I had a couple of days off at the end of April, so I used them to go down to Athens to visit some friends, buy some new rollerblades from another friend, and catch some films at the film festival there.

It ended up being a great trip, and staying with my friend Ana is always very peaceful. Her apartment is so clean and "unplugged," both figuratively and literally, which inspired me to take the last photo there.

Noah (pictured above) and I went on a rollerblading adventure, and even though it was a Wednesday, we agreed that it felt like a quiet Sunday.

Ana, Noah and I got some Chinese food and picked up a fake mustache from a 50-cent toy machine on the way out of the restaurant, thus the psychedelic mustachioed self-portrait.

I ended up seeing only one Athens Film Festival screening (Skatopia: 88 Acres of Anarchy), but it was still a well-spent jaunt down to Appalachia.

I visited Athens over OU's winter break and stayed at my friend Drew's apartment there (his roommate was in her hometown, so I made use of her bed). One night, I turned some lights out and tried to head to bed, but he kept leaning into the dark hallway to show me videos of Diane Rehm, our favorite white-haired radio talk show host.

Drew and I were able to pull together a pretty nice Falcon Heene costume at the last minute, if I do say so myself. And I do.

Beth and I had a relaxed night on the eve of Halloween. No sweat that her wig wasn't quite like Daphne from "Scooby Doo."