amazed at how well the whole setup was, considering the wedding was planned in about one month. So I wouldn't say this completely changed my mind about weddings, but it's a good start.

Check the below pics for the highlights.