On Sunday, June 7, we had breakfast at the hotel buffet and headed for the Venice airport, but we got the directions wrong and spent an extra hour on the bus due to starting in the wrong direction. Fortunately we were not catching a flight, but just renting a car! When we arrived at the airport, we followed the wrong signs to the rental parking lot but eventually found it. We had reserved a car with an automatic transmission so that both of us could drive, but the Hertz agency didn't have any, so we got a tiny Peugot convertible with a manual transmission that only I could drive.

See an album of our many photos from Venice.

We have had a wonderful two days in Rome. Friday we were surprised to find Patti [the luggage clerk at O'Hare] had booked us in business class seats! So we had a late but very pampered flight to Rome. Saturday we arrived in Rome around 10am. We got through customs quickly as they merely glanced at our passports and stamped them. We went to baggage claim only to wait 45 minutes and then find out our luggage had not made it. We filed a claim, they said our luggage would show up Saturday or Sunday, and went on our way to the city.

Public relations is such a fragile thing.  A company can spend millions polishing and maintaining its reputation, only to let you down when it matters most.  Another company can treat you like crap repeatedly, consistently cutting corners in a heartless bureaucracy, and then in one beautiful, human moment make you want to sing their name from the rooftops.  In this particular moment it may still be premature to say which company is which.

If you were relying on this site to keep you up to date on our lives, you'd think nothing had happened in the past few weeks.  On the contrary - we spent a wonderful week in New York at the YAI conference and in New Jersey visiting Uncle Dave and Aunt Elizabeth; we spent a week in Manley, NE preparing for the wedding, and we got married!  We just haven't had time to blog about any of it.  So stay tuned.

Back in September, I wrote about our frustration in trying to follow Consumer Reports' guidance in buying appliances, including a dehumidifier.  Then in November I reported on the energy consumption of our appliances, including the dehumidifier, which was the number one energy hog in the house, costing us an estimated $593.09 per year to maintain the relative humidity at 50% (dry enough to keep mold from growing).

We didn't notice when we bought the house that the entire back yard slopes toward the house.  Nor that several of the neighbors' yards are higher than ours.  The result is that during a heavy rainstorm, like the one last night, the neighborhood's water wants to get into our foundation.

On Saturday Jessie and I went out for a walk, something we don't do very often... we walk to the store, we walk to church, but walking without a destination is rare.  Actually we had a destination, but it turned out to be closed, so in effect we didn't.  Anyway, what's notable is that we saw a lot of unusual things, bordering on surreal:

Many of my friends in Fairfield, Iowa, are in an uproar right now about a new cell-phone tower that, unlike the existing two towers on the outskirts of town, is near homes and a few blocks from an elementary school.  Here's some of the existing press about the controversy:

So as many of you have already read or heard, I had my gallbladder out last Thursday. It was the first surgery I have ever had, first time under general anesthesia, first overnight stay in the hospital since I was born and first organ removal. Yes I still have my tonsils and my appendix. Until now the most major things I have had removed are my wisdom teeth. So here is how I remember it: