Jillian's 5 yr class reunion

Jillian and I just got back from our short weekend trip to Birmingham. Her dental school class reunion was held at the Hyatt Regency (Wynfrey) Hotel last night. It was an interesting trip. We showed up fashionably late at 7:15 and were just in time for a class photo. I snagged one on my cell phone b/c no one was really sure who the photo was for or where people could get a copy.
The people I met were nice. A few of them were surprisingly drunk 15 minutes into the event. I wasn't so much surprised at how quickly alcohol can take effect, but more so surprised at how much people must have spent or been willing to spend to make it to that state. Liquor drinks were basically $9 and cheap domestic beers were $6 at their cash bar.
Conversations seemed a little redundant among most people; the standard "where do you work now?", "doing what?" "how many kids?". Thankfully, there was a nice meal in the middle that took the pressure away from forced conversation. Even better for a tag-along like myself. They served some shrimp filled pasta as well as chicken parmesan and some terrific rice dish. The meal had a turn for the worst as the terrible desserts literally left a bad taste in our mouths.
We didn't linger much long after the meal was over and Jillian was quick to say her goodbyes before we drove back to father's house to end the night. I tried to persuade her to make a pit stop at the wedding reception across the hall from the class reunion, but she declined.
This morning we woke up pretty early and tried to get ready as quickly as possible. Around 7:15am, I grabbed our hanging clothes and started out to my truck to pack it away and didn't realized the house alarm was on. That was a real treat for the neighbors I'm sure. Someone else in the house must have been near an alarm panel b/c the siren didn't last too long. Still thoroughly embarrassing. Before we actually packed up the truck and left, Jillian rummaged through the garage to find her old water skis and ended up also grabbing a wooden children's chair that had belonged to her older brother. She decided it would have better use in our future child's room, so she cashed in on an early inheritance.
The trip home was a short one. We only made two stops; the first was for gas and a Whataburger breakfast, the second for a Monster Energy drink. I'm not really good at staying awake on any drive longer than two hours. Oops, I just remembered that we also stopped at the Loxley, AL Piggly Wiggly grocery store to grab hamburger meat. Make that three stops. We ultimately made it home around noon. Just in time to miss Olympic Curling on NBC.