As August continues to move on, I must shift gears. It’s been a busy one so far. I spent 10 days in Vegas, which felt like a month. I didn’t even remember what it was like to live in my own house when I returned home. BlackHat and DefCon were great, though. Met up with lots of great people both old and new and have subsequently burned all the pictures I took while down there. ;)

On my return to Seattle, I recovered for a few days only to welcome my parents into town. I had a great time with them doing all sorts of touristy stuff. We had dinner the first night at Ivar’s Salmon House. Apparently, my father’s charm was in full swing that night as the hostess seated us at a table with a perfect view of Lake Union and downtown Seattle. We all enjoyed an excellent salmon dinner, which my mother claimed was the best she had ever had. A couple nights later, we decided to take a walk down to Gasworks after dinner and stumbled upon some lavish event that was in progress. It was totally unexpected, but pretty crazy to see 10 tour ducks roll into Gasworks and unload 300 people. We also checked out the Japanese Gardens, the sculpture park, the Space Needle (of course), Pikes Place Market (of course), The Underground Tour, and a driving tour of Fremont, Wallingford, Greenlake, Cap Hill, Ballard, and downtown. Finally, on their last night we wandered around trying to decide what to have for dinner. We finally agreed that I would make a nice pork chop dinner on my back porch. My mother’s camera has the pictures, but it turned out to be a great dinner with great food, great wine, and great company. A suiting end to a great few days.

The other highlight of the weekend was the Arthur Murray Summer Showcase. This event was the first time my parents had ever seen me perform in ballroom dancing, with the exception of the couple videos I’ve sent them. Despite the looooong day (9am-10pm), I think they enjoyed themselves, but I know they particularly did when they were able to see the spectacular Joe and Leisa Howard perform mere feet away from where they were sitting. The Howard’s were also adjudicators during the day and gave me some very flattering comments on my dancing.

Now it’s back to work and a shift in gears as I prepare to attempt to summit Mt. Rainier again in…not very long from now.