2008: a fond farewell

Megan and I will miss 2008. It was a year full of great stuff. 2009 has a lot to live up to, and starting in a recession is not the foot you should lead with. So to celebrate 2008, here's a short song/peom I wrote just now from the depths of my heart:

2008, you were great.
I can't think of one thing about you I hate
Obama was elected
Our dues were collected
And we moved back to the United States

so until the NEXT 2008... farewell two-zero-zero-eight, my friend, fare well.

The housing crisis hits... home?!

So much has happened since the last time we blogged. Megan and I have settled in to Chicago like old pros. We had a housewarming party, millions of visits from family... the whole works. But blogging has taken a back seat since most of our readers are, well, here.

But tonight something interesting happened. Megan and I were watching HIMYM, chilling on the couch when there was a knock at the door. We ran to see who it was. I suspected it was our neighbor asking to borrow our wine key again, but instead it was a notice of foreclosure on our apartment. Megan and I don't own this place, so this message wasn't for us, but greeting that man with his voluminous document was a bit sobering.

First up, even if we're not getting foreclosed on, we will get evicted if the bank takes over the property. The guy tried to make a joke about how these days at least we'd get a little notice, and that in the old days the bank would have just booted us. It wasn't as funny as he wanted. But you should have seen the look on his face when we told him we were paying his debtors rent every month... he thought that was pretty funny.

The news really isn't as bad as it might seem, we'll get 60-90 days notice if it all goes through and apartments are falling from the sky like dogs when it rains hard. But, if anyone is looking for a last minute gift for us, we might know a cheap apartment that we like that the last minute shopper could get us a 30 year 5% fixed rate mortgage for... ;)

Vacation over. Real Life rebooted.

There's so much to cover since our last post I'm going to have to skip a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to post a bunch more anecdotes and video later, but given our posting history even I'm skeptical.

First up is Rome.

Rome is the center of one of the greatest and long lasting empires in human history. It was the center of the ancient world, and evidence of it's long legacy is dripping from every building and visible on every corner. And though the deep history and iconic culture of this city is what drew us here, it's also has a down side. It's a little something we called Museum Fatigue.

Museum Fatigue is what you get when there's so much art, architecture and sculpture to look at that your culture receptors in our brain get depleted and you can't appreciate anything anymore, no matter how inspiring. Symptoms include glazed eyes, impatient glares, and frustration written all over your face. Here's a picture of a textbook case of the condition:


This picture was taken at the Vatican, but our worst case had to be during the mandatory 4 hours of museum they make you walk through before you get to the Sistine Chapel.

But don't think we didn't enjoy Rome. Rome was awesome. Our problem was really that it was too awesome to cram into the three days we had to poke around. If I had an excuse to work there for a few months I'd take it in a heartbeat, because that's how much time it'd take to soak this city in.

From there we took the red-eye to Cairo.

I'm just going to drop pictures here, because there's too much to write and we got some good ones.



And from Cairo it was off to sweet home Chicago. No pictures from here yet, but let me tell you all this... it's great to see the old crew again. We are missing London a bit and wishing we had our stuff that's still on a boat en route, but off to a decent start over here.

Barcelona

Megan and I arrived in Barcelona on Friday night and have been relaxing to the max out here.  We've spent two days just rambling around and lying on the beach and couldn't ask for better weather to do it in.  We had a great little party last night where we all played a Brazilian game called Truco.  It was like a 3 trick version of Euchre with some crazy fake out potential.  Pictures will be forthcoming as soon as we can borrow Ang and Oli's roommate Matt's camera.  

We have two more days here in Barca, and I can't imagine we'll do much... but I do think we'll have a total blast.  

Also, in the next batch of pictures I should have a wicked sunburn!

Heading round the world, then back home again

For me, one of the best selling points for our move to London was that we could essentially double our savings when we moved back to the States someday because of the highly favorable exchange rate. (Sigh, oh how I'll miss the all mighty Great British Pound.) I thought we'd live here long enough to save up and then we'd buy a house in whatever US city we landed in. I dreamed of a Manhattan condo bought by biding our time in London.

Turns out those were the dreams of an ignorant immigrant. After two short years in London, we're going to blow all the money we have leftover on two weeks of awesomeness and instead of landing with an inflated bank account, arrive almost broke. Oh, well. WORTH IT!

Sept. 26 we leave London for good. Our good friends the Seeleys are very generously putting us up at their place in Barcelona for a few nights where we will cross paths with Cass and Caleb. Then we head to Rome for three nights before spending five nights in, wait for it...OMGIcan'tbelievemylifeisthisgoodrightnow!... Cairo to see the Pyramids and the Sphinx. We will land in Chicago on October 9 totally worn out jettlagged and under-prepared to start work on October 13.

Remember when I said 2008 was going to be a good year? We're such lucky people, me and Marty.

I've got mixed feelings about returning home, mostly because the last few months have been really good in London. I've felt like after a long time of feeling like a foreigner every day, one day I woke up and this city was a part of me. It took me a while to get comfortable here, and when I finally did, living here sort of seemed like a victory I kept wanting to celebrate and remember. But on the other hand, it isn't like Chicago ever stopped being my first love. I just fear now that it might take a short while to remember what I loved about it.

Anyway, we won't be blogging again until well after we land in The Windy City, so maybe more on that later. Now, packing needs to get done!

I don't get political here but...

I'm in Germany this week at a conference where European animation producers hawk their products to broadcasters for next season. They show their pilots to an audience of a few hundred people and give a little talk about the inspiration for their shows.

And would you believe it, Sarah Palin has been a running joke in many of the presentations. So many of the delegates here are asking me what the hell my country is doing. It. Is. Totally. Embarrassing.

I've been having a huge political discussion with some misguided Republicans in the more private setting of Facebook (i.e. pages my parents don't read), that I encourage you to join in if you are my friend there. There a former classmate is so warped that she has decided to vote McCain because she believes Obama is for late-term abortions. ( Where do conservatives get these utter falsehoods? Oh yeah... Murdoch, the man who ruined the country. Obama is clear on his position AGAINST legalizing late term abortions.) Although she admits she would like gays to have the right to marry, she is choosing to vote pro-life. "Nobody's forcing you to have an abortion," we say. "If it doesn't affect you, why not vote to give people the people who are already here rights, instead of saving some imaginary babies?" When pressed on her infuriating logic, she can't give a good reason but just says "That's what I believe, so I'm not changing." Oh, the hypocrisy!

This article my friend Chad alerted me to is OUTRAGEOUS: Read this article and then tell me Republicans are fighting fair, I dare you.

I'm just aghast that this election is so close. And absolutely amazed. It's pretty much all I think about.

Now, does someone have room at their table for Thanksgiving? I'm pretty sure I'm not invited anymore.

Oh yeah, about Thanksgiving...Marty and I are moving back to the States in October. We found out last week and are working out the details. More on that later.

Marty tried this when he proposed:

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0217062contract1.html

It didn't exactly work.