Christmas cont...

How could I neglect to mention my most favorite gifts from this Christmas??? Dana is forced to listen to my ramblings on a semi-regular basis. Semi-regular not because I suffer from lack of opinion on a subject but because I am acutely aware that my opinion is severely deficient as it relates to the truth (I find my knowledge on any subject to be frighteningly limited), and as such, I find it quite humiliating to express what amounts to little more than...rambling. Nevertheless, my interest in specific topics such as philosophy, economics, political history and worldview continue to grow. Dana and I have been listening to lectures on some of these topics from Ron Nash who you could describe as an economic Austrian and a political libertarian with a Christian worldview, which combines political libertarianism with Reformed Christian conservatism. Needless to say, he's right up my alley. Dana bought me 6 books on these topics as well as books on wine appreciation (how I do appreciate it) and a cigar book with a comprehensive list of tobacconists by city (which I will need should we do ANY travelling in the U.S.).

I hope that I can use this forum to organize my own thoughts on these subjects (and more) and can get feedback from those who frequent this blog (and are all smarter than me...yes, even Ryan) so that I can have knowledge not simply for the sake of knowledge. I find it very helpful when confronted with opinions, or truth claims, that conflict with my own, to walk myself through my own arguement as it relates to what I've heard. This either reinforces my own belief or exposes deficiences. This may explain why I involve myself in many conversations with little more than "fact statements" which expose very little of my own thoughts. This has some exceptions where I become opinionated to a fault and not fun to talk to!

All this to say that I spend a lot of my thinking time (i.e. when I'm awake) organizing thoughts and arguements and these gifts make that more productive and fulfilling. Of course, learning and discussing these topics with a glass of wine and a cigar is my idea of heaven!

Christmas

Let me start off by saying that I felt more overwhelmed this Christmas than any I remember (solely because I was actually Christmas shopping in stores as opposed to online like the last 3 years) by the obsessive materialism that takes hold of people and drives them to flip the bird and snarl every time you look at them. Dana and I talked some about this phenomenon that I don't remember being as repugnant even 10yrs ago. It actually made me very put off by the whole holiday and resentful that I even had to buy gifts. Am I materialistic?...sadly, yes; but witnessing the full force of American materialism coming at you from every direction is shocking. I was shocked!

That was a tangent (can you intro with a tangent?) and actually what I sat down and intended to blog about were some of the sweet gifts I received! Ironic, eh? Well, fortunately my family (including those of the extended variety) are quite sensitive to those things that give me some satisfaction. My mom gave me a Magellan RoadMate GPS system. I really don't like getting lost and with the move to a city where I've never driven, this is bound save me a great deal of hair pulling!

Regan sent me a humidor/cigar combo. I really love the smell of a new humidor with the crisp cedar fragrance filling that little treasure box. It is really nice to have a second humidor because there are some cigars that I like to age and it is best not to age them together and to have a separate humidor that doesn't get opened all the time. It is currently holding my small collection of Habanos.

I got some other great gifts: money for keyless entry, CI gift card (already used!), but really I just enjoyed being with family (my grandma is hillarious - think hookah pipe and a sub-machine gun...but I promised I'd keep the pictures off the internet) and sitting outside in a T-shirt. Merry Christmas.

The New Job

After several months of applying and interviewing for work all over the country, we have accepted a position in Minneapolis. Despite the dramatic change in climate, I don't think we could have ended up in a better place. Dana's family will be there for us to hang out with (and for me to really finally get to know) and the hospital will offer much of the work that I trained to do and never got a chance to practice while doing pediatrics for the last 3 years.

I am definitely excited to get back to work at a busy center, learning some new things while applying the full extent of my training. In addition to the great job, we will be living in St. Paul between the hospital and one of Dana's sisters in a nice house for very low rent. It is down to 17 days and counting....

Tyler Lyle

About 6 months ago Dana introduced me to an upstart artist named Tyler Lyle. Honestly I think she now regrets that introduction as I've been playing, both on my iPod and on my guitar, Tyler Lyle's songs non-stop. I was struggling to learn a couple of songs and Dana, tired of me picking through them over and over again, said, "just email him and ask for the chords!" Well, Tyler may not be Clapton as far as a fan base goes, but I doubt he'd email be back! Seriously...give away your songs to someone in Tucson, AZ? Well he did, and I've now been playing them more than before, but correctly at least.

Here is a video from one of his more popular tunes...

Tyler Lyle: Closer to me from Aaron Champion on Vimeo.

Our new stream of income

As we have had far more time on our hands than we anticipated, Dana and I have started a new, hopefully income producing, hobby. We are getting cheap (preferably free) furniture on Craigslist and refinishing it. Here are a couple of pieces.



They look a little...rustic, but that's the point. Hopefully we can make some sales and at least be able to afford to continue with our hobby!

Distressed

Mexican furniture has become our favorite style. It has an old world, rustic look which is, unfortunately, not cheap. This has prompted some creativity on our part. We bought a $30 bookshelf on Craigslist that was in descent shape but a little worn and NOT pretty. Distressed furniture is a staple of Mexican style and something that really isn't that hard to do. We used some of our left over paint and did bright colors with a blue undercoat on the edges and faces. I used a fine grain sand paper and some paint thinner and rubbed some of the green overcoat off and voila!

Time to blog

When I moved back to the USA I thought I would be blogging one interview after another and one DIY project after the next, but I've had no interviews and I haven't completed one of my DIY's!...but you can only go so long before your blog gets shut down from inactivity so I thought I'd better say something. Finding work has been more difficult than predicted. I haven't gotten desperate...yet, probably because we enjoy being in Tucson so much that it is hard to rush out of here, but the money will run out eventually and it would be good to check out of here before that happens.

As you've seen from Dana, we've been remodeling our kitchen. Originally, we were getting ideas from one of the kitchen stores in town regarding new cabinets and counters and the estimate was well over $10,000. Coincidentally (if there is such a thing), Ryan and Yun took us to a rustic Mexican furniture store where we saw punched copper inserts for cabinets. That was the beginning of the end of the idea of getting a "new" kitchen. Copper is quite expensive and difficult to find in the sizes we needed and tin is apparently unavailable North of Mexico so after MUCH searching we decided to use aluminum...cheap! The next phase was to find a way to "age" the aluminum so it didn't look like the inside of a soda can...headache! Finally we found a way to spray paint the inserts to make them look like tin and away we went, making designs and punching them in. This is what we came up with.

Needless to say it was not as easy as we had anticipated, but it was phase one of our remodeling project completed.

D.

Espana

It has been a while now but I'm finally posting the pictures from our Spain trip. Spain was HOT. Really hot. The real problem wasn't just the heat but the fact that so few places had a/c (including our first hotel) so there was no escape. Having that only complaint out of the way, I can talk about what I liked...which was everything else.

We had been to Barcelona which is Catalonian, not Spanish. This was our first trip into a Spanish region known as Andalucia (pronounced with a lisp). Sevilla feels Spanish. From the architecture and food to the culture of siestas and late dinners, it's what I imagine Spain to be. There are a number of attractions including the Plaza de Toros (the bull ring). We took a tour and learned that each bull fights only once, how the matador kills the bull and how the matador is graded on his performance. All very interesting but not enough to get me to watch! The Cathedral (supposedly the largest in the world) was built over and incorporates some of its structure from the mosque built during the occupation of the Moors. They also left a very beautiful palace called Alcazar which is full of amazing courtyards and beautifully decorated buildings.

From Sevilla we went to Granada, home of Alhambra. This is a Moorish palace built overlooking the city. It was similar to Alcazar in many ways but on a grander scale. It is also the last Moorish stand before the end of the Reconquesta. King Boabdil signed a treaty and then fled to Northern Africa where his mother told him "to weep like a woman for what you could not defend like a man." Ouch! It was beautiful, especially with the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains just off in the distance.

The rest of our time we spent walking in the cities, eating tapas and paella, drinking lots of water and enjoying the general splendor. I think Spain is a country we will visit again someday. There are so many cities that are worth visiting, but next time I think we'll take a Spanish speaker.

32

Getting older is certainly a blessing and a curse. What is left of my hair is slowly graying and I certainly don't move as freely or swiftly as I used to, but I'm finally getting to the point where birthday gifts are about getting what you want, not what you need.

This past week I celebrated yet another birthday and found that happily I was able to stretch that celebration into a week long event! We were able to make a little trip to España, about which I'll be posting once we get our pictures sorted out. I was also inundated with gifts related to my favorite hobby, cigars. Dana got me a number of interesting books:

Cubans: The Ultimate Cigars
The Cigar Companion: A Connoisseur's Guide
The Ultimate Cigar Book
Holy Smoke
The Good Cigar

...as well as the ultimate in cigar luxury items, the Xikar X3 Mammoth Ivory cutter.

Did I mention that it comes with a stingray skin carrying case? It will come in handy for cutting all the cigars I buy with the numerous and generous JR gift cards that I also received. I am a lucky man!

Update...

We've been applying for work back in the U.S. somewhat frantically as we want to get the heck out of dodge! It has been slow going and is really testing our patience. I'm holding strong that we won't be applying in places like Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Mississippi...etc. You wouldn't think that would be much of a challenge, but these are desperate times.

In the mean time I've been keeping myself distracted with World Cup Mania! The Americans drew with England last week, Mexico beat France today and Spain lost their opening match to the Swiss (those are all big deals in soccer world). Tune in tomorrow when the U.S. take on Slovenia (no walk over) and have the chance to go top of their group.

We are also back on the travel scene. Next week we are off to Spain to visit Seville, Granada and Malaga. Sun, tapas and wine. I can't wait!

You Cut

This is for real. I had my doubts when I originally saw this site but it has been confirmed that Republicans are allowing YOU to vote on spending cuts to the federal budget. Every week House Republicans will offer a vote on cutting the program that receives the most votes. Check it out, and vote!

http://republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut/

Ehh, say that again?

I'm having trouble reconciling these two videos (as most people do I presume). It is funny to watch him get caught in the second video. This guy is the AG! Another talking head in the propaganda machine.

Back to life...

Well I'm back from the motherland. It is no great surprise that it has been cold and raining everyday that I've been back. My penance for all the sun I absorbed. I had an awesome time while I was home seeing friends and family, working on the house and smoking as many cigars as I could. Dana is still living the dream...lucky!

As pretty much everyone knows the job prospects in Tucson are not good which has really bummed me out. I'm working on plan B but I'm still not totally sure what plan B will look like. I did consider quitting my job and moving back to work at a cigar shop. That would pretty much be the end of my career...not a lot of foresight in that I suppose. Dana wants to move back bad enough she'd probably agree to support me for the rest of our lives right now, but I bet that would wear off. That's the news for better or worse. Dana will certainly be putting up a slide show when she gets back.

Tuscany

This past week we took a slow paced, directionally challenged if you will, trip to Italy. This was our 3rd trip to the country and it reminded us again of why we love it. With my Mom along, we flew into Bologna, rented a car and drove about 1 1/2 hours Southwest to an area called San Gimignano, which is a mid-evil town standing atop one of the many Tuscan hills. We stayed in what is termed "agriturismo" which was basically a converted farm house on a vineyard and olive grove. This area is in the heart of the Chianti Classico region, which has become one of our favorite wines.

Our room was actually 2 rooms off a main common area that had a kitchen and long table. It was on another hill looking across at San Gimignano. While we were there we visited Sienna which is another mid-evil rolling town. In the town center there is a huge square where they have an annual horse race. They lay dirt down on the outer ring and on the tight turns line the corners with mattresses. Apparently the horse can win even if the jockey has fallen off!

We also went to Florence for the second time now. We revisited to Duomo, Accademia and restaurants! For about a day and a half we drove around the area and ended up stopping at 3 different wineries for tastings. That was probably my favorite part of the trip. Certainly not the driving as the roads are carved into the sides of the hills and are some of the twistiest roads I've ever been on. That, combined with the fact that our car was a Fiat Panda, didn't bode well for the car sickness. The wine in that area is exquisite. The food is amazing and the weather is generally excellent. All the more reason for another trip to Italy!

Congressional...you decide

This is real video footage of Rep. Hank Johnson (D) from Georgia. This guy is making decisions about your health care. This is almost too dumb to mock.

Visitors and Cigars

Today is a very exciting day. Not only has my Mom come for her 3rd visit but she has brought many great treats! Here is a couple of photos of my new collection. The first is the cream of the crop. They are the Alec Bradley Tempus Centuria, La Aroma de Cuba Edicion Especial No. 5, A. Fuente Hemingway Classic, Oliva Series V Torpedo and the Casa Magna Colorado Robusto. The rest are pretty dang classy as well. The full listing will be in my humidor section on my other blog. Mouth watering!

Self Limiting

We have been working our way through a series of lectures mainly centered on economics by Ron Nash. The one we listened to yesterday was a guest lecturer who is a law professor from Mexico City. His point was simply this: For every right there is a corresponding duty. That is to say, for every right you have (i.e. the right to life) someone else (in this case everyone else) has the duty not to take your life. You can see this work in other examples; property, liberty, etc. In essence, each right, or law, has a negative effect on your freedom. The vast majority of people would gladly limit their own freedom to protect against murder and theft but the relationship gets sticky the deeper you delve into the theory. This country has thousands of laws and hundreds of politicians passing laws almost daily to make a more "equitable society." Laws at the federal, state and local levels, tax laws, civil rights, entitlements galore, each of which limit the freedom of every individual not protected under those rights. In the next day or two a new right and law will be signed enforcing everyone to obtain health insurance or face fines, basically a tax on breathing. The system is fraught with contradiction which is most evident with the issue of abortion.

It is really a simple, intuitive idea that I'm ashamed to say I had not properly comprehended. The Constitution originally only guaranteed the rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Really that should have been enough. Now we've signed away our own liberty in the name of fairness.

Bath and Cardiff

Last weekend we took a short trip over to England and Wales. It ended up being a 3 city tour as we traveled to Bath, Cardiff and then to Bristol for half a day. Bath is considered to be the most beautiful city in England. It was made famous and owes its history to the thermal baths that bubble up underneath it. The Romans first made the city into a resort town and the thermal waters into a temple and baths. The Britains have since excavated the baths and turned them into a tourist attraction with active baths in another part of town. The Roman baths are complete with actors and everything. We visited a few other sites in town including the Jane Austen House where we had tea, scones and Bath Buns. Needless to say, Dana was a little more excited about that part of the trip than I was.

Cardiff is the capital of Wales and a lot of it is relatively new construction. Most of the city center is high end shops and the area around the bay has been rebuilt with loads restaurants. We spent most of our time wandering around the city, taking in the shops and the castle and even took a river boat down to the harbor.

Bristol was the city we spent time in by default as it was where we flew in and out of. It was nothing special really but more shopping and few big cathedrals. I won't complain as it is always nice to go somewhere. I think of all the places we've been over the last 2 1/2 years and it amazes me that we've taken in so much. Who could complain?? Well, this was an anniversary trip of sorts as you may have noticed from Dana's site. It has been 8 years! 8! Seriously!! Well, it won't be long before we're off again. Until then...

Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from the Mother Land. Today we had breakfast with our friends Dave and Betsy along with Betsy's sister and brother-in-law and then went downtown for the parade. This is my 3rd year going into the city and it amazes me how many people will travel thousands of miles to experience St. Patty's Day in Dublin, but there you have it...tourist central. There are always some interesting floats and about a million people. As you can see, it stresses Dana out! Here are some pics from today. I hope you're all having a Guinness for us.

What's Up?

Things have been interesting this year. We moved again. This apartment is pretty sweet and in one of the nicer parts of Dublin but it is very poorly insulated, and this has been the coldest winter in 60 years! That probably isn't an ideal combination, but we've seen the first signs of Spring. We've been trying to plan some trips, which has been a bit slow going. This is partially because I've been busy running my department as a "lame duck." I have a certain idea as to how things should work and believe it or not, it is rarely the way things have "always been done." Next week we have our interviews for the permanent position which I'll be participating in. I have a keen interest in politics but I'm apparently not a very good politician. I really hate trying to keep up with all that stuff at work. For some reason I think the two should be uninvolved...unless you're actually a politician...call me crazy. It is pretty well assumed that the outcome of the interview is pre-decided but I see it as a chance to take part in a very high profile interview and say what I think needs to be said.

My mom is coming for a visit at the end of the month and we're going on a mystery trip. That should be fun. We're also heading to Bath, U.K. and Cardiff, Wales in 2 weeks. It'll be a nice weekend getaway. Well, back to preparing for the interview...maybe after I watch a little more TV.

New Blog

I have finally committed to blogging about cigars. I have a new blog entitled MY Blue Heaven which is all about cigar reviews, accessories, parings, etc. If you are interested in that sort of thing head on over!

Malta

This has been a pretty crazy week. We went away for our first trip of the year last weekend to Malta. Most people don't know where Malta is (or even that it is a country) - for that you'll have to see the travel map.

Malta was a pretty cool place. The weather wasn't great but it was better than Dublin fo shizzle. The coolest part is the architecture and the way it has been preserved and restored. The harbors and many of the cities look like they are still in the 16th century. There have been a number of movies filmed there, most notably The Count of Monte Cristo and Gladiator. We rented a car and were able to cross the island in about 20min. On the West coast we saw the Dingli Cliffs which stand some 800ft above the sea, and the Blue Grotto which is an area of sea caves. We couldn't do the boat trip into the caves because the sea was too rough. It was very windy while we where there causing what would have been fairly mild temperatures to feel pretty chilly. We also saw the city of Mdina and Rabat as well as a small fishing village called Marsaxlokk in the South. We also went North to St. Paul's Bay where Paul was purported to have been shipwrecked. The main areas are Valletta, Sliema and Birgu on the West coast which is where the Grand Harbor is located and where we spent most of our time.

The real madness came with the fact that we have moved again making this our 4th apartment in 2 1/2 years. I hate moving!

Enjoy the pictures.

Bankruptcy of our Nation

I just finished Jerry Robinson's Bankruptcy of our Nation. It is really an introductory book into the history and current state of the American economy. It was perfect for me and probably would be a good read for even more experienced economists (Ryan!) as it plainly and simply lays out the myth of American wealth as well as impending catastrophes. He also give key (albeit vague) financial advice that can be applied to any budget.

UPDATE: The dreaded diet

In fairness, the diet is not nearly as dreadful as it was the first few days of last week. I guess when you go from pizza, brownies and ice cream one night to absolutely no sugar the next day, there is bound to be a small revolution in your body. The revolution has subsided and I'm not shaking anymore. I weighed in yesterday at 205 lbs, meaning that I dropped 6 lbs last week.

We only have one more week of this phase and then we can start introducing some wheat carbs again which is good because I'm a little short on energy and struggling with another or my resolutions which is to add 20 lbs to my bench press.

Unrelated good news: we've had normal water service for the past 36 hours. Hopefully the stoppages are over.

Great moments in socialism

We awoke this morning to find that we had no running water. It turns out that the Dublin City Council is currently rationing water! That's right...water rationing in Ireland.

There is a reason behind it (supposedly). With the "extreme" cold over the past few weeks (in the teens and 20's) the water lines below ground froze and burst and are now leaking water into the ground depleting the city's water supply. In order to conserve those reserves until the unknown number of pipes is fixed they have begun a "rolling blackout," if you will, of water service. The council has no time table for fixing the pipes but suggests that it could be 6 months before service is back to normal.

I'm no expert on water pipes but I would think that if the pipes were even 1' in the ground it would have protected them from that level of cold. Apparently they aren't even that deep. Just another example of the Irish ethic and ingenuity.

We gotta get out of here!

Maybe not so funny

I'm pretty sure this was written by the same people that write Obama's speeches.


Treasury Department Issues Emergency Recall Of All U.S. Dollars

Resolution #1

As many of you have already heard we are embarking on the South Beach diet...again. Our success the first time around is encouraging but I really struggle with dieting will power. This is one of those no carb, low fat diets which really takes everything I love off my plate...(sad lip extended!) However, I've decided that to increase the likelihood of success I'll be weighing myself every Monday and reporting the losses (I hope) on my blog.

Now for the most embarrassing part...my starting weight - 211 lbs.

IT'S GO TIME!!!

New Year's Day

The New Year has arrived and although I really don't partake in the tradition of resolutions I do like to start out on a good foot. In this case that foot looked like a snake that swallowed a large rat...mmm appetizing. I smoked my Drew Estate The Egg that Ryan sent me for Christmas as my first cigar of 2010 and it was actually quite good. I was expecting it to be average at best and nothing more than a gimmick but in reality the Drew Estate did what they are known for and combined quality with their cigar revolution. It took just under 2 hours to finish. I think I'll have to take a week off now.