Andiamo!

Happy 1000th Post, Otturatore!

2009-03-25T20:04:00.001-07:00

Back when I started this blog, I didn't really think about meeting other bloggers along the way. I didn't have "internet friends." I can't say that anymore, as I've made connections with people from all over the planet - both via BootsnAll and the various expats in Italy I've "met" - but I think I can safely say that my first "internet friend" was someone who I later had the pleasure to meet in person, stay in contact with to this day (something like 5 years later), and who is celebrating a milestone of his own at the moment.

Let me introduce you to Alessandro of the fabulous Otturatore photo blog.

I found Alessandro's blog via Photo Friday many moons ago, and linked to it on my sidebar. Naive as I was to the ways of the web back then, I didn't realize that he'd be able to track me down via that link - but track me down he did, and he commented on my blog. That was back in 2003 or 2004, and it began a correspondence that's continued to this day. Ale's become a great friend, and we've gotten to the point where we'll spend a bit of time just about every week on Skype - me at the beginning of my workday, him at the end of his - chatting in both English and Italian. I'll confess that his English is far better than my Italian (he's completely fluent, in both normal English and all kinds of slang, in a way I dearly hope to be someday in Italian), but he's very patient with my Italian mistakes and has even taught me a word or two in the Friulano language of his home region.

Chris & I had the good fortune to meet Ale in 2004 when we passed through the Friuli en route from Venice to Croatia, and although we were nervous about meeting this "internet person" I'd only corresponded with via email, he turned out to be delightful, friendly, and incredibly generous. He even managed to teach me how to use a couple of the gazillion bells and whistles on my big DSLR (which I'd completely ignored to that point).

I should mention that Ale's a great photographer, with an eye for turning the everyday into something artistic and worthy of a second look. When we met, he was toting a new (well, new to him) medium-format camera, and I'm convinced he's forgotten more about photography than I'll ever know. He posts a photo every day on his blog, and he recently sent out a note to proudly announce that his 1000th post is going up tomorrow, March 26.

So, happy 1000th post, Ale - I look forward to visiting you again - hopefully on a day you've decided to bake something delicious, perhaps to help you celebrate your new house, and (if I'm lucky) learn a new trick or two on the camera.

AUGURI, ALE! E MANDI!

Happy Birthday to, uh, Me!

2009-03-16T13:15:00.001-07:00

While I wasn't paying attention (as you'll no doubt have noticed by the distinct lack of posts here in, well, ages), this blog has turned four years old as of today. Yes, it was apparently on March 16 of 2005 that I decided to start sharing my thoughts with the world in an online fashion. No, I don't have the exact date pinpointed for when I mostly stopped doing said thought-sharing on the blog. But thanks for asking.

So, happy birthday, blog. No telling where we'll be four years from now...

Quick Update

2009-02-07T11:13:00.001-08:00

It's been a few weeks since my last post, so here's a quick update on what's going on around here...

My ankle/foot is still healing from my stupid fall, but I still keep it wrapped at all times for extra support. The first 1.5 days I couldn't put any weight on it at all, but since then it's been getting progressively better. Which means I haven't gone to a doctor because I figure I wouldn't be able to walk on it without much pain if it was broken. (Logic is the best doctor ever, right?) It's a slow process, which is irritating, but hopefully in another couple of weeks it'll feel good enough so I can leave it unwrapped most of the time.
Bub is back on chemo. It's a lower dosage than it was for the first round, but he was steadily losing weight and an ultrasound revealed an intestinal wall that was slightly thicker than normal. They say it's still within normal range, but it could be a precursor to lymphoma in perfectly healthy cats - and given his history, we decided not to take any chances. The good news is that this chemo is all pill form, so he doesn't have to go to the vet any more than his usual monthly check-ups. He's still a major pain in the arse to pill, but we've got a system down.
Work is busy for both of us, so much that weekends often involve a bit of time spent in front of the computer. We both still love what we're doing, but a little more down-time now & then wouldn't be a bad thing.

I think that's about it. Not terribly exciting, I know. But that's probably why I haven't updated in awhile. So you can count your blessings next time there's a big gap, eh?

Hope you're all well.

That Last Step is a Bitch

2009-01-18T15:22:00.000-08:00

So, I'm feeling like an idiot today. Here's why.

Yesterday afternoon as I was walking down the lower flight of stairs in my house to retrieve a clean load of laundry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking and I missed the last step. I landed hard on my right foot on the tile floor and then (of course) collapsed. I thought I'd rolled my ankle badly and possibly broken it. Chris helped me back up the stairs and we got some ice on the ankle, and after a few hours (and a couple ibuprofen pills) it was just annoying rather than seriously painful. I was feeling more optimistic that it might just be a sprain - until, that is, I tried to walk to the bathroom.

Yeah. That really sucked.

We're more than 24 hours later and I still can't really put weight on that foot. I can move the ankle around, and there's basically no swelling or bruising, but there's a pain on the top of the foot when I try to walk on it. I think I'm finally resigned to the need for an x-ray, although I'm planning to wait until tomorrow when I can go to my regular doctor (they have an x-ray machine) instead of the ER... Because I don't even want to contemplate how much that trip might cost.

Anyway, we called around to a few friends we thought might have crutches lying around in their garage, but none did. So Chris is now on a mission to get some crutches for me (I seriously had no idea places like Walgreen's or RiteAid even carried crutches, but I'm assured they do) so I will no longer be forced to hop everywhere on my left leg.

Y'know, when we first bought our house, I loved the fact that the townhouse didn't feel like an apartment (despite being attached to our neighbors' homes) - and the main reason it still feels more like a house than a condo to me is now the thing I hate about this place: the STAIRS. Bedroom on one level and kitchen on the other? I can tell you right now that's going to be the biggest pain in the ass for the forseeable future.

Happy Moroccan Independence Day!

2009-01-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Happy Nepal National Unity Day! Happy Anniversary of the Designated Hitter Rule!

The point is, every day is a holiday somewhere in the world. And today is no different. I bring this up because, well, I didn't poke my head in here to wish you a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, or Happy New Year. I could go with my usual tried-and-true excuse of being overly busy (which is still very much the case), but this time there's actually something else going on.

I wasn't ever one of those people who got seriously gung-ho over the holidays (and especially not since I entered puberty), but when my dad died a scant four days before Christmas in 2007 it made the holidays particularly un-festive that year. As you can imagine. I'd heard people say that "the first year is the hardest" when it comes to dealing with the death of a loved one, but I thought I was doing really well throughout much of the year following my dad's death. Yes, I thought about him every day, I missed him very much, and yes, I cried occasionally. But I thought I was handling things well - so much so that I figured the 2008 holidays would be back to business as usual.

Oh, how wrong I was.

First, it was the damned holiday music that started playing in every store even before Thanksgiving. I don't spend much time in stores, so I wasn't subjected to it as much as I might have been, but it was enough that by the time early December rolled around I realized that every time I heard a Christmas song I got angry. Not depressed, not nostalgic, but angry. It bothered me that everyone was preparing for a fun holiday, when I was coming up on the anniversary of my father's death. Evidently that whole "first year is the hardest" thing has some truth to it after all.

I made it through the holidays just fine in the end, and I don't think anyone really knew what I was thinking through most of it, but I couldn't help but wonder - will there ever come a time when I don't automatically think of my father when Christmas comes around? When I don't get upset with the cheerful dispositions of shoppers and the glittery decorations in front windows? When the holidays are just the holidays?

In 2007, I skipped doing a holiday newsletter for the first time in many, many years. In 2008, I couldn't bring myself to do one, either. I wrote a draft, which still sits on my computer (un-looked at since I first attempted to create it). I don't know if I'll eventually get a letter out to people in the early part of this year or not. I feel like I need to send out something, because I know some friends and family feel out of the loop - they're asking questions about things they'd know about had I gotten around to sending out a letter - and because I kind of feel like I need to force myself back into something of the old routine. But it's hard. I wish everyone was as web-savvy as the few folks who I know read this blog, because I'd just send out an email with a link to some kind of online holiday missive and be done with it. As it is, I'm still faced with the daunting task of finalizing the letter, printing it and getting copies made, addressing a gazillion envelopes, and stamping them all before dropping off the stacks at the post office. It's a holiday ritual I used to kind of enjoy, but that may be a ritual I never find pleasurable again.

Then again, maybe I'll just get my act together and send the letters out in honor of India's Republic Day on January 26. Yeah, okay, that's a little ambitious. How about Kuwait's Liberation Day on February 26? Could be do-able. Point is, whatever day you receive a holiday letter from me, whenever one should arrive, I guarantee it's a holiday somewhere in the world.

Maybe I should just pick a different holiday to mark with an annual letter from now on, actually. Any suggestions?

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-25T18:32:00.001-08:00

I'm tired after a full day on the computer, and more tired because I feel like I'm fighting off a cold, but I wanted to take a moment to wish y'all a Happy Thanksgiving.

This is easily my favorite holiday of the year - totally centered around food, and no gift-giving involved - and it wouldn't be a proper Thanksgiving without my mom's traditional menu. Of course, being my mother, the traditional menu includes a couple non-traditional items and our traditional Thanksgiving meal is eaten on either Friday or Saturday of the holiday weekend rather than the actual holiday itself. I can't even remember when that started, but it seems so normal to me now I don't even realize it sounds odd when I tell other people. This year, our Thanksgiving will be on Friday, which means Chris & I get most of Thursday at home to relax (sans workload for me, at least) and do a few chores that have been waiting to get done before heading to my mom's on Friday morning. I'm looking forward to that extra day of rest for many reasons, not least of which that the big BootsnAll holiday party is the following weekend and I'm quite certain I'm going to be bloody exhausted after that.

Also on the schedule this holiday weekend is something unusual even for my kooky family - a football game. Yes, some people always plop down in front of the TV on Thanksgiving to watch whatever football game is on, but this year the annual "civil war" between Oregon State and the University of Oregon is being played in Corvallis (not far from where my mom lives) and one of her coworkers (whose husband works at OSU) managed to get us all tickets to one of the "luxury" boxes for the game. I'm not a fan of American football, but the whole gang is going. And, as my mother points out, on the luxury level there's food and a full bar. So at least I'll be well-fed and kept slightly buzzed. And in a weird twist of fate, it turns out the game is actually a big deal this year, as it could determine whether the Beavers go to a bowl game. (Don't ask me more than that, because I don't know and also don't care about further details.) I'll be wearing my warmest holiday coat and my favorite scarf, which just happen to be black and orange respectively, so I'll look the part of an OSU fan even if I don't have a clue what's going on.

At any rate, I do hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend wherever you are!

Backing Away from the Edge

2008-11-02T15:30:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, I know I've been a little quiet lately; there are a couple reasons for that. First, the whole thing with my friend's sister, who died on Monday, October 13th, brought up all kinds of memories of my dad's death. It's amazing to me how one encounter with mortality blends so seamlessly into another, so that one death makes you think of every other death you've experienced. And then, of course, it's a compounding emotion, with each sadness building upon the last one; I can only hope that at some point one gets to a zen-like state about it - otherwise, every death will eventually bring me to my knees.

Another reason for my absence has been that for a few weeks recently I was sort of pulling double-duty at work. One of my colleagues was traveling in Europe for just over five weeks, and although he was in touch fairly regularly, he was also extremely busy doing research and his internet connections turned out to be spottier than he'd anticipated. So, I was trying to not only keep up with my own normal workload but also many of his day-to-day responsibilities as well. Needless to say, I was working a lot. I worked late just about every night, and worked just about every weekend for a month or so. I knew it was temporary, so I just kept doing it, and didn't bother to say anything to my bosses - which was a mistake. I finally mentioned it last week, and they were more than sympathetic. My colleague is back from his trip now, and has re-claimed his old duties, and another project that had been queued up for me has been assigned to another colleague - so I'm feeling much more sane about my workload now.

In other words, I think I've reclaimed my life from the stress I felt last month, and I couldn't be more pleased about that.

While I was under that stress, however, somehow it turned into November. I can not believe it's November already. I don't know how that happened. There are, what, three weeks until Thanksgiving now? And then another month until Christmas? Seriously, I don't know where this year has gone, and time is showing no signs of slowing down...

In other news, I got my second portrait tattoo yesterday. It's a portrait of my mom, to go with the one I got of my dad in August. It's still healing, and is still red and puffy at the moment, but Chris tells me it looks great. I'll post pictures eventually when it's less pained looking. And although I'm going to have to wait until my bank account is a little more replenished after these last two tattoos, I'm already plotting for where the next ink will go. Here's a hint - if you prefer my arms as they are, you'll want to get a photograph of them before I next go under the needle.

Finally, I can't be typing a blog post on November 2nd of an election year without saying this:

VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE VOTE

Vote for hope, vote for change, vote to re-establish America's reputation in the world, vote for a new direction, vote for sound judgment, vote for inclusion, vote for anything's possible, vote for the dream of a new generation. In other words, VOTE FOR OBAMA.

Thoughts About Cancer

2008-10-11T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about cancer.

Before my dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer a few years ago, cancer and I had only passed once in a dark hallway. A friend I used to work with had a recurrence of breast cancer when I was working with her; we later lost touch, but I hear through friends she's doing well after a scary year or so. Other than that friend, I can't recall another time cancer has come anywhere close to me. There's no history of it on either side of my family, which is one of the reasons why my dad's diagnosis was such a shock.

In some ways, I guess I was lucky that cancer hadn't been more a part of my life before my dad's diagnosis, especially as the past few years it seems that the disease is making up for lost time.

After my dad got cancer, one of our cats then was diagnosed with lymphoma. We put him through a year of chemotherapy, and he's doing splendidly well now. My father's cancer wasn't as amiable, however, and he died in December after it had spread to his lungs, lymph nodes, and spine.

Between my dad's death and the memorial gathering we held for him in early February, the elder sister of one of my college girlfriends was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia. She began chemotherapy and has spent the majority of the last eight months in the hospital. She got a bone marrow transplant a month or so ago, and things were looking up. Then a couple of weeks ago her body started showing signs of rejecting the new marrow. Her doctors have been grappling with the graft/host issues ever since, and yesterday I heard that the doctors can do no more.

Ever since my dad died at the age of 72, whenever I hear about someone whose parent is still alive at the age of 80, 85, 90, or more, I have the immediate and selfish thought of, "That's not fair." And it's not, I suppose. Yes, at 72 he had lived a good, long life, and had gotten to watch his children grow up. But I still maintain, in the selfish way a daughter who has lost her father would maintain, that he should have had another 10 years.

What my friend is now going through, on the other hand, is unfair to the point of being criminal. Her sister is only a couple years older than we are, in her late 30s. She is married to a wonderful man who adores her to pieces, and they have a precocious little boy who's five or six years old. She will not live to see her son grow up. She will not grow old with her husband. Her son will not have his mother around for the rest of his life. And there is no way on this earth that is anything but tragic, unfair, and wrong.

There are blessings in the midst of all of this, in that my friend's family is very close - her parents and their respective partners are all good friends. The family unit is incredibly tight, and they've been leaning on one another for months now as they work their way through this. But no parent should have to face burying their child. Ever.

Last night as I sat on the sofa watching TV and thinking about my friend and her family, I looked at my cat sleeping next to me. I watched the side of his body move up and down slowly with each breath he took, and I couldn't help but wonder why he had lived and my father had died. Why was my cat spared and my friend's sister is in her final hours? I love my cat dearly, and I'm glad we chose to put him through the year of chemo and I'm glad he responded well to the treatment. But what kind of disease spares a house pet and takes two people instead?

And I think that's just it; cancer is, at heart, completely and utterly unfair. It makes its living by being unfair. It's ruthless, heartless, unforgiving, rude, cunning, and sadistic, but all of that pales in comparison to how heart-breakingly unfair it is.

All the positive thoughts I'd been thinking for my friend's sister to get better are now being transferred to the whole family, in the hopes that they can see their way through this.

A friend sent me this poem shortly after my dad died, and I still find great comfort in it. I've been thinking about it again lately, and will eventually send it to my friend and her family. When the time is right.

"Dirge Without Music" - Edna St. Vincent Millay

I am not resigned to the shutting away of loving hearts in the hard ground.
So it is, and so it will be, for so it has been, time out of mind:
Into the darkness they go, the wise and the lovely. Crowned
With lilies and with laurel they go; but I am not resigned.

Lovers and thinkers, into the earth with you.
Be one with the dull, the indiscriminate dust.
A fragment of what you felt, of what you knew,
A formula, a phrase remains,—but the best is lost.

The answers quick and keen, the honest look, the laughter, the love,—
They are gone. They are gone to feed the roses. Elegant and curled
Is the blossom. Fragrant is the blossom. I know. But I do not approve.
More precious was the light in your eyes than all the roses in the world.

Down, down, down into the darkness of the grave
Gently they go, the beautiful, the tender, the kind;
Quietly they go, the intelligent, the witty, the brave.
I know. But I do not approve. And I am not resigned.

Baking Music

2008-10-05T18:19:00.001-07:00

I don't know about you, but when I get to doing domestic stuff I really need the right soundtrack. And since I don't really cook all that much, it's not often that I need baking music - but this afternoon I baked two apple pies, and I knew that facing that many apples that needed peeling and coring required something to keep me motivated. So I broke out my old favorite, a 2-CD set guaranteed to take me through any marathon baking session - James Taylor Live.

I remember getting this CD set back in college, when all my friends had it and I coveted it, and then in the years after I graduated - when I lived alone in a dark basement apartment in SE Portland and didn't really do much cooking at all - the CDs kept me company when I would clean. I'd blare the stereo and sing over the noise of the vacuum cleaner - those old James Taylor favorites kept me happy and moving when I would have just preferred to sink into the sofa and watch TV.

Nowadays, I have plenty more CDs that are just as upbeat and motivating, but sometimes I just crave my old favorite. And today, when it's been raining all. day. long. and I knew I'd be baking my dessert equivalent of comfort food, I wanted something like the musical equivalent of comfort food, too. So James Taylor and his excellent band have been keeping me going for the past couple hours. Now the pies are just barely out of the oven, the house smells amazing, and the last song just finished on CD #2. I feel all warm inside. Mission very much accomplished.

What's your cooking soundtrack?

I Made an LOLcat

2008-10-03T14:55:00.000-07:00

I'm a big fan of the I Can Has Cheezburger site, with its endless supply of hysterical cat pictures that have been even-more hysterically captioned by people who are way more clever than I am. Well, I don't think it's a masterpiece, but the other day when Bub stuck his head in the almost-empty Burgerville bag hunting for something to steal, I grabbed my Blackberry and grabbed this photo. It's not pretty, but you get the idea.

Do click through to the actual site for more pictures - pictures that are much funnier than this one.

Post Turtle

2008-09-26T12:25:00.001-07:00

As if to further drive home the point I made in my last post that it's unusual for me to be voting for anyone with an R after their name, I wanted to share a joke a friend just sent me.

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.'

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

Why I'm Voting for a Republican for the First Time This Year

2008-09-24T19:37:00.001-07:00

Before anyone panics, let me start with this - no, it's not McCain. Get real, people.

I've voted in every election that's come up ever since I turned 18, no matter how goofy it seemed that there might only be one person "running" for a school board position or how many British stamps I had to put on my absentee ballot for the 1992 presidential election. Once I became a registered voter, there was going to be no stopping me. And, until this year, that has meant that I've voted for a Democrat in every office where parties were listed. I fundamentally disagree with so much of the Republican platform that it's usually a pretty easy choice to make. I am not, however, one of those people who just sees a "D" by someone's name and votes for them without reading about them or doing my research on them, but I have never found a non-D candidate I thought was good enough to get my vote.

And that's all going to change this November.

In Oregon, of the two major candidates for State Treasurer, I've decided I'm going to vote for the Republican, Allen Alley. I've been mulling over this decision for months now, and I'm sure it's the right choice. Allen's got the most business experience in the race, the best ideas, and the biggest commitment to doing what he can to turn the economy in Oregon around. On top of that, there isn't really a true Democrat in the race at all - the guy with the "D" after his name was an R two years ago (and even was an Independent in between being an R and re-registering as a D). As a lifelong Democrat, I'm thoroughly disappointed in my party, that it thinks he's the best we can do for a candidate. He's not, folks - not even close.

So when my party lets me down, it doesn't make sense for me to reward it by making a bad choice worse. It doesn't make sense for me to support a candidate that I actually think will do harm (and not just be ineffectual) to the state's economy. It doesn't make sense because there's a great candidate on the other side of the proverbial aisle.

And so it is that come November, for the first time in my life, I'm going to check a box next to a name with an R next to it - and I urge you to do the same.

Learn more about Allen Alley at his website

Do I really talk about laundry that much?

2008-09-18T19:34:00.001-07:00

So, you may have noticed the little Twitter updates at the top of the blog - I'm a big Twitter fan. I use Twitter every day. I talk about work, Italy, the cats, the husband, food, and whatever the heck is on my mind. Just today someone I follow on Twitter posted about her "Tweet Cloud," which of course I had to check out for my own account - and I'm kind of horrified at what I found.

For some background, a "Tweet Cloud" is Twitter-speak for a "tag cloud" - and a "cloud" in this sense is essentially a list of words that you use often in tags (or, in this case, posts on Twitter), where the words are physically different sizes based on how much or how little they're used. The idea is that you get a graphic representation of how often you talk about certain things. So, because I was curious, I decided to see what my "Tweet Cloud" looked like (can I just say here how much I hate the word "tweet" for Twitter updates, and wonder aloud why things have to be cutesy and make us sound like idiots when we talk about them?).

I'm not surprised that the word "today" is my most-used word on Twitter - I usually start off each day talking about what I'm going to do that day. So the fact that "today" has 99 appearances & "day" has 81 makes sense to me. "Italian" coming in at 71 appearances doesn't surprise me either. ("Italy" has 44 appearances.) But the fact that "coffee" shows up 63 times is a little frightening. I had no idea I talked about coffee that much - it's especially weird because prior to our February/March trip to Italy, I didn't drink coffee at all. Ever. So apparently I'm making up for lost time or something.

If you look at all the food-related words in the whole cloud, there's quite a bit of food-talk going on in my Twitter stream, too. And the other day, one of the people I follow on Twitter wrote, "Raise your hand if andiamo's tweets make you hungry - and jealous." This is all surprising to notice, given that I basically don't cook. I eat.

And finally, I'm a little disturbed to note that the word "laundry" shows up 13 times. Now, it's not exactly competing with "Italian" (or "coffee," for that matter), but I swear, I had no idea I'd even mentioned doing laundry all that much. The fact that it's there 13 times is bizarre to me. And it's going to make me think twice about mentioning my laundry again.

The Miracle of Bun Toast

2008-09-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

You know that I live with a cook - Chris is a wonder in the kitchen. He makes a royal mess when he's really getting into it, but I can't complain. He cooks pizza about once a week, makes homemade tomato sauce & sweet pickles, and even got into making fig jam last year. But when it comes to breakfast, he's a one-trick pony - it's cold cereal and milk in the morning, every morning, and has been for as long as I've known him.

That is, until a few months ago, when he invented Bun Toast.

More accurately it's known as Cinnamon Bun Toast, but he calls it Bun Toast for short. I still don't know what possessed him to create it, but it's genius - it really is. It starts with basic cinnamon toast, but on top of the usual butter & cinnamon sugar he spreads a layer of vanilla cake icing on top of the toast. It's not just any cake icing, though - it's Betty Crocker Rich & Creamy Vanilla, thankyouverymuch. He even writes it that way on the grocery list when I do the shopping, so I don't get the wrong kind by mistake, gawd forbid.

When he first told me about his new creation, I thought he was nuts - but then he made me some Bun Toast one morning for breakfast, and I'll be damned if it didn't taste almost exactly like a cinnamon bun.

Genius, I tell you.

I have friends coming into town this weekend to stay with us, and I told Chris I'd asked them what we needed to have on hand for breakfasts, etc., and he said, "Wait'll I make Bun Toast for them..." So he's all set to spread the Gospel of the Bun Toast. Hope the world is ready.

The DNC Makes Me Cry

2008-08-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why, but I have a habit of crying during speeches at the Democratic National Convention. I remember crying during the 1992 DNC because I thought, "Holy shit, we actually have a chance this year!" That year, listening to Aretha Franklin sing the National Anthem also brought me to tears, which I kind of think should happen to everyone when she sings the National Anthem - but it's possible that I've shed tears every four years since then as well.

I don't recall crying at the 1996 or 2000 conventions specifically (although I distinctly remember crying when the stupid effing Supreme Court handed a victory to our current lame-ass excuse for a president), but I do remember in 2004 watching a skinny black guy who I'd never heard of before in my life give what I thought was one of the best speeches I'd ever heard - a speech I still remember parts of to this day. It was a speech that made me cry. And as I cried, I thought, "If I live to see a black president, it's gonna be this guy. Now what was his name again?"

His name, of course, was Barack Obama. And I cried my eyes out this week watching the convention in Denver. And while I may not have a "valid excuse" for crying in the past (not that I feel I need one, mind you), I know at least one of the reasons I was so emotional this week - I'm watching history.

I've always been proud to be a Democrat, and a Liberal Democrat at that. My parents raised me to care about other people, particularly those with less than I have, and to think that our government has a responsibility to make sure everyone has an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives. If you squander your opportunities, that's your business - but if you have no opportunities, that shouldn't be your fault. Even when that's not a popular opinion, I've always been proud to carry that worldview in my heart.

But I've never been prouder to be a Democrat than this year.

This year, my party had as its two finalists in the primaries not one but two historic candidates. And this year, my party nominated the first African-American on a major party ticket. The Rs may crow about their VP nomination this year, but let's not forget Geraldine Ferraro in 1984. The bottom line is this - you can't tell me the Democrats aren't the party of change.

So, as Obama implied last night during his amazing acceptance speech, I say bring it on, November. There's a change-making army coming your way, whether you like it or not.

The Tattoo & The Photo

2008-08-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

My tattoo has healed nicely; the itching stopped, and it's not the least bit sore anymore. In fact, I don't even notice it now. Here, you can see how well it's healed for yourself:

That's the tattoo on the left, & the original photo on the right. Just in case you were confused. I can understand why you would be, & all, because the tattoo is so damned realistic...

And now that I've gotten my second tattoo, 11 years after my first one, I'm seriously anxious to get my third. It's like a need now - and although my appointment is in November, Jerry said he might be able to get me in before that if he gets another cancellation. No offense to the people who might chicken out & cancel their tattoo appointments, but I'm really hoping someone gets cold feet soon.

After 36+ years with nothing on my back, now having the one portrait there makes me feel like it's unfinished until I get the next one... Weird, I know. But there you are.

November Came Early This Year

2008-08-12T19:39:00.001-07:00

Remember in the last post when I said I had a tattoo consult coming up? It went fine, but the earliest appointments that were available weren't until November. I made my appointments, and promptly stopped thinking about tattoos.

Well, not three days after I'd had my consultation with Jerry, my tattoo artist at the very fine Atlas Tattoo, he called me to say, "Hey, I have a cancellation tomorrow - you want it?" My answer:

HELL YEAH!

So, last Saturday I spent just over three hours lying on my stomach with my neck twisted painfully to the left as a bearded man drove three different sets of needles into my left shoulder blade at high speed and repeatedly. In other words, I got my second tattoo.

It's still healing - we're past the "wash three times daily & apply ointment" phase and have now moved into the "apply lotion 3-5 times daily" phase. I think that phase lasts a week. The tattoo has started to peel a bit as of today, but that's normal. And the most important thing is this - it looks fucking amazing.

I'd seen portraits done on those TLC tattoo shows, and always been amazed by the skill that it must take to render a perfect copy of a portrait in ink on skin. And after looking at Jerry's portfolio, I knew he'd be able to do it. But there's nothing that can prepare you for the moment when you look in the mirror and see a perfect copy of a photograph you've know and loved your whole life on your skin. It's trippy, people. Seriously trippy.

Jerry said that it's likely he'll have another cancellation before my next scheduled November appointment, so I may be able to get that one a little earlier as well. We'll see. Until then, I'm dealing with a near-constant kink in my neck because I keep straining to see the tattoo in the mirror.

The picture above is from Sunday morning, when the tattoo was first unbandaged and still quite red & a little puffy. I'll have Chris take another picture when it's healed more so you can see the detail better. Until then, you have my permission to be amazed anyway.

The Next Tattoo

2008-07-29T19:46:00.001-07:00

When I got my first (and only) tattoo in 1997, the tattoo artist told me, "They're addictive - you'll be back." I wasn't sure at the time, because it hurt like hell (I'm a complete pain wimp, though, so maybe it didn't hurt as bad as I thought it hurt), but not long afterwards I knew I was hooked. I dreamed up all kinds of other designs, and for awhile everything looked like a potential tattoo. But, as noted, that was 11 years ago.

Well, I'm finally getting inked again. I don't have an appointment yet, but I have a consult set up on the 5th, at which point I have to lay down a deposit in cash, so I'll be making an appointment before I leave that consult - that's for sure. I'm both excited & nervous, because what I've got in mind is pretty big.

The idea for the first part of the new tattoo design came to me when my dad's prognosis became so grim last year. I knew he wanted to be cremated, and I'd seen some memorial tattoos done on TV (yes, I love those TLC tattoo shows) where small amounts of the ashes of the loved one are put into the ink that they do the tattoo with. I knew right then that I wanted to do that. I didn't tell my dad, because he really didn't like hearing about what he called the "maudlin" stuff people were thinking about him dying. He just wanted to live. So, I kept it to myself. And now I have a consult with a guy who, based on his portfolio, is a kickass portrait artist (no small feat with tattoos - I looked at another portfolio in town that was shockingly bad in comparison). I'd like my favorite photo of my dad, which happens to be with me on his lap when I was about three, tattooed on my left shoulder blade.

Then that got me thinking about my mom. She's still very much alive, but a few years ago she gave my brothers and I each a framed photo of herself with the words, "This is how I want to be remembered when I die." Yes, she's like that. And not in a morose way. Anyway, it's a gorgeous black & white photo of her, and as I was thinking about my dad's portrait tattoo I thought that photo of her would also make a lovely tattoo. So, I'm planning to get that on my right shoulder blade. She doesn't know, and I don't plan to tell her until I can show her. (And she doesn't read this blog, so far as I know, so no worries there.)

Portraits aren't small things - they're big. And these will be big. I want them to be big, I'm totally loving how I think they'll look. And I'm also freaking out about the pain. I know that I can stop it at any point and come back, but I'm still really nervous. Of course, for the first tattoo, my overly freaked-out self was actually a blessing in disguise - it hurt, yes... But it didn't hurt nearly as bad as I assumed it would. So maybe that's actually kind of a strategy I have here - assume the worst, so that anything better than that is a huge relief.

Anyway, I've got my consult on the 5th, to which I'll bring in the two photos in question along with my cash deposit, and I'll get to chat a bit with my artist. Yippee!

I'm really not a very good traveler sometimes

2008-07-23T16:02:00.001-07:00

Honestly, as much as I love being in other places and experiencing different cultures, there's plenty about traveling that really just bothers me. I hate travel days, for instance, the actual days when you're moving from Point A to Point B - especially (actually, almost exclusively) when it involves air travel.

For starters, I think I kind of suck at packing, and not in the way you might expect. I'm so insanely good at cramming bits & bobs into all the nooks & crannies of my suitcases that I end up "being able" to get way more into my bags than I really need to be bringing. And what's even worse is that when I'm done packing, my first reaction is to look at my open & fully packed suitcase and think, "Wow, I'm good." It's like this beam of light shines down on the bag, and a chorus of angels comes over a loudspeaker, and I hear, "She beheld the packing job and - lo! - it was good" in a big booming voice in my head. The beam of light and chorus of angels go away as soon as I have to pick said bag off the floor and carry it up or down a flight of stairs. Then I curse myself under my breath, wishing I hadn't packed so much crap.

Problem #2 about air travel days is the airport itself. While I still get a thrill about entering an airport, knowing that I'm going to go to bed in a different place than I woke up that morning, the thrill leaves pretty quickly. Basically, as soon as I have to start stripping off my belt, shoes, coat, and any other random metal pieces of jewelry at the security gate. I've gotten better about this process, in that I no longer feel compelled to have all of my stuff ready to go onto the conveyor belt in the specified plastic bins in the oh-so-short time it takes me to get from the pile of bins to the metal detector. I used to get really freaked out that I was holding up the line behind me, but now I just tell people to go around me if I'm still fumbling with my laptop or if I've stupidly put a double-knot in my shoelaces that day. But still.

Then there's my seemingly pathological need to be at any appointment (and I'm including flights in this category) insanely early. I tend to get just about anywhere I'm supposed to be going at least 10 minutes before I really need to be there, and it can be up to an hour if I don't know the area well. On the one hand, this means that I'm almost never late for stuff, and that theoretically it gives me time in the airport to relax and not feel like I'm running to catch a flight last minute. On the other hand, however, this also means that I'm stuck in an airport for way more time than I really need to be there. And if that airport doesn't have free WiFi (*cough* SFO *cough*), then I'm also stuck paying a few bucks to turn my computer into something that'll keep me entertained for all the extra time I've ended up sticking myself with at the airport.

I used to be able to sleep on planes, and I seem to have lost that gift. So that's another problem. I find myself sitting nearly bolt upright (and that's with the seat back fully reclined, of course), staring at whatever the nearest video screen is and watching whatever's on it, no matter how horrible. I eat the often-inedible stuff they put in front of me, and I barely move - this despite usually getting my requested aisle seat. All this means I arrive at my destination bleary eyed, exhausted, disoriented, and with a really short fuse. Of course, in one of those cruel jokes likes to play, I'm usually able to sleep on the way back home - but those are the flights that are almost always at night, when I'd rather be staying awake so that I can sleep when I get into my own bed. Yeah, those are the flights when I doze off in spite of myself. Go figure.

What I'm saying here is that I'm not a very good traveler sometimes, and that I don't always like the travel part of a trip. But even with all of that, if you dangle the promise of a plane ticket in front of my nose, I'll salivate like a rabid dog. It's like in that moment I forget all the stuff I actually hate about travel, which is good, because if I didn't I might never go anywhere again.

Wow, I'm going to have to bite my own tongue for even saying that now.

Anyway, the point here is that while I'm not so bad as to be a travel writer who hates to travel (a-la "Accidental Tourist"), you can definitely add my name to what I imagine is already a long list of people who love travel but really hate travel days.

12 F*#king Years

2008-07-20T12:44:00.001-07:00

That's the phrase my dear husband and I (affectionately) use to talk about how long we've been together. Today marks the actual 12th anniversary of our first date, in fact, and it's a date we still like to mark and acknowledge because... Well, because it's a long f*#king time. We've only been married for five years, and saying we've been together for 12 years carries more heft, I think. And while we may joke about that amount of time, we're also really proud to have been together for a dozen years and still share hopes and dreams together. We don't always think alike, but we always support each other and when the going gets rough we are able to lean on one another. It's something I try not to take for granted, and for which I feel very, very lucky.

So, happy anniversary, hubby - I'm looking forward to the next 12 f*#king years.

Cat Update

2008-07-11T19:32:00.001-07:00

I realize I kind of left you hanging with the whole cat situation, in that the last time I wrote about Bub he wasn't eating... Well, the not-eating scare is over! It was over pretty quickly, actually. He started eating again after 5 days or so - too long for my tastes, and he lost a fair bit of weight, but he's put it all back on (and then some). His whiskers are coming in like gangbusters right now, and his tail is getting fluffier. In short, our boy's back. And we're very happy about it.

He'll need to go in for monthly checkups to get poked around the middle to make sure the tumor's not coming back, but unless they find something suspicious, that's all he'll have to do. He doesn't know it yet, but he's very happy about that, too.

Where the hell is Matt? - 2008

2008-07-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

If you've never heard of "Where the hell is Matt?" then you've been missing out. Matt Harding started out by making his own travel videos of himself doing his dorky little dance in the places he visited, and how he's lucky enough to be sponsored to do the same thing. Yeah, while I have a cool job that I can't believe I get paid to do, this guy's got us all beat. He gets paid to travel and do a dorky dance on film.

This is his 2008 video, and if it doesn't put a gigantic grin on your face, then you might want to check your pulse and make sure you're still alive.

And do yourself a favor - go to the original video on YouTube so you can watch the video in high resolution. To see the looks on the faces of the people he's dancing with is half the fun (if not more).

Three Days in San Francisco

2008-07-07T18:40:00.001-07:00

I'm happy to say that I've got plane tickets with my name on them, but sadly they're not for any destination in Italy. What they are for is a blogging conference I'll be attending in San Francisco next weekend - BlogHer 2008. I've never been to a blogging conference, let alone one geared toward women, so this will be interesting on a couple of fronts. I'm hoping to pick up a few new things that I can use for work, mainly related to building community on blogs and writing for online outlets as opposed to print ones. We'll see how much new knowledge I come home with.

In addition to the conference, of course, there's the social aspect of the trip - a blogging friend of mine from Milan will be there, and it'll be really fun to see her, and I've got a few other friends who live in San Francisco and who I'm hoping to see at least a little while I'm there. I'm sure it'll be one of those weekends where I'm more tired on Monday than I was on Friday, but it's all for a good reason. I hope.

Oh, and since the Italian consulate in San Francisco is the one we'll be working with to get our visas and such, I'm planning on paying them a visit at some point, too. Even if I don't have paperwork to hand in or anything to pick up, I figure it can't hurt to drop by and make myself known to them. And my Milan friend has offered to come with me and help make a good impression by speaking flawless Italian to them (that'd be her speaking flawless Italian, not me). Hey, whatever works.

Bad Blogger pt. 437

2008-06-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

Oh, so many things going on, and never enough time to write about them... Here's a quick snapshot:

Bub had his last chemo appointment last month, and got a clean bill of health from the oncologist last week, but ever since that visit (although he didn't get any chemo or even have blood taken) he's been mostly uninterested in food. I'm seriously stressing out about it - there are few things worse than when a pet won't eat, because, of course, he can't tell us what's wrong. We've got him on an appetite stimulant now, and we're trying every kind of food we can think of, but we're still in a wait & see mode. We may have to bite the bullet and pay for an x-ray or ultrasound to see if there's a tumor in there somewhere that the vet can't feel (maybe behind his ribcage) that's making him feel poorly. It sucks, but we're keeping our fingers crossed that it's just a temporary thing and he'll start eating again soon. And that the cancer hasn't come back.
We're making progress on the things we need to get our Italian visas. One item was that our newly-minted birth certificates had to get what's called an "apostille" from the state in which they were issued. Which meant sending them back to the East Coast states from which they'd just arrived (to another department, but still). They both arrived back here at our house today, so we've checked another thing off the to-do list. Our marriage certificate didn't need an apostille, because we got married in Scotland and that meant it was already "good in the European Union." We certainly didn't plan that when we got married, but that's a bonus. Next step is to get the birth certificates and marriage certificate translated into Italian, and then we have to figure out if we need to actually go down to San Francisco to visit the consulate in person, or if we can do it by mail. We've received mixed responses on that question, but ultimately we'll do what the guy in the consulate tells us we need to do.
I've become all-consumed by the Euro soccer tournament, especially as it concerns the Italian national team - the Azzurri. I get completely worked up & stressed before & during every Italy game, I scream at the TV when they do something stupid, and I swear like a truck driver. I actually made my throat sore during one close game. It's highly amusing to Chris and my co-workers (I've watched one Italy game at the office, and hope to not have to repeat that for fear of more ridicule). Italy plays Spain on Sunday, and if they lose their tournament is over. I'll no doubt start stressing out on Saturday. Hell, who am I kidding? I'm already stressing out about it. I never thought I'd be this into a sporting event. The bummer is that I realized (thanks to Chris) that I have a haircut scheduled for Sunday right in the middle of the Italy match - a haircut that was scheduled months ago, when I had no idea about the outcome of this tournament. So we've got to record the thing and watch it later when I'm done, and in the meantime we've got to ignore the internet, the phone, and all incoming text messages on the off-chance some so-called "friend" tries to talk to me about the game before I've seen it.

Okay, I think that's it for now. Hope you're all well...

Flickr Mosaic: Who Am I?

2008-06-09T19:13:00.000-07:00

I saw this Flickr meme over at Bleeding Espresso, and I couldn't resist it. Of course, there are a few of these things I could have had several different answers to, and I kind of changed one of the questions a bit, but overall it's a fun little meme.

The gist is that you answer 12 questions, and then use those answers to search Flickr. You then put the photos you get as search results into a mosaic. They're not your photos, but they kind of describe you. It's an interesting game. Here's mine:

The questions I answered were:

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What did you want to be when you grew up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

(#9 was originally - "What you want to be when you grow up?" - but since I feel like I've inadvertently gotten my dream job, I figured I'd reflect on what I used to want to be. And I'll confess that for #5 I very nearly had to toss a coin between a couple fellows, but this one is on my mind lately because the Italians are playing in the European football championships. So, there you are.)

If you want to play, here's how to do it:
1. You have to type your answer to each of the 12 questions listed above into Flickr Search.
2. Then, using only the first page of search results, pick one image.
3. Copy & paste the URL for each image into this cool mosaic maker (after adjusting it to make sure there are 12 squares).

And these are the folks whose photos I used for my Flickr mosaic:

1. Jessica(s), 2. Pear Gelato with Dark Chocolate Cookie, 3. North of Corvallis, 4. Orange as any orange on a tree, 5. andrea pirlo, 6. Ripasso Valpolicella, Villa Vinea, 7. Myra - turkey, 8. Gelato, 9. racoon-singer, 10. The Road Less Traveled By, 11. Must be careful when you cross the road,:P, 12. Andiamo tutti al cinquecento

Catching Up

2008-06-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Chris got back safe & sound on Thursday night from his trip to Milan, and we're laying low this weekend - he's exhausted (he almost never suffers from jetlag, but this time he's got it) and I'm not feeling much more energetic myself. I have a bad habit of staying up way too late when he's not around, and that went on for the entire 10 days of his trip - so I've got some catching up to do, sleep-wise. At any rate, a slow weekend is looking really nice from both our perspectives.

His trip was, overall, really good - and we still don't really know anything more. He had good meetings, met some more people, saw the end of the Giro bike race, caught a free Andrea Bocelli concert, and caught up with some of our new Milan friends. And the folks who owned the apartment he was staying in had a cat and a kitten, so he got all kinds of feline attention even while he was away from our own cats!

We're both still feeling optimistic about a move to Italy, and we're confident it can happen, but with summer coming up quickly - and with Italy being a country that virtually shuts down in August (not to mention part of July), we figure something will either come through in the next 4-6 weeks or it won't happen until September. So, we wait and see.

On the other front, we're also pushing ahead with obtaining our Italian visas. We had to get new copies of our birth certificates and marriage certificate, and are still waiting on two of the three items to come in the mail. Then we've got to take all of them to Salem to get a special stamp put on them, after which we have to take all of that to the Italian consulate in San Francisco. So we'll be planning a quick trip to SF here in the near future, whenever we can get an appointment.

And in other SF news, it looks like I'll be heading down there in mid-July for a bloggers' conference - my first professional conference as a blogger. I'm pretty excited. The last year has been really amazing for me, career-wise, and I still sit back and feel amazed that someone pays me to do what I do for a living... I am very lucky, and very thankful.

Chris' Italian Adventures

2008-05-31T09:01:00.001-07:00

Chris is about halfway through his trip in Milan right now, and he's already had several meetings and interviews. But this weekend he's going to have a bit of fun - on Sunday, the final stage of the Giro d'Italia races into Milan, so he'll be going to see that. And then on Monday, which is a big national holiday in Italy, he's planning to go to a free concert in the Piazza del Duomo by Andrea Bocelli. He's got my little camera, so I told him to snap some pictures. Both events should be a nice diversion from the work he's been doing so far.

Meanwhile, we're moving ahead with the visa paperwork process. For some reason, the copies we already have of our birth certificates and marriage certificate aren't good enough - they have to be issued within the past six months in order to be approved by the Italian consulate. So, we're ordering new copies of all those things. Then, when Chris gets back, we'll have to plan a trip to visit the consulate itself in San Francisco at some point this summer. I think that's one of two trips we'll have to make down there as part of this process, but I can't keep it all straight. Chris has been shepherding the whole thing along, thank goodness. I just do what I'm told.

I've been getting up way too early (for my tastes) to watch the live coverage of the Giro via the internet, so I'm absolutely exhausted (partly because on top of the early mornings, I've also been staying up too late!). I'm going to go to the farmer's market today and then will be enjoying a nice, long nap. I can't wait.

Milan: 3 Visits in 6 Months

2008-05-16T18:07:00.001-07:00

We just bought a ticket for Chris to go back to Milan - solo this time, bummer for me - for a second job interview. He leaves on May 25 and will be there for about 10 days, having not only that second interview but also a bunch more meetings he's currently setting up. He'll also get a chance to meet again with the folks at the relocation agency in Milan that we're working with to secure the necessary visas for us to actually live in Italy, so that'll be good. We'll probably have to plan a quick trip down to San Francisco shortly after his return to visit the Italian Consulate down there as part of the visa process, but he'll get that confirmed on this trip.

So, while our lives are still very much up in the air, we'd appreciate all the positive thoughts y'all can spare starting May 25 for about 10 days!

Here But Not Here

2008-05-12T17:44:00.001-07:00

purple iris reaching
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

I know, it's been awhile since I posted... And, given the subject of the last post, you might have thought I resigned from the blog! Well, fear not. I'm still here. Sort of. I mean, I'm here, I'm just not here. If y'know what I mean.

There's always too much stuff going on in our lives these days, it seems, and now's no different. We're in the process right now of trying to figure out a time when Chris can get back to Milan for a week or so, for interviews and more meetings. We're also trying to catch up with friends we haven't seen since before we left for our trip back in February - this past weekend we were quite the social butterflies, let me tell you! And we've still got a long way to go down our catch-up list. Oh, and the Giro d'Italia started this past weekend, so we're getting up too early each morning to watch the live coverage. I'm so not a morning person; I can't help but think, "Gee, it'd be much more pleasant to be a fan of this race if I was in the same time zone."

We did squeeze in a "fun" day a couple of weekends ago, just the two of us, during which we browsed the Portland Farmer's Market (our local market opens this weekend - FINALLY!) and spent a few hours wandering through the Portland Chinese Garden. We had lunch in the tea house there, too, which is always fun. The picture above was taken in the garden that day - I just love that garden, and I especially love looking at it through the lens of my camera.

In other news, I'm sick to death of all the incoming calls we're getting that say "no data" on the caller ID screen (we don't answer them). I've yet to fill out my mail-in ballot, but even if I'd already gotten mine in the Oregon primary isn't until May 20, and we'd still be getting calls right up until then. Ugh. I swear, I think I prefer it when Oregon's late primary doesn't matter to the national candidates. It's bad enough to get the calls from the statewide races! I'll be really pleased when May 20 comes and goes, and the phone stops ringing.

So, you see, I'm here. And I could say I'll try to be better about posting to the blog here, but y'all probably know me better than to believe that crap anyway, right? I hope you know I mean well, at any rate...

The Things You Find When You Clean

2008-04-27T16:49:00.000-07:00

Chris & I have just spent the last several hours cleaning out/de-cluttering part of the upstairs hallway that leads into my office nook. There's still quite a bit of work to be done, but we got so much accomplished today, I'm really pleased. We're getting rid of a bunch of stuff, and a bunch more got organized and put away (like it was supposed to have years ago). So, all in all, even though my back is now aching, I'm happy with how I spent my Sunday afternoon.

Of course, there are all kinds of odd and interesting things you tend to find when you're cleaning, especially if you're cleaning out an area that has been untouched for, oh, well, years. One thing I found today made me smile, just as it did when someone first sent it to me via email almost a decade ago, and I thought I'd share it with all y'all.

Resignation

Consider this official notice:
I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.

I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an eight-year-old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four-star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples with rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree & run a lemonade stand with friends on a hot summer day. I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care. All you knew was how to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again. I want to live simply again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in a month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So... Here's my checkbook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my 401K statements. I'm resigning from adulthood. And, if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, 'cause:

"Tag, you're it!"

The Last Photos from Italy

2008-04-19T16:30:00.001-07:00

Okay, I've finally gotten around to uploading the rest of the photos I took during the trip to Italy - many apologies for the delay. The entire trip is now chronicled (more or less) in this set on Flickr. The only thing I've left out is the photos from the start of the Milano-Sanremo bike race; but there's a link to that separate set if you're really interested in cycling (or you can go directly to the cycling photos from race sign-in here).

Again, sorry for the delay in getting these online; I hope you enjoy them!

Thanks for the Support

2008-04-14T18:52:00.001-07:00

I read a blog post recently about an American gal who's been living in Italy for the past eight years - she's married to an Italian man, and just had her first baby recently. She mentioned in her post how her mother used to leave classified ads for jobs she'd be qualified for around the house whenever she'd come back to the US to visit, and how she's now upped the ante (now that there's a grandchild added to the mix) by saying, "They've had you for eight years, now it's our turn!" The blogger was wondering who exactly had "had" her for eight years, since her move to Italy in the first place was her decision.

Anyway, it got me thinking how important it is to have a base of support behind you when you do anything that's even remotely unusual or difficult. Yes, great things can be (and often are) accomplished by people who work solo and who don't even have a cheering section, but I can't help but think that's really the tougher road. Even if your support network does nothing more than take you out for a drink every so often, or listen to your complaining, or remind you that you're wonderful no matter what happens - these are incredibly important elements to undertaking any difficult task.

So I wanted to take a moment to thank everyone who's been supportive of Chris' and my "Project Italy," as we sometimes call it. It seems crazy to some of our friends and family that we'd want to live in Italy, but for the most part all we hear is encouragement. Some people are sad that we'll be further away, but generally speaking their first question is, "You're going to have a guest room, right?" It means the world to us that our friends and family are so supportive, because although the end result (living in Italy) will be excellent, getting there (figuring out a way to live in Italy legally) is definitely not easy.

In fact, we just found out today in a detailed email exactly what it will take to get one particular visa that would allow us to live and work in Italy without Chris having a job ahead of time. In addition to the cost of the visa, there is an incredible list of documents we'd need to pull together, get translated, and bring personally to the Italian consulate in San Francisco. And, ironically, one of the documents is proof of a residence in Italy... Which is something we thought we couldn't get without the visa first. It's such a circular process, it's no wonder people just go and stay illegally.

At any rate, this is all to say that while we know this isn't necessarily what everyone out there would want for us to be doing right now, we appreciate the support you're giving us anyway. It's quite something to have so many people cheering you on as you try to realize a lifelong dream!

Signs of Spring

2008-04-11T17:53:00.001-07:00

Well, my fever and nasty head-cold migrated both north and south - into my sinuses and lungs - which means that remnants of it will probably be annoying me for weeks (if not months) to come. And then the head-cold kind of morphed into a mysterious stomach ailment, which lasted for several days, and nothing I ate (or didn't eat) seemed to make it any better. That was seriously irritating. That seems to have subsided now (fingers crossed), so I'm beginning to be seen among the living again! Wahoo!

I'm saying this was one of those usual Spring colds, but I know it probably had more to do with just sheer exhaustion after the trip to Italy. But in addition to the stupid cold, there are other signs of Spring - and these I actually like. The weird snowy and hail-y weather we had here a week or so ago has finally given way to beautifully sunny days, and the tulips and daffodils in my garden are in bloom. That's lovely. Chris and I might take a drive tomorrow in the Alfa down to the tulip festival south of Portland because it's supposed to be 75F - I know I won't be able to get any photos that don't have other people in them, but it'd still be fun to get out on such a gorgeous day.

There is one last sign of Spring that I don't like, however, and that's my wardrobe. As much as I love this time of year, I can never seem to find anything to wear. I love my winter clothes, and my fall clothes, and you'd think fall and Spring clothes would be the same - but they're not. So I may have to do a little targeted shopping tomorrow as well. We'll see if I feel like I can afford it.

Hope all's well with you, and it's a beautiful day where you are!

Down for the Count

2008-04-02T18:25:00.001-07:00

That post-trip head-cold I was fearing started coming on before I left for Sea-Tac airport on Sunday to go get Chris, and developed into a low-grade fever on the trip back to Portland. The fever didn't last, thank goodness, but I've had a hacking cough since Sunday night and am now starting to get stuffed up. I was so pleased, I thought I'd actually managed to get away without any real nasty jetlag effects, and then WHAM. That's what I get, I suppose, for thinking I could escape jetlag. Jetlag has some powerful friends, I guess, and it doesn't like to be ignored.

Thankfully, I'm working at home this week anyway, as most of my office is out of town - my "office" is now the sofa, where I can put the laptop down every few hours for a nap. It's amazing how much sleep I feel like I need right now... I'm hoping to feel better by the weekend, because I'm tired of being cooped up in the house - especially now that the weather has finally turned back into Spring!

I'm back!

2008-03-28T18:52:00.001-07:00

I got in late last night, after a too-long day of airplanes and customs and security lines and no sleep, and I finally turned out the light around 11:30pm. I vaguely recall waking up once during the night, but didn't really start waking up in earnest until almost 8:00am today, so that's good. I'm starting to feel sleepy now, and am hoping to go to bed early, but all in all I'm pleased at how well I slept. We'll see if I can really avoid jetlag, or if I'm deluding myself.

It was extremely hard to leave Italy yesterday; the whole process of packing and taking the train to the airport was just plain depressing. Now, it is nice to be in my own home surrounded by my stuff and to have my cats around (that last part is especially nice), but I could have my own stuff and my cats moved to Italy. So that isn't enough of a lure to stay here. No, moving to Italy is still very much something I want to do, so we'll see how it all works out.

On a lighter note, when I got home last night the garage light was on. I thought that was odd. Then I saw there was a note from our house-sitter extraordinaire on the door, saying one of the cats was in the garage. (They're indoor cats, and not supposed to get into the garage, even.) She said he'd gotten in there just that evening as she was taking out the garbage, and he was too quick for her. He hadn't responded to her attempts to get him back inside, so I spent the first 20 minutes of being home lying on the floor of my garage trying to convince my cat to come out from under Chris' car. He finally did, and when I scooped him I up I realized his paws were kind of oily. Lovely. So then I spent the next 15 minutes washing off my cat's paws (he really didn't love me very much at that point) in a locked bathroom so he couldn't get away and get oily cat footprints all over our cream-colored carpets. Then, and only then, did I actually bring any of my bags upstairs.

Yeah, it was kind of an odd re-entry. But comical. At least for me (not for the cat).

Oh, and this morning before I ran to the grocery store for some milk, I stopped by the cafe that's around the corner from our house (and run by some friends who love Italy and Italian coffee), and I taught the gals working there how to make my new favorite coffee drink. I'll have to teach our friends, the owners, so they can add it to the menu. Seriously. I'm not sure I can live without at least the occasional marocchino for too long! Hey, if I can't be in Italy, I'll bring as much of Italy home with me as possible...

I'm going to spend tomorrow morning doing a few household chores and unpacking, my mom's going to come up for a visit in the afternoon, and I'm going to relax in my PJs and maybe not leave my house all day. Then on Sunday I have to drive to SeaTac airport to pick up Chris. That's as far as he could get on Sunday (they were going to have him stay overnight up there and fly him to Portland on Monday - no thanks). I'm not looking forward to the road trip by myself on the way up, especially if I'm still jetlaggy. Anyone wanna come with??

BootsnAll Bloopers Video

2008-03-26T02:12:00.000-07:00

At BootsnAll we've been doing lots of videos over the last few months, recording stuff in our basement mini-TV studio and putting it up on the video section of BootsnAll. As you can imagine, Ethan (the man who's usually behind the camera) has collected lots of bloopers and outtakes over this time, which he actually edited together into one three-minute video.

Now, if you don't know anyone at BootsnAll, this may not be terribly amusing to you. But I've watched it twice now and giggled myself silly. I work with some funny guys.

For reference, featured in this video are:
Sean - BootsnAll CEO, co-founder & company mascot
Chris - BootsnAll co-founder, design guru & resident Aussie whose mind goes blank for a second
Ethan - BootsnAll video expert who's apparently struggling with an ear hair issue
Mika - BootsnAll business (or biz-natch) development
Hayden - BootsnAll marketing guy who is told no one cares about his family
Roger - BootsnAll writer who brings his own lighting to the DMV
and me!

Where did I leave off?

2008-03-25T09:14:00.001-07:00

I know, I know - it was ages ago. I'm a bad blogger. And I haven't uploaded pictures to Flickr for awhile, either. Sorry about that - I'm trying to maintain two Flickr accounts, and I'm obviously not doing a very good job of that! As it happens, maintaining two blogs is a bit difficult, too. I hope you'll forgive me.

It's Tuesday afternoon in Milan, and I head back to Oregon on Thursday. I'm not ready. I don't want to go back yet. Despite some things I'd like to change about my living situation here (bigger apartment, better plumbing, having my cats here) and the situation overall (Chris with a job here, us being able to be here legally and permanently), it's been an excellent trip and I still very much like Italy and the idea of living in Italy. We both do. It could have gone either way, of course, with either one of us deciding after six weeks of living in Italy that this was a bad idea of colossal proportions and what were we thinking in the first place? Both of us could have come to that conclusion as well. But we didn't. We both still love it here, and we want to come back ASAP.

That's easier said than done, unfortunately.

We have been presented with some options, which include getting an autonomous work visa for me and then a family visa for Chris, but there are serious downsides to doing that (not least of which is the personal cost we'd have to shoulder). We can also come back for up to three months on a normal tourist visa, during which time Chris can be once again looking for work. But at some point the looking for work has to turn into actually getting a position, and that's the tough part. There's no doubt in either of our minds that it'll happen, it's a question of time and presence - things tend to happen more slowly here, and it'll be hard for Chris to get a job if he's looking from across an ocean. So, even though we have options, there is (as yet) no perfect solution. Except, of course, if Chris gets a job offer!

About an hour ago we looked at our first apartment here in Milan - it was mostly a test run, to start to get a feel for the real estate system here (it's so different from the US, I don't know where to start). It was a decent apartment, but just like with cars you don't want to take the first one you see. And of course we can't really take anything right now, either. It's all this big circular thing that's very difficult to enter as a foreigner. In order to get Piece A you need Piece B, and in order to get Piece B you need Piece C. But in order to get Piece C, it seems you need Piece A. Frankly, I'm not surprised so many people come and stay here illegally - the system is so challenging to penetrate.

At any rate, this six weeks has simply flown by, and this time next week both Chris and I will be back in Oregon, trying to figure out our next steps. No telling what happens next, folks.

Heading "Home" Tomorrow

2008-03-17T09:41:00.001-07:00

I'm now on my last full day in Florence; I've got one (possibly two) more quick work-related stops to make here tomorrow morning, and then I'm going to get on the next train to head "home" - back to Milan. I'll probably have to grab one last gelato here, though, before I go back. The gelato really is extraordinarily good in Florence.

It's funny, I've been calling the Milan apartment "home" now for awhile, mostly in conversations with Chris, but it hasn't been a purposeful thing. It just feels so comfortable here, it's hard to not think of it as home already. I can't believe I've been here nearly a month already - this is the longest trip I've taken since my four-month study abroad in college, during which I felt serious pangs of homesickness regularly. This time, no homesickness. Sure, I miss my family, my friends, my cats - and yet I don't feel the usual "I wanna go home" thing that I usually do after a couple weeks of vacation. I've been so busy during much of this trip, that may be part of the reason for my lack of homesickness, but I'm not sure. It could also be that the immediacy of things like email and Skype make the world seem much smaller than it used to, too. I'm in regular contact with most of the same people I communicate with regularly back home in Oregon, so it doesn't feel like I'm an ocean away.

That's not to say this has been easy, however. I've gotten better at the whole "travel writer" thing as the trip has progressed, and I feel more comfortable in my role... And it's a job that really wears me out. I've crammed a lot of it into this trip, with visits to Venice, Rome and Florence in the space of three weeks (something I wouldn't try to do again if I could help it!), and if I lived here in Italy I'd definitely space these trips out more so that I had time to recuperate between them. I'm proud to report, however, that I've gotten a lot done, even if I feel like I could sleep for a week as a result of it!

At this point, I'm really looking forward to being back in Milan in our cozy apartment, where I can relax all day (well, while working at the computer, of course, but not running around visiting hostels and hotels, anyway), do laundry, and not eat out for every meal. As much as I love Florence (and I really love Florence), I'm going to be happy to be back on a train to Milan tomorrow. At the moment, however, I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about having to get on a plane back to the US about a week later...

Rome is Exhausting Me

2008-03-13T02:55:00.001-07:00

I'm on my last full day in Rome (I leave for Florence tomorrow morning), and I have to say that I'm kind of glad about that. This city absolutely exhausts me. Of course, I walked all over hell's half acre yesterday, which contributed to that exhaustion, but there's also a tiredness of a different kind that I seem to get in Rome. It could just be me, but I feel like I always have to be hyper-aware of my surroundings, always have one eye open (and when I've got a giant camera in my face and I'm taking photographs, that's tough), always have my hand on my purse... It's partly because I'm traveling alone right now - normally Chris is around to keep an eye out as I'm blissfully ignoring the world and taking photos - but I can't help but think it's also partly this city.

The first time I visited Rome, I was absolutely knackered after only three days, and yet I was kind of surprised to find that I feel roughly the same way this time. I thought that with a few years of Italian language classes under my belt (not to mention more overall Italian travel experience) I'd be more able to handle Rome. And I do feel much more confident here than I did last time - I've gotten myself all over the place via the bus and walking, not asking directions or getting lost, and that counts for something in my book. But I can't help it... I'm just not built for Rome. I appreciate it (how could you not?), but I'm longing for a city on a smaller scale, a city that doesn't seem poised to eat me alive every time I step out the door. In short, I'm really looking forward to getting to Florence, a city I dearly love.

Rome, it's nothing personal. I think you're a fabulous city, overflowing with history and with oodles to offer, but I guess I can only handle you in small doses. So, no hard feelings, okay? I'll be back. I promise.

What kind of geek are you?

2008-03-10T11:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of February I attended a Girl Geek Dinner in Milan; I'd been totally unfamiliar with the whole GGD phenomenon prior to that night - I signed up to go because a friend of mine was helping to organize it, and because I work for a web-based company in which I'm one of the only girls in the office. But I'm far from a techie (despite what my mother might think). So I was interested when the founder of Girl Geek Dinners stood up and introduced herself, saying that her definition of the word "geek" was much broader than what most people thought of when they heard the word. That got me thinking.

The GGD founder, Sarah Blow, says that to her, the word "geek" just implies someone who's totally passionate and knowledgeable about something, whatever it is. She said that she thinks my friend, Sara, who was one of the GGD Italia organizers, is a "food geek." Sara's blog is partly about living in Italy, partly about traveling in and outside Italy, but it's almost always about food. She regularly experiements in her home kitchen and publishes recipes, complete with her own gorgeous photography (some of her fans call it "food porn"). When she travels or tries some new food item even in Italy, she usually reports on it (again, with more photos). She's got a collection of posts about the best places to get gelato in Italy and elsewhere, a great post about how to order a coffee in Italy, and an introduction to Italian candies. So, in the eyes of Sarah Blow, that makes Sara a food geek.

I've been thinking about that ever since, and I've been trying to figure out what kind of geek I am. I suppose I'm a travel geek to some extent, and an Italy geek, but I'm certainly not an expert on either subject. I think this is one of those things where it's hard to objectively judge your own label, because you almost know yourself too well to be objective. So, I'm asking two questions here, in case anyone feels like answering...

What kind of geek do you think I am?

and

What kind of geek are you?

Fame Spotting

2008-03-07T04:08:00.000-08:00

Milan is one of those cities I guess you can expect to see the odd famous person now and then - if for no other reason than they're swinging through Gucci or Armani HQ on their way through Europe. To date, here are the famous people we've seen (or we're at least pretty damned sure we've seen):

Lenny Kravitz - Seen with an unidentified woman having a coffee sitting at an outdoor cafe table near the Duomo; he played the Sanremo Music Festival the next day. At the time, I thought, "Wow, that guy looks an awful lot like Lenny Kravitz," assuming it couldn't possibly be him. It wasn't until he took the stage at Sanremo (roughly 260km from Milan) that I thought, "Wow, that was Lenny Kravitz!"

Silvio Berlusconi - Seen getting into a car in Turin (roughly 140km from Milan). I actually only saw the top of his little bald head, but Chris (the tall one) was able to see that it was, indeed Berlusconi. Silvio may only be famous in Italy, but for those who don't know he's been the Prime Minister a couple times and is currently running again. He's also been under investigation for any number of things (I can't keep track, and I'm not sure most Italians can, either) and is, in my everso humble opinion, a scumbag.

Antonio Banderas & Liam Neeson - Seen walking through Milan's Galleria and going into the Prada store. There was a big film camera set up at one end of the Galleria, and Chris looked it up later online and discovered the pair are in town filming a movie right now. But honestly, we couldn't tell if they were actually filming something at that precise moment or just going shopping. It looked more like the latter. Chris (again, the tall one) took the camera and tried to get a few shots of them leaving the store (he was the only one of us who could see above the throng that had gathered outside the store, where no less than five people asked me who was inside), but he learned that being a paparazzo is actually kind of difficult, what with all the jostling and such. I'll say this about Antonio and Liam - the former is short, the latter is tall.

Laura Linney - Seen walking by herself down a street near the Duomo. Now, at the time, I thought, "Wow, that woman looks an awful lot like Laura Linney." But I figured I was dreaming. (I should know better now, after the Infamous Kravitz Sighting of 2008.) Then when Chris looked up the Banderas/Neeson sighting online, he said Laura Linney was also in town filming the same movie. So, who knows? Maybe it actually was Laura Linney I saw walking like an average human being through central Milan.

Seeing Double

2008-03-05T12:26:00.001-08:00

Just in case any of you are following the Italy Logue as well, you'll probably recognize something I posted here first appearing on the Italy Logue in the next week or so. I've gotten enough comments from people on my "Becoming a Regular" post that I'm going to put it on the Italy Logue as well. I just didn't want any of you to think you were going crazy...

Venice & Turin Photos

2008-03-04T02:20:00.000-08:00

chocolate "sausage" and "eggs"
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

Who said it could be March already? This trip is already feeling almost over - I just didn't realize how quickly six weeks could go by, but when I'm looking at a calendar and already have plans for trips to Rome and Florence coming up (after which I'll only have a week or so left before I fly home), it feels like time is just slipping away from me.

At any rate, Venice was amazing last week - despite the ferocious cold - and I can't stop thinking about that city. I can't quite put my finger on what it is about the place that so captivates me, although I keep trying. If I figure it out, I'll let you know. Until then, if I keep rhapsodizing about it, you'll have to forgive me.

Chris & I went to a dinner on Friday night which was organized partly by our friend Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy. It was a "Girl Geek Dinner," though there were boys in attendance as well (no, Chris didn't have to wear a dress). We were both exhausted from the previous few days - Chris from prepping for and then teaching his second class here in Milan, me from a few whirlwind days in Venice and too-little sleep on Thursday night - so we weren't the social butterflies we might otherwise have been, but it was fun. We then kind of took Saturday off, sleeping in until something like 10:30 and doing not-much all day. We did go to our first Italian soccer game on Saturday night, which was fun - except my favorite guy didn't play (boo-hoo) and the home team just barely tied the game against a team they should have beaten. So, at least for me, I'm not really counting that game as having happened and I'm hoping we get to see another where my guy actually sets foot on the field. (Yes, that's more important than the team actually winning, at least in my book.)

Sunday we got up early-ish and caught the train to Turin (site of the 2006 winter Olympics) where we visited the final day of the Cioccolatò festival. It's a smaller chocolate festival than some others, including the big one in Perugia every October, but it was really fun - and the weather was spectacular. (That's a picture of chocolate "sausages" and chocolate "eggs" at the top of this post.) It was summer-like, and we both walked around in T-shirts, quite comfortably. After breathing in all the chocolate air, we wandered over to the museum of the Shroud of Turin for a tour and then headed back to Milan. It was a lovely day spent wandering around a lovely city. I'd be quite happy to spend more time in Turin, and if Chris found work there that'd be just fine with me.

So - if you check the Flickr set for this trip, you'll see I've added a whole bunch of new pictures, from Venice, the soccer game, and Turin. Chris has a bunch of sticky-notes on the wall next to our dining table/desk with things we want to do while we're here, and we've only completed two of the 12+ items on the list - so if all goes well, you'll have lots more photos to look through very soon.

Hope all's well with all of you!

Becoming a Regular

2008-03-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

venice gondola
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

For some reason, when I travel I like to get it in my head that visiting the same (fill in the blank) twice in one visit makes me a regular. It could be a news stand, cafe, restaurant, clothing shop - whatever. If I go more than once I feel like there's the possibility I'll be recognized by the people working there from my previous visit, thereby making me a regular. It's a silly notion, but I cling to it and it makes me happy. Usually it's nothing more than an illusion, of course.

On this last trip to Venice, however, I think I became something more akin to a regular than I've ever managed to do on any other trips here or anywhere else. I went to the same restaurant two nights in a row, and because I was dining alone on both occasions I ended up chatting amiably both with the fellow running the tiny dining room (along with others who worked there) and some of the other diners. I'd introduced myself on the first night with my business card, and said I was a travel writer (long after I'd already ordered and eaten most of my meal, I should mention), and in so doing found my table crowded with tiny plates of samples of dishes I hadn't ordered. They called me Signorina Jessica all night long, and it was delightful. Was it anything more than them just being stereotypically flirty Italian men? Maybe not. And when you're traveling alone there are times when you just don't care about the "why," as long as someone is keeping you company.

When I went back the second night they recognized me and called me by name, which instantly made me smile. I let Stefano, the maitre-d' of sorts, order for me and didn't even end up reading much of the book I'd brought with me, because not long after I finished my first course, a pair of gentlemen arrived who were friends of the owners (they shouted "Il Sindaco!" - the mayor - when the two walked in, but I don't know which one they were referring to and it was a joke anyway) and were seated beside me. As he seated them, Stefano introduced them to me and told them in Italian to behave themselves (he then leaned in to me and said, in English, "But we can talk about them, because I don't think they speak English."). I chatted with them most of the evening, entirely in Italian, and had a wonderful time. Claudio, Giorgio and I talked about politics (both here in Italy and back in the US), music, travel and, most of all, Italy.

I had arrived on the second night later than on the first, and because things in Venice close up earlier than in most other touristy cities, I was there at 10:30 or 11 when the restaurant staff sat down in the other dining room to eat their dinner. I was there when they pulled down the metal gates outside the windows, and then - because Claudio and Giorgio had given me some of their wine (on top of the wine I'd ordered for myself) as well as a small glass (though not small enough!) of Scotch, and because Stefano had poured me a taste of Sambuca - Stefano offered to walk me back to my hotel so that I wouldn't fall into a canal.

The fog, which had finally broken a bit in the late afternoon to let a few rays of sunlight dance on the water, had rushed back in with the night and was clinging to everything and everyone. Stefano, a native Venetian, took me a different way back to my hotel by way of St. Mark's Square - and the fog was so thick that standing in front of the Basilica di San Marco it was impossible to see either the church's incredible onion domes or the top of the adjacent bell tower. The piazza and the streets were all but empty, and the city was - if this is even possible - even more hauntingly beautiful than it usually is. I think I fell in love with Venice a little more at that very moment, something I also didn't think was possible.

I couldn't linger, though, because I was exhausted and absolutely freezing, so Stefano walked me to my hotel's door and gave me a kiss on each cheek. I promised him I'd come back to the restaurant the next time I was in Venice, but there's just no telling when that'll be. Honestly, I'm not sure it even matters, though, because now I'm a regular.

Cold in Venice

2008-03-01T02:03:00.000-08:00

I wrote this while in Venice earlier this week, though I've now returned to Milan:

When I left Milan on Tuesday morning, it was the same weather we've been having for a week now - chilly in the shade, but in the sun it'd be downright pleasant. I went out without a coat the other day, in fact, and wasn't cold. It's pretty cold at night, of course, but during the day it's really nice to be outside. I had checked the weather reports for Venice before I left, and although the temperatures were a little bit lower, when I packed my bag I didn't factor in one important thing: the fog.

It's friggin' cold here, folks.

The famous Milan fog hasn't really hung around much since we arrived, but it was pretty foggy this morning when I left. And as the train rolled toward Venice the fog never seemed to lift. Then, as the train turned from Venice's mainland station to make the trip across the water to the station on the island itself, the fog actually seemed to get thicker. As soon as I got off the train in my rain jacket I wished I'd brought my down coat - even though it's supposed to rain here for two of the three days I'm here. (Yes, it's actually supposed to get more damp and cold.)

Now, it's February, so I didn't expect warm temperatures. But I didn't expect it to be quite this cold, and the kind of cold that goes straight to your bones. Venice isn't a museum city as far as I'm concerned, because the best thing to do here is just to wander and get lost in the alleyways, but I might seek out a few museums anyway...

Another thing I didn't expect at this time of year is the number of tourists. It's far less than there are in the summer, but the line to get onto the main tourist line bus/boat was long, and my boat was full nearly the whole trip. Piazza San Marco was crowded when I arrived, although as I walked back to my hotel for the last time that night around 7:45pm the piazza had almost entirely cleared out. It was gorgeous in the fog, but I didn't linger.

Seriously, my teeth were chattering.

We'll see what happens - I may have to buy myself a sweater, gloves and a hat. Or I'll just have to duck into lots of museums and cafes. Neither one sounds too terribly bad, now that I think about it.

More about my 3.5 days in Venice later, along with photos!

Trip Photos (So Far)

2008-02-24T09:56:00.001-08:00

our doorbell in milan
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

That's a picture of our doorbell here in Milan, and you can see the pictures I've taken so far (well, some of them, anyway) - including pictures of our apartment - in this new set on Flickr. I'll keep adding to that set as I go, too.

Chris and I went to the Pinacoteca Brera today, an art museum in central Milan. It was fairly interesting, even despite there being no descriptions written in English anywhere (we could have rented an audio guide, but we opted not to - it was fine, because we could read most of what we wanted on the Italian descriptions, but I felt badly for other visitors who don't speak the language).

We also found a pasticceria close to our apartment which is too expensive to visit often, but the proprietors were so incredibly nice that we'll have to make a point to go back anyway. The woman running the place came out to invite us inside when we were looking at the window display, and Chris made friends with her instantly by kissing her cheeks when she asked if he was a native Italian (he was speaking Italian and said we were from America, but she thought we must have been Italian originally because he was speaking Italian). It was incredibly sweet, and it's just that kind of thing that makes me smile here.

All Moved In

2008-02-23T10:40:00.001-08:00

We moved into the apartment today, and it's really cute. Just like in the photos. I took a few pictures inside, and will take some of the exterior as well. I'll let you know when they're posted. We're both tired after a few busy and intense days, but we're going to head out shortly for something to eat. We did go grocery shopping earlier, but we don't really have the energy to cook anything tonight... Tomorrow, yes. And then for the next five and a half weeks, often. Tonight, we'll let someone else do the cooking.

Eagles Breakfast Soundtrack, and Other Milano Notes

2008-02-22T06:13:00.000-08:00

Just a couple more notes from our trip thus far:

* The hotel we're in (until tomorrow, when we can finally get into the apartment - YAY!) is one of those that offers breakfast included with your stay. It's the standard breakfast bar you find in these places - cereals, juices, some tired-looking pastries and a few trays of sliced meat and cheese. This breakfast room, however, offers something different - an Eagles Greatest Hits soundtrack on a constant loop. The last three days we've gone in there, it's been the same thing. We can't figure out if it's someone's new favorite CD, if they are forced to play it or if the CD is stuck in the machine. Either way, it's kind of funny. I might actually miss the Eagles breakfast soundtrack in a few days. Or not.

* I've had a couple espresso drinks in the last two days, with no ill effects! As some of you know, coffee tends to do a number on my gastro-intestinal system, so that the after-meal coffee or breakfast coffee that's so typical in Italy has always been something I can't partake in. Which is kind of a bummer. The last two days, though, I've been feeling reckless (or stupid, I dunno), and have had two coffees - espresso normale both times, which is just a straight shot of espresso in a tiny little cup - with no sudden need to spend hours in the loo. That, my friends, makes me feel like Italy and I are becoming even better friends, and that makes me quite happy. (And I hope I haven't just jinxed myself.)

* We just came back from wandering through the Navigli neighborhood in the southwestern part of Milan, and on the tram ride back we passed a pet store - it's only about 4 blocks from the hotel, so I may try to buzz over there this afternoon while Chris is out at meetings. I just want to get a look at the kinds of things that are in pet stores here as opposed to at home - I know one expat blogger whose cats hate Italian cat treats, so her mother sends American cat treats to her "grand-cats" every so often. I know both my mom and my mother-in-law would probably be happy to do that, but it'd be nice if our cats actually liked what was on offer here, too. I'm going to bring home some cat treats so they can try them, but might not buy anything just yet.

* I got a note from the guy in Venice who is helping out with my accommodations for my travels, and he sent me a link to the place he's putting me up in Venice. It's about 100 meters from Piazza San Marco. I'm already giddy about it.

* Oh, and yesterday afternoon I met up with my friend Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and she told me what the Italian word for flatiron is (piastra, for anyone who's wondering) and sent me to the beauty supply store where she bought hers. So I'm now the proud owner of a Jaguar flatiron which works a treat. I've still got my American one and will try to resurrect it when I get home, but for now, it's getting its own kind of vacation.

What's the Italian word for flatiron?

2008-02-21T04:05:00.001-08:00

Well, I just had my first mishap which will necessitate delving into a new-to-me part of Italian life. I think I just fried my flatiron.

And before you scoff, yes - I was using a power adapter/converter. The same one I've used for every other electrical device I've used in Italy (including my computer, right now). But apparently that wasn't enough for the flatiron, which, immediately upon being plugged in, started spewing smoke. I unplugged it again immediately (so it couldn't have been plugged in for more than 3-4 seconds), but now it won't even turn on when I try plugging it into different converter/adapter sets I have here. Hmm... I'll need to figure out (a) what the Italian word for flatiron is, and (b) where on earth they sell them around here.

Anyway, a brief recap of the trip so far:
* I discovered I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the nonstop service from Portland to Europe. I love it in principle, but in practice it depends almost entirely on who you are seated beside whether it's a brilliant thing or an exercise in torture. Okay, so my experience wasn't so bad as to call it torture, but the folks seated near me did make it nigh to impossible to get a wink of sleep - so I didn't sleep at all on the flight. I got here on Tuesday a completely foggy wreck.
* I had planned to get from the airport to the hotel the super-cheap way, i.e. on public transportation. Again, fantastic in principle, but the result is that I ended up lugging my two heavy bags up and down too many flights of stairs on the Milan Metro and today, two days later, my arms and shoulder are still very sore. I've also found bruises where I didn't know I had places. It'll heal, but it just helps to confirm what I've now come to believe, that...
* I'm not a good traveler. That's not to say that I don't do it relatively well, or accomplish what I need/want to, or whatever. It's just to say that while I love being in other places immensely, I've gotten to the point that I no longer like the traveling part - I don't like the getting there. I'm okay with long car rides, but somehow a full day (or more) of being in planes and/or airports really sucks the life out of me. Ah, well. I'm here now, and no more airports in sight for at least 5.5 weeks!

I did end up getting help with my bags from a completely unlikely source (see the Italy Logue for that story), and in the end that episode made my day completely. I still grin when I think about it. And I just heard from a friend that the chocolate festival in Turin is this weekend, which would be pretty fun - we'll see if that works out.

So, I'm tired and my body's aching, but I'm here - and now I need to find an Italian flatiron.

Counting Down

2008-02-16T09:04:00.001-08:00

Today has been set aside for chores and errands, so there's laundry already in the washing machine and a list of other stuff to accomplish before day's end. Then tomorrow should be all about packing. I slept horribly last night, kept waking up during the night and woke up this morning with a headache. Not a good way to start any day, but today it almost seems like a test... Can she do it? Can she get it all done while combating a headache? The universe may be strong, but I've got Excedrin. I'll show it.

I sent off a bunch of emails yesterday to the tourist offices in the cities I'm hoping to visit in Italy, asking for assistance with my research trip. I'm not used to asking for stuff and using the words "travel writer" much yet, but I guess with an email the worst they can do is say no. What I'd really love is a guide in each city to help me find the best of each place without having to search too much on my own. Not that I don't like that kind of searching, of course - I love the aimless wandering part, snapping photos and stumbling upon glorious things... But this time I feel like I've got a to-do list that doesn't allow for much wandering time. A guide would be most helpful. We'll see.

So, back to my chores, and back to my headache. In a couple days, all I'll need to think about is how to occupy myself for nine hours on the flight from Portland to Frankfurt.

T Minus Six Days

2008-02-11T19:32:00.001-08:00

The memorial on Saturday went really well; I was pleased with it, and I'm also glad it's done. Now I can start stressing out - I mean thinking about - the Italy trip. I plotted out a rough itinerary today of how I'll spend the six weeks, and it now feels like it's a pathetically short trip. I'm wanting to hit several of the "big" cities in Italy for research purposes, but it means being away from our home base in Milan roughly half the time. Which still means about three weeks in Milan, but it'll end up being a few days here and a few days there rather than three solid weeks. I'm preparing for this to be the opposite of a relaxing trip.

Still, I'm not complaining - it's six friggin' weeks in Italy, forgodsakes. And, if things go according to plan [editor's note - when do things ever go according to plan?!?] I'll be able to re-visit some cities I've seen and loved before and also add a few new ones to the mix. I'm excited about both prospects.

It's funny, because I have a fondness for Rome just based on writing and reading about it, but my actual trip there in 2001 wasn't particularly wonderful. It was toward the end of the whole vacation, I was tired, and after the relative calm of Florence, Rome was a bit of a shock to the system. I'm looking forward to seeing it again with different eyes. Other places I'm hoping to see include Florence and Siena (both of which I know and love), and Lucca and Assisi (neither of which I've ever been to). I've got a day set aside to visit Pompeii and Herculaneum, too, so I'm crossing my fingers that works out. Really, I go back and forth between being giddy with anticipation and feeling bogged down by all there is to do on this trip. But in the end, I'll do what I can, and I won't knock myself out over it. Worst case scenario is that I need another trip. Poor me.

I'm planning to keep up with this blog during the trip, however sporadically, as well as the Italy Logue (link in the upper right hand corner, too) - the latter will get more attention, because this is a work trip and that's what they're sending me over there to do, but I imagine I'll pop in here now and again as well.

So, the countdown begins - six days until departure. Egads.

Memorial Gathering & Apartment Hunting

2008-02-07T12:29:00.001-08:00

So, this Saturday is the 2nd memorial gathering for my dad, and there are people coming in from out of town starting tonight. I'm looking forward to seeing them, and I think the whole thing will end up being kind of cathartic - hearing the stories, seeing all the pictures, etc. I spent several hours over the weekend scanning photos of Dad into my computer for a slideshow, and while I thought it would be really depressing to go through all those pictures, they mostly made me smile. It's nice to be able to look at those pictures and remember the good things instead of just thinking about the end of his life. I'm sure I'll still have moments where I cry "for no reason," but it's nice to be able to look at those old pictures and just smile already.

In other news, Chris is still on the hunt for an apartment for us to call home during our time in Milan. One great prospect found on the Milan craigslist (yes, there is one) fell through, which was pretty disappointing, but I think we still have several great options. They cost quite a bit more than the one we were hoping to get, but it's just money, right? Even the more expensive apartments are loads cheaper than a hotel, so that's a plus. It's kind of fun to look at the photos of the different apartments and imagine living there, even for a short time. We should be able to secure something in the next few days at least, which will check one more (major) thing off the to-do list. My biggest worry now remains the whole packing thing - I'm not generally known for my ability to pack light, and that's even on two-week trips. I think about our six-week trip and my back already hurts from the heavy bags. Here's hoping I can make great strides towards becoming a light packer in the next 10 days.

Proud to Be a Democrat

2008-02-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

I wasn't watching the Democratic debate last night, because I was at my Italian conversation group, but as Chris & I were watching some of the "highlights" on CNN (what is politics, a sporting event now?) I couldn't help but think, "I'm so proud to be a Democrat right now."

Yes, I'm sick of the debates - I haven't watched a single one of the 7,349 debates in its entirety, and I'm still sick of them. But even catching some of the images of the two final candidates for the Democratic nomination on the screen, you can't help but notice that no matter who's on top of the ticket, the Democrats are making history this year. And I happen to feel very confident that a Democrat is going to end up in the White House, and we'll be making history in an even bigger way if that happens. There's something really moving about looking at a woman and a black man on a stage, both vying for the chance to be President of the United States, and both Democrats. Especially when you look at the Republican party which has, yet again, a slate of white men from which to choose. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see which party is really about change.

Given the fact that I'm pretty optimistic about the Democratic party's chances this year, I also started thinking about something else - that we're actively trying to move away from this country this year. The last time I voted for someone to oust a Bush from the White House, I was studying abroad in the U.K., and had to vote by absentee ballot. So, maybe - who knows? - I'll be voting for the next post-Bush President with an absentee ballot from across an ocean.

In a way, if a Democrat wins the election, it's going to make leaving the U.S. a little harder. Of course, it'll also make it much easier to be an American abroad - there would be no more need to tell people, "I didn't vote for him."

So, yes. I'm feeling very proud to be a Democrat these days.

Something to Look Forward To

2008-01-29T12:31:00.000-08:00

In my last post, I mentioned a couple of things that I had to look forward to, so I wanted to mention them now. One of them is the memorial gathering my brothers and I are planning for my dad, and while you might think that'd be a somber occasion, it probably won't be so much. My dad's sense of humor was his biggest personality trait, so we're all looking forward to people coming and telling jokes and stories about him. Plus, we're holding it in a Chinese restaurant in honor of my dad's saying that "Jews can't eat pork, unless it's in Chinese food." He'd have loved this, so rather than being a sad thing I feel like it's going to be really wonderful. There will be tears, yes, but for the most part I think we'll be laughing through them.

The other thing that Chris & I both have to look forward to is our upcoming return trip to Italy. Yes, we're going back - and this time we're staying for six whole weeks. Chris will be teaching two one-day sessions (with the possibility of a third) at a business school in Milan as well as having meetings with headhunters and such. He was just planning to go on his own, but then I got an offer I couldn't refuse from my company - they're helping me to get over there and to get around, and in return I'll help flesh out the Italy section of the website with photos, videos and content for which I'll be doing loads of research during the trip. It's a test run in several senses. Chris & I will get to test what it's like to live in Milan for an extended period of time, I'll get to test what it's like to work for a US-based company from the other side of the world, and my bosses will get to test what it's like to have me working so far away. So yes, it's a test. But a damned fine kind of test. See what I mean about an offer I couldn't refuse?

Of course, there are a million things to be done before we can leave, not least of which is finding a place to live. Rather than stay in a hotel for six weeks, which would cost an arm and a leg even in the off-season, we're looking for a furnished short-term apartment rental. The good news is that those are a dime a dozen (not in terms of being that cheap, mind you, but in terms of being seemingly all over the place). The bad news is that one thing we absolutely must have in our apartment is making the available pool of flats a little smaller - we must have internet. We both have to be able to work, and this is one of the conditions my company has said is imperative for them to be supporting this test. So, we're looking for the perfect apartment that has internet already hooked up. We're hoping that our saving grace is that Milan is such a business-oriented city, with so many business travelers coming in for extended periods of time, that finding such a rental won't be impossible.

Then, after we get a home base in Milan settled, I've got to figure out what things/places in Italy I want to see during my six weeks and then plan how best to see them all. I realize this is hardly something to complain about, and I'm not, but it is another thing on the "to do" list. And the amount of time we have "to do" all the things on that list gets shorter as the list gets longer. Any minute now, I expect to adopt that pre-trip mentality I usually do - that the truly things will get done before we leave, and the things that don't get done must not have been that important. But I haven't gotten to that point yet. At the moment, I'm still feeling a little inner panic about the whole thing.

But enough about the panic part. Let's just focus on the part about me having stuff to look forward to, because that's what I need right now. So - I have a six-week trip to Italy, a country I love dearly, coming up. And that's enough wonderfulness for me right now.

One Month Ago Today

2008-01-21T10:50:00.000-08:00

My father died one month ago today. His death wasn't unexpected, as you may remember he'd been battling cancer for some time, but the speed with which the cancer spread in the last months of his life was much faster than most of us thought it would be. When he was given a terminal diagnosis back in early October, the doctors then said he'd have between six and eight months. He died roughly two and a half months after they told him that.

It's been, needless to say, a tough month. The holidays came and went, and they sucked. I've been mostly reclusive since Dad died, because social situations aren't easy. I feel like I'm either put in the position of having to explain everything over and over again, or pretend like I'm fine and nothing happened. And I'm not able to do either one. So, I've just been avoiding people for the most part. I'm just starting to break out of that pattern, but I can tell it's just going to take some time.

Just before my dad died, a friend told me that the whole five stages of grief thing, the one we've all become accustomed to over the years, has recently been called into question. That while those five stages are generally common to all grief processes, going smartly from stage one into stage two into stage three, and so on, isn't usually how it goes. People move fluidly between the stages, and not always in numerical order. And they also move back and forth, so "progress" isn't always in one direction, either. In my experience with my father's illness and his dying process, I can verify that while those stages of grief look good on paper, the whole thing feels very muddy in real life.

There were tiny bits of silver lining that came with my father's death, thankfully. For one, Chris and I were scheduled to leave for the holidays on the 22nd of December, but we weren't yet in transit or on the other side of the country when we got the call that he'd gone into the hospital. We were able to cancel our travel plans, drop everything else and be in the hospital for two days. I shudder to think of the panic I might have felt if I were 3,000 miles away and unable to get back in time.

Related to that, I'm also incredibly thankful that my brothers were also able to drop everything and be there. My father died surrounded by his three children, his "favorite" son-in-law (that's what he always called Chris), and his wife. And as devastating as it is to lose a parent, I'm so proud of all of us that we were able to be there for him. My father, always the teacher, was giving us all life lessons up to and beyond the moment he died.

My brothers and I are planning a memorial gathering for Dad in early February, and as an homage to one of my father's humorous quips we're having it in a Chinese restaurant. See, he was a cultural Jew, even if he was an avowed atheist from adolescence onward, and he had a saying - "Jews can't eat pork. Unless it's in Chinese food." He loved his Chinese food with pork, so we're going to eat it in his honor. We'll be surrounded by people who knew and loved Dad, and who will have funny and wonderful stories to share. And, I'm finding, it's nice to have that to look forward to.

I have some other future-oriented good news which also makes "looking forward to" something easier, but I'll save that for another post. For now, I just wanted to take this moment to remember my father, who died one month ago today.

Happy Holidays

2007-12-20T18:01:00.000-08:00

Chris and I are leaving on Saturday to spend a few days with his family, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy holiday. Knowing my inability to write regularly on this blog anymore, it'll be awhile before I'm back and posting again, so I hope you'll bear with me. This has been a trying year, to say the least, and my stamina ain't what it should be. You'll forgive me if the blog isn't the first thing on my mind...

At any rate, I do want to wish you all a safe and happy holidays, and hope that 2008 rings in a good new year for you.

A presto!

Dreaming in Italian

2007-12-17T11:57:00.001-08:00

They say that when it comes to learning a new language, you know you've achieved a certain level of fluency when you start dreaming in that language. For me, however, with the process of learning Italian, I don't think that's actually been true. After years of studying Italian, I've had a few dreams in which I'm speaking Italian (generally to native Italians), but my language abilities in my dreams are no better than my actual abilities in real life. In other words, my dreams are apparently confirming that I'm no more fluent than I think I am!

When I told Chris this, he said, "Well, are the people you're talking to talking back to you in fluent Italian? Because if they are, that's really your brain doing the talking." But what's funny is that the people I'm talking to aren't speaking fluent Italian. The conversations I have in Italian in my dreams are precisely the way my real-life Italian conversations sound - I'm able to converse pretty well, sometimes reaching for words or asking for words, and the people I'm talking to speak relatively slowly so that I understand them and they don't use complicated language or words I don't understand.

I had another one of these Italian dreams last night, and once again it confirmed that I'm not hiding any innate ability to speak Italian in my subconscious. My conscious mind is getting about as much Italian as my subconscious, so at least they're on the same level. Dreams are hard enough to interpret as it is - I'd have a real problem if I were speaking another language in them and wasn't able to translate.

Becoming Part of the Crackberry Nation

2007-12-16T18:19:00.000-08:00

I did it this past week - I got myself a Blackberry. I was due for a contract renewal on my cell phone, and I'd been wanting to combine at least two of the electronic gadgets I carry around all the time - my phone and my calendar/address book. And after hearing about my options, the Blackberry made the most sense. The first few days with it were frustrating as hell, but once I figured out how to stop the things that were annoying it's been a piece of cake.

I remember hearing stories on the radio about people who were so attached to their "Crackberry" that their families had to do an intervention of sorts to get them to reconnect on a personal level with their own children. After less than a week with mine, I can see how that could happen. Not that I feel like I'm in danger of becoming one of those people, mind you, but if my job were in a a high-pressure field and my email account came through my phone I'd never leave work at work. Of course, one wonders if those people are the same ones who, before the Blackberry, stayed at work until the wee hours and still never saw their kids.

New toys are always fun when they're new. The phone I just upgraded from was a great little gadget when I first got it two years ago. We'll see how long it takes me to grow accustomed to the Blackberry.

Bad Blogger

2007-12-11T14:23:00.001-08:00

I know, I know. It's been ages. And I'm only posting now because I know I "should," although I can't think of anything to say... Chris and I both were horribly sick with some kind of nasty flu right after Thanksgiving, and I've had a head cold just about since I recovered from that flu thing, so I've been going to bed early most nights and feeling icky. My company party was the first weekend in December, and I had a great time - even if I was still a little under the weather. It was great to see so many friends from last year's party, and meet so many new people as well. A few people are already planning the next "meetup" in San Francisco in late January, and I'm so tempted to go... If lack of money wasn't getting in my way I probably would. I'm slacking big-time on my holiday newsletter this year, and I'll be lucky if it gets out by early February at this rate. Maybe I'll call it my birthday letter...

Anyway, there's plenty going on, just nothing terribly interesting, as you can tell! I hope all's well with all of you, and that you've managed to stay healthy.

Pictures of Milan, part 2

2007-11-22T14:08:00.001-08:00

I'm back from Milan, and I think I'm mostly over the jetlag. It was bad for a couple of days (after nearly 23 hours in transit on Sunday, which I don't wish on anyone), but I finally started sleeping until the alarm again. Just in time for a four-day weekend!

Anyway, I've got my pictures from the Milan trip up on Flickr, so you can hop on over there to take a peek at them. The ones highlighted here are just a sample, of course, but include two things which seemed very Milan to me - coffee and fashion. The lady in red is a model who was being photographed just outside the Duomo one day, so I figured I'd snap a few pictures as well. I loved that most of the Milanese didn't even seem to notice her. There are more photos of fashionable shoppers, as well as the beautiful cathedral and a few Italian cars, in my Milan Flickr set, so go check it out.

Chris and I really liked Milan, and now the task at hand is to cultivate the relationships we started with our networking meetings. Chris in particular was a busy networker, although I met a couple of expat bloggers as well. Overall, we're very pleased with how the trip went, though time will tell if it was truly "successful" or not.

For the next few days, however, we're all about the food! We get two Thanksgivings this year - one today and another on Saturday - so we're going to make the most of the weekend. I hope everyone is having a happy and safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Pictures of Milan

2007-11-15T09:48:00.001-08:00

So far, Milan is great - we've got a couple more days, and Chris' meetings are done so we're going to see more of the city now. I did spend an hour yesterday walking around and taking photos on the roof of the Duomo, and there are some other pictures on Flickr now, too. I even caught a bit of a fashion photo shoot just off Duomo Square!

A Few Words About My Father

2007-11-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

As you may remember, my dad was diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year. We all thought he'd successfully beaten it, until last month when the mass in his throat (which the doctors had previously thought was scar tissue from the radiation treatments) was biopsied and they found the cancer had returned. And this time, it's on the offensive. The doctors say the cancer has spread to his lungs, lymph nodes and bones, and they've said there's nothing they can do except palliative care.

I don't care who you are, or how comfortable you think you are with the concept of dying, this kind of news isn't going to be easy to take. My dad is dealing with it like a champ, having said that he rolled a Porsche in 1959 and "every day since then has been gravy." Yes, he's feeling some discomfort and sadness, and he's reacting heroically to the situation as far as I'm concerned. (And if you think I'm biased, or that I'm Daddy's Girl, you're right on both counts and I don't care.)

Dad had been neglecting his blog, but he's started it up again and is chronicling his journey. For me, it's incredibly helpful to stay updated this way because talking is difficult for him and the blog allows him to communicate with everyone without getting on the phone. Plus, he's able to say things that might be tough to say in person. Which means when I talk to him I already know all of what's going on and I don't have to ask a bunch of annoying questions. I can just tell him I love him and we can talk about whatever the hell we want to.

Go over and have a peek at my dad's blog - the first cancer-related post is here, and you can navigate through the archives (October and November 2007 are the cancer-related ones so far) under the "Archives" links on the right-hand column. And if you've got some spare kind thoughts floating around, send 'em his way. Being a staunch atheist, he's not so keen on people praying for him - so if that's the way you operate, just don't tell him that's what you're doing. :)

I've heard the debate so many times about, "Would you rather death be sudden, or would you rather know in advance when you were going to die?" And I've even engaged in the debate. But the truth, which hit me when I first heard about Dad's most recent diagnosis, is that it doesn't matter one iota which you'd prefer. Because you don't get a choice in the matter. You get handed what you get handed and you have to deal with it the best way you know how.

I may update y'all on Dad's situation now and again, but if you're interested in following what's going on with him I'd recommend that you check in with his blog.

When a Vacation Isn't Quite a Vacation

2007-11-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

Chris leaves for Milan on Wednesday, and I'll follow on Saturday. Once I arrive, we'll have about a week in the city. We'll do some fun things, to be sure, but this isn't exactly your typical Italian vacation. Instead, Chris has informational/job interviews lined up and I'll be meeting some of the expat bloggers I've been reading for nearly a year now. The goal? To find a way to move to Italy.

We know it's not going to be easy, and we aren't expecting someone to offer Chris a job next week, but if he's able to make some good contacts and do some networking he'll be ready when the right job comes along. And that's exciting. And seriously terrifying.

Anyway, I'll be taking lots of pictures (as usual), and will post them on Flickr so y'all can see them. In the meantime, if anyone out there has a contact in Italy who might be interested in hiring a public relations professional, we'd love to hear about it.

Wish us luck, y'all.

What's a Soulterrain?

2007-10-30T11:43:00.001-07:00

In the course of my research today, I'm reading about Hungary, and I'm still finding entertaining tidbits. For example, you know you're reading a computer-generated translation when you read something like this:

"This modern furnished, two-story terraced house has a beautiful, calm situation. Common, enclosed garden with UBS103. The landlord lives in the Souterrain."

Luckily, this description was followed by a note indicating that "this description was computer translated to English." Well, that's good, because I was beginning to wonder what on earth "Soulterrain" means in Hungarian. Sounds like a good band name, though, yes?

Poland, the Natural Choice

2007-10-18T11:10:00.001-07:00

In doing research for something I'm writing for work, I found Poland's official tourism website, on which I found what appears to be their official tourism slogan:

Poland, the natural choice

Of course, all I can think of is that it sounds like a fiber supplement: "Visit Poland. It'll keep you regular."

Tempis Fugit

2007-10-16T13:11:00.000-07:00

We've barely hit the halfway point for October and already November is half-gone. And this year has been so topsy turvy that while I'm not sad to see it drawing to a close, I'm kind of annoyed at it for giving me such stress. So far, I'm not a huge fan of 2007 - and it doesn't have much time left to make me a convert, either.

Bub's doing well with his chemo appointments still, which is excellent, although he's looking a tad mangy in places because of the fur he's lost. But he's happy and energetic, and his weight is stable, so we're thankful for that. He's on an every-other-week schedule right now, and after a few more weeks will be on an every-third-week schedule. If all goes well, that'll last through March or so next year and then he'll be done with chemo. We'll probably keep taking him in for monthly vet visits to make sure the cancer isn't coming back, but I'm hoping that break from chemo will give him a chance to put more weight on and regrow some of his fur. He's turned into quite a little beggar now, too, in that he gets people food so much he thinks he can just grab for it right off our plates now. That's mostly funny when it's just us, but when we have guests we have to keep a closer eye on him.

My annual year-end meeting is coming up at work, so I've got a few days of all-day meetings scheduled in the next couple of weeks. Last year's was exhausting and energizing, so I'm expecting more of the same this year. It's great to be able to sit down with colleagues who I don't chat with often and socialize as well as brainstorm with them. I work with a great group of people, even if all we do is hunker down over our computers all day and not say more than five words to each other... In our "off" hours, we're very talkative, really. (Well, at least I am.)

Chris and I will be taking a quick trip to Milan next month, although it's decidedly not a vacation. He'll be in meeting after meeting (some set up through the employment agency he's working with, others he's setting up on his own via networking avenues) and I'll be hunkered down with whatever free WiFi I can find to get some work done. We will make time to see some of the sights, of course, but this is mainly a trip devoted to figuring out whether Milan is a place we could see ourselves living in. It's exciting to have this trip in the works, especially when we didn't think we'd be going overseas this year at all, although it's probably not the most financially prudent thing we've ever done! We're hoping it'll pay off in the networking department, and that it'll be a good learning process for us both.

Anyway, there's just a lot going on right now - some of it good, some of it bad - and I'm having trouble keeping up.

Leaving on a jet plane...

2007-10-02T18:25:00.001-07:00

No, not me. Unfortunately. My mother and youngest brother just got on a plane this morning headed for China. By the end of their travel day, which will actually be something like four days, they'll be in Nepal. They'll be in Nepal, Tibet and China for the next month or so. I can't wait to hear all about it when they get back!

I think I need another tattoo.

2007-09-23T10:08:00.001-07:00

I'll admit that part of my "need" has to do with having watched a couple of different tattoo programs on TV. Every time I see "Miami Ink" or "LA Ink" I decide that I must add to my tattoo collection, but usually I don't think any more about it than that. Today, however, I've just spent the last half-hour checking out the online portfolios of some of the artists working in Portland. We'll see how long it takes me to take the next step.

I have a couple different designs in mind - one to continue from the tattoo I currently have, and another on the opposite arm. My only tattoo so far, a bright sun-face on my right shoulder, needs company, I think. And I kind of see an earth and moon there, too, going further down my arm toward my elbow. Of course, then my left arm will feel terribly left out, so I've got to do something over there, too. And for some reason I've been drawn to these kind of organic plant shapes lately - the kind that are in the corners of the website for Sundance's The Green show - but I'm not sure how that'd translate onto a tattoo. At any rate, I've just come to the conclusion that my arms are too bare, and I need some more color. It's fun to finally be doing more than just saying I want more tattoos, especially since the one I have is more than 10 years old now! Yes, it's time.

If anyone has an artist recommendation here in Portland, I'm all ears.

Wow, two weeks just flies by around here...

2007-09-19T18:54:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last entry; I won't bore you with the details, let's just say this year continues to be less than stellar for me and my family. Plus, I've just been busy, too - not much of an excuse, I realize, but it's all I've got. You have my humblest apologies.

This past weekend we had a visit from my aunt and uncle from Zurich, which was fun. The last few years we've missed them when they've come through town, as we've been in Europe when they've been here. So it was nice to actually cross paths on the same continent for the first time in years. In other news, it's starting to feel like autumn around here, with the nights and mornings being awfully chilly and the days being either beautifully sunny or drizzly. I love this time of year, though, so I'm not complaining.

I hope all's well where you are, and I also hope to resume a slower pace here soon so that I can get back to semi-regular postings.

Recent Outings

2007-09-05T18:36:00.001-07:00

Chris and I have made a few local-ish trips lately, and the photos are kind of piling up. I've got pictures from our trip to Maryhill, Washington (including the ever-so-fab Stonehenge up there) and to Mt. Angel Abbey in Oregon, as well as a few from the vintage car race here in Portland and our few days at my mom's house. Eventually I plan to post the highlights here, but with time being the way it is lately (who in the hell gave September permission to come along this early?!?!?), there's just no telling when I'll get around to it.

Going to See Barack

2007-08-30T14:00:00.001-07:00

At dinner last night with some friends, we found out that Barack Obama is going to be here in Portland on September 7th. So, like the Barack groupies we're becoming, we bought tickets to see him first thing this morning. I'm not planning to scream or cry like he's a member of the Beatles, or anything, but I really like this guy - and it's exciting to be able to see him speak. I've not seen very many politicians in personal appearances in the past, although I did see Al Gore on his presidential campaign - and he was fantastic. I don't know what to expect from Barack, but if he's even half as charismatic in person as he is on TV, it's going to be a pretty cool event.

I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

2007-08-24T15:51:00.001-07:00

After spending a few days at my mom's house in the mountains, I'm exhausted. Partly it's because I didn't sleep very well down there, but I don't know what explains the rest of it. All I know is that after a whole day back at work yesterday I was completely knackered and had a pounding headache. Is a few days away from staring at a computer screen really all it takes for my eyes to not be used to that anymore? I slept like a rock last night, and am feeling much better today, but am still expecting to take it easy this weekend and get really caught up.

Have you seen my fish?

2007-08-23T18:06:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen the cute fish animation I added on the right hand column of the blog, scroll down a bit and you'll find them. They'll follow your cursor around if you hold it over the white box (their "tank," I imagine), and if you click in that box you can deliver "food" to them which they will then eat. Is it silly? Of course. But it provided me with a few minutes of fun one day, so I figured it could possibly do the same for someone else as well. It's kind of meditative...

Coming Home to Freshly Baked Fig Newtons

2007-08-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Well, perhaps not the kind of figgy cookies you might be familiar with, but still - they were the homemade version. When I walked in the door, the house smelled like baking. That's always a good sign in my world. Turns out Chris had located some fresh and beautiful Adriatic figs at a nearby market and had made some cookies with them. Thankfully, he saved a few for eating. They're decadent. Cutting into the bright green flesh, you're rewarded with a glistening ruby center that's gooey and just waiting to be eaten. I've missed those figs ever since we had them for breakfast every morning in Croatia last year - so it was a real treat to find them in my kitchen when I got home from work today.

Sad Laptop Becomes Happy Laptop

2007-08-09T10:32:00.001-07:00

Sad Laptop
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

Remember back when I wasn't sure my laptop was going to live? Well, when it was disassembled* I snapped a few pictures for posterity. I figured if it came back to life I'd post it here on the blog, and if it didn't, well, I'd probably delete the pictures...

Anyway, this picture shows the laptop air-drying on the dining room table, with as many pieces as I could remove from it lying on the newspaper around it. For another angle, see this photo.

And to celebrate the rebirth of my dear, sweet laptop companion, I finally got around to ordering the laptop skin that Chris had promised to get me for my birthday (yes, the one I had back in February). It looks so very, very cool, I just want to go somewhere and use my laptop so people can see it.

* Am I the only one who thinks of the movie "Short Circuit" every time I hear the word "disassemble"?

How does one go about downloading Italian songs when one doesn't live in Italy?

2007-08-08T18:38:00.001-07:00

So, I've run into a bit of a brick wall with my friends (okay, they're not really my friends) at iTunes, so I'm hoping that one of you tech-savvy people out there can help me figure out a way around this.

See, I've been listening to Radio Italia online for some time now, and recently have heard several songs that I'd like to download. When I went to iTunes and looked for them, I wasn't surprised when they weren't in the catalog. I was able to find them, however, if I switched to the iTunes Italia store. Everything I wanted was there - it was like Christmas and my birthday all rolled into one, and I was feeling quite giddy and pleased with myself. Until, that is, I tried to actually purchase the first song. As soon as I put in my password I was redirected back to the good ole iTunes USA store, where (as mentioned) nothing I wanted could be found.

I contacted iTunes to ask why I couldn't download something from the Italia store. It makes no sense to me why this should be an issue - I'm willing to pay for the songs (more, in fact, than the US rate, as the prices there are in Euros), and it seems iTunes has them in some online catalog somewhere. Why should it matter where I live? Oh, but it does, the iTunes person tells me. He doesn't say why, only that I can't do what I want to do and I should request that what I want to download be added to the US store. Yeah, I'm not sure they'd work too quickly on my "everything in the iTunes Italia store" request, do you?

I asked my local Italian community for help, and got pointed to this site - again, looks promising, no? I found many (not all) of the songs I wanted to download, but in order to register I need to live in Italy. Or at least know more about the post codes which are associated with certain towns and regions than I currently do in order to fill out the registration form. I sent them an email a couple weeks ago - in Italian - asking how I might register because I really want to send them money and buy songs from their website, but I haven't heard bupkis from them.

So, I turn now to you. Anyone have any brilliant ideas for me? I'm thinking I'd like to avoid P2P systems, as I don't particularly relish the idea of the RIAA knocking down my door and swiping my laptop (or any nasty bugs which might come from the P2P stuff), and am perfectly willing (happy, in fact!) to pay for the songs. I await your brilliant suggestions, and thank you in advance.

Willamette River Cruise

2007-07-31T10:16:00.000-07:00

Blues Festival
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

Way back at the beginning of July, Chris' friend Ken invited a small group of people out on his boat on a beautifully sunny Saturday. Naturally, I took my camera along and I snapped pictures during the entire trip. Unfortunately, the wind and water combined meant that most of the pictures ended up with some kind of droplets of something-or-other on the lens, but theoretically if I had the patience (and time!) I could Photoshop all that out. And the pictures are fun anyway. The one to the right is of the Blues Festival, and you can see the rest of them here.

The End of July

2007-07-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Chris' last day at work is tomorrow. He's looking forward to taking the month of August "off" to decompress, but he doesn't sit still well. He'll be pottering around the house checking things off his to-do list all month, I'm sure, in between long bike rides. He deserves to take a little time and relax, so I hope he gets to do that. And then, well, we'll see what happens next.

This has been such a year of transition and turmoil for us, I think we're both exhausted but at the same time not taken by surprise anymore. I think we've learned to take each new roadblock or speedbump in stride, which, even though it's been tiring and annoying at times, is a good thing to be able to do.

At any rate... A couple updates on other things:

My dad went home from the hospital quickly, because the doctors think the hole in his esophagus will heal itself. He'll go back in this week for another check up so they can see what's going on in there, and then hopefully they'll have some solutions for him. He's in good spirits, but it's a frustrating situation.
We met with Bub's oncology vet today, and she's very optimistic that he's doing really well. His loss of appetite after his last chemo was explained, too, because she'd increased his chemo dose last time. So, that was good to hear - it wasn't an anomaly, it was reasonable. And I'll continue to obsess over how much he eats, so hopefully the weight he lost last week will be back by his next appointment. He begins going in every other week now, so he should be able to recoup better.

Which photos should I submit to a photo contest? Help me decide!

2007-07-26T11:54:00.001-07:00

0911 Breakfast in Piazza Maggiore
Inserito originariamente da andiamotutti

I'm contemplating submitting a few photographs to the National Geographic Traveler annual photo contest, and aside from this photo (which I love) I'm not sure what else I should send in - if anything. I've chosen a few that I think are good pictures, but I'm not sure if they're really worthy. So I'm asking for your input.

What do you think? Let me know which (if any) of these pictures you think I should submit. Many thanks in advance!

Later edit: I should have also mentioned that the incredibly talented photographers out there who I know occasionally read this blog ought to think about entering the contest, too. Will? Alessandro? Are you listening??

Timely Teabag Tag

2007-07-26T11:13:00.001-07:00

From my morning cup of tea:

Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them. - Paul Valery

This is suspicious...

2007-07-24T20:29:00.001-07:00

Every time Chris leaves for a business trip of more than a day, I get sick. I swear this is true, and he agrees. He thinks it's a spooky coincidence, I think it's some kind of conspiracy. Whatever it is, it's downright annoying. I mean, I wouldn't be feeling any better if he were here - I'd still have the most congested nose I have ever had, bar none - but at least I'd have someone to fetch me things... Which is, of course, why I'm sure he's very glad he's away on business.

Does humidity cause head colds?

2007-07-23T11:33:00.001-07:00

I'm sure it doesn't, but man - after several days of extremely high humidity levels around here (something we're just not accustomed to in these parts), I came down with a head cold yesterday. It's just annoying right now - keeping me from sleeping, making me sneeze incessantly, causing my nose to run ad infinitum - but I'm OD'ing on vitamin C and Zicam in an effort to keep it from getting any worse.

In other news:

My dad was in the hospital again over the weekend, although my understanding is that he'll be coming home today. His esophagus had been growing scar tissue ever since they got rid of the cancer that had been there, and the scar tissue was closing up his throat so he couldn't swallow. The doctors were scraping away the scar tissue and ended up poking a hole in his esophagus (they apparently warned him that was a possibility). He'll go back in a week to see if the hole is healing itself, and in the meantime he can't swallow anything - including water. He's had a feeding tube back in for a few weeks now, it'd gotten so bad. I kind of wish they'd just go in and remove the offending piece of the esophagus so he can get back to a somewhat normal life - although the recovery time from that kind of surgery is weeks, it still seems like it'd be better in the long run. But I'm not the one who'd have to be in the hospital.
Bub's appetite isn't back after his last chemo appointment (last Weds.), and he's due for his next round this Thursday. I'm not comfortable taking him in right now, since I don't feel like he's rebounded from the last one. I left a message for the doctor today, so we'll see what she says. The last time he went in for this same drug, they sent him home because they said his bloodwork showed he wasn't up for it. I'm wondering if it's the same situation this time. He's shedding like crazy, so the chemo is affecting his fur - it's not falling out in big clumps, but it's definitely falling out. The saddest part is he's losing his whiskers - he's only got two on the right side of his face, I noticed yesterday.

CatCam

2007-07-17T18:35:00.000-07:00

My cats don't wear collars (two of them won't even tolerate the things), and they don't go outside except to wander on the balcony, so this project wouldn't be interesting at all in my house. It is pretty funny, however, in the original house: It's Mr. Lee's CatCam.

Seems a German guy was curious about where his cat went during a day, so he affixed a modified keychain digital camera to his cat's collar with a timer set to take a photo every few minutes. I've been very curious about some of my cats' antics, but I think I'd be more inclined to set up a CCTV-type camera before I'd go to this length. But hey, if I had the technical know-how, who knows? I just might have three cats running around with cameras on their necks.

(Thanks to Alessandro for that link!)

It Lives!

2007-07-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

I'm happy (no, ecstatic is probably the more accurate term) to report that I'm typing this entry on my trusty old laptop. Yes, the very same one that got doused with liquid just the other day. After spending about 36 hours in pieces air-drying on my dining room table, it was put back together (by yours truly, who now knows how to remove a keyboard from a laptop - knowledge I hope to never again need to use on my own equipment) on Saturday morning and presto, it started up just fine.

Happy me.

And if you need pointers on how to disassemble your own laptop, lemme know. I'm full of wisdom now.

Computers Don't Like Green Tea

2007-07-13T10:16:00.002-07:00

So, the day before Friday the 13th I had some nasty bad luck - I accidentally (because, really, who would do this on purpose?) spilled some green tea onto my laptop while I was at work. The monitor immediately began flickering. The computer guru at my office sits right next to me, thank goodness, and he switched the laptop off and began taking it apart. We dried everything we could see but the monitor was still barely visible to completely black when we tried starting it again. My stomach was, by that point, home to an awful sick feeling...

I've got an archaic spare machine now which I'm borrowing from work, and my laptop is in several pieces on my dining room table airing out. Chris is pretty confident that once it's dry it'll start up again just fine, but of course I'm worried. The good news is that the daily backup I do means that there's essentially nothing that will be lost data-wise, it's just an annoyance if I have to send the machine to Texas to have Dell fix it, or an expense if I have to buy a new one. I'm not looking forward to either of those possibilities, so I'm hoping Chris' optimism is well-founded.

I learn quickly, generally speaking. After I nearly lost my entire senior thesis in college because I hadn't hit the "save" button in hours, I got into the habit of hitting the "save" button every 30 seconds or so. In the future, you probably won't find open containers anywhere near my computer.

Another Stop at the Chinese Garden

2007-07-09T20:04:00.001-07:00

Lotus Flower
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

We went to the Chinese Garden again recently - I think it was about a half-hour before closing, so we didn't stay long, but it was nice to wander (as it always is). The last time we were there, the lotus flowers were basically done for the year - we saw one still in bloom. This time, most of them were still blooming, and several were still only buds. They're just stunning...

We also renewed our membership to the garden, and learned that they've opened it up on Wednesday evenings for members only - I'm not sure it'd be good for photographs at night (no tripods allowed), but it'd sure be pretty to just wander through and grab a snack at the tea house. I'd like to do that one Wednesday this summer, before the thought gets away from us entirely.

Rundown of the Last Week

2007-07-02T18:04:00.000-07:00

Quick update, since it's been awhile...

Our weekend was exceptionally busy - too busy, frankly - but one highlight was a potluck we went to yesterday at the home of some friends who live outside St. Helens (about an hour from Portland). She's a professional chef in Portland, so the guest list was almost entirely made up of other professional chefs. I tell you, that's the way to do a potluck, people. I was clever enough to fast before the party, only having a light breakfast and no lunch, so I actually went in for 3rds and possibly a small helping of 4ths before calling it quits. It was amazing stuff.

Bub's appetite still isn't great after his last chemo (2 weeks ago) and he goes back for the next round tomorrow. He seems fine, however, which is good - happy and energetic. I take that as a good sign. I just hope he's gained a little weight the past 2 weeks, or at least maintained.

Abby, his sister, was at the vet's today getting her teeth cleaned. It's an all-day event, so I just got her home about an hour ago. She didn't have any extractions like her poor sister Jasmine, so she's just a little disoriented now. But she's happy to be home, and I'm glad for that.

We've got no plans for the 4th this year, mainly because neither of us is feeling particularly social or energetic lately. It's partly cat-related stress and partly job-related stress, we figure, but we're just pretty content to be at home by ourselves these days (this past busy weekend not withstanding). I've always wanted to test the theory of whether we could actually see the Lake Oswego fireworks from our window, so we might get a chance to do that this year.

Even My Cats are Bad Jews

2007-06-25T13:00:00.000-07:00

I like to joke that I'm a bad Jew - it's a good joke if you know me and my family, but it sounds weird out of context. Here on the blog, it's kind of out of context. But if I say this, it might help... What made me think of it is this:

I'm such a bad Jew, even my cats eat ham.

All three of the cats seem to really like sliced ham, the lunch meat stuff, although in varying degrees. Bub's last chemo appointment was a doozy, so his appetite still isn't what it was before he went in last week, but he'll still eat a few bites of ham (but only if I hand feed him - I have no idea why). Jasmine adores the ham, so I just cut it up into tiny pieces so she doesn't have to worry about chewing it too much. And Abby, Bub's sister, eats whatever ham is left on the plate when Bub's done. She's very polite about it, it's cute - she'll let him eat what he's going to eat without bothering him, and then after he's gone she'll move in and clean up. It's pretty funny.

The Year of the Cat

2007-06-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

I don't care what year it actually is on the Chinese calendar, this is the Year of the Cat for us.

Here's the good news - Jasmine is doing much better. She had a rough night that first night back, but she's mostly back to her old self again now, thank goodness. And I think our experience dealing with Bub's recovery each week after chemo has been helpful in dealing with Jasmine. Instead of assuming she was going downhill and never coming back uphill, I just assumed that she'd be getting better gradually and we just needed to find the things she'd eat no matter what. I browsed the cat food aisle at the grocery store the other day, and then made my way to the baby food aisle. I'd heard that the turkey baby food was a hit with most cats, but Bub hadn't shown interest. I bought some to try with Jasmine, and also got some chicken sticks (like the ambiguously-named meat sticks shown in the picture) to try as well. I think they're repulsive, but I'm not the one who has to eat them, right?

(As an aside, every time I open a jar of cat food, I recoil from the smell and think, "Good god, we feed this to human children?!?" It smells so vile...)

At any rate, thankfully Jasmine seems to enjoy the chicken sticks - I chop them up really small so she doesn't have to chew them - and she even likes the turkey baby food occasionally. She's always been the pickiest eater, and that trend has (unfortunately) continued, but we'll just keep trying new and different foods. It's just a matter of trial and error, I've learned, and not worrying about "wasting" food if I open a can of something she doesn't end up liking. It's just about figuring out the new pattern for her eating schedule that's going to work for both her and us.

In other news, my dear boy Bub is at his chemo appointment now - I'm awaiting a call from the vet that I can go pick him up. It's the 3rd drug in the cycle, and one he hasn't had as yet, so I'm curious to see how he'll react to it. They give the animals a week off after receiving this particular drug, which also takes several hours to administer, so I'm guessing it'll take him awhile longer to bounce back than normal. But I'm ready - I've got a roast chicken from the grocery store in the fridge, and it's all his. Not all at once, mind you, but I'm calling it cat food - it's not for human consumption. I've got a big plate of cut up chicken pieces ready and waiting for him for when I bring him home today, too, poor guy.

So, yes - the Year of the Cat it is.

The Unhappiest Cat in the World, Part II

2007-06-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

You may recall the original post about the unhappiest cat in the world - well, here's the rest of the story, at least through today.

Poor dear Jasmine got wrapped in a towel this morning so we could stuff her into a carrying case, and then Chris dropped her off at the vet. We knew they'd be sedating her, because there's no other way to do the necessary check-up stuff on that feisty creature, and they were also going to be cleaning her teeth. Or so we thought. Chris got home a few minutes after me, Jasmine in tow, and announced that she'd had to have six teeth pulled. Not only that, the vet says she's under weight - probably because eating dry food has been painful for some time now. So, how much do you think we feel like the worst cat parents ever?

The poor thing is still disoriented (she got home a few hours ago) from the drugs she's on, which include morphine right now, and she keeps licking at the stitches in her mouth. She's on a strictly wet food diet now for the rest of her life, and luckily we had a can of food which is actually meant for cats on cancer treatment (but Bub doesn't like it, of course) - it's really tasty (to cats, I guess) and super soft, so she's eating that right now. It's also full of calories, which she really needs.

In case you're feeling too badly for her, know this - she'll get her revenge on us twice a day for the next week. We have to give her pain medication at night and antibiotics in the morning. They're both in liquid form, so we've got to grab her and get the little plunger-full of medicine into her mouth without letting her shred us to bits. That would be a challenge under normal circumstances - this is the cat that doesn't even like to be held - but right now she won't let us come near her. Well, that's not exactly true - she'll let herself be petted, but if you try to do anything more than lightly stroke her back she hisses. She's pissed off, and with good reason, and I'm seriously dreading having to give her any kind of medicine whatsoever - especially tonight.

Chris & I know this will pass, and she'll be fine (especially once the drugs wear off and she's not so disoriented anymore), but we both feel awful right now.

And a quick note - I realize this has kind of turned into the all cats all the time blog, which I hadn't planned... It's just that, for obvious reasons, this is the big news that's going on for us right now, so that's what's on my mind.

Oh, and if you've got any suggestions about soft foods that would be treats and that cats would like, by all means - let me know.

How a Family Reclaimed the Deck

2007-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

Bub
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

Now that the weather's (mostly) good around here and our deck is finally done, we've gotten the deck furniture back out again and we're spending more time out there - it's been great. We had forgotten how much we enjoy sitting outside in nice weather, grilling dinner and eating outside. The cats are loving it, too - I planted three big pots (low ones so they can reach them) of catnip, which all of them have been enjoying. They alternately eat the leaves off and rub their faces in the branches - it's very cute to watch. And then, when they're fully drugged out, they doze in the sun. That's when I take pictures of them.

The charming guy at the right is my dear boy, Bub, from before his lymphoma diagnosis and his frequent trips to the vet. He still loathes those trips, but he also still loves us afterwards, which is one of the wonderful things about him. I particularly love how regal he looks in this picture, because usually he's just a goofball.

A Few Notes

2007-06-13T17:31:00.000-07:00

First of all, I heard that my friend Michelle is already at home, she's recovering from her brain surgery so well. She's damned amazing, that's all I can say. As I told her, "Cancer clearly doesn't know who it's fucking with here."

Second, my dear boy Bub was scheduled to get his 4th dose of chemo today, but the vet called Chris to come pick him up after just his preliminary exam - apparently his white blood cell count was lower than they'd like, so they sent him home with a week's worth of an antibiotic and we'll try again for the chemo next week. He's only put on a tiny bit of weight, which is disappointing (although any progress is a good thing) because it seemed to us like he'd gained quite a bit. I guess optimism doesn't make the best scale.

Finally, I used to do these more often - when I drank more tea - so when I brewed myself a cup of tea today, I thought I'd save the quote on the tag to post here for y'all:

"He who has begun has half done. Dare to be wise; begin!" - Horace (65-8 BC)

Girls Weekend in Lincoln City

2007-06-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

ride 'em, cowgirl
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

A few weeks ago, I got together with a few of my college girlfriends for a weekend at the beach. It went too quickly, as weekends with friends often do, and we had a great time. If you're so inclined, you can see the best of the photos from that weekend over here. There are some in there of driftwood that I really like, but that one of Steph to the right is probably my favorite of the bunch. It may not mean as much to you, but it just gives me the grins.

Yeehaw, baby.

Farmer's Market = Donuts = Happy Me

2007-06-10T13:30:00.000-07:00

asparagus
Originally uploaded by andiamotutti

The Lake Oswego Farmer's Market started up a few weeks ago, giving my Saturdays a bright start again. Freshly-made donuts never taste so good as they do after you've gone without them for months. And, of course, it's always great to see market friends again - like the donut-making family and the folks at the Baird stand who, at this time of year, have the best asparagus in town. So far, the weather's been great for the market, so the crowds have been great, too. It's nice to see. I'm going to bring my camera to the market more this year than I did last year; I'll be putting the best of them in the photo album here.

If you've got a farmer's market anywhere near you, do yourself a favor and go. Every week. You'll be glad you did.

The Unhappiest Cat in the World

2007-06-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

The title of this post doesn't even refer to my dear boy, Bub, who is undergoing chemo treatments for lymphoma. No, that title refers to our eldest, Jasmine, who had a vet appointment today.

See, when Bub started his treatments, I thought it was a good time to get the other two cats in to the vet for checkups - partly because they hadn't been in for years, and partly because with his suppressed immune system it made sense to try to limit any potential for the other cats to give him something. So Jasmine's appointment was set for this afternoon, and Chris had to come home from work to take her. See, I can't handle her when she's pissy. When it's just Chris and I around, Jasmine is a complete love-muffin, or really frisky and playful. She's not really friendly with other people, but that's okay. What we discovered this afternoon, however, is that when you're trying to shove her into a cat carrier, things get ugly.

She escaped from our first attempt to stuff her into the carrier, and when Chris next captured her she put up a huge fuss; she probably would have clawed him to bits in an attempt to get away had he not held her at arm's length. He finally managed to get her in by scruffing her, but the poor thing looked absolutely terrified and traumatized by the whole ordeal - and that was just getting her into the carrier, she hadn't even gotten to the vet yet to get her shots!

When they returned, I learned that the vet hadn't even been able to do anything - when Chris tried to get Jasmine out of the carrier, she went after him (claws and teeth and hissing), so the vet tried to look at her teeth while she was hissing (clever!) but they made another appointment in a week and a half or so when they'll sedate her and do what they need to do. What I don't know is how in the hell we're ever going to catch her and get her into a carrier again. I'm honestly thinking a home vet visit might be the best option...

Now, I'm at my desk at home and Jasmine is wandering around my feet as if nothing happened. Wait, now she's crawling into my lap. Wow. Must be nice to forget traumas so quickly.

Kicking Cancer's Ass

2007-06-06T17:59:00.000-07:00

So, a quick update on my friend Michelle - the positive thoughts worked. She got through the brain surgery yesterday with flying colors. She was even talking not long after coming out of the haze. We joked that not even brain surgery can shut this girl up. She'll be in the ICU for a few days, then in another part of the hospital for a few days (maybe a week, I can't remember) and then will go to her folks' house so they can look after her. Then at some point she begins a 9-10 day regime of radiation, which isn't going to be fun. And then, I guess, we'll see.

And my dear cat Bub had his 3rd chemo appointment today, and when I got home from work this afternoon I fed him his newest favoritest treat - lunch meat. He just gobbles the stuff up. I also cooked some hamburger for him, which he likes, but not as much as he likes the lunch meat. He's gotten both turkey and ham and seems to like both equally well. The other day I made cold cut sandwiches for Chris and I, and he hovered around us (meowing loudly) as we ate. He even tried to swipe my sandwich. We've created a monster, and we couldn't be happier.

If you can spare some positive thoughts...

2007-06-05T11:27:00.000-07:00

...my friend Michelle is, at this moment, undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumor on her brain stem. It's her third bout with cancer. She's 42. I'll be thinking about her all day today, sending positive energy to the hospital in Chico, and hoping for the best. Brain surgery isn't easy, and this one is a risky proposition - but the alternative isn't acceptable to Michelle. She's one tough cookie. Cancer clearly has no idea who it's dealing with.

How to Travel the World (and Improve It) for Free

2007-06-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

BootsnAll is working with a fellow called Tim Ferriss, who recently wrote a book called "The 4-Hour Workweek", to award one lucky person the chance to travel the world for free while also improving the planet.

How would you use 36 extra hours per week?
If you can answer that question in 350 words or less, you could win a roundtrip anywhere in the world, private consultation with me to plan it all, and $1,000 for the cause of your choice.

My goals with this are 1) to get people to take action towards their dreams, and 2) to help people to develop a global consciousness and feel the rewards of contribution.

The deadline for entering this contest is June 15th, so act fast. You'll find the rules at the bottom of this post.

This Cat is a Fighter

2007-06-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Bub is a fighter, all right, and I mean that in a couple of senses. First, the good news and then the funny news.

The good news is that at his second chemo appointment on Wednesday, the vet apparently couldn't even feel the tumor anymore. Now, they didn't do an ultrasound, so it's probably still there a bit, but the fact that it has shrunk enough that she can't feel it after only one treatment a week ago is really exciting to us. And after the initial first couple of days post-chemo last week, Bub was nearly back to his old self, playing and eating almost like normal. We're quite pleased with that, our little guy fighting off cancer so well.

The funny news is that he's also becoming more and more of a fighter when it comes to taking his daily pill. He's on steroids just for the first month of treatment (we've got three weeks to go), and it's a decreasing amount each week. Last week it was twice-daily pillings, and after that it's only once a day - but that doesn't keep him from fighting harder and harder each time. He's never been good about taking a pill, but it now takes both Chris and I to do it and it still takes two or three tries. He's crafty about it, too - he'll chew on the lump of food (pill hidden inside) until he finds the pill and then he'll push the pill out the side of his mouth, cleaned completely of cat food. Yeesh. So far, he still loves us anyway.

After his second chemo appointment this week, he doesn't seem as logey or sleepy as he did last week but his appetite was basically non-existent yesterday (the day after chemo); I'm not panicking like I did last week, as I'm confident that he'll be eating again soon (hopefully today), but I'd love to find something he really liked - something he couldn't even refuse in his post-chemo days - that I could feed him each day-after. I haven't found it yet, but I'll keep trying. I swear, if I find that he likes liver pate, I'll feed it to him once a week...

BootsnAll is Hiring

2007-05-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

I'm going to take a break from cat-related posts here to tell you about a job opening where I work at the BootsnAll Travel Network. Here's how the position is described:

Are you a web monkey that has talents that are way under utilized? Are you looking to work at a small company where you can see your efforts get implemented on a daily basis and hear positive feedback from customers almost instantaneously? Can you dream in PHP, communicate concisely and effectively and dream up the next web based travel app that travelers go crazy for?

I don't even understand half of that, so clearly this isn't the job for me... But if it made sense to you and you're curious about it, you can read more about the job, which is currently being called a Project Manager, here - and feel free to pass this along to anyone you know who might be interested.