This is just a catch-up post as to what the Snakeye’s have been up to the past couple of weeks. Trav’s been pretty darn busy with work. So busy he’s been reneging on the leave he took just to go in and do busy work. Sucks, but oh well.
Where to begin… ah yes, the kids:

Brenden just turned two and the terribleness has begun. Not really. He just does this hysterical thing where he throws himself on the floor all drama-like. He plummets knees first, then hands, then full body all whilst letting out this cry that would win him a Raspberry Award for worst acting. Oh, it’s a sight to see!

Anyway, we had a birthday party / house warming party and boy, did our house get warmed. It’s nice to throw the occasional party but planning is for the birds, especially if it’s a two-fer party. So, here’s a pic of the birthday boy in all his glorious choo-chooedness.

Marissa is doing good. Her leg is all casted up again and I really need to learn how to say “Club Foot” in Italian. She’s been getting physical therapy every week to keep her skills up and has been excelling. Besides that, her favorite place is the high chair and boy, does she like to eat. Seriously, she eats for an hour straight and doesn’t like to be spoon fed anymore. Little grabby hands herself likes to shovel as much in as she can.  I swear I think she’s also saying ‘cat.’ Well, more like ‘at.’ Just like big bro did.

This past weekend we got to explore a little more of what the Dolomites have to offer. Here is Trav getting Brenden in touch with his granola-loving side with a little hike up and down a pretty steep ravine. Personally, me as the occasionally balance-inept adult would have had a difficult time climbing outta there. Grande kudos to the two year old for making it out with a little help from daddy. He seems pretty proud of himself in the last picture.

Some of the squadron folks were rock climbing and (ala, monkey-see monkey-do) Brenden wanted to try it for himself. Then we decided it may behoove us to hook him into a kiddie harness for safety measures. He made it a good 10 feet up before he realized he could get himself into a real pickle here and wanted down.

And here’s a shot of Marissa absolutely loving the piggy back ride from daddy.

All in all, our little outdoor European adventure was a success for the whole fam and I’m looking forward to doing a bunch more… minus the rock climbing.

Moving on…

This past Sunday, Trav and I decided to venture away from the kids for the night and check out the opera in Verona. How could we pass on an opportunity to see something in a 4th century BC Roman arena? It only runs during the summer and we were able to catch the last performance this year. Besides, next summer is out since Trav will be making his annual trip to the Sandbox.

The ambiance and atmosphere were awesome. It was evening, the arena was filled with people, and vendors were selling “Birra, vino rosso, vino bianchi, Coca-cola, Fanta!”  Then again in English, and then again in German. It resonated in my head just for the short time we were there, I can only imagine those vendors yell that in their sleep.

Anyway, long story short here is my revelation for the night: THE OPERA IS BORING. I was begging Trav to leave by the second intermission. It was already almost 11, the novelty had worn off, I was getting cold and my ass was sore (I didn’t heed the advice from a friend to bring a pillow). Plus, it was the only night away from the kids so let’s carpe diem… or at least sip some prosecco in one of the city’s piazzas. So, the moral of this story… don’t pay a lot for good seats unless you are an opera aficionado. Lord knows I’m not and I’m glad we saved our Euro!

And now for an appropriate ending to this post:

Telescopes, camera lenses, 60-inch TVs, computers… I guess I like my technology and toys. And I can admit that I can sometimes be stubborn about it. Once I make up my mind that “We could really use a ______,” it’s then a matter of researching to find the best bang for the buck. Trust me, if more than ~$200 is going to be spent, I research the shit out of it – I typically aim for 75% the high end. I don’t need the newest, most expensive version… just something that’s 25% back on the curve.

In my growing bag of experiences, I’m starting to see a trend item: you get what you pay for.

Though I research and make up my mind on the exact make and model, I always try to find the best price and pull the trigger on it. Needless to say, it’s backfired a few times. Like when I bought our 60-inch TV: I found it for $1000 less than most other stores from some internet retailer. They promised 2 weeks to get there, and it ended up being a month and a half with a tracking number of someone else’s TV. To make a long story short, I got my money back (with a fight) and just ended up paying close to full price at the near-local Best Buy.

Well, when we found out we were going to Italy, we decided on shipping both our cars. The government will only pay for one car, so the second car was on our dollar. I started searching around to get an idea how much it would cost. My average response: about $2500. Though I did find a place that would ship it for $1500… sold!

Well, thank God we decided to ship our old truck, and not the brand new Prius, on our own dollar. The company seemed awesome… pay the money, drop it off, it would arrive in Italy a month later, pick it up.

Only we dropped it off and that was the last we heard. We hadn’t paid yet, and I was dumbfounded that no one had called asking about payment. After a few weeks, I couldn’t take it anymore so I called them. “Oh yeah, we need your payment before it arrives… right now it’s scheduled for June 17th.”

Right – you know, I might expect that with the US Post Office or something, but this is a vehicle that we’re shipping.

So I call on the 17th with payment information, and ask if the car is in port. It was… in Hamburg, Germany! “But I thought it was supposed to arrive in the Italian port on the 17th,” I say. Oh no, “it goes from Germany to Italy by truck. It’ll be a few more weeks,” they say. Not to beleaguer the point, the car actually showed up in Italy on the 26th of July.

I made the transaction as quick as I could, because I just wanted to be done with this soap opera and drive the car home. But we are now proud owners of an Un-Chevrolet.

What’s an Un-Chevrolet you may ask? Here’s some pictures:

Not only did every emblem disappear, but so did the Georgia license plates, the hitch, and everything inside the car… it was really quite the magic trick! Why anyone would want Chevy emblems, I don’t know… at least the car didn’t have extra dents or anything. Luckily for me the Italians didn’t look at the back-up plates I brought with me for this very contingency; I drove it home with New Mexico license plates that had been expired since 2006. Which leads me to another pondering: I hope those missing Georgia plates don’t come back to bite me because they were ultimately the cause for my arrest warrant.

Yes I’m a little pissed about the emblems, but it’s a sunk cost at this point. I was planning on selling the truck in Italy before I left anyway. I’m pretty sure whoever buys it isn’t going to care all that much about the emblems… they’ll just want a hauler that is reliable because trucks are a rarity in Italy.

The shipping company was Horizon Auto Shipping by the way… and I don’t think I’m gonna recommend them.

So why all this make-me-gag crap about Romeo? Pam and I went to Verona, Italy this past weekend. Apparently, this is the town where the true origin of Romeo and Juliet came from (hence, this song was stuck in my head the entire time we were there, included so you can play while reading if you wish). It was interesting to say the least. Like most European towns, it has centuries upon centuries of history. I’ll start out with the cool stuff to give you time to find your ice cream and gather your cats together so I can finish with the Romeo and Juliet finale…

The city started out as “Fort Verona,” a military outpost that was eventually taken over by Romans… it was important because it became the crossroads of Rome, the barbaric lands to the West (France, Spain, etc) and the Greek lands to the East. This town (or fort) was in prime location because it was surrounded by river on 3 of the 4 sides. The Romans built a 50-ft wall to defend the open south side… this was all pre-Christ, between 500 to 50 BC. Around 30 AD, an arena was built in Verona rivaled only by the Coliseum in Rome (which was built 50 years later); Verona’s version held up to 30,000 people compared to the 50,000 that the Coliseum could hold. Unlike the Coliseum, Verona’s arena is still in use today. During the summer months, spectators can watch full-blown Italian operas there, with the fat lady and all, every weekend! In fact, Pam and I plan on hitting it up in a month – not that I’m cultured and shit, but more for the experience in watching an authentic opera in a 2000-year-old stadium.

Another cool thing is throughout the city, there’s bits and pieces of old Roman roads – really just big slabs of rock. But think about all the men, horses and history that passed over those slabs!

After the fall of the Roman Empire in the late 400s, the Goths (Germans) took over the ruling of the city for centuries. Whenever I think of Italy, I just automatically assume everything was Catholic and aligned with the Pope – not so in Verona. They were aligned with or influenced by the Germans until the 1400s. Interestingly enough, to signify this to outsiders (so they know if they’re in friendly or hostile territory), the battlements on all the buildings aligned with the Germans were shaped more like a forked-tongue. Cities aligned with the Pope maintained the standard square battlements.

After the 1400s, ownership of the city was transferred back and forth between German influence and Venetian (Venice) influence. The city reflects this through the architecture: in some parts, you could almost swear you were in Venice by looking at the buildings, while other parts look completely Gothic.

In looking at its history in a military light, Verona was once one of Napoleon’s prized cities that he conquered. Being the proud inventor of the Napoleon Complex, he went out of his way to deface many of the crests and heraldry on the buildings so he could replace them with his own. Another interesting piece of military trivia: Verona was one of the most bombed Italian cities of WWII.

Now it’s time for “Oprah Hour:” the history of Romeo and Juliet. Apparently in the 1300s, there truly were families living in Verona with the last names of Montecchi (Montegue) and Capuleti (Capulet). Some Italian poet first wrote about the warring families later in the 1400s, and as time went on the story went through a few iterations and embellishments. By the mid 1500s, the story is almost as we know it. Even though Shakespeare never actually visited Verona, he apparently dusted off the story and borrowed it from the Italians in the late 1500s.

Myself? I was never really into Shakespeare because being “Mr. Culture,” I guess I just never fully appreciated (or understood) the Queen’s English. But I do remember reading the story cliff-notes in high school. While in Verona, we paid a visit to the old Capulet estate. Legend has it that this is the actual balcony that Juliet let down her hair (or maybe I’m getting my stories mixed up; it’s been since high school after all).

They also have a statue of Juliet in the courtyard. You’ll notice her right breast is so shiny that you could almost use it as a mirror. I guess this is one of the only places in the world where you can actually get away with grabbing a boob and not look like a pervert. I guess it’s supposed to be good luck or bring romance into your life or something like that. I don’t know how Pam did it, but she somehow managed to get a shot of the statue without someone molesting it – but the shine is still there. Pam tells me that there’s some sappy movie coming out called “Letters to Juliet” that shot quite a few scenes at this location – be sure to buy a gallon or two of your favorite ice cream for that one. And believe it or not, people actually post there letters on the wall of the entrance to Juliet’s courtyard. By the looks of it, I think only Santa tops her in correspondence.

So that’s Verona… the most romantic city in Italy.

Things I’m working on to get it full-up:

• The sidebar – I can’t stand the one that is currently to the right.  I want to attempt to replace it with something like this.  Obviously, there’s some pretty intense coding that goes along with something advanced like that.  Another thought would be to put the sidebar stuff at the bottom of the site with the bomb, but I’m hard-pressed to think of a way to do that without cluttering the current look.
• Photo Albums – Add a button on the bottom near the bomb to take you to the photo albums section.  It will most likely look like a sign that seems to be part of the picture.
• The Comments – Yes they work but again, I don’t like the design of it.  I’ll be trying to condense it a little bit over the next few weeks.

Other than that, I think I’ve got the 85% solution now as you see it.  I think it’s a lot cleaner than the old design while still keeping true to the “Snakeye’s Frag” theme.  The metamorphosis is below.

Please let me know of any suggestions or ideas for improvements as I continue to to work on finalizing Snakesite v4.0…

This past weekend we signed on to a trip to Munich – the host city of Oktoberfest.  You can imagine by being in a city with that kind of reputation, you’re bound to get housed (or “haus’d”, in German) at some point.  In fact, it’s about time I go to a place where there’s good beer! Unfortunately for me (the beer snob), the wine flows in Italy but the beer leaves a lot to be desired. So to Germany we go to provide me a little beer-sanity. We arrived on Friday just in time to grab dinner at the Hofbrauhaus.  Prior to this, we’ve only been to the one in Las Vegas which is supposed to replicate the one in Munich.  My German buddy, Limey, once told me that the Vegas version didn’t hold a candle to the real thing; he was right.  The place was HUGE… though the beer and the food were mostly the same.  After three liters of beer and a group photo later, we decided to call it a night to prep for the beerfest the next day:

The main event was “Beer Rafting.” About 50 people load up on a barge made out of logs (ie, a true raft), along with 5 kegs and an “oompah” band. Granted, it’s not white water rafting for all you adrenaline junkies… it’s almost like being in a paddle boat on the Mississippi River. But the floor is definitely not flat, and you can see the river bottom between the spacing of the logs underneath you.

I did learn a few things while I was out navigating the rivers of Munich:

1. Drinking does not get rid of a headache from the night before. Apparently the 3 liters from the Hofbrauhaus had caught up to me, so I figured after a few beers the headache would go away… Nope. I ended up with the best of both worlds: a headache while feeling pretty tipsy. Luckily, someone had Motrin (thanks Cassy).
2. Cat-like agility is gained with more imbibing.  When I first got on the raft, I cautiously walked about so I wouldn’t slip and fall into the river.  After keg #3 was tapped, I could almost do a gymnastics routine on the thing without falling in (see picture at right)!
3. It was cold and rainy the whole time (typical Bavarian weather from what I understand). They say the sun is always shining when you wear sunglasses?.. well, the sun comes out when you drink a lot too. The more kegs that floated, the warmer you magically felt!
4. Beer Rafting is definitely something to do again in the future! It was seriously a blast!

And now for one last shot of Pam in her “St. Pami’s Girl” outfit:

Other cool day trips that we’ve been on since we’ve been to Italy include Venice (only an hour train-ride away!):

And Barcis, a 300-man town in the mountains of the Alps just North of us (this is not enhanced at all… this is “as taken” – click for larger):

Hopefully, there will be ample opportunity over the next three years to keep this kind of stuff up. Until then, Cheers, Prost, and Salute!

Back in April while I was driving from Phoenix to Ohio (to ultimate drop the truck off for shipping to Italy), I was stopped at a random checkpoint in Nowhere, New Mexico… and I mean nowhere.  It was high-noon; who sets up a random checkpoint in the middle of the day!  I dunno if they were looking for DUIs, illegal aliens, or just a quick buck for the County.  But I was stopped and had to show my license and registration.

About 5 minutes later the Officer came back and asked for my registration (again).  I told him I gave him everything I had.  He then informed me that what I had given him had expired in January.  I was dumbfounded.  I was almost 100% sure that it was good until the end of April.  I asked him to check the sticker on the plate and sure enough it said “APR 10.”  The plate numbers matched the registration, so apparently Georgia had messed up the paperwork when I registered it with the Prius; the Prius (already enroute to Italy) expired in January and the truck was expired (or was supposed to be) in April.

I tried explaining to the guy that I was on my way to drop the truck off at a port to ship to Italy, that the registration should not be expired, that I no longer live or would be back in Georgia, and that it would take me a month to get the paperwork corrected in correspondence.  He responded with a citation – I guess that meant “tell it to the Judge.”

So, even though I was leaving for Italy within a week or two, I tried calling the Court about 10 times during their business hours and was greeted by the answering machine every time.  On time #10, I had enough.  I left a message that went something like this:

My name is Snakeye.  I received a traffic citation the other day and have tried multiple times to get ahold of the Judge, but no one seems to want to answer the phone.  There was a registration mix up, and as I’m talking the vehicle is already aboard a ship to Italy.  I’m trying to do the right thing by getting this sorted out.  In fact, I’m leaving for Italy in 3 days.  My phone will be shut off tomorrow.  I no longer live at my address.  I have email at xxxxx@yahoo.com and can be reached there.  Thank you very much.

So I was a little sarcastic, but it gets frustrating when you try to take care of business during business hours and the phone rings… and rings… every time.  I kinda figured whoever would listen to the message and realize my situation and circumstances and just kinda drop it.  But I guess things really don’t work that way.  Oh well, I guess I got a B for effort on that one.

On a more grounding note, I did manage to get ahold of the Judge today using Skype at 1¢ a minute. He seemed pretty understanding; hopefully they’ll be taking down all my Wanted Posters that are scattered across New Mexico.

So now that Grad School is over and I have more personal time on my hands, I figured the Snakesite was due for an overhaul. It’s been almost 2 years since I last updated the site (both the design/graphics and the blogging software).

I’ve used Wordpress since ‘06 when I started this whole thing. I don’t know what version I started out with (1.9?), but I made it up to version 2.6. They just came out with 3.0, so I figured what the hell, why not. I uploaded the new version, which is quite a feat using my interrupted 2-byte-per-second connection speed, and got everything running… right up until it “updated” my database and I got:

Awesome. The database, for those that were wondering, is where every post and every comment is. If that goes down, I lose almost 4 years worth of stuff. And I can’t just hit a button to upgrade it either. So… I saved what I could, made a new database area, and uploaded the info to there. You would think that would work (and I thought it almost did), but alas it was false hope. There were symbols mixed in to all the text on every post! Double awesome. So I go to log in to fix it all and I get this:

Triple awesome.

I tried putting the old software back on there (2.6) but still got a plethora of errors. I’m screwed! At this point, I can do one of three things: 1) call it a sunk cost and continue on like I just started blogging, 2) make like Astro, hang it up and say it had a good run while it lasted… and truthfully, I’m having a hard time getting motivated to post after my 2-year bout with Grad School, or 3) try to transcribe as much of the original as possible to keep it intact – after all, I have the old database that I can pull comments and posts from one-by-one.

*Sigh* I hate Facebook. I will never jump on that bandwagon. I started this site to keep people up-to-date with what’s going on with me and the fam, as well as telling an interesting story here or there. I guess by being in Italy, now more than ever, this site will come through with those objectives. So option #3 it is.

I’ve gotten enough done to re-launch the site; at least the front page with the most recent 10 posts looks like nothing happened. But over the next 6 months, I’ll be re-doing the entire archive, one post, one comment and one picture at a time (and then back-dating everything to the original dates). This sucks.

Perhaps there is an easier way, but in all my research online, I can’t figure it out. Besides, I’m just doing what the Army’s taught me to do in the past 3 years: if charging the castle wall doesn’t get you anywhere, then keep doing it until it does – brute force always wins out!

This sucks… I think the lesson learned is to back-up your data and withhold from diving right in.

House hunting out here can be a bit overwhelming.  Despite having to borrow a car (since ours won’t be out here for another week or two) and trying to ask questions or negotiate contracts in broken English (half the time it’s worse than broken – I have to attempt my toddler-level Spanish to communicate…), we’ve managed to scope out five potential places.  So far, that 80% rule holds true: each place has its strengths as well as its downfalls.  If there is a “100% fit” out there, someone luckier (or more patient) than I has already snatched it up.

We’re torn between two houses. They both offer roughly the same amount of square-footage and cost about the same to rent…

• House 1 is located within a mile of a small city and train station.  By my estimation, it was probably built within the last 15 years.  It’s a split-level with brand new hardwood floors – the interior is spacious and spectacular.  Because of it’s proximity to the city, it has high-speed internet and city utilities.  Unfortunately, the driveway pulls out onto a busy highway with a mechanic’s garage right across the street.  The entire property is fenced in with a driveway gate.  Trees and shrubbery surround the fence on all sides to hinder any views beyond.  Oh yeah – and there’s a garage (a rarity) that can house a car and my Harley.  Average time to get to work: 25-30 minutes.

• House 2 is located outside the old stone walls of a small medieval village at the base of the mountains.  It was built at least 100 years ago and has a huge yard with a garden.  It is 3 stories (bedrooms on the 2nd & 3rd floors, common areas on the 1st floor).  The flooring is mostly a tacky-style of wood flooring, with a lot of tile and marble stairs going up to all 3 floors (a far way for a kid to fall); the interior is old but spacious.  It is a 5-minute walk to the village square where you can eat, drink and shop in the open-air market.  Unfortunately, utilities are costlier because you rely on gas tanks for heat, and internet is dial-up speed (remember 2400-baud modem days?).  The entire property is fenced with a driveway gate as well.  There is a garage, but it also doubles as storage space, so I could probably get only my Harley in there. Average time to get to work: 15-20 minutes.

To take the emotion out of it, I attempted to make a priority-based list with Pam and rate each house accordingly.  They are weighted the most from top to bottom. We took both houses and rated them on how well they both fit each category…

By this method, it seems we have a resounding winner meeting the 80% solution. We’re pretty close to pulling the trigger on House 1, but a part of me really wants the view and ability to walk to a street cafe in a small village. Oh well. All five houses we looked at had a certain category that they all stood out with, but ultimately these top two were the closest match to fulfilling most of the categories.