On Moving

"We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths."

~Walt Disney

I counted today, and in the last 10 years I've moved 10 times, and that doesn't include the in-betweens where my lovely mother let me come home and pile my things up everywhere and sleep in my childhood bed and eat the food in her refrigerator. It also doesn't include the times my friends have let me crash on their couches and pile my stuff in their living rooms while I transitioned from place to place. I'm staring a potential 11th move in the face as soon as one week from now, and I have to say that stability has a bit of an appeal right at this moment. Plus, I'll miss out on all the Spring wine fests here if I move, among other things. Aw, man! But I'm choosing to look at it as an adventure, a test of my being, and a chance to grow professionally and personally. Ready or not, here I go!

Da Bears

It's SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! go America!

But really, sorry everyone out there rooting for Tom Brady errrr I mean the Patriots. And sorry to everyone rooting for the Manning brother who actually gets to play in Indianapolis this year errrr I mean the Giants. Why sorry? Because I don't care who wins. That's right. I don't care. I'm a Bears fan, so I'll take the side of the NFC and therefore side with Giants fans on this one, but all I really care about is this:

Take it away, Shufflin' Crew!

Call it what you will...

Karneval. Fasching. Fassenacht. Mardi Gras... whatever you want to call it-- it is upon us! Mainz does Fassenacht BIG TIME. While Rosenmontag isn't for another couple weeks, the store windows are nonetheless decorated in Mainzer blue, red, yellow, and white. Take a looksie.

Hellau! Hellau! Hellau!

Freeze Face

It is COLD here! Winter has kind of forgotten about Germany up until now. It's been chilly enough to be obnoxious but not cold enough to whine. Well, for the next week here, it will be into the low-mid 20 degreesF during the day, and is to dip into ... you know what, I'm sorry. Stop for a second. It smells like dog in this coffee shop suddenly. Ohhhh that's because people bring their humongous dogs into restaurants here. I forgot. ... the mid-teens at night. There's a blustery little wind going on, too, just to make sure we all are truly chilled.
This is what weather.com is warning me about today:

High disruption due to extreme low temperatures for Saarland Und Rheinland-Pfalz

In den kommenden beiden Nchten ist verbreitet mit Frost zwischen -10 und -14 Grad zu rechnen. Auch tagsber sind keine positiven Temperaturen zu erwarten.

What does "high disruption' mean? Disruptive to life? Highly disruptive rosy red cheeks eveywhere? High amounts of cell phone service disruption (don't be silly; we don't have Verizon Blackberrys here...)?  I am apparently countering this warning because everything I've done during this weather has been productive. Take that, weather dot com alert!

What I'm really liking about this weather is that everyone is walking around with their Freeze Faces on. You know, when it's so cold outside that it kind of looks like everyone is trying to smile because of the way that their faces squinch up, and draw back many of the same muscles as smiling does, as the cold wind bashes them in the face ? Ultimately, the Freeze Face just makes people look like they're probably about to be sick. 

Example of my freeze face. It just looks like something is horribly wrong.
Also, I've developed an allergy to my pillow, so don't mind my eyes today.

That, and also that if you're out and about in this chill, you have to really mean it. I like that extra bit of purpose. "Yeah what?! I'm out here! I have important business, man!"