San Diego in July -- As in most other recent years, I attended a conference in San Diego related to my profession as a cartographer. Around 13,000 map makers and other professionals from around the world attend the conference, and lest you think San Diego is all about fun, the numerous courses I attend during the week are quite intense, though the evenings indeed involve a lot of schmoozing and partying with people in my agency and others.

While in San Diego, I caught up with my friends Hatem, his wife Ismet and later with his former wife Kathy, all of whom seem to be doing well and were in good spirits.

Minnesota in July -- Soon after returning from California, I hopped another flight to visit family and friends in Minnesota. Most are doing well, though a few are pressed by financial constraints and a weak economy. The weather was the mildest and most pleasant in memory for the month of July, mostly sunny with low humidity and no days in the 90s. One fun thing my mother and I did during this visit was a day spent locating part of our ancestry in the rural areas west of Minneapolis. Unexpectedly, we stumbled upon the gravestone of my great, great, great grandparents, and we also were welcomed by the current owners of the land of another set of great, great, great grandparents. I’ve had fun lately writing a narrative describing what I know and speculate about their lives and have shared that with some of our relatives, who seemed to appreciate it.