Anniversary!

March 13, 2012

Can you believe I have been engaged in my no longer newly-found hobby of web logging for a whole year?! A lot has happened since then. Wars. Weddings. Weremoles. Wine. Weiner. Weiners. Winning. And, of course, what have you. These are things that I mostly haven't noticed much, since I've been spending so much time in my comfortable basement, hunting and pecking at my keypad. Diligently oblivious to other events and possible activities. I might even have been able to earn a correspondence degree or been able to communicate in Japanese if I'd invested all this time in something more "productive." Darn. Maybe if I find a good correspondence degree I'll throw in the greasy, chain-cleaning towel. On the other hand, at least I'm not on crack or a serial killer or a soccer player or all three, like the star of this online comic.

How has your past year been? Good I hope.

Yesterday I took my daughter to see a slide show presentation by the inimitable Rick Steves at the Joslyn Art Museum's Witherspoon Concert Hall. And despite how that may sound, yes, I do love my daughter. We got there early to get a seat. Rick claimed to be presenting a 3-part talk. The first part was entitled "Travel as a Political Act." The second and third were allegedly entitled "Europe through the Back Door (parts 1 and 2)." Rick came out and preached at us as only a convert can. Yes, he has repented of his Americaness and is a convert to the insufferable, rational-humanist European way of life. He even threw in some actual religious talk, mentioning, "I got no problem with hedonism, I'm a Lutheran." I think he might've been being snide and/or sarcastic, because I grew up in a Lutheran family and hedonism was frowned upon. Every time. Lots of frowning. You know how those Europeans are with their humour and/or wit.

Although at first I glowered in superstitious suspicion at this generic man of the world, I was eventually impressed by his frank, straightforward talk. He didn't dodge the controversial or unpleasant subjects. He actually kind of drove the tour bus right into them. Here are some of the topics he covered:

1. Cheese that smells like the feet of angels.
2. Teary-eyed Germans looking over the shoulders of their elected representatives in the Berlin Parliament with the symbolic glass dome
3. Legalization of marijuana
4. Legalization of prostitution
5. European junkies vs. American
6. The humanity and beauty of the Iranian people (death to traffic!)
7. The widening gulf between rich and poor

He did it all in a no-nonsense, conversational manner. Somewhat pedantic, but he got his point across. My interpretation of his theme was - Fear is often a product of love (protectiveness) and ignorance. Mindful travel is the antidote to fear.

We left after the first part of the talk. All of his travel shows are apparently available on hulu.com.  Rick is currently engaged in his "Road Trip USA" tour of talks/slide shows.  He may even come to your town!

It appears that we may have had a short spring, since it is now very warm and summery the damn grass is already looking pretty green. I swallowed my first few gnats of the year soon after my first bat-spotting. My Illuminite jacket is about due for its annual washing, as evidenced by the greasy ring-around-the-collar.

Then I noticed the bat bikes have already returned to their roost.

As you may have noticed, it is almost St. Patrick's Day. I generally like to commemorate this event by going on a run (or possibly a bike), drinking beer, and then shaving for the first time since Halloween. Although the entry fee is an onerous $35, I plan on participating in the Blarney Stone 5K run that will take place this Saturday down by the river (Miller's Landing). Come on out for the fun!