We were in Italy last week. I left the laptop in the States, wanting to disconnect from my plugged-in life.
They don't observe the Fourth of July in Italy, and our British tour guide wasn't terribly enthusiastic when JK asked if we could purchase fireworks in Rome. (Apparently not.) We had to explain to Ms. British Colony (not England, she insisted) what our holiday celebrates. Not a heartwarming moment.
As the week went on, we discovered that our British tour guide wasn't thrilled with our American family. Rigid schedules just don't synch with our idea of a vacation.
(More on the tour guide later.)
We were newcomers to European travel, so we chose to let the tour people introduce us to Italy. Rome was our first stop. Our little hotel -- better thought of as a pension, if it were in France -- was a bit spartan. A heat wave swept Italy, so we tried not to wipe ourselves out in the extreme heat. Luckily, the subway in Rome was air-conditioned -- and pretty easy to figure out.
Of course, we visited the Colosseum. It's undergoing some restoration; I kept looking for the sky boxes.
Food: You quickly discover that the definition of "pizza" varies widely. One very nice trattoria served us something like cheese and tomatoes on a glorified baked tortilla. Other places had thicker crust, but no tomato.
Another realization: the Italian economy is built on gelaterias. They outnumber bars. Gelato is always tasty on a hot day, but I wouldn't have minded a decent iced tea, either.
I shot about 1,000 photos on this trip. (Rome, Florence, Assisi, Siena, Padua, Venice, and a few places time forgot.) Out of decency, I'll try not to bore you with every one. But I'm fond of this ristorante shot -- largely because it doesn't show your usual tourist-filled view. The car speeding through the shot is typical Rome; drivers stop for nothing except baby strollers and nuns.
OK, I get the deal: charity road cycling event
But those tights? That hair? Those pink jerseys? And autographs?
Wow. I didn't know Richard Simmons accessorized the cycling world!
D'oh.
I just figured out why the U.S. insists on "blindly" fighting in Iraq. It's because of their neighbor.
When McCain or the Former Baseball Executive talk about stabilizing Iraq's government and society -- and staying perhaps a decade to do so -- it really hasn't got a thing to do with Iraq.
It has, however, everything to do with Iran. You know: the guys who want to pulverize Israel and brandish nuclear weapons made with our isotopes.
And it scares the hell out of me. As it should you.
(P.S. - Who wears an Air Force flight suit to a Presidential library? Certainly not a speed reader!)
It's been a rough few weeks for Star Trek fans. Alexander Courage died; he wrote that French-horn laden music for the original Star Trek series, the one that Shatner talks over at the beginning of every episode. Around the same time, Joseph Pevney died; he directed, among some 14 episodes, "The Trouble With Tribbles."
It's enough to depress a Vulcan.
Now, it's pretty easy to conjure up any number of cleverly edited Star Trek clips on YouTube. But this one -- with Carol Burnett as Capt. Kirk -- is funny and weird, all at the same time. (It may also be what helped turned Carol Burnett's show into the dreadful "Mama's Family.")
Now that I think of it, this is from the reprised Carol Burnett show, Carol & Company, not the original CBS series. This is the one with Richard Kind (of 'Spin City') that shows why the late Harvey Korman was soooo essential to Burnett's ensemble comedy approach.
Beam me up.
That's Oscar, as in "red carpets, acceptance speeches, and Best Actor" Oscar.
Here's what happened: I borrowed one of my employer's Academy AwardsTM for a business function one Saturday evening. Guests got a chance to pose for a portrait with a genuine Oscar. (Kodak's won nine of these guys for all its innovations in the motion picture sciences. Read the full story here.)
There are just two rules when we take Oscar to a party:
- You can't touch or hold the Oscar. If you do, I have to taser you.
- OK, you can hold the Oscar -- but ONLY if you wear white cotton gloves. No gloves, no Oscar. Turns out Oscar reacts badly to those oils in our skin.
So Oscar came to our house for an evening. This meant we all had a chance to pose -- with our white gloves, natch -- with a genuine Oscar. B found an excuse to dress up, while Us Guys decided to go casual.
As for the Oscar? He travels in bubble wrap and a soft-sided cooler. Good thing, too -- he weighs about eight pounds.
The taser's optional.
Now live on YouTube, and on the Kodak podcast site: our newest conversation with photographer Jeff Liao.
Look for his book, Habitat Seven.
Among other projects, he's chronicling the construction of New York City's new Citi Field. And the upcoming demolition of Shea Stadium, where I met Bud Harrelson back in 1968 -- the year before The Miracle.
Sure, enough Jimmy Buffett music would lead you to believe that any small seaside Florida town would be a moment in paradise.
And from this photo, you might think: not bad. Except it's on the Gulf of Mexico, west of Bradenton. A place call Cortez Harbor.
A late-season manatee wandered into the harbor while we were having lunch. Sea cows, endangered species.
But I've never been to any small harbor that didn't have a half-finished vessel undergoing a long-term restoration in dry dock. From the look of things, this skipper's got a lot to do.
At least one major U.S. airline flying those Embraer regional jets seems to have forgotten that African Americans and Asian-Americans are also passengers.
Ever wonder why a company prints these safety cards without thinking that a black person should be represented? Or a person with disabilities?
I do.
What's your favorite midnight snack?
Submitted by Raina.
I am not dead yet. I took a break, and now that I've logged another birthday today, I'm going to get back to this stuff.
I've been busy the past few days.
We tricked out one of the Airstream trailers featured in the Celebrity Apprentice with a flotilla of Kodak picture kiosks and new ESP-5 inkjet printers. Lots of people came by to play with our toys.
My guess is, about 3,500 people.
Which would have been fine, except this particular Airstream only has ONE door. So it got a little congested in there. And the student who decided to print out 60 prints (after we informed him of a 20-print limit) didn't help matters.
But it was fun. Next time, I'm going to request a larger Airstream -- with two doors, a lav, and a built-in fridge.
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