I seem to be getting out of my office less and less these days.

Aside from one great Mexican restaurant and the occasional pastry visit, I don’t spend much time in the Normaltown part of Athens. Mostly because I’m … well, too normal for the cool people who hang out here.

That includes one of my former students who had a little book signing event.

As our driveway heaved, cracked and settled, it has redirected water from the back yard down towards the pool. My latest attempt at moving it elsewhere involved a rubber garage door seal and some bricks.

Now it won’t rain …

We had some friends joining us for a few days, refugees from the Carolinas. What else to do but go antiquing, right?

Also, “antique smartphones” are phones more than three generations old, I guess.

I did not hold the door open … you can stay on the outside and look in.

In the spring, I was invited up to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga for their Photo Night, run by my friend Billy Weeks. It was a spectacular event and, the next morning, I was in a colleague’s office saying we needed to do the same thing.

So we did.

I expected maybe 30 people to show up and we had over 70. The mix of presentations from alums, professionals and current students worked really well … and they asked when the next one was.

I sent the kids out in groups to start planning our election coverage strategy. You’d be amazed at what they can come back with in just 30 minutes.