Still no eggs

First remember that female reptiles will lays eggs whether inseminated or not, just like birds. A reptile is said to be "gravid" when she is carrying eggs. Period. No male required.

My veiled chameleon still has not dropped her clutch. She has displayed what I'm guessing to be gravid coloration for probably 2-3 weeks, but I've seen her belly grow in this time. So I don't know if the coloration comes early and then further down the line is when she finally lays those damn things. There is a giant bucket of sand (she will apparently dig a tunnel then bury them) in the cage with her, but she seems to be more apt to scratch at the green astroturf on the very bottom of the cage. Also, she still has a voracious appetite, and I wonder if that's another sign to looks out for, like not eating and then a few days later laying the eggs. I don't know, this is a first for me and I can't find a whole lot on the intricacies.

Anyway, here's her coloration right now. The white and the dark areas are not her normal, calm, colors. This is not even her "get out of my way I see a cricket" colors. I have only seen her these colors or darker once when the cat spooked her during "wholesale cricket slaughter" AKA dinner.
This picture is current, and she's about 7 months old. I think this may be on the young side for laying eggs, but you can't deny the colors.

Here's a picture from 5 months ago, right around when I got her:

Granted, one is in the trees and one is on a brown branch, but the white spots are not the normal darker colors she shows when she's on a branch. And look how her veil thingy has grown! Click for full post and comments

Scams and Conspiracies 2

I got another one: the state (or counties, I don't know) that use salt as a de-icer are in cahoots with the car wash industry. People (most) are crazy about washing the salt off their cars, for good reason, and are so eager to throw money at Big Carwash they're willing to wait in a line 10 cars long. And then what happens as they drive away? They drip water on the ground. More ice!

No way am I contributing to Big Carwash at $4 a pop (and that's with a tank of gas). Click for full post and comments

Vegas trip 2007

Spent a four day weekend in Vegas last week. We drove to Zion NP on Sunday and spent maybe 4 hours driving around (in the winter there is no shuttle, otherwise no cars would be allowed up Zion Canyon). The film pictures are not developed yet (and it'll be a while, there's still 4 pictures to burn).

So, here's is a small sampling:

Inside the Bellagio, the Conservatory celebrating the Chinese New Year:


The view from our room at the Aladdin (now Planet Hollywood); Bellagio, tower and sign in center and right, the main entrance to the Aladdin on the lower left:

Outside the Bellagio; I don't think the fountain goes in the daytime:


Along the road to Zion NP:

From Zion Canyon (a lot of my digitals didn't come out very well because of a contrast problem between the sky and rocks):

From the Overlook Trail just on the uphill side of the tunnel on Highway 9 (it's a short trail, 1 mile roundtrip, but scary for the less steady on their feet); the pinnacles in the distance are Towers of the Virgin:

Made a friend with a raven at the Overlook. I hope he didn't steal my soul:


Some afternoon light to make the place even prettier. I don't remember if this is still inside the park or not:


One last shot of Towers of the Virgin:


I really enjoyed Vegas in the wintertime. There were still enough people there to not make you feel weird and out of place, but not so many people to prevent eating at a nice restaurant without a reservation. The first night, Friday, we flew in around dinnertime, and met my group at Mon Ami Bapi at the Paris casino. Part of the restaurant is outside on the strip, with a view of the Bellagio fountain. They had the propane heaters going, but I kept my jacket on. The two of us $pent $150! Granted, the drinks were 10 buck a piece, and we had like 4 all together, the steaks were 30 each probably, and then we had desert. Plus tip! Anyway, I had the filet mignon, of course, because it's only the best for my spoiled ass. My husband got the steak Roquefort, because he likes bleucheese. He's still talking about it a week later! I had a banana crepe for desert, and hubby had ... I can't remember. Something chocolaty probably. I played one $10 bill in a slot machine (a penny slot. They're my friends) and got $44 back. Later I tried a $20, and got $62 back.

Saturday the rest of the group came in while we listened to a timeshare spiel. For lunch we ate at the Mexican cantina in the Desert Passage. Lunch included many beers and margaritas. Dinner we ate at the buffet under the casino at the Aladdin. It was fine, but maybe not as good as the $28 ticket would warrant. I tried one of my free 20's in another penny slot, but lost it all. We were sophisticated n' shit sitting in the bar inside the Aladdin casino. We got an area to sit at while our friends came and went. Other people were jealous at how sophisticated n' shit we were. OK, maybe they were just eying the seats because they were tired of standing.

Sunday we were in Zion, but we had out free dinner from the timeshare spiel that night. It was at Pampas Brazilian steakhouse. That was yummy too!

Then Monday we left. I was sad. I wanted to win more money. Click for full post and comments

Everything is a freakin scam

So the bank says I bounced a $3000 check. It turns out it's true, the funds were not there in the checking account. However, 4 days before the check bounced I deposited $6000 in person, with a slip from the checkbook. So, with my mad math skillz, I decided I had enough to pay off the credit card. Well, turns out the deposit actually went to the savings account, even though I used a checking deposit slip. Who knows, maybe a bad day for the teller or something. So why were the funds not covered by the moneys in savings? They would have been, had the credit card company been simply trying to cash my check. But no, they do an electronic funds transfer (that's why some checks appear in the list of debit transactions, not as a cleared check). Apparently the EFT works so that the savings account never comes into play! They try to pull the funds twice, then you're S.O.L. The scam, I've decided, with the EFT is for the bank to get your overdraft charges (which is a nice paradox in this case) and the credit card company to get your newly raised rates, plus the late fee for missing a payment. It's a win-win situation! or something. Click for full post and comments

New tropical tank setup

I'm finally getting my 46 bow set up. It's crusted with hard water stains and I'm thinking about getting a new lid. But some of the fish I'm thinking about are more sensitive to light intensity (discus) so maybe the crudded up lid blocking some light is a good thing.

Anyway, the silicone held, and there are now no leaks. The only water I'm using (and have ever used in a tank) is tap water with the Stress Coat added. So I got the water in, checked for leaks, and put in the undergravel filter next. This order is kind of stupid, but I didn't want a repeat of last time. So with the filter hooked up the rocks were put in. For thin initial cycle I am impatient and was looking for a way to jump start the process. Lucky for me others are impatient too! The online ordering for PetSmart has a bottle of nitrifying bacteria called SuperBac, and people in the forums swore by it. They apparently don't have it in there actual stores, so I got a brand called Cycle (not preferred by the people in the forums).

So on Day 0 I put in 30 mL of the bacteria, put in some food to rot, and turned on the power head. I also tested pH, hardness, nitrate/ite and ammonia, but I don't remember those numbers (I don't usually test the water, and my fishes have always been fine).

On Day 1 I think the tank looks a little cloudy, as if the cycle is starting already. On this day I inserted a plastic mesh in the middle of the gravel so that if I get cichlids again they won't dig all the way to the filter. I used just a plastic screen (like what goes on a window or screen door), cut it to size, and cut out holes for the blanks and the uplift tube on the filter. Since all the gravel was in the tank already, I could only do half at a time, so I pushed all the gravel to one side of the tank. I left a thin layer of gravel over the filter so that I could not see it anywhere through the gravel (thinner spots in the gravel means all the suction is happening all at that point. You want it spread out over as much of the grid as possible.) So, then the screen went down, and shoveled the gravel back to that side, on top of the screen. I did the same thing on the other side, trying to get a thin, even layer covering the filter. Now that the screen is in there, I put some ornaments in. I thought that since they weren't cleaned very well from the last tank, they could help get with cycling.


It's Day 2 and I think the water looks about the same as it did yesterday. I've been keeping the light on during the schedule I would if there were fish, because algae likes light, and I want things to start growing in there. I am going to go to the store and get some real plants. I haven't had real plants before, so this will be interesting. I don't want to replace all the plastic ones, I just want the natural aspect to help with filtration and fish health. I bet once I see how good the real plants looks I'll ditch the plastic ones. Also, because I have the undergravel filter in, I'll need to keep the plants in pots. And my substrate is the regular sized gravel which may be too coarse for plants. Click for full post and comments

Real old-fashioned film pictures

They came from a roll of film I finally got developed. That roll included a trip to the National Arboretum in August of 2006, a trip up to Adirondack Park for fall foliage, and then some more pictures of birds in our yard. So here's a sample:





Click for full post and comments

Disappointment

So I finished Splinter Cell for the 360 the other day. I got the unresolved ending because I did the negative (to the NSA, remember Sam still works for them?) option (the cruise ship, Hamsa, and Lambert are the three times to make a decision) all three times. So, now I restarted from the very beginning to do the right thing. But not the hero ending, I want Enrica to live, and I am allowed one negative outcome of the three. So my disappointment comes when I'm reading the message boards on GameFAQs, and they are all saying how much better the solo mode is on original XBox! WTF??!! This game was designed for the 360! I did wonder at times why they didn't let us play out certain parts (hijacking the helicopter, for example). I agree with whoever said it's like they rushed to get the game out for the holidays. But, I gotta say the underwater scenes in the icebergs were awesome. That about payed for the game right there. And I'll have to make sure I get my hands on the backwards compatibility patch so I can play the other version of the game. At any rate, I'll be much happier once I've got Sam's hands around Moss' throat. Click for full post and comments

Liberal/Conservative test

I got a 26. One tick more conservative than George HW Bush?? WTF?? Click for full post and comments

I should just keep my mouth shut

me: so do you believe the Ark is on Mt. Everest?
guy I'm talking to: oh, you mean Mt. Ararat? No.

Why do I even bother with conversation. Click for full post and comments

No ski for me

Every year my dad and I go on a ski trip to some place further than our local places. It started with Whistler (2002):

Next came Lake Louise (Jan 2003):

Then it was Kirkwood (Feb 2004):


Following that was Sun Valley (Mar 2005):

Last year we went to Squaw (why don't I have any pictures of that one??). On the trips in California, some of our family (cousins and their kids, aunt) can come up an play in the snow with us. It's always been a super fun weekend. Now this year I live across the country, which doesn't make a difference since we fly to get there anyway. But I'm also a fat slob now with zero muscle tone, so I guess we're not going anywhere this time around. poopy. Click for full post and comments

On the pussification of American men...

Does anyone drink Zima any more? (did anyone drink it to begin with?) Click for full post and comments

Watery Woes

So I'm trying to get my 35 gallon fishtank set up again, now that we're settled. It was going fine: got the undergravel filter and powerhead hooked up, rocks rinsed and in the tank, and the water was half in. I was thinking that filling was going slowly, but I was seeing progress with each bucket. At this point that I saw some water creeping up between the facing and the glass on the bottom of the tank, and it crossed my mind that I should have leak tested before putting in the damned rocks and filter. Or it could just be some water spilled down the front. Wicking away the water with a paper towel proved it: a leak. God. Damn. It. Luckily a window is nearby and I happened to have a pretty long syphon tube. So now it's drying to get siliconed. I wanted to see fish swimming this weekend, but it looks like next weekend for that.

Anyway, here's a picture of Crabby Cakes before he finally died. I think he molted probably three or four times in the couple years I had him. And after picking out empty shells from the tank after a molt, it comes as a shock when it's realy him this time.The pink blur on the left is an Australian Rainbow and the yellow blur in the right upper corner is a Lemon Yellow, a member of the cichlid family. Click for full post and comments

Look what I saw in my yard

I know it's unremarkable, but I thought it was neat. It's just a mourning dove, but usually you just hear them somewhere in the trees.

On the feeder today was a red-bellied woodpecker. I didn't get a picture of him, and I'm not entirely conviced he has a red belly. Those lying liars! Click for full post and comments

Italy trip 2003: part 8

6 July 2003

OK, we didn’t go to Murano today, that will be tomorrow. Guys “wooing” in their drunkenness kept me up last night. They were loud (if I wanted to hear that, I would have moved to greek row). My mother says she was watching them: it was a group of like 25 guys hanging out on the bridge, harassing all the women walking by (I can only imagine the fear at seeing the way blocked by a large crowd of drunk idiots); it sounds like they were pretty much harmless. The best part was when one of them took off his clothes down to his underwear and jumped in the canal. I bet today he’s wondering why he stinks like the sewer. [My mother says he’s probably not being bit my mosquitoes like us.]

My father got up early today to get to the store and bakery, but things were closed. So then he went two more times to get groceries and the baked goods, then he and I went out and strolled. I bought a totally cute little mobile made of wooden sea life. It would be perfect for the new babies in the family, but I bought this one for me. I wanted my mother to see it and finally cross the Accademia Bridge to get it. I also bought a couple of little necklaces for myself. Then after we got back, people were awake and my brother and I went out for a couple hours. I was shown something my brother and his friend found when they came the other day. It was at the cathedral, along the spikes that keep pigeons off certain parts of the building. It was a dead pigeon, or the remains of a dead pigeon who was too dumb to fly away from the things that were poking him. My brother and I got lost and ended up making a gigantic circle around the island. I think we made one wrong turn pretty close to our apartment and then kept circling around San Marco square, but without seeing it. It was actually pretty nice running all over town because there weren’t any people in our way! But then we could tell we were getting close by the increase in the number of people.

This apartment is really nice. It has all sorts of pictures of the same people, the owner and her daughter. I’ve decided the lady is a rich-aunt type: a dignitary with lots of money (is that redundant?) It is really nice she is renting out her apartment, but we are afraid of breaking something because all the decorations are so nice and important looking. There are two girls playing violin outside our window. They were there yesterday too. I guess it has to be better than the TV crap. On the way back from dinner there was a girl playing with fire. I think that deserves money.

7 July 2003
Finally the Murano day! I’ve been looking forward to spending money on pretties for a long time. I got some neato beads, some glass sticks to give people, a bag of clear glass squares to hopefully work into mosaics, picture frame, pendants, and a block o’ fish. My father spent $9000 on glass at the same store as last year. We tried really hard to get pieces that weren’t blue. I think the selection is very nice. They will look really good with the existing ones. And we really tried to get stuff from a different store. There was one store that had a couple nice things, and a nice blob o’ fish for like $3000. Then we got to the other store and spent lots of money, but on six items. I also took some pictures of the mosaics on the walls of buildings to get some ideas. Or to just flat out copy them.

Oh Sweet Jesus they’re playing Metallica on MTV!!!!! It’s like heaven to my ears. After dinner my brother and I strolled again to San Marco square. We didn’t get lost this time! Then we went back to the internet café and got caught up with the outside world.

8 July 2003
The last day!! Today was mostly just walking around one last time and making last minute purchases. I bought some cat stuff and water colors from our “cat store.” I found some glass giraffes when out with my mother and my father, but didn’t know I wanted to buy them until later. I think this will be the thing my boyfriend likes the best. He probably won’t like the picture frame, but that’s okay because I do. When my brother and I were getting back to the apartment in the afternoon, there was a new girl on violin. I don’t know how she knew the other girls wouldn’t be there, or if she kicked them out of their spot, but she wasn’t very good. I think if the two girls wanted their spot back they could have drowned out the crappy one. [My main problem with these girls playing violin is that they are Americans playing for American tourists. Am I the only one who finds that stupid?]

Anyway, me and my parents went out to Rialto Bridge because I had not seen it before. We were there around noon, and there were tons of people everywhere. I got some pictures of it, but I decided it wasn’t important enough for me to go across. Probably I should have gone there in the afternoon when less people would have been around.

So I guess that’s it. That’s the end of the trip. We are getting a taxi tonight (Wednesday) at 3:30 am. Yuk. [Turns out the airport doesn't open until 5 am, so leaving at 3:30 was a little overkill.] But at least we will be lugging around all our crap in the dark and cool of night. [I also hope all the purchases fit in the proper number of carry-ons.] I had such a good time here, but I am definitely ready to get back to school. I’m not looking forward to the drive back to school, and I hope I don’t fall asleep on the road! I am also looking forward to not eating the same kind of food for every meal. I think I’ll fast for a week or two. I just heard an ambulance boat go down the Grand Canal. How weird to hear the exact same siren as from the cars, but it’s coming from the water. Well, I hope the trip back is uneventful, and I hope all the glass arrives in the same number of pieces as they left [The glass arrived fine, unlike my plates. My father even did a whole new shelving system to show off everything properly.] Bye Italy! It was fun!




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Italy trip 2003: part 7

3 July 2003
Today was the most uneventful of them all. Well, uneventful for me because my parents drove to Milan to get her passport replaced. I guess there was a lonely or crazy guy waiting there and was talking to the room and whoever in it. While they were in Milan and I was at the house reading Romeo and Juliet, my brother took his friend up to Mt. Baldo. I guess they hiked down to the midway station. It sounds like they forged their own trails down, and they have the stains and scratches to prove it. It was another windy and rainy day, and we saw some lightning (it ended up lightninging all night and into the morning). I was worried they would get stuck up at the top, but the gondolas stayed running. They apparently made it to the midway station just in time to get inside when it started to rain hard. My brother said he saw a too-lovey-dovey mother-son set, and thought it might be the ones we saw on our trip up. It wasn’t the same couple, so that means there is more than one incestuous family in Italy. We drove up to the bus station to get them for dinner, and we ended up eating at a place that was very German-themed. After dinner we drove up to Riva del Garda at the top of the lake. It wasn’t that impressive (just another town on the lake with hotels and shops), but it was good to see that they have spread out where all the tourists hang out.

4 July 2003
My Birthday! Yay! My parents got me a mosaic mirror made from mirrored tiles and some pretty cobalt blue strips. And they also got me a purple leather purse. They bought these in San Gimignano when me and my brother were off on our own. So today my brother and his friend stayed at the house and took the ferry to the other town across the lake. The rest of us took the drive up to the Alto Adige region, and stopped at Alpe di Siusi in the Dolomites. It was planned to just make a loop and come back down to the town of Vecenza, but it took too long to get up there, eat, and come back. We got off the Autoroute at Chiusa and had lunch there. It was a very Austrian town, and our waitress seemed to only speak German. That was the first place I saw that had a Hawaiian pizza. It was kind of weird having it with the thin slices of prosciuto instead of thicker slices of ham. I guess it’s all the same thing in the end (pork and therefore tasty).

So once we got up the top, it was pretty clear haze-wise, but there were quite a few clouds blocking the very tops of the crags. I think I got some all right pictures of them peeking out of the mist, but mostly I wanted a good unobscured picture. This Alpe di Siusi is a very large alpine meadow, and there are gondolas from the towns at the bottom (Castleruth and St. Ulrich) up to sort of the top. Otherwise it would be a pretty scary road in the winter. The ski area at the top looked like it would have been a lot of fun because it was all wide open and nice views of the mountains. My parents found the place they stayed on their trip last year. My mother says she didn’t like this leg of the tour because of all the German food and tourists, and also because there wasn’t anything to do. I’m sure the other people loved hiking the trails and taking lifts up and seeing all the prettiness. There were a lot of cows in this meadow as well, but there were not the flies and bugs like on Mt. Baldo. All these cows looked very alpine, and of course they had bells on. At one point it sounded like wind chimes because of all the different tones in their tinkling.

As we drove up there was a little fog puff following us up the hill. When we were done with the photos we headed back to the other side of the meadow and the fog puff had turned into a rain cloud. I was very happy we got there when we did, because every view of the mountains had been destroyed by the rain and fog. So, even with the not totally perfect pictures, they were way better than nothing. And it rained the whole way back to the house with lots and lots of pretty lightning (nice fireworks for my birthday).

5 July 2003
Today was another travel day. I am glad we finally got rid of the crappy car. It was funny how I was pretty much in the middle of the road when it came to if the car was good or bad, but each day I got more and more towards the “the car sucks” side of the argument. I think I am most happy about not listening to the crap on the radio anymore; now I get to hear it in any bar or restaurant we go in.

So anyway, we’re in Venice now. On the way here, after dropping my brother's friend off at the airport, we stopped in Vecenza. It really did have the nice architecture the guide book promised. It was pretty touristy, though. One thing we can’t figure out is how these store owners still take a three hour break when the hours of 1200-1500 are when all the tourists are out. Don’t they care about selling anything or making any money?? It was still a nice little detour, and a nice lunch break. THANK GOD WE ARE RID OF THE CAR!!!!!!!!!!!

So we dropped the car off at the Venice airport, and took a water taxi to our apartment. I guess I was expecting to get dropped off at some generic location and hoof it to the apartments, but it actually took us all the way. It was about a 30 minute ride, and a nice canal tour of the city. I don’t know how you get a taxi from here, like if you have to call in advance, or if you just find them. We don’t even know if we’ll be able to get out of here for our 6 am flight.
Anyway, we got to the place, the nice owner showed us around, etc. We strolled around town, then got ready for dinner, and then strolled around some more. I don’t remember if I’ve been here once or twice before, but all of those times the cathedral in San Marco square was being remodeled. As my brother and I walked into the square, I was thinking “What building is that?” I guess I’ll have to make sure I get a picture of it, because it will be rare. [Of course there has to be some construction project going on, but at least the scaffolds are covered up in pretty coverings. They don’t stand out so much now. I guess every night there are dueling orchestras in the square, and they were there when we entered. They were just small, like 4 people. One group played Andrea Bocelli stuff, and the other played a Queen medley. It was pretty neat, because they were good. They were good musically and also at vying for the attention of the audience. So after that we went to the Internet Café we found, checked email, chatted, etc. This café, along with many restaurants, are very close to our apartment. Also close is a small bakery, so we get to have lots of yummies for breakfast! Tomorrow is Sunday, I think we are going to try to get to Murano Island. Yay! Spending lots of money!

I took a shower tonight, and it was the most wonderful experience ever. The shower is actually big enough to move around with out the shower curtain all over me! Simple pleasures, I guess. Oh, and it’s in my room. That’s cool, except now everyone wants to use it.

to be continued... Click for full post and comments

Italy trip 2003: part 6

30 June 2003
Today was a pretty quiet day. We went to the town at the peninsula on the south end of the lake, called Sirmione. We just strolled around there, since it was after lunch and too early for dinner. I liked the place, except for the bugs coming from the stagnant drain water. They were everywhere and very annoying. On the way into town you walk across a little bridge from the parking lot to the old town. In the moat were lots of ducks and swans, and people had set up a little floating thing for one to lay eggs on. It wasn’t a duck, though; it looked like some sort of heron on the eggs. This little town was pretty touristy, but they seemed to have genuine jewelry stores. There were some gaudy things, but also some nice looking coral necklaces and bracelets. We wasted enough time there to get dinner at a small bar; I had a margherita pizza. Then, it was time to pick up my brother’s friend from the airport (he should have been in at noon, but missed the connection) so I stayed at the house and relaxed.

1 July 2003
Today we went to the Ferrari factory for our tour. Man, that was awesome!! It was just so cool to see the cars being handmade. I didn’t see any robots there, it was just men and their tools. There were three models being made at the time, the 8 and 12 cylinders, and the Enzo, each having their own assembly line. How the cars were pointed with respect to start and finish depends on where the engine is located. I guess there are 38 of the 8 made each day, and like 14 of the 12 each day. I liked best the fact that they were filling orders (ordered interior color, and all that) instead of just making cars. We saw the stages where engines are turned on in the car for the first time, testing doors, lights, horn, etc. At the end of the line they weren’t pushed or driven to their resting place but picked up with a palette jack. All the men were at the assembly line, and all the women were working on the upholstery. We watched them sewing up the leather; it looked like they were mostly doing the dash. They seemed to sew the pieces together first, then applied them to the dash by using adhesive, wetting everything, then using a heat gun to shrink it to the perfect fit. It was all very interesting. I just wish I could have taken pictures so I could remember everything. I wish we could have seen them test drive some on the track. And maybe the wind tunnel too. I guess it’s all just too secretive to show anyone.

Then we just rested at home for a while and finally went to dinner. We went to something Alla Grotta. They had a section on a dock thing out over the water. When we first got there it was a little windy and the water was somewhat rough. Where that dock met the path there was some space for water to get splashed up onto the deck. This freaked people out, especially if they were just sitting and minding their own business. Some of the kids, though, were really annoying and kept screaming every time they got splashed. As people left, new ones came for dinner and one lady sat in a wet seat. Then she stood there and fondled her butt for a few minutes. Anyway, the memorable part was my brother ordering the scampi that wasn’t just shrimp, but the whole crayfish thing. It looked like a plate full of my electric blue crayfish “Crabby Cakes, aka Citizen Snips”, but they weren’t blue, and they were bigger. He did a good job of overcoming the horror of seeing their faces and eating what meat he could. Then we all ordered desert and I had a yummy banana split. We got some good people watching in, and taught our guest a little about making fun of people.

2 July 2003
Today my brother and his friend went to Venice, so the three of us were on our own. We went to Verona (about half hour away) mostly to go to the internet café, and a little to see the town. When I got done with deleting all the porn spams, we decided we were hungry. my father went to a change place to get more money and took a really long time to do it. He took so long because he was arguing about the rate he was getting. They I guess were going to only give him 700 Euros for $1000 when at the airport he got over 800 Euros. When he complained I guess the girl said she would give him their maximum discount, which then gave him a little more than he got at the airport. I think that means it pays to complain! Ha ha. OK, so anyway, we didn’t really do much walking around the town. Just up the street from the café was Juliet’s balcony, which turned out to be very touristy. They had little speaker box things that you could pay to tell you something about the balcony. The walls of the small courtyard were totally covered in graffiti of people professing their love for someone. Whatever. Oh, and there was a bronze statue of Juliet that had one boob rubbed shiney. Judging from the pictures people were taking, I guess everyone puts their hands on her boob. I even saw women doing it. Why would they do that to the poor girl? She was only 13! Isn't that illegal? So after we saw that we went up the street a little more and ate at a café. There were pigeons and small birds all over. I wanted to see if a pigeon could get so distracted by eating bread that I could grab it. Sure enough I got one. He seemed pretty traumatized, but maybe that was just because the camera was shoved in his face. So after lunch we strolled around some more and then headed back to the house.

We ended up missing my brother’s first call saying they were leaving Venice. He says he called the house too, but it didn’t ring. We got his next call while we were eating dinner, and my father told him to wait for another hour and a half while we got done. I’m glad he did that instead of making us miss our yummy food. I only had spaghetti in oil and garlic and hot peppers. It’s something easy I can do at home. Something tells me I’ll have to upgrade from Safeway Select olive oil…

to be continued... Click for full post and comments

Italy trip 2003: part 5

28 June 2003
Saturday was another travel day. It was uneventful except for the Gypsy family at the Autogrill. The lady behind the counter watched the feral girl running around with the stroller like a hawk, also watching the father. I merrily fell for the distraction, or maybe it was the mother's droopy boobs; they could have easily stolen anything at that time.

We found the house in Garda (actually the house is in Torri Del Benaco) easily (the directions were very good) but the traffic was pretty bad. Not only were people coming up to the lake for the weekend, but there was some triathalon going on as well. Lots of bicycles on the road, thank god they were not in our lane. But judging from the amount of Germans and tourists in general, there is high volume on the weekends. I bet there are a lot of people who stay for longer, but a much bigger number are only here for the day or weekend.

So about this house: It is beautiful just like the other, but this is much more modern. The windows have screens!! And there is a nice breeze coming off the lake all the time it seems. We have a pool again, although it is smaller, a gorgeous view of the lake (we’re on a steep road up the hill, and no one blocking the view). There is a small yard with lots of chairs to sit under the trees, or sit on the balcony from the front room. The TV has satellite with 3 English channels and the rest German. (We saw Conan on!! And then Jackass, and then South Park). All in all, this house is very much worth the price, since we have electric fans along with small AC units.

I read in some letters in the guest book that it would be a good idea to make reservations. So of course come dinner time the place we tried first was full. That was probably only because it was starting to rain and the outside was closed. We did find a place, and the waitress spoke German.

After dinner and pretty much all night we had some spectacular thunderstorms. It started at the north end of the lake, to the west of the mountains, and worked its way south. Then when we thought it was dying out it swung back up to our side of the lake. That was around bed time, and we got some nice big flashes and one giant thunderclap. It was awesome, except I had to close the window because rain was blowing in.

29 June 2003
Today we got a late start because we were waiting for the Grand Prix (Ralf won, Rubens got 3rd Michael got 4th) to start. I had read in one of the letters about a gondola up to the top of Mt. Baldo. We headed up the lake to Malcèsine, got on the gondola, and spent a few hours up at the top. The gondola ride had a midway stop where we got onto a bigger car. The second car had a longer distance, and it actually spun around as it went up! It rotated very slowly so that for a while you didn’t know you had moved (unless you were sitting on the center seat). It made one full revolution up the length of travel. That was probably one of the coolest things I’ve seen.
So at the top there were a lot of flies everywhere. We found out why when my brother and me went over the hill to find lots of cows grazing. We went down a path to find a little point where you could get a good picture of the town at the top of the lake. It was hazy again, even after the long rain last night. [There were a TON of little tiny bugs in the grass, and they were all over me. I’m surprised I’m not completely covered in bites.] I don’t think my pictures turned out very well because you couldn’t see the south end of the lake. But, it sure was neat up there. There is a ski resort on the top, and it looked like it would have been a lot of fun. My brother played chicken with a cow along the path back to the gondola. My brother won, and then the cow started mooing like she was summoning the herd to attack her defeater. I wanted to get a picture with a cow, or at least make friends with one, but those little bugs were driving me crazy! I also felt a little like running around and singing “the hills are alive” but I contained myself. It was a lot cooler up at the top than down at the lake. There was a sort of brisk breeze, but it was definitely welcome.

So that was basically the day, we had dinner at the place that was full last night. Part of the dinner was shaved parmisean on pear and arugula, and it was good, so sayeth the Maya.

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Italy Trip 2003: part 4

25 June 2003
Today we went to San Gimignano. It was nice to see this place again. I think when we came here 7 years ago, the bus parked in back of the town, because I didn’t remember any of the main road and entrance from the top of the hill. I was looking forward to buying some alabaster products, and I was not disappointed. The trinkets were all the same things I remembered. They had some Etruscan people and horsies again, almost bought one but only got an alabaster jar. We saw some kitties to pet; they didn’t seem as mangey as the pregnant cat at the house. They were on the way to a little rampart to take pictures of the valley. I tried to do a 360° picture, but people were in the way. I made the mistake of moving around them, and the pictures won’t line up at all. Looks like that’s one town that won’t get a nice long picture.

So anyway, that was all we did. I think this just driving to a new town every day is working out well. I guess you don’t really have to get everything planned so far in advance for things to go smoothly.

26 June 2003
My brother and I took another excursion to Isola d’Elba. I should say we rode the train lots and spent an hour on Elba. It took us 9 hours to get to Piombino!! The way the map shows train service was sort of like going along three sides of a square. It probably would have been a 1-2 hour ride if we could go directly to Piombino. So, we had to go up to Florence yet again, then down to Livorno. The service from Livorno to Piombino was quite limited at the hour we were there (we should have left Camucia at 5 instead of 7 am but I like my sleep) so we had to wait two hours. So we finally got to Piombino (the maritime station, not centrale) at around 3, and it is an hour ride on the boat to Elba. So that meant we didn’t get to Elba until 4. To top it off, the last train out of Piombino was at 7:10, so we would have to leave Elba on the 5:30 boat (they go every hour). Do the math: get there at 4, leave at 5:30. We boarded the boat again (with those annoying German students) at around 5. We traveled a total of 15 hours to visit a place for 50 minutes. The trains back home were not bad. It apparently is a lot easier to leave that place than get there. The last hang up was that the train didn’t go all the way to Camucia again, we had to get picked up in Arezzo. We ended up getting home at around 1 am. I think that trip we could have planned a bit better, but I didn’t want to be on a train at 5 in the morning.
So anyway, the port we got into, Portafiaria or something, is really beautiful. The buildings along the water are all different colors, and there is also the fort at the tip of the jetty. I saw small boats that could take you all over to the lesser ports. You could also rent mopeds and bikes and cars for what I thought were pretty good prices. It’s a shame we weren’t there overnight because I would have definitely rented a moped. It just looked like it would have been a good place to stay at least a night. I’m sure the lesser ports are less shoppy, but there are still a lot of hotels. I’ll just have to be happy with the 50 minutes we spent there with all the gelato stands and tourists.

27 June 2003
Friday we went to San Marino, but before we went there, we stopped in Deruta, which is the ceramic capital of Italy I think. That area has some nice deposits of clay or something. The way it works, apparently, is these artists buy the pots already done. They do not do the throwing (these are all mass produced anyway), just the glazing. And you walk into any of these stores, and there is the artist painting her pot right there! The point of going to Deruta was for me to pick out a birthday present. I thought I wouldn't be able to pick out a single pattern I liked from all the "traditional" designs. I was getting tired of the same old stuff, but thankfully I found a couple designs I really liked. My first choice was what we ended up getting, my second choice was a red background/blue flower design. So the place we got my stuff was just a seller, and she had to take us to the artist for me to pick out everything I wanted. I got four bowls and four plates of different colors. And they have a very nontraditional design. I hope they make it home in one piece so I don’t have to be disappointed [some major foreshadowing there. Turns out they arrives practically ground to dust]. But the point of this is that the seller didn’t speak English, and it was only by the help of her daughter’s friend that we get this transaction to work. So, I’ll have four place settings of authentic ceramics, and a story to go with them [or just a continuing reminder of why we should have obeyed the sign that says "we ship everywhere" at the shop with the other design].

So anyway, we then went on to San Marino. I am really sad it has been so hazy, because we could have gotten some fantastic pictures. my brother and I went up to the First Tower and we had a very nice view. It was so hazy you can’t tell the ground from the ocean in some of the pictures. Apparently the principality of S. Marino is the land of the free, which means no regulations on anything. I could have found my gun-nut friends some neato gun accessories. The gift shops along the path up to the towers were filled with the tackiest stuff I’ve ever seen. And now that I say tacky, I’ll say that my mother found some trinkets she thought were really pretty. She got a bracelet of all different stones, I guess that was OK. It was this crystal toucan that was the tacky thing. It looks like a weeble-wobble but glass [the was before I knew who this "Swarovski" guy was]. So, we drove for a pretty long time and spent just a little while there, but I think it all worked out in the end. I can’t imagine us spending any more time there, though.

We decided to stop for dinner in Sansepulcro for some reason, since every one said continue on to Arezzo (eating there would have meant we were eating at a normal time). So of course my mother started yelling again. We strolled around while restaurants were opening for dinner, and we found a nice clothes store. I got a nice little Max Mara dress out of the whole thing. While we were occupied with clothes, a place up the street opened. We ate in a room with caricatures on the walls. One of them looked like it could have been Rick Steves, but I’m sure it was just another Italian personality. There was one of Saddam Hussein kicking a globe. The globe was grimacing with its fingers in its ears. I wanted to buy that one. Another one looked like the Italian Prime Minister as a puppet master. Everyone was happy after dinner, except my mother’s inhaler was dirty and didn’t work, so she was freaking herself out and started crying again. It was kind of moist since we had driven through the mountains and thunderstorms, and she was having trouble breathing. But after that things were uneventful.

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Italy trip 2003: part 3

24 June 2003
Today my brother and I went to Siena by train. We bought tickets at the machine in Camucia, plugging in the destination. When on the train, the ticket guy told us we were going the wrong way. It took us about the length of the train ride (1.5 h) to figure out what the mistake was. The train system apparently goes by km distances, and we were going the long way to Siena. We should have taken the South train, but instead we went north to Florence. The ride home we realized it really was the long way going to Florence; it took about half hour less time, plus we got a 25-minute ride on one of the fast ones instead of ghetto pieces of crap (we had air conditioning)
So in Siena, it was really hot. I don’t know if it was the same temperature at the house, but out in the open with all the buildings made it really damn hot. The town was familiar to me, and it was apparent the change 7 years makes. This is no longer off the beaten path by any means. Damn that Rick Steves! People were every-where, but it was possible to get to practically deserted places just a block away from the main roads.

We climbed the supposed 300 steps (I think there are 300 in the tower alone, and about that many to even get there) in the main tower so we could get lots of pretty photos. Once you get to the top, there are a few levels of platforms to choose from. Since we had put in all that effort climbing that tower, I wanted a picture from the top top. Too bad Germans are rude jerks, because this guy and girl were lounging on the top top platform smoking cigarettes! Not only did we have to wait for them, we also got their ashes blown on us. That did not make me happy. They were up there for maybe 10 minutes before I decided I didn’t care that much and went down and took some pictures from below.

After climbing the tower I was extra hot and sweaty, but decided to go to the gift shop anyway (didn’t really feel like buying stuff just then, but there were things I wanted). So I picked up a “journal”, a jigsaw puzzle of the Palio, and some water colors. [A few days later when I finally felt like writing I discovered the journal was in fact an address book.] After the tower we just kind of strolled around the town. At one point we sat down along the wall of the building with the tower, in the shade with some water. Just as my brother was saying how nice it was that Siena was not like Seattle with the laws against sitting on the sidewalk, a Policeman came to shoo us away.

So we spent a few hours there, got back to Camucia (going the correct way) at a decent hour. It only took us one mistake to figure out the trains, and we never did anything like go in the wrong direction again! Yay! Even though I didn’t get to the very top of the tower, I did get some nice pictures. I just wish it hadn’t been so freakin hot!












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Italy trip 2003: part 2

22 June 2003
We had our first dinner out at Cory’s, which we saw the day before while driving. It was a really nice outside area; the meat was all cooked over coals of an open olive branch fire. Really good food, but a little pretentious and expensive. The outside area was really nice to sit in though. Aside from dinner, my brother and I explored Cortona a bit. I ended up throwing up in the middle of the street and then sat on a bench for a while. my brother went up to the castle and got some probably good pictures. I just sat and then walked around some more. I felt fine just after throwing up, but not well enough to make it to the top. By dinner I was completely fine.

23 June 2003
I think this was the day we drove all over the Siena crest, took some nice pictures of hill towns, and ate in some Monte…something town. Our waiter looked like Elijah Wood, and the food was absolutely yummy. We got cappuccinos, and they came with 1, 2, and 3 written in the foam. It was very cute. Just the right amount compared to the way-too-much-food we got at Cory’s. I guess we have figured out we don’t have to get something from each course.


Trying to get out of town, we went through some small little hole in the wall, and it ended up being someone’s driveway. It wasn’t just a driveway, it was narrow, made of dirt, pot-holy, and at least a 20% grade. It was scary, and since we were not driving the most powerful car in the world, we were a little worried if we could make it back up. So this town was pretty much on top of a hill, and this dirt road just kept going further toward the valley floor. I just thought we could get to the valley and then get back to the main road. Once we all decided it was a driveway and would not come out anywhere except someone’s front door, we turned around and headed back up to the town. I think the whole thing wouldn’t have been so bad if there weren’t so many potholes in the road. We needed to keep our speed up so we could make it, but that just made the bounces worse. If this car makes it the whole two weeks I’ll be amazed.




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Italy Trip 2003: part 1

21 June 2003
Today was the traveling day, and I was really sick of being on the road by the end of it. I did get to watch one DVD on the plane. (Only one because for a while I thought the sound was broken on my computer). The movie on the plane was “How to lose a guy in 10 days” and the food wasn’t bad until the weird Dutch breakfast. I guess that wasn’t bad, just weird. There was a period where we were supposed to sleep, although it never was completely dark outside. The sun did set, however. I got a picture of the sun rising again, maybe an hour after it set.

Holy crap I love the Venice airport. There was hardly anyone there, so I think flying out of there will make the departure go smoothly. [We think my mother left her passport at the airport, because it’s been a few days and she cannot find it anywhere.] So anyway, my father wanted an Alfa as our car, the receipt says “Alfa Romeo or similar.” That means we got a similar, which turned out to be an Opel. I thought Opels were not bad cars and this one isn’t, it’s just very wimpy. I don’t know if it is because we have 4 people in it all the time or what, but it does not have any kick. At least it’s big enough, and man can that AC neutralize that hot air! So once we got on the road we realized the legends of Italian drivers were true. They are crazy, stupid, and fast. Anyway, we got to the house in Cortona with an hour left in our 3-hour window. We took what we thought would be a scenic route along coast. It wasn’t along the coast, but it was scenic for the most part. The construction site that detoured us off into the twisty mountain roads was not fun; I’m sure it would be fine for the front passenger, but I was getting carsick in the back.

So we finally got to Cortona, got into the house, had the landlord show us everything in excruciating detail. The house is beautiful: it’s in the valley below the town, not extremely close to anything, trees all around, a huge pool, ivy covered eating area. Very pretty, but not really on the modern side. After a little while of chilling out, we went into town to look for food. The restaurant right at San Garibaldi square (actually a parking lot with a statue) looked closed. We drove around looking for a place to eat, and ended up taking some pretty drives up and down the hill of Cortona. The town perched on the hillside is pretty neat, and there is a castle on top. I hear it is a sort of long hike up to it.

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