The Terrible Catsafterme

I had spent ample time the night before getting ready for my Summer 2009 California journey, having packed all of my clothes, assembled celebrity photos that I needed to bring along, and had all of my incidentals ready to go. However, on the morning of Saturday, July 11, I made an almost near-fatal faux pas which almost wrecked the whole thing. I had set my alarm for 4:20 am with plans to head to my Dad’s house at 5:00, leave his place by 5:30, and arrive at the airport by 6am for my 7am departure. It was all mapped out and it seemed like a bulletproof plan. Read the rest of this entry »

I may have a hard time convincing you otherwise, but contrary to popular belief I am not a cemetery lurking kind of guy. That was just a rumor started by all of the photos on this website of me with various graves across the country. But honestly, I get no morbid fascination about cemeteries, no yearning to see the grave of just anyone remotely famous, and have no interest in talking to most of the dead people lying under the sod. So why do you frequently find pictures of me with stone slabs engraved with the names of the famous? Read the rest of this entry »

After we left Charles Town and our awesome visit with Frank Buckles, Bob and I made the only decision of the entire trip that I regret. We had thought that this trip might have a John Brown theme much as our Virginia trip had had somewhat of a Stonewall Jackson theme, so an obvious choice of locations to visit was Harpers Ferry – most noted for the federal arsenal raid by abolitionist John Brown in 1859. However since we were  a little behind schedule after just one day’s worth of travel, we decided to skip it. Only later did we realize that we probably would have been okay on time. Read the rest of this entry »

The game of Farkle goes back in our family for almost 30 years. While no one knows the true origin of the game (in the world, not just in our family), the name Farkle didn’t even come into being until 1982. My Grandma and Grandpa Murphy brought the game to the family when they learned it from a group of friends with whom they often played cards. At the time, we just called it the dice game. Read the rest of this entry »

Chris had been to Siena, Italy before, but the last time he had taken a train from Florence. For our adventure destination on Thursday, May 14, this time he suggested that we might take the bus. Much cheaper, and actually would deliver us there faster. Siena was a much more ‘traditional’ Tuscan town, nestled in the hilltops about 75 kilometers south of Florence. The first bus out that morning wasn’t until 9:40am, so we didn’t have to get up too ungodly early. We set out on foot at about 8:50 and walked to the bus station, where I had a clandestine meeting with a salame toscano.

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