Things We Did During May - Part I

On May 2nd, we had our ceremonial burning of the last oyster crate of the season.

I know, I KNOW!!! It's OK to eat oysters during the summer. However, we're old-school when it comes to oysters, and we still prefer not to eat them during the "r" months.

Oh yeah... and I'm officially taking credit for coining the phrase: "That thing burned faster than an oyster crate."

Stand back, people!!! It just takes one oyster crate for devil horns to be achieved.

Jusqu'au 1er Septembre, mon cher huîtres...

Back To Blogging...

I thought it would be nice to take a month off from blogging. However, I just received this e-mail from my parents:

Mitä on tapahtunu, kun sinun Home page:iin ei ole tullu kuukauteen yhtään mitään!!??.

Isä ja äiti.

I guess my hiatus is over.

What's been going on for the past month? Well... you're just going to have to wait and see. Little snippets will begin to trickle onto the blog over the next few days.

Let's start slowly...

Hoochie Mama's Day!

I just received an e-mail from Gucci with some gift idea's for Mother's Day. Here's one of the suggestions from the fine-a people-a at-a Gucci.

So, mom...

Whaddya think?

* For those of you who aren't as shtreet as me, here's the definition of "hoochie mama".

Just Wondering...

Dear Mom & Dad:

Do I have a relative named Masa? I've seen him on Facebook, he has the same last name as us, and... well... he sure looks a lot like me.

Love,

Your son

Shake, Rattle, and ZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz!

In my never-ending battle to keep my workouts interesting, I've signed up to use a new exercise machine at the gym. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the Fitvibe.
For those of you who don't know, the Fitvibe is a vibrating machine on which one performs various exercises. According to the fine people at Fitvibe: Exercising on a high quality vibration plate will improve muscle strength, bone density, blood circulation and will make your body leaner and more flexible. A friend of mine at the gym has been using it, and he let me try it for about 30 seconds. It seemed to be really effective, so I figured "Why not?". I was in the midst of a real workout rut, so I thought this might just "shake" things up a bit.*

Of course, like most things in Switzerland, the Fitvibe doesn't come cheap. Also of course, it's not included in my gym membership. In order to use the machine, I have to dish out 1 CHF per minute - or about 87¢ U.S. per minute. The price itself got my heart pumping faster, which I figured was a good thing as far as exercising goes.

And naturally...

In order to use the machine, I first had to sign up for a training session with an instructor that costs 40 CHF. Fortunately, the trainer waived the session fee when I told her beforehand that I would sign up for a 100 minute package. At that point, she told me that she had done a study and found out that if I use the machine for just eight minutes per week, then it's worth it to shell out 400 CHF for the unlimited time for one year package. "Ummmm... Let's start with the 100 minutes, and then we'll see where I go from there." Sheesh!

So, she set me up with an 8-minute (what a coincidence!) workout. I kind of laughed at first. Eight minutes? Was she kidding??? "No, I'm not keeding...", she said. "You sood not use zees machine more zan two, maybe sree times per veek. And also, for not too long - ten minutes sood be enough. If you haf cancer or tumors of any kind, it may cause zem to spret eef you do too much. Also, eef you get zee headache, stop using zee maseen immediately!"

ZZZZZZZiiiiiiiiiiiiippp! (sound of record skipping on turntable!)

What? Hmmmmm... This sounds dangerous. I like that.

I proceeded to do the exercises that, as I requested, would focus on my legs, back, and abdomen. And?

I COULDN'T EVEN DO MORE THAN 30 SECONDS ON SOME OF THE EXERCISES.

That's right. My muscles were giving out!

I've been working out at this gym religiously for the last 6.5 years, and this stupid machine made me feel like I was working out for the first time.

Last night, I was a zombie. Mrs. TBF pointed out this morning that the only dinner preparation I did last night was to make the salad - she did the rest, including the clean-up.

Then, I fell into bed about an hour earlier than usual and slept like a freakin' rock!

This morning? Oh... I'm sore. REALLY SORE!!! But... NO headaches!

I think this Fitvibe thing is going to be good.


*comedic legend in my own mind

Needing To See The Light...

Crystal Light, that is!

I just drank my last Crystal Light "Skin essentials". All I can say is: "T'ank Got I'll be back in Chicago in less denn two weeks so I can stock up on Crystal Light."

In the meantime, where the hell am I supposed to get my antioxidant vitamins & plant extracts to help nourish my skin???? Where?, I ask you!!!!!

Skin emergency, people!!!!

I'll Be Damned!

So we ended up going to Amsterdam last weekend, and we had a GREAT time.

On Saturday, we took advantage of the spectacular weather by going to see the tulips at Keukenhof. We looked in our hotel's excursion guide and decided we just did NOT want to go the tour bus route with a bunch of people and be on somebody else's schedule for the 5-hour Keukenhof trip (only about 45 minutes away from our hotel). So, we splurged and hired a driver named Ferrie who took us to the garden via the scenic route (which included a stop for some smoked eel sandwiches - sluuurrrrrrp!), dropped us off at the front entrance, and was waiting there when we came out about an hour later (blame my short attention span). All in all, we were gone for four hours, but we ended up seeing WAY more than we would have had we been cruising down the highway in some tour bus for hour on end.


Shortly after getting back to our hotel, we met up with Canadian-Swiss and Orange-X who had driven up from Basel earlier that day. Together, we went to a bar and met up with Michael from Chicago who was in Amsterdam celebrating his 40th birthday.

Bloggers of the world UNITE!!!

After seeing Michael and the gang, we stopped for a late-afternoon snack of bitterballen (GREAT!) and drinks at Dam Square with C-S and O-X, followed by an Indonesian dinner. After dinner, we went back to our hotel for a drink, and then we pretty much just crashed.

On Sunday, we checked out of our hotel, had a coffee at a café, ate a quick lunch, and then met up with C-S and O-X for the 6-hour ride back to Basel. All-in-all, a pretty relaxed, laid-back weekend.

And you know what I realized in Amsterdam? I could live there. And you know why? It's because EVERYBODY SPEAKS ENGLISH. It sure makes things easier for us. In fact, I even told Mrs. TBF that although North America (minus Mexico) would be my top choice for where we live next, I would even consider the following countries: U.K., Ireland, Nordic, or Holland. I just don't have the desire to learn another language. Nope!

English, Finnish, and broken-German is where I'm calling it quits with languages.

Easter Weekend 2009

Just a short post before things become a distant memory...

We had a great Easter weekend. Mrs. TBF had five days off in a row, and the weather was fantastic.

On the Thursday before Easter, we celebrated Kirk's triumphant return to Basel with a "Kirkey" dinner - turkey on the grill, stuffing, cranberry chutney... the works! Douglas, Liz, and Claire joined in on the fun, and it was a great way to start off the long holiday weekend.

The next day, I enjoyed my first rooftop breakfast of 2009. Mrs. TBF concocted a breakfast "hobo" made with leftover turkey stuffing. It was AWESOME!!!

Let's see...

After that it was: dinner at our friends' house on Friday evening, big dinner on Saturday night, Easter dinner with friends at our house on Sunday night, big-time leftovers on Monday... food...Food...FOOOOOOOOOD!

The bad news? On Tuesday it was back to work for Mrs. TBF. But the good news? Only a 4-day work week.

What will we do this weekend?

I think an adventure is in order...

Spring Cleaning...

The traffic lights have been washed, and the flowers have been watered here in Perfectville. It's 9 a.m., and everything is clean and safe.

Nothing to see here, people. Move on.

In fact, you can move on to the Alps where even more spring cleaning is taking place.

Ignoring The Economic Crisis

We've added another two paintings to our "collection" of paintings by Basel artist, Regula Mathys-Hänggi. We bought our first painting - Sterngucker - about three years ago. Then, last year, we purchased two more of her paintings - Zeichensprachen III and Engelsreigen. All three of these paintings hang prominently in our living room for our, and our guests', enjoyment.

Earlier this week, we took delivery of our latest acquisitions: Orchideenblüten and Sechs Grazien. The picture of the paintings is scanned from the exhibit brochure, so I apologize for the graininess.

Seeing how we were running out of wall space in our living room, we decided to hang them up on the wall behind our headboard in our bedroom. Therefore, I guess these paintings will be more for our enjoyment only. Our guests will certainly be allowed to go into our bedroom and have a look at them if they like, but I'm not serving them drinks and appetizers in there - that's for the living room only.

I'm thinking that'll be it for Regula as far as we're concerned. We really like her paintings, but I think it'll be time to explore someone new next time.

Peep Show

For the third time in a week, there's an elevator repairman (as viewed through our peephole) working on our building's elevator.

I'm beginning to get worried.

I sure hope he doesn't have to shut that thing down long-term - which I define as more than two hours - due to having to wait for some part or something. That would really suck!

We live on the 4th floor, which would be correctly called the 5th floor by North Americans, but is INcorrectly called the 4th floor by Europeans due to their erroneous insistence on labeling the (North American) 1st floor as floor 0. Or, often as "EG" for Eingang in the German speaking parts of the world. Hey, I'm not one to start conTROversy or anything, but calling the first floor you see ZERO when you walk into a building is just plain...well...stupid!

So, getting back to the elevator. It would really suck if we had to take the spiral staircase in the center of our building to/from the TOP FLOOR on an on-going basis. Speaking from experience from the few times I've done it, it's a dizzying enterprise, and one which I would be happy to never have to do again. Plus, the thought of having to climb all those stairs with a bunch of groceries or after having done forty minutes on the elliptical trainer at the gym seems downright cruel.

I might have to go live in our storage unit on the ground floor (compromise!). Or, maybe I should go into hermit mode and just not leave the apartment. Or...

Let's just hope the damn thing gets fixed!

UPDATE:

Our elevator has been repaired. At least, I THINK it's been repaired.

A short time after posting, I heard a ruckus coming from the hallway outside our apartment. A quick look through the peephole revealed TWO arguing repairmen - one was shaking his head saying "nein!", and the other one was emphatically pointing at a page in the manual.

Things were not looking good.

However, a little while later, the repairmen were gone and it appeared that the elevator was as good as new. Just to be sure, I've decided that a grace period of a few hours is in order: I'm letting the other residents in the building be the guinea pigs. I don't need to be free-falling down an elevator shaft from the fifth... I mean, fourth floor.

DesTROYING The Competition!

Dear Mrs. TBF:

Do you remember the new Tango tram that was going in the opposite direction this morning right after you got on your (outdated) tram to go to work? Yeah? Well, I ran across to the other platform, jumped in (just happened to have my camera in my jacket pocket), and rode on it for one stop to the Coop to pick up a few groceries that we didn't really need. Then, I snapped a photo of it pulling away in all its Tango glory.

Maybe it really only takes ONE to tango.

Love,

TBF

For those of you keeping score at home: TBF = 3 Tango rides Mrs. TBF = ZERO!

She Got Me Good!

This morning, while waiting for the tram that would whisk Mrs. TBF away to the office, Mrs. TBF turned to me in all seriousness and said:

"I think I'm going to resign today."

Already mentally tabulating the inventory for the move back to America, I looked at her somewhat bewildered. Then came the next words out of her mouth:

"APRIL FOOL'S!!!"

OK... she got me. But how long is it until my self-imposed deadline for leaving Switzerland for good?

Oh yeah, this long.

March

...in like a lion.

...out like a (shorn) lamb.

What's Blooming?

Here's what's blooming in the rooftop garden at the beginning of April: not much!

So far, pretty yellow! But it's a sign of warmer days to come.

We had probably the coldest winter since moving here in 2000. I'm guessing that accounts for the fact that the forsythia is blooming nearly two weeks later than usual. In fact I went back through my pictures and found a picture of the same forsythia bush in full bloom on March 20, 2007.

I know...

GARDEN NERD ALERT!!!!!

More Proof That I'm Old!

After Mrs. TBF woke me up from my (extremely short) afternoon nap by texting me from her meeting...

Mrs. TBF: what are u doing now?

TBF: I WAS taking a nap!

I got up (groggily) and noticed a little table with a few magazines on it. In fact, here's what I saw.

And... here's what I chose.

Energy saving? Are you kidding me? What could be more exciting than that?

Somebody, HELP ME!

Not As Planned...

The trip to London was quick...but good. I guess if I had to rate the trip, I'd put it in the "not-quite-as-planned" category. Nothing bad happened, it's just that I ended up not going to Madame Tussauds as planned - and that was one of the things I had really set out to do.

Everything started out OK for my day on my own. I walked out of the hotel into the unexpected sunshine, enjoyed the leisurely 25 minute stroll to Madame Tussauds, and then was confronted with THIS upon arriving. I'm not joking, there had to be 300 people in line waiting to get in. Not being one who enjoys waiting in line, I decided to just wander off...aimlessly. The weather began to change, so I ended up killing some time (while it rained) inside a Selfridges. After browsing for about and hour or so, I ended up at a pub that served up an excellent steak and kidney pie. After lunch, I just went back to the hotel and took a nap.

OK... so what else did we do? When Mrs. TBF wasn't working, we managed (as I said before) to squeeze in a little shopping, and we also met up (at a pub) with Julie of This non-American Life who just happened to be in London at the same time we were. Finally, we also enjoyed a couple of really nice dinners.

The first night, we ate at Marcus Wareing At The Berkeley which we really enjoyed and would recommend. Then, the next night, we ate at Nobu Berkeley Street which had really good food, but we wouldn't recommend. OK...maybe we're getting old, but... we don't like eating in a place where the music is so loud that you have to yell to each other while you're eating dinner. That's for bars, not for restaurants. Also, we showed up on time for our reservation, but our table wasn't ready and they kept us waiting. Sure, it was only for ten minutes, but...

Oh...my...GOD!

We're not only old, but we've become Swiss.

OH. MY. GOD!!!!!

We've become old Swiss people!!!!!!

Off To London...Again!

While I was in Chicago last month, Mrs. TBF told me she had to go to London in March for a meeting and asked if I wanted to "tag along".

"What will I do all day while you're working?" I asked.

"Whatever you want!" was her reply.

We left Basel yesterday afternoon. Much to Mrs. TBF's chagrin, we arrived at the airport about an hour and twenty minutes before our flight. Normally, she's one of those get-to-the-airport-with-minimal-time-to-spare people. I, on the other hand, would gladly get to the airport about three hours before my flight and just sit around relaxing. Mrs. TBF thought our flight was earlier than it was, we had already printed our boarding passes at home, and the long and short of it is that we arrived at the airport waaaaaaayyyy too early for Mrs. TBF's liking. This resulted in us RELAXING in the overly large Swiss lounge: Capacity? Probably about 150 passengers. Total number of people in the lounge? About 15.

After getting settled-in to our hotel, we had just enough time to do a little shopping, stop for a couple of quick pints (Ok...1.5 to .5 split), and then get ready for dinner at a really nice restaurant - probably our best dining experience in London so far.

What will I do all day today? Whatever I want! Stay tuned...

The Best Of Times...

David Granger, in the March 2009 issue of Esquire, writes:

...if you have the courage to buck the prevailing mood (and are amoung the 93 percent of us who still have a job) - these are actually damn good times...

Gas is under two bucks [at least in America]. There's never been a better time to buy a new car (half off! 0 percent!) or a new house (depressed prices + 5 percent over thirty years = unprecedented opportunity). Tables are available in the vast majority of excellent restaurants, to eat reduced-price menus... Airports are way less crowded, there are empty seats on flights, and those flights land on time more often. There's momentum afoot in the land to address the problems (infrastructure, education, health care, energy) we've ignored for the last eight years. All in all, it's easier to live a more enjoyable life right now than at any time in recent memory... if we can just convince ourselves to go ahead and do so.

Have I been saying it, or what? No, really, I HAVE been saying this same thing to Mrs. TBF and others. However, David Granger summed it up better than I ever could.

Let's go ahead and enjoy life! Just...do it! Who's in?

Keep Going!

The Swiss franc is starting to go up against the U.S. dollar again. That's good news - at least for us. Parity with the dollar will be just fine, thank you.

March 18, 2009 at 3:24 p.m.

I finally rode the new tram today. Remember... when I mentioned the Tango tram... way back in NOVEMBER???

Why has it taken so long, you ask?

Well, that's because they've been training the tram drivers on the new Tango trams for the past three months. That's right!! THREE MONTHS!!!!!

THEY'RE STILL DOING IT!!!

I first saw one of the new trams probably in December. However, they would just go down the track - taunting us - with a big "L" (as in learner) on the tram marquee instead of the final stop. The tram would have the driver, and two instructors sitting behind the driver. It would stop at our stop, not pick up any passengers, and then just move on to the next stop.

I mean, it's just moving on rails like the old trams, right? How hard can it be to drive one of those things. I mean really... COME ON!!!!!!!

Finally, a few weeks ago, I noticed that there was ONE new Tango car actually picking up passengers, and that was only during certain hours during morning and afternoon rush hour. Nothing like being a bit cautious. Sheesh!

Oh, and incidentally... Mrs. TBF is SEETHING right now. Here's why:

We've had this competition between the two of us regarding who would be the first to ride the Tango. It actually spiraled downward to where we were trash talking each other.

"I'm so going to be riding the Tango while you're in New York," I'd say to her.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm going to ride it home from work one of these days while you're at home cooking dinner... and I'll call you to let you know that I'm doing it. That's right!"

And so on...

Finally, this afternoon, as I was walking back to the apartment after returning my Mobility car, I looked down the track and noticed that the 15:24 tram was a Tango. It was headin' my way, and... IT DIDN'T HAVE AN "L" ON IT. I didn't really need to go anywhere, but I hopped on anyway. And let me tell you... IT WAS SA-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Roomy...quiet...comfortable. Ahhhhhhhhhh, a real joy.

I rode it for three stops, and then I got off to return home because there were a couple of things that needed tending to.

As I got off the Tango, I noticed some tram-geek on the other side of the platform actually taking a picture of it. God, what a freak! However, I quickly realized that I too was a tram-geek because I was merely crossing from one side of the platform to the other side to head off in the other direction on the same line. Worse yet: I knew that HE knew what I had just done and what I was now doing.

Maybe I should wear a big "L" on my forehead.

L for LOSER!

The Friendly Skies...

Mrs. TBF is on her way to NYC right now. Per the usual drill when she travels on business, I rode with her in the taxi to the airport (6 a.m. - OUCH!) so that I could spend every possible waking moment with her (Awwwwwwwww!), waved to her after she went through security, and then rode the airport bus/tram back home. Unlike previous times, I actually went back to bed this morning and woke up a little before 10 a.m. when Mrs. TBF called me to let me know that she had arrived safely at Heathrow.

While Mrs. TBF was going through security at our local airport, I noticed that there was some kind of "discussion" going-on with the security person regarding the liquids in her little Ziploc bag. It turns out that Mrs. TBF uses some unmarked containers for some of her liquids and the security person told her that she needs to....LABEL THE CONTAINERS WITH THE VOLUME AND CONTENTS! Can you believe it? How's that for security? Are you interested in bringing some gasoline on an airplane? Apparently the x-ray machines are unable to detect what it is. But... no problem! Just write "100 ml of water" on the container and you should be fine.

Sheesh!

Also, Mrs. TBF informed me that laptops must once again be taken out of the carry-on bags and loaded into individual trays at security at Heathrow. The result this morning? Massive back-up at security that stretched all the way to the top of the escalator causing mayhem as people tried to get off of said escalator.

Don't you just love it when people stop dead in their tracks after getting off of an escalator. Another good one is when people stop to hug all of their relatives immediately after exiting passport control/customs at any airport resulting in complete blockage of said exit for all the other passengers.

People! Sheesh!

Things I Read...

I read in last week's Economist that it takes 1,120 liters of water to produce 1 liter of coffee (or 140 liters per cup). Only 120 liters go into making the same amount of tea. Wine? Nearly 1,000 liters. Beer? Only about 300 liters.

Here's the blurb from economist.com in case you're interested.

I guess the best thing for the planet is for us to drink tea instead of coffee, and beer instead of wine. Better yet, just drink water...and don't eat anything.

Going Down...

A couple of weeks ago, I checked the price of a flight going from Basel to Chicago. I plan on going back in early May, so I figured there was no hurry and I just decided to put it off a couple of weeks.

Boy, am I glad I did.

Today, I checked again, and...the fare is nearly 10% lower than it was 2.5 weeks ago. Should I book now, or should I wait even longer? Hmmmm....

Prices are dropping! This economic crisis RULES!!!*

*trying to stay upbeat!

That Was Easy!

I met with the accountants (one American and one Swiss) earlier this afternoon. If you'll recall, last year I went into the meeting, armed with my perfectly organized records and laptop, full o' piss and vinegar, and I came out spitting a few nails.

This year, I opted for the low-tech approach. Reaaaaaaaaal low-tech!

Yes, I went in once again with my perfectly organized records, of course! However, this year? No laptop! Also, I just stuck my records into a jumbo, 2.5 gallon Ziploc bag which proved to be very popular with the bean counters. After barely and hour, we were all done. Somebody who looked like me forged Mrs. TBF's signature on a bunch of forms, I ate a couple of mints (individually wrapped with the firm's logo prominently displayed on the wrapper), drank a coffee, shot the breeze with the beaners for a few minutes, and that was it.

No attitude this year, no complaints, no...nothing! Happy! Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaapy!

Am I mellowing out in my old age, or what? Hell! I didn't even lie about our net worth for the Swiss wealth tax this year.

Wait a second...

Is that a halo over my head?

Brotherly Love

I saw this on the CNN ticker this morning.

Very few things cause my sister to panic as much as the thought of an asteroid colliding with Earth.

Hey, Diana...

Are you FREAKING OUT?

San Sebastian: The Photos...

They're all here, people! More photos (100+) from this past weekend than you can probably even handle: in and around San Sebastian, the day-trip to Bilbao, the dinners at Mugaritz and Arzak, the pintxos crawl.

Knock yourselves out!

On Egin!

That's "cheers" in the Basque language.

We've been in San Sebastian, Spain since Thursday. During our flight, we figured out that it's our ninth trip to Spain.

We kind of expected it to be a good trip, but it has totally exceeded our expectations. San Sebastian is a really, REALLY nice place to spend a long weekend, and we hope to return again in the not-too-distant future.

What have we done so far?

We hired a local guide named Iñaki who showed us around San Sebastian. He told us about the history, but (more importantly) he also brought us around to many of his favorite pintxos (the Basque word for tapas) bars where we proceeded to gladly sample all of the best San Sebastian has to offer.

Hey...don't worry. We've also eaten some good sit-down meals too. We ate at Mugaritz on Thursday night, and Arzak (five Michelin stars between them) last night. We even had our picture taken with (and touched) Elena Arzak. Both she and her father were incredibly nice.

"We're not worthy! WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!!!"

On Friday, we took a day-trip to Bilbao. Exactly 1 hour 10 minutes by bus from San Sebastian, Bilbao is famous for the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum. I slapped on the SPF-15, and we walked around Bilbao for hours. While at the museum, Jo Ann was chased by a man-eating spider, and I was engulfed by some man-made fog. However, we both lived to tell the tale.

We'll be heading back to Basel tomorrow afternoon. I've taken a bunch of photos, and I'll post a link to them all after we're back home again...counting our calories.

Warm Thoughts...

I absolutely froze my butt off today. It wasn't really super cold outside, but it was moderately cold AND damp. I'm 100% Finnish, I was born in Canada, and I grew up in Chicago! I can't handle 45˚F and damp anymore? What da heck is da matter wit' me?

Sorry about that...King must've taken over my body for a couple of seconds.

It's time to fight the cold, damp Basel weather with a little mind over matter. Here are a few pictures of me and my folks taken last week in warm (80˚F), sunny Florida.

Separated At Birth?

The masses have spoken! Here are the most likely candidates (other than Alexander McQueen) for people roaming the planet who may be my separated-at-birth twin brother.

Vincent D'Onofrio as Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket
Back in the mid-90s, I was actually once asked by a waitress in a restaurant if I was "the guy from Full Metal Jacket." I guess I can see the resemblance, but I'm guessing that Mrs. TBF should really be the judge since she's the one who sees me in this pose (minus the assault rifle) pretty much every morning. Sorry...long-time married couple thing!

Ainsley Harriott - British celebrity chef
Ainsley Harriott is, or at least used to be (haven't seen him for a while), a pretty big star on the UK Food Network. Back in the late 90s, I worked with this American guy named John who had a British wife and had lived in the England for many years. One day, out of the blue, he said to me: "You know what? You remind me EXACTLY of this British TV chef named Ainsley Harriott. He's a dead ringer for you. He's big and he shaves his head. He's exactly like you. Ummmm....except he's black."

Christian Gross - coach of the FC Basel professional soccer team
What are the odds that I would resemble (down to the bulging vein I get in my temple when I drink wine) the head coach of Basel's soccer team? One time, several years back, we went out to dinner with some friends (Christian and Nimashini) of ours. It just so happened that FC Basel had won the Swiss League Championship - or whatever it's called (I'm not a big soccer fan) - earlier that day. Christian - who's taller than I am - and I walked into the restaurant, and suddenly we heard everyone start yelling "Christian Gross!!!" I figured that they were calling out to Christian because he was Christian AND gross.

TBF: Do you know those guys?
Christian: No.
TBF: Why are they yelling at you?
Christian: I...have no...idea.

I figured out about a year later that they were really yelling at me. I should have tried for some free drinks. Opportunity lost!

And...the perennial favorite:

Mr. Clean. I've been called Maestro Lindo in Italy, Meister Proper in Germany, and Monsieur Propre in France. Oddly enough, nobody has ever called me Mr. Clean in America. Maybe it'll happen when I get older and my eyebrows turn white.

Are there any others out there?

Let me know.

Hey...Remember me????

I know, I know...I haven't blogged in a long time. And, I also haven't been very active in reading, commenting or really all things "blog". But, I am trying to turn over a new leaf. TBF has been on my case now for a long time about it, so today I decided that there's no time like the present, so here I am again. The big question for me is do I have anything that interesting, amusing, intelligent or otherwise compelling to say??? Well, at the moment I must admit that I really don't. But, maybe you do, so I'm going to pose a question. But first, a prelude to the question....

As you've read, TBF and I were back in Chicago for a few days together. At the end of one of my biz trips I flew to Chicago to meet him and spend the weekend visiting family and friends...frantically moving from one place to another to see as many people as possible in a short time. Luckily, things worked out pretty well and we got to see some people that we weren't able to hook up with last August. I always end up feeling bit stressed though and I would hate for people to feel as though we rushed through the visit. One evening we had what I would call a pretty relaxed dinner with Jo Mama. It was relaxed in that she didn't protest to drinking a glass of wine, having soup and a burger, and even a few spoonfuls of our shared dessert. The restaurant wasn't crowded and I generally didn't feel we were rushed out the door to turn a table which is usually the case on a Friday night. We also had a nice conversation which was not littered with angst or guilt over anything...not an easy thing for Jo Mama who worries about EVERYTHING! When we left Jo Mama's house to go to the restaurant, TBF announced with confidence that he was looking forward to his (our) mega-million dollar lottery winnings, but first we needed to remind him to buy some Lotto tickets. On the way to dinner we forgot to buy the winning ticket, but on the way home Jo Mama and I made sure that he bought the winning ticket.

Well, as you may have guessed, we did not win the Lotto. Our spread of numbers was absolutely pathetic. But, the nice thing about the Lotto is that it always gets you thinking. If you didn't think there was a chance to win you wouldn't buy a ticket, right? I honestly believe that every single person who buys a ticket, even if it's just one ticket believes that he or she can and will win. Who doesn't eagerly review the winning numbers against their own ticket(s) with anticipation? And who doesn't think about what they would do if they won...the big one???

So, prelude over. TBF and I are no different. We've had the conversation about what we'd do if we won. We've talked about our "magic number" that we'd need for me to join him in retirement. We've discussed buying a home, or maybe two. We've talked about our investment strategy. So, now the questions....

1. What's your magic number - what size lottery would you need to win to feel you could retire?
2. What's the first thing you'd buy?
3. Would you take a lump sum or an annual annuity, and why?

Ciao!

Mistaken Identity...

We're back.

I flew to Chicago nearly two weeks ago. After spending a few days in Chicago, I flew down to Palm Beach International to spend a few days with my folks in the Florida warmth and sunshine. Then, I flew back to Chicago, met up with Mrs. TBF, spent a couple of quick days visiting family and friends, and then we flew back together to Basel.

As we were getting off the plane in Basel, a British woman who was standing behind me said to me:

"Excuse me... I'm sure you get this all the time, but are you a designer?"

I had to admit that I'd never been asked that question before in my life, so I just had to find out who she thought I was.

It turns out that she thought I was Alexander McQueen.

I don't think I look anything like him, but...whatever. Maybe I'll grow a mustache and chin-beard and try to get some free meals at London restaurants.

I was once asked (when we were on our way back from Japan a couple of years ago) in the BA lounge at Heathrow by an American woman: "Did you used to play basketball?" to which I replied, "Why yes, I did." I'm sure she thought I used to be a professional basketball player, but I did, in fact, play basketball when I was a kid, so I didn't feel like I was lying. Ok, I'm tall. Yes, I can understand if somebody would think that I used to be a basketball player, but...

A designer?

I guess each one of us has a "separated at birth" twin somewhere in the world.

Who do people say you look like?

I slept for four hours yesterday afternoon, and then like a rock for nearly eight hours last night. Give me a couple of days to get back on track, and maybe I'll find, and post, a couple of photos from my trip to the U.S.

A Farewell To King: ?/?/1988 - 2/2/2009

King passed away quietly this morning. He was part of our household for 18 years, 2 months, and 23 days. We will, and already do, miss him greatly.

It was on a sunny afternoon on November 10, 1990 that we walked into the "cat room" of a local animal shelter in Palatine, Illinois. I saw a ray of sun beaming in through the window directly onto a sleeping King, and I said: "THAT'S my cat!"

We adopted another cat (Binky) along with King that day, but I'll always consider King to be our first pet because I decided at first glance that we'd take him home that day. I walked over to him, gave a gentle stroke on the head, he opened his eyes, meowed at me, and went back to sleep. SOLD!

In retrospect, I think he may have actually chosen us.

We added yet another cat (Zane) and a dog (Dominique) the year after adopting King and Binky. So, at one point, we had a house full of pets. Binky was the first to go to the great scratching post in the sky. Then, Zane followed in 2000 shortly before our move to Switzerland. Nearly four years ago, Dominique "ripped out our hearts" when we had to put her to sleep after her battle with chronic kidney failure.

It was also chronic kidney failure that would eventually cause King's demise.

A blood test from a couple of years ago confirmed that he was in the early stages of renal failure. We began noticing him drinking, and using the litter box, a lot. One of the many things to King's credit was that he ALWAYS used the litter box (at least when he wasn't in the rooftop garden). A couple of months ago, I began noticing blood in his urine. Last week, for the first time ever, he had an accident on the duvet on our bed. The vet decided to try antibiotics just in case it was just a bladder infection.

It wasn't.

This past Friday night, we came home and found a puddle of bloody urine in the bathroom right where King often slept on the heated tiles.

We knew it was time.

I brought King to Dr. "Boozer's" office this morning for the last time. I gently stroked his head - just like I did for the first time 6,659 days ago - King closed his eyes and...went to sleep.

It's hard to believe that Mrs. TBF and I are now empty-nesters. It's just the two of us in the house for the first time since late-1990. A new chapter has begun.

Boy...it sure is quite around here.