Happy Independence Day!  Is that the BP mother ship above the White House?

Our drive to Northern Virginia took EIGHT HOURS!!!  I suspect all the hard working government employees in the area took Friday off and also left early Thursday, so we got stuck in a lot of rush hour traffic.  Our tax dollars hard at work.  Well, considering I've taken my share of long weekends and early departures in my day, I can't hurl any stones.

It's always good spending time with the ASS Family.  Lots of good cocktails and funny stories.  And once in a while, a source of interesting tidbits.  They were telling me about their vacation to Cancun last month and they were saying the average hotel worker there earned $5 A DAY!!!  That really surprised me, because Mexico is one of the more developed emerging market countries, and I would have thought they made a few dollars AN HOUR - not PER DAY.  Mexico in many ways is very modern - but I guess the wealth hasn't trickled down yet.  Whenever you watch a movie, a few dollars a day is what causes all the locals to revolt, but I was assured all the hotel workers seemed very happy.

Basically, it's been a weekend of gorging.  My mother-in-law made us a feast Thursday, we pigged out with the ASS family Friday and they had a neighborhood block party yesterday where there was tons of dead animal.  We had a Texas guy bring smoked brisket and ribs (and got a few pointers in the process) and we also had a professional tailgater bring his sausage and peppers.  All the neighbors chipped in and bot REAL fireworks and we set them off once it got dark.  I had never seen real fireworks set off by everyday people before.  So when I say real fireworks, I mean stuff that goes like 100 feet in the air and fills the sky.  The kids seemed to enjoy that and we all had a good time.  And it's only the third of July!