Viva, l'America!

Today I filled out, and tomorrow I will mail, my first ever ballot for a primary election. Absentee or not, it feels good to vote against Joe Lieberman.

Take this job and shove it

Yesterday afternoon, as my last act before leaving work, I submitted my Request for Unqualified Resignation from Active Duty in the United States Navy.

It was a good day.

(Update, 7/28: Due to concerns expressed by some people reading this, I need to clarify that there is nothing wrong nor was there any specific event prompting a sudden resignation from the Navy. Rather, there is a rather lengthy process imposed upon officers desiring to resign from active duty, such that those officers (i.e., me) need to submit said resignation to the Secretary of the Navy 9-12 months prior to their desired detachment date. So it's not exactly like dropping your two-week notice. Because, as nice as that might be, you just can't do that here. Anyway, it's all planned out and my actual resignation date, once approved, will coincide nicely with my desire to get a little time off prior to starting law school in September 2007. But the authors do deeply appreciate the concern expressed and hope that we have answered any questions you might have about this. And by "the authors," and "we," I mean, "I.")

You know you're in trouble when...

Editorialists in the Russian media are calling your government authoritarian and dictatorial:

From the St. Petersburg (Russia, not Miami) Times:

Specter’s bill also represents a message from the American Establishment, giving its imprimatur to the codification of presidential dictatorship as the new form of government in the United States, replacing the constitutional republic established in 1789. The bill embraces the core of Bush’s claim to authoritarian rule: that the president cannot be restrained by any law or court ruling in his arbitrary actions on any “matters pertaining” to national security — and of course it is the president who will decide, in secret, what pertains to national security and what does not.

http://www.times.spb.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=18347

I love the beach in Sicily more

Went to Sicily from Thursday until yesterday, and I think it's my new favorite place in Italy. We stayed at Laura's roommate's parents' house, which at first sounds kind of lame...until you discover that it's a huge 17th-century Sicilian farmhouse in the middle of vinyards and olive orchards. The family was incredibly nice, too--fed us two of the three dinners and three of the four lunches we had while we were there, and they were all fantastic. And the people were very friendly and relaxed and funny. Among the other highlights:

-two glorious mornings at the beach with clear water and soft sand (I can use SPF 8 sunblock and not die).
-lunch at an outdoor restaraunt overlooking a restored windmill and sea-salt beds (you know, where they farm sea salt and pile it up in huge mountains right next to the shore).
-two winery tours--tour #1 was our own personal tour with a woman who did the Master's program at Laura's school, and tour #2 was at the place where they pretty much invented Marsala wine. Added a couple bottles to the collection.
-lots of sitting around and enjoying being in Sicily.

I love the beach

Spent the weekend on the island of Ischia, just off the coast of Naples. Basically just laid around on the beach for two days. I'd forgotten how nice that could be. Oh, and we drove scooters around the island. Turns out that's actually a lot of fun, and it's a very convenient way of getting around (not to mention how much easier it makes parking), so now I'm sold on the idea of getting one. Maybe.

Too sexy for our shirts

Forza Italia!

I've been delayed in posting for the last couple of days, mainly because I've been hungover for that long, after the celebration following Italy's stunning overtime World Cup victory. It was, as you can probably imagine, absolutely nuts. I got into the airport from Oslo at around 5 p.m. and went straight to the lovely town of Monte di Procida, the sacred hill (so known because it has things that the rest of Naples doesn't, such as trash pickup and people who speak english). Several of my friends live there, and in the main piazza of town, they had set up a huge projection screen where about half the city gathered to watch the game. Not quite as crowded as say, the main piazza in downtown Napoli or the Circus Maximus in Rome, but still pretty wild. And we the Americans of course brought the beer. It was nuts right up until overtime, at which point it became ultra nuts. And when Italy made the winning penalty kick, it became super ultra nuts. All of a sudden, the ENTIRE city was in the piazza, shooting off fireworks, spraying champagne, random people with marching band instruments were playing, all the sheer craziness you've probably seen on the news over the last couple of days. Again, pictures to follow once I figure out my cell phone.

I rolled into work at 10:30 Monday morning. Nobody cared.

Viva Las Vegas

Since I'm still not tired, some highlights from this week's trip:

1. We had a successful high school reunion. Because last time I looked up "success" in Websters, it said, "40 members of a graduating class of 240 getting together for a great buffet dinner, exchanging stories with people they barely remember but like more now than they did then, having a generally great time, and then parting ways to talk again in another ten years."

2. I only lost $30 on the week in gambling, and I did quite a bit of it. I was up on slots (go figure, at MGM of all places), even on roulette (I was up at Suncoast and then MGM took it back), and down on blackjack (everywhere, even my brother's beloved Ellis Island).

3. I was the only person (well one of two people) wearing an Italia jersey in a German beer hall for the Italy-Germany World Cup semi-final game. A really FULL German beer hall. With lots of German people. And, I think, the Las Vegas German-American Society, or something of that nature. That's okay; a 70-year-old lady had my back.

4. I stayed in a sweet room (known as a "Jacuzzi Suite," I believe, for reasons that I hope are self-evident) at the MGM Grand for three nights.

5. I drove around a Ford Mustang Convertible for the week. Hey, I've always wanted to have a convertible, so I went ahead and reserved the "standard convertible" from Hertz, figuring it would be a Sebring or something (and forgetting that it was going to be 110 degrees outside). When I got there, they gave me a choice of Sebring, PT Cruiser, Miata, or Mustang; so which would you choose? (It's rhetorical. If you say "Miata," you better be a girl. A really girly girl. Or I'll hit you. If you say "PT Cruiser," I'll hit you regardless. And then you should hit yourself. Repeatedly. Go ahead. Keep going. Until I say stop.)

6. I ate a ribeye steak that brought tears to my eyes (for good reasons) (at Hank's, at the Green Valley Ranch).

7. I may have had a cocktail or two, here and there.

8. Oh yeah, I saw Pearl Jam on my last night. In the best concert seats I've ever had. As in, on the floor right next to (a little to the side of) the stage. A little Eddie sweat being flung our way every now and then. And regardless of the seating, it was one of the best damn concerts I've ever been too. When whoever invented the term "it rocks" invented the term, that's what they meant. Pictures pending, if someone gets around to emailing them to me... (my camera and phone stopped working).

9. Did I mention that I flew first class there and back? (Well, at least on the legs from and to Atlanta, anyway.)

Lucy, I'm home!

Well, almost. I'm in Oslo, where I'm staying overnight before I make the last leg of the trip to Italy tomorrow (and then watch Italia win the World Cup!). Only took me about 31 hours to get from Vegas to here. Of which roughly 8 hours consisted of sleeping or trying to sleep in London Heathrow airport because the plane from Atlanta got in at 6:30 a.m. and they wouldn't let me check in my bags for Oslo until 4:30 p.m. for my 7 p.m. flight. (Oh yeah, and I couldn't get my ticket changed to fly to Naples because there's no Lufthansa desk at Gatwick OR Heathrow, and I was even willing to just throw away the Heathrow-Oslo-Munich-Naples tickets and buy one from London to Naples, until they told me it would be about $600 to do so.) On the bright side, I had lots of time at Heathrow to find some good deals on some good Scotch. Also on the bright side, for both my Atlanta to Vegas trip on the way out and my Vegas to Atlanta trip on the way back, my Super Silver Slugger Ultra-Frequent Airline Rider Blackbelt status on Delta got me upgraded to first class. Which was nice. And for the other flights, I had the biggest exit row seats known to man. On the down side, I went to the Brookstone's in the Atlanta airport this afternoon--no, wait, yesterday afternoon--and bought one of those Swiss Tempurpedic neck pillows that are supposed to contour to your neck and head and make you sleep really comfortably. We won't go into how much it cost, but let's just say it's worth every penny. Got the best airplane sleep I've ever had, and woke up with out so much as a minor crick in my neck (although I don't recommend not shaving for a week before using it). What's the downside, you ask? Well, it's now 12:30 here in Oslo, and I'm WAY too well-rested and not sleepy enough. Maybe Mr. Minibar over in the corner can suggest a solution.... Hey, I'm talking about the can of peanuts, okay? Aren't they supposed to make you sleepy?