Chronicles of an expat from the US living in France
The metro took us to Piazza del Popolo. Shelly’s list included a bunch of restaurants my mom gave us. Naturally, we couldn’t find any of them. And the deli she told us about was back by the Vatican. No way. We settled on a place that had a bunch of salads on the menu – … Continue reading After the Vatican, it’s a long way home
Thursday, September 11 Thursday was Vatican day. We had to get up early to be at the Vatican for our 9:30 tour. Only problem was I woke up at 2am and didn’t go back to sleep until after 5am. Had our yogurt, fruit, and hard bagel thing for breakfast. I even made myself a decaf … Continue reading Follow the nun to Vatican City
Wednesday, September 10 Tuesday night, arrival night was a blur. Met the owner of our apartment, gave him some euros, and in return got keys, the instructions for the washer (no dryer), the air conditioner, and the gas stove. Fair trade. Oh, and he told us to put out the trash every night, in plastic … Continue reading Our first full, very full day in Roma
Monday September, 8 “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” just so happened to be the best part of the British Airways flight from SFO to Heathrow. I’d wanted to see the movie, Shelly didn’t, so personal screens on the plane made this a reality. We got the edited version, no full frontal shots, but the setup still worked. … Continue reading SFO to Heathrow to Roma
It's crappy. I'm warning you. Looks much better in a small 2-inch screen. but I'm adding it here, just for prosperity. I took this video with my old Treo in July 2007. I had just given Fran and Mick a bath and they did their trademark running around the house. If you look closely, you … Continue reading Crappy mobile video of Frances and Mickey
We just finished burying Mickey's ashes under our fig tree. I'm glad we've come full circle. It's been nearly three weeks since we lost him and I couldn't possibly go another week without finishing things. Mickey loved the fig tree. Well, he loved the figs. During the summer and early fall, he became obsessed with … Continue reading Mickey under the fig tree
We lost Mickey on Tuesday. After a torturous decision, we decided it was the right thing to do and we put him down. Losing a dog like Mickey is one of the hardest, most emotional things that I have ever experienced. His pancreatitis came back with a vengeance and last Monday morning he began to … Continue reading Losing a dog
Mickey got sick. We always said that if he ever refused food, we've got a problem. So, one Saturday, after a morning of not eating, we whisked him off to our neighborhood vet, Oakland Veterinary Hospital. They couldn't find anything overtly wrong with him, but based on his symptoms, put him on antibiotics and took … Continue reading Sick dog, happy parents
I woke up this morning thinking about Joe Barr. I found out on Monday that he died last week and I haven't been able to stop thinking about him. Joe and I worked together at LinuxWorld.com (the site, not the trade show) where I was the editor in chief and he was one of our … Continue reading Ode to Joe Barr
My brother exited the mayor's office and the first words out of his mouth were, "He's a good-looking guy." Yes, my brother has a man-crush on Gavin Newsom. Why? I think it has a lot to do with the fact that the mayor just married me and Shelly, my partner of 17 years. Rather than … Continue reading Thank you, Gavin Newsom
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