Stitched Up

First snow

2011-12-04T17:02:00.000-08:00

A month ago we bought a used snow blower in anticipation of the coming winter. Last night, winter arrived. We received about 4 inches of snow overnight and awoke to what Dana describes as Narnia-esc. As we had to leave for church I put off the snow blowing until the afternoon which I then realized was not a good idea. As the day warmed the snow became wet and heavy and much more difficult to remove. After receiving some advice from Grandpa Joe we commenced the blowing! It left a thin layer which then melted and refroze as ice. I lowered the scraper bar which should help with that, as will snow blowing fresh snow, not slush! I'm hoping to avoid any lawsuits from people slipping on our sidewalk. That will be my measure of success.

Mail treats

2011-12-02T09:48:00.000-08:00

About 2 months ago Dana got her first job in the last 4 years. We were both interested to see how it would work since we enjoy the benefits of domestic engineering but with my long hours it was a good opportunity to get out of the house and do something that she enjoyed. The idea of a wine store was pretty exciting. The benefits of working in a wine store haven't been quite what we hoped, but the extra money that is being designated to non-budgeted "fun" items has immediately paid off in my humidor. Dana designated her first check to buying me cigars and for me, cigar gifts can only come from one place...Habana, Cuba. This week I received 15 Montecristo #2 and 10 Partagas Serie P #2. Now if winter would just end so I can smoke them...

Mayo Foundation House

2011-10-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last night Dana and I attended a dinner at the Foundation house. This was the residence of Dr. William Mayo and was donated to the Mayo Clinic by he and his wife. The house is basically a stone castle which is not open to the public. I was told during my orientation that if I ever get a chance to visit the house, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

The dinner is an annual event held by the cardiac surgery department and this year they invited the perfusionists. The house was 5 stories tall and had a number of rooms including Dr. Mayo's office and a gentleman's game room with a snooker table on the top floor.

The evening was very enjoyable and the multi-course meal was outstanding. We had fillet mignon that was served with a butter knife...not to mention, I had the best looking date in the house!

New projects

2011-09-18T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here is another of our recent projects. We (Dana) found this head board at a thrift store in St. Paul. We had a bit of an idea that finally came together.

It has started to get fall-like here. The temp has dropped into the 50's and 60's over the last week. It is nice not to be sweating because of the humidity (sick!) but I'm not really ready to start thinking about winter. Prior to that we had been trying to cook on our new fire bowl. Here we are making a little pizza. We made a Gorgonzola and fig pizza and a salami/pepperoni/gorgonzola with some of our home grown habaneros. Delicious!

The Fair, eh...

2011-08-30T19:10:00.000-07:00

On Sunday we visited the famous Minnesota State Fair. If attendance is an indication of anything than it is clearly worth writing home about. I'm pretty sure we saw about 20% of it and even that was somewhat over-whelming. I think I would prefer a Tuesday morning if I were to go again. One of the more exciting things we saw was the Ron Paul booth. We wanted to buy a T-shirt but evidently a permit is required to sell T-shirts. Figures. Otherwise there was an abundance of fried food on a stick, farm animals and random booths selling...eh, stuff.

August update

2011-08-21T06:41:00.000-07:00

I figure it is time for my monthly blog. I've been really behind in updating because, and I know most of you won't believe this, I've been really busy! First, work has been long and draining. It probably wouldn't feel that way if I'd been working more than I had been at my last 2 jobs and hadn't taken a 4 month "sabbatical" last year but 50+ hours/week is gettin' me down! I do feel like I'm learning a lot in different professional aspects. We do just about every type of procedure here that can be done so I won't be deficient in my experience as a perfusionist and with such a large and "diverse" group of people in the department I am learning what it is like to handle, or at least listen to, the difficulties in managing people. The opportunity in Dublin to run the department meant that I had 1 employee and quite a bit of latitude in running things. Not so here.

Enough with work! On Friday night we attended a lecture at L'Abri. The house is less than 2 miles from downtown but feels like it is completely isolated as it sits on a hill surrounded by dense forestry. It kind of makes me wish I was a student again so I could take a month or even a semester to spend in an environment where you can work on life. The lecture was on Richard Dawkins' book The God Delusion which was presented in true Schaeffer fashion, from the author's perspective, then dissected and rebutted. There was a pretty good crowd of people and from what I could tell about 8 students currently living in the house. It is part of a series that includes a talk by the Professor of Philosophical Theology at Yale on "How to think morally about healthcare." That should be interesting!

Finally at home. Dana is the "idea" person in our family. She sees things and comes up with all sorts of possibilities for making it awesome. I just see junk! Take for example this bottom section of a hutch that she found at Savers thrift store.

I see a veneer piece of junk. Dana sees this...

After humming and hawing I make it happen, and I must say...I'm impressed with myself! We converted the drawer to a shelf, replaced the "wood" inserts with copper on the doors, added some talavera knobs and painted. Viola!

Here are our hanging chili peppers. Dana tells me what she wants, I make it happen. That seems to work alright for us. We have a couple of other projects that are in the works. I'll post those photos when they're done.

Casa

2011-07-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

Although we had claimed to have purchased a house several weeks ago, it was not until today that the loan approval final went through. Wells Fargo was extremely difficult and nit-picky through the approval process and we ended up having to switch from an FHA to a Conventional loan. All in all I think that will serve us better. The down payment is slightly more but our monthly payment will be lower and I can feel good about not participating in a federal program.

There are several cosmetic items that we plan to address in our effort to make it into a successful rental property in the future. Unfortunately I left most of my tools (all of my power tools) in AZ so we have to decide what is worth re-investing in so that we can do these projects. Maybe Ryan and Yunuen want to take a road trip....

We're open for visitors as of July 15th. Pack your bags!

Birthday Treasure

2011-06-30T17:00:00.000-07:00

Last week was my 33rd birthday. Completely unremarkable as far as ages go but still good enough to get some sweet treasure! My Mom bought us a new gas grill which we have used probably 7 or 8 times in the past 10 days. Dana bought me a bottle of Remy Martin VSOP Cognac. My Dad and my beloved extended family (Dana's kin) bought me cigar gift certificates, the true value of which I just received today!

Thanks again to everyone!!

El Dentista

2011-06-11T13:45:00.001-07:00

This week we went to the dentist for the first time in over 4 YEARS! It was a frightening prospect to say the least. Fortunately I am somewhat religious about brushing and my overall oral hygiene was quite good. Nevertheless, it did not prevent me from getting my first cavity. I am very disappointed to say the least. I go back this week for my filling.

In other news, I got a bicycle this week. Cycling will likely be my main mode of transportation once we move to Rochester (until winter) so I thought I'd get a head start. I ordered it on Amazon and had to assemble it this morning. We just took our first ride and the wheels didn't fall off so I'd say that's a success. It should also help me shed some weight which would be a welcome side effect.

Moving South

2011-05-20T18:17:00.000-07:00

Over the past 2 months I've been involved in exploring another job opportunity here in Minnesota. That may sound strange as I've only been in Minnesota for 5 months, but I can say with a clear conscience that I wasn't out looking to ditch my current employer.

Last fall I had applied with Mayo during our time in Tucson, but they didn't have a position open so when the job in Minneapolis came up I gladly took it. In March I was contacted by the chief perfusionist at the Mayo Clinic. He is one of the most published and progressive perfusionists in the world and so when he asked if I would be interested in coming to work for him I was very surprised. The problem was that I had just started this job and the thought of uprooting again was very unappealing, so with gratitude, I declined. Two weeks later I received a phone call from him again, asking if I would be willing to have coffee if he came up to Minneapolis. He had just won the Gibbon Award (the most prestigious award a perfusionist can be awarded) and the thought of sitting down with him was too good to pass up. That was my first mistake. Evidently he is not only very good at his job as a perfusionist but he is quite persuasive as well.

To bring a tidy end to this long story, I submitted my application and was informed today that I am being offered the job. Not to seem too eager I said I would call Monday with my answer but that it would likely be YES! I'm being hired to "spearhead" the pediatric side of the practice, incorporating teaching and research with the clinical practice. To be completely honest I am humbled and a bit overwhelmed by the expectations. My tentative start date is July 11th.

God works in mysterious ways. Sometimes his hand is too heavy to miss.

Working the land.

2011-05-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Today we broke down and purchased a gas powered lawn mower. We have a fairly small yard but it is mostly grass and it grows like nobody's business! Dana and I will probably take turns tending to the lawn as it will likely require biweekly mowing.

Now I'd go roll around in it if I wasn't afraid of wood ticks!

Wine and Ice Cream

2011-04-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

Today was like a celebration. Maybe we were just excited that it was Friday and I am not on call. Whatever the occasion, we made a trip to Stillwater for some delicious Chinese cuisine and much needed retail therapy. Haskell's is the closest thing we've found to a Total Wine or BevMO. It has an excellent selection of wines but is much smaller than the wine superstores we would frequent in Tucson. Twice a year Haskell's has a mega wine sale one of which happens to be going on right now.

Normally in a wine store I quickly become overwhelmed by all the glory of the wine (I want a taste of the glory...) and inevitably buy something I'm familiar with. Well this Christmas Dana got me the book Wine Trials 2011 which is a gold mine for inexpensive wines that rate really well with professional tasters. So I opened the book and compared it with the listing of sale wines from Haskell's catalog and off we went! We ended up with 5 wines off the list + 1 Portuguese wine that we wanted to try (since we love wine from the Douro region). We came home with: B&G Cabernet Sauvignon, El Coto Rioja, Gato Negro Malbec, Concannon Petit Syrah, Monte Antico Super Tuscan, and Vale do Bomfim Douro. Brilliant!

As an additional treat we went to an ice cream shop that Dana grew up with called Nelson's which provides extraordinary amounts of ice cream at wickedly low prices. We got 2 quarts to bring home and I got a child's size (around 4 scoops!) for the road.

Speaking of the road...I had my first experience with a suicidal deer. That was fun, especially since I was so focused on my ice cream and driving with my knee. Fortunately for me and the deer there was no contact...this time.

Griffin House

2011-03-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

On Sunday night Dana and I went to see Griffin House play at the Varsity Theater in downtown Minneapolis. I first heard Griffin House when he opened for Mat Kearney at the Rialto in Tucson about 6 years ago. He is a little folk with some rock mixed in. I really like his song writing as he is a good story teller, much like Bob Dylan of old. He played for about an hour and a half and seemed to be making up his set list as he went. We really enjoyed listening to him as he played and interacted with the crowd. A number of his songs seem to have overt Christian themes but in a real life sort of way. I'd encourage anyone who enjoys music to check him out.

And if you ever have a chance to see a concert at the Varsity Theater it is well worth it. It was a great atmosphere and had evidently been recently remodeled.

Here are a few of his songs.

Oh yeah...

2011-03-04T16:42:00.001-08:00

I received a long awaited purchase today. This was long awaited because I've wanted to purchase this set for several years now and because of a 30% slash to the price I could finally justify such a decadent purchase. This is a robusto (5 x 50) pack of the 5 most well known Cuban brands. The Hoyo is the Epicure #2, the Montecristo and R&J are not normally offered in this size and then add a Partagas and the famed Cohiba and you can see why my mouth is watering. They will be smoked on grand occasions.

Minnesota nice, smoke in the snow and other updates

2011-02-07T15:13:00.000-08:00

There are a few things that I never anticipated having to do in my life, one of which was shoveling snow. Last week we got about 3" during the day and we were forced to break in the new shovel that Grandpa Joe gave us. We have a fairly long driveway and snow shoveling is back-breaking. Fortunately our neighbor from across the street brought his snow blower over and cleared off the end of the driveway where the snow was deepest. I was very grateful.

As this winter has had an exceptional amount of snow, our yard is buried under about 4' of snow Saturday was a balmy 32° so we decided to sit outside and enjoy a cigar. I had to dig out an area to sit. This weekend is supposed to be the beginning of a warming trend to take us into Spring. Before that, however, there will be temps in the single digits and lows with wind chill in the range of -20°. That's pretty cold.

Resolution

2011-01-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

I made several New Year's resolutions which I dislike doing because I usually deal with a month of intense effort followed by 11 months of guilt and failure. This year one of my resolutions is to complete 25 non-fiction books. As far from success as I may end up, I feel that each book will be of benefit whether it is 5 or 50, so I picked a number that I am not likely to achieve with the hope that the motivation will propel me in the right direction. I'm less likely to feel guilty because the process is rewarding in itself.

I've included on the side bar a list of completed books (notice the emphasis on completed as I've started some last year) that will help me, and you, keep track.

1 down, 24 to go.

Move in

2011-01-19T19:00:00.000-08:00

Right Now	Next 36 Hours

	Tonight	Tomorrow	Tomorrow Night

Clear	Snow Showers Late	AM Snow Showers	Partly Cloudy
1°F	-2°	6°	-16°
Feels Like: -15°	Low	High	Low
Past 24-hr: Precip: 0 in Snow: 0.1 in (est.)	Chance of Snow: 30%	Chance of Snow: 30%	Chance of Snow: 10%

As you know, we just completed our move to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. I am home now from my second day at work which is still mainly filling out paperwork and observing things. It does seem that once I start actually working it will be quite busy. I'm struggling in learning to wake up at obscenely early hours again and Dana as been busily nesting in our house.

It is hard to accurately describe life so far as we've not settled into a routine and we've barely seen Dana's family but my first impressions can pretty much be summed up by the above image. It is hard for me to provide a description of what -16° feels like but let me just say that I have a gallon jug of water in my car the freezes to a solid rock when I'm parked in the garage at work and I'm convinced the denim jeans can actually freeze while you are wearing them. This is not for the faint of heart my friends, but I will survive.

You Crazy!

2011-01-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

My friend Jeff is a master of the hilarious YouTube video (see Double Rainbow Man). Granted, millions of people have viewed this but he takes great pleasure in introducing them to me.

Here are 2 videos. The first is from an actual newscast (not from the Onion) and the second, well...see for yourself.

Christmas cont...

2010-12-31T08:12:00.000-08:00

How could I neglect to mention my most favorite gifts from this Christmas??? Dana is forced to listen to my ramblings on a semi-regular basis. Semi-regular not because I suffer from lack of opinion on a subject but because I am acutely aware that my opinion is severely deficient as it relates to the truth (I find my knowledge on any subject to be frighteningly limited), and as such, I find it quite humiliating to express what amounts to little more than...rambling. Nevertheless, my interest in specific topics such as philosophy, economics, political history and worldview continue to grow. Dana and I have been listening to lectures on some of these topics from Ron Nash who you could describe as an economic Austrian and a political libertarian with a Christian worldview, which combines political libertarianism with Reformed Christian conservatism. Needless to say, he's right up my alley. Dana bought me 6 books on these topics as well as books on wine appreciation (how I do appreciate it) and a cigar book with a comprehensive list of tobacconists by city (which I will need should we do ANY travelling in the U.S.).

I hope that I can use this forum to organize my own thoughts on these subjects (and more) and can get feedback from those who frequent this blog (and are all smarter than me...yes, even Ryan) so that I can have knowledge not simply for the sake of knowledge. I find it very helpful when confronted with opinions, or truth claims, that conflict with my own, to walk myself through my own arguement as it relates to what I've heard. This either reinforces my own belief or exposes deficiences. This may explain why I involve myself in many conversations with little more than "fact statements" which expose very little of my own thoughts. This has some exceptions where I become opinionated to a fault and not fun to talk to!

All this to say that I spend a lot of my thinking time (i.e. when I'm awake) organizing thoughts and arguements and these gifts make that more productive and fulfilling. Of course, learning and discussing these topics with a glass of wine and a cigar is my idea of heaven!

Christmas

2010-12-30T11:00:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that I felt more overwhelmed this Christmas than any I remember (solely because I was actually Christmas shopping in stores as opposed to online like the last 3 years) by the obsessive materialism that takes hold of people and drives them to flip the bird and snarl every time you look at them. Dana and I talked some about this phenomenon that I don't remember being as repugnant even 10yrs ago. It actually made me very put off by the whole holiday and resentful that I even had to buy gifts. Am I materialistic?...sadly, yes; but witnessing the full force of American materialism coming at you from every direction is shocking. I was shocked!

That was a tangent (can you intro with a tangent?) and actually what I sat down and intended to blog about were some of the sweet gifts I received! Ironic, eh? Well, fortunately my family (including those of the extended variety) are quite sensitive to those things that give me some satisfaction. My mom gave me a Magellan RoadMate GPS system. I really don't like getting lost and with the move to a city where I've never driven, this is bound save me a great deal of hair pulling!

Regan sent me a humidor/cigar combo. I really love the smell of a new humidor with the crisp cedar fragrance filling that little treasure box. It is really nice to have a second humidor because there are some cigars that I like to age and it is best not to age them together and to have a separate humidor that doesn't get opened all the time. It is currently holding my small collection of Habanos.

I got some other great gifts: money for keyless entry, CI gift card (already used!), but really I just enjoyed being with family (my grandma is hillarious - think hookah pipe and a sub-machine gun...but I promised I'd keep the pictures off the internet) and sitting outside in a T-shirt. Merry Christmas.

The New Job

2010-12-27T11:14:00.000-08:00

After several months of applying and interviewing for work all over the country, we have accepted a position in Minneapolis. Despite the dramatic change in climate, I don't think we could have ended up in a better place. Dana's family will be there for us to hang out with (and for me to really finally get to know) and the hospital will offer much of the work that I trained to do and never got a chance to practice while doing pediatrics for the last 3 years.

I am definitely excited to get back to work at a busy center, learning some new things while applying the full extent of my training. In addition to the great job, we will be living in St. Paul between the hospital and one of Dana's sisters in a nice house for very low rent. It is down to 17 days and counting....

Tyler Lyle

2010-12-06T17:48:00.000-08:00

About 6 months ago Dana introduced me to an upstart artist named Tyler Lyle. Honestly I think she now regrets that introduction as I've been playing, both on my iPod and on my guitar, Tyler Lyle's songs non-stop. I was struggling to learn a couple of songs and Dana, tired of me picking through them over and over again, said, "just email him and ask for the chords!" Well, Tyler may not be Clapton as far as a fan base goes, but I doubt he'd email be back! Seriously...give away your songs to someone in Tucson, AZ? Well he did, and I've now been playing them more than before, but correctly at least.

Here is a video from one of his more popular tunes...

Tyler Lyle: Closer to me from Aaron Champion on Vimeo.

Our new stream of income

2010-11-27T16:05:00.001-08:00

As we have had far more time on our hands than we anticipated, Dana and I have started a new, hopefully income producing, hobby. We are getting cheap (preferably free) furniture on Craigslist and refinishing it. Here are a couple of pieces.

They look a little...rustic, but that's the point. Hopefully we can make some sales and at least be able to afford to continue with our hobby!

Distressed

2010-10-26T18:21:00.000-07:00

Mexican furniture has become our favorite style. It has an old world, rustic look which is, unfortunately, not cheap. This has prompted some creativity on our part. We bought a $30 bookshelf on Craigslist that was in descent shape but a little worn and NOT pretty. Distressed furniture is a staple of Mexican style and something that really isn't that hard to do. We used some of our left over paint and did bright colors with a blue undercoat on the edges and faces. I used a fine grain sand paper and some paint thinner and rubbed some of the green overcoat off and voila!

Time to blog

2010-10-17T09:05:00.000-07:00

When I moved back to the USA I thought I would be blogging one interview after another and one DIY project after the next, but I've had no interviews and I haven't completed one of my DIY's!...but you can only go so long before your blog gets shut down from inactivity so I thought I'd better say something. Finding work has been more difficult than predicted. I haven't gotten desperate...yet, probably because we enjoy being in Tucson so much that it is hard to rush out of here, but the money will run out eventually and it would be good to check out of here before that happens.

As you've seen from Dana, we've been remodeling our kitchen. Originally, we were getting ideas from one of the kitchen stores in town regarding new cabinets and counters and the estimate was well over $10,000. Coincidentally (if there is such a thing), Ryan and Yun took us to a rustic Mexican furniture store where we saw punched copper inserts for cabinets. That was the beginning of the end of the idea of getting a "new" kitchen. Copper is quite expensive and difficult to find in the sizes we needed and tin is apparently unavailable North of Mexico so after MUCH searching we decided to use aluminum...cheap! The next phase was to find a way to "age" the aluminum so it didn't look like the inside of a soda can...headache! Finally we found a way to spray paint the inserts to make them look like tin and away we went, making designs and punching them in. This is what we came up with.

Needless to say it was not as easy as we had anticipated, but it was phase one of our remodeling project completed.

D.

2010-08-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

Espana

2010-07-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

It has been a while now but I'm finally posting the pictures from our Spain trip. Spain was HOT. Really hot. The real problem wasn't just the heat but the fact that so few places had a/c (including our first hotel) so there was no escape. Having that only complaint out of the way, I can talk about what I liked...which was everything else.

We had been to Barcelona which is Catalonian, not Spanish. This was our first trip into a Spanish region known as Andalucia (pronounced with a lisp). Sevilla feels Spanish. From the architecture and food to the culture of siestas and late dinners, it's what I imagine Spain to be. There are a number of attractions including the Plaza de Toros (the bull ring). We took a tour and learned that each bull fights only once, how the matador kills the bull and how the matador is graded on his performance. All very interesting but not enough to get me to watch! The Cathedral (supposedly the largest in the world) was built over and incorporates some of its structure from the mosque built during the occupation of the Moors. They also left a very beautiful palace called Alcazar which is full of amazing courtyards and beautifully decorated buildings.

From Sevilla we went to Granada, home of Alhambra. This is a Moorish palace built overlooking the city. It was similar to Alcazar in many ways but on a grander scale. It is also the last Moorish stand before the end of the Reconquesta. King Boabdil signed a treaty and then fled to Northern Africa where his mother told him "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man." Ouch! It was beautiful, especially with the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains just off in the distance.

The rest of our time we spent walking in the cities, eating tapas and paella, drinking lots of water and enjoying the general splendor. I think Spain is a country we will visit again someday. There are so many cities that are worth visiting, but next time I think we'll take a Spanish speaker.

32

2010-06-26T02:27:00.000-07:00

Getting older is certainly a blessing and a curse. What is left of my hair is slowly graying and I certainly don't move as freely or swiftly as I used to, but I'm finally getting to the point where birthday gifts are about getting what you want, not what you need.

This past week I celebrated yet another birthday and found that happily I was able to stretch that celebration into a week long event! We were able to make a little trip to España, about which I'll be posting once we get our pictures sorted out. I was also inundated with gifts related to my favorite hobby, cigars. Dana got me a number of interesting books:

Cubans: The Ultimate Cigars
The Cigar Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide
The Ultimate Cigar Book
Holy Smoke
The Good Cigar

...as well as the ultimate in cigar luxury items, the Xikar X3 Mammoth Ivory cutter.

Did I mention that it comes with a stingray skin carrying case? It will come in handy for cutting all the cigars I buy with the numerous and generous JR gift cards that I also received. I am a lucky man!

Update...

2010-06-17T13:25:00.000-07:00

We've been applying for work back in the U.S. somewhat frantically as we want to get the heck out of dodge! It has been slow going and is really testing our patience. I'm holding strong that we won't be applying in places like Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Mississippi...etc. You wouldn't think that would be much of a challenge, but these are desperate times.

In the mean time I've been keeping myself distracted with World Cup Mania! The Americans drew with England last week, Mexico beat France today and Spain lost their opening match to the Swiss (those are all big deals in soccer world). Tune in tomorrow when the U.S. take on Slovenia (no walk over) and have the chance to go top of their group.

We are also back on the travel scene. Next week we are off to Spain to visit Seville, Granada and Malaga. Sun, tapas and wine. I can't wait!

You Cut

2010-05-15T12:48:00.001-07:00

This is for real. I had my doubts when I originally saw this site but it has been confirmed that Republicans are allowing YOU to vote on spending cuts to the federal budget. Every week House Republicans will offer a vote on cutting the program that receives the most votes. Check it out, and vote!

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Ehh, say that again?

2010-05-14T08:40:00.000-07:00

I'm having trouble reconciling these two videos (as most people do I presume). It is funny to watch him get caught in the second video. This guy is the AG! Another talking head in the propaganda machine.

Back to life...

2010-05-13T13:12:00.001-07:00

Well I'm back from the motherland. It is no great surprise that it has been cold and raining everyday that I've been back. My penance for all the sun I absorbed. I had an awesome time while I was home seeing friends and family, working on the house and smoking as many cigars as I could. Dana is still living the dream...lucky!

As pretty much everyone knows the job prospects in Tucson are not good which has really bummed me out. I'm working on plan B but I'm still not totally sure what plan B will look like. I did consider quitting my job and moving back to work at a cigar shop. That would pretty much be the end of my career...not a lot of foresight in that I suppose. Dana wants to move back bad enough she'd probably agree to support me for the rest of our lives right now, but I bet that would wear off. That's the news for better or worse. Dana will certainly be putting up a slide show when she gets back.

Tuscany

2010-04-17T03:48:00.000-07:00

This past week we took a slow paced, directionally challenged if you will, trip to Italy. This was our 3rd trip to the country and it reminded us again of why we love it. With my Mom along, we flew into Bologna, rented a car and drove about 1 1/2 hours Southwest to an area called San Gimignano, which is a mid-evil town standing atop one of the many Tuscan hills. We stayed in what is termed "agriturismo" which was basically a converted farm house on a vineyard and olive grove. This area is in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, which has become one of our favorite wines.

Our room was actually 2 rooms off a main common area that had a kitchen and long table. It was on another hill looking across at San Gimignano. While we were there we visited Sienna which is another mid-evil rolling town. In the town center there is a huge square where they have an annual horse race. They lay dirt down on the outer ring and on the tight turns line the corners with mattresses. Apparently the horse can win even if the jockey has fallen off!

We also went to Florence for the second time now. We revisited to Duomo, Accademia and restaurants! For about a day and a half we drove around the area and ended up stopping at 3 different wineries for tastings. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. Certainly not the driving as the roads are carved into the sides of the hills and are some of the twistiest roads I've ever been on. That, combined with the fact that our car was a Fiat Panda, didn't bode well for the car sickness. The wine in that area is exquisite. The food is amazing and the weather is generally excellent. All the more reason for another trip to Italy!

Congressional...you decide

2010-04-02T00:10:00.000-07:00

This is real video footage of Rep. Hank Johnson (D) from Georgia. This guy is making decisions about your health care. This is almost too dumb to mock.

Visitors and Cigars

2010-04-01T08:42:00.001-07:00

Today is a very exciting day. Not only has my Mom come for her 3rd visit but she has brought many great treats! Here is a couple of photos of my new collection. The first is the cream of the crop. They are the Alec Bradley Tempus Centuria, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial No. 5, A. Fuente Hemingway Classic, Oliva Series V Torpedo and the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto. The rest are pretty dang classy as well. The full listing will be in my humidor section on my other blog. Mouth watering!

Self Limiting

2010-03-26T01:50:00.000-07:00

We have been working our way through a series of lectures mainly centered on economics by Ron Nash. The one we listened to yesterday was a guest lecturer who is a law professor from Mexico City. His point was simply this: For every right there is a corresponding duty. That is to say, for every right you have (i.e. the right to life) someone else (in this case everyone else) has the duty not to take your life. You can see this work in other examples; property, liberty, etc. In essence, each right, or law, has a negative effect on your freedom. The vast majority of people would gladly limit their own freedom to protect against murder and theft but the relationship gets sticky the deeper you delve into the theory. This country has thousands of laws and hundreds of politicians passing laws almost daily to make a more "equitable society." Laws at the federal, state and local levels, tax laws, civil rights, entitlements galore, each of which limit the freedom of every individual not protected under those rights. In the next day or two a new right and law will be signed enforcing everyone to obtain health insurance or face fines, basically a tax on breathing. The system is fraught with contradiction which is most evident with the issue of abortion.

It is really a simple, intuitive idea that I'm ashamed to say I had not properly comprehended. The Constitution originally only guaranteed the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Really that should have been enough. Now we've signed away our own liberty in the name of fairness.

Bath and Cardiff

2010-03-24T14:46:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we took a short trip over to England and Wales. It ended up being a 3 city tour as we traveled to Bath, Cardiff and then to Bristol for half a day. Bath is considered to be the most beautiful city in England. It was made famous and owes its history to the thermal baths that bubble up underneath it. The Romans first made the city into a resort town and the thermal waters into a temple and baths. The Britains have since excavated the baths and turned them into a tourist attraction with active baths in another part of town. The Roman baths are complete with actors and everything. We visited a few other sites in town including the Jane Austen House where we had tea, scones and Bath Buns. Needless to say, Dana was a little more excited about that part of the trip than I was.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and a lot of it is relatively new construction. Most of the city center is high end shops and the area around the bay has been rebuilt with loads restaurants. We spent most of our time wandering around the city, taking in the shops and the castle and even took a river boat down to the harbor.

Bristol was the city we spent time in by default as it was where we flew in and out of. It was nothing special really but more shopping and few big cathedrals. I won't complain as it is always nice to go somewhere. I think of all the places we've been over the last 2 1/2 years and it amazes me that we've taken in so much. Who could complain?? Well, this was an anniversary trip of sorts as you may have noticed from Dana's site. It has been 8 years! 8! Seriously!! Well, it won't be long before we're off again. Until then...

Patty's Day

2010-03-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Mother Land. Today we had breakfast with our friends Dave and Betsy along with Betsy's sister and brother-in-law and then went downtown for the parade. This is my 3rd year going into the city and it amazes me how many people will travel thousands of miles to experience St. Patty's Day in Dublin, but there you have it...tourist central. There are always some interesting floats and about a million people. As you can see, it stresses Dana out! Here are some pics from today. I hope you're all having a Guinness for us.

What's Up?

2010-03-05T11:38:00.000-08:00

Things have been interesting this year. We moved again. This apartment is pretty sweet and in one of the nicer parts of Dublin but it is very poorly insulated, and this has been the coldest winter in 60 years! That probably isn't an ideal combination, but we've seen the first signs of Spring. We've been trying to plan some trips, which has been a bit slow going. This is partially because I've been busy running my department as a "lame duck." I have a certain idea as to how things should work and believe it or not, it is rarely the way things have "always been done." Next week we have our interviews for the permanent position which I'll be participating in. I have a keen interest in politics but I'm apparently not a very good politician. I really hate trying to keep up with all that stuff at work. For some reason I think the two should be uninvolved...unless you're actually a politician...call me crazy. It is pretty well assumed that the outcome of the interview is pre-decided but I see it as a chance to take part in a very high profile interview and say what I think needs to be said.

My mom is coming for a visit at the end of the month and we're going on a mystery trip. That should be fun. We're also heading to Bath, U.K. and Cardiff, Wales in 2 weeks. It'll be a nice weekend getaway. Well, back to preparing for the interview...maybe after I watch a little more TV.

New Blog

2010-02-24T02:40:00.001-08:00

I have finally committed to blogging about cigars. I have a new blog entitled MY Blue Heaven which is all about cigar reviews, accessories, parings, etc. If you are interested in that sort of thing head on over!

Malta

2010-02-15T13:51:00.001-08:00

This has been a pretty crazy week. We went away for our first trip of the year last weekend to Malta. Most people don't know where Malta is (or even that it is a country) - for that you'll have to see the travel map.

Malta was a pretty cool place. The weather wasn't great but it was better than Dublin fo shizzle. The coolest part is the architecture and the way it has been preserved and restored. The harbors and many of the cities look like they are still in the 16th century. There have been a number of movies filmed there, most notably The Count of Monte Cristo and Gladiator. We rented a car and were able to cross the island in about 20min. On the West coast we saw the Dingli Cliffs which stand some 800ft above the sea, and the Blue Grotto which is an area of sea caves. We couldn't do the boat trip into the caves because the sea was too rough. It was very windy while we where there causing what would have been fairly mild temperatures to feel pretty chilly. We also saw the city of Mdina and Rabat as well as a small fishing village called Marsaxlokk in the South. We also went North to St. Paul's Bay where Paul was purported to have been shipwrecked. The main areas are Valletta, Sliema and Birgu on the West coast which is where the Grand Harbor is located and where we spent most of our time.

The real madness came with the fact that we have moved again making this our 4th apartment in 2 1/2 years. I hate moving!

Enjoy the pictures.

Bankruptcy of our Nation

2010-01-19T03:05:00.000-08:00

I just finished Jerry Robinson's Bankruptcy of our Nation. It is really an introductory book into the history and current state of the American economy. It was perfect for me and probably would be a good read for even more experienced economists (Ryan!) as it plainly and simply lays out the myth of American wealth as well as impending catastrophes. He also give key (albeit vague) financial advice that can be applied to any budget.

UPDATE: The dreaded diet

2010-01-19T02:57:00.000-08:00

In fairness, the diet is not nearly as dreadful as it was the first few days of last week. I guess when you go from pizza, brownies and ice cream one night to absolutely no sugar the next day, there is bound to be a small revolution in your body. The revolution has subsided and I'm not shaking anymore. I weighed in yesterday at 205 lbs, meaning that I dropped 6 lbs last week.

We only have one more week of this phase and then we can start introducing some wheat carbs again which is good because I'm a little short on energy and struggling with another or my resolutions which is to add 20 lbs to my bench press.

Unrelated good news: we've had normal water service for the past 36 hours. Hopefully the stoppages are over.

Great moments in socialism

2010-01-15T02:18:00.000-08:00

We awoke this morning to find that we had no running water. It turns out that the Dublin City Council is currently rationing water! That's right...water rationing in Ireland.

There is a reason behind it (supposedly). With the "extreme" cold over the past few weeks (in the teens and 20's) the water lines below ground froze and burst and are now leaking water into the ground depleting the city's water supply. In order to conserve those reserves until the unknown number of pipes is fixed they have begun a "rolling blackout," if you will, of water service. The council has no time table for fixing the pipes but suggests that it could be 6 months before service is back to normal.

I'm no expert on water pipes but I would think that if the pipes were even 1' in the ground it would have protected them from that level of cold. Apparently they aren't even that deep. Just another example of the Irish ethic and ingenuity.

We gotta get out of here!

Maybe not so funny

2010-01-13T02:32:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure this was written by the same people that write Obama's speeches.

Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All U.S. Dollars

Resolution #1

2010-01-12T09:50:00.001-08:00

As many of you have already heard we are embarking on the South Beach diet...again. Our success the first time around is encouraging but I really struggle with dieting will power. This is one of those no carb, low fat diets which really takes everything I love off my plate...(sad lip extended!) However, I've decided that to increase the likelihood of success I'll be weighing myself every Monday and reporting the losses (I hope) on my blog.

Now for the most embarrassing part...my starting weight - 211 lbs.

IT'S GO TIME!!!

New Year's Day

2010-01-01T11:26:00.000-08:00

The New Year has arrived and although I really don't partake in the tradition of resolutions I do like to start out on a good foot. In this case that foot looked like a snake that swallowed a large rat...mmm appetizing. I smoked my Drew Estate The Egg that Ryan sent me for Christmas as my first cigar of 2010 and it was actually quite good. I was expecting it to be average at best and nothing more than a gimmick but in reality the Drew Estate did what they are known for and combined quality with their cigar revolution. It took just under 2 hours to finish. I think I'll have to take a week off now.

The Heart

2009-12-24T06:53:00.000-08:00

I am preparing a lecture for some students at the hospital and while I was looking for pictures I stumbled across this site. It is freaking amazing! They have other animated bio-stuff but this is the coolest. As the cardiac muscle becomes transparent you can see the blood filling the ventricles and being ejected through the great arteries. Also, if you look closely you can see the Tricuspid and Mitral valves.

The human heart ladies and gentleman.

Beating heart with blood flow from Hybrid_Medical_Animation

A Christmas Poem

2009-12-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the flat
I was all on my lonesome, except for the cat;
Earlier that evening, when I came home from work,
My girlfriend was waiting, just to call me a jerk;
She called me insensitive, she called me a lout,
She called her new boyfriend to help her move out;
Then before she left, just to "even the score,"
She flushed every cigar from my humidor.

With the Cigar Emporium closed and an Arctic wind blowing,
My girlfriend gone and my john overflowing,
I settled on the couch with my old cat Frisky,
With lots of self-pity and lots of Irish whiskey;
Because of the stress, or maybe because of the booze,
It wasn't too long before I started to snooze,

Suddenly, a commotion came out from out on the street,
A crash and a bang broke my snoozy retreat;
I went to the window and lifted the blind,
And seriously thought I was losing my mind;
On the street was a fat Gent all dressed in red,
With some funky looking reindeer pulling his sled.

Whether he was real or not, onward he came,
Whistling to his deer, calling each by his name,
"Now, Cohiba! now, Hoyo! now Monte and R.J.!
On, Bolivar! on, Ramon! on, Upmann and El Rey!
To the top of the stoop! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"
As if sensing my need for a little more proof,
Santa and his reindeer flew up to my roof.

Santa had noted my humidor was bare
and flew from the North Pole to end my despair,
St. Nick then handed me the most wonderful thing;
A 7-inch Grafton with a 54-ring
And as I watched him and the deer fly into the night,
I thought, "what a great Christmas, now who has a light?"

The Big Cheese

2009-12-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

My boss retired at the end of November which has left us with out a head for the last 2 weeks and with the way the health service works here it looked like that would be a position that wouldn't be filled for several months. I was told to try and keep things under control but avoid "acting up" in order to keep the pressure on the hospital and government health executive to fill the post. Yesterday I was presented with a letter from the HR department asking me to fill the position of Acting Chief of Perfusion until the post can be filled. I accepted. I have found out that the surgeons asked that I be offered the position in order to, A: maintain a working chain of command and B: strengthen my application for the permanent post when it is advertised.

Needless to say I am quite flattered by their confidence in me considering my relative inexperience (those going for the post will have at least 10yrs more experience). I am quite eager to inflict as much of my "American" mentality on the place as I can (i.e. more efficiency and less bureaucratic oversight). Unfortunately the "upgrade" comes in title only as the government will not allow "upgrades" to include pay increases. Hopefully I can convince the powers that be that I can run the department on a long term basis which will then lead to significant financial incentives. It is definitely an uphill battle as the status quo is difficult to change but at the very least I'll have a nice addition to my CV.

Early Christmas

2009-12-16T10:15:00.001-08:00

Dana finally got home today and if it wasn't enough to have her back she brought me the mother-load of cigars. She bought me the Toro Seleccion Internacional which is 10 cigars from H. Upmann, Romeo y Julieta and Montecristo. My mom bought me the Connoisseur Collection which has Hoyo de Monterrey, El Rey del Mundo, Sancho Panza, Flor de A. Allones and Ramon Allones. I bought some Punch Gran Puros, got a Romeo y Julieta #2 Habano from Pete and my personal favorite, The Egg from my best mate Ryan. All I can say is that my Dossier is going to be sick!

- 6%

2009-12-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Irish government released their semi-annual budget this week where they have tried to halt the continuing debt the country is facing. Currently the country in operating at a debt of 12% of GDP which is one of the highest of the member states in the EU. The big controversy in the budget is the pay cut to public employees, of which I am one. It is a graduated cut which applies higher percentage cuts at different levels of pay. I have calculated the cut to my pay to be just over 6%, which in effect means that I am earning less than when I started 2 1/2 years ago. The calculated decrease in cost of living is around 3% which gives me around a 3% cut in earning potential. This is bad enough, but it comes with the pension and pay levies that the government has applied to public employees over the last 2 years. Overall my net income is down around 20% from 2007 and that hurts.

Let this be a lesson to anyone arguing for government run anything...socialism sucks, big time!

Portugal

2009-11-29T12:14:00.000-08:00

My blog has become a travel journal of sorts but hey...what else is there??? We returned from Portugal on Thanksgiving which was a day of serious feasting. Portugal was great. We only had one day of bad weather and got to see 3 different cities while we were there. We started in Evora (pronounced Evra) which is about 100km East and South of Lisbon. It is a small town that is a UNESCO heritage site. The main site we went to see was Capela los Ossos, Chapel of bones. It is filled with the bones of 5000 people and was made by 17th century monks that thought the people needed reminded that life was fleeting. Creepy and cool! Most of the buildings are painted with yellow trim which is supposed to keep out bad spirits.

Next we went to Sintra which is just North of Lisbon on the coast. This was the most beautiful area and was densely forested and had a number of castles and palaces, one of which was Pena Palace which is probably one of the coolest palaces/castles we've seen on our travels. Our hotel was right on the ocean and we listened to the crashing waves all night.

Finally we went back to Lisbon and did some exploring. The country is very hilly and that was very evident in Lisbon. The city is situated on and between several hills. I really liked the fact that although the city was quite large and populated, it had remained "Portuguese" architecturally. The architecture and decorum were very unique to anywhere we've been. They use tile on both the inside and outer walls.

We really enjoyed being in Portugal and thought it was a very beautiful country. It is good to be home now and have a little down time. Maybe I'll blog about something not travel related soon.

Wittenberg and Berlin

2009-11-16T01:09:00.000-08:00

We are just back from another great trip to Germany. We visited the birth place of Protestantism and one of Europe's most troubled cities. Berlin is very fascinating simply because it has so much recent history. Wittenberg also has quite recent history relative to some of the places we've been.

We started our trip with an overnight in Wittenberg where we visited the Lutherhaus where Luther lived with his family as well as having room for a number of his students. It had been turned into a museum which featured a number of his writings as well as the history of his life. We also visited the Castle Church which is where the reformation was formally sparked with the nailing of the 95 theses. Inside is were Luther is now buried. The town itself was a really quiet little town but we really enjoyed our time there and even smoked a little hookah!

We went from there to Berlin where the highlight was definitely the walking tour. We walked through the former East Berlin which is its historical center, visiting the major sites and receiving detailed history from a man who was living in Berlin in 1989. I'll avoid regurgitating the entire walk and just mention some of the sites (although it really was fascinating). We saw museum island which is a nature split in the River Spree that now houses most of the city's museums. Much of it has been restored due to bombing during WWII but they have left some of the lesser damaged structures (mostly riddled with bullet holes) as a reminder of its history. We also saw where the Nazis burned all the books they didn't like from the National Library which is now marked by a plaque with a quote from a 17th century Jewish play write that says approximately, "Once they start burning books, it isn't long until they begin burning people." A bit prophetic. It also has an underground empty book shelf as a memorial. We stood in front of the Brandenberg Gate which was originally commissioned by King Frederick of Prussia but has become the gathering point for every major event in Berlin's history. We saw the Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe, a maze of rectangular blocks of varying heights that you can walk through and even become a little disorientated. We stood over the spot of Hitler's bunker where he and his mistress committed suicide on April 30, 1945. We walked to the former Nazi Air Force building which was remarkably untouched by the war and became the headquarters for the Communist Soviet government in East Berlin. It even features a big mural showing the "joys" of communism. It is located right next to the remnants of the Wall. For the vast majority of the area where the wall was and is no longer, there is a brick line tracing where the wall once stood. We ended the tour at Checkpoint Charlie which was the checkpoint between the American Soviet sectors and the point at which the Americans and Soviets had a 3 day tank stand off that nearly started WWIII! It was all over an ambassador that wanted to attend the opera in the East and wasn't allowed in. Crazy huh?

The one story that I will relay is of how the wall eventually came down. The Southern Communist states, Hungary in particular started to allow free travel to the Western countries. The East Germans began taking holidays in Hungary and then slipping across into the West. The Soviets copt on to this and locked in all the East Germans. The people became agitated so the Soviets held a news conference with an ill prepared spokesman who said that the Soviet government would "soon" be allowing people to freely cross into the West. This was done to placate the people. However when asked when??? his reply was..."effective immediately." The people began to gather at the checkpoints and the confused boarder guards began allowing a few people through. Eventually the guards were over-run and within 48 hours 2 million people had crossed into the West and that was the beginning of the end of the Cold War.

Jordan 2.0

2009-10-20T11:04:00.000-07:00

Once we left Petra we continued up the King's Highway to Amman. On the way we stopped at a castle from the Crusades called Karak which was originally built by the Crusaders in the 1140's and then was lost to Saladin in 1189. The castle has been mostly destroyed but you are allowed to walk through any of it with out restriction. There are some pretty cool areas with tunnels and rooms under ground.

From there we continued on to Amman. We stopped at Mt. Nebo where Moses looked over the promised land before he died. Unfortunately it was a bit hazy so we couldn't see all that far. The next morning we went to an ancient Roman city called Jerash. It is very similar to many Roman cities around the world with its city gates, temples and commerce areas. There are a number of structures still standing and the two amphitheaters are still used. It was impressive to walk down the column lined streets.

We left Jerash and went to the lowest place on Earth, the Dead Sea. As we descended the weight of the atmosphere really had an affect on us making us feel tired and sluggish. When we got down to the shore we were warned not to get any of the water in our eyes. The feeling in the water can not be accurately described but to say that you really can't sink. I went out to a deep enough spot and put my feet straight down and was bobbing with my shoulders out of the water. There is so much salt that your skin feels greasy. We covered ourselves in this black mud which is of course supposed to have healing powers and then continued to float in the sea some more. It was a very strange experience. We could even see the towers of Jerusalem across the sea on the mountain top.

That night we went into town with our guide Abdullah and had authentic dinner (which is way cheaper then tourist dinner) and found a cafe for the hookah. Their hookah is way stronger than any I've tried before. It was difficult to smoke! The next morning we were on our flight back home. It is hard to determine which of the two countries I enjoyed more. I would like to see some of Southern Egypt and travel along the Nile. Our trip was an incredible experience and won't easily be topped.

Wadi Rum and Petra

2009-10-15T10:23:00.000-07:00

I had to split up my Jordan pictures as there are just too many! This first slide show is of our 4X4 trek through the Wadi Rum desert and Petra. I was surprised at how much I liked the Wadi Rum. Wadi means valley and Rum is the name of that valley. Petra is called Wadi Mosa, or Moses Valley. I would put the afternoon that we spent in the desert as one of my top 3 things we did, no joke! It is sand...all sand. The "mountains" if you can call them that, are huge sandstone rocks that have been eaten away over time by the sand storms that continually blow through. The sand is like powder and the rock looks like melting ice cream. The colors of the sand stone are the most impressive. Apparently the bedouins used to use the different colors as makeup. It really does paint your skin. We stopped a few times to climb various rock formations and even saw what they claim is T.E. Lawrence's cave. We stopped at a bedouin tent and had tea where Dana dressed up in and bought an authentic Jordanian head scarf. There is a castle in the middle of the desert that the French built in order to film movies but the Jordanian government shut it down. The whole thing is shrouded in mystery but the French were probably doing something "immoral."

The second half of the show is of Petra, made famous by Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Petra is a city entirely built into the rock. There are caves cut into the stone for personal residences (some still used by the bedouins) as well as temples and tombs. The most recognizable is the Treasury which is staggering. The entrance to the city is through a narrow canyon (almost 3/4 mile) that is almost like a fault line through the rock that towers over 100 feet above you. At the end of this crevasse is the Treasury. We rode camels through part of of Petra between the Treasury and the amphitheater. The colors of the sand stone were again a site to see as well as the amazing detail they carved into the rock. There were donkeys everywhere and bedouin kids trying to sell you a ride on one. We spent the whole day there and it was one of the most impressive places I've ever seen.

I'll post more about Jordan later including our trip up the King's Highway to Amman and floating in the Dead Sea. Hope you enjoy.

Egypt

2009-09-29T01:40:00.000-07:00

We are back from our trip and after visiting 2 continents and being on the go nonstop we need a vacation from our vacation. Egypt and Jordan were awesome! We had so many pictures it was hard to pick but I tried to give just an overview of what it was like there. This one is just Egypt.

We arrived into Cairo 3 hours late and thankfully our guide was there to meet us. He transferred us to hour hotel which was a converted palace that the former king of Egypt had used for hosting dignitaries. Needless to say it was beautiful and our room had a view of the Great Pyramid off the balcony. We spent the first full day there on what turned out to be a private tour. We had an Egyptologist who walked us through the Pyramid area giving us the facts and history of the mighty structures. His name was Muhammad (as was our driver and bodyguard for the drive to Sinai) and was very knowledgeable and friendly. After seeing the Pyramids and the Sphinx we zipped into town to visit the Egyptian museum. Muhammad took us through the museum giving us the history of the most important pieces on display. The museum holds the items found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who was unimportant and died very young, but was the only king of Egypt to be found with his tomb intact. The museum was so much better because we had a guide who gave us all the highlights, otherwise it would have been quite overwhelming.

We left Cairo the next day for Dahab which is on the Eastern part of the Red Sea known as the Gulf of Aqaba. The drive in Northern Sinai was flat desert with nothing (really NOTHING) but rock and dirt. As we got further South the landscape became more mountainous and we started coming across Bedouins in their camps or out with their goats and camels. We cut through the mountains on a valley road and came out at the Red Sea which is spectacular. The Red Sea is clear aqua blue water lined with reefs. We settled into our hotel in Dahab and took a 2 hour nap before departing for Mt. Sinai at around midnight. The climb up Mt. Sinai takes about 2.5 hours (after a 2hr drive) and we, along with hundreds of others, watched the sunrise from the top. The trail up is the camel trail where people often rent camels to take them most of the way up (which is exactly what I would do should I ever hike it again!). The hike was exhausting and a little dangerous. It is pitch black and there are camels going up and down the mountain and they stop for no man! We had a Bedouin guide who kept us out of the camels' path fortunately. It was a beautiful sight to see the sun coming up over the desert mountains. We went back down a different way called the "3000 steps to the monastery." It was equally exhausting but took half as long and was significantly less crowded. That afternoon we went snorkeling at a place called the Blue Hole. The sea life was amazing. Unfortunately a lot of the coral in the hole had been killed by people but as you went out it was even more colorful and impressive.

The next day we made a run for the boarder. We drove up to Taba and crossed into Israel (which was not easy) where we drove through the resort town of Eilat and crossed the boarder into Jordan (significantly easier!).

Pyramids and Petra

2009-09-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow before the crack of dawn we will start our grand tour of Egypt and Jordan. I have to admit there is an element of fear involved but we will be seeing things that make the Roman ruins look modern. Below is a short itinerary from the website that should give a basic idea of where we're going and what we are going to see. The hotels all look very nice -
Cairo - Oberoi Mena House
Dahab - Le Meridien Hotel
Petra - Petra Marriott
Amman - Amman Marriott

Short Itinerary

Day 1 Arrive in Cairo. Transfer from airport to hotel
Day 2 Cairo - Pyramids, Sphinx & Egyptian Museum tour
Day 3 Drive to the Red Sea at Dahab (option to climb Mt. Sinai)
Day 4 Dahab - Free time (option for snorkeling at the Blue Hole)
Day 5 Cross into Jordan. Wadi Rum jeep safari. Drive to Petra
Day 6 Petra - tour
Day 7 Petra. Drive up the King's Highway to Amman via Kerak, Madaba, Mt. Nebo
Day 8 Amman. Tour to the Dead Sea and Jerash
Day 9 Amman. Free time. Transfer to airport for flight home

We'll have slide shows galore when we get back so be ready!

Happy Anniversary

2009-09-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

Two years ago on September 6th we arrived in Dublin to start this phase of our lives. In some ways it has flown by and at the same time it seems like an eternity ago that we packed up our lives and boarded the jet plane. We wanted to travel and travel we have done. This past year took us to Edinburgh, Manchester, Athens, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Venice, Florence, Prague, Vienna, Bruges, Brussels, Oslo and Bergen. Mix that in with a few (or several) trips back home and you get the picture of what we do here. We're starting this 3rd year with a trip to Egypt and Jordan and then we're hoping to follow it up with a week in Israel and few more short trips to Italy, France and maybe Spain before we hopefully move back home early in the new year.

On a lighter note

2009-08-15T01:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had some decent weather so we took the cats out in the back garden to run around, eat some grass and have fun hiding in the bushes. There was some excitement over birds of course and plenty of new smells. Indi especially likes to just sprint from one end of the yard to the other. We should get them out more often because they love outside time.

No You Can't!

2009-08-15T01:41:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that after the crushing victory Obama had in the election last year I thought that America was ready for socialism. It turns out that America was just naive. I couldn't have predicted there would be such a backlash to Obama himself but it looks like it has begun.

U2

2009-07-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday night we went to see U2 play at Croke Park here in Dublin. I'd say it would be tough to argue there is a bigger rock band in the world and the endurance of their music speaks for itself. They put on an amazing live show on a weird War of the Worlds type stage. It is great to see all their energy and excitement even now in their 50's. Getting to see them in Dublin certainly goes down as a highlight of the time we've been here.

Here are some pics from the show.

New shirt

2009-07-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

While we were in Bergen we noticed a T-shirt shop that had some funny sayings. One was in my slide show regarding their taste for whale meat. I picked this one up and wore it yesterday. I'm sure it was shocking for people to know there was an evil capitalist among them.

Norway

2009-07-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

We arrived back from Norway on Tuesday both having seen one of the most beautiful countries in Europe and having closed on our new house. What a day!! Dana has a nice slideshow on her blog of the new casa. It's very exciting to be back in the rhelm of home ownership. Now if we could only live in it.

Norway was beautiful. Here are the pictures. They start in Oslo which was a very modern clean city. We visited a sculpture park which had over 100 nude sculptures that were...strange. We also went to a viking museum and the Kon-Tiki museum, which has boats constructed in "old world" styles and used to cross the Atlantic and Pacific to show it was possible for cultures to interact long before Columbus or any other European adventure. We then boarded a train for the West coast. The train ride took us through some beautiful countryside. When we arrived in a town called Flam we got on a boat that took us through Sandefjord and down the coast to Bergen. Bergan was another amazing city. It was more what I expected Norway to look like with peaked roofs and colorful buildings. All together is was a very enjoyable trip even though it was really expensive. They have a 25% tax on everything and even more on alcohol and tabacco. It was strange that during Norway's high tourist season it was not very busy which I suppose is partly due to the expense.

Climate continued...

2009-07-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

I've just read an addition to the continuing and growing climate change debate which has shown it is really a showdown between observational science vs. consensus science. Under President Bush there was an outcry by libs and greens that he was censoring those in his administration who spoke out in favor of man-made global warming. This came mainly from Jim Hanson, a NASA scientist, who while being "censored" by President Bush, managed to give several hundred speeches on the topic. It became such a hot topic that when Obama was elected he vowed that "the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over." His new EPA director picked up the mantra and promised to base policies on science and provide overwhelming transparency.

Enter Alan Carlin. Mr. Carlin works in the EPA's Environmental Economics division and wrote an analysis questioning the EPA's science of man-made global warming in response to the Obama attempt to circumvent congress on the issue by declaring carbon (that element which is the scientific definition of whether something is "organic") a pollutant thereby giving the EPA the power to regulate it. The response to Mr. Carlin's report was what could best be described as a gag order by is superiors. The plight of Mr. Carlin has been picked up by Republicans who want an investigation. The EPA has now switched its efforts to discrediting Mr. Carlin as a "denier" and "only an economist" (though he does hold a degree in physics from a little place called CalTech!).

I can see all this playing out in some sci-fi movie where we all have to pay fines for being polluters because we exhale too much CO2 or perhaps some justification for Chinese-esk population control to protect the "mother earth" from all of us "unnatural beings."

Travelling on

2009-07-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

Many of you know that we are going to Norway next weekend and visiting Oslo and taking a train through Sognefjord. It looks really beautiful and I'm very excited to go. We just booked our next really big trip that will be our most exotic trip to date. We're heading to Egypt and Jordan in September for a 9 day tour. It looks like it'll be an amazing adventure. We'll probably have more info as we get closer to the date but for now here is the tour description.

"the worst scientific scandal in history"

2009-06-30T10:27:00.000-07:00

The weather conditions among climate change policy makers seems to be in a turbulent free fall. The WSJ has a nice op-ed piece documenting the current state of affairs which I'll try to summarize. Politicians around the world are backtracking and downright repealing new green laws that have been touted as necessities via every media and left wing news outlet. Evidently the "science" behind man-driven global warming is not as undeniable as we were once led to believe. In fact, nearly 700 scientists from geology to physics and meteorology have publicly criticized the U.N. climate summery for policy makers. Countries including Australia, Poland, Czech Republic and even France are now having their climate policies driven by anti-consensus scientists. As the global criticism to crippling economic policies to fund green programs grows, more people are speaking up and the media and politicians like Obama will find it harder to silence the dissent.

Birth...day

2009-06-24T00:40:00.000-07:00

It is true that I have recently been elevated into my 30's against my will. I got stuck at work most of the day but the main excitement came when I got my present from Dana. We are going to do a wine tour in the Chianti Classico region of Tuscany. The tour includes vineyards and wineries at a castle and a 13th century village. I can't wait to make another trip to Italy which is by far my favorite country in Europe.

Thanks a million my dear!

What's next?

2009-05-15T07:23:00.000-07:00

Funny (not funny ha, ha) story in the WSJ about how Christler execs are already getting around the rules set up for their "bailout."

"The new Chrysler-Fiat partnership will get around U.S. restrictions on executive pay by having its top officers deemed Fiat employees," the Detroit Free Press reports:

The new Chrysler is among the first companies to fall under rules outlined in February by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, for companies getting "extraordinary assistance" from the Treasury that would cap pay for top executives at $500,000, excluding restricted shares of stock. The final rules for the limits have not been released. . . .

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne has already indicated he will replace Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli. But under the deal, any of Chrysler's top officers can be deemed a Fiat employee who's "seconded" to Chrysler, and therefore take pay from Fiat beyond any Treasury cap.

In our view, this whole deal is an abomination. The government should not be bailing out Chrysler or its unions; if it cannot make cars profitably, it belongs in bankruptcy court.
That said, we have to admire the Chrysler execs' sense of humor in using Fiat to evade a fiat.

Prague

2009-05-04T08:29:00.001-07:00

This is the first of 2 slide shows I plan to make from our most recent trip. We were in what I would consider the most Eastern part of Western Europe, Prague. It was a beautiful city that had a sort of eerie charm not unlike Edinburgh. We started by visiting the castle which over looks the city. It was more of a compound of buildings that contained a large cathedral that looked as if it was the oldest part of the "castle" complex. We visited the old town square which has the Astronomical Clock and the John Hus memorial. We crossed the Charles' Bridge and explored the city. We went in several of the cathedrals, one of which contained the withered arm and clenched fist of a would be thief who tried to steal the statue of Mary hanging as a reminder (or warning). See if you can pick out that picture. It was not as cheap as we had hoped it would be but we still had a great time.

United

2009-05-01T00:02:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night I was invited to go up to Manchester for the semi-final 1st leg of the Champion's League between Man. United and Arsenal. Of course I said I had to think about it and 1.2 seconds later I was making arrangements to get out of work and head to Manchester. I am a United supporter and would be ecstatic to go to any game and a chance to go to a Champions League game, especially against Arsenal in the knock out stage is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Both teams of course played their first 11 and watching them live was amazing. United won 1 - 0 and should of scored 2 or 3 more in a very exciting match. I know most of you could care less about soccer but if you are ever interested, the next leg is on Tuesday at 7:45pm my time (mid day in the U.S.). It is a very good representation of what soccer should look like and you will see some of the best players in the world.

Treats!

2009-04-21T05:16:00.000-07:00

The goodies have arrived! These photos are not the best but you get the idea. Don't be jealous.

Visitation and Vacation

2009-04-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

We are finally seeing our first visitors of the year tomorrow. Jamie and Steven (my sister-in-law and her husband) are coming to see us for the first time. We are turning around almost immediately and skipping out of Ireland for the Czech Republic and Austria for about 5 days. I'm excited because it feels like we are heading to a new part of the world and we haven't been any where in a while; well, since last month anyway. It is always nice to have travel companions and I'm sure that we'll have a really good time.

They were also nice enough to bring a little shipment of goodies along with them.

Trinidad EMS robustos x 8
Perdomo En Vidrio rothschilds x 10
Partagas Black bravos x 10
La Gloria Cubana charlemagne x 10
Gurkha Rare Breed robustos x 5

JR Cigars is having amazing sales right now so if anyone is interested in such things you should definitely take advantage now! I'll be posting pictures of these beauties tomorrow!!

Belgium

2009-03-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to catch up on my blogging and I've finally made it to Belgium which was a few weeks ago. We flew into Brussels and then took the train to Bruges where we spent a day and a half and then spent the last day in Brussels before we flew back home. It really was a weekend trip and I don't think we could have found more to do there had we stayed longer. I really liked Bruges. It is a combination of quaint gothic with the Flemish architecture popping out all over the place. There are chocolate shops galore and the only other thing Belgians take as seriously as chocolate is beer. We weren't crazy about the beer but it was cheap and plentiful. There are canals criss-crossing the city and we were able to take a boat tour, which gave us a different perspective of the city. We did a tour of the only remaining brewery in Bruges. The tour guide was excellent and we really enjoyed that. We even got to go on the roof and take a couple of photos of the city scape. We saw Michelangelo's only sculpture to leave Italy in the cathedral in town and found a cigar bar where I had a nice Ramon Allones Habana.

We went to Brussels for our last day and were less impressed with it. The Grand Palace was a beautiful square surrounded by gothic buildings. We walked around the city and saw some of the other buildings but other than that there didn't seem like much to see or do. Belgium was a good trip and I'm glad we made it there but I don't think we'll be heading back any time soon.

Florence, Italy

2009-03-25T07:45:00.000-07:00

We visited Florence during our Venice trip and were glad we did. The city doesn't hold the charm of Venice but it is strikingly Italian and it was great to see the area where so many great minds including Michelangelo and Da Vinci came from. The city is built around their large cathedral called the Duomo. From the outside it is massive and built of white and green marble. You can see from the pictures that it just towers above the rest of the city. Inside it is surprisingly small. There is a large river (where we actually saw an otter swimming) that separates the main part of town from the hills where the old city wall is still visible. The main bridge, Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), is lined with jewelry shops. We hiked up the hill overlooking the city with a copper replica of Michelangelo's David standing atop it. The views of the city were amazing.

There are no shortage of museums to visit there either. The first we went to was the History of Science museum. Unfortunately much of is was under construction so we could wander around one floor. There they had several of the first models of the solar system and the telescopes used through history. It even had Galileo's Finger! We visited the famous Uffizi Gallery which contains the largest collection of the Renaissance art. The highlight of Florence was without question going to the Accademia gallery and seeing Michelangelo's David. The gallery contains a few other works including some unfinished statues by Michelangelo where were neat to see how they came to be from a block of marble. The David was breathtaking. His sheer size is impressive enough but the detail in the facial expression and even the veins in his arm are amazing. I haven't seen anything else like it and of course we couldn't take any photos. As Dana says, it shows what a mockery the "modern art" movement really is when compared with true artistic genius.

Florence is a must visit simply for its historical significance. I think Venice will beckon us back some day just because the city is such a wonder in and of itself. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the land of the man himself. Although the celebration is not nearly the scale of NY or Boston it is still a fun event. We probably saw more Americans here today than we have since we moved. We went out for an early lunch then found the Early Show from NBC doing a live broadcast from Dublin Castle. We stayed for that and then found a spot near Christ Church to watch the parade. There are participants from all over the world and I even saw the Arizona flag flying...REPRESENT! Here's a few pictures from our day.

The Soiree

2009-03-04T07:39:00.000-08:00

We went to a cigar soiree Monday night at a wine bar here in Dublin. The evening included tapas, wine, single malt Irish whiskey and of course cigars. It was really a great atmosphere as about 50 guys showed up to take part leaving Dana as the only girl in the bunch (which made me very proud!). We met several interesting people including 2 ex-marines and a few Dubliners. We were given a Diplimaticos Habanas and a Rocky Patel Olde World Reserve. I must say that they were both excellent and I feel like we really got value for our money, which is quite odd for Dublin. I can't wait until the next one. We'll see if any of the guys went home and told their wives that there are women who attend so Dana won't be so out numbered next time.

Venezia

2009-02-21T01:40:00.000-08:00

Bonjourno! I know we've been back from Italy for a while now but it is always on the mind. Venice was especially beautiful. I had heard that countless times but you really can't appreciate the spectacle that the city is until you've seen it for yourself. It was once one of the richest cities in Europe and the Grand Canal ("main street") is lined with palaces. The architecture is somewhat unique in that not only is it built on water but most of it is from the Byzantine period and looks like a combination of European and Middle Eastern styles. As far as giving a true feel of what the city looked like, our pictures fail miserably. It doesn't help that in a lot of the places you go into in both Venice and Florence you are not allowed to take photographs. We think they're afraid we'll steal their essence!

We spent our time wandering semi-lost through the narrow streets finding on more than one occasion that the street we were on dead ended into a canal. We took a gondola ride and had to help our gondolier tilt the boat to make it under the low, slowly sinking bridges on the side streets. It was nearly Carnival so the stores were packed with masks and outfits for the 10 day long celebration. We found Venice to be a city that isn't visited for its sights and attractions but just for the city itself. I hope we get to go back! Ciao!

Back to reality

2009-02-02T10:04:00.000-08:00

We have returned home and we're still trying to settle back into life after our surprise visit to the old AZ. It was such a good trip getting to see everyone and enjoy a few days of sunshine and warm weather. It is even more missed as I am writing during the first snow Dublin city has seen in the last 7 years (lucky us!). We are leaving for Italy in 2 days which means good food and good wine and hopefully better weather.
Thanks to everyone for making time to hang with us on absolutely no notice. Surprise visits probably aren't the best idea for the future but this one sure was fun. Happy birthday Yunuen! We hope to see all of you real soon!

Prego!

2009-01-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

I think we've pretty much shouted this one from the roof tops so it probably isn't news to anyone but we got really great tickets to Venice/Florence in a couple of weeks. AerLingus was having a mad sale. Not only that but we found great places to stay for 1/2 to 1/3 the price of their normal room rates. We're pretty used to staying in budget places and blowing our money on the sites and food so I totally feel like we're splurging. We're staying 2 nights in Venice then taking a train over and spending 2 nights in Florence. We'll report back after we've got lots of photos to make you jealous with! In the meantime, check out our hotels (Venice/Florence).

Dude!

2009-01-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

This might be the craziest thing I've ever seen. Click the link to watch these guys gliding in wingsuits. My favorite part is when the guy is talking about what they were doing and says they got "bored." Awesome!

The Old Year

2009-01-01T11:27:00.000-08:00

As this was our first full year in Europe it was fun to look back on all the places we went and things we did. We were away from our friends and family which made all our traveling bittersweet but thanks to everyone that made the long haul over here to stay for free and see bits of Europe...uh, I mean visit us. In all seriousness, we are very thankful to everyone who visited and you are all welcome back in 2009. We started 2008 in Rome, saw the West coast of Ireland, London, Cambridge, Manchester, Edinburgh, Loch Ness, Paris, Bordeaux, Barcelona, Bacharach, Kusadasi and Athens. We've decided we better get started this year if it is going to live up to last year so hopefully at the end of the month we'll be visiting Salzburg. Egypt and Maldives are also on the agenda before June.

We visited Dana's family in Minnesota/Wisconsin for an early Christmas. It was nice to spend the time with family. I got some sweet cigar books for Christmas including a diary to record and rate various cigar experiences. I started last night after dinner by smoking a Rocky Patel Sun Grown which was a real treat, and to make it better I rang in the New Year by smoking a Kahlua as my first cigar of 2009. If anyone is planning to come and see us this year and has somewhere they want to go let us know! We are basically living one day at a time with no long term plans, just planning the next trip. We'll see what I have to report a year from now and from where I'll be reporting!

Αθήνα

2008-12-20T05:40:00.000-08:00

Well, the secret is not a secret any more. We've told everyone we know that I interviewed for a position in Athens. Sadly, after all the build up and anticipation over the whole thing it looks like we won't be moving after all. Our experience there was great. The weather is amazing and reminded us a lot of Arizona (cactus and all). Athens is of course on the Mediterranean coast which I guess means it is like Arizona with a beach! The food was amazing and the ancient sites just sit in the center of the city over looking the "new" Athens. Athens is jam packed with people. The roads are insane and this is after they have cut city center traffic by half with even/odd license plate driving days. It still has it's Greek charm. We had a drink at a restaurant one evening and inside they had live music and everyone eating there was joining in with the Greek dancing. We could still end up there but if nothing else we'll be going back for holiday.

Obamania

2008-11-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last 3 days of this week being congratulated by one person after another on my new president. My only response is, "he's not my president!" There aren't too many people with whom I can have an engaging conversation at work. On Monday one of the doctors was saying she loves Obama and thinks he'll be the best thing to ever happen to America. When asked why, what makes him great, I got the same answer I seem to get from everyone over here. "He's brilliant, such an eloquent speaker, gives people hope." While I don't argue with the fact that effective leadership involves intelligence, powerful oration and the ability to motivate and inspire I think the fact that to what end that leader may direct us is infinitely more important. That question never gets answered over here.

The infatuation may be short lived. The front page of Thursday's paper reported of the upwards of 100,000 jobs that could be lost in Ireland when Obama's tax plan takes effect. Currently, companies the operate over-seas receive tax breaks but Obama wants to bring jobs home and plans to make it fiscally impossible for companies to continue operating over-seas. This will not only effect American economics as companies will not be able to afford the labor force it currently employs and will consequently suffer losses in productivity but the economies of some of the poorest countries where the majority of employment is via American contracting. Think of India where AOL, DELL and other technical support is routed through. It would be a devastation from which those people could not recover. And if you think tech support is bad now then wait until you have a 2 hour que on the phone because of the cuts in personal. That is just one example and probably not even the best one.

On a side note. Dana's been talking to a lot of foreigners trying to learn English and met some Iranians. To her shock they told her that they love George W. Bush and where hoping McCain would be elected because they thought he'd be like Bush. They said all the Iranian people loved Bush. Funny, that's not what you here on BBC or CNN.

Barcelona

2008-11-04T11:06:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to find a new site to host our slide shows so I've been delayed in posting my Barcelona pics. Barca is visually very stunning. The city is known as much for its architecture as anything else. The famous architect Gaudi designed and built a number of buildings around town and then started the Gaudi Cathedral called Sagrada Familia. He died before it was finished and the city has employed builders and artists to finish this mammoth cathedral. It is very odd because each part is different because it has been designed by different people. It is hard to get a feel for that through pictures but take my word for it...it's weird! Some pictures of his other buildings are included as well and hopefully you can get an idea of the odd shapes and designs he employed.

Barca is all about shopping. Paris is the only city that compares. The main pedestrian street La Ramblas was covered with street performers and shops. The food was quite good and we found some good tapas and paella. The best part was the weather! Shorts and T-shirts everyday. So nice!

We took a cable car ride, saw an old Catalan castle and strolled down the harbour. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

Closure

2008-10-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

As you've probably seen on Dana's blog we just got back from Manchester for a weekend in which I received my final certification to practice in the U.K. and Ireland. I've spent the last year working toward all my post grad certs and now the pressure is finally off. I have to admit that all my hard work went into my American board exams and fortunately it paid off for my GB and Ireland exams as well. Manchester was a cool city. We pretty much love everywhere we go in the UK. It is odd how it can have such a different feel than Ireland when they are so close, but hey, look at Florida and Mississippi!
What Dana said of the bittersweet feelings about Ireland is true. I feel like this is home (especially when we've been travelling so much) and now the thought of leaving brings mixed emotions. My interview is set for November 19th and Dana has managed to tell everyone except her family so for all of you who know the secret location...DON'T TELL!!

Cha..Cha...Chili's!

2008-10-04T12:49:00.000-07:00

It is amazing what you appreciate when you are away from home for so long. We just discovered that Chili's (yes the chain) has a restaurant newly opened in Belfast. That was last weekend, and today we went. Yes we drove 110 miles to eat at Chili's. That's not all...3 other people also made the trip and 3 others living in the North met us there. They had all been to Chili's in the States during a missions trip and once we found out there was one within driving distance we organized and went! It was amazing and exactly like home...including the service (which is quite novel in Ireland). Well, that's our current excitement.

Scotland...again

2008-09-19T13:00:00.002-07:00

We made trip number 2 to Scotland to visit Edinburgh and travel North to Loch Ness and Inverness. We got to see a lot of the Highlands which is a beautiful unique landscape. You may be shocked by what you see in some of our Loch Ness photos. I'm working on selling them on eBay as we speak!

Bordeaux

2008-09-19T13:00:00.001-07:00

I've had some trouble with uploading our videos but finally here is Bordeaux. This is one of the areas of France I wanted to visit the most. We flew into La Rochelle and took a 2 1/2 hour train ride inland to Bordeaux. I didn't realize that Bordeaux was the 5th largest city in France but with all of its grand architecture and populace it didn't have the busy feeling you get from most big cities. The French people there were much friendlier than those in Paris as well. We took an amazing wine tour while we were there. The city existed simply as a wine producing region full of chateaus with owners, buyers, workers and sellers of wine. We started off in an old chateau that has been converted into a museum. We learned about the history of the region as well as how wine is produced, aged and stored. That ended with a wine tasting of a white and red wine from the region. We then walked through the area where the many of the chateau owners and buyers lived, many of which are still owned as family estates in the heart of the city. We then had lunch at this little whole in the wall place that you would never find out on your own. We had an excellent meal, lots of wine and access to a cheese room (see photos) with over 150 type of cheese some of which were mold city! We then went out to the region of Saint Emilion, the oldest vineyard region in the area. We took a tour of a working chateau complete with a wine tasting. Bordeaux is a must for wine lovers in my opinion. It was a great trip and now instead of rambling on any longer I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Restocking

2008-09-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

My mom is here and she brought with her some goodies! Here are some of my favorites.

Happy Anniversary

2008-09-06T06:22:00.000-07:00

Today is our 1 year anniversary in Ireland. It is a strange thought because it feels like yesterday that we packed up our lives and moved out here and yet it seems like we've been here a lot longer than a year. When we decided to move we wanted to take in as much of Europe as we could and below is a map of where we've been this past year. We'll be adding 2 and possibly 3 more locations before the New Year. There are so many places to go and see that we have no plans of slowing down. Next year we hope to visit Northern Africa, Maldives, Greece, Israel and hopefully more of Europe. If any of that sounds good let us know and we'll be glad to coordinate!

View Larger Map

From here to there

2008-09-02T01:46:00.000-07:00

For those of you we haven't talked to real recently and who don't religiously check my calendar we have a few trips coming up. They're kind of in rapid succession. Next week we're back to France this time exploring the famous wine region of Bordeaux with a day at La Rochelle which is supposed to be beautiful. Next we're going back to Edinburgh with my Mom. If you've ever been there you'll know why there wasn't any arm twisting to get us to visit again. In October we are going to visit another famous port city, this time in Spain! Barcelona will complete our "planned" European trips for the year but there is a chance we'll get to Copenhagen in November if I get to go to a work conference there. That's life here as we know it.

America the beautiful

2008-08-23T12:03:00.000-07:00

Pete has made an excellent and maybe somewhat over-looked point. America, with all its faults, is still the greatest country in the world and I'm still proud to call it mine. We have privileges and rights other countries fear and envy. Russia is in the news again for being everything that America is not. Thank God for that! I think we all wish America would return to the original ideals that founded it and maybe someday it will be completely unrecognizable. For the time being bring on the compliments and criticism allowed by our great constitution.

Song of the week

2008-08-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Here is a new song. It is a cover by the New Frontiers. It isn't sophisticated technically or lyrically but it has something appealing about it. Hope you like.

NewFrontiers- Look...

Damage control

2008-08-21T06:58:00.000-07:00

They say you should never discuss religion or politics amongst friends, however I think we're all friendly enough to avoid being butt-hurt.

First, I think Obama will be a good leader some day if he completely changes every view he holds. He lives in an anti-white, anti-capitalist "Utopia" that is frankly...dangerous. Can you really believe that the pastor he had been relying on for guidance and truth suddenly fell off the deep end and started preaching America the white devil for the first time in 20years? Sounds a little familiar...like something that comes out of extremist mosques all over the world. He actually has a Che Guevara flag in one of his campaign offices...a revolutionary??? Try another mass murdering communist.

Ryan, the "Hitler vs Stalin" comparison is hardly applicable and all though I don't think Ron Paul is completely wack (although I'll NEVER respect a man that believes 9/11 was our fault...we can get into a "man is responsible for his own actions"/"terrorists simply want to terrorize and send the world back into the 7th century where fear rules") I know he will not win the election. Do you really think that economically and socially the country will be in the same place regardless of who gets elected? I tend to agree that the president has relatively little power compared with congress and the judicial system. McCain actually hit it on the head when he said that one of the greatest weapons of the U.S. president is the bully pulpit and I believe he will stand up and say what needs to be said to leaders around the world while Obama will studder along with no conviction. The rest may be up for grabs.

As a side note, the U.S. is not a welfare state. Not yet anyway, and you had better hope that the socialism that is preached by liberal democrats (like Obama) never comes to be. I have seen some of the real evil that sneaks in with all the government control over every aspect of society. Ryan, I hope you're wrong about America being lost...but I wouldn't bet on it.

McCain

2008-08-18T13:22:00.000-07:00

Last night we watched the McCain v Obama interview at Saddleback. I was a little worried before watching it that I would be even more skeptical about McCain but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Obama looked like a lost puppy about to be run over by a freight train every time he was asked a question. To be honest I'm not sure he completely answered any question that was posed to him relying on his rhetoric to get him through the interview. I mean, when asked who is one of the three wisest people he knows that he would rely heavily on in his administration, Obama actually said his grandmother...seriously. McCain on the other hand had answers so fast that Rick Warren didn't have time to complete the question on many occasions. I particularly liked McCain's stand on taxes, drilling for oil and greater school choice. McCain also has a little something called a sense of humor (see the bear DNA joke...really funny!) I did find a sound bite that should convince you to vote for McCain if all those other reasons fail. See below.

Get this widget

Track details

eSnips Social DNA

U.S.A.

2008-08-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

This may be the most amazing swim in Olympic history. What makes it better is that the anchor swimmer for France guaranteed they would "smash" the Americans. I don't know if you've seen this (I don't know how you could have missed it by now), but just in case.

...more Germany

2008-08-03T13:46:00.000-07:00

More from our latest expedition to Germany. These are just some various sites we saw and some pictures from inside a couple of the castles that we were able to tour. As most of you know we ended our trip in Mainz which just happened to be holding a beer festival. I mean, what's a visit to Germany without a beer festival??...am I right? Hopefully you are getting excited about seeing Germany because you might just be able to twist our arms to go back.

Castles and fairytales

2008-07-21T14:49:00.000-07:00

We are back from Germany and here is my first slide show. We took so many pictures it was hard to narrow down what I wanted to show so I think I'll just keep making slide shows until I run out of good pictures! This was from our trip down the Rhine river. I tried to keep everything in order and added some shots from the river side towns and vineyards along with the castles of course. Dana usually does a better job of describing our trips so I'll let you read her account of our weekend. I'll just say that this part of Germany was beautiful. I always think of it as part of the old Eastern European block with its impoverished, war ravaged buildings and cities. From what I've seen of cities like Berlin and Munich I'm sure that impression would be somewhat reinforced but the Rhine river valley is fairytale Germany. We enjoyed touring some of the castles (we have 16 more for anyone that wants to join us!), enjoyed the small villages, relaxed on the cruise and even took in a beer festival! Wunderbar! Hope you enjoy the pictures.

For Mother Nancy

2008-06-29T02:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the delay! Here is Ray Lamontagne who's music I have been a fan of for the last couple of years. He doesn't get a lot of play time but he is quite a good singer songwriter.