Cin Cin

We are alive and well in Italy. After 5 hectic days in Roma, we have traveled up to Florence & Tuscany. Lots to write about and lots of pictures. Yesterday we went on a tour of Tuscany and the Chianti wine region, it was wonderful. Today we went through Florence and saw the Uffizi and Academia Galleries - So the Birth of Venus and the David (complete with DavidMania - it is the 500 year anniversary). On the tour yesterday (yes, our first official tour ever) our guide is starting her own business of a food tour, so we told us of a little restaurant that serves florentine steak - a steak that comes from a white cow, very tender, marinated, seared on each side and served rare. Delicious and we gained about 5 pounds each (because we had pasta and others food on top of it). It is about 1 a.m. or so right now, just so we can call the kids, so it is definitely bed time - which will be a debate between going to Cortona and staying here for rest. I may lose that battle.

Ciao!

Looking To Eat - In Arizona?

Next time you are in Arizona (more specifically Ahwatukee) try out the new Ahwatukee Restaurant Guide.

I Have An Idea

At of all the weekends we've had, of all the activities we've gone to, forever, this may have been one of the busiest. Saturday morning we helped a friend "move". I say "move" but really she had cleared out 99% of everything and just had people come over to load things into their car/van/truck and bring it the 1.1 miles to her new house. In fact, part of my officially duties consisted of obtaining extra-large diet cokes for people, but I'm glad she was finally able to get done moving everything. Afterwards we came back to our house and worked on some projects. Mine being to organize/clean the garage. Not only was it cleaned out, but I moved everything so that we had to park in different stalls - mainly so our bikes could be easily accessed. Next it was off to another friend's 40th birthday party. They had a neighborhood band, "You Get What You Pay For" play - minus the drummer and bass player - so really it was a couple playing, but they were really good. I of course was very willing to embarass myself and sing, mainly because nobody else seems to want to do it!!!! Tiffany was nice enough to go pick up the kids and get things organized before coming to pick me up - I'm sure pure entertainment for her. Sunday we finished cleaning the house and drove down to Castle Rock for our nephew's 5th birthday party - Indiana Jones style. They had Raiders of the Lost Ark playing and it's funny that as you watch actors age over time they don't really seem to change much, but to all of a sudden see Harrison Ford 20+ years younger, wow, definitely a big change, but hey it's not the years it's the mileage, right? Finally my parents arrived, literally within 10 minutes of us getting back from Castle Rock. We went out to dinner (don't want to get the house you just cleaned messy, right?) and all fell asleep.

This has always fascinated and amazed me. Yesterday we ordered a pair of Crocs for Tiffany before we left on our trip. Well, regular shipping wouldn't arrive on time, so we did overnight shipping. Here is the tracking list for these shoes:

Date Time Location Event Details
Jul 18, 2008 08:00:00 AM LOVELAND CO US Out for delivery
Jul 18, 2008 07:15:00 AM LOVELAND CO US Arrival Scan
Jul 18, 2008 06:10:00 AM COMMERCE CITY CO US Departure Scan
Jul 18, 2008 03:56:00 AM COMMERCE CITY CO US Arrival Scan
Jul 18, 2008 03:28:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Departure Scan
Jul 18, 2008 02:51:00 AM LOUISVILLE KY US Shipment to carrier
Jul 17, 2008 09:52:57 PM US Shipment left seller


Now think about what you were doing during these times. Likely sleeping, but across the country there were people, planes, trucks, scanners, etc... all working away and moving this little box of Crocs across the United States, all to make sure it got from Kentucky to our city in Colorado in one day. It costs almost $20 for 5 gallons of gas, but for the same amount of money you can get dozens of people, jets, trucks, etc... to move a pair of shoes across the country in one night - I think it's awesome!

Like a Record Baby

My perfectly planned little day went down the tubes very fast this morning when I received a call at 7:00 a.m. saying the attorney scheduled to do a court docket day was sick. I arrived at work hoping I could cover court until someone else arrived and I could still make my various morning appointments as well as my afternoon appointment. Well, I arrived knowing 2 of the attorneys were on vacation. Then I discovered 2 more attorneys were scheduled to be in meetings out of the office so they wouldn't even show up this morning. That left me and one other attorney. Their schedule was empty, so I was hopeful I could start court and still make my appointments. As I sat in court I got a sticky note that said he was "busy" and they were trying to reschedule my appointments. At noon I got out of court and upon returning to the office learned that one of those re-schedules was for noon. I just finished that meeting and have enough time to eat a Rice Krispy Treat and some left over soy beans for lunch (yes, it is a nutrious lunch - sugar & protien), leave for settings and then do four emergency hearings - I should call them surprise hearings today since I haven't even been able to read the reports yet, so that should be fun. Just for clarification, I'm not whining, just stressed about not just getting it done, but getting it done well. Oh, and as for clients I had to meet today, they are coming in tomorrow. I am so not going to feel bad about leaving on vacation...

Slipping

So the City of Fort Collins is no longer the #1 city in the United States to live (as it was ranked by Money Magazine last year), but it is #2 this year, so I guess I shouldn't complain. I had to laugh at the fact they say housing is 30% lower than other cities ranked in the top cities. All I can say is keep ranking us in the top 10 and we'll see where those housing costs go - and I'm all for it, would love to see the price of our house skyrocket - well, considering the current housing market, I'd just be happy to see it increase.

Mule Boy

I don’t think we have ever done so much in one weekend.  Only catch is we never left the house!  Over the years we have accumulated lots and lots of… well, crap.  It gets put into closets, basement, garage, drawers, etc…  Then when it’s time to clean out the house we never really touch that stuff, though we always mean too.  However, the idea that my parents won’t just be visiting for 3 weeks, but will be living in our house when we are gone, and staying in our room, has prompted an entire new level of motivation.  The result?  Those little projects that stack up over time have all been completed (or at least started with end dates this week).  From Madison’s room getting cleaned out, to clocks going up on walls, to old grills being disassembled, windows being cleaned, closets being emptied, baby toys being removed and the list goes on – all done this weekend.  True, not as riveting of a read as maybe a trip to Rocklahoma which was this weekend (we have some friends that went, had to rent a trailer out in the middle of nowhere, had to “borrow” an adaptor just to get air-conditioning and apparently had a 5 cell thunder storm with 65 mph winds – which makes me laugh as to why you would go through all that so you can listen to C-list 80’s bands in the middle of nowhere in Oklahoma, at 90 degrees, no air and potential for tornados)! 

Random

A few comments/thoughts. First the Fourth of July was great, plus I officially believe the 4th should ALWAYS be celebrated on a Friday (how about the 1st Friday of September???). It's amazing how long the weekend seems after doing the picnic/fireworks thing on a Friday. Anyway, it was good. Saturday we saw Indiana Jones, which is still entertaining. I keep forgetting how fake all of them are - which surprises me every time I see one - but they are still pretty fun to watch. Then we went over and said good-bye to Denise & Michael who have now left for a family vacation, returning just after we leave, in all we'll see them in about a month and a half. I know Tiffany is sad, but I'm sure we can find something for her to do that will cheer her up!!!

Which brings me to the nerosis that is David. Yes, I'm 80% packed, don't judge me. Actually I did it knowing that I really don't have any free time between now and when we leave. The weekend before we leave my parents arrive, Joe's 40th birthday party happens and we are helping Linda move. Oh yes, that's all the same weekend. That leaves this next weekend, which will have to be filled with getting the house together before we leave - which sadly is a monumental project as we have several semi-major things that must be done before we leave. So once this weekend is taken over by those projects, that's right, the only time I have to pack is... last weekend. So I did.

Finally I just watched the season finale of the Bachelorette. I'll be the first to say that there is no reason anybody should care who these people pick - especially when we are talking about a fake, made for t.v. dating experience. It's truly a sad commentary that the show has even been on this long. But it did illustrate a long-standing belief that young women will typically choose the unstable, free-spirited, slacker type of guy over an older, more balanced guy. Oddly they all end up the same. I guess if I could pick between a cake that looked like chocolate (let's assume I think that's my favorite) and vanilla cake, but really the chocolate cake was dirt & feces and the vanilla cake was sugar and vanilla bean; and I kept picking the chcolate one because I thought I would like it more and it kept sucking, wouldn't you eventually figure out, "crap, maybe I should try the other one?" Even lab mice are smart enough to get that concept down, but humans and picking a mate? Nope - "uhhh, life is like a box of chocolates..."

Happy 4th of July

My new idea is to move the 4th of July - to a time of the year where it's not 99 degrees outside and the sun goes down before 9:00 p.m. I did some research and found out that someone signed the Declaration on September 4, 1776. Considering only two people signed it on July 4th and most signed it in August, September 4th is just as viable as July 4th. So let's move it!

Ok, that aside, today was pretty fun. We spent most of the day sitting out around Lake Loveland (I have no idea how we started going to Loveland when we live in Fort Collins, but the traffic is much better). How about a picture and a video of the first firework sequence? Yes, the picture is of Madison, Tiffany and McKaiden watching fireworks. Happy 4th of July!!!

Race, Creed or National Origin

Over the past year I've been working on our upcoming trip to Italy and Paris. During this period there have been a number of times I have needed to email questions. The fact it is by email is important because it removes all visual or verbal clues. What is left is a very straightforward written contact between myself and mainly people in Italy. As English has become a sort of international language, it would make sense that if someone from France, who may speak French and some English, may contact someone in Italy using English (who may only speak Italian and some English). As all of these factors collide, I've often wondered if our last name causes confusion as to whether we are English or French - coming to see Italy. Well, today I have the beginning of an answer. Someone responded to me and included the links to a website, one link for English and one link for French. They have links for numerous other languages, so why send me just the English and French links - Je ne s'pa