Long and short of it all: I came back from Canada. Hung out at home for a while. Threw away all of my old stuff. Got new stuff (thanks IKEA). Worked for a bit. Was sent to a different place in Canada (Cape Breton, NS) for 3 weeks. During my travels, my Grandmother died and my Dad had a heart attack. I’m currently in NC helping out the family sort out all of this weirdness.

Oh yeah, somewhere in between all of that, I started a company with a friend and we’re currently making applications for the iPhone. And we’re getting PAID, too.

I think that covers it all. Needless to say, life has been a little hectic in the past month (when most of the above took place). Time has taken a turn for the slow as all of this madness unfurled at a glacial pace. In the past 4 weeks alone I’ve discovered other-worldly beauties of the great white north while simultaneously discovering feelings of panic and mourning. As a result, I felt as if I at least should document something here on this little site that no one reads anymore.

Which makes me wonder… Who DOES read this? I can’t imagine I have much of a fan base outside of the occasional Google spider and lost web traveler. I guess if anyone ever decided to google my name they *might* stumble upon this site. I guess I’ve always wanted there to be someone out there who reads this to understand a shred of what I put up here. Of course I understand that the words YOU are reading right now are but a mere shadow of what I really mean/feel/want to come across. So, how about we make a deal. If you are reading this post right now, I want you to email (zach at bugbbq dot com) me, twitter (http://twitter.com/bugbbq) me, AIM (boogbbq) me. Any time. Any place. I’ll always be right here. For you. Whoever YOU are.

On a side note, I’d like to dedicate a paragraph or two towards my current position on this here planet. As I mentioned above, I’m back in my childhood home of Webster, NC. I keep forgetting just how nice it is here. Quiet, cool, and beautiful scenery. Makes me wonder about why I left this place if each time I come up (or in my recent case, down from Canada) all I think about is the natural beauty of everything. But then the small things start to surface that make me appreciate my decision to leave NC. If I had never left this area, I would have never been able to travel the world the way I have. I would never have been able to experience hurricane parties. Things like Cuban food, really good cigars, in-n-out burgers, German engineering, geocaching, and smashing good cricket would be alien things, something to be read about but never experienced. If I had stayed in the mountains, I’d never be able to talk about wild taxi rides in the heart of Mumbai, India. And while I will never claim myself better than any other person, I do feel for anyone that I might have known from this small town in western North Carolina that never really left this place.

I guess you have to stand outside of what you consider home to really understand what you have and don’t have. I’m thankful that I took the opportuinity (and in some cases, had the opportunity forced upon me) to go outside of my comfort zone and see a glimpse of what this world has to offer. There’s a lot of great things here in what I call home, but there are far more interesting things outside.

And that’s where I’ll be. Outside. 

I’ll take pictures along the way.

So I might as well tell you that the past 4 weeks have been absolute hell on wheels when it comes to work. 12-14 hours of work everyday, weddings and mandatory social gatherings every weekend while doing even more work, well…I think you’re starting to get the idea. A trip to hell and back doesn’t come without its rewards as I have taken a part of new and exciting ventures, met new and exciting people, and lost new and exciting years off of my life thanks to all this new and exciting stress. It’s rude to talk on about work, so I’ll just say that in the end, it’s all been worth it. Knowing that tomorrow will be the last day in some time that I’ll wake up at 4:45am, work until 6-7pm, barely eat, and get shitty sleep will be better than all the last days of school combined. Freedom. How sweet she be.

I’ve wondered what I will do in my absence of extreme stress, and honestly, I haven’t a clue what will become of me. The mere thought of arriving at work with little to no insane daily challenges and other-worldly goals will bore me, I’m afraid. I’ll have to get my fix by wrestling bears doused in gasoline in a flaming pit while writing various lesson plans and process documents. Even then, will it be enough? Only time will tell.

My guilty pleasure as of late has been something that, against all of my better judgment, is very NOT myself. While I occasionally dabble in the sinful bliss that is known as Web2.0 (as you can tell by the shiny logo affixed to the top of this page), I have to admit that I have fallen prey to the trap that is Twitter. Out of sheer boredom from having nothing planned during my last weekend, I decided to sign up (hey, all those kids were doing it, and they seem pretty cool.) and join the twitter republic. For those unwashed Web2.0 masses, Twitter.com is a site that allows you to update your current status in life, both on and offline. For example, I got to the site via my iPhone, broadcast to whoever cares that I’m currently at work, or going to Publix for some groceries, or out geocaching. Sounds pretty lame, doesn’t it? Well, after a few days of use, I must say that this would be a VERY useful if everyone that I knew used the service. I find it would be MUCH easier to know what someone was doing by pulling up a simple status window versus calling them, potentially interrupting whatever they were doing at the time, and then spending the next 5 minutes apologize for interrupting. I’ll give it a couple more weeks to see if it’s something I’m really interested in or not. Chances are that I’ll probably be stalked by some 60-year old sexual predator, you know, like how ALL good internet stories end.