Stupid Technology.

Ignore what blogger says about the feeds.

This is some sort of middle step that all the incomprehensible instructions have told me to do.

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Before & After

These are my favorite pink tulips last year.

Last week I answered a solicitation call at home. It sounded like a call I usually get at the office. "This isn't a sales call we just want to confirm your business information."

I stopped her right there and told her it was wrong. This isn't a business, it's a private residence.

Last night Bob said somewhere on the Internet our phone number is connected to something "Insane Genius" because he kept getting these solicitation calls.

Uh, remember this? (It's in the fourth paragraph.) I can't figure out what's going on because I've never connected my domain to my home phone number but it seems like a spectacular coincidence.



This year I have tulip rot. Or something. I haven't done any homework to figure out the problem. The cheapo tulips on the other side of the yard look fine.

The good news is that the plumber was only $115. Did I mention we needed a plumber? We've been limping along on several issues for quite some time and over last weekend the bathtub decided that draining was too much effort and it would take all the time it needed. All day.

I figured since we just paid a vat of money in federal and property taxes this week, plus a vat to Toyota two weeks ago, that the plumber would probably need whatever was left so $115 sounded practically like free.

Let's just hope all the rest of our stuff can hold together for awhile.



Here's the shop last fall when I bought those new shelves and couldn't get them to go together

Sheesh -- I'm not even finished typing this post and already the next stupid problem rolls in. It's probably not cool to blog about so I'll be kinda vague.

We've just been informed that a government agency investigation into our alleged illegal activity has resulting in a finding of unfounded. There was a weird phone call but they say they sent the notice to the wrong people. Which duh, because we're the most boring legal people ever. But it's worrisome because somehow now we're in the system. Supposedly the agency who was smart enough to send the notice to the wrong people is fixing it all and will update us next week.

Please: no more hassles.



Shop with new shelves. There are a few more things I'd like to get rid of but already 100% better.

I have to run out the door but this is the official notice that the giant website overhaul is happening this weekend. I figure it will be all screwed up and probably the feeds screwed up and probably other things I haven't thought of.

Three Things

Cigarette machine in Bad Kissingen.

1. Dahlia bulbs are on the way. It's supposed to be nice this weekend. I will be a digging machine.

2. Taxes are out the door and two days to spare.

3. Today is 14 years since I started a personal website. This month is also 14 years since I took my first yoga class and 14 years since I moved to Vancouver to live with Bob. I don't think of those things as being related but I guess they are.

Don't Fear the Colonoscopy

Ski jump in Garmisch-Partenkirchen

Well that wasn't nearly as bad as I expected. But I was expecting it to be a horrendous nightmare so your results may vary.

I was advised that the prep would be a lot easier if I ate lightly the days before the procedure. I started cutting way back on Monday and mostly ate canned fruit and vegetables and rice. Except when I got a hamburger for lunch on Tuesday because I wanted to be one of those people who says. "No lettuce or tomatoes. None of that vegetable stuff."

By Thursday morning I was all shaky and insane-feeling from not eating but since I took the day off, I had the brilliant idea that we should run a few errands before I had to start my thing. I followed Bob around stores half-weeping asking why it was taking so long. When it's your turn just stay home and watch movies.

For my prep I had to start with 4 little pills and they made me feel queasy.

Bob came upstairs and asked how I was doing.

Me: Go away.

Bob: (laughs in a sympathetic "I've been there" way)

Me: Stop laughing at me. When you had to do this did I go downstairs and laugh at you?

Bob: I'm not laughing at you.

Me: You're looking at me and you're laughing so it feels like you're laughing at me.

Bob: (backing slowly from the room) There's nothing I can say right, is there?

Me: No!

After an hour I had to drink a half gallon of Gatorade with a 14 day supply of laxatives in it. I'm not exaggerating for the purpose of story-telling. This is really the recipe. Oh, and you have to drink it in 2 hours.

This part caused me a lot of anxiety because I didn't think it was possible for me to drink that much of anything in 2 hours.

Because I have a doctorate in Following The Instructions I sat at the kitchen table with a stack of magazines, a timer and a measuring cup and every 15 minutes I poured my 8 oz and sipped it through a straw. Since I hadn't eaten in so long, it tasted great and made me feel sane again.

It did the trick and a few hours later it was mostly finished and felt fine so I cleaned the house.

The procedure was this morning. The doctor told me I could be out cold if I wanted but they prefer to do conscious sedation. I was awake during the procedure and could watch on this monitor by the bed. I thought it would be fun if there was an alien in there and first we'd see the claws and then the teeth and beady eyes. But no luck. My colon is completely healthy and I don't have to go back for 10 years.

I ate toast and soup when I got home and watched TV and took a nap. Other than being a little sleepy, I feel like normal. As soon as I post this I'm going to finish the taxes.

And one more thing: since all that my souvenir cough is gone.

Craptastic

I wish we would have had a chance to check out the Wankbahn.

Me and my colon have big plans for the afternoon.

I'm signing off and will be offline until Friday night or Saturday morning.

Original Extra Strong

I still have tons of trip pictures to share but I wanted to put up some backyard pictures.

As I predicted almost 3 weeks ago my souvenir chest cough is still hanging around. I'm now at the stage where 2 or 3 times a day plus at bedtime I'm overcome with a coughing fit so terrible it sounds like someone is killing me and I have to hold my hands over my face so my eyeballs don't pop out.

The things that help are hot tea and Fisherman's Friend so I walk around sloshing and smelling mentholated.



The deal with the colonoscopy, as I understand it, is that they like to start screening at 50 and as long as everything is normal, doing the test every 10 years.

If you have family history (and I do) and insurance that will pay for it, they like to start earlier. My doctors started bugging me about in the last couple of years and I always said that I'd call and make the appointment later. I recently had another health issue and my doctor very strongly urged me again to do the test and I caved.

The doctor said if the test is normal and my sister's tests are normal, I go on the 10 year schedule like everyone else.

Power Eating

Even the horse has his eyes closed in my pictures. Garmisch-Partenkirchen Mar 10.

This is TMI week at You're Doing It Wrong.

I'm getting a colonoscopy on Friday.

Today I have to start avoiding certain foods.

This is the list: nuts, seeds, raw fruits and vegetables.

For the average American I'm guessing this would be no problem.

I eat at least one of those things at every meal.

This morning I was making my breakfast for work and I had the yogurt and I didn't know what to put with it. I checked all the cereals but they had nuts and seeds. All the fruits have seeds and are raw.

I finally decided to have yogurt and a Cadbury Egg.

Law Abiding Citizen

Thanks Delta!

Last time I was with my family we had this conversation where I was talking about how anxious I am. Being late and not being prepared are things that make me anxious. I manage my anxiety by planning, writing notes, keeping on top of things and being prepared.

I'm not suggesting that this is the best way to be. I'm just saying this is how I am and this is how I deal with it.

During the family conversation I mentioned that I always make sure I have gas and before I close my car doors or trunk I always check my keys.

My sister cracked up and said: I never do that.

The other critical thing to know about me when reading this story is that I do not have a spontaneous bone in my body. Someone could come running over and say: The ghost of Elvis is jamming with the Pope, let's go. And I'd be like: Will it be crowded? Is there parking? Do we need tickets? How long will it last? Should we eat dinner first? Maybe it's better to stay home.



The Passion Play in Oberammergau is a BFD. They only do it every 10 years and it's outside and like, 5 hours long. You can only be in the production if you've lived in the area forever and the men all look, um, rustic, so they can look natural. The play has been going since 1624. Read the history. I don't want to watch anything that takes 5 hours if it doesn't involve hobbits or jedis, plus it wasn't going on while we were there, but we did wander by a rehearsal and this donkey would not go into the theater. The bearded man with his carrot and gentle voice couldn't coax him. Even the dog couldn't help. They tried another door but the donkey was having none of it.

This is all a set-up for the story where I tell you that last night I was writing a check for my car tags when I realized that they already expired. I'm one of those people who can roll through a stop sign in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night and still manage to get busted for it. Life is much easier for me if I just follow the rules.

The notice came while we were on vacation and when I got home I realized I needed Bob's Drivers License number so I set it aside for when he returned. And then it got set aside again. So when I finally got around to dealing with it, it was already late.

I live in Washington. I work in Oregon. Automobile licensing is open from 9-5. The only way I can take care of it in one day is in-person. So I left work early. The express bus has a stop near the licensing office. I could jump off, get my tags, jump back on and get to the park-n-ride and be done with it. Easy.



This ski jump is in view of our hosts' home. The Olympics were in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936. I was able to take part in a senior ladies ski jumping class one afternoon. Just kidding.

Except I didn't notice the part about how I needed my smog test until the lady in the licensing office pointed it out to me. After I'd already waiting in line for a half hour. The old notices used to say at the top in huge highlighted bold letters: You need an emission test this year. Now they don't use color to save money. They just put it in normal type in a bulleted list right between: you need new tags and you need to write a check.

At this point it's 4:15. I still need to walk back to the bus stop and wait for the bus to the park-n-ride. I'm guessing that emissions testing closes at 5pm. It seemed impossible but I decided to try anyway. A bus I don't normally take but says "transit center" arrived a few minutes after I got to the stop. I jumped on. The whole time my heart was racing like I was about to rob a bank.

When I was looking up the licensing office locations the night before, there was a whole list of affiliate offices including some that didn't close until 6pm but I didn't print it out or pay attention because I was going to use the one by the bus stop. In my head I tried to remember where I'd seen one.



This was our second day and we were waiting in the Munich train station. I ran off probably to buy candy and when I returned I noticed the sign above Bob's head.

Meanwhile, unbelievably, I was back at my car by 4:35. The emission station wasn't too far away, but it was rush hour. I tried to take a short cut which failed but I was quickly routed onto the right path and I arrived at emissions testing at 4:47pm. Two cars ahead of me.

I passed the emissions test at 4:57pm. Woo! I had no idea going so close to closing was good strategy.

I finally remembered where I'd seen a licensing office: next to the liquor store I use by Safeway. Double-woo! I zoomed over there and by 5:20pm I was walking out with my tags.

Actually one tag because to save money we only have to do the rear plate now.

Whew. I can relax again.

More Trip Notes

German Train ticket purchased at Munich Airport.

When we were waiting to board the plane in Portland a loud buzzer went off. The guy who was taking the tickets closed the door to the gate and turned around and said, "Sorry. The flight is already full."

Then he smiled and everybody laughed. It was funny mostly because I don't often see airline personnel that playful.

He opened the door and started boarding again. Maybe there's an alarm if the door is open a certain amount of time? And as it turned out, the flight was only about 90% full and the service amazing.



72 hours of metro use in Amsterdam. You pass this ticket in front of a thingey when you board and exit and it beeps.

On the Düsseldorf to Munich flight half the passengers were hopeless amateurs. A lady was seated in the row ahead of us when we boarded. A passenger came to claim the seat and embarrassed, she moved to the row in front. A passenger came to claim that seat and embarrassed again, she moved back to the row in front of us. By this time the person who claimed the seat in the row in front of us had discovered he was wrong and moved. Then a woman and two daughters from a country we never figured out arrived to claim the row ahead of us.

The woman seated said: This row is D - B - F

Because that makes sense.

Finally there is more seat switching until she found her correct place in seat B, strangely placed between seats A and C across the aisle.

Air Berlin had, what seemed to me, to be extremely small seats. This coming from a person who my husband insists has no ass. I had to yank on the seatbelt to get it to click shut.

The flight was only 50 minutes but they did beverage service. The snack choice was wasabe chips or a chocolate-wafery bar thing. Bob waffled when offered a choice and the young lady whispered: You can have both.

On the drop down screens they showed fake views out of a fake cockpit.



Train ticket from the train station by the hotel to the airport.

When I was a girl they were called Madonnabes. And I think there was a time when No Doubt was huge and they were called Stefanabees. Now what are they called? Gagabes? I saw flocks of them in Düsseldorf. There's probably a more clever word than "flocks" but I can't think of it right ow.

- - -

In Bad Kissingen I thanked Tante Hilla (in her 80's, she would flog me for mentioning it) for being so generous with us.

She says: Pam, you can't take it with you. The last nightdress has no pockets.

- - -

Our train passes were for first class. There were a couple of times when we didn't know where the first class cars were so we sat in 2nd which is still pretty nice.

On the way out of Bad Kissingen we found the 1st class section which was about 8 seats in the front of the train with a clear view to the conductor and the front window of the train. It was spectacular.



My last dinner on vacation Zeppos

I usually don't like to ask the hotel or touristy places about restaurants because I assume they're going to send you to some generic craphole. That did not happen on this trip.

In Düsseldorf the hotel guy sent us into the Altstadt and told us there were tons of great places but he gave us two names as well. We found one of the places he mentioned and it was perfect plus they set a beer in front of me before I even asked. If I could marry a Düsseldorf restaurant (click on that link, it's awesome), this would be it.

In the Amsterdam history museum Bob asked the adorable ticket desk clerk for some suggestions telling her it was our last night in town and we didn't want anything touristy.

It took us awhile to find the place but Zeppos was really fantastic. We had fries with three different sauces and my entree was something with shrimp that was great.

The place had a bar that looked like an after work drink spot. It was a great way to end the trip.

Here are more of Bob's adventures after I left. Even if you don't have time to read, there are great photos:

Haarlem Highlights.

Some dork Atomium thing

Clare and the Reasons

A Few More Haarlem Notes.

Small Hotel Room

Here I'm standing on the bed and leaning against the window being unhelpful as Bob looks at a map and tries to figure out the plan. At this point I'd learned enough about the controls to make shower pod and toilet pod lighting green.

Before I do my post about our tiny hotel room I need to add something that I meant to put in yesterday's post.

Yesterday when co-worker returned from the coffee shop he told me that the barista had randomly asked him if he liked Ratt. "You know, the heavy metal band."

Co-worker indicated that he did not and the barista expressed great enthusiasm for this band.

I've been to this coffee shop a number of times and I possibly could have given birth to this barista yet I am impressed at his wide-ranging knowledge of 80's music.

"I have Ratt's greatest hits," I told co-worker. "I can loan it to you."

"That won't be necessary," he said, all grumpy and ungrateful.

"And you know what?" I added. "Last night my pajama shirt was my Ratt New Year's Eve concert t-shirt from 1985."

He didn't even have a response for that.



This is the hotel closet meaning just a rack with two hangers.



This is the toilet pod. You pull those two "doors" around until they meet in the middle and hope your knees don't bump. Nothing private in here. You can kinda see the sink at the right.



Here I'm standing with my back against the door. You can see the TV above the bed and the tiny shelf on the left wall. The shower was pretty cool. The toilet "doors" are frosted but not the shower. That round thing up in the center is the showerhead. There's also a handheld sprayer. They provide two kinds of soap: daytime and nighttime. I preferred day. Bob used a blend.

I stupidly didn't get any photos of the downstairs area with the bar and couches and work areas.

One night I sat downstairs and had a beer and wrote in my travel notebook which I did an overall crap job of keeping up with. There was another man working and he asked to use my pen.

When he returned it he commented on how old fashioned it was to be using a pen and paper.

ARGH! We live in a world where pen and paper is considered old fashioned.

Don't Stop Believin'

The Hamburg UBahn system map at best station name ever Straßburger Straße

Bob didn't finish his EMusic downloads so he left me 19. I downloaded the Journey Escape album. I'm going to learn how to burn it to a CD and listen to it in my car and drive around for hours, just like when I was 17. I can't wait.

I also downloaded Ca Plane Pour Moi. No collection is complete without that song.

Bob is home. My souvenir cough has now moved into its last dastardly phase where I just have endless dry hacks that veer close to gagging. I'll be happy to be done with this.

This weekend I need to finish Game of Thrones. Only 75 pages left. And I have 6 more Gilmore Girls Season 4. And a story to finish.

That's it: 1 cough, 1 book, 1 TV series and a story.

Wish me luck.

Tulips

Amsterdam flower market

Tonight when I drove home I could see all kinds of tulips in the neighborhood. Even my next door neighbor has tulips.

None of my tulips have bloomed yet.

It seems like everything in my yard is always two weeks behind the neighbors. It's not fair.



We found the Amsterdam flower market by accident and I was completely overcome.

I ran up to a giant bulb display and hugged it and told Bob: I want all of this.

I know, he said.



They had bulbs you could buy that were approved for the US but I was traveling with the world's smallest bag and I would have had to carry the bulbs around with me for the rest of the day.

It was a tough choice but I passed. It looked like all the same stuff in the local catalog and I think all that stuff comes from Netherlands anyway.

Next year I'm buying a ton more tulips.

Things to See

Davidwache police station on the Reeperbahn.. It was nice to finally be running around Hamburg on our own so we could look at all the stuff we wanted. My Dad's family lived in this police station a long time ago.

I should be more organized about the way I'm doing this to avoid repeating myself later but I can't get it together quite yet.

My Sweetheart has checked in and as far as I can tell he's averaged about 4 museums a day plus churches, exhibits, government offices and a concert one evening.

I have a picture of him when he was a tiny baby and he's holding his head up with his eyes wide open looking around. He came out of the womb not wanting to miss anything and he hasn't changed.

The things that attract you to your partner are the same things that drive you nuts about them. I'm glad he's getting to see all this stuff and I'm glad I'm not being dragged around with him.

For my ideal vacation I don't mind a museum or two but then I like to sit around and relax. He thinks sitting around is boring. Even when we were in Reno he managed to find a museum.

He'll be home on Thursday.

Great Food Product

We flew into Amsterdam and took a train to Dusseldorf.

The next day we flew from Dusseldorf to Munich and then took a train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

There was a huge snowfall and our flight was delayed so by the time we finally arrived at the Munich train station we were starving. We ran through one of the food shops grabbing everything that wasn't nailed down.

I discovered this ingenious food product. It's a little cup with a dollop of Nutella in one half and little bread-like sticks on the other.

At first it was too cold and the Nutella too hard so my sticks kept breaking. I put the cup on the heater in the train car and a few minutes later it was melty delicious. And the stick-to-Nutella ratio was perfect.

I wish I could buy this here and take it in my lunch. I guess it wouldn't be that hard to make myself but that wouldn't be nearly as much fun.

Spotty Progress

Main Train Station in Hamburg

I've been trying to finish a story. This is the same story that I've been pulling my hair out over for the last 100 years. I think it's coming together I'm just impatient.

Meanwhile, I'm still working on photos along with a bunch of stupid administrivia.

I'm back in the real world tomorrow.

Woo! Up at 3am

We passed this creepy ad when were were on the train. "Did I just see a little blonde children-of-the-corn girl flipping me off?" I asked Bob. Later we saw it again in the train station and I grabbed a photo.

I stayed awake until about 2 minutes past 8pm last night. I got two solicitation phone calls in the evening and I was afraid the phone was going to wake me if I went to bed too early. One call wanted to know if I wanted to send letters to all my neighbors asking them to donate money to some cause that I guess I've supported in the past. How many ways can I say No?

Now I'm up and completely overwhelmed by all the photos. I have about 400 of mine plus 300 of Bob's (from just the first few days). I don't know where to start.

I'm enjoying my souvenir chest cold which is no doubt thanks to running around wet with cold feet and hours spent in public transportation. I hate getting coughs because they tend to stick around for weeks.

I made sure to cough on all the horrible children running around on the flight yesterday.

There's a bus from the Portland International terminal to the regular terminal and there were three men who got on and sat by me. One of them said the flight wasn't so bad and I must have made a face because another one said: You look like you don't agree. Were you sitting near all the children?

Today's plan is to drink peppermint tea and continue re-acclimation. Also do some writing and yoga since I just took two weeks off and I need to get my groove back.

Have I explained that Bob is staying in Europe for another week? Here are two posts from Bob's first day without me. Haarlem Part I and Harrlem Part II.

Honey, I'm Home.

Berliner Tor Hamburg Subway Station. In case you can't tell: I'm sitting in the subway car taking a photo out the window of the station name on the wall.

I'm home. I'm tired but happy. I'm going to eat some soup and watch some Gilmore Girls and then stagger off to bed.

Amsterdam: Vacation is Finished

Sadly, I haven't secured a job as a towel girl for one of the Dutch soccer teams so I'm coming home tomorrow.

Another action packed day. I'm so tired I can hardly see straight. The hotel said that the airport shuttle will only take me if I bought the ticket in advance. That's a stupid system for a hotel shuttle. I'm taking the train instead which is cheaper but I have to haul my bag over to the train station and now that it's stuffed with candy I'd rather minimize the amount of humping it around.

Almost done.

Today we went to the History Museum. The guidebook didn't make it sound like much but it turned out to be awesome AND not filled with squirrely teenagers. Every museum has been overflowing with squirrely teenagers and their skinny jeans and loud whispers and obliviousness.

I'm going to run upstairs and charge my iPod and try to stuff the rest of my goodies into my bag.

Many photos when I get home.

Amsterdam Day 2

There can't possibly be any tort law in this country.

The entire transportation system is an accident waiting to happen. Cars, pedestrians, bikes, trams, trucks in total anarchy. I get the feeling that anything goes although I did see a guy get busted today after zooming his motorcycle through a pedestrian area.

Today there was a crew tearing up the street which was just one lane. The Dutch don't pay someone $30 an hour to hold a flag and wave everyone around. The cars just drove up on the sidewalk to get around it. And the people and bikes just got out of their way.

Bob and I both had to watch for a minute to make sure we were understanding what was happening.

Also every restaurant has the bathroom in the basement and the stairway is practically a ladder.

A great day although a tad long and food deprived. It was sunny! And probably hit 45 degrees! All the Dutch people were sitting in the sun smoking cigarettes and smiling.

* * *
More on the hotel. It's like a design experiment. It's called citizenM. The first floor is like a giant lounge with all kinds of tables, chairs, couches, TVs, work areas and food/bar. We've spent our evenings there before going to bed and it's nice. I guess it's not so much a tourist hotel as a business traveler hotel.

The room has it's own computer thing where you can set up your lighting, music, window shade and so forth.

Last night at midnight the alarm went off. All the lights came on and the sound of stampeding elephants. I'm not making this up. I woke up and was thinking: what the hell? It can't be morning yet. I waited for Bob to deal with it and finally elbowed him because he was sleeping through it. This morning I figured out how to turn it off so there won't be a repeat performance tonight.

Also you can pick the color you want for the toilet and shower pods. It is the world's tiniest room but we like this place.

One more big day tomorrow. More museums and I'm sure lots of wandering around completely lost.

Amsterdam

We practically sprained our arms patting ourselves on the back for picking such great hotels on the Internet and then we arrived in Amsterdam.

This the most tragically tiny hotel room in the world. I'm trying to take photos but it's so small I can't get back far enough. It doesn't have a closet, it has a towel-rack thing where you can hang your coats. There is one shelf that's big enough for three of Grandma's knickknacks. There's a drawer under the bed where Bob could fit his suitcase after he took out the extra pillows and towels.

At one point Bob was trying to find something in his suitcase and I had to sit on the toilet to get out of the way.

However all was forgiven when Bob discovered the giant TV screen above the bed with about 100 channels of free grown-up movies. We already saw a clip that involved two girls frolicking on a speed boat. So yeah, the world's smallest hotel room with the giantest TV.

The trip is still going great. We had a great time in Hamburg and got lots of time with Tante Irmgard.

One of our cab drivers asked about our trip and we explained what we were doing and he said: Oh the relatives tour.

The relatives tour ended this morning.

We arrived in Amsterdam at 3pm and found the hotel, ditched our stuff and then went into town and got our local public transportation passes and some museum tickets. We found a fantastic meal and have returned to the hotel.

The only bummer is the weather. The weather is wearing me down. I knew we wouldn't have great weather on this trip at this time of year but I didn't anticipate that we'd be lucky if it hit 40 for a high during the day. I'm always cold. My feet are cold. My hands are cold. We've been lucky on precipitation. We've missed a lot of the worst of it until today. Cold hard rain. I had to wring my hat out. Yahoo weather tells me that the rain stops after today. Yay.

This hotel has free terminals so I might check in again but we have two full days in Amsterdam and then I go to the airport first thing Thursday morning.

Bob is waiting for turn so I'm off for now.

Bad Kissingen, Germany

Happy Birthday Mom.

Every time we get over-confident that we know what we're doing we screw up.

We took a train from GAP to Munich. An ICE train from Munich to Würzberg. Our itinerary said Würzberg to Bad K. Except I guess we were in the wrong car and the train did a saucer separation and we were on our way to East Germany. Bob asked the conductor and he sent us on another train back the way we came and then we transferred to another regional train. What's that? 5 trains?

We arrived and took a taxi to Tante Hilla's. Since we were late she had rounded up a neighbor to drive to the train station to look for us. The cab driver pulled over and she came over and told him where he should park. He pulled to a different spot and he unloaded us and she came over and showed him where she wanted him to park.

I was intentionally vague with Hilla about where we were staying but by the end she had to find out and had already phoned them and informed them she was local and her niece was coming and to prepare the best room and so forth. I should have recognized the look on the guy's face when I told him my name.

We have a lovely room and I slept through the night for the second time since we arrived. My dysfunctional sleeping has made the jump over to the new time zone perfectly.

We've had a great time so far and I am well fed and drink a half gallon of beer a day. I bought some Prinzen Rolle and put them in mz hat and then got crumbs in my hair. The drawback to packing a small bag is I don't have room to carry all the cookies and candy I want.

Hilla asked if we wanted to go to dinner or if we wanted Rouladen at her house. Of course I wanted her cooking but I didn't want to be too much trouble. "I already made it," she said.

We're taking a break here and then a rest at the hotel and then over to Hilla's. She wrote down the instructions for the bus including writing a note we can give to the bus driver so he knows what to do with us.

Tomorrow we're off to Hamburg.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen:

Current Weather Conditions.

The German keyboard is laid out all different and I've had a few liters of bier and it took about 15 minutes to type that URL so there will be no more URLs in this post.

We arrived at Schiphol Airport Friday morning and waited a few hours before catching the train to Düsseldorf. At the time I was mad at myself because this was supposed to be a big money saver and now we were wasting so much time sitting around. But it turned out okay. We had good adventures and were forced to stay awake and stand on breezy train platforms

I forgot the first thing we do everytime we get off the train in a new city: get completelz lost.

It was the train station's fault. They had a giant map with a red dot that said you are here. It should have said: turn around and go out the other door and you are here.

We finally found our hotel and the desk guy directed us to a fabulous restaurant and we ate our weight in wurst and potatoes and returned to our room and I fell asleep at 7:15 and when I finally woke up it was light outside and I got up to check my watch and it was 8:10. Our plane was taking off at 10am.

Team Pam and Bob sprang to action, shampooed, packed and were at the front desk in 30 minutes. The cab arrived 5 minutes later and we were in the terminal about 20 minutes later. We zoomed through check in and then to airport security.

This is the most organized, efficient country except for local airport security. The weekday business travelers at PDX would eat these people for lunch. We could have gotten 100 passengers through in the same time it took 2 dozen to get through in Düsseldorf. And we didn't even have to take our shoes off.

Flight was delayed 1 hr 40 because of huge snowfall in Munich. Then we got out of the gate and had to turn back because of technical problems. Then the technical problems were fixed. Actually the Captain's exact words were: hopefully the problem is fixed. Just the confident speech I want to hear before take-off. Then we had to get back in line for take off. Then there was a delay unloading the luggage.

We finally got to the train station and then another 45 minutes for our regional train.

But we got here finally. yay. All the Neuner girls are taller than me now. Luis nicely pointed out that he wasn't but I'm sure when I see him in August that will have changed. There's lots of snow and it's pretty.

This rearranged keyboard has reduced my typing to about 15 words a minute so I will stop here. Possibly more later.

Window Washers

Fox Tower, downtown Portland.

Three Bits

Did you read that Americans only clean their refrigerators once or twice a year?

If they meant, take out the crisper and cheese drawer and shelves and scrub out everything with water and baking soda, then yeah I only do that once or twice a year.

But they mean throw out all the old ooky stuff that no one ate.

I do that every week. There is nothing past date in my refrigerator, ever. There is no container in the back with an unidentified substance covered with mold.

The food lives in there. Why wouldn't you want it sparkling clean?

Right now it's almost empty and I scrubbed it out this evening. You could do heart surgery in there.

* * *

Our dryer has been broken for a long time. If there's any time on the dial and the dryer door is closed then it would be on. So you had to turn it off using the dial.

Today I threw some stuff in and turned the dial and it didn't work. I was opening and closing the door and turning the dial around and around. I thought it was broken.

Finally I hit the "push to start" button and it worked. So now broken is fixed.

* * *

I'm all packed. I've been working on traveling with smaller bags. On this trip I'm not even taking a backpack in addition to my main bag. Just one bag small enough to carry-on. Eventually I'm going to get it so that all I travel with is my ID and a ziploc bag with a single tube of moisturizer.

Trip Nostalgia

Scan of crappy 1990 photo of me and my sister at Berlin Wall

My computer has been acting like a jerk lately. I did extensive research (3 seconds of googling) and apparently have a kernel panic problem. Am in the process of providing my kernel with some sedatives. Relax and be cool, kernel.

I read that Blogger isn't pulling the plug on FTP until May 1st now. Yay! One more thing I can put off for later.



Scan of crappy 1990 photo of me and Tante Hilla on the bank of the Elbe River.

I hate this part of trip preparation. The part where everything is still all chaotic and unconfirmed. Travel arrangements that I thought were solid have fallen apart and solving the problem is a huge time suck. I'm anxious and leaving myself notes everywhere.

Bob bought me a new bag and I'm doing a trial run on packing but then half the stuff I wanted to take was dirty so now I have laundry in. What I really want to do is crawl in bed and try to finish this paperback that I foolishly started last week thinking I could finish it quickly. I don't want to take a half read book on the trip but I hate to leave it sitting here for two weeks.

I already picked my books for the trip. I'm only taking 2. Both have been sitting around here forever. A Man in Full by Tom Wolfe, 787pp. mass market paperback and A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin, 807 pp. mass market. The Martin one is part of a series and it would probably be smarter to bring the second one of these but I'm not doing it that way.



Bathroom prices in what was then Yugoslavia but is now Slovenia.

I was going to do a whole week of old trip photos and travel notebook snippets but I think I'd better use my time for getting organized.

The photos in this post are from a 1990 trip to celebrate my cousin's wedding. I don't think I have a travel notebook from that trip. Hard to believe but if I have one I don't know where it is.

I found my notebook from my 1997 trip which was a one year anniversary trip with my sweetheart and I'm going to include an excerpt below.

At this point, I'm looking forward to the actual trip part, when you get on the plane and everything is in motion. You can't worry about it any more.

Meanwhile, I need to try to fix a hotel reservation.



Menu in Postojna. We went to these caves. I remember thinking that Yugoslavia must not have tort law because the caves were a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. There was this roller coaster-like ride through the caves and I swear if you sat up too much your head would have been taken off.

Excerpt from 1997 travel journal. I chose a boatface related item.

Backstory: we took a tour from Hamburg, Germany to a resort island called Sylt and then took a ferry to Denmark. (Aug 21, 1997, as in original)

We get on the ferry and it's like this cramped packed dining room -- hot with people smoking and eating meat. Is that a recipe for vomit or what?

I don't know how to find things and walk around the boat which can I bitch? Why the f#@!!ing hell are there no maps. I've yet to see a map of our ferry route -- not like I'm driving -- but I'd like to know. Anyway. I've found a great seat on the top level outside. Fresh air, cool breeze, view of the wake. I am happy.

It is unfortunately very gray. Sky and water meet in a blue-gray blur at the horizon. I can't see what would not doubt be a fabulous view of Denmark. ... I can now glimpse a tiny stretch of dune. [note: am I writing this on the ferry out on the deck?] A narrow bit of sand and shrubs.

We go to Sonderberg-captirol, I think, and then to another ferry and then 2 hrs. home. Then I hope that's the last of the boats on this trip.

There are some great photos of this trip but they're downstairs somewhere and I can't go dig around right now.

The Most Amazing Sandwich In The World

Today I visited the food cart pod up at PSU. Everything I know about food carts I learned at Food Carts Portland. They are my go-to for lunch planning.

I've only eaten two meatloaf sandwiches in my life. The first one I said should have its own national holiday.

This one was even better. This one should be President of the United Nations. Are meatloaf sandwiches an exceptional food? Or have I just been lucky?

It was from Buddha Bites. Doesn't that sound like a place that should serve free-range soy bean pie? I know. In fact, after I ordered it I thought maybe it was going to be soy-loaf thing.

I bought a brownie, too, but I was too full so I brought it home. I also couldn't finish my sandwich and there were only two bites left but I brought them home. I'm going to arm-wrestle Bob for them later.

To all the people who live in places that aren't conducive to food cart culture: I am very sorry for your loss.

Hurry, Hurry, Here Comes My Stop

This guy showed up on Monday but I got home too late to take a photo and yesterday it was raining sideways. The first daffodil is always my favorite.

There are two buses I can take between the park-n-ride to downtown Portland.

One is direct and one stops in downtown Vancouver before it goes over the river.

In the morning I almost always take the longer ride. It's always less crowded and because of the schedule arrives in Portland only a few minutes after the non-stop bus.

In the afternoon, I usually take the non-stop bus. Also because of the schedule.

However, I've learned to take whichever bus shows up first. No matter what. Because there have been too many times that I thought the next bus would arrive any minute and it did not.



I've never been here but I love the front. Barfly makes it sound good, if I were 20 years younger.

Yesterday, my regular bus was late. In fact, for 15 minutes not one single bus stopped at my stop. Even the Portland buses that come every few minutes. I thought we were part of some sort-of experiment in human behavior. I was ready to start lighting things on fire.

Also it was raining sideways.

My bus showed up 20 minutes late. The bus is supposed to run every 15 minutes during rush hour.

It was completely packed to the rafters. I said, "Fork it, I'm not getting on this bus."

And the next bus came 30 seconds later. It only had 5 people on it.

When the door opened I said, "I KNEW IT!"

My Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Name: Grumpy

Front yard today. Flowers are coming.

I know it's only Saturday but I'm not loving this weekend. I'm not going to go into all the details.

This morning I was at my writing desk bright and early and then proceeded to beat my head against the keyboard in a non-productive fashion for quite some time.

I thought some exercise would help and went for a walk with Bob and later did some yoga. Then I ate a Cadbury Egg which was delightful except I'm not used to that much sugar at one time so I got kinda jumpy.

I returned to the writing desk for an equally unproductive afternoon session. Then I figured if sitting at my desk was going to be such a huge waste of time, I should do something else.



Downtown Portland: Broadway and Taylor

I went and worked in the front yard. I never did my usual autumn clean-up so there was all sorts of dead stuff that needed to be clipped and yanked. I found a major snail breeding and recreation center which I had to destroy. I also picked up a half ton of cat and dog shit.

Seriously, I would reconsider my "no pets" position if I could get a pet that would crap in other people's yards. The dog crap was imbedded in the hydrangea. Does it make sense that a big dog would come in to the yard and squat on a plant right next to the back door? But it doesn't make sense that a neighbor would pick up its dog crap and then dump it in the middle of a plant in my yard, either. I don't know what's going on back there.

I got some work done and, at last, felt some small measure of progress. Digging always makes me feel better.

Oh, so the latest issue of Asimov's is out and my story isn't in there. As I've said from the beginning, I don't know when it's coming out. I though I was being all cool and laid back and like, "Whenever." But now I'm getting nervous like I've been punked.

Downhill

I'm not a huge fan of the Winter Olympics. Once you've seen a few people strap themselves to something and fling themselves down a mountain, you've seen practically the whole thing.

I've tried to get into the spirit of things and I sat down with a sandwich over the weekend and fired up the tube just in time to see commercials and two guys talking. Later I tried again and it was commercials and some athlete who was such a weenie I wanted to punch him in the face. I'm not sure which sport but I think he did something with a snowboard. I tried again the next day and it was commercials and then this lady who went and saw polar bears.

I don't remember polar bear watching being an Olympic sport.

Then last night I wanted to watch the figure skating because I like that event and I'm a recently converted Johnny Weir fan. No one is more surprised than I am.

My DVR wouldn't tape Lost and Olympics at the same time. I thought those gadgets were supposed to be able to do two at once but my machine is old and crotchety and is doing a weird popping thing which means it's going to break the minute I need it to record something I'll die without. Time for another trip to my favorite to swap it out again.

Of course I wasn't going to skip Lost so that got DVRd and I sat in front of the TV and watched more commercials and hoped for skating. I finally got a magazine to read during the commercials. The whole time I tried I saw one skater and the TV said I could watch more skating in 27 minutes and I said screw it and went to bed. This morning I found Johnny's short program online. The Internet wins again.

Stay At Home Husband

This is at the elementary school near our house. I was trying to get the camera as high as I could. You can see the shadows of my arms

Bob started sabbatical in January and doesn't go back to teaching until September.

I almost wrote "doesn't go back to work" until September but it's not like he's sitting around the couch ordering me to bring him another sandwich.

He's got a bunch of projects he's working on and he's taking classes. And he's also way more involved in domestic contributions. My favorite is that he's doing most of the laundry.

During the first couple of weeks while we were transitioning to the new routine, I never thought I'd make it.

He was there when I left. He was there when I got home. He spent most of the day without a lot of contact with other people. The minute I hit the door he wanted to tell me all! about! his! day!

We had a couple of major shouting matches where I said I need to put down my purse and change into my sweatpants and enjoy 15 minutes of peace and quiet when I get home from work. And he would be all defensive about just wanting to connect with me when I got home.

Now that we're settled in, I like having him on sabbatical. He's way more relaxed and doing all kinds of things that feed his hungry mind. Last week he went to MacWorld in San Francisco for a few days. Normally I look forward to a few days with the house to myself but not this time.

I always give Bob a hard time because he has no concept of how much I eat. Whenever he makes my plate I say: think of how much you think I would eat and then cut it in half. And he still hands me plates mounded with pasta or giant blobs of meat and sauce. Most of the time I insist on fixing my own plate.

I guess I have no concept about how much I eat either because I had all these menu plans. I thawed out some tomato soup that I made last summer. And I had a few potatoes and leeks that were in their last days so I made a pot of potato leek soup. And I a few other plans but it took me the entire time to finish the potato leek soup.

This morning we divided into A and B Teams and worked on trip planning. He did trains. I did accommodations. I'm finally feeling like we're really going somewhere.

Come Sail Away

This is part two to the photo I posted here. I don't love boats. There are times when I will get on a boat without drama but generally I'd rather just not get on a boat. We have a whole series of photos of me on boats doing my boatface which I will have to post someday. Boatface is an uphappy face.

My father grew-up in a huge port city and he does love boats. And his family. I don't think we ever did anything in our visits to Hamburg that didn't include a harbor cruise, a ferry trip, a river taxi or whathaveyouonaboat.

The photo above is from a ferry we took to an island called Föhr. It was windy and cold and August. We went to visit my cousin who was at a summer camp. My note on the back of the photo says: "Notice the windswept seas."

Here's a quote from the travel journal [as in original]:

There was a nice beach and lots of little beach seats. Unfortunatly it was very, very cold with and icey wind blowing. We had a nice lunch and we walked around through the shops. This island is like Denmark - kinda. There are windmills and some of the roofs of the houses are thatched with this straw stuff.
The ferry journey home was very rough and it rained all afternoon.

I uploaded a bunch of photos earlier this week thinking I'd have them when I posted and then I never had enough time to post them all.

Here's my other main story:

I started my personal webpage in 1996. Back in those days you got a website from your Internet provider. My url was: www.teleport.com/~prentz. And you had to learn some basic HTML and FTP your files where you were instructed to.

You can see early versions on archive.org.

Try this.

I started with blogger in 2001 and got my own domain in there somewhere.

A couple weeks ago I got a message from blogger that they weren't supporting FTP any more.

I spent at least half a day thinking: "I didn't even know there were other choices."

I re-read the stuff a million times and I think I get it know and I did some homework and I think what's going to happen is that I'm going to find a new host and change platforms. I'm not asking for technical advice, I'm covered.

This is something I've thought about for the past several years but to paraphrase Kenman I never wanted to spend a day-and-a-half staring at my computer and saying, "Shit."

I might possibly get to it this weekend although I have a chore stack that I intend to tackle. I get Monday off and I think I'm going to make it a not writing day and prioritize all these other things that I've been putting off.

So, if you try to find my site and it's a hopeless mess. That's what's going on.

The Truck is Here

North Sea in Summer 78. I don't know why I'm putting this photo with this post.

Back in the eighties I had a job in Hollywood at a film camera rental place. Every morning, I think at about 10am, a food truck would come.

Maria, the receptionist, would announce the arrival of the truck but for some reason, the big boss didn't want her to make the broadcast over the system intercom. She had to go to each individual extension.

My desk was near hers and every morning I'd get to hear it. Maria was (is?) an actress and she'd have to say it about 30 times often with great enthusiasm:

The truck is here.
THE TRUCK IS HERE.
The TRUCK is here.
The truck IS here.
The truck IS HEEEEE-RRRREEEEE.

And so forth. I've been out of touch with her for eons but if I had her phone number I'd call her right now and holler: The truck is here.

The truck food was pretty good. One of my favorites was the quesadilla which had a cilantro-y salsa folded inside and was the perfect combination of outer crunch and inside melty cheese. I don't think I ate any other food from the truck.

Pointless Wanking

One of my Clarion West instructors Connie Willis signs her latest book for me.

Since the beginning of the year I've been trying to get this story revised and ready to submit. It's a long one and has given me an extra amount of headache since the very first draft.

That one was set aside for a little rest and I started preparing a different story for submitting. This one was a lot more fun which was a refreshing surprise. I thought maybe I was always going to find revisions agonizing.

My point is that I've been putting almost all of my free time into these stories and I'm starting to feel a bit frazzled on everything else. As soon I get them both submitted I'm taking a day to do maintenance which includes house things, yard work, errands and probably the taxes, also the millions of photos and duplicates I have in various unlabled folders and the 50 URLs I have saved in a folder in my desktop to look at later. Why do I do this to myself?

I can't help it. I saved them, now I have to look.

I did finally get a few more of those old photos scanned and will share later this week.

The Most Depressing Sundries Shop in the World

When we moved into the new office building about 18 months ago, among the first thing we did was check out the restaurant and the sundries market.

After moving we went to the restaurant bar for happy hour. It smelled like beer and had the ambiance of a bar in an airport hotel. We decided never to go there again. It later went out of business. It's like a haunted restaurant now because all the stuff is still in there, including the hard liquor, and occasionally there will be a light on and a few chairs moved around, but no people.

We also only went into the sundries market one time. Co-worker smokes. She didn't have his brand. She didn't have his back-up brand. We never never went in there again.

The sundries market was tiny and didn't even have good candy. The whole place reeked of despair. There was a 50-ish lady who is the only person I ever saw working in there and she never smiled. It wasn't like she was a person who doesn't smile much, it was like she was about 5 minutes a way from swallowing a box of paper clips to end it all.

One day the place was locked up and there was a big sign that the business license was expired. But she returned. And she seemed to be trying. There was a sign that she now sold coffee. Two sizes. Small and large. There was a sign they now served Chinese food.

Our law clerk last summer bought soda from there even after I told him it was the most depressing sundries shop in the world.

I didn't even like to walk past it. I always thought it was too bad they didn't get some charming person in there and paint the walls and sell yummy baked goods.

A couple of weeks ago I noticed a sign that they had new management. I saw two new people working in there. Bummer lady is gone. They wear bright green smocks and it looks they have colorful signs up and a big display of sandwiches.

I don't know for sure because I still can't bring myself to go in there.

News on the Radio

Today's my mother-in-law's birthday.

I had a good week but I woke up at 2:30am this morning and I'm completely droopy right now. I had an epic post planned but the scanner decided to go crazy on me so we'll have to look forward to it later.



Here's one of the shots from the Europe trip. I wrote on the back, "Arc D'Triumph Aug 78." I love the cars.

Tonight's update is that I sold another story, "Estelle Makes the Casino Run," which will be available online on June 1st. The table of contents is here: Innsmouth Free Press.

I'm excited to see my name turn up in one of my Google vanity alerts from something other than my own blog.