Every year our friends Megan & Matt host a series of Friday night movies in their backyard. It’s a chance for the adults to relax and enjoy a cocktail or two while the kids run around like banshees and play on the playset.

Matt has a great setup for the movies — a sweet computer projector that makes a nice ten plus foot screen. As the night heads toward twilight the kids and adults have had their fill of any number of treats that have been brought for the festivities.

As the sun slowly sets the screen on the side of their house slowly starts to become more and more apparent and the kids know movie time has finally come. We hosted a movie night once at our house to give Matt & Megan a break and while we all had a great time, it just didn’t have that touch of magic that exists in their backyard.

That’s not to say that our yard won’t ever have that magic, but right now its a barren wasteland of grass. Megan & Matt’s yard by comparison has well thought our flower gardens that hold surprises one might not normally expect to see in a typical garden. Its just a fun place to be, centrally located between two other of our friends. A win-win situation really.

So to Megan & Matt if you are reading this — A hearty thank you from us to you! This summer’s movie night was a smashing success, we are looking forward to next year already!

Our Vermont adventure began on the 4th at 5:30AM. Having our son’s birthday party at another location than our house turned out to be an excellent idea. So much less mess, so much less drama. Without much fanfare, we started on our way.

Traveling on the 4th was great, we zipped along on roads that were close to empty. Now we had been warned about Ohio, our friends Kah-Nicki and Eric warned us that Ohio police would be on the prowl and they were out in force. So many people gave us dirty looks for only going a bit over the speed limit, but after seeing 6 people pulled over, I just didn’t care (Screw you Ohio!).

After around 8.5 hours of driving we pulled into Erie, PA. Turning off the toll road my son Maverick excitedly asked if the Holiday Inn with the indoor water park was our hotel. We explained that it was not, and as we turned down the road and saw the Country Inn & Suites that we were staying at I said:

“Wow! Check out our hotel, isn’t it cool!”

To which he replied:

“No. Our hotel is boring.”

LOL, too funny. Mental note for the next trip. The only saving grace we had was that our hotel did have a swimming pool. Even it provided comedy relief — my wife encountered not one but two stray long pieces of hair that she was quick to point out were not her own. Very funny to watch.

Rising up bright and early the next morning we were once again on the road. I won’t bore you with details of the trip, it went on and on and on (10.5 Hours!). It was very cool driving through the Adirondack mountains and along Lake George. It really made for a nice change from the bland tollway driving.

Crossing over the bridge to Vermont we could practically taste the Maple syrup in the air. Just being in Vermont had us excited we knew that it was just a matter of time before we were at our friends. I was stoked because Vermont is so different from Illinois. Illinois is flat, nature scrubbed, track-home laden and boring. From what I have seen of Vermont, it is wooded, green, mountainous and a complete 180 of what I am used to seeing in Illinois.

As we pulled into Jericho the thing that really threw me for a loop was the complete and utter lack of fast food restaurants and annoying billboards, signs and clutter. There just don’t exist, and as I would learn later it was on purpose. Wicked cool if you ask me.

In no time we found ourselves on Old Pump road, crossing a one lane bridge over the Browns river. We turned down the road to their house, road mind you, not driveway and I just fell in love with the land, the river and woods. When my friends moved from Illinois I was really bummed, but after seeing Vermont and their home I could not be more supportive of their move. In fact, I find myself thinking about moving here.

More of the Vermont Adventure to come in Part 2.

For all practical matters, I am a social outcast. Not in the conventional sense of the term, but rather the social network world of the Internet. A 9rule member that I enjoy e*star LA has a great post and visual about social landscape entitled — Where on the Online Map.

I’ve thought about trying to meld into the social fabric of the net, it just hasn’t worked to date. I either have turned into my parents and can’t stand it (as in the case of My Space), or i just don’t have a group of friends whose like to form networks. Maybe its because of children, they tend to nullify a lot of free time and energy.

The closest I have come is 9rules, the members are what I would describe as cognitive, creative and interesting. Its more about content than glitz, its more about discussion than drama. I like it, and with luck maybe I’ll get the golden ticket and be a member. Or maybe not, whether it happens or not I still get to enjoy it and participate, so its cool.

So social network wise, I am a social pariah and I am okay with that. Besides what I find vastly more interesting than which social network a person belongs to is what browser they use, what search engine and what blog they run. I think you can learn a lot more about a person from those criteria than any social network they might belong to.

For what its worth: Firefox, Google, WordPress

Went to some friends house today for an event they put on called “Wiffle & Wings” — despite the overcast sky the party pushed forward. Some of the biggest wings I have ever seen were BBQ’d to perfection.

After we had all gorged ourselves and had a few beers, the party was moved to the backyard. With the kids playing contently on a fort, in the trampoline, or on the swings, the guys broke out the Wiffle ball equipment.

Wiffle Ball — how that brings back memories of playing pickup wiffle ball games with my neighborhood friends Pym, Keet, Du and Dave (he never did get a nickname). Its funny the things you remember when thinking about past events.

Like the gnarled old tree that we used as a backstop (and would later become the tree that Dave would fall out of onto his head). I remember a giant pussy willow tree that led to their dilapidated old patio. That to this day I am not sure if was ever actually used.

I even remember the rules we setup for the game — first base was next to the bush by the barking dog house, second base was on the back lot line, third base was the top right corner of the vegetable garden and home plate was the gnarled old tree.

I smiled to myself tonight as the same sort of haggling went on regarding what was foul, where a home run was, etc. Some things just never change.