I MADE IT!!

I'm sitting in my room for the night in Spain. I get to stay in one of the hotel guest rooms till tomorrow. I'm taking full advantage of the room which includes wi-fi while I got it.

I feel like I've just conquered Rome to get here...cuz in fact I probably did because I had to overnight in London by Heathrow Airport. I forgot the number one rule of dealing with Brits (no offense):

If you want the right answers to have to ask the right questions.

For example: At the hotel I was overnighting at....

Me: I would like to use your internet.
Front Dest (FD): It's 3 pounds for 15 mins.
Me: That's fine. Can I pay by credit card?
FD: You don't have cash?!?
Me: No. (I had given it all, which was a hefty sum, to the taxi driver that brought me there after giving me the what for wasting his time and money **the drivers have to pay to enter Heathrow Intl** by not taking the bus. I think he was embarrassed. I felt like Christ. But that's another story.)
FD: There's a cash machine over there.
Me: Ok. I'll be right back.

I am unsuccessful at the machine.

Me: The machine wouldn't take my card. Is there another ATM nearby.
FD: No. What's your room number?
Me: 140
FD: Just sign here to show you're charging it to your room.
Me: Thanks. I do need to get back to Heathrow today so I will need cash to catch the bus right? (I now knew about the bus.)
FD: Yes.
Me in my brain: Grrrreat

After emailing Mommy. I have a brilliant idea.

Me: Is there a way I can exchange curreny here at the front desk?
FD: Oh yes. What do you want to exchange?
Me in my brain: Ahhhhhhhh!!!

Tell me that couldn't have been simpler.

Not to mention running into more irrate people in 24hrs then I've run into in the past 5 years and half of those were in the English Tourist Industry. Yes, Hawaii is paradise.

Mazzucco Life

Just wanted to throw out a quick update to y'all.

Today is Betsy's birthday, but she's actually not home, so I'm taking a minute to say hi.
We've had a French exchange student named Claire living with us for three weeks. She came to live with us last summer for three weeks as well. She's 17, and mainly likes shopping and eating pancakes. She also doesn't speak any English. She'll be here until Friday.

Ben is 5 months old now, and he's kind of a fusspot. He does like hanging out with his brothers, and likes sitting up and trying to roll around. Aidan just turned 4. He's pondering the meaning of life.

That's all for now. I'd put in pictures, but our camera broke, so we haven't taken any pictures in a while.

American Football or Bullfighting?

So I'm blogging everyone because next Wednesday I leave for a new crazy adventure to work and live in Spain for 4 months. I'm hoping to make it out to the Chivester-wedding in November because (believe it or not) Spain is closer to Williamsburg than Hawaii is. The wedding is in Williamsburg right? I'm bad at these details.

So the US is big and Hawaii is ranked #23 in the college polls. Life is good.

Maybe I can convince Flaminco Dancers to come to the wedding. They can dance to AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" for the enjoyment of everyone. We might have to put to kids to bed first though.

Jon's Competition

OK, since no one is blogging, I though I would show you a funny thing I took a picture of. My neighbor turns out to be a HUGE fan of every Cleveland team. He's this old guy who rides around on his bike all the time. He's really friendly and we had a great time talking about LeBron's chances of winning a title next year, the upcoming football season for the Browns, etc.

What I find amusing is everyone in the neighborhood thinks he's this grumpy old man. The first night Devon and I were in this house, we were unloading the moving truck. I had no place to put my truck in front of the house so I parked at the end of the cul-de-sac, roughly across the street. Apparently, he bumped his trash cans right up to my back bumper (I never noticed but my other neighbors saw it) because he HATES people parking in front of his house. I thought he was this grumpy old man too and took this picture laughing about posting something on Jon, grumpy old men, and Cleveland. But he stopped by one weekend to introduce himself when we were doing yardwork and he is really quite friendly.

That's all. I hope everyone is doing well.

Trip n Enterprise

Here's a short video of my time in Italy. It was made using a website put together by Brad Jefferson, Jason Hsiao and Stevie Clifton (all Dartmouth Friends). They're looking for more people to test their website before the grand opening Aug. 14th. Email me if you want to give it a whirl! Really Really Fun!