Happy New Years

Day 26 without internet. My symptoms are beginning to stabilize. The headaches and nausea have faded and the uncontrollable urge to check cnn.com every 10 minutes is abating. I did break down last night to go to a local internet hotspot to download the Doctor Who Christmas special. Unfortunately, the connection was too slow. I returned empty handed to my cave with no freshly killed meat to present to my wife.

Tonight is New Years eve. I'm looking forward to it with waxing curiosity. Multiple, reliable sources tell me that the Germans are crazy about fireworks and that I'm in for a show. I mentioned to a co-worker that I might let the kids stay up to watch the craziness and she laughed at me. Apparently, things will be too loud for us to have any choice in the matter. Possibly that explains why fireworks are for sale in every local supermarket. And not just the little bitty ones. They sell the heavy artillery that you can only get in the US on Indian reservations.

We leave this weekend to go skiing in Austria. We are promised that Internet and telephone will be hooked up upon our return. We hope to publish a backlog of photos and updates then.

Wishing you all every good blessing in the New Year.

Happy Birthday

Malissa rightly shames me for failing to mention Piper's birthday. I thank her for yet another year of being married to me. It wasn't my place to tell her that she could have done better... I am, however, continually grateful that she didn't.

Today I leave work early to buy an ATX power supply before the stores close. I dutifully connected the kids computer up to a 110V/60Hz transformer last night before turning it on. Somehow, it blew up anyway. I chalk another casualty up to the German power grid.

Tess got roller blades for her birthday and has already learned to use them. Micah has spent the last 3 days watching Tess and complaining that he doesn't have a bicycle. Piper has spent the last 3 days listening to Micah and smiling because she knows what he does not.

Merry Christmas.

Random Odds & Ends

Blogging has been difficult without internet access. A quick post now with some odds and ends. I have but a moment with this computer.

Internet and phone installation is scheduled for January 7th. We are contemplating going skiing that week so we may not be connected til the following week. We hope to rejoin the real world by mid-January.

Christmas preparations have been delayed in the midst of other priorities. Internet. Installing lights. Acquiring closets (don't get me started). Fixing the dishwasher. You get the idea.

We started picking up presents for the kids last week. Tess and Maddie will both get scooters. Micah will get his first bicycle (with training wheels). Lots of little odds and ends but that's the big stuff. Thanks to all the family who mailed presents. We've gotten a bunch of boxes that have gone under the tree.

This may be the last time I'll be able to discuss the kids Christmas shopping on the internet. They're growing up quickly. . Fortunately Huckle is still alive and well.

Piper and I are both sorry that we've been so out of touch with family and friends for the past month. We wish all of you a blessed Christmas and we look forward to talking with you in January.

Much love to all.

Move-In Update.

I have gotten several e-mails from the masses who read this blog crying out for an update. Have we moved in? Are we well? Why the heck aren't we posting?

We have moved in. The apartment is cozy but very nice. It's great having no maintenance. We're also in a prime location for access to work and the kids school. After 2 months in the hotel, our 1100 sq ft apartment seems palatial. We like it alot.

We're doubly fortunate since the walls are solid cement. This is key since Germans like quiet neighbors and the smaller members of teamfordham are not (always) so quiet. It also helps that the family who lives directly below us is Italian. They don't have the same cultural obsession with quiet tidiness that some Germans do.

A sidenote on the cement walls. Hanging lights and pictures is a pain. Putting anything into the walls requires a hammer drill. Please cross-reference this fact with the comments in the above paragraph about quiet neighbors.

Lights have been the first priority since the previous tenants took all the lights with them. (The Swabian region of Germany is known for *thrift* so such behavior is pretty common). Between the lights and the furniture, the Ikea check-out people now know us by name.

So why no blog posts? The short answer is that we've been the unwitting victims of a conspiracy by German telecom to keep us from getting internet and telephone service. Several installation appointments have come and gone. We're now in the process of giving up on getting cable modem and settling for DSL. We hope to have a real phone number in a few weeks.

This is, of course, dependent on whether I can decipher router installation instructions when they're writtin in German.

Wish me luck.

All is well

All is well. Much to tell, but not now. We should have gotten Internet today, but the technician fell and broke his arm (ouch!). We hope someone will come Friday so that we will have electronic access before TG's birthday.

Hasta pronto

Three points of Contact and Keep your Mind on your Work...

And speaking of snow,

A sleeting, freezing weekend called for a change in plans last weekend. I had planned for a drive to the French border to walk through a Roman walled city. But walking through sleet with three children was enough for even me to say no.

Instead, we went to kid nirvana that happens to be only 5 kilometers away and indoors. It's called Sensopolis, and, if you're under 25, we can't wait to take you there; if you're over 25 and still like slides, we'll still take you there! t could be called Slide Land. It has a 40-foot shoot (the photos at the top are the shoot at the top--you're at the top right looking down-- and a blurry Andy at the bottom), slides that send you shooting all over a space ship. Wide slides that you can hold ands and go down as a family, curly slides that make you feel like you're riding down a slinky.

It has a six-floor ball pit complete with cannons and a vacuum that sends the foam balls flying. The ball pit is guarded by a giant dragon slide that empties people at the entrance. It as a science floor with all the cool science stuff, a pirate ship... and food that you are actually glad to eat.

For me, the best part was a suspended ropes course. From the bottom looking up, it looked great. I had lots of time to think about how great it really was when I was up at the top, looking down from 60 feet at an unforgiving floor, waiting for my turn. I had a while to wait because the ropes attendant had to go out and pull two people off when they got stuck or just were too frightened to go on any more. While I was hanging out in my harness, trying not to look down, a Marine-looking guy finished the course and gave me a thumbs up.

"How is it?" I asked.
In drill-Sargent mode, he answered,"Piece of cake. Maintain three points of contact at all times and keep your mind on your work."

That became my mantra as I, barefooted (I had left my shoes at the bottom and didn't want to go down to get them), stretched my toe to reach the next dangling log.

Here is a view of the course looking up from the ground. Those tiny things up there are people.

We had a blast of a Saturday. Micah fell asleep in the car and didn't wake up until Sunday morning.

Crushed as cranberries

These are our friends Brad and Stacey. They are cool and fun, and we miss them. We knew each other when Andy and I lived in Florida. We were going to Vienna for Thanksgiving to visit with them and see their three kids, whom we haven't met yet.

I tried not to gloat about it in public. I just pranced around the hotel room saying to myself, "why, as a matter of fact, we're going to Vienna for Thanksgiving."

As it turns out, not gloating was a good policy. There is a forecast of freezing rain, snow and fog the latter half of the long weekend. The prudent among us (that means Andy)decided that was too risky in the Alps for a long weekend that included 16 hours on the road.

but Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I pray the day is filled with reminders, big and small, of all you have to be grateful for. We love you!