Weekend Review

Flew into Cleveland Thursday night. My boy John Charlton, who lives in Hartford, met me in Baltimore for our connecting flight.

Flirting with the rental-car lady got me an upgrade to the very feminine Jeep Liberty. A white one. All I needed then was a butch haircut and an LPGA tour exemption.

But the Cleveland trip meant the sale of my car was being finalized. Surprisingly quick and painless on Friday morning.

What is not quick and painless is the treatment Mike is getting. My stepdad today begins the sixth and -- thankfully -- final week of radiation for his cancer. I was obviously glad to see him, but I wish there was more I could do. Mom is doing a great job taking care of him between treatments. The last couple of weeks have been especially difficult for Mike, whose spirits were strong until recently. Mom says the doctors think he'll be back to being himself near the end of summer. Hang in there, Mike. Both of my readers are praying for you!

So after John and I parted ways, I took the Liberty down Interstate 71 on a gorgeous Friday afternoon to Cincinnati. I picked the right day to be off work. It was the first time I was able to listen to Jim Rome in quite a while, and it just happened to be the day of his annual smack-off. Just when I was getting far enough out of Cleveland to lose the signal, I was close enough to Columbus to pick it back up. My boy Dave in Cincinnati and I spent most of the show texting each other our reviews of the calls, many of which were quite entertaining.

An old flame met me at my hotel in Cincinnati, and after I shot some city views from Devou Park, we ran down to meet friends at the Cock and Bull in Covington's Main Strasse area. I'd post some pictures of the evening, but most are either embarrassing or incriminating. But I will say it was nice of them to serve up my vodka-tonics in pilsner glasses. That's why I only ordered four of them.

Saturday was nice and lazy like Friday. I drove around and took a few more pictures -- I'm trying to plan another photography show in Cincinnati this summer, so that's why I was shooting the city -- then got on the road for Louisville to see friends there.

Mexican for lunch and pizza for dinner once I got to Louisville probably wasn't the best thing I could have done for my stomach if I was planning to go out with friends again that night. If toilets had ears, I'd apologize to my friend Patrick's restroom in St. Matthews.

Some Louisville friends met Patrick and I out at Brendan's, which has become fairly clubbish since I was last there. I need to find a better bar for these occasional reunions.

Sunday went off just as Sundays typically do when trying to fly back to New York. A flight delay here, a lost bag there, a 40-minute line for a cab to the city. But I made some new friends so it wasn't entirely miserable.

Once I got in -- without my toothbrush that was packed in my unreceived bag, of course -- I finally got to bed at about midnight, just in time to get four hours of sleep before the first day of what looks to be a more-demanding-than-usual week at work. Happy Monday, y'all!