European base of operations...

My parents are now world travelers, officially. Well, my Mom had been to London a few times here and there, and some other places, but my Dad, not in this lifetime did I think I'd see him get onto a plane and go across the Atlantic ocean. Almost insane is what I would call it, but I'm glad that they went over there, I'm happy that my Dad went there. This is not something to be wasted, this travel to Europe and having a European base of operations. I was discussing this with the SO lately, and we need to roll on over there as soon as we can afford it. Who wouldn't want to spend time in Sweden. It's an insanely beautiful country, with some of the nicest folks I've ever met. The Germans, while nice, a little more like New Englanders in their stoicism, whereas the Swedes are more like the Southerners where they're super warm and open. I love the cities over there. Everything in Europe where everything is centralized, and close to the center of town, where you can stay in somewhere centrally, and walk everywhere. I wish it were more like that around here in the US. Centers of towns and cities flourishing once again, instead of the malls and sprawl. I hate suburbia. It really sucks ass to put it plainly. But yeah, the folks, they're over there now enjoying their early Christmas gift from my sister Kerri and my brother in law Drew, which was/is a free flight to Sweden, and the time to hang out for a couple of weeks, tour around, see things, go to Stockholm, other places, ride the train to locations unknown, and so on and so forth. I'm certain that my Dad resisted going over there at first, but once he got there, I'm sure he's all about it now. He loves getting out there, he just doesn't know it so much. He has to be convinced of it, and when he is, he's in feet first. It's good to see. I'm glad that he's over there checking out the scene, and seeing the sights. Everyone should hang out in Europe at some point in time.

I've been over there several times myself of course over the last 10 years or so. First time was Austria and Germany with some side trips to Denmark, Italy, France, and England. I landed at Gatwick on the way over, and myself and a guy I was traveling with got bumped off of a flight, so we had an obscenely long layover. Flush with cash from our first bumped trip coming from Boston, we ran outside, jumped in a cab, and took a whirlwind trip through London. Call it sightseeing 101 on a budget, and in sort of a rush. We got to see some of the good stuff, and I got to make my obligatory, "Look kids. Big Ben. Parliament." joke from European Vacation. Once I got to Austria, the European Vacation jokes continued, since we were in Salzburg, and I went on the Sound of Music tour in town, I had to make the, "Hills are alive with the sound of Griswold." Opening scene of the movie itself. Look, if you haven't seen European Vacation, rent it. It's pure mid 80's kitsch, and well, it's damn funny, it could be Chevy Chase at his coke snorting best, well, maybe aside from Caddyshack, and Fletch, also key movies, but I digress. You can skip Modern Problems where he gets toxic waste all over him, and then contracts super powers from that, it was like a bad comic book rip-off, and wasn't really funny at all. Anyway, Europe. What I was most surprised at coming into Austria was the fact that when we de-boarded the plane in Salzburg, there were no customs people there to check you in. Nobody. Just a big sign saying welcome to Austria. Damn, security was tighter trying to get into that David Lee Roth concert I attended when I was in junior high. Got to spend a lot of time in Southern Germany, and in Austria for 2 weeks. Great stuff, great stuff indeed. Climbed mountains, drank real German beer, met real German women, saw buildings that were older than my entire country, walked into antique shops, ate local food, and the list could go on forever. It was great, honestly, just superb.

2nd time I got to spend 2 weeks in Sweden when I was working for Volvo. Once again, lots of touring around, walking around the city of Goteburg by myself, checking out buildings, the sights, people, and just getting to know the country and the culture. The great thing about Sweden is that everybody, and I do mean everybody speaks English. They said that they start taking it when they are in about what we would call kindergarten, along with other languages. Why don't we do that here in the US? If I should ever happen to have the misfortune of having kids, they're getting language courses at an early age. Don't know what language, but something. Most likely Spanish, as it is becoming pervasive especially in North Carolina. We have a lot of Hispanic immigrants living here now, and I'm sure that this number is going to grow throughout the entire country. Sweden. Once again, great people, great culture, and just a special place to visit and check out, as is the rest of the Scandinavian countries. I made my way to Norway, Denmark, and Finland on that trip, got to spend a little bit of time in each of them. And for those of you that are single, the Norwegian women are the best. The Swedish women, not so bad, but Norway is where it is at my friends. Norway. My disclaimer for that bit of advice is that it was for only the single friends of mine out there. If you trotting off to Europe, specifically Norway and or Sweden and leave your SO at home (for those of you not paying attention SO = significant other) so you can go and carouse, don't come blaming me for that. I will play the politician and deny that I had anything to do with that. I will be going back, but the SO is coming with me for sure. Last 2 times I went overseas, I didn't have an SO to speak of. I'm sure Drew is going to love being inundated with relatives from our side of the family for the entire time that they're over there. This is what you get when you set-up a base of operations such as this. Mom and Dad are there now. Kelly and Doug were there earlier this year. Can't wait to see what the schedule is going to be next.

I'm excited. Yes, I'm a geek, but I'm excited. Apple introduced more new iPods today, with video. And of course, you can now get a 30g iPod for $299. Damn it all. When I got my 20g a couple of years ago, the damn thing was $399. Now you've got color, video, and 10 more gig of space, and it's $100 cheaper. Ah, hell, this is what I get for getting in on the ground floor of this thing. So now I'm thinking about selling mine off, and procuring a new one. Seems like it would be the best thing to do. But then they're going to change it again about 2 weeks from now. I think I'm going to take the "car" approach with the current iPod that I have. Run it into the ground, and when it doesn't work any longer, or can barely hold a battery charge, then get a new one. By then, the iPod will be set up to run the entire country I'm sure. Apple, getting smarter in their marketing. It's good that they keep rolling out new products I think, it keeps them fresh, and hip, and new. I know I'm never going to purchase a PC after getting an Apple laptop. I never thought I could actually love a computer, but I love this thing. It's just plain old awesome. It brings oohs and ahhs when I bust it out of its case in the presence of others. For me, it's grown on me, and I don't see it as special anymore when I do bring it out, but for other people unaccustomed to such cool and neat stuff, it still brings stares and people checking it out. I like that. My laptop is cooler than school Fat Albert.

Why can't I sleep? I came home from work, and immediately fell asleep, woke up shortly thereafter, had a little snack, and then watched some TV, fell back asleep on the couch, decided it was time to rack it, and as soon as the head hit the pillows, I've been awake ever since. Couple of hours now, thought I'd finish this off, and then try to sleep again. I think now though, it's time. Oh, and one more thing, if you're a local bike racer in NC, or used to be a local bike racer in NC, read the rant posted by my friend Chad over at his blog about this team that we have to race against all of the time. Chad is pretty much spot on with this one. Sure it comes across as being kind of harsh and all, but hey, truth hurts don't it?

Link: www.dirtycycling.com/cc/

Plus you can see some of the shit he's been whipping up at culinary school.


Oh, PS, if you haven't gotten the Kanye West CD yet, I recommend it. It's damn good actually. I was quite surprised that I liked it so much, and also, there is another CD that I've been listening to, band called Devil's Radio, also very good in my opinion. Some will tell you that my opinion of music is actually at odds with most regular folks, but I don't think so. Check out those 2 discs, Kanye is all over the place of course, Devil's Radio, more like some stripped down punk rock stuff, kind of "Misfit-ish". Check out their website here: http://www.devilsradio.net/ I think even Chad will like them, and their album is really good. Good songs throughout the record. OK, now it's really time to go to bed.