Duck

Hungary: 9/18-19

2008-09-26T04:08:15Z

I'm back, but it still feels like 5 am, so this bit is stuff I wrote down in Heathrow.

Thursday (9/18) was built to reduce driving. We would see Esztergom and Visegrád, but we'd stop in Szentendre regardless of when we got there. So we spent the morning in the old of Esztergom, mostly walking the streets shopping and having tea. Then we were a couple hours at the very scenic but slightly artificial upper castle in Visegrád. [This structure was destroyed by the Turks. The ruins had been used by Hungarian revolutionaries, thus prompting the Austrians to further wipe out anything usable.]

We had lunch in the lower town. I think this is where we discovered the joys of Hungarian bacon, which slice very thick, notched and left on another meat. The combination with paprika is fantastic. AFterwards we did find the city center of Szentendre, which was a long walkable area that we crossed getting our bearings. The Tour Info place supplied us with a place to stay, and we ate at the first non-Magyar place that night: Greek, which was very nice and actually the most expensive of the trip, but waiters generally are successful when they push lamb dishes on me. Still, I'm fairly sure I never saw any sheep on Santorini.

We also decided that we wanted to spend the rest of the trip in Budapest, so we found an internet cafe and booked the next two nights in apartments on the Pest side.

On Friday (9/19), we clearly woke up before Szentendre did. To me, the beds at this place were the worst of trip. The sheets smelled musty. G claimed they overtreated. But it was the best breakfast with homemade sauces and jams to accompany a large selection of meats and cheeses with the usual vegetables. The lady was funny.

The Danube bend is primarily a Budapest day trip, and Szentendre is the worst. The walkable area was a ghost town before ten, and while shops were starting to open the place, they were rather touristy and expensive to boot. So we took off for Buda.

The rest of the day was orientation. We stopped at ruins we saw when passing north through Obuda. It turned out to be Aquincum, the Roman settlement famous for its hot mineral baths. We found the apartment broker, arranged to have our car picked up, found our quite spacious one bedroom place with kitchen - and washing machine - around the corner from the synagogue. We walked around, found Vaci utsa and Vörösmarty der (the shopping district), ate at the Blue Rose (recommended restaurant on our block), which was a good Hungarian meal - bacon-wrapped pork and Egri Bikavér (the Bull's Blood of Eger, essential for every good siege).

Hungary Update

2008-09-24T06:43:33Z

Well, I never got to update any more while on the trip. Budapest was fantastic! We're now heading off for a fifteen hour tour to London and a city near you.

Hungary: 9/15-17 (The low points)

2008-09-21T20:03:01Z

Monday (9/15) was mostly a re-tool day. It rained... hard and steadily, but we did buy a new camera and a quite a bit of clothes. The history here is that during the weeks before we got here, Hungary was in the upper 80's and 90's, but rain was in the forecast. Then we arrived. There had been a little rain, and now it was much cooler with high's around 60 and lows around 40. It got really cold when we were eating in the shade Sunday afternoon. I didn't have a jacket, just a pullover I could use when we went caving. G brought a lot of sundresses. For the record, it hasn't gotten to 60 since Sunday, but it did very little raining after Tuesday. So we bought stuff. I made the previous post on that day. We ate at the same place that evening as Saturday... inside.

G was impatient. We planned two different days for Tuesday. If it was looking better we would go to a village called Szilvásvárad, which was famous for Lipazzaner horses and a had a nearby cave that we could visit by open-air train, or...

On Tuesday (9/16), we went with Plan B and drove into northeastern Hungary. It was truly a guidebook driven roadtrip, and there was too much driving. We saw a cathedral in Máriapócz that was probably larger than the village. There were several structures in Nyírbátor that more historical significance, particularly the innocently white-washed Calvinist church with the wyvern-encrusted tomb inside where an altar probably should be. This one also had a fun wooden bell-tower to crawl through. We had lunch in town, and then I mapped out an alternate route home. We stopped in Tokaj, but sadly were doing too much driving to try the wine there, and drove through the length of Nyíregyháza, Miskolc, and then Bükk National Park at the end in the fading light. And oh yeah, there was a grumpy fight at the end there so this was the low point of the trip.

Wednesday (9/17): Well, somewhat the low point. The argument led to some drinking in town, and I got sloppy, and that combined with my original sin of forgetting spare contacts meant that I was juggling seeing in disoriented sort of way (one contact) or just not (no contacts) from this point on. All and all I can say this hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be.

We decided to avoid long driving trips, and there was a good possibility: the Danube Bend. We stopped in Gödöllö, the location of the Hungarian get-away for the Hapsburg Emperors in the nineteenth century. Man, I didn1t know these things came with their very own cathedrals. I've just got to get one now.

Even this day had too much driving. G was too confused by the foreign language on the signs. We had made the mistake of making her drive all the day before, and we were still evaluating how well I could drive now. We couldn't make sense of Szentendre (couldn't find the city center) and resolved at that point to drive to the farthest point: Esztergom. We got there, briefly tried to navigate by car, gave up and settled for the first hotel that we could stop at - St Kristoff's. I can't check my spelling now - I can't find it, but it's on 11 as you enter town from the east and it's only three or four blocks from the basilica.

We collapsed. In some ways this was the low point of the trip. I think it was high expectations combined with the weather combined with every little frustration. I had some educational discussions with the ~~German~~Hungarian innkeeper about laundry, and then we utilized our room to its maximum potential as a laundromat. FYI. They don't have laundromats in Hungary. Everyone does these things at home. They could get a service to do it, but it wouldn't be finished before Friday night.

Still, we walked to and around the Basilica and twilight. It was gorgeous. We tried to send out a couple emails that had picture attachments taken of us from a web kiosk, but these apparently lost the picture. We ate at the hotel. The food was good. The place felt very German, and the rooms were nice.

Thursday (9/18): And then it got better... (TBC)

Hungary Update: Very Brief

2008-09-20T11:24:44Z

There's no time for an update right now. The trip's been up and down since the first couple days. Mostly the weather turned worse, and we've had to compensate. We've extended the time in Budapest on the front end and are there for the rest of the trip.

Hungary: 9/11-14

2008-09-15T13:57:32Z

Here's a quick description of the trip so far.

Thursday (9/11) was the longest day. Normal work day followed by a brief plane ride to London, about four hours of layover, and about 3 more to Budapest. We arrived local time just before midnight Friday night (9/12). Then it got interesting. The road signs were clearly inadequate for our sleep deprived minds. We were lost so many times. Still, about two o'clock so we jubilantly made it to the hotel which was supposedly twenty minutes from the airport.

Saturday (9/13) was marked by a much more enjoyable ride through th countryside east of Budapest. We managed to miss the major road M3 and by the time we realized this, we decided we had the better route. We stopped for a while in Aszód, which wasn't mentioned in our travel books, but did show good examples of grandiose ruined buildings with no budget to fix up. It also provided an opportunity to see a typical commercial walk.

The road trip continued into the Mátra hills west of Eger. We were looking for coffee house whn Gina wanted to stop to look at a steeple. I pointed something even more interesting - a castle on a hill. And we resolved to get to it. It turns out that this is the ultimate child's ruin. With great views all around, the really cool bit was all the connecting tunnel systems underneath.

In the late afternoon, we got to Eger and found where we were staying, the Minaret Hotel, underneath the ruin of a turkish tower. It is a great room. We briefly oriented ourselves, found parking (the car hasn't moved since), and scouted around. The day ened enjoyably with a waltz around the Dobó István tér after a great meal at the Senator Ház hotel.

Sunday (9/14) began with a breakfast and a couple errands. We were going to cover Eger primarily today with the castle in the morning and the Valley of the Beautiful Women on the lat afternoon/evening. The castle was fine. It had a great views of the city and was a fun romp. G was looking forward to wax museum, which was also fine. But it marked a turn... in a quick exchange for a picture, our camera saw an opportunity and took it. Apparently it wasn't enjoying the day as much as we were and made a resounding thud as it hit the stone floor lens-first.

We were sad - and it threw off the rest of the morning. Besides tourist heavy restaurants and a few gift shops, everything is closed on Sunday. We found many a closed place that might help us, and we wandered around seeing both the Basilica (second biggest in Hungary) and Serbian Orthodox Church) without much in the way of picture taking. G did a little from her camera.

The evening was much better. We journeyed out to the Valley. It's wine caves. I didn't see very many beautiful women besides G. And the first place we saw found made the trip worthwhile, Bíró Borozó, Cellar 2 of the 200-odd caves. The lady there didn't speak much English or German, but apparently more than one German knew of her by word of mouth, and many natives did as well. They would come with big plastic cartons and have her fill them up. We eventually discovered that she sold very little in bottled form, but we eventually bought something at the end of the night. Egészségedre!

Sturgeon Moon Update

2008-08-17T02:30:24Z

It's been six months since the last update. Beyond my meager posting this year is that I haven't kept up with reading my friend's list. Sorry.

HEALTH: The biggest update is I had successful minor surgery yesterday. Over the past several months, I have developed perceived cramping that blossomed into full-fledged sciatica down my entire right leg. For most of June/July I was able to walk through it, but this month I stopped being able to walk even to the end of the block. Medical inquiry led to an MRI which showed a "large right para-central disc protrusion impinging upon the right S1 nerve root."

That was Monday. I consulted a specialist on Tuesday morning. The recommendation was surgery. There had been some sort of traumatic event that had knocked material out the disc. Over time the body may absorb it back, but the sciatica was increasing daily. G and I discussed it over lunch, but afterwards I reserved a surgery slot on Friday. G did some more research. I consulted a GP brother and family. Everything recommended caution, and surgery is the last resort. Nevertheless, the symptoms were getting close to this threshold.

So, it was a fun Friday. While I was knocked out a very large piece of "crab meat" was taken out of a small incision in my lower back. I stayed the night at the hospital, but that was mostly precautionary as I had no side effects from the actual surgery. The sciatica is gone. I do have a slight numbness in my right foot which I am prepared to live with. I also have to take a lot more care of my lower back. Short term I shouldn't lift more than a travel guide. Long term depends on how well I strengthen those muscles. But I'm alive and functional.

HOME: Officially I have lived in Capital Hill with G for 4 months. Unofficially it's been more like six or seven. Still I love the neighborhood, and it's nice to have your dogs, computer, and girlfriend in the same place.

RELATIONSHIP: I have been dating G for 14 months (officially). She's terrific, more than I deserve.

ACTIVITIES: The last month has been quiet, more a result of my health. Still in the last six months there was a trip to Orcus island in March, the midwest in April, a day-trip some-when to Leavenworth, and the famous wineries of Woodinville. My health prevented a similar trip to the peninsula. HUNGARY is in four weeks!!!! (Yes, that time-line had some relation to the surgery.)

GENERAL ASSESSMENT: Happy. And very lucky.

My "Walk Score"

2008-05-23T23:36:48Z

Here's an interesting site that calculates the "walkability" of your neighborhood, the distance to grocery stores, schools, etc. I went back historically a ways.

Seattle 89
Bellevue 37
Renton 37
Kansas City 46
Coralville 66
S Johnson 91
Chaos 57
Hillcrest 77
East Moline 31

Apparently, my AUR apartment on South Johnson was the most walkable, followed by this Capital Hill apartment. And the house I grew up at was the least.

It does seem to lump weak items into the categories. My new apartment is really close to a Safeway, and a TJ's is just a skip farther away, but at South Johnson they counted the QuikTrip (or whatever it is now) on Burlington. That may just even out substituting the "Central Cinema" for an actual movie theater.

Where?

2008-03-13T06:31:14Z

It's official. G and I are going to Hungary in September. Yay!

Beszélek nem magyar... még.

Meet Diana

2008-03-04T08:16:36Z

[ Gaming only. Not biographical to my knowledge. ]

Mmmmm, such a headache. There's water... but no wine. Weird. It really should be wine. Ok, ow. Get up, have to piss. Open that window. And,... where is it??? Um, oh no! I'm stuck.

Turn back to the beast snoring loudly on the couch. So he really DOESN'T worship me, huh. The liar. Two steps... one flying leap... nails are daggers. Yes, yes, sob for me, my dear. A girl can always make the best of it, can't she?

Meet Diana. She used to be known as Dionysus. Quite a powerful deity really. Such a waste...

Snow Moon Update

2008-02-25T05:44:53Z

SNOW MOON UPDATE

For much of the country this is a very apt name. In Seattle, we don't get snow. Well, that's not true, but I can still deny it's existence.

It's been two months since my last update, and honestly I haven't kept up with reading LJ. I've just cleared my friend's list from the last time I accessed the site, which apparently was Thursday. Ok, so why am I wasting time posting when it takes me five minutes per sentence?

...

HOME: Um, nowhere. My dog is three feet away barking at the kid skating on the sidewalk in front of G's apartment. My computer is in Bellevue. I'm sleeping here for something like the seventh consecutive night. I pay rent in Bellevue. So, for something like a couple of months I've been falling down a well. This may clear up in a couple months. I hope.

RELATIONSHIP: Overall this is ok, except for the limbo. We went on a trip to California in January. I met many relatives that were fun. G showed me some of her old haunts, and we went on a cruise... it was to Ensenada, but still a cruise nevertheless. I'm not entirely soured on cruises as a vacation option, yet, but it seems illogical to say that I might enjoy a seven-day cruise when I didn't particularly like a three-day one.

EMPLOYMENT: This at least has been stable. Almost 35 months now.

UPCOMING:
The Illinois/Iowa trip has solidified with airline tickets. It's in late April. Today was the first day of Gaming. "Diana resumes her quest to bring Chaos, Revelry, and Song to a world that sorely needs one or two of these." And we start Waltz II... just enough to fill the week a little too much. Ah well.

Cold Moon Update

2007-12-24T20:55:59Z

It's only been two months since my last update. I'm getting better at this apparently...

COLD MOON UPDATE:

HOME: The Menagerie is much less populated. We lost Damsel a few weeks ago. V moved out, taking her kitten Lianna with her. J is on the east coast visiting family until Xmas evening. Including her, there are only three people and two cats in residence, not including dog, snake, and chinchilla, of course. The other side of it is that I've announced my intention to move out at the end of the lease and financial desire to leave before then. I'm spending almost half my time at G's apartment in Seattle now, which makes this "home" entry somewhat suspect.

RELATIONSHIPS: It's been six months with G now. I had a birthday. There were balloons and "Happy Birthday"'s everywhere. We went to Seaside. It was a bit of a bust because I had a fairly bad cold and my back went out. Still, G was wonderful. I'm very happy.

SCHEDULING: December is a break from the routine. G and I completed Swing I this month, but we'll take it again in January along with Waltz I. Vacations and trips have wiped out most of the other regular events as well. Shorter term there are three Christmases in the immediate future: Xmas eve (tonight) in Edgewood, Xmas day at G's parent's, Xmas night at the Menagerie with J back. New Year's Eve is still up in the air.

EMPLOYMENT: Same place, 31 months.

UPCOMING:

Gaming, Family night, Dance classes, and TV night resume in January.
The California trip starts MLK day weekend.
The Illinois/Iowa trip is now penciled for April or June.
The Hungary trip is still looking good for September and/or October.

Because I'm also a sheep...

2007-12-20T07:06:51Z

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (5th Level)

Ability Scores:

Strength-13

Dexterity-13

Constitution-13

Intelligence-16

Wisdom-14

Charisma-12

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment because because it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus</a></b> (e-mail)

Detailed Results:

Alignment:
Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (22)
Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (29)
Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24)
Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (18)
True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (25)
Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (20)
Lawful Evil ----- XXXXX (5)
Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXX (7)

Law & Chaos:
Law ----- XXXXX (5)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Chaos --- XXXXXXX (7)

Good & Evil:
Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (17)
Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Evil ---- (0)

Race:
Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13)
Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6)
Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Gnome ---- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12)
Halfling - XXXXXXXXXX (10)
Half-Elf - XXXXXXXX (8)
Half-Orc - XX (2)

Class:
Barbarian - (-8)
Bard ------ (0)
Cleric ---- (-4)
Druid ----- (0)
Fighter --- XX (2)
Monk ------ (-15)
Paladin --- (-19)
Ranger ---- (-4)
Rogue ----- (-2)
Sorcerer -- (0)
Wizard ---- XXXXXXXX (8)

Damsel (1988-2007)

2007-12-12T06:52:19Z

Queen of the Menagerie
Survived by Sable, litter-mate, as well as various servants.
Sleep well, kitty. *scritch*

Hunters Moon Update

2007-10-27T03:40:35Z

Ok, time for another update. It's only been two months since the last full moon status...

HUNTERS MOON UPDATE:

HOME: The Menagerie [It is a menagerie, but I've heard protests about "Glass Menagerie." Since there is a lot of mist coming off the lake this time of year, how about "Misty Menagerie?"], 30 months now, with D, V, J, Angus, four cats, a chinchilla, a snake and some fish, plus we're been getting eight (humans) for our now regular family dinners, and several of those are often staying the night.

RELATIONSHIPS: G, four months, and terribly in love. She's frequently one of the eight mentioned above, and in many ways I've gotten to the point of splitting my time between Bellevue and Capitol Hill.

SCHEDULING: Very busy. Here are the patterns.

Every other Sunday is gaming. Mondays are flexible. Every other Tuesday is G's family dinner. Every Wednesday is Menagerie family dinner. Every Thursday is TV night. Every Friday is my alone day. Every Saturday is date night. ("Every" here should be replaced with "mostly every.") G and I will be taking dance lessons every Wednesday starting next week. Angus gets walkies whenever I get a minute, but it's hard to find two minutes next to each other.

EMPLOYMENT: W, formerly C, formerly T (regardless of the actual company, the people I work with are great), 29 months.

UPCOMING:

Dance lessons (Swing): an opportunity to gain a right foot.
Birthday (11-6)
Seaside trip for a week in November.
Mini-cruise (Cal, Mex) and time with G's relatives in January.
Much delayed trip back to Iowa in March/April.
Trip to Hungary in September/October.

I guess there's a new hobby: figuring out how to take this much from work next year.

Greece: 9/22-25

2007-09-29T05:06:09Z

I've had less opportunity to post at home than I did in Greece, but before my memory totally fails...

Saturday, September 22.

We learned early that the winds had grounded the Aegean ferry fleet, but we might have better luck the next day. So... more shopping and eating, and eating and shopping. Then another visit to the travel agent gave us a plan. There was now a ferry that night. It would arrive in Piraeus about midnight. Works for me. More time wasting, and then the wait for the ferry. About half an hour late. And then the v bumpy ride (ok, just the first three hours). Piraeus at 1 am. Where is the Hotel Savoy? *snore*

Sunday, September 23.

The mainland! Yay!

Exeunt Piraeus. Enter Peloponnese. The countryside here is much better than anything since Crete. And... Mycenae - the Derek-treat of the day. I repetitively trailed the group trying to soak the whole place in. And then on to Napflio and lunch and hotel. And... why are we climbing this? No, really/ Why are we climbing to Palamidi Fortress? To get to the top? Ok. 999 steps up. Wow, cool view. By 999 steps down, the reason was clear. You see there's a gelato-master in Napflio, and we needed to feel worthy. And then you know the drill... shop, eat, shop, shop, shop... v tired. Our hotel, by the way, the Hotel Byron was way cool.

Monday, September 24.

Last full day in Greece, and boy was I in a crummy mood. We went to Epidaurus. Cool theatre. Would like to see something sone there someday. They also seem to be restoring the whole complex. It seems like misplaced priorities, restoring sanctuaries dedicated to healing by licks from snakes. Anyway, I had some aspirin (not from snakes, right?), and we had a nice afternoon of wine-tasting in Nemea. And then Athens and dinner and the Plaka for last-night-in-Greece-shopping.

Tuesday, September 25.

So not a vacation day. Breakfast was about the only vacation-y part of it. Then a cab ride. Then a loooong plane ride after a long wait causing our plane to be late. We did make the connection for a slightly less long plane ride into the late late night arrival of 9 pm in Seattle. Tuesday lasted 34 hours for us. I'm still quite jet-lagged three days later.

Greece: 9/22 Stuck in Mykonos

2007-09-22T07:10:56Z

Not a recap this time. Winds are high enough the ferries aren't running. I'd say "Not in Mykonos," but the truth is I wouldn't want to spend too much time on any island. So my party will make the best of it. Me? I plan to sulk.

Greece: 9/18-21

2007-09-21T19:00:42Z

Ugh. Here's an internet cafe for you. I entered in Tuesday twice. Lost the contents twice. Switched to Notepad, wrote nearly the entire thing out, and the computer suddenly reboots losing everything. F%$#$%#%$^%$!!!!!!!!. I don't compose very quickly at the best of times, and some of this stuff is important.

*sigh*

So here is my last four days... in brief.

Tuesday, September 18.

Left Crete. Got to Santorini. Shopped and ate. Rode cable car. Beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, September 19.

Museums. Akrotiri closed. Wineries! Beach sucked. Ate in Oia. Scary ride home. Wine at pool.

Thursday, September 20.

Ferry to Mykonos. Fun little warrens, but didn't quite get lost. Relaxing afternoon/evening.

Friday, September 21.

Ok, I'm abandoning my brevity. Our hotel serves breakfast from 9-11. This is of course intolerable. What hotel does that, plus we had tickets for Delos at 10. We created breakfast on our way with the lynchpin being lovely stuff from the Underground Bakery.

We got to Delos. The seas were interesting. The beach sucked at Santorini because there were no waves. It was all wave on the ferry rides to and from Delos. I was out taking pictures on the lower deck, and a wave crashed over the rail creating a river two feet deep where I was standing.

Ok, Delos now. Entertaining tour. Museum borning, but what I really want... I left my pack with Storm and ran. I made a plan. I ran to the top of Mt Kynthos, and made a sacrifice to Artemis. Delos isn't what it once was. It's a ruin of destroyed temples and agoras, but at the top of Mt Kynthos, there is a makeshift shrine: a large area filled with balancing stones. Certain patterns tend to re-form. Lay lines? Historical sensibility? I don't know, but I needed to do something.

We got back. Had lunch. I got a text from G. "Please call any time." Oh no. I take a shower, and there's two missed calls. Yes, I call. V has passed away.

The rest of the day doesn't matter much more in comparison. The wind that had caused the waves created a general power outage, and we ate in the dark. Obviously the internet cafe has power now. The hotel probably does as well.

Night night. This took way longer than it was supposed to.

Edit (on 9/22):
[Ed: Since I have some time to burn I'll fill in the first three days here.]

9/18/07

We had breakfast in Iraklio (the best breakfast spread, nicest hotel, but even they have uncomfortable single beds and pillows), and walked down to the ferry. The ferry was a nice affair: business class, four seats at a table where we sipped coffee and played cards. We made Santorini in the early afternoon, picked up our car, drove up the winding road and then into Fira. We navigated around for a while to find the place where we needed to paperwork for the car and went back to the hotel we saw on the way.

The rest of the day was spent wandering Fira: shopping, trying out the cable cars. and eating decent meals with spectacular views. The sunset across the caldera viewed from the cliff edge was gorgeous, but then Santorini seems to made for that purpose. This tab is periodically paid back by spectacular earthquakes and volcanic eruptions every 500 years or so. I would think this dangerous, but then I live in Seattle, which has a very similar deal with the devil.

9/19/07

We figured out this day in advance. We needed to pick up laundry around 11, so we decided to waste time in Fira at the two small museums there. These things taken care of, we proceeded to the south end of the crescent, discovering that Akrotiri was still closed to tourists. Not too concerned, we spent the next couple hours at wineries. Yum.

Then lunch in Kamari, followed by a swim at the black stone beach nearby. The waves were non-existent. The girls enjoyed it. I thought it was pathetic. The most interesting thing to do was to dive for highly visible rocks in the water. Back to the hotels to shower off, and then to Oia for dinner. We finished as it was getting dark, and the drive back was very scary, but no one died. So we had that going for us. We de-stressed by emptying one of our purchased bottles of wine by the pool that night.

9/20/07

Not much to say about this day anyway. We took the ferry in the morning to Mykonos, caught a transport to the hotel, and went into Mykonos explore, eat, and shop. We didn't have a car, but the wind and waves at the waterfront were very absorbing for me.

Greece: 9/15-17

2007-09-17T19:04:11Z

It's been almost three days since my last post. Of course it's been busy.

Saturday, September 15

We were still in Athens. I got up and made my previous post, we had breakfast, and we had a few hours to burn before the ferry in the afternoon. We shopped a little and eventually wandered down to the Plaka for (to me) the best meal of the trip so far. Mmm... lamb just falling off the bone. We then spent a while navigating the Athens subway - and coming to the realization that it would saved of two very tired walks.

At the end of the line at Piraeus we force-marched to the ferry and got on. And then discovery: the best beds in Greece are on ferries. Who would have known? We might as well spend all nights doing slow boats to somewhere. The other nifty thing was being able to call G in the middle of the Aegean. Alas, the trip ended. J signed her first born away to Alamo Car Rental, and we eventually found the hotel. Worst place yet. Water all over the bathroom floor and poor beds. It was the first night I couldn't instantly fall asleep.

Sunday, September 16

I was very grumpy Sunday morning. They all agreed they hated the hotel, but I was the only one too bothered by the setup, and here, it isn't really a couch I'm sleeping on - these cushions come off, etc, etc. The day was much better than the night. A small breakfast later, and we were off to the Samaria Gorge. Greek elections were today, and the gorge was closed, so we were unable to climb down the thousands of steps to the bottom. Ah well.

Next we went into Chania proper, and it was a nifty old town. Totally on the recommendation of Lonely Planet, we picked out a Turkish place called "Tamam," and it became my new favorite restaurant of the trip - yummy potato in spicy avocado dip and aubergine chicken. More shopping. And then a beach. Of course I was the only one that dragged along a swimsuit, so I was the only one swimming in the wonderful warm Aegean waves. Then finally, back to the hotel, a shower, and visit a restaurant nearby on the beach. The food was not memorable, but the experience was. I need to do treatise on retsina, ouzo, and raki. We spent the evening looking at pictures and hanging out in the main area of our hotel room. I suppose the place wasn't that bad.

Monday, September 17.

Slightly earlier start than the day before. We did the same breakfast and took off east on the "New National Highway" of Crete. I should have mentioned the drive to the gorge was scenic and wonderful. This one was also. We made it to Knossos about noon, and it was really hot and crowded. It was okay, but not as cool as Delphi and the Athenian Acropolis. Several hours later we checked into the hotel. Really nice place. K was able to get her computer on their system (where I am now typing). Nice shower. Nice view. Same stupid single beds everywhere, but I think these might be a little more comfy.

Anyway, we were starving by now, found another Lonely Planet restaurant. Pretty good. More shopping, more walking. Back to the hotel. More walking. Ice Cream. Why? Don't know. More walking. Otherwise it's been fairly quiet tonight.

Tomorrow is a travel day. We'll wind up in Santorini. No clue when the next update will be.

Greece: 9/13-14

2007-09-15T04:41:24Z

Due to a scheduling quirk that S & J, caught, we went to Delphi on Thursday, but only after receiving a car at 9:00 am. Meteora was right out. After a surprisingly easy escape from Athens (the cab drivers make it all look so difficult), we had a direct line to Delphi... or mostly so, the switchbacks were enough to upset J's stomach. Anyway, we had a nice stroll through the holy place, did a little shopping and a had a nice lunch, and were back in Athens 6 or 7ish. And had dinner very close to the hotel. Much retsina. And after-dinner drinks on the roof of the hotel. Note: ouzo sketo much better than ouzo me pago i ouzo me nero.

Yesterday was a bit of a contrast. We waited over an hour for the man to pick up the car. With that late start, I led us on a merry eight hour hike through the Nation Museum of Archaeology, down to the Plaka for a little lunch, up to the Acropolis and down to the Agora, across the length of the Plaka. We then stopped for drinks and some yummy chocolate pie. And then we were up by the government area, meeting more demonstrations. And - oops! forgot J's bag. Then we trekked all the way back to the hotel. Five or six miles total. We all showered and met to go to dinner. There was no other close place in our desired price range, and like the first evening we ended up strolling all the way to the Plaka for dinner. Ah well.

A oouple other interesting notes. To date, jet-lag has treated me fantastically. I couldn't sleep past five on Thursday and was very nappy on the way back to Delphi but slept very well aftere the retsina and ouzo. On Friday, I slept a little past seven, and was fine all day long. Of course the hike and drinks knocked me out very well last night. And today I naturally woke up at 6:45.

In contrast, K has had the worst time. She's only had a couple hours of sleep the two previous nights, (I haven't surveyed her yet today.) and hasn't yet attained any level of her legendary efficiecy. I think you've only heard from me, right? Anyway, we're all doing fine and having a great time. This afternoon, we're on the fast boat to Crete, so it's a relaxy day until then. We'll probably "pretend we're Greek" and while the way the time in a Cafe until we need to leave.

Yeia sas!

Quick Greece Update

2007-09-14T04:46:25Z

Is it Friday already? How time flies.

Ok, part of it did. Ten hours I think. My trip didn't start out that well. I showed up at the United Airlines desk, and they wouldn't accept my ticket. US Air had to redo. Over to US Air, and the guy there did some on the job training. Half an hour there and a twenty minute line when I got back, and I missed my original flight.

Well here's another option. I could go to Dulles-Frankfurt instead. Ok, on another trip over to US Air, they got me on a later flight to Chicago. Hopefully the luggage would transfer. Fine.

Wait.

Board new flight. Middle seat between two guys naturally. Four hour flight. Finally off. Sprint. Ask where I'm going. Sprint. Wait. Sprint. Is it to late to get on the Milan flight? You have to wait and see? Wait. Wait. Ok. Goody. They'll let me on.

Long story short, I made to Milan. I like European airlines a lot better than US ones. And my luggage made it all the way to Athens as well. At the time it was 2:30 or so, though it felt like 4:30 in the morning on a day that I that I woke up at 3:30 am.

Cab ride to hotel near Plaka. Those motorbikes are doing what? What's their life expectancy?

Hotel. Adjust. Don't sleep yet. Let's go explore before we do go asleep. Armed with street maps we tried to get to the Plaka, getting stopped by very crowded areas. People milling around looking for work. Renegotiate. Flank. ~~Amrou~~ Ermou Street. Ok, just down here. There's the flea market. And now, there's food. Then back on a longer safer path to the hotel, but avoid those KKE rallies. It's 8:30ish. Quick shower and sleep. Wonderful sleep.

That was my Tuesday/Wednesday. It's Friday really?

Sturgeon Moon Update

2007-08-28T07:24:04Z

I was preparing an entry last month, but ran out of research time. So I'm getting this out tonight even if it kills me.

~~BUCK~~ STURGEON MOON UPDATE

HOME

There's been two "B" plots in my life that have concluded over the last couple of days. One of them ended with gothicangel713 leaving the Menagerie. So we're down to four now.

I won't go into details here. It's private stuff. But I did learn something about myself. That "paternalistic solver problem" I have, the one that's trapped me in earlier relationships, is not really a problem. If it was, I wouldn't have let myself pragmaticly enforce rules that are contrary to my most basic ethos. Go me.

Anyway, gothicangel713, I wish you well at your new place. Don't be a stranger.

CATS

If you're scoring at home, this drops the number of cats here to three, but never fear on that count. I've heard rumours. But I did have my own drama... and my own fault. Two fridays ago I took up one of our house's hobbies of brushing, trimming, and wishing Sable's massive fur clumps away. I was left alone (mistakenly) and tried to take a shortcut with scissors.

One large stomach laceration and an hour later I had to leave the poor 18 year old at an emergency clinic. Fortunately, the wound wasn't deep. They put him under and used a ton of stiches. He came home the same night and miraculously avoided infection. The sutures were removed today. No dead cat, and therefore, no dead me.

Lesson: We're having someone else shave him from now on. It's cheaper.

WORK

There's no clear long term direction at my workplace. I am getting stay bonuses next year in replace of the severance agreement I had. That's not bad.

RELATIONSHIPS

Ok, that's the "A" plot. Since about June 23 (over two months ago), I've been dating G. (Sorry, she's not in the LJ community yet.) That date's pretty arbitrary. It signifies when *I* became aware that she was my girlfriend. There's a stack of highlights - I've been trying to outline them in another post. In the last three months, we have been around the peninsula, up in the Cascades, up to Vancouver and then separately to Whistler. But more importantly I've been continuously falling in love.

Advice(From D): Don't let her get away.

Reply: I don't plan to.

OTHER

Greece in two weeks. Have I practiced much Greek at all in the past few months? No. Ok, I've done this before. This is how I treated college after all...

Strange night

2007-08-18T07:52:57Z

Came home from work. Fed cats first dinner.
I might have had a bite to eat (peanut butter on a bagel).
Contemplated taking a nap.
Guiltily remembered that Angus hadn't been anywhere in three days.
Started laundry and watched TV with Gus on my lap.
Moved laundry and started both machines.
Geared up for a walk. New tennis shoes, yay. Left as V got home.
Did the 4 mile walk.
Got back. Fed Angus.
Went upstairs, started petting cats, and JE came by.
We talked for half an hour. A good talk.
Decided to go grocery shopping. Asked for requests.
V gave me a long list.
We talked for fifteen minutes. A pretty good talk.
Went to Fred Meyer. Felt my pocket vibrate.
Realized I had two texts and a voice mail from G.
Chatted on the phone with her for fifteen minutes in the store.
Life is unfair.
Finished shopping. Went home. Proceeded to put stuff away.
S came out her room. Can you guess? We talked for most of an hour. Good talk.
Remembered the laundry. Moved it. Said hi to Gus.
Went upstairs. Put clean laundry away. Fed cats second dinner.
Remembered I was hungry. Remembered the leftovers from Wednesday.
Downstairs. Hi, Angus. Upstairs. Cook. Downstairs. Upstairs.
Ate. S came out with a couple amendments to our previous conversation.
I agreed. Recommended that she take something.
It's going to be one of those nights where the mind never stops... minding.
She bounced the recommendation back at me.
And I'm typing this now.

[ I really owe a full moon update now. If this post doesn't make sense, don't feel bad, but I can't give details about any of those conversations. The strange part is that I was having so many. ]

Ornery Hedger Geek

2007-06-26T19:52:17Z

For whatever reason (subpar word-game iq?) I've always been stumped at finding anagrams for my name. With the Internet Anagram Server, I can be "Ornery Hedger Geek" and 4920 others. What was the problem? Five e's and two g's just too hard to work with?

And of course, Bear Stearns = Barren Asset, or George Bush = He Bugs Gore, yada yada.

[Stolen from Calculated Risk]

New moon, so here's the Eight Random Facts meme

2007-06-15T07:54:35Z

Tagged by galileo669

The rules:

1. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

2. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.

3.At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.

4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Random facts/habits:

1. I have owned no cats. This might be a surprise to the thirteen or so cats I've lived with, or the much larger group that have definitely owned me.

2. I place my very loud alarm clock several steps away from my bed (too close and I do trick myself into oversleeping), and I hate snooze buttons.

3. I'm straight (about a 1 on the Kinsey Scale), yet I've been propositioned or been visibly hit on by as many males as females, if not more.

4. My personal rules for driving have more to do with courtesy and fuel efficiency than actual legality.

5. Despite the first part of #3, more than one person believes the opposite thanks to a certain unnamed individual.

6. In restaurants, I am not allowed to order the same thing as anyone else at my table. (There are several exceptions including group-sized servings or small menus.)

7. I type at about forty words a minute (mudding-enhanced two-finger typist), but only blog at ten sentences an hour. (Lately my posts are few and far between because I just don't have the time.)

8. I do not participate in chain letters. No one is being tagged, and yes, I do realize this is a copout.

Blue Moon Update

2007-06-01T06:13:50Z

Blue, yes. It only appears orange as it rises above Lake Sammamish. But aside from the stupid color joke, it's the second full moon in May, so by one reckoning this is a Blue Moon. The first full moon in May was the Flower. Next month's moon will be the Strawberry.

And since I should post at least every Blue Moon...

Employment: Still gainfully employed by the Timeshare industry. I haven't as much as opened my resume file. So we'll call that 0 for 1 month.

Home: I did mention the gorgeous orange and Blue moon rising over Lake Sammamish. That's outside my window right now. On the update side I did have a productive weekend cleaning out our downstairs storage space four weeks ago (May 6). This led to many hours cleaning/ reorganizing my room, which in turn led to a grand compact disc ripping project. Thankfully, the room is now tolerable, and there's only about twenty miscellaneous CD's to go.

Events: Actually, my time has been busy. The MP3 project has crowded out the Greek lessons, ala pio arga tha stripso i gonia stin MP3's, and I'll be practicing a little more consistently.

Three weeks ago I had a free Saturday and took Angus on a grand adventure on the other side of Snoqualmie Pass. One group of very nice hikers, one 50 mile commute, one newly purchased shovel, and a couple hours digging later, I was able to extricate my front-wheel drive compact car from the snow I had oh so stupidly driven into. Still Angus had a puppy to play with while this was happening, and afterwards we did manage a little hike at Twin Falls before nightfall.

The next weekend was a much more successful driving loop around the Olympic peninsula. It rained in the rain forest, was sunny gorgeousness on the beach, rained again in more rain forest, snowed in the mountains, and rained again in Port Townsend. But it was a really fun two-day trip even if no mountain goats bothered to show themselves (our nominal goal on the trip).

This last Memorial Day weekend was pretty much filled up on its own. I was invited to an interesting musical on Saturday night, "Souvenir," a small play about a musician who finds himself spending years accompanying a cluelessly tone-deaf patron/deva. It was excruciating and very funny. Sunday was the bi-weekly gaming, and Monday had a pot-luck (made fruit salad) and hot-tubbing at Moonlit Terrace.

Ok, becoming very list-y. Starting to... sound... journal-ly. Must... stop...now.