Trip Summary I

Well, we made it home. The trip was great. There were a couple little snags, we exhausted ourselves completely almost every day, and we unexpectedly extended a night, but it really was a great trip. We didn't have any problems come up; no lost passports, no getting separated on the subway, no pickpockets, no getting hit by cars. We did get lost in Rome for a couple hours, but it was a fun adventure.

We may eventually post a more exhaustive posting of the trip, but for now I'm just going to show a few highlights. Mostly because I'm tired and still recovering from the trip.

As mentioned previously, we were able to ride first class direct to Paris. After we landed we took the train to the hotel. That was quite the change. On the plane we had enough room to lay down completely, our own TVs with anything we wanted on them, somebody bringing 3-course meals every couple hours. On the train we were stuffed into 4 small, hard seats with our luggage teetering precariously above us. Then we had to change trains twice to get to the hotel. It was fun.

After arriving at the hotel we walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was just as big as I remembered it. We took the elevator to the top, fighting sleepiness the whole time (we'd been awake over 24 hours at that point). It was a nice way to start the trip.

The next day (or sometime around there; it's all still a blur) we saw the Arc de Triomphe and all sorts of stuff around Paris. We went to the Louvre, the Moulin Rouge, the Notre Dame Cathedral. We even took a trip out to the Palace at Versailles.
From Paris, we took a plane down to Florence. After the adventure of riding the train from the airport we decided to take an airport shuttle. It only cost a few dollars more than taking the train, and saved us a ton of stress.

Florence was really nice. It felt so relaxed compared to Paris. Paris is a very fast-paced city. Florence is much more laid back. The only really bad thing there was the mosquitoes. Over the course of 3 days I got over 100 bites, but I smashed quite a few of them, too.

Here we are on top of the Dome at the Duomo in Florence. It was a lot of stairs, but a great view.
We also took a side trip out to Pisa. Good thing we did, too, because this tower was falling. It turns out Annie was just strong enough to keep it from falling.I think our best food may have been in Florence, too. The restaurants were very tourist-friendly, but still cheap, and still really tasty. I think they had my favorite ice cream as well.

After Florence we took the train down to Sorrento, just south of Napoli. It's a pretty touristy town, but so quiet and laid back that it was really relaxing. We decided to scale back our plans a bit there and really enjoyed it. We still saw everything worth seeing, but had a lot of time to enjoy it and relax in the evenings. Here we are at Pompei.
Please continue reading here.

Last Travel Update

Time for just one more update before we get home. We're now two days away from returning home, and still have a lot left to see. We're planning to spend all day tomorrow at the Vatican; St. Peter's, the Vatican Museums, all that.

A lot has happened the last couple days, too, but I'm not going to write it all down now. I'll try to catch up on Saturday when we're home and the internet doesn't cost me $5 an hour.

But we're all still alive and still enjoying the trip. We have a few things left to see today, the Vatican tomorrow, then a 7:00am airport shuttle to begin our long, long flight back. First to Paris, then Boston, then home. And I doubt we'll be able to go first class this time. Oh well.

See you all in a couple days.

Travel Post IV

Well, it's been a couple days since my last post, and we've done quite a bit. Yesterday we did indeed go to Pompei and walked all over the place. We decided to just make it a relaxing day, so we woke up around 9 and got out the door somewhere around 11.

Pompei, for those who don't know, was a city a couple thousand years ago, but it was destroyed in the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius. They've excavated about 3/4 of the city and you can walk around and see how people lived 2000 years ago.

I had already been there 3 or 4 times, but it seems like every time I go I get a deeper understanding of it and appreciate it more. It's amazing to see the technology they had back then. I'd even go so far as to say the current inhabitants of this area haven't progressed too much farther than they had 2000 years ago.

There are a couple theatres, and amphitheatre, shops, brothels, churches, everything. The roads are all still in place, the buildings are roofless and a bit damaged, but most of the walls are still in place. There are pictures on the walls and mosaics all over and tiled floors. It's remarkable to see.

A lot of the stuff pulled out of Pompei during the excavation ended up at theArcheological Museum of Napoli, which is where we went today.

Before going from yesterday to today, however, I guess I should say that we ate pizza and had a lot of gelato last night, and slept very well.

This morning we got an earlier start because we had a lot of walking to do. We hopped the 9:30 or so train in to Napoli. I was a little nervous to go to Napoli, just because it's crazy there, but there's a lot of stuff worth seeing there if you can make your way through it.

We hopped off the train (the Circumvesuviana) after 70 long minutes and transferred to the regular Metro. They've done a lot of work to the Metro stations since I was here last. I almost didn't recognize them. We just rode one stop, then took the new moving sidewalks to a stop on the other line (that also didn't exist last time I was here) and came up right near the museum.

The museum was really neat. I'd only been there once before, and that was when I was 19 and didn't know about museums and things. We spent a little time appreciating the sculptures there, then went up to see the artifacts from Pompei.

It was really neat to see all the stuff they had there. There were scales for weighing things and medical tools for poking people, and metal pots and pans. I guess I never realized they had metal back then.

We also went into the Gabinetto Segretto, the secret room where they put all the mosaics and sculptures from the red light district of Pompei. I guess there world has always been about the same as it is now, just with different people in it.

After the museum, we walked a bit til we came to a pizzeria in Piazza Dante. I'd never seen it before, and was planning to go to a different pizzeria that I knew, but we were hungry and it looked good. Annie and I each just ordered a Margherita Pizza (crust, tomatoes, mozzarella, oregano, and oil) and she finally agreed with me that the pizza in Napoli is the best pizza she's ever had.

After lunch we walked down the main street down to the water, passing the Piazza del Plebiscito, and the Palazzo Reale, and ended up overlooking the bay and the Castel del'Ovo. We hadn't been able to see the volcano until then because of the smog, but it lifted as we were walking down there so we were finally able to see it.

From there it was a climb to get back up to the metro station. The only other specific thing we wanted to see was the Cappella Sansevero. After a long, slow hike we made it and it was worth every step. The Cappella Sansevero is a tiny little church on a tiny little street in the middle of a maze of tiny, spooky streets in the middle of a crazy city. You'd walk right past the doorway if you didn't know what you were looking for.

The Cappella is known primarily for one thing: the Veiled Christ. It's a sculpture of Christ after he's been taken from the cross, laying on a bed with some pillows supporting his head, and covered in a sheet with the crown of thorns at his feet. It's absolutely astounding to look at it. It seems as though the marble is carved so thin that you're actually looking through it to the body beneath. You can see the veins (and holes) in Jesus' hands and feet, and see the puncture in his side as he lays serenely under the veil. It's incredible, and well worth the trouble to get there.

From there we wound our way through tiny streets until we got back to the metro station. I'm sure Annie's parents thought we were lost most of the time, and there were some pretty good hills to climb, but I think it gave all of us a better appreciation for Napoli and its inhabitants.

It was really nice to be back where I started my mission 14 years ago. It's been 12 years since I've been back to Napoli. I've been a little nervous to go back, but I think I've overcome that fear now. It's still crazy, but it still feels a bit like home.

After the long train ride back to Sorrento, we found a nice place to eat where I ate the same meal that I first ate my first day in Napoli. It was just as good today as it was back then. Then, of course, we topped it off with some gelato.

Now it's time for bed so we're all rested for the Amalfi Coast in the morning.

Travel Post III

Well, we survived another day. After posting last night I chatted with the missionaries for a little bit, just catching up on developments in the mission. This morning we ran into a fourth set of missionaries in Florence. It was odd.

After chatting with the missionaries we ate some dinner at the same place we ate the first night in town. I had the Spaghetti alla Carbonara. It was really good.

After dinner, we decided to do some laundry. We were planning to do it tonight, but worried that we'd get in late and wouldn't be able to find the laundromat in time, and since we knew exactly where to find a laundromat in Florence and we had some free time we just did it there. It was a bit of an ordeal. The machine that gives tokens ate 5€, and from then on would only accept change (so I had to keep getting gelato to get change). The dryer didn't quite dry the clothes so we had to hang some out overnight. It's done though, and we smell like roses.

I loved Florence; it's a pretty city. The only thing I didn't care much for was the mosquitoes. They're everywhere! Not exaggerating at all, I have over 100 bites all over my body. It was too hot in the room to sleep with the window closed, and too hot to stay completely under the covers. As a result I have mosquito bites up and down both arms, all across my back (mostly the upper part) and on the lower half of my legs. On the plus side, we got to smash a whole bunch of blood-filled mosquitoes.

So this morning we packed up and headed out of Florence. We caught the 10:27 train, but of course the train was leaving from a different station so we had to sneak a ride on another train there. The train was full the whole way down; all five and a half hours. Then we had to switch to a regional train system (the Circumvesuviana) and it was absolutely miserable. At least on the other train we had a seat. On this one I was standing diagonally holding onto the pole to keep from tipping over. It only lasted an hour or so though.

Then we arrived in Sorrento and walked a little under a mile to the Bed and Breakfast where we're staying. The B&B made up for all the stress and trouble on the trains. The rooms are air conditioned, don't have mosquitoes, our TV is the size of our bathroom in our Paris hotel. There's everything we need here, including free internet access in the common room of the B&B. We had to pay for access in Florence.

I believe that our B&B in Rome will be very similar to this one. Good thing.

Oh, since getting in today we've just been getting our bearings. We did a little window shopping, ate some good seafood pasta down by the sea, and sat on a bench overlooking the Bay of Naples for a little while. It's been nice. Now we're getting ready for bed, and for sleeping in good tomorrow.

We've decided to scale back tomorrow's plan a bit. Instead of going to Pompeii, then the Museum in Napoli, we're just going to see Pompeii. That way we can leave a little later (that means sleep in) and have some time in the evening to relax. It also means we don't have to go into Napoli any more than we have to.

I loved Napoli as a missionary. It's a tough city to deal with; very hectic, very chaotic. And if I were here alone I probably wouldn't worry so much about it. But with other people that are Napoli street-wise it's best to limit our time there.

Anyway, hopefully my posts will be more frequent for the last half of the trip (yep, it's now half over). Ciao a tutti.

Travel Post II

It's now Wednesday, I think. Was it just yesterday that I posted? Good enough.

I didn't do a very good job of writing about what we've been doing in Florence in the last post, so here goes:

When we got to town on Monday, we mostly just got our bearings. Looked around, did a little shopping, ate a lot of pizza and gelato (ice cream). We walked to a couple sights, but mostly by accident. It's hard to walk here without walking into something of significance. Oh, we also ate at a little Trattoria about 100 feet from the hotel for dinner. I had the gnocchi. It was really good. Not only was the food good, but it cost 1/3 what we were paying in Paris for similar food.

Yesterday morning we slept in pretty good and got started pretty late. That was by design, though. Entering a new country can be difficult. Everything changes (except the money now, fortunately). We got going around 11:00 or so and went to see the Davide statue (Michelangelo's). We didn't succeed. The line was a couple hours long and we decided we'd seen enough naked men for this trip. I offered to pose for Annie if she really felt cheated out of the experience.

Before that, though (are you still following this?) we stopped at the Medici Chapels. It's a church that has some pretty impressive chapels inside. Okay, really impressive. They didn't allow us to take any pictures (or even take in water bottles) but it was neat to see. Lots of statues of naked people. I think I'd have a hard time worshipping with naked statues all around me.

After that we went to the Duomo (D' = of, Uomo = Man, or church of man, for those of you playing at home). Annie and her dad and I climbed to the top of the dome. It was a fun little hike. It starts out with a square spiral staircase for the first couple hundred feet, but then when you get to the base of the dome it changes into a round spiral staircase for awhile. Then you weave back and forth in between the roof and the ceiling (there's just a small gap there that you can walk through), then climb a staircase that might as well be a ladder. Then you emerge from a spider hole (like the one Saddam was found in) out on top of the dome.

There are great views of the whole city from up there, and it was a pretty clear day. There are mountains (I'd put that in quotation marks if I could find how to type them) all around the city and it's really pretty.

After the Duomo we went to an ice cream place called Grom. It's not an Italian word; don't bother asking what it means. It was some tasty gelato. Really tasty.

After that we went to a lesser-known museum called the Bargello. There's nothing too exciting there except for Donatello's Davide, which I've heard sort of kicked off the renaissance. It was smaller than I'd pictured it, but most people seem smaller to me when I meet them. It was pretty neat to see, anyway.

From there we walked a bit farther East to the Chiesa di Santa Croce. Annie didn't believe me that it was named after Jim Croce's sister. Anyway, it was undergoing some restorations (but what here isn't?) but we were still able to see the tombs of Michelangelo and Galileo. Neither tomb is much to look at, but it was still pretty neat to be there.

After all that (it was a pretty long day) we went back to the hotel. Annie and I snuck out later to get some more Gelato and walk down by the river to the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). It was nice. I'd do it again. In fact we might tonight.

This morning we woke up and took the train to Pisa. It felt good to be back on a real Italian train. We And it was really nice that we knew how to do it all, because there were many people there struggling to figure it out.

We walked to the Field of Miracles (where the tower is) and took pictures, paid to pee, and had a nice sit-down pizza lunch. It was some good pizza. Really good pizza. Still not as good as what we'll eat in Napoli, but not too bad. Then we walked back to the train station and got on a slow train back to Florence. It was only 20 minutes longer and we had most of a whole air-conditioned train car to ourselves.

Arriving back in Florence we bought our train tickets for tomorrow (10:27 to Napoli Centrale) and went to the Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella. Nothing too exciting there, but it's good to be able to say we've been to it. They didn't allow pictures though. It almost seems as though things don't exist if you're not allowed to take a picture of them. Maybe that's just me and my bad memory.

Since then we've been shopping, eating more gelato, internetting, and scoping out places to do our laundry tonight. We're quickly approaching the halfway point of the trip.

Anyway, that's about all I have to say about that. I'll write some more once we get to Sorrento tomorrow, or sometime. I won't promise any updates, and still have no way to share pictures. See you all soon.

Travel Post I

Well, we survived Paris. It was crazy. Who would have guess that October was such a busy place there? (Please excuse any errors in my post; I'm using a foreign keyboard.) We got to see everything on our list, eat some good food (and some overpriced bad food) and made it out in one piece.

I guess I should mention the highlight of the trip so far: because Annie's dad worked for Delta for many years and still knew a number of people there, and because the plane was over-booked, we were able to get upgraded to first class. Yeah, it was as cool as it sounds. Sitting in my seat and putting my legs straight out in front of me, I still wasn't able to touch the seat in front of me. We had our own TVs with a large variety of on-demand movies, music, TV shows, games, etc. Our meal was served in three courses. Well, four if you count the extra dessert they gave us.

Our first night in Paris we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower. The only other time I was in Paris I opted not to ride to the top (there was a ridiculously long line). I'm glad we waited in the line this time. It was incredible to see. Our hotel was just around the corner (and down a couple blocks) so it wasn't too hard to get there and back. The jet lag was hitting us all pretty hard, though.

The second day we slept in pretty good (at that point, time didn't seem to matter much). Then we took the train to Versailles. It was incredible. We made it through the palace, through the crowds, and found peace in a McDonalds near the train station. Actually, the McDonalds was more crowded than the palace, but at least they had food.

After returning from Versailles we spent some time at Notre Dame, then Sainte Chapelle. Both beautiful. We still had a little energy so we took the metro up to the Arc de Triomphe and looked around. We opted not to climb to the stairs to the top. We decided that it would be a shame not to walk down the Champs Elysees a little bit. We ended up walking a bit farther than we'd hoped.

The third day (which was actually the fourth day counting from the day we left) was a little more laid back. We started at the Place de la Concorde (where all the beheadings took place) and walked through the Tuileries Gardens to the Louvre. I guess I expected the gardens to be more gardenish. They seemed really desertish, but they were pretty.

The Louvre was a madhouse. We'd decided to go on the free day, since it happened to occur while we were there. Everyone else in town had the same idea, though. I had to elbow more people out of the way that day than any other time. I used my elbows so much I started getting blisters.

(I understand that this is pretty dry reading. If you're still reading this, I applaud you. I'll try to repost all these posts with pictures when I'm able to sit at a computer with an SD port. For now, you're stuck with this.)

It seems like we did something else after the Louvre, but I can't seem to remember it now. I know we ended up wandering around a bit. Annie and I went back alone to Notre Dame and to walk along the river that night. That was nice. We had to wake up early the next day, though, for the plane ride to Florence.

The fourth day (which should be called the fifth day) we woke up early. I say early, but it's really the time I wake up for work every day (about 5:45). After the 3-transfer train ride across all of Paris on the way FROM the airport (there are a lot of stairs in subway stations) we decided to take an Airport Shuttle. We arranged it through the hotel the day before. The guy was there about 15 minutes early and we sped through little neighborhoods on one-way streets until we got to the freeway.

It was really impressive to see the guy drive. At one point we got stuck behind a group of garbage trucks on a narrow one-way street, so the driver drove backward about a quarter mile to get out to another street. It was a fun ride.

The flight was a big change from our first flight. We were cramped together with some big french guy with wide elbows. It wasn't as nice as first class, anyway. But we arrived and grabbed a taxi from the airport to the hotel (saving an hour of bus rides and walking by paying a couple extra dollars).

Florence has been great so far. I feel like I'm back home being in Italy. I speak French well enough to get by, but I speak Italian so much better that it's a big worry off my mind knowing that I can communicate. Italy's also a lot more laid back than France; at least more so than Paris. Here you can just walk around to walk around. You don't have to have a destination.

It's amazing how the language comes back, too. I just started speaking Italian when I got here. I've even been thinking in Italian. Last night I dreamed in Italian. It's strange. I haven't been in Italy for more than 10 years. It's been 12 years since I was a missionary here. And yet I feel like I'm speaking as well as I ever did. From time to time I'll forget a word, but I feel like a local.

We didn't hit any sights yesterday, we just got set up and ready for today. Today we've been all around. The highlight was climbing to the top of the Duomo's Dome. It's a tough climb, but we did it and loved it. It makes me excited to get back on top of St. Peter's Dome in Rome next week.

Anyway, I'll write more. Whether or not you read is up to you. But we're all doing fine and enjoying the trip. See you all in 11 days.

It's About Time

Time's an interesting thing, isn't it? It can go fast one minute, slow the next. There are times when I've been watching the clock and was sure I saw it go backwards.

Time is given equally to everyone. Sure, some people may die earlier than others, some may live to be 120, but each minute that each of us has is the exact same amount of time that everyone else's minute is. We all have 24 hours in each day (except the people at NASA working with the Mars rovers; they have to work on a Mars day). What's amazing, though, is how differently different people can spend the same amount of time.

I like to look at various modes of transportation in relation to time. If I sit at work for 10 hours, I go nowhere. If I walk for 10 hours, I can go about 30 miles, or about from home to work. If I run for 10 hours (if I could run for 10 hours), I can go about 60 miles.

But if I get in a car and drive for 10 hours I can be pretty close to the ocean in California, or in the middle of nowhere in eastern Colorado. Ten hours in a plane can get me to Europe, having crossed about 1/3 of the planet's surface.

If I'm sitting in a car or a plane or my cubicle, I'm doing the same thing: just sitting there. Sure, I may get a drink from time to time, eat a meal, do some puzzles, but there's not much correlation between what I do and how far I travel. The only difference is the speed at which I'm traveling.

Speaking of time, I started this post almost two full weeks ago, but you wouldn't know that unless you read this line. I could have just picked up where I left off and you wouldn't have had any idea.

The downside of waiting two weeks to finish a post is that you forget about what it was you were planning to write. I do remember, however, that I was planning to include some of the lyrics to the song "Time" by Pink Floyd, but only because it's a good song. Oh, and because it's about time.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

Tired of lying in the sunshine, staying home to watch the rain
And you are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run. You missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

I Have a Lot of Problems With You Hippies

The word Hippie is a lot like the word Hobo. Just the mere uttering of the word causes me uncontrollable giggling. Hippies, as a group, are hard to define. Well, it's hard for me to define them, but Webster does okay (just think of this post as a sacrament meeting talk). A Hippie is "a usually young person who rejects the mores of established society and advocates a non-violent ethic." The first part of that sounds like every kid I've ever known, and the second part sounds like the kids in school who weren't very coordinated (and thus couldn't play sports).

The Urban Dictionary hits it a little closer: "A Hippie is a person who was raised under the ideological system that came out of the tumultuous 1960's in North America and western Europe. They are either of the flower-child/baby boomer generation or that generations' subsequent offspring. They possess a core belief set revolving around the values of peace and love as being essential in an increasingly globalized society, and they are oftentimes associated with non-violent anti-governmental groups."

With any group, of course, there are various subsets. Like with the LDS crowd; there are Utah Mormons (a strange bunch), non-Utah Mormons (generally level-headed), and Utah County Mormons (that scare the green Jell-O out of me.) I want to focus my comments today on the Hippie equivalent of Utah County Mormons: the Demented Environmentalist.

You know who I'm talking about. They're the ones that advocate using a single sheet of toilet paper per day (which is a great accomplishment considering what they typically eat). They're the ones that chain themselves to trees and protest in the streets naked for some reason (I know they're carrying signs, but I've never read one). The Demented Environmentalist hangs out at the organic supermarket with their hand-woven hemp shopping bags, with their only child Sagebrush following along behind barefoot.

For many years I thought that I despised Hippies, especially the demented ones. But then I came to realize that a lot of times people don't like a group of people because they see those same traits in themselves. A lot of the all-time greatest homophobes are closet homers themselves. I'm not saying that I'm a Hippie at heart (or a homer), but I do have to admit that I agree with a lot of things those nut-jobs say; I just vehemently disagree with the way they say it.

For example: Clean Air. Who's not a fan of clear blue skies? Who on Earth would complain if there were no smog? Isn't it a goal we could all get behind, especially if it only meant making slight changes in our lifestyles? I consolidate trips, I walk when I can, I carpool to work every day (and took the bus before the carpool). I don't mind doing those things. But what I do mind is that the nut-jobs out there say, "Hey everybody! All our carbon dioxide emissions are going up into the atmosphere and in ten years we'll all be dead because of it!"

Why not just leave it at: "Wouldn't you like cleaner air? Let's do a little to make our lives better." That's a goal that everyone can get behind.

Example 2: Protecting wilderness areas. I love technology. I love human expansion and innovation. I love owning a little piece of land to grow things on. I think that everyone should have the opportunity to have their own piece of land. I also think that we should leave some of the land wild and untouched (of course, I also believe that humans should be allowed to enter those areas and enjoy them).

I'm all in favor of protecting land from human encroachment and leaving native habitats intact. I think most people are in favor of it, don't you? What person out there is going to say that they want to level every piece of ground in the world and build on it? They'd be a wacko, wouldn't they? But instead of leaving it at, "Let's use the land we need, but preserve some land in its natural state" the Demented Environmentalists say, "Humans have no right to live anywhere. Humans are a parasite on the Earth and should be eliminated. Animals are more important than people."

Why on Earth do they have to go so far beyond what's reasonable? Why can't humans and animals co-exist on this planet? As I see it, there are two scenarios: 1) God created man and gave him dominion over all the Earth. In this scenario, man has a responsibility to protect and peacefully co-exist with nature. Scenario 2) Man and animals all derived from the same single-celled organism millions of years ago. In this scenario, man is as much a part of the eco-system as any other living thing, and should, like any other animal, do whatever necessary to ensure its survival. I believe that living in harmony with nature (not necessarily riding wild stallions bareback while living on berries in the woods) is most beneficial for mankind. Either way, man and non-man should live together in harmony.

The reason the Demented Environmentalist is so freakish can be found in the following quotations from selected DE's:

"I think the answer to that depends on where your audience's head is. In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are..." - The DE King, Al Gore.

"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed — and hence clamorous to be led to safety — by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." - Henry Louis Mencken

And of course Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propaganda Minister: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."

It's not about the truth. It's not about what's right and what's wrong. It's not about accuracy. It's about power. If you can scare someone enough, they'll do whatever you want them to do. It's like in horror movies where the scantily-clad sorority girl is at the point where she can't handle anymore and the guy that's really the killer is there and offers to walk her home. She's not thinking clearly, she's scared stiff. The rest of us can see that he's the killer because we're not as scared as her. If you scare the people enough, they'll follow you anywhere.

So I continue to take my reusable shopping bags into the store (they've determined that they actually take more energy to produce than the equivalent in plastic bags, but at least they don't take up landfill space), I'll keep carpooling and consolidating my errands around town. I'll use fluorescent lightbulbs wherever it makes sense, and absolutely refuse to pour my used engine oil down the drain.

But I don't do these things because I'm afraid the world will blow up, or that the ocean levels will rise, or that more hurricanes will magically occur because I used hairspray. I do these things because they make sense to me on a personal level. I'm not out to change the world, I'm not trying to make a statement, and if something costs more than any benefit, real or perceived, I may derive from it, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon just to be Green (hybrids fall deeply into that category).

I'm not the kind of guy to fall for hype (sorry, Al), and artificial deadlines really make me question peoples' motivation (Healthcare, anyone?). But I really think the Demented Environmentalists would get a lot more people on board if they'd just be realistic and try to make positive changes for our world rather than trying to seek power, fortune, and fame for themselves.

Now where are the steps down from this soapbox?

Long Time

So I'm a little embarrassed that it's been a month since I updated (and my last few posts were hardly worth reading anyway). I've actually tried to write a few times, but just can't finish anything coherent. I'd like to blame it on a lack of free time, and there's probably some truth to that, but it's mostly because I just can't think of anything to say.

Recently I've found that Facebook works a little bit better for me because I only have to come up with a line at a time. A blog post requires a lot of lines. But it's hard to write anything of any meaning on Facebook, too. Not that this post will have any meaning, but it will at least make my blog's front page look different.

Random happenings:

• I ran my first 5k last weekend. It was at the Midvale Harvest Days (in Midvale). I was pretty nervous before it started because I've only run over 3 miles a handful of times. But I ran the whole race and finished with a much faster time than I thought I would (35:24).
• We're making the final preparations for our trip to Italy in October. I've been planning out and mapping our daily itinerary. We're going to fly into Paris (I know, that's not in Italy) and spend 3 nights, then fly down to Florence (it's cheaper to fly than to take the train) for 3 nights. Then we'll head down to Sorrento for 4 nights, and then stay in Rome for the last 4. It's been 10 years since I've been there and I'm really excited to get back.
• I started doing Yoga at the gym about a month ago, and I'm really starting to enjoy it. I know it seems pretty girly and all that, but I've noticed more improvement in my fitness level since starting yoga than in the prior 6 months at the gym. I'm not saying that there's anything magical about it, but it helps to change things up a bit from time to time, and yoga is a much better workout than you'd expect.

I keep looking around the room trying to find reminders of what else is going on in my life, but I can't see anything, and can't think of anything. I'm sure there's more to my life than that, but it's still too early in the morning to be expected to come up with anything.

Maybe today would be a good time to change my blog template...

Literally

If you haven't seen any of these, you really should take a look. I'm probably years late to the party, but there are various people around the world making "Literal Music Videos". They use the original music video, but change the lyrics to describe what's going on in the video. Some are hilarious, some are pretty lame. Some have questionable language, (watch at your own risk. Sorry), but there are some real gems.

The first:


Another great one:


Even the Monkees:


U2, too:


If you didn't get enough with these, do a search for "Literal Music Videos" on YouTube, or click here.