Still here

I kind of fell off the face of the earth.....I know. It's been a busy, stressful and emotional time here of late. And I just haven't had the energy to post. Thanks for the emails and comments asking where I am....that's really nice.

So what's been going on in the last couple of months?

Among other things, I've taken weekend trips to Poland, Dresden and Cologne. I have pictures, but I haven't uploaded them. I'll work on that.

I've worked a million, billion hours. There's a lot going on at work right now. I leave for Brazil two weeks from today for a week. I'm looking forward to it, but there's a lot to be done before then.

This upcoming weekend, my friend S. is coming from the States. I'm also looking forward to that. We're going to check out the Romantic Road here in Germany, including stops at Rothenburg o.d.T. and Neuschwanstein, the castle that Walt Disney modeled Cinderella's castle after.

Then, in the first week of April, about 8 Americans are going together to Lisbon, Portugal for four days. A friend and I are also considering going to Prague during that week as well.

What else? Well, the weather's generally been awesome. Considering that it's cold and snowing in Michigan, sun and 50-degree weather in Stuttgart has been a treat. Even if it has rained a lot as well. Of course, this mild weather is making the Germans nuts, because "it's just not right" and it's a sign that the world is coming to an end.....well, that's dramatizing it, but it really does make them upset. The general consensus seems to be that if the Americans stopped driving their big SUVs and started recycling more, this wouldn't be happening. You'll all get right on that, right? Oh and to do "our part better," we're going to be getting these delightful little stickers for our cars. They look like this:

They are color-differentiated to indicate the emissions that the car releases - red, yellow, green and none. Some specific cities in Germany will start with a pilot and one of those is.....you guessed it.....Stuttgart. So when you enter into the city, you'll see a sign that looks like this, which says environmental zone and by the little color circles underneath, you'll know if you're allowed into that city's limits or not. I guess this officially became effective March 1st, but I haven't seen any cars with the sticker yet and I don't have one yet. Maybe I'd better get going on that. In principle, I have no problem with this system and I certainly think that the idea behind it is noble. My problem is....what are you supposed to do if you get up one morning and hear on the radio that no "3"s are allowed in Stuttgart today and you drive a "3." I don't live near a bus stop or a train stop, so I would have to walk a good distance to work if I wasn't allowed to drive. Which is just a little crazy, isn't it? Because it's not like you can call in - "Hi, I can't come to work today, because I'm not allowed to drive my car within the city limits." Well, we'll see.....

So, that's what's happening here......I'm going to try to be better about blogging and I'll be uploading pictures shortly - maybe today.....