  Back to New Jersey (again) ...and back to New York to visit with my beta users. Every time I come home I try to visit them since I am close by anyway.
I came home to go to the graduation/birthday party for the daughter of close friends of the family. I'll post pictures when I get them. I had a fun time with my family and sat with my friend Colin Wiseman who is a high-level technology manager at Citibank, and Mike who used to be at Citibank and now is a consultant (mainly for ADP right now).
We had some great conversation about driving fast, technology, and possibility. I also danced with Krissa and her family & had fun catching up with some people I haven't seen in a while. My little sister Kristen was late to the party and she got all dressed up and looked great. So, we had to go out somehwere.
But on a Sunday night at 10:30 PM?? We went to New Brunswick. The first lounge we looked at was kind of beat... we just looked inside and left. We ended up at the Harvest Moon Brewery in New Brunswick. The last time I was there was with Sarah Bemis, my sisters, my cousin Melissa Gomes, and her boyfriend Alex Santos about 9 months ago... Me, my cousin Melissa, and my sister Kristen urlLink Me and Sarah at the Harvest Moon urlLink * * * * * My family and I are going to Portugal as part of celebrating my parents' 30th wedding aniversary.
My mother was born there and has always spoken about going back with us to see family and where she was a child. I had planned to go with my sister Marisa about 2 years ago for a roots trip and even had tickets, but our plans fell through becuase of problems with work. Hopefully, Marisa will be able to make it this time, but I doubt it since she's alredy planned a lot of vacation for the year - her and like 25 friends are going to Las Vegan in August.
Looks like we'll be going to Portugal in late September or early October (thanks to my abundant frequent flyer miles). Kristen won't be able to since she'll be in school. Since she won't be able to go in September, of all the people in the world she asked me to go on vacation with her in August. I really want to take her up on it. It looks like we'll be going to Trinidad. My best friend and closest family friends are Trinidadian.
My mother told me last night that my she and my father are planning a trip there in August with Phil & Donna Allen - perfect! She says she found tickets for only $299. So we'll have my parents and close friends with us, and we'll have a place to stay for free - what an opportunity! I'm excited. Plus, my birthday is August 18th so it's possible I'll be able to celebrate my birthday there with my family. whohoo! 
