This Weekend

So much to write about this weekend, but the weekend itself wasn’t that exciting. You know how I always complain about the wind here well now I have some proof it’s bad. Two fishermen were killed this weekend in Taranto when they were blown overboard. It wasn’t a thunderstorm or hurricane, just wind and waves and these were professional fishermen that battle the seas almost everyday. Locally there is a new store in town. Something finally moved into the empty McDonalds that was right on Corso Garibaldi near the sea front. It’s the last thing I would have expected. It’s a 99 cent store. Next door there are stores with watches for 2,000 euro and suits but in the new store everything is 1 euro or less. I wonder how long it will last. I give it 5 months maybe 6 because by summer it’s gone because there are too many street vendors selling the same sort of crap. By the way the dollar is coming back slowly on the euro. It’s now at 1.17 euro to a dollar. It was up to 1.33 euro to a dollar a few months ago. 1:1 would be so nice. There is a big mystery in town for me. Daniele, owner of the Big Ben Pub, is “missing”. Thursday night I went there for a great band and was surprised to find Ottavio working there along with Manuela and Floriana. Now this is whole cast from Ottavio’s new pub “Alla Corte Di Bacco”. I thought the two had ended their business arrangement at the Big Ben. All I could find out was that Daniele had to go to Spain and it’s not a planned trip. I’m sure they know the whole story and they’re just not telling me. So right now Ottavio is running both bars. I must find the answer to this mystery. When Daniele gets back I’m sure he’ll have a great story but I don’t think he’ll tell me the truth. Another strange point is that I smelled fresh cut grass today at work. We don’t have grass in the summer because it’s too dry. Now between Thanksgiving and Christmas I smell fresh cut grass.

Blogging in the USA

I’ve been away from the computer for a while. I’m in training for work and then on the weekend I was very busy. Let’s see. First I drove from Indy to Athens, Ohio to pick up Lori and Kent. From there we drove on to Fredrick, Maryland on Friday to check out the lay of the land where Pam and Keith are living now. The town of Fredrick has a nice center with many restaurants and shops that made it feel like it was made to walk. I have a new appreciation for a town like that. We had a great time using our legs to get around both in town and out in the woods. Harper’s Ferry is nice little spot where the Potomac River is baffling. It’s filled with rounded rocks that make it seem like you could jump from rock to rock and cross the river. I hate to talk bad about Indy but sometimes I really think that every part of the country is more interesting than Indiana. I have been to Washington DC but it was only to see the museums downtown. In this trip I was seeing signs for Gettysburg, D.C., and other places that I was supposed to learn about in history class. I also had my first experience with real Ethiopian food. It was pretty good and we followed the rules and ate with our hands, except for those that indulged in cheesecake at the end. I’ll have to put up some photos of trip when I’m back in Brindisi.

Spam on my Blog!!

One little post here. So the little @#%$@# know how to post spam on blogs. Well I think I have fixed that with the help of blogger. On reviewing my settings I found a way to let the ordinary public post a comment but keep the spammers out. Feel free to put a comment if it's on topic and keep it clean.
Thank you.

Country roads, take me home....

So this is a pre-states blog. The next blog will be JeffinIndiana, not Puglia. Fear not! This is only a two-week stay for some training I probably should have had before I left two years ago. It’s very funny when you consider I only have 9 months left on my contract. The bottom line is, if the company here is still happy with me in 9 months then I can stay longer. If relations fall out then I may not have a choice. Right now all is good but you never know.
Latest news…My cat Nello is growing fast and needs a trip to the vet. As soon as I get back I need to do this. He’s getting aggressive, but it’s only his manliness coming out. We’ll have to “fix” that. Along this line I found out last night this his nails can make short work of a shirt. I’m glad I didn’t have on a shirt I care about. I worry because I have a friend from work coming over to take care of him while I’m gone and I hope he knows what he’s in for. His girlfriend has a cat so I think it will be fine.
I have news on my girlfriend, Paola. We are planning that she will come over to the States after Christmas and before New Years. That’ll be the first chance she’ll have to meet MY family and friends. No worries there. My friends and family are all perfectly normal and nice, except for Kent.
Oh I forgot to put something in code for Kent…That’s not impossible. I used to bullseye womp rats in my T-16 back home. He’s still following us?! Inconceivable!!! You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.
Can you crack the code? Or just figure out what 2 movies these quotes are from…
A dopo!!!