TheCoolReport.net

That's a tough one...

2008-08-27T13:20:00.003-04:00

The McCain camp is seriously asking Americans to answer the question "Are you better off now than 8 years ago?".

If I had the political hack who came up with that question in front of me, I'd punch him in the throat. What the hell kind of question is that? It's a bullshit one is what it is. I heard this one the other day and I stopped to actually consider it, and for a monet, I was suprised at the answer.

For myself, I might have to say "Yes, my life is better in some ways than 8 years ago".

I have a home.
I own my own business and it is profitable.
I own a vehicle that isn't at constant risk of falling apart.

By those criteria, I should be happy to vote for McCain. Because my life is better now, isn't it? Of course, none of those things came to me as a result of George Bush's policies. If I am better off in some ways today it's because of hard work, perseverance, a great wife and a crapload of luck. And my business? I can only imagine how much better I'd be doing if the economy wasn't in the shitter. Seriously. I don't sell food or medicine, I sell a luxury item. You don't need my product to live, like say, gasoline. The question being asked completely ignores that fact that people struggle and work hard to better themselves and their lives. It ignores things that have nothing to do with who is president. It is a complete bullshit question.

And yet they get away with asking it. Look how the question is crafted. "Are YOU better off?".
It's almost clever. And it might work on some people. Dumb people, sure, but it might work. Joe Blow might just look at his life and say 'Hey, I have a wife and a kid now, I got a promotion and we live in a nice new house. Things ARE better for me now. I should vote to keep the status quo!".

The tactic might have worked if things weren't so monumentally fucked up now. Because even though I and others might be doing okay, most Americans aren't. I haven't had my job shipped overseas. I don't have a kid fighting in a pointless war. I can still afford gas and food. Does that mean my overall life is better?

But I can't really ask "Could my life be significantly better if someone else had been President for 8 years?" That's just wild speculation, isn't it? But if I may, hell yes I think my life would be much better, and so would the lives of many other people. Yes, it's hypothetical, but I don't think I'd lose much money of that bet.

The real question to ask (and the one the Republicans sure as hell aren't asking) is:

"Do you think the country is better off than 8 years ago?" I bet I know the answer to that question.

Keen

2008-08-22T16:07:00.006-04:00

Some friend of a guy who does the Shortpacked comic strip got married and I have to admit, it's a pretty sweet looking invite.

Tough to top? Sure. But very geeky. Apparently the wedding was costume mandatory. My kind of people.

To sleep, perchance to dream...

2008-08-19T02:07:00.002-04:00

It's over, the month from Hell. Great Lakes, to Pennsic, to Great Lakes for teardown, home for 1 day and then off to Indianapolis for a week. Very tired.

This was a roller coaster ride. Pennsic was great, but it was camping for two weeks and for the first time, it was work. Sure, helping run Hell Nite and other events was like work, but my livelihood didn't depend on it. When we got back to Great lakes it rained the last weekend. And when we packed up? There just wasn't enough room for everything to go home. We have to go pick some of it up tomorrow.

We dropped off stock to Michigan Ren without incident, but we arrived at GenCon with a LOT of stuff supposedly "in the mail" to us. Most of it arrived. Then, my wallet went missing. We tore apart the room, which was the ONLY place it could be before I reluctantly called the credit card companies and bank to report the loss. It then proceeded to turn up 12 hours later in my wife's corset. When we got back home I learned that my bank did'nt cancel the most important check card. Swell job guys.

GenCon was a big hit sales-wise. We carried the new brass goggles, some steampunk airship academy t-shirts I designed, and some nifty gothic clothing from a company called Eternal Love. In fact, things went so well we were literally tripping over each other in our cramped space. I have bit the bullet and decided that next year we will get a double space. It's a big expense, but I think it will help us get seen.

Michigan did outstanding its opening day, and then went into the toilet the second. Weird.

And then there's the big news. Great Lakes is being shifted back one week next year. This means it will overlap the opening of Michigan AND GenCon. This is being done because the owner of Great Lakes isn't making much money on the 4th of July weekend. People are off doing family things. So he's decided to screw EVERYONE. There was no warning about this. Rossana only noticed it because she actually reads contracts and other documents. I am furious. I've been with this show for over 12 years but I am willing to just walk away if they do this. Screw them. My only major headache is that I JUST bought a fucking booth that I spend a good chunk of time cleaning up and painting. I think I can sell it but it would have been better if I had started that process during the season for exposure.

Pennsic could easily replace Great Lakes and I'd get 4 weeks of my life back. I don't want to give up Great Lakes, but I simply will NOT take their bullshit. It would be damn near impossible to have decent stock and staff for three events.

Sigh.

I'm glad to be home. I spent a few hours trying to put away all my tools and clean up my shop a little. Everything is a mess. My office, the garage, my shop even the yard still has traces of the party left over here and there.

Pennsic

2008-08-02T21:06:00.001-04:00

Pennsic is in full swing now after a slow start. Sales are starting to
pick up and the weather today was awesome. So why am I worried? About
50 corsets are missing in transit from California. Also, some my
fabric sources have dried up this year.(thanks china)

Rossana and Lindsey are back in Ohio for the weekend leaving me
unsupervised. This means that I am free to stay in the booth for 11
hours or so, head back to camp, drink a glass of mead, and pass out.

I am a party animal.

OMG

2008-07-25T02:41:00.002-04:00

If you've ever worked in print or graphic arts, this may be the funniest thing you will see all month. And if you haven't...well...it uh...won't

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

At the starting gate...

2008-07-24T22:27:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow is thew last day we'll be home for a while. After tomorrow we leave the cats in the care of our sitters and head off to work Great Lakes AND Pennsic. I am apprehensive about doing Pennsic as a merchant. In the 20+ years I have been going it has always been my vacation. I started going when I was 16. I've never missed one. Eventually working in medieval clothing became by job and I still went. Due to overlapping schedules the last few years I have had to leave Pennsic to go and do a Ren Faire. And now? I leave a show, to go do a 2 week show. When I get back from that I'll run up to Michigan to drop off stuff for a show and then go do a show.

Wow.

We did this last year and it somehow all worked out. Except that last year Pennsic was still my vacation.

I'm feeling bad because I won't be able to hang out in my home camp of Pentwyvern as much. It's changed a lot over the years, but I still consider it home. It is an old and comfortable pair of shoes. But working the show means I can't help as much with set up or other camp activities.

On the other hand I helped build our camps shower trailer, ran a chair making day at the house, helped design and build our awesome siege tower and helped create and run Hell Nite, our massive and very fun camp party.

I should feel fine about taking time off from camp stuff. But I don't. Then there's the fact that Pennsic last year was BRUTALLY hot. We are still in a war and the economy is in the shitter. I hear rumors about a 17% drop in attendance. Gas is $4 a gallon. People are stuggling just to get to the event. Will they buy?

Deep breath.

On the up side, I will still be at Pennsic. This is where my friends are. It is still one of the coolest events around, and I have attended my fair share of events now. If you're at war and have a few minutes, feel free to stop by ther booth. I promise I won't try to sell you anything. (Although I can't promise you won't buy anything).

Freakin' EPIC

2008-07-22T18:00:00.002-04:00

I learned to day that the following piece of AWESOME weaponry is now available. What could make this thing more cool? Putting it to use in an all out office war. This is one of the few things we didn't do back when I was working for 'the man', but I wish we had.

Have a look.

I'm voting for THIS GUY

2008-07-19T00:25:00.003-04:00

No, not that one...

This guy.

And I'm not really voting for him, I'm sending him $10. But if if I could vote for him, I would.

A little of thisa... a little of thata

2008-07-19T00:05:00.002-04:00

Not a whole lot to report at the moment. I downloaded the new iphone 2.0 firmware and some apps. My iphone is now more useful. Not as useful as my brothers NEW 3G iphone, but useful. I'll just have to live with my limitations.

The big purchase was a new laptop. I have agonized over this for about a year ever since my Sotec's dvd drive died. Boot times were around 8 minutes. It was old, it was slow, but it was light. The new hotness? A Gateway. It's very fast. But it's got Vista. There are really very few things I see as an improvement with Vista. Really. It's kind of pretty, but it's also a bit awkward usability wise. I'll keep it around and try to figure it out.

It's got good battery life. I watched a movie that I rented from a very cool machine called Red Box at the Geneva grocery store. The cool things? Only $1 a night and it's basically a robot. I rented Batman: Gotham Knight and was a little underwhelmed with the movie.

The Great Lakes Faire enters its third weekend and we're looking at rain again. Joy. Then I have a week to prep for Pennsic. Will I be ready? Unlikely.

Geeks at Home

2008-07-11T01:52:00.002-04:00

I present to you a collection of geeks, fanboys and nerds dressed in their native attire and in their home settings. This is a series of very cool photos of our kind (or my kind if you are not a nerd and/or fanboy).

There is a strange juxtaposition of seeing a sith lord in a living room with collectible dolls. On the other hand, it shows that a lot of us are just normal people who live in normal places.

I am in no way ashamed of my nerdness. I never have been. Whether it was strolling through the mall in mediaval garb, attending a swanky fundraiser in my trek uniform or going to the moviesdressed as a pirate and/or vampire.

How drab, how dull to live out ones life wearing the uniform our society and culture has stated is 'proper' and 'right'.

Sooooo coooooool

2008-07-07T18:20:00.002-04:00

Optimus Prime made from scrap metal....

Catching my breath

2008-07-04T02:11:00.002-04:00

The Bag End bash went of pretty damn well. Well, except for the torrential rainstorm that hit mid way through the day while we tried to play frisbee hack. But the weather soon cleared up and we were able to hack frisbees as well as enjoy the fireworks.

I want to thank everyone for coming over and bringing such great food. It was great to see some friends that I haven't seen in quite a while.

Just before the party my Dad came for his annual visit. This was canceled last year when he broke his neck in an accident. I am happy to report that he again rode him Honda PC800 down from Boston without too much trouble. Grimm was also in town building a trailer for Pennsic and even Ander came by to work on a camp chair.

No rest for the wicked though. It was off to Columbus for Origins Gaming convention (during which Wellington got a metric ASSLOAD of rain. Our house was fine but there are signs of the storm all around.

Back at home we only had a short rest before heading out to Geneva to prepare for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire. It was a frenzied 2 days of painting, cleaning, planting and more. Our new booth now has a proper changing room, a real storage area and a fresh coat of paint. All in all, it looks remarkably the same. This was a rather disappointing realization, but everything behind the scenes is in much better shape now.

The show opens this weekend and there a lot of activity on the site. Apparently Larry, the owner of the show bought out a lot of equipment from the now defunct Geuoga Lake amusement park. There was even a rumor he was building a roller coaster (Thanks god that wasn't true.) We didn't have time to look around, maybe tomorrow when we start setting up and primping the booth.

Another reason I love Germany...

2008-06-16T16:43:00.003-04:00

Rossana bought a cheap pair of sunglasses in Germany and at some point near the end of the trip they went AWOL. We just assumed we'd left them on the bus or at a cafe. It turns out we had left them at the house of a friend we visited there.

So what does he do? He mails them back to us in the US! Not content with bubble plastic he also bought a case for them just to make sure they arrived safe and sound along with a CD of images he took in Egypt a few years ago where we met him. Germany (and those that reside within its borders) rock.

Albert, you're the man!

Suprise!

2008-06-08T21:35:00.003-04:00

A while back I tossed around the idea of putting up my own Steampunk themed store. Eventually I bought the URL www.got-steam.com. I didn't do much with it as I was too busy and I didn't have enough products to fill it. My partner Thomas makes some great brass goggles but that was about it. This week I finally stopped dragging my feet and started developing the site. I've been working on several products and getting them into the store might be the push I need to complete them.

Well, this morning what do I see on boingboing.net but a pic of Thomas' sweetie at a very cool Steampunk event in London called White Mischief adorned with these selfsame brass goggles and a link to the almost non-existent site.

Crap.

I hit the keyboard and did what I could to get all the assorted steampunk items we've been working on onto the site.

Feel free to go and take a look. The look of the site is minimalistic, this is not so much an artistic choice and a necessity due to a lack of time. I'll go back and start gussying it up this week.

Bitter much?

2008-06-06T15:15:00.004-04:00

I like to think that I am open minded. I enjoy discussing just about any subject and have friends on both sides of the political spectrum (although most are more likely Democrats or libertarians).

So on a whim I went to both the Democrat and Republican websites. If you have a moment, you should visit them for yourself.

The Democrat site features a happy and smiling Barack Obama, with links to joining the campaign and get email newsletters. There's news, policy links etc.

Now go check the RNC website. Oddly, it doesn't currently have ONE picture of John McCain. Maybe this is because he isn't the 'official' nominee yet. I would understand that. The are however at least SEVEN pictures of Obama. Each one is as unflattering as they can use (without resorting to darkening his skin like O.J. Simpson or putting a kafiyya on his head in photoshop). Each picture is accompanied my snide jabs, accusations, innuendo and claims of democratic party disunity.

While the Dem site lists news articles about the democratic party, Obama and links to getting involved (with some links to McCain policies and history) the RNC site is ALL about what's wrong with Obama. Not the democrats, JUST Obama. He flip flops, he knows a guy who did something illegal, his promise to limit lobbyist money has loopholes, he has bad judgment. There's even a counter showing how long its been since Obama went to Iraq. Because if he went to Iraq, everything would be better. Right? There's also a link to find and contact local talk radio stations so that you can spread the word to other fearful whites about the scary black man who will rape your women and OHNOEZZ HEEZ A MUZLIM!!!

Wow. The whole site is just plain bitter.

It's not just the content of the site, as a web developer the RNC seems to be going out of their way to make the site super serious. Deep red indicating danger. Want information? You must register with the site. While the Dem site has a subtle 'Contribute' button the RNC demands "Help elect a Republican President and congress. Support the RNC! DONATE TODAY!". Do it now!! The liberal hordes are at the gate to take our guns and institute communism!

This is the first time I have visited either site this year. I'm curious to see how they both evolve during the election season. So far McCain isn't winning any awards for originality by copying Obama's slogan. And with his record of voting pretty consistently with Bush it will be hard to declare himself a maverick or a reformer.

For extra credit I also visited the Libertarian site. It's simpler, but I like their slogan "The Party of Principle" and the Green party. It's very - green.

Am I crazy here? Tell me what you think in the comments.

Par-tay!

2008-06-05T16:09:00.009-04:00

The date for the Bag End Bash has been set! June 21st starting at around noon or so. I have sent out evites, but my email list may be out of date. If you know me and didn't get an evite you are still very much invited. I am not sending out physical invitations this year. It's just too expensive. I am hoping that this won't affect attendance.

We are planning on setting up the archery range as well as playing Frisbee hack. I might set up a croquet pitch as well. We will supply basic meats and drinks, please bring supplemental food, side dishes and maybe a dessert (cough*pie*cough) . I hope to have the custard machine again thanks to Lindsey.

It's possible that there will be a rack of corsets (some of them made with our amazing new exclusive materials) set up in the garage, but the would merely be a coincidence.

Want to fish? Sure thing. We may even have the remote control Pirate ships available. Want to slack off? Try the hammock.

Need crash space? Contact us ASAP. In house room is usually limited though tent space is plentiful.

I've been hacked.

2008-06-04T18:02:00.002-04:00

And to be honest, I am honored that some kid in Saudi Arabia thought enough of my site to deface it. While doing some clean up on the site I went to take a look at some OLD pics I took in Italy a few years back and found this.

I don't know how they got in and it doesn't appear that they have done any other damage. The page is safe to view, I've checked all the HTML. As a precaution I'll be changing some passwords etc.

Is it something in the water?

2008-06-04T01:40:00.003-04:00

As of today it appears that the primaries are over. Obama has apparently won. Which makes the actions of Hillary and her supporters all the more unfathomable. I mean, have you heard some of the crazy shit some of her supporters are saying?

Please don't think that I hate Sen. Clinton. I do not. She seems to be a competent Senator and genuinely seeks to do all she can to help America. My initial nervousness at the Democrats two main contenders being a woman and a black was more than overcome by my pride that we in fact did such a thing and that they were both worthy of the chance. I don't believe we'll be seeing a woman or a black presidential candidate coming out of the Republican party any century soon.

And so the fight was on. And as the end drew nigh something very weird happened. When Michigan and Florida were punished for breaking the rules and holding early primaries her people flipped out. And when Clinton didn't get all the delegates from a state where Obama's name wasn't on the ballot and she agree'd not to count, she and her supporters somehow came to believe that a vast DNC conspiracy was afoot. People were being disenfranchised, theri VOTE wasn't being counted. And EVERY VOTE was somehow crucial to the survival of America.

This wasn't Obama's fault.
It wasn't the DNC's fault.

The state Democratic committee's did this. It's their fault. There are rules. You were TOLD the consequences of breaking the rules. You did it anyways. And when the Rules committee decided to seat their delegates but punnish them for breaking the rules, you would have thought that we were sicking dogs and firehoses on Hillary's supporters. Some actually compared the act to slavery.

She started repeating, at every opportunity, that she was getting the most votes. Of course, you had to jump through a lot of hoops to get her numbers, but that doesn't matter because that isn't how the primaries work. It isn't a straight popularity contest. Then the Hillary supporters turned on the media. But the media has been responsible for keeping the appearence of a real race alive for months when it was clear to most that Hillary wasn't going to win. They fought to keep the race alive for the sake of ratings.

Then came the charges of sexism. Sexism? Then it became about her 'electability'.

And when the end came did she concede graciously and make the case for party unity? No. And her most ardent supporters started screaming about fighting all the way to Denver and even voting for McCain rather than Obama.

Why would you do that? What good would that serve? How would that support the agenda and ideals espoused by Ms Clinton?

And the hate coming off these people, you can almost see it. They HATE Obama, for a multitude of reasons that sound only slightly more crazy than the 'He's a Muslim who hates America because he doesn't wear a pin' stories. They are furious because they believe we will loose the general election, all because the DNC and Howard Dean have somehow calluded to shove Obama down the Democratic parties throat. But what about all the superdelegates? Were they merely puppets? And the elections where he won? He must have some support. But to hear these people talk those people are mindless sheep and Obama some kind of cult leader who will kill us all.

I understand being devoted to a candidate, but this is getting ugly. There was a time when people talked about the 'Dream Ticket' of Obama and Clinton. And on the surface it sounds like a great idea for unifying the party. But now? Not so much. I don't think it would work.

Am I biased? Maybe. But it seems to me that Barrak has consistently taken the high road during this process. Even tonight during his speach, where Cinton gave him two lines and then talked about herself and her agenda. Barrak praised her in the highest terms and did not seem to take any jabs at her at all, instead calling for unity. Clintons speech sounded like a campaign speech. In places she took swipes at Obama, although these were couched politely and in general terms. And despite loosing the primary, she said she'd hold off on deciding what to do. What to do? Do what any 1st grader would do. Shake hands with the winner and learn from your mistakes. Work towards winning for the good of everyone, not just YOUR personal cheering section. Hillary is working towards being the new Ralph Nader here. A good person who blows it for everyone just so they can prove a point.

A game with only one rule...

2008-05-28T21:11:00.003-04:00

No Murder.

This is no joke. The small town of Ashbourn in England plays a game called Shrovetide Football. It is not like any game you have ever seen before.

In the small English town of Ashbourne during 2 days a year the people divide to play a sport with the purpose of scoring the “toughest goal”. Sure kicking a ball into the net takes some skill, but even these people would say scoring in a sport such as rugby is only for the weak. Imagine thousands of people, divided by a river, with 2 days to get a ball across town with one simple rule: no murder. That is only the beginning in Royal Shrovetide Football.

Go and check out the details here. There are two videos but they don't seem to work on the site, but you can fine one here and a longer one here.

Yes!

2008-05-28T19:11:00.002-04:00

I just found out that "The Fall" will be showing in Cleveland for about a week starting this Friday. I REALLY want to see this film. It not only looks stunning it seems genuinely original. The only place I can find playing it is the Cedar-Lee theater on the East side. Anyone up for it?

Death and Funk

2008-05-26T01:09:00.004-04:00

The phone rang too early.

"Hello?" I asked blearily.

"You're working Maron this weekend, right? In Columbus?" a voice asked.

"Yeah."

"I thought you should know that your Guest of Honor, Robert Asprin just died."

"Swell."

It never bodes well when a conventions guest of honor passes away expectantly. I wasn't a rabid far but I did enjoy his written work and always planned on reading more some time. And now? Well, the show goes on...

Lindsey and I went to load the car and the moment we opened the door to the van I knew something was wrong. The van reeked of death.

Something much have carwled up into so inaccessable hole and died. Fabreeze did almost nothing. Death weas everywhere. Not a good sign.

There was no time to investigate, we loaded up and drove down to Columbus with the windows open.

Marcon is one of the VERY few shows that is run by pretty damn competent trained monkeys. This is in stark contrast to the majority of shows, conventions and even Ren Faires we do over the course of the year. They do not loose paperwork. They send you a map of where the loading dock is. They help you unload!!!! And when you're set up? They offer free soda and cookies. Really. For this I and the rest of my fellow godless capitallists are eternally grateful.

The crowd was looking a bit thin at the start of things. I mean almost scarce. There are always theories for this. The economy, gas prices, competing events. We merchants are great at determining reasons why the hall isn't packed like it used to be. But that didn't mattter. Once the doors opened we started moving corsets. And with the influx of people comes the usual cast of 'colorful' characters.

Charly is what many long time con-goers would call a 'creepy camera guy'. Short, heavy-set, thick glasses and thin mustach. He is constantly taking pictures, usually of women. I used to avoid him if at all possible. He didn't seem to hang with any of the social groups that I did. But Rossana is a kinder soul than I and a better judge of character. She talked with him and then I got to talking with him a few years back. Now he shows up with stacks of prints which he gives away for free to people he photographed the previous year. He's no Ansel Adams, but he's actually a pretty nice guy. Last year the day after the con he was nearly killed when a kid with no license and no insurance crashed into him while he was riding his bike (he doesn't have a car). I was taken alittle aback. Marcon without Charley wouldn't feel right.

Not long after another friend I haven't seen in quite a while stopped by. His story was even wierder. It seems that he, after studying for and obtaining his conceal carry gun permit, had purchased a handgun several onths back. He bought the gun at about 11am. What happened next is a little unclear. But he somehow managed to take the loaded weapon and for reasons known only to him, went to tuck it between his legs. In doing this he somehow cocked the gun, and then discharged it. He shot himself in the leg at about 4pm, five hours after getting the gun. Luckily he missed his ding-ding and the femoral artery. It was a clean through and through. He drove himself to the hospital. He's had some legal troubles as a result, which strangely enough would have been far worse if he hadn't gotten his conceal carry permit. This was why I hadn;t heard from him in a while.

By the end of the day I was feeling dizzy from the wierdness that pervaded the air. Rossana turned in but Lindsey and I were restless. We hit a room party on the fifth floor of the Hyatt Regency. This is the floor specifically set aside for parties. This is where many of the legendary U.B.S. Casual Star Trek themed parties took place. Parties that would generate so much body hear and funk that the fire alarms often went off. The party we attended was thrown by a fellow merchant and wasn't too big. I helped serve drinks a while before I had to get out. Hotel room air conditioners simply cannot handle 20 people in them at the same time. I needed air.

I took up position in the celebrity autograph area which was empty at that late hour. I used a crayon to make two signs "Free Advice" and "Free Insults". This kept us busy for a while and even earned me a $5 tip.

We wrapped things up Sunday and drove home bone tired, the van still smelling of death, but it didn't matter. We were alive, our friends were still alive. That was the important thing.

Pretty Pictures

2008-05-21T10:27:00.002-04:00

Safely back in the states. But there's lots to do. We're off to Marcon this weekend but I wanted to throw up a few of the more artsy pictures I took in Germany. have a look-see.

Germany - Artsy Pics

Misnomer...

2008-05-17T14:48:00.002-04:00

I am not sure why they call it the 'Romantic Road'. Oh sure, it's scenic as hell. Rolling Green hills passing through quaint medieval towns. But this involves driving. In Germany. It takes three years and about 3000 euros to get a drivers license here. They know what the hell they are doing on the road.

I, by comparison, do not.

Our first day with the car was not so much Romantic Road as 'Mad Max'. With yelling. It is better today. We are in Dinklesbüle south of Rothenburg. Great little town. Winding streets with surprises around every corner. We may be trapped here a while. The town appeared abandoned most of the day. It was eerie. Like a zombie movie. The cause was a championship soccer match with the Beyer team won. TV's are showing the city of Munich in a state of ecstatic celebration. Wait till the beer kicks in and the rioting begins. We haven't reserved a room there yet, not sure if we can. Then there's the problem of not wanting to leave. We love this place. Really. I could learn to live in a medieval city, to recycle, to drink beer and have streets clean enough to eat off of. I could get used to trains that run on time, politeness and more kinds of sausage than you can shake a stick at.

And then there's the German addiction to Ice Cream and Baked goods. Don't get me started.

Gotta go now, the bells of the church are chiming the hour. Cake time.

I am a bad person...

2008-05-14T15:38:00.003-04:00

I must be. When we rolled into the medieval walled city of Rothenberg we were just blown away. Sparred from bombing in WWII is is so well preserved. But the tour only allowed 2 hours or so to see it all. We might wave grudgingly accepted this fate except that THAT very day a medieval pageant was going on commemorating the town being saved from an invading Swiss army. Apparently the Swiss general bet the mayor that he couldn't drink 6 liters of his towns best wine. The Mayor stepped up and delivered. And now the streets were filled with musketeers, artists, pikemen, musicians, a period market.

This was torture.

And what were we supposed to see after a mere two hours in this paradise?

Dachau concentration camp.

And so, we quickly found a local tourism office, tracked town a schedule for the trains, found the tour director and told him outright that we were staying and that we would make our way to Munich on our own. He let us go and we spent the day in the town. Amazing.

Does this make me a bad person? I don't know. At the end of the day as we saw next to a drunken squad of German soldiers I had to admit that my soda tasted no less delicious.

And if I wanted to be technical, we did visit Dachau. Our train passed through the station on our way to the city. So..... Yeah.

Now we're in the Black Forrest region, eating torte and drinking schnapps. Tomorrow he head to Heidelberg and then back to Frankfurt.

Sausages!

Nuremberg

2008-05-11T16:30:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we abandoned the tour group and made our way to Leipzig for the Wave Gothic Treffin event. Think Pennsic for goths. What an event. What a day. I will have to wait until I get home to tell the tales of that day. I think it unwise to discuss details while I am still in the country and could face prosecution. Needless to say we made it back to Dresden just in time to head out to the lovely city of Nuremberg.

I am enjoying the tour more and more. Yes, it has drawbacks but we are covering a lot of ground. The one dark cloud so far is and whacking big pain in the ass...Rita.

Rossana pegged her as trouble the moment she opened her mouth. Loud, constantly interrupting, butting into conversations. She rambles endlessly. And it's not just us, she annoys everyone in the group. After a few days of observation we pegged her as suffering some form of metal illness. This doesn't make her any less annoying. People are actively trying to avoid her, but that's not easy.

I have come to really appreciate Germany. It is clean in every sense and they are really going green. There are wind turbines everywhere. Urinals that don't use water. Recycling. The air, the sky, they are somehow brighter.

Today our guide talked about the process of reunification or what happened after the wall came down. It was quite a struggle. West Germany basically inherited an entire country that was broken and broken badly. It took years and Billions of Euros on top of the already high taxes Germans pay. But they did it. So why can't the US rebuild the Gulf Coast?

There is more, much more. I've taken lots of pics, some of which I really hope come out like the armory in the Zwinger Palace or the Altes Museum in Berlin.

Tomorrow we visit Dachau. I would prefer to skip it. My interest in Germany is based in its more distant past. We've already seen several examples of the brutality and waste that was communism in the DDR. This morning we visited a tiny town of only 60 people that was cut in half by the East/West border. For forty years the townspeople couldn't talk or see each other, separated by barbed wire and guard towers. Insanity. Dachau will be far worse.

After that its on to Munich for two days. And after that, we are on our own. So far nothing at home seems to have broken down or caught fire. (knock on wood).