Long Time No See

Every time I sit down to update the blog the computer takes forever so I go to refill my coffee and I spill some on the dishwasher which reminds me that I need to empty it and while I'm emptying it the phone rings and while I'm talking I remember that I have a paper due and when I sit down to write my paper, I am reminded that I was going to update the blog! So it goes. I still have that paper due, but first things first.

We've done a ton of traveling since I wrote in April, all starting with a trip to Dublin, Ireland. What a great place with wonderful characters. We didn't understand a word they said, but they sure seemed nice! If you ever go there, I highly recommend going to the Long Hall in Trinity College. It's a huge, long hall (hence the name) full to the ceiling with old books. In a room off to the side were people cleaning the books with tiny vacuums, page by page. It was crazy to watch. You can look but you can't touch or even take pictures. (I didn't sneak a shot, the picture here of the Long Hall is not mine, it was copied from a brochure.) Everything is completely roped off and there is a guard to keep you in line, but it was amazing nonetheless. This is the same place that houses the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript written (a word that seems lacking in this case) by monks in 800 AD. Beautiful.

We also made a quick trip to Belgium to see our friends the Jeters who are newly ensconced there. It was good to see them again! We got a good look at Waterloo from a very, very tall mound of dirt with a lion on top and ate at a fabulous Italian restaurant and introduced them to the Doner Kebap. (I'm having trouble digging up the picture of the lion on the hill, but when I do I'll be sure to post it.)

I have much more, but my coffee cup is empty and you know what that means! I guess I'll have to finish this later.

Rock Band and Living on the Edge

I have a confession to make. Making the most of our stay in Europe has kind of taken a back seat lately to our addiction to the game Rock Band. We don't even own it. Nope. We're one of those families that fell for the Wii while our American neighbors were the smart ones getting the PS3. They were also one of the few able to acquire Rock Band and, thusly, we are their new best friends. We bring brownies and Nutella (but not at the same time!) while Caleb and his drumsticks park themselves on the coffee table, Jerry ties his signature scarf to the mic stand and our friends' daughter tunes up the plastic guitar. We're such Rock Band Losers that we have T-shirts for our virtual band, which by the way, is named Stir Fry. Now all we need is a virtual record contract.

Now that I have that off my chest, I can share other stuff with you. For example, over the last year (yes, it's been a year now and have you come to see us? I didn't think so) we've noticed that Europeans harbor little concern for the safety of any human being old enough to walk. When I say "little" what I really mean is any shred concern is completely non-existent. Oh, they love babies and puppies just like everyone else, but it's not uncommon for a protective hand railing at the top of a sheer drop to be hanging by a single thin nail. And rather than complain, you're probably better off just being thankful that the hand rail was even installed sometime between Napoleon's defeat and the moment in 2008 your six-year-old decided to use it as a balance beam. So, when we went to the museum in Speyer it shouldn't have surprised us to be given the opportunity to imagine what kind of horrors could be wreaked with this contraption.

Here are Caleb and his friends trying out the boat ride at the museum. Yes, they're getting air. No, those aren't life jackets they're wearing, but you may be comforted (as were their mothers...NOT) that there was a thin metal lap bar provided. What more do you expect for a Euro?

What you're not seeing here is that every ride in this little park was completely self-operated. Meaning, there was no one (other than the aforementioned mothers) ensuring that they even used the lap bar. It was soooo self-operated in fact, that once they were ensconced in this floating death trap, they simply pulled a cord dangling over their heads to activate it.

Silver lining? We can always be thankful that Lawsuit-Fever never made it all the way to Europe.