Overdue update

Well it’s been a while since I updated this site so I figured I ought to do so.

I’m back from R&R (obviously). Greece was nice enough. The weather was unseasonably warm so I didn’t get to go skiing but it did make the hiking much nicer. Speaking of, I realized how much I miss being able to just wander around. I walked for miles on several occasions just wandering around Athens.
Athens is a neat old city of around 2.4 million people. I stayed in town in the Monastiraki area but visited the Plaka and Syntagma areas too. I saw several of the Olympic venues as well as the Acropolis, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the theaters on Nymphon Hill, Likavitos Hill with its church and theater, the National Garden, Parliament building, and ancient Agora.

I rented a car- always ask about the size of the car first when in Europe- and drove up to Parnassos to check out the skiing. Unfortunately the snow was too thin and there were too many rocks poking through. The very real possibility of getting hurt and not being able to return to work put a damper on those plans. Sooo, I cruised around and visited other towns along the southern coast before returning to Athens.

The food was very good and made me realize just how bad the food I had been eating is. I enjoyed the wine too- normally red wines give me a bit of a headache, but Greek wines have no sulfites and so even after a couple of glasses I felt just fine. Nice. The olives and fresh feta were great. Something I really like, in the restaurants they seat you and give you a menu, they return to bring you water and a basket of fresh bread with cheese, butter, or olive pâté. To place your order, you flag the waiter down as you do any time that you need something, including the check. They expect you to sit and chat and enjoy yourself- they don’t rush you like so many American restaurants.

The Greeks are huge coffee drinkers with breakfast apparently consisting of coffee and cigarettes and maybe a pastry. This occurs later in the morning with lunch being eaten around 1-3pm and dinner starting around 8pm. I never really did figure out the business schedules- they were open when they were and closed when they weren’t.

Greek women wear ugly shoes though (I don’t even think Sean would like these)- the fashion at the moment seems to be long pointy shoes with spike heals. My feet were sore from walking the cobblestone and uneven streets and I was wearing hiking boots; they suffer in the name of fashion I suppose.

Overall it was a pleasant, if somewhat short, trip. I really miss being able to just wander around or drink a beer when I want to.

It’s been kind of hectic here; Chris is on vacation now- he left right after I got back. We finally got our hepatitis vaccines and flu shots in so I’ve been trying to catch people up on those. Most are well behind the recommended schedule, but we’re doing the best we can with what we have.

I started running again with the start of this week- I ran three and half miles. I’ve run every day since then (except today- we always take Saturday off). I can tell a difference, but I should be back up to my normal routine fairly quickly. It’s so hard to eat well when you see what we have to choose from.

One of my best friend’s moms is a school teacher and she had her class practice writing business letters- by writing me. I now have a stack of letters from middle school kids to reply to. I’m working on it though. It’s funny, you can generally tell the girls letters without paying attention to the handwriting or the name- they are generally more mature sounding. I never really thought about it until I started reading these. Mail only gets picked up once a month so I’ve got a few more days to get these ready to go.

Well that’s it for now kids, I’ve got work to do.