Yesterdays' post made me realize that I never really did a post mortem on the Greece trip, which is something I wish I had done a little closer to returning home from there. But here's the opinion a couple weeks out...

I really, really liked Greece. Its...my pace. Now, this should be tempered with the fact that I really, really wasn't that excited about it as our destination for the big family vacation. I wanted to see the big cities in Europe - London, Paris, Rome, etc.. Or at least just bum around Italy. The idea of Greece just didn't ring my bell, but the 'rents were excited so I sucked it up and tried to get excited about it.

I didn't. And next thing I knew I was there, I was tired, and I was annoyed. I had arrived a day earlier than the folks and had no idea where to go or who to meet, because mom had all that info, and I had been expecting her and the rest of the fam to be on the same flight as me, before they missed their connection. But Chris finally found me and did the smartest thing a Greek guy could do, he took me straight to the best kebab Greece has to offer.

I have been lusting for said kebab all day long today. I realized 2 things - I didn't have enough of them while I was there, and I neglected to take a picture of one, in my furious bouts of greco-gluttony. The kebabs are a good standard-bearer for the rest of the dining fare offered in that country. I'm not huge on a lot of the seafood offerings, but I can't really remember a meal there that I did *not* think was fabulous.

The Greeks as a whole are fairly welcoming to Americans, in that sense that an arrogant American might welcome a well-meaning foreigner - happy to help them but generally assuming that this foreigner is ever-so-slightly a bit of a moron. Maybe we're all right, in the end. But the ones I dealt with were plenty nice, even if they were usually in a position to take my money in one way or another.

Greeks enjoy their late nights and late mornings, and as a whole I don't get the impression that they work very hard at all. They do however seem to maintain an equal or greater stress level as those societies that do in fact work a good deal harder. They just spend their afternoons sitting around drinking coffee and smoking and discussing how stressed they are. Of course I exaggerate, to a degree, but the point remains. Perhaps its the way they drive that contributes to this.

The islands, well - the islands were simply delightful and I fully plan to return and spend much more time there. Athens I could take or leave, but I will make a point to take the kebabs if I'm ever back. Thesoliniki I would like to spend a night of clubbing in, that's about it.

And if I'm ever back I plan to have my motorcycle license before I arrive. And I'd like to speak a good deal more Greek. Seemed to come off like the kind of place that you could be a friend with any stranger if you only knew the local dialect.

So there's your rave review of Greece. I was wrong. It happens, at times few, and far between. I remain, ever the skeptic.

I've been behind on a lot of things lately (as evidenced by lack of blogging), but one of them that I really shouldn't be is burning and mailing out my Metafilter Side-Swap CD's. Basically its a way for a few of us to send a disc of what we've been listening to lately to a few of the other MeFites (as we call ourselves) out there who are also willing to mail out a few discs.

Now, I can blame bad timing, the email that gave us the addresses of those we would be sharing with came out shortly before I left for Greece. But, I've been back for over a week and I couldn't find an hour to devote to the task until now, shamefully. But the discs are burned and all that remains is to get them in the mail in the AM. And to finish updating my flickr photo-set from the Greece trip, so that I can share that with my MeFite friends (promised in lieu of on-time disc delivery) as well as everyone else that I've promised to get them too. Another thing I'm way behind on, but little brohim in Cali needed me to walk him through the best way to upload all the ones that I took on mom and dad's camera (when my memory card crapped out), and I finally got that done tonight.

Anyhow, back to the music. Here's the playlist:



The majority of these were related to Greece in one way or another. Some examples:

The New Radicals - I heard this song blaring from a coolish looking little bar on the back streets of Athens' club/bar district where we ate on our last night there. The family was having desert and smoking cigars, so I left to walk around some before the smoke made me throw up all over their deserts. I'm not sure this is the exact NR song I heard, but I know it was one of the hits off their first album, and it took me straight back to junior year of college.

There were a lot of tunes I heard on the radio that had been re-recorded with Greek lyrics. I'm still trying to decide if "I Don't Want to Lose Your Love Tonight" is better in English or Greek.

Mindy Smith was recently profiled by a music critic for the LA Times as one of the best new artists of the year. I don't think she's particularly new, but she was new to him at the time, and she's got a NYC feel to her music, which I like, although not particularly in this song. Anyway, I read about her while I was over there.

Heard some old-style swing guitar at one of the cafes in Nafplio while we were walking down the waterfront. Sounded like Django to me - might not have been - but kudos to them if it was.

I heard "Theme from Abbadesse's Street" on the plane as we were flying back, probably somewhere over Italy or the sea near it. Reminded me of a tune from Ocean's 11, but I like this one better.

As for the rest, I either listened to them at some point on the trip, or something in them speaks to a thought from the trip, or they are completely unrelated to the trip, and I threw them in simply because I liked them and thought they rounded it out well. Its by no means a good definition of my musical tastes overall, so much as it is a sample of what I've been putting in my ears lately.

If you'd like a copy of the CD, just email me your mailing addy.

Friday felt like a really fast recovery from jet lag, but as the weekend would prove, it took the body clock a while to get back on track - I kept waking up at like 5:30 in the morning.

I skated into the city to pick up a package from the office and then down to the church offices to help round up the high schoolers for the Young Life work crew trip. As per normal for these trips, we get a lot of kids coming out of the wood-work, so I was kind of bummed that I wasn't going, but I knew it was the prudent decision - I had dry-cleaning to pick up and sleep to catch up on and an early flight coming up Monday morning, and a work crew weekend would have just sucked it out of me. So anyhow, we got all the kids out to Hoboken where Cregan and Mindi and Jenny all met us with the rental cars to drive everybody up. After sending them on their way I picked up a burrito and got started on cleaning out my email.

Then I get the call about an hour later that lets me know the Chicago thing is on hold for the moment, and I'm not flying out Monday after all. Super greaaaat. But all things for a reason, even poor management timing on projects I haven't yet started on.

Then it became the weekend of shopping. It started innocently enough - a couple of pairs of jeans from the Earnest Sewn sample sale, then a couple of shirts around the corner at DCC Labs. Then Sunday everything just went to crap. Some qualifications:

Hugo Boss hardly ever has a sample sale of any size whatsoever, and this was evidenced by the hordes of people in line when I got there on Sunday morning, most of whom were gay men or well funded straight guys with their girlfriends or wives. But mostly gay men. Another great qualification is that I need some suits for the Walgreens project, and these ones were a full 2/3rds off their normal market price. And they were beautiful. And I could not say no. And no one would help me. Next it was dress shirts and knit tees and tennis shoes and dress shoes and then my entire annual bonus was gone. Just like that. I was a victim of the situation.

I'm taking back the Hickey Freeman I picked up shortly before I left for Greece, so that will let a little of the blood, but November will still be known for years to come as the month the wheels came off with my years-long restraint with the credit card. Shame on me.

So this morning, instead of waking up and catching a plane to Chicago, I woke up and got back on the 8-mile horse, and there's nothing nicer than running on completely rested legs. Odd to have running weather in the middle of November, but I'll take it while it lasts.

Still working on getting all the pictures hashed out on flickr, should have a link for them soon.

Beat.

Been up for goin on a full 24, given the time change. Flying back is a lot freakin longer than flying out. Right now I'm trying to stay awake and catch The Office, and then I'm sleeping until I wake up tomorrow.

Pictures forthcoming...

Its over.

Lunch in that area that starts with a P that I will spell right sooner or later (but not quite yet), and then we drove back to Athens. Got my last kebab while the last of the shopping took place, and then we all had dinner at a nice joint that Chris had taken me to on my first night here, before the folks got in. They really liked it, but I was dog tired. Woke up a little and walked around the area while they had desert and smoked cigars at a place across the street. I wanted to see the area and staying in range of that cigar smoke would have been dangerous for me. It reminded me a lot of the village - it was just kicking into gear at 1am and seemed really full of life and smoke and music and booze and talking and people and life.

Took a quick spin by the Marathon arena, couldn't get very good pictures in the dark but it was still something to behold, and then we jetted over to the parliment building to catch the 2am changing of the guards in front of Greece's very own Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Reminded me very much of our own, there was a lot of respect and time-tested honor there.

Wake up in 5 hours to head to the airport.

Where we will shop some more before coming home.

From two nights ago...

Back in Greece. Disembarked the ship early this morning and we all hopped in the van with Chris to head north to Kavala - where we're staying tonight. Our base camp, or sorts, for Philipi and Thesoliniki tomorrow. Everyone's looking forward to that but at least some of us are getting a fair bit vacationed-out at this point. If there's one thing I've learned in the last couple years of traveling for work, its that there's no soft spot in the world to curl up in like your own sweet bed. I want my down comforter, and my fan.

Turkey was cold, and in retrospect, our Turkish tour guide really rushed us through the Ephesus ruins so that we'd have plenty of time in his buddy's rug store when we got back to the port. But it was good to see, even if we only had a few hours there. I think I've officially spent less money than anyone else in the family - the shopping thing just isn't doing it for me. In Kasadusi, I bought exactly 30 minutes of net access and one lamb kabab. I like the Greek food better. And the hospitality.

Basically, the Turks are a bunch of greedy...guys. Example: most Americans have no idea that the Turkish airforce invades Greek airspace over the isles *every* day. They fly around there until the Greeks intercept and obtain missile lock, and then they leave. They do this because they're trying to create an international incident (ie. hoping that some day a Greek will accidentally fire a missile, etc.), because they want the airspace rights to the isles, many of which are within a reasonable distance of the Turkish coast (take Samos, for instance). I learned about this while we were driving north this morning and I saw the daily dispatch of Greek fighters taking off. I think its somewhat of a good representation of the general Turkish feeling towards the western world. And they insist on being best friends with America. Go figure.

But that's just my initial impression.

Still a few ruins left to see, a few pictures more to take, and a few more plates of slouvaki to attack, and then its back home. Oh, and Pantalomos (or something close to that) - a little city on the side of the hills across the valley from Mt. Olympus. We had lunch there today, and coffee after. If I ever come back to Greece, this will be one of my primary destinations. Hydra, then Pantalomos, then perhaps Mykonos again. Preferably on a sail boat.

And talking with Chris today, I have a feeling my next visit to Europe may be to do a BMW cycle tour of some of the western EU nations. Have to get myself a bike license once I'm home.

Tonight was walking around the port of Kavala and then dinner in a local joint where we once again experienced the true Greek hospitality of a round of ouzo to start us off, and the refusal to give us the check until they had given us all free desert. This seems to happen everywhere we go, and I like it.

From this morning...

Back in Pantalomos. Yesterday was a big one - woke up in Kavala, hopped in the car and headed for Philipi, where we spent the morning exploring the ruins there. Saw the cell that Paul and Silas had their chains miraculously released in, at the bottom of the very building they must have witnessed to the jailer and his family in. Saw the amphitheater and the tunnel that the Romans used to release the animals to torture the Christians. Saw the first actual Christian church (that wasn't a home-church, but specifically built for Christian worship).

Then off to Thesoliniki - we got there early evening, and we hadn't stopped for lunch, so I had an hour or more of extremely low blood sugar misery while everyone did their thing. When we finally did stop to eat, it was more great Greek food and hospitality, followed by what else but a couple more hours of frickin shopping. Thesoliniki actually seemed to be a really cool town - like Athens its old but very metropolitan, busy, crammed with people. I would have liked another day there to just explore, but that will have to wait for next time.

Last night we drove back to Pantalomos where we stayed at a place near the water, as everyone wants to have lunch up in the hillside village again. Which is where we're off to now.

After that we'll head back to Athens, have our last dinner there, shop - I don't doubt - for a few more hours, and then tomorrow morning its the flight back home.

I've got about a bajillion pictures to sort through, I figure I'm going to finally break down and buy the upscale flickr account so that people can see them easily, but I'll try to throw some hi-lights up here too. Be patient, I have a busy weekend of prep for the start of the Chicago thing when I get home and then the magic starts again on Monday.

Its been a good trip over all. I like it a lot here and don't want it to be over, but I like home a lot too and I'm looking forward to being back too.

Slıghtly less smokey ınternet cafe, mainly because theres only 3 of us ın here. Youll notıce the lack of apostrophes and the funny letter İs ı suppose because I cant fınd them on the keyboard. Loggıng ın was not very fun just now.

Im above a bazaar ın Kadusı, Turkey. I wont be joınıng the other few thousand cruıse passengers ın the normal stop to shop routıne, even though apparently Ill be mıssıng out on ıncredıble exchange rates, accordıng to our tour guıde, who was actually a great guıde ın the ruıns of Ephesus thıs afternoon. I saw the worlds oldest advertısement there - thats what he called ıt, at least - pıcture to come. And upon gettıng back to the port he promptly trıed to usher us all ınto hıs frıends carpet store. Or the leather store across the street. Or a jewelry store. Or any other kınd of store that takes money. Any kınd of money wıll do, just so long as you have some.

Wasnt very ınterested ın helpıng me fınd an ınternet cafe.

But here I sıt, nonetheless, trapped above busy shoppıng streets, wıth narry 20 mınutes tıl ıts back to the boat. They actually have ınternet on the boat, but the problem ıs ıts a Euro and a half a mınute (dıd I mentıon that already?). Four Euros thıs AM for the fastest fantasy football pool update Ive ever done.

Sucks that I dont have the tıme Id lıke to wrıte at the moment, much less a western keyboard, because I have a lot I want to wrıte, and as Ive found of late, I can do ıt much faster through a keyboard. Ive come to loathe pen and paper after a fashıon, ıf only because ıt feels lıke thoughts have to queue up and waıt to get out - I can type probably 3 to 5 tımes faster than I can scrıbble.

After spendıng the mornıng on Patmos seeıng the ısland to whıch John was banıshed and the very cave that he wrote the book of Revelatıons from, we hopped back on the dıngy and rowed over to Turkey, where as I mentıoned the destınatıon was Ephesus. A full 6 mıles ınland, a cıty that was on the water ın Pauls day. Durıng hıs years of mınıstry, he spent more tıme ın that cıty than anywhere else, and today my feet stood on the same stones that hıs once dıd - I watched the evenıng rıse over the same hılls and valleys he lıved and breathed ın.

And I was rıghteously pıssed because I was out of megabytes ın the camera. I had a number of other thıngs on the lıst of stuff to be pıssed about, and as I sat there lookıng at a monument to one of the Roman emporers, beıng pıssy, Ecclesıastes came rushıng ın.

None of thıs crap matters. I cant get food on the boat when I want ıt late at nıght. Sıster ıs upset wıth me for makıng some gross comment. Ran out of megabytes. Mom and dad revertıng to parents, guy ın hıs late 20s not takıng ıt too well. Cant fınd freakıng ınternet anywhere. Dont know what I thınk about goıng back to a project ın Chıcago or stayıng ın consultıng or goıng back to school or what to do wıth my lıfe.

Meanıngless.

Buıld a monument. Buıld a cıty. 5 tımes over, on top of the old ones. Buıld an empıre that covers the known world. Drınk yourself to death because theres nothıng left. Doesnt matter. Someday a few thousand years from now people mıght be lookıng at what we dıd, but chances are at best ıt wıll be a small tourıst attractıon ın some corner of the galaxy. Doesnt matter.

And then thought two.

Paul and hıs contemporarıes were concernıng themselves wıth the only thıngs that mattered. Sure, they were tent-makers, and carpenters, and fıshermen, and dealıng wıth daıly ıssues - ınterpersonal, fınancıal, whatever. But theır lıves were centrally about one thıng - tellıng people about the good news. And ın the end, when all the ruıns have worn away and the seas drıed up and the megabytes are all gone, that wıll be the only thıng left.

Im fındıng perspectıve ın weırd ways on thıs trıp, but at least ıts fındıng me.

Another smoky internet cafe, this time somewhere on the island of Rhodes. I've never seen water so deep blue as the sea here.

Last night I ran out of the net cafe and down the shoreline a few blocks to the last bus back to the boat. Margy left a bag of her shopping hoard in one of the shops near the cafe I had been in, and she had to run back to get it while the bus waited for her and a few others who were running late. This stressed the rents out, something awful - the thought of leaving a daughter behind on some Greek island in the middle of the night. Its funny how when people get older certain things seem to stress them out a lot more than they should - I mean its even worse with my grandparents, for instance. But take last night, worse case I would have just told them to get on the boat, I would have hopped off the bus, and gone and found her. Even if we missed the boat, its not like we're going to spontaneously ignite or something.

Anyway.

After that it was a show then gambling and drinks and dancing and whatnot. Dancing is certainly interesting when the floor is moving. I'm pretty sure 5 card stud takes your money faster when you're at sea, too. Going to try to stay out of that part of the ship for the next two nights.

Today Joe and I rented a motor bike and we've been zipping around the island, seeing a lot but stopping a little. Margy got one too but she promptly laid it down with dad on top of her. Thankfully everyone was ok, but I'm pretty sure they were taking her bike back after lunch. Time for more zipping around for us, now. Tomorrow: Patmos and Ephesus.

In my years of blogging, I sit now in what is officially the far and away coolest location I have ever blogged from. I'm in an "internet cafe" above the shoreline of the island of Mykonos - one of the Greek isles.

Not what an American would think when they think internet cafe, either. I'm surrounded by smoking Greeks, a dozen or so who just finished a mass multiplayer FPS game. They're cursing at each other about why the winners were cheaters, why the losers are whiners, etc.. You don't need to speak the particular dialect to know the language of the gamers. As its Europe, they're all smoking and there's loud music. I appear to be the only one who's not here to play games other than the few at the bar out front.

And my space bar is clearly over-used from massive FPS gaming. Which adds to the coolness factor.

I have to run to the last bus back to the ship in about 10 minutes, and from there we're off to Rhodes tomorrow. Today was mainly getting to the boat in the Port of Athens, getting checked-in, and riding some rough seas here to Mykonos. Which was actually nice because it kept most of the people confined to their staterooms, and left the ship open to explore and relax in, the first of which took all of 15 minutes. While its a cruise ship, its not entirely that huge, in cruise ship terms (I should know...), but we are at sea, and I'm plenty happy about that. Nice to have my sea-legs back, although I'm envious of every sail boat I see.

Oh, and the average age on the boat is probably about 60+. Fine for three days, but...oy. Good thing we went with the all-inclusive drinks.

We got off the boat here in Mykonos this evening and began exploring the main city. Its everything the pictures and paintings made it out to be in my mind - curvy tiny little large-stone-paved streets, every single structure is white-washed stone with blue wooden trimmings, and there's winding little alleys to explore every 20 meters or so. Its mainly a tourist trap but if you're not really there to shop then you don't have to worry about such things. Unlike my sisters and mother, on the other hand.

Anyhow, cruising all weekend and the rate for internet on the ship is a Euro and a half per MINUTE, so I'll be sticking to uber-cool little joints like this where there's incredible art on the wall, well dressed gamers with their headsets on sideways, smoke in the air hi-lighting the great lighting, and probably the best sound-track to write to, ever.

I hope I get back here someday.

Athens today. Started out at the national museum, which was quite fascinating. Bronze statues that had been found in the sea after spending a thousand plus years there, etc.. More marble human/animality than you could shake a spear at. Interesting to walk through the evolution of sculpted art - from the statues with both legs shaped in one pillar, to dual leg stances, to weighted stances, to full-on action poses (the discus thrower, et al.).

Then off to the Acropolis and the surrounding ruins. Walking around the city for a few days, seeing it in the distance, looming above you, does something to add to the experience. When you finally get up there, you have high expectations, and in my case they were certainly more than fulfilled. Even in all its manifold destruction, it still emanates authority. There's a million and one stories to be told about that place, and its probably less than 3 acres in size at the top. But there's simply no end to the lore and adventure that existed, across the ages, on that one rocky hilltop.

Standing by the flag pole, we debated whether or not Paul would have visited the Acropolis in his time or not, with both sides making logical arguments. Personally, I think if he preached on Mars Hill, he walked the rest of the way up.

I of course am already running out of MBs for the digital, so I have to start getting selective, as I opted against bringing the laptop with me, and therefore can't upload to free up space. I was realistic about the fact that I couldn't go cold-turkey on internet (I mean, the first step is admitting you have a problem, right? I have a problem. I'm fine with that.), but I did think it was an important step to pretty much totally disconnect from work for a week or so. I was thinking about this dilemma with the camera today, however - kind of ironic that I now, somehow, feel limited by the hundreds of pictures I can take.

What in the world did people do back when they used to have rolls of film they had to carry and (shudder) get developed? How did they take more than a few pictures of anything?

And to think they did it all without cell phones.

(Seaward bound in the morning.)

Today was a study in contrast. We saw many amazing things today, but for me, the contrast was most clear.

We set off in the morning for Korinth. Where Paul spent some of his time, making tents, speaking, writing letters, and other Pauline pursuits. First impression: sea sure has subsided / silt sure has risen a good couple miles in the past couple thousand years - the ruins were no where near the sea, although it was visible in the distance. Stood in a few of the same spots that Paul himself did, that was just plain moving, reading from Acts while standing there.

As we were eating lunch outside our van, getting ready to head off for Mycenae, one of the typical Athens taxis pulled up (read: bright yellow Mercedes). Mind you, Korinth is a solid hour's drive from downtown Athens. Four Japanese business men poured out of the taxi and started walking around taking pictures. Chris pointed out to me that the cab driver would make upwards of 300 Euro for the cab fare one-way alone, not to mention the return trip or tip. I guess some people can just afford to appreciate the ruins at that luxury.

The ruins at Mycenae were equally, if not more so impressive than were those at Korinth. For starters, Mycenae is mainly a large fortress of sorts on the top of a hill. There are surrounding famous tombs in the hillsides which seemed so dominant in their size that they somewhat diminished the hills that contained them, but the fortress itself is a sight to behold. The Lions' Gate, the main entrance, itself is quite imposing, these thousands of years later.

Just inside the gate, as we began our way up the paths towards the crown of the fortress, I saw what I can unequivocally say is the shortest living human I have ever seen. This woman would be considered, essentially, a midget to a normal midget - that is to say I doubt she was above 3 feet tall - perhaps not even 2.5 feet. She was walking down the uneven path with the aid of the typical walker-crutches people with these kinds of disabilities have, and almost to where her friend with the wheelchair was able to get the chair up to. And on we moved towards the top of the fortress, continuing our exploration.

An hour or so later we were leaving the ruins, headed off to a dinner in one of the picturesque sea-side towns. About a quarter-mile down the hill from the parking lot below the ruins, we passed the short lady and her friend, who was wheeling her down the road, sans vehicle. We had plenty of room in the van and so we stopped and offered them a ride. They hesitated briefly, as many might, but then agreed.

They were French, of which a few of us spoke a little, but between their broken English and our broken French, we could communicate well enough. As we drove them the mile or so to the main road, we realized that they had taken the bus out there from Athens to the nearest town, which was another two miles down the main road. They had taken the earliest bus out, walked (well, her friend had pushed her) all the way up to the fortress, saw the ruins, and were hoping to make it back to the city in time for the last bus back to Athens. Being as it was going on 6pm, and the last bus was at 8:15, I doubt whether they might have made it.

In the 15 or so minutes we spent with them, we actually learned quite a bit about each other - places they were from that some of us had been, and vice versa. When we pulled up to the bus station we found we had just missed the 6:15 bus, and we were disappointed they had to wait an hour. They clearly didn't share our disappointment - they had an hour to sit and have coffee and relax. I pulled the wheelchair out of the back of the van and Chris took a picture of them with the family.

And off to dinner on the seaside we went.

It hit me later that night, in the quiet of a van full of sleeping people at 120km/hr on an empty freeway, that we were much closer in stature and standing to those business men in Korinth. We have the benefit of our own vehicle, excellent meals, warm beds, and the ability to view the incredible locales at our own leisure.

I just hope that, in our hearts, we might be a little closer to those who, despite their limitations, want so earnestly to appreciate the same things we were there to see.

I'm one who tries to complain as little as possible, but heaven help me if I grumble once more on this trip.

I'm pretty sure you're required to have a lit cigarette in your hands at all times as part of your citizenship of a country in the EU. So far I have no evidence to the contrary. Also, both sisters and my youngest brother have taken it up with some regularlity as well. Good for them. Let's all kill ourselves slowly. Sounds like a blast.

Me, I'll be doing it with copious amounts of finely cooked meats, thank you.

Chris and I met the family at the airport, and upon renting our van we trekked to the city to get our ruins/museum passes and grab kababs at the same place I've now eaten at 3 times since getting here. Then it was lots of shopping (which for me meant lots of browsing) in the downtown area followed by the traditional late afternoon coffee.

Then we drove/walked to the highest point in the city, a small chapel on the top of the hill situated close to the center of the city, which also happened to be windy and cold as heck. After that it was groceries for the road trip tomorrow and Chris, Margy, and I got a late dinner, while the rest of the family crashed. Which is what they're still doing now. I'm not the least bit tired.

Other observations to date:

- Lots of stray dogs wandering around, many with collars. Apparently the PETA folk actually collar them (and do nothing else for them, as I understand it) so that they won't be taken away and sent to doggie heaven.

- Pretty easy to fit in. Just like NYC, ignore everyone and pretend you know exactly what you're doing, even if you don't.

- Ouzo turns white when you put ice in it. I've always had it straight up in the past, so this was news to me.

- No good deals in Greece. Everything here seems just as pricey as the US, considering the exchange rate. I'm not seeing the big fascination with shopping. Why not just get everything for around the same price when you get home?

- Greeks seem to have a good estimation of the average American citizen, they seem to be a pretty easy going people so far.

- Everyone drives like a huge ass.

- There's nowhere remotely safe to run around here. The roads and sidewalks are for crep and (see the previous point). There goes a month's progress.

- Rain actually helps you appreciate the ruins a little more - you can see the texture in the rock structures that you otherwise would likely have missed.

Tomorrow is off to points north, I think we're planning to hit 3 cities. Can't remember the particular names at the moment, too many have been thrown around.

Boy am I going to get a lot of reading done tonight.

"Welcome to the worst city in the world."

This is how my cab driver greeted me on the way to the hotel this morning. Pretty sure he was only half joking.

Rewind to Sunday morning. Haircut, get ready for church, finish stuffing the bags and run into the city to lead ushering. Every time there's a 5th Sunday in the month we usher with the youth group, and I'm in charge, which means I'm to blame when the kids lose an offering basket, for instance. Managed to avert that, barely.

After, senior high youth group. After, Cregan drives me to JFK, as he was headed to Bklyn to car shop anyhow.

International check-in w/o the benefit of pre-printed boarding passes and the frequent-flyer fast lane through security just plain sucks. Spent an hour standing in lines, and I'm the type that would rather open a bag of rabid weasels then stand in a line for more than 5 minutes.

Got on the mostly empty plane - 55 of us on a plane with 200 some occupancy. 'Rents / sibs connecting flight from Pittsburgh was delayed due to high winds in the vicinity, and Delta's mostly horrible customer service wouldn't hear of me delaying my departure to fly with them, so my plane backed out about 5 minutes before they got to the gate.

Movies. Should have read instead, but as a straight man who's worked in the fashion industry, I have to say I pretty much totally identified with The Devil Wears Prada. Woke up after a couple fitful hours of sleep to the sight of the northern coast of Italy. Every day should begin like that.

Landed in Athens, found Chris after a while, and after a brief stop at my hotel we set off to explore the city proper, or whatever they call it here, via bus and metro. Even rode them a couple times myself to get the lie of the land down, and I've already picked up some basic Greek, so I may prove to be a somewhat useful mammal to the family when Chris isn't around to help us.

Tomorrow: pick up fam at airport, then explore Acropolis and surrounding ruins (Mars Hill, etc.). Looking forward to it, I walked up to the base of the temple mound today and it looks pretty interesting.

Stuff from my surfing this week.

outside.in - Web 2.0 for your locale.

Google's latest: Co-op

Enron Explorer

Scrybe looks like it could hold my interest for a few minutes.

Facelift for the resume

Wage disparity much?

"We are, nevertheless, on the cusp of the Next Big Thing and those who are ready for the transition to 3D virtual worlds will be far ahead of the game." This is pretty much the coolest thing I've read this year.

Other interesting reads:

Globalization's losers

Wired's cover story chronicling the new Athiesm. Even the title of Dawkin's post on his own blog recently made me smile. He has his critics, though, eccentric thought they may be.

And, whatever the internet, or the world, or the universe at large may become in our lifetime, we will always have the blessings of the simple things in life.

If there's one thing I've been learning the value of lately, it has been the corporate nature of our faith (or, what a Calvinist might call "the covenant community").

From a recent read of mine:

I once heard a Catholic priest, a native of New Jersey, give a homily in which he told about visiting the southern part of the United States for the first time. At the hotel restaurant on his first morning, he studied the breakfast menu. Several combination meals featured grits, so when the waitress came for his order, he asked her, "Miss, what is a grit?" She replied, "Honey, they don't come by themselves!"

The priest used this story to emphasize the importance of the body of Christ. Christians don't come by themselves, he said. Like grits, "Christian" is a plural thing. To follow Jesus means to be part of a community.

Now, this is true. Worship and fellowship and all these things must be done corporately to be done right. The saints of the New Testament are perhaps clearest about this assumption in the fact that they rarely speak to it. Instead, their addresses are almost never to one person, but always fashioned for the digestion of the church body at large. We need each other to live out our faith.

But there is a problem with Christianity. Allow Deitrich Bonhoeffer to elaborate:

He who is alone in his sin is utterly alone. It may be that Christians, notwithstanding corporate worship and all their fellowship in service, may still be left to their loneliness. The final breakthrough to fellowship does not occur because, though they have fellowship with one another as devout people, they do not have fellowship as sinners. The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship...

What is the solution to this? Bonhoeffer went on to speak of the grace of the Gospel, and how we can dare to be sinners before a God with whom masks do no good. And he's right. But what about the solution as it (the Gospel) is applied to our "pious fellowship"?

I don't believe the answer is an easy one. I believe it is quite simply the tough, truth-bearing work of real, honest, and complete accountability that can make this happen in the covenant community. It starts with true communication between only two people, and perhaps never stretches much further beyond those twos, but the more that are paired up, the more the community as a whole will grow in this very necessary change to our typical easy-does-it approach to honesty in the church community. This also requires a good deal of wisdom from the individuals approaching true accountability, and the Proverbs have great guidance for us, much of which must be balanced delicately:

He who covers an offense promotes love,
but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends.

Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
Wounds from a friend can be trusted,
but an enemy multiplies kisses.

To quote a very few.

And we must, we all must, remember to live out that grace of the Gospel of which Bonhoeffer spoke. We must see ourselves as equal sinners before God, all justly deserving of his wrath no matter what our individual struggles may be, all clothed in the work of the cross. With this humility, we can come to our Christian brother or sister, bear who we really are, and accept their confession as well. More from Dietrich:

...only the brother under the Cross can hear a confession. It is not experience of life but experience of the Cross that makes one a worthy hearer of confessions. The most experienced psychologist or observer of human nature knows infinitely less of the human heart than the simplest Christian who lives beneath the Cross of Jesus.... In the presence of a psychiatrist I can only be a sick man; in the presence of a Christian brother I can dare to be a sinner.

I am thankful for the blessing of friends in my life that can help me be more real. I can only hope to do the same in return.

Its Thursday and I'm cleaning up the FireFox tabs...

Scott and Fiddy are well on their way to hitchhiking 50 state capitols in 50 days. And yours truly gave them ride #1. I might not be as cute as all the college girls giving them rides, lately, but I think I came through pretty big getting them out of Times Square - they could have been there for a while. That deserved a picture or at least a little more write-up, hmph.

Ann Marie got me hooked on WOXY.

What a ripoff of Woot Wine.

Web 2.0 + real estate = Hotpads. Speaking of real estate, this WSJ article (you'll need a subscription to read it) has me pretty convinced to buy near a major city. As does this WaPo article.

Completely missed OHNY. Smooth.

Manhattanhenge is fun with the sun. Meanwhile the moon theives our colors.

Why does the UK get the coolest Sony ads? Maybe its because their comedians read the bible.

18 mistakes that kill startups.

TaskbarShuffle is rad, if you're a tad OCD about your task bar. Just a tad.

I want, I want, I need, I need.

I've linked to A Final Salute before and its pretty much the saddest thing ever, but man is it important.

I'm not known to be one who goes on many emotional roller coasters, but I feel like I just spend a week and a half at an emotional amusement park.

And yes, I am talking about baseball.

That's all I have to say about it. The pain is still too raw.

So I haven't blogged since Boston, which is shameful. I was unstaffed last week, and I have no excuse (sans the baseball travesty). Although I did get some training done and spent all day Friday in a technology seminar, which was both interesting and kind of weird at the same time. And Saturday we had a seminar for the youth leaders centered around counselling, given our unique position of involvement with families. And then I went out and got my groove on that night.

And then I went 5 and 1 in my fantasy league with a ridiculously stupid 120+ point win. With a team that I didn't draft. Ridiculous.

And I'm back up to 8 miles a day for my runs, and feeling pretty solid.

Will try to blog a bit more for the next couple weeks, but come end of month, I'm off to Greece with the fam for a week and a half, and when I get back from that, I start my stint in Chicago. That's right, Walgreen's in Chi-town, Monday thru Friday, likely for the next year. More on that when I know more. Which probably won't be til after I'm there, in mid November.

First time ever in Boston, this weekend.

Never really been a priority of mine to get there. It was nice, seemed like a decent enough city - too bad its filled with Red Sox fans.

Dave and I drove up Saturday morning so that his brother Mike could show me around Gordon Conwell - the seminary I've been looking into that both he and their dad attended. It was definitely a beautiful area, very close to the shore, and way outside of Boston. Way too far outside. But they do have a campus in the city, so that's something. But it would mean living in Boston.

I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life.

Anyway I caught dinner and bummed around the city with Angie that night, which was fun. We picked up some cannoli's at a little bakery off the beaten path, at the bottom of Salem street, and then walked up to the Old North Church, and after that over to a park to sit and eat.

Talking with my dad tonight on the drive home, he told me he did the same thing with mom almost 29 years ago, to the day.

Eerie?

This morning Dave and I went to Mike's church, then I was very blessed to meet with Jo Kadlecek and her husband (who I had met before) - over coffee after church. Jo's an author that I've been looking forward to meeting for a while, and she turned out to be a real sweetheart - gave me all kinds of awesome info - people to look up, programs to look into, books to read, etc.. So that was tres exciting for me, and its given me a number of things to do this week, while I'm still home and between projects.

Speaking of projects...no. I'll get into that later this week.

Dave, Mike, and I caught lunch at an Irish Pub (where else) and then we all drove down to their parent's place for dinner, and I drove home.

And Ben Roethlesberger is still terrible.

Go Steelers.

I didn't read I Kissed Dating Goodbye until I was at least halfway through college. Years later, I would come to wish I had read it before starting high school.

I didn't read I Gave Dating a Chance until I was well out of college. Years later, I would come to wish I had read it before starting college.

And tonight I had another enlightening (non-reading) life-event that I could only walk out of wishing it had happened to me 6 years earlier. Wondering where I would be right now and what life would be like, if it had.

But God didn't want it to happen until tonight. He wanted all that has happened before now - and all that has not happened as well - He wanted it that way for a divinely perfect reason. He wanted tonight to happen tonight, just the way it is.

Never stops to amaze me how I still, even as I write this, how I still think that I know what's best for me.

And, ironically, this is why I want to be a writer. Not enough people are writing enough quality material about some of the most important issues facing us today. Or I'm not finding the right books, lately. In my so very humble opinion.

Yes, that's an edited-for-kiddies version of Reuben's classic. For you prudes out there.

I love this city.

I love driving past the bull with my windows down late on an October Tuesday after not doing too terribly in my regular poker game down on Wall Street. You can't do that anywhere else in the world, and I love it, everything about it. I love walking down the middle of Wall Street, even if its blocked off to anything but pedestrian traffic for sadly necessary reasons. It feels like the safest part of town, with the cops walking around with machine guns strapped to their chests.

I love paying six dollars to drive through a tunnel every time I don't feel like riding the train/bus into the city. I love the myriad wonders of the subway.

I love the free metered spots on a Sunday morning when I'm headed to church and the general shopping public isn't even awake yet. I love the leaders and kids of my youth group and our regular Domino's habit. I love Central Park on Sunday afternoon when its filled with locals and tourists blending more seamlessly than anywhere else in the city at any other time.

I love my church.

I love not being a Yankee fan, and I love that anywhere you go here you will always run into co-fans of your out-of-state team, because 90% of the people here are from somewhere else anyway. Even at Yankee stadium in October. I love Steeler Sunday afternoons in Hell's Kitchen.

I love discovering a bar in the back of a restaurant on Bleeker that sells ridiculously low-price top-shelf drinks. I love taking a girl to a swanky little dinner joint secretly tucked at the end of an alley in SoHo. I love breakfast at the Hollywood diner near Union Square at 3 in the morning. I love haggling with taxi drivers over the fare back to Hoboken at 4 in the morning. I love knowing the secret best entrances to the Lincoln from 33rd and 31st streets.

I love the Cloisters, and I love my Winslow Homers that they keep in the Met. I love brunch in Chelsea, the Chelsea Market, golfing off the Chelsea Piers, and pretty much every bar I've found in the West Village.

I love Grand Central and the Theory employee store hidden near the library. And I love running into movie / tv shoots on a regular basis, not to mention seeing celebs crossing 5th Ave for a jog in the park, looking like we all look when we wake up to exercise.

I love the pizza here, and the constant availability of food and drink.

And I love that there are so many other people who live here and love all these things and more with me.

(Read: don't see myself leaving soon, even if I am starting to look at going back to school. Dilemma.)