well, it’s hard to believe I was in Afghanistan at this same time a year ago…time flies when you’re getting older–or something like that…anyhoo…I am really enjoying my time in Italy and this Christmas promises to be much better than the last one …I finally got my bike on the road and I have been cruising as much as I can stand the cold wind…it’s beautiful…cruising around the countryside is so nice and relaxing…so, over the past month or so I have been traveling, working hard, and trying to enjoy life as much as I can…the weather was horrible tho–I think we hit 45 days of no sun…it was rainy and cold and just shitty the whole time…just last week the sun came out, the skies cleared and the weather became bearable again…still pretty cold, but clear and sunny…I would be out riding my bike right now, but it’s pretty cold out there…so I thought I would write some and catch you all up…Thanksgiving weekend I headed out of here for a class in Germany…Thanksgiving day I drove up to Aviano Air Base to see some friends…we had turkey dinner at my frind Mike’s house …he is the Chief of Vehicle Maintenance up at Aviano and he invited all the single people over to have a “family” type dinner/party…I got there around 6pm and all the food was laid out and most people had already eaten…I filled up a plate and got my grub on…the food was great–Mike’s wife, Billy and the kids all cooked everything…we all had some brewskies and desserts and had a great time …it was cold and snowy/sleeting the whole time up there too…but, it was a great time…I got to meet a lot of the people in the shop up there that I deal with thru work emails and phone calls…we are a bare minimum shop down here so we get a lot of help from the guys at Aviano–it was good to put faces with voices of all the people that give us a lot of assistance…so, we all partied like rock stars and had a good time…the next day I hung out with Mike and his kids–we went to a sporting goods store and I picked up some snowboarding gear that I need for the slopes…that night we went out to a couple bars, but took it easy…we were kinda worn outfrom the night before…I talked with Sandra–she and her husband own the hotel I used to stay at in Honduras–she just happened to be in Austria visiting her family…so, I decided to swing up thru there for a night on my way to Germany…she said she would have to work Saturday night, but I was more than welcome to come visit anyway…I thought, whatever, I’ll just hang out at the bar while she works…so, Saturday morning I headed towards Vienna….the drive was beautiful…driving thru the Alps crossing from Italy into Austria was awesome …it was snowy and all the mountain tops were white…a few places were really bad with the snow but my Jeep just cruised thru with no problem…at the border I had to stop and pay 7 Euro for road taxes–this “pass” was valid for 10 days…so, across the border and heading Northeast, the landscape was amazing…rolling hills into huge mountains, and then into flat open plains…I had to pass thru a few little villages to get from one highway to the next, and while passing thru one little town I was pulled over by the Austrian Police…apparently I missed the big signs that tell you what the speed limits are in certain areas…I was going 80kmh thru this little place…I guess it’s an understood law that once you get inside the town limits the speed drops to 50kmh…I aksed the police “Sprechen sie English?”, and he siad yes…we spoke for a minute and he asked where I was coming from–he looked at my license plates as I told him I was coming from Italy…his facial expression was one of confusion …he said, “you speak very good English for an Italian”…I had to explain that I was an American, stationed in Italy, traveling to Germany…anyhoo… I ended up paying 35 Euro cash, right there on the spot, for going 30kmh over the speed limit–I think I got off pretty light…so, back on the road thru all kinds of awesome places…I loved the drive–even tho it took 9 hours…I finally arrived at the spot I was supposed to meet Sandra…there were a few country/dirt roads/trails off the road and my GPS didn’t know exactly where to take me…I called Sandra and figured out that I had to go up this long trail thru the woods and it was all covered with snow…I put the Jeep in 4-low, 1st gear and headed up the mountain…good thing I have big 33 inch mud+snow tires…I was still slipping and sliding a little, but I made it…the house was unreal…something you imagine when you hear “Austrian Alps villa”…it was dark, so I couldn’t really see most of the outside of the house, but what I could see was awesome…it was set far back in the mountain side, covered with snow, steep, high A-frame roof that came almost to the ground, large hardwood pillars with stone walls…Sandra met me outside and we went in … I haven’t seen her in about 6 years–since I left Honduras…it was good to see her again…inside the house was even more amazing than the outside…hardwood floors, stone walls, obviously old, handbuilt, handcarved everything…there was a large ceramic wood-burning stove that heated the whole house…the house was a square shape with the stove in the middle…each of the walls of the stove was in each room…so, one room had the door to fill the stove and each of the other rooms was heated by the sides or back walls of the stove… it was such an innovative idea….the guy that lived ther told me the house was built back in the 1600’s…so we talked and had a cup of Italian coffee-ironic…after about 15 minutes we headed out…Sandra and I jumped in the Jeep and carefully descended the icy, snowy slope back down to the road…we drove for another 45 minutes and got into the Vienna area…the roads got really busy and there were a thousand on and off ramps …we missed a turn and ended up driving straight thru the middle of downtown Vienna… it was beautiful…again, it was dark so I couldn’t really take in all the sights–not to mention, I was driving and had to pay attention to the road…it was awesome tho…we got to Sandra’s friend’s house–Sabina was going to work at the bar with Sandra…we went inside and hung out for a little bit while they got ready to go to work …it was nice apartment in the middle of Vienna…how cool is that…I was just hanging out in an apartment in Vienna, getting ready to go out for the night…so, after about 30 minutes we hit the road again…another 45 minute drive to the club…this was a huge, high-class, “disco-teque” place…ther were a few different bars downstairs and we were directed to go to the bar upstairs–the VIP lounge…this is where the girls would be working–and eventually I would be working there too…the manager is a good friend of Sandra’s…she told him who I was, introduced me, and he hooked me up with a beer…I was drinking on the house that night…I ended up helping out the girls with stocking the bar and throwing ash trays on the tables, and checking over the inventory…around 10pm people started coming in for drinks …most of these kids were 16-18 years old and they were buying bottles of Johnny Walker, Grey Goose, and other “good” liquor…champagne, wine, whatever…apparently kids in Austria have rich parents or really good jobs…these bottles were anywhere from 85 to 120 Euro each…that’s up to $150.00 for one bottle…so, we worked the bar and I took it easy and had some drinks between helping out with whatever I could…the manager came up a few times and saw me working, he told me I could come back anytime and I would have a job waiting for me…it was awesome…I was tired as hell, but I was having a great time…the club was packed with about 2000 people, there was a live MC, a few people working the turntables, and hot girls dancing on the bars…it was all “house/techno” music, which isn’t exactly my style of music, but it was a great night…we ended up working until about 7am…when they decided to close the bar upstairs I told Sandra that I was gonna pass out …I went over to one of the big couches and laid down… I was out in about 2.6 seconds… I slept on the couch for about an hour before the girls woke me up and told me they were finished….the manager took us downstairs and bought us breakfast…that was some of the best eggs and bacon in the world…so now it was time to drive back…it was cold as hell, snowy and foggy…. I laid in the back of the Jeep and let Sandra drive home…it must have taken about an hour and a half to get back to Sabina’s place …I was hurting…tired and a little drunk and maybe a little dilerious…we got inside and Sabina told me I could sleep in her son’s bed…her son was with his father for the weekend…her son also was a little guy…the bed was only about 4 feet long…I didn’t care…I hit that tiny bed and passed out hard….I knew I had another 8 hour drive to get to my ending point in Germany so I had set my alarm for 10am…yes, I only slept for about 2 hours…I got up and took a shower, got my crap together and said my goodbyes…oh yeah, and while working at the bar I regained some of my German language skills…some things I couldn’t really get, but for the most part I knew what people were ordering and whatever questions they had … some of the people spoke English, but mostly it was a crash-course in German for me…I still remembered the basics from when I was a kid living in Germany–about 22 years ago…so, I hit the road and the weather was beautiful…it was a little cold–in the low 50’s, but it was perfect for driving…lots of snow-capped mountains and green rolling hills…I tried to stop and take some pictures, but of course my batteries were dead…well, I still have the vivd memories of the beautiful scenery…although my descriptions don’t do it justice, you get the picture…lots of little Austrian villages, just like the label on hot cocoa, or chocolate packages…it was great …so about 5 hours into the drive I hit Germany and still had another 4 hours to go…the sleep deprivation was kicking in … I stopped a lot more than I wanted to, but I had to get some coffee and stretch the legs…wake up a little…I finally made it to Spangdahlem Air Base around 9pm…I called my boy David, who was in Afghanistan with me for a year…he is stationed there…he met me at the gate and we headed to billeting…I got checked in to a barracks room, and since David works with the billeting people he took me back in there and got me an aircrew room…much nicer, full on “hotel” room…it pays to have connections…actually David isn’t just a connection, he was a really good friend thru the war zone….of course, we had to hit the bar on base and have a couple beers to catch up and hang out a little…we left the bar around 11pm, hit the shoppette and got a 12 pack of Corona…we sat in my hotel room drinking and BSing till about 1am…my first day of class was in 6 hours …I crashed out and woke up around 5:30 to get ready for school…that was one of the hardest days to get thru in my life…the class was some training on a computer system that is about 20 years old and really has nothiong to do with my job here at Camp Darby…if I was in a real shop at a real base it would be great training, and it’s something I need to progress in my career –but, at the time it was pure torture…I made it to lunch time and headed back to the hotel for an hour of sleep…the rest of the class was ok and I actually learned some usefull info…while up there in Germany I went out with David a few times and hung out with a guy from the class…the weather was crappy the whole week…snowy/rainy/sleet/cold/cloudy… we didn’t see the sun one time over the whole week…Tuesday night we went to Trier to find a couple cool bars that David knew about…it was kinda dead due to the fact that it was Tuesday night, cold and dreary weather….but, we had fun … we sat around telling war stories, talking about work, Italy, Germany, travel plans, and whatever else came up…another night we went out to a local German restarant and had some good fat, fried, breaded, German schnitzel, sauer kraut, and good ol German bier…I hit a few different restaurants to enjoy the local flavors, and of course, being on base for lunch I hit up some Taco Bell, BK, and Popeye’s chicken….I don’t really need or crave the American fast food, but it is very convenient and familiar…also, there were two guys working at the schoolhouse that I knew from back in 1992 while deployed to Saudi Arabia…it’s crazy how small the Air Force really is…a few nights I hung out with David and we partied like rock stars, had a great time, and made plans for him to visit Italy…it was a good week away from the shop here and hanging out with old friends…so, Friday at noon we “graduated” and were released to do our thing…I headed down South with one of the guys from the class… he caught a ride with someone else to get to the class and needed a ride to where I was headed…next stop was Sembach Air Base, Germany to visit my boy Mikey–good friend from Honduras–I also stopped and saw him when I took my R&R from Afghanistan–he was in Kuwait when I stopped thru on my layovers…the trip was nice and short–plus about half way down the road the sun came out….it was great to see the sun again…I didn’t really notice the absence until I saw it again…I thought to myself “ahhh… that’s what’s been missing this whole week”…so, we got down to the Kaiserslautern/Vogelweigh area and I dropped off Pat-the guy from my class- and headed to Mikey’s house…man, the GPS makes life so much easier…it took me right to his front door…he didn’t answer the first ring of the doorbell so I thought I might be in the wrong place…I looked around, double-checked the info I wrote down and rang the bell again… this time the dog started barking and Mikey answered the door in his boxers…I thought maybe I interrupted him and his wife or something…turns out they were just sleeping…I finally got to meet his wife, who I have heard so much about but never met…they are awesome people…I love Mikey to death and now really like his wife a lot too…they are just cool, good people…we hung out catching up and BSing about whatever… we headed to the store to get some brewskies…it was time to start partying…I only planned on staying the one night, but ended up staying Fri and Sat nights…around dinner time we caught the train about 15 minutes down the tracks and hit an Italian restaurant–another ironic twist…the owner was from Sicily,the waitress was German and we, of course, are American…so, I was speaking Italian, German, and English all at the same time …it got a little confusing at times…the dinner was German/Italian mix…some pasta, some schnitzel, and vino and bier…it was great…we walked down about 2 block to a quiet little pub and had some drinks…Mikey ordered a “meter of bier”…this is a meter long board/holder thing with about 8 glasses of beer…we ended up having a couple of them…it was just us 3 hanging out and then one of their friends showed up later…he was a cool guy that they know from the neighborhood…we closed the bar and headed back on the train…I passed out on the couch and had a good night’s sleep…the next day we just kinda hung out and took it easy…just hanging out at the house and basically doing nothing… talking about traveling and visiting and whatever…we all got pretty tired kinda early and went to sleep at a reasonable hour…the next morning I was ready to roll… it was Sunday, I was about 9 hours from home, and I had to work the next day…the drive was awesome…this route took me thru Switzerland…ok–the sun is shining and I am tired of typing so I am gonna go ride Black Betty for a while and I will continue later… love you and miss you all… Happy Christmas, Channukkaa, Kwanzzaaa, Ramadan, Chinese New Year, Cinco de Mayo, Happy Fasching, and whatever else you want to throw in there…I will talk to you all soon
OOL
B

First, Happy Veteran’s Day to all… please take the time to remember all the men and women that have made the ultimate sacrifice for our great nation…and all the people still serving in a war zone…I just found out my little brother Ryan will be heading to Iraq in the middle of December–yaayyy–just in time for Christmas…that sucks…but, he is in the Army and that’s what we military people do–give up our holidays and time with family to get things done in the bad places…anyhoo…the past couple weeks have been great…I am still just enjoying my life in Italy and taking in all the wonderful experiences this place has to offer…I am still waiting for my motorcycle license from Florida–apparently the price changed by $2 and they sent the check back asking for more money to process my paperwork…dammit man…I also still don’t have any gas for heat/hot water in my house …it is getting rather annoying now …hopefully the problem will be resolved this week…work is work …same ol stuff, but we are getting things out of the shop and we are mostly down to just waiting on parts to repair everything…last Friday I bought steaks and sides for the guys in the shop since they have been kickin ass…I told them that my plan was to have things running smooth in the shop by Thanksgiving and we would shut down every Friday at noon to BBQ…the plan seems to be right on track…I am thankful to have some good mechanics working for me and making things happen…I am now getting ready for the winter around here–it’s been cold and rainy a lot of the time but the weekends seem to bring sunshine, which is cool…I bought a snowboard and all the gear to be ready for the first snow in the mountains –it’s been about 6 years since I have been cruising down a mountain and I am very excited to get out there…also, I have a TDY coming up–going to Germany for a week to attend a class on Vehicle/Fleet Management….that should be a good trip … a friend from Afghanistan is stationed at the base where the class is, another friend of mine from Honduras is stationed about an hour away, and another friend from Afghanistan is at another base close by…the plan is to head up to Aviano for Thanksgiving, spend a day or two, then to Austria to see a friend from Honduras that just happens to be there on vacation visiting her family, then up to Germany for the class…after the class I will spend a couple more days up there hanging out with my friends…I hope to get in some snowboarding while I’m up there too–hopefully there will be some snow by then…well, I guess that’s about all for now …miss you and love you all…I will talk to you soon

OOL
B

There have been a couple of requests, so here is Raffaella, my wonderful, hot, Italian tour guide for my trip to Rome

So, the trip was amazing -we (WE= myself and Raffaella- a hot Italian girl that works here on base-I’ll tell you about her later) left here Sunday morning and drove down … a nice drive along the West coast of Italy, only 3.5 hours…we got to the hotel-it was in the GHETTTTTOOOOOO… of course, the ghetto here is just trashy and not really a “dangerous” place….the hotel was decent, 50Euro a night-which is a great price for hotels in Roma…it is located very close to two different train stations …so, we got some train tickets at the hotel-1 Euro per ticket, we got 2 tickets each…one ticket for the ride into Roma and one for the ride back…we got on the ghetto train-something like the NY subway…hard plastic seats, graffiti all over the walls, smelled like foot and trash…anyhoo, it was interesting… there were some younger Italian guys on the train with tattoos on their necks and they were looking all my tattoos in awe…some of the guys around here look like tough guys or maybe gangsters or something, but it’s all looks…they are pretty calm and non-confrontational people-well, they like to argue and yell a lot, but they are hardly ever physical in their disputes…anyhoo… we got a little map from the hotel and it had all the popular tourist spots marked out very clearly…we walked from the train station to the Colosseo and saw some “famous” other things along the way – one of the main streets where all the high-fashion stores are-Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, things like that…a few Ferraris and Lamborghinis drove past us as we walked…it wasn’t extremely crowded anywhere, but there were a lot of people out and about…saw some cool fountains and old marble buildings, statues, monuments, and other things that have been hand carved and standing for a couple thousand years…it was unbelievable…the passion and the time and the skill and talent it took to build and create all of these things seems incomprehensible…like I told Raffa at one point, it would take me my entire lifetime to complete just one of those statues, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them in each city I have been to so far-Pisa, Florence, Livorno, Aviano-and others that I don’t remember the name of…so, we got to the Colloseo and it was just surreal to me-I still can’t believe I live in Italy and it’s even more mind-blowing that I was standing right there at the Colosseo where the gladiators fought lions and Cesar ruled the earth and modern civilization was born…not to mention I was standing there with my own personal tour guide who just happens to be a super hot Italian woman…so, we started to walk towards the entrance to go inside and we were approached by a guy speaking English asking if we wanted to avoid the lines and go on a guided tour with him…well, of course, I looked at him with a smirk, looked at Raffa, and said “No, grazie”…we got to the entrance gates and noticed the metal detectors and cops…I then remembered that I had a knife in my pocket-a very important knife that Kara gave me as a Christmas gift…well, I couldn’t just throw it away, so Raffa said she would talk to them… yeah, they said it was illegal for me to even be carrying that knife anywhere in Italy and I damn sure wasn’t getting into the Colosseo with it…Raffa explained that I was US military and not some jackass off the street with a knife, so they let me keep it without any problems, but we couldn’t go in…oh well, next time…so, we walked around this giant stone wall and went into Palatine, which is basically the original settled city that became Roma…it is also the place in Roman mythology where Remus and Romulus were said to be found after being raised be the female wolf…that was awesome…the buildings that were still standing are so old, yet the architecture and the artistic beauty, the aesthetics and the detail are something that you wouldn’t find in the most beautiful mansions in the world…these things are close to two THOUSAND years old and you can still see the details in the sculptures and carvings down to the veins in top of the hands, or toenails on the feet-I can only imagine when these things were brand new, they must have been hard to tell from a real person or animal or plant…we walked around the ancient city for a while-it is a very large area with lots to see…it is also the center hill of the 7 hills of Roma so you can see all over the current modern city from atop…there are breathtaking views of where the Roman Empire began…and I still can’t believe I was there…so, anyway, we headed out from there and went to Fontana di Trevi…a famous fountain with a few different legends about throwing coins into it… the fountain has giant sculptures and statues and is about 85 feet tall and 65 feet wide… it is absolutely beautiful…there were hundreds of people gathered around to throw coins…one tale says if you throw a coin in you are sure to return to Roma, another says if you throw 2 coins in you will encounter a new romance, 3 coins will ensure a marriage or divorce, another says if you throw 3 coins over your left shoulder using your right hand you will be very lucky-whatever… I threw 3 coins over my shoulder because Raffa told me that I was supposed to stand with my back to the fountain and throw a coin in and make a wish….by the way, my wish came true so maybe the fountain really works…they say around 3,000 Euro (roughly $5000.00) are thrown into the fountain EVERY DAY-the city clears the money out each night and uses it to subsidize a supermarket for the needy…of course, people try to steal the money at night too…anyhoo… it was getting later in the afternoon by this time and we were freakin tired…we headed back towards the train station-well, we discussed which station would be the best to go to and which was closest and all that…we started walking … we had to stop a couple times for cappuccino and café on the way…it wasn’t really a long walk, but being tired made it seem like a long walk…we finally got to the train station and got on the train…it wasn’t packed but I ended up standing-Raffa got the only open seat…it ended up getting packed after the first or second stop and didn’t empty until one or two stops before our stop… it was pretty stank on that train…I’m sure I wasn’t smelling wonderful, but at least I use deodorant…we made it back to the hotel on the ghetto train and it was around 8pm…we each got showered and thought about going to get something to eat-well, instead we ended up passing out while watching tv …around 11pm it was time for some food…of course, it was Sunday night in a little tiny village/suburb of Rome and we had no idea if anything would be open…we asked the hotel desk guy and he told up there were a couple of pizzerias right down the street…we decided to drive and we got all kinds of turned around…the area where this hotel is has a lot of twisted, one-way roads…we drove in a couple circles before we figured out how to get on the other side of the highway and then the other side of the train tracks…it was the same when we first got to the hotel-we ended up parking in back and going in thru the service area -it was quite the adventure…anyhoo… we got to a little pizza joint and had a pizza each and a beer…good pizza-of course, she was a little picky about her pizza-being Italian and having the knowledge of what real good Italian pizza is, vs. my knowledge of American pizza, so I think ALL pizza here in Italy is good…also, she saw the guy making the pizza and said he looked at something on the cheese, pulled it back down behind the counter and looked like he pulled something off, then put it back up for the waiter to bring over….she says she hoped it wasn’t a bug or something…I thought the pizza was great, and the Guinness I had with it was outstanding-after a long day of hiking thru Rome, a pizza and a Guinness were perfect…I know Guinness isn’t exactly Italian, but whatever, it was good…so we hit the sack to get some rest for the next round of hiking thru the streets…we got up and got ready for the day, ate some breakfast, with the obligatory cappuccino, and headed out for the day…this time, we checked out of the hotel and drove her car into the city…driving in Roma is crazy…it’s even a pain in the ass for Italians that aren’t from there…we parked on the street outside the Vatican walls…it is surrounded by walls that I guess to be about 100 feet and it is probably the only wall in Rome without graffiti all over it…we walked around to the entrance of the Vatican museum-the only place you can actually go inside the walls-and the line was about a mile long to get in….we followed the wall past that around to the back side of Vatican City where St. Peter’s Basillica is located….it opened up to a huge square surrounded by giant pillars in an arc shape extending from both sides wrapping around the square….it’s called the “Embrace of the Church” or something like that…but it was awesome…we waited in line to go inside the cathedral and this time I made sure to leave my knife in the car….again, someone came up trying to get us to pay him so we didn’t have to wait in line-entry to the cathedral is FREE…and this time I used some of my limited Italian speaking skills …the person asked if we were American-of course, I was wearing shorts and all of my tattoos were exposed and probably looked like the typical American tourist-but, I said “Non sono Americano, sono Italiano, Di Pisa”…=”I am not American, I am Italian, from Pisa”, and the woman actually believed me…. She spoke Italian and said she was sorry, she thought we were Americans…it was great … then another guy offered his services and I told him the same thing….that works much better than saying, “No thanks”….if you do that, they keep trying…anyhoo… we went in and walked around and saw all the giant statues and monuments and I was in complete awe…I cannot describe it in words and do it justice-also, pictures do not even come close to seeing it person…first, the place is gigantic…the ceilings are 100 feet high, the doors are 3 feet thick and 50 feet tall….it is very impressive, to say the least…you just have to come over here and see it for yourself…we spent a long time inside looking at everything….there are monuments to every Pope that has ever been and, of course, many monuments to Jesus and Mary and most people in the Bible….ok, so we made it thru there and headed out to the streets…I picked up a few souvenirs that I will be sending you soon…we walked all around the city and saw a lot of other sights and historic places… then we stopped for pizza, and I had a gelato…it was time to roll out …we walked back around the Vatican to the car and headed back to our neck of the woods…the ride back sucked … we got out of Rome and hit the highway, but for some reason it seemed to take forever…the ride there was 3.5 hours, the ride back was about 4.5 hours, but it felt like 10 hours…I drove for the last hour or so because even after a couple café stops she was still really tired….I got home about 10 o’clock and I was completely depleted of all energy….I washed up in my cold water-still no gas at the house, and jumped in bed…I slept really well last night… ok, I am done for the day and it’s time to head home …love you and miss you all … talk to you soon

OOL
B

I guess I’ll start with Friday …it was the annual Run to the Tower…it’s a local event where we start at the base and run the the Leaning Tower of Pisa–10km…there are all kinds of Italians that participate along with most of the military people here on base…for us Air Force folk it was a choice of running, walking, riding a bicycle, volunteering to be a safety road guard, work at a water station, or go to work all day at your shop/office…well, everyone knows the run starts at 0930 and as soon as you get the the tower, you are done for the day and can start your weekend…one of my guys-Zandro-volunteered to work at a water station and the rest of us, and the AGE mechanics chose to ride bicycles…it was a fun ride getting there…there were quite a few Italians and there were some organized running teams, complete with matching track uniforms and head bands and shoes and all…we just kinda cruised along taking it easy and chatting with some of the runners as we passed them…we got to Zandro’s water station and stopped to have a cup of water and a smoke…we chilled for a couple minutes and hit the road again…it took us a little under an hour to get to the tower and we headed straight for the little cafe across from the tower where I know they serve beer…we all grabbed some beer and stood outside next to the finish line and watched all the runners coming in…a couple of them came straight over to us and said “where’d you get the beer?”   we took turns buying a few people beers–I figured they deserved one after running 10km…we hung out for about an hour and then we had to jump on the bikes and ride back to base–nobody was around to give us, and our bikes, a ride…as we started heading back Rudy’s handlebars came loose–he borrowed the bike from an Army dude…so, he had to stop every 5 minutes to reposition the bars so he could control the bike…after getting out of the main business area of Pisa I put it in the highest gear and pushed as hard as I could on those pedals… made it back to the base in about 28 minutes… I was wore out and my ass hurt from that damn seat…whatever, it was over and it was about noon-ish…Rudy had planned a trip to Aviano to pick up some uniform items that we can’t get down here…I decided to roll with him…we were to ride up Friday after the run and come back Saturday afternoon…it’s about a 4 and a half hour ride up there… I have a couple friends up there …Mike, who was my boss in Utah back in ‘00-’02…he was also in Hawaii with me…Michelle who I first met in Saudi Arabia in ‘99 and she was stationed in Utah when I was there…and I recently found out that Wig is up there too–he was stationed in Honduras with me…I figured I would go up there for the night and hang out with my peeps…I asked Michelle if we could crash at her house and she said that would be cool…the ride was cool…just enjoyed the scenery and Rudy bitched about the shitty conditions of the roads here in Italy…for some reason the birth-place of modern engineering has some of the worst engineering I have ever seen…the bridges have huge bumps between the main sections, the tunnels are about 2 feet narrower than the main roadway, there are potholes and other damaged sections, and this is all on the AutoStrada which is the toll road that is supposed to be the best road to travel…anyhoo, we get up to the area where Aviano is and I call Mike–he was at the club getting ready to get on a bus to Naples for his step-son’s football game, so we headed over there to have a beer with him before he took off…that was the extent of our visiting for the weekend…then we headed to Michelle’s… she got some ribs and cooked them up before we even got there…they were awesome after that drive…I was starving…Michelle called Wig and told him I would be at her house so he came over…we sat out in the backyard BSing about where he’s been and where I’ve been and all that …I haven’t seen Wig since 2004 and I have only talked to him on the email a couple times since then…so, we drank and ate ribs and caught up and had a good time…Michelle crashed early because she started drinking vodka-tonic when she got off work and was pretty lit but 11pm…so, me, Wig and Rudy hung out for a while longer and Bailey-Michelle’s daughter-came out to hang with us-she’s 15 yrs old…around midnight Wig decided to call it a night and went home…I convinced Bailey to take us out to the local bar–The Witch’s Bar…it was about a 10 minute walk down the road from the house…it wasn’t really “happening” but there were a few poeple hanging out…we got a beer and sat outside…we just chilled and sipped our beer…Rudy asked about food and they ordered some fries and a burger…me and Bailey ate the fries and Rudy chowed down that burger…it was kinda boring and Rudy was about to fall asleep so we headed back to the house …Rudy laid on the floor and he was snorring in about 2 minutes…I talked with Bailey for a little bit and then I laid down and was probably snoring in about 2 minutes too…it was a good night… catching up with friends from the past is always cool…so, this morning Michelle woke me up asking if we wanted breakfast…I declined so as to enjoy more sleep…I finally woke up at around 0930 and jumped in the shower and got ready for the day… Michelle and the girls headed out to a hair appointment or whatever and Rudy and I went out to the military clothing store to get his shopping done… we also planned to hit the furniture store up there…there is nowhere on base down here to get any kind of furniture and shopping on the Italian economy for large items like that is way expensive–probably about double what anyone would pay in the US…I am in the market for a king-size bed and Rudy is looking for a whole bedroom set… yeah, we didn’t find anything we liked…we had some cappucino and headed back to the main base area…he wanted to get some Taco Bell while we were availed to such luxuries as American fast food…so, I gave in and ate there too…we hit the road and hauled ass back…it was about a 4 hour ride and I got home around 5pm tonight… I just came home and chilled on the couch watching the boob-tube…I am kinda worn out…so, now it is midnight and I am heading to bed… love you and miss you all

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well, I am finally in my house –although I still don’t have any gas-so no hot water, still showering at the barracks…whatever…I’ll just tough it out until the gas company does whatever it is they have to do…over the past couple weeks we have started getting things straightened out in the shop, vehicles are being fixed, the bosses are leaving us alone for the most part…I also completed my motorcycle safety course…the class was just me and our finance person, and it was taught by our education NCO…the finance girl ended up not finishing the class…she was borrowing her boyfriend’s bike–which was a little too much bike for her to handle …she ended up dropping it 3 different times…scratched that bad boy up and broke one of the foot peg brackets…I would have been pissed, but he kinda expected her to drop it once or twice…he had taken her out in a big mall parking lot a couple times and taught her the very basics–throttle, clutch, shift, brake…and then she thought she was ready for the class… that didn’t work out too well…she was doing ok with starting and stopping in a straight line, but when we started throwing in the weaving and braking hard before a turn, she lost it…she just needs more time on the bike …I did pretty good–of course I was using a friend’s bike and I was a little nervous about doing something wrong and dropping his bike…he’s the kind of guy that LOVES his bike and takes care of it like I take care of my Harley…plus, it’s a crotch rocket, racer bike–lots of get up and go…I didn’t have a chance to cruise it around and get used to the throttle response and the cornering and the brakes…but, I did alright and didn’t drop it or anything…the classroom stuff was pretty easy…there were a few new things for me, plus there are a lot of differences between riding here and riding in the states–the roads are a lot more beat up and the asphalt is made with marble in it and it gets a lot more slick in the rain…and of course the Italian people drive a lot more aggressively…so after all the classroom learning I got a 100% on the written test…the riding skills were pretty easy since I have some experience riding dirt bikes and street bikes…but we went over some new things and different techniques for avoiding potholes or tree branches or whatever obstacle might be in my path…we did some hard braking to simulate stopping when a vehicle pulls out in front of you, or slams on the brakes or whatever…good stuff … overall I did well, but there were a couple things I got marked off for–one of them was doing a figure-8 inside a painted white rectangle…I did it a couple times in practice but when it came time for the test I may have just thought about it too much and that threw me off…and, I was a little scared to hit the throttle while leaning the bike over because I might have hit the throttle a little too much and spun it out…whatever the case, I didn’t make it inside the white lines…another thing I got marked off for was not using both the front and rear brakes before going into a turn…I didn’t use either of the brakes because the bike slowed down enough when I let off the throttle…I knew I could make the turn at the speed I was going so I didn’t even try to hit the brakes…and the last thing was after coming to a quick stop the test says to make sure you are in first gear when you stop–I hit the shifter but it went from second gear into neutral instead of first–oh well, I passed and got my card and didn’t wreck homeboy’s bike…also, it rained on us throughout both days of the class… the weather was just crappy–not too cold or hot, just cloudy and drizzling the whole time…so, I sent off the paperwork to the Florida DMV for them to add the motorcycle endorsement to my license, then send it back, I have to get that added to my military/Italy license, show the registration office, pick up my plates, get a safety inspection, and go on 2 “mentorship rides”, then I can finally go out riding my bike any time I want…it’s such a pain in the ass, but it’s what we have to do to ride bikes overseas in the military…and it’s all because people are idiots and drive carelessly and get tickets or into accidents, or even worse, get killed while riding motorcycles…most military leaders would rather just ban motorcycles altogether because people don’t follow the rules or have the sense to be responsible…anyhoo…I should be riding next weekend…so, other than that I have been enjoying Italy…I have been out to a few new restaurants, some new coffee bars, drove around to some new areas, checked out the grocery stores around my neighborhood…it’s awesome here…last weekend I went over to Jeff’s (Jeff is the guy that let me use his bike for the class) and we had a party for Jason’s birthday–Jason is a guy who works for me…it was just another weekend BBQ party with the drinking and socializing and kids running around and all that normal American backyard BBQ stuff…so over this week, Zandro-another guy that works for me-kept talking about hitting this night club that some of his Italian neighbors told him about…so, a few of us made plans to meet at my house, have some pre-game drinks and then hit the night club…it was me, Davis and Rudy, who are also mechanics, but on light carts and high power air compressors and other Aerospace Ground Equipment…and of course, Zandro…Zandro said he went to the club before and they wouldn’t let him in because he was under-dressed…so, we all had to get prettied up for this adventure…we all met at my place, had some drinks, BSed for a while and headed out around 12:45–the club didn’t even open until 11pm and they stay open until 5am or something…anyhoo…we got there, strolled right in with no problem and hit the bar…the place was PACKED–and this place was huge…there were 3 or 4 different clubs within one club…complete with their own bar, dance floor, different music and door guys–not really sure what the door guy thing was about–when you go into the nicer clubs here you get a card on your way in–kinda like a room key card at a hotel and one card was good at all the different bars…they just add the drinks to your card all night and then you get the card scanned at the end of the night and pay whatever is on it-drinks and admission fee are all on this card…anyhoo…we hit the bar, handed them the card and got some drinks…the crowd was hyper and everyone was in full party mode…the Italian women were unbelievably HOT…the guys on the other hand are a little different…sure, there are the normal, average, every day, good looking Italian men, but most of them either have the super-machismo look–too much hair gel, body odor and cologne mixed, lots of chest hair showing from the half buttoned black dress shirt, and the obligatory thin gold chain…or, they are the most Euro-Metro guys in the world…super tight jeans, gold tennis shoes, their little brother’s (or sister’s) v-neck shirt, some eye-liner/mascara/both, and the hairstyle of the latest boy-band, complete with frosted tips or highlights…it was very interesting…anyhoo, we had a great time…talked to some ladies with our limited Italian vocabulary, got snubbed by some of the hottest women I’ve ever seen, drank more and just partied like rock stars…well, it was around 4am and the bars stopped serving alcohol so we decided to call it a night…we headed out to the parking lot and Rudy-the DD-got in the car and we heard a “clink”…me and Zandro, the two vehicle mechanics, looked at each other with perplexed expressions–we know that sound…yes, his battery was dead…we don’t know how–we think one of the doors must have been left cracked or something–the headlights weren’t left on…at any rate, the car was dead…we spent 30 minutes asking passers-by for jumper cables and calling everyone on the recall roster with no luck…Zandro was getting pissed off…he finally said he was gonna walk to my house, get his car-with jumper cables in the trunk-and come back… I told him not to go by himself–mainly because he was kinda drunk and he also had no idea exactly how to get to my house…after a minute of arguing, Rudy decided to go with him…they thought it was gonna be a 30-45 minute walk–I told them about my Jeep being stolen in Hawaii and how 9 miles took me a few hours to walk….I knew we were further than 9 miles from my house and I told them it was gonna take forever and by the time they walk that far we could wait for people to wake up and come get us…anyway..of they went…me and Davis sat in the car, reclined the seats and passed out…I woke up to daylight, stepped out of the car to have a smoke and stretch out…people were milling around and I asked a lady where the coffee bar was, she pointed me in the direction, I grabbed Davis and we got some coffee and a donut…then, we saw the gas station dude open up…we went over and asked for some jumper cables…he hooked us up, gave us a battery to use and we had the car started in about 5.3 seconds…we gave the stuff back to the gas station guy and I also gave him 10 Euro for helping us out…we jumped in-I drove-hauled ass down the road heading to my house, keeping an eye out for Zandro and Rudy along the way…no sign of them…Davis was calling their cell phones the whole time we were driving…we got back to my house and I called Rudy one more time…he answered and I told him the deal and he was freakin pissed…he couldn’t believe it–he said they were freezing cold and their feet were killing them (on account of wearing the nice dress-up shoes)…he explained where they were, we got back in the car and explored the area…they had no idea where they were but we narrowed it down by the giant windmills in the farms behind my house…we finally found them and figured that they were still another 45 minute walk from getting to my house…it was hilarious after all was said and done…I finally hit the bed around 0830 this morning…so, I have been sleeping all day and I think I am gonna call Zandro to hit the little coffee bar/beer bar/ice cream joint/karaoke bar that is down the road from both of our houses…it’s a chill place with lots of people in and out and just a nice place to sit and have a beer-or a cup of coffee, ice cream, sing karaoke, get some appetizers, etc…also, some more news–I found out that I will be going to Germany in December for a class…that should be some good fun…I have a couple friends up there…and, I got a phone call from one of the AMMO guys saying he heard I used to be a snowboard instructor…I said, “yeah, why?”…they are planning a squadron ski/snowboard trip in January and he asked me if I would be willing to teach a few people to get a little more interest and get more people willing to go on the trip…that should be cool…so, I’m gonna have to start shopping for all new snowboard gear now…it’s been 6 years since I have been on the snow–hope I can still ride, and teach people…we’ll see… maybe I’ll get a chance to hit the slopes before that trip so I can get myself back in the swing of things…ok…I think my fingers are about to seize up from typing…I love you and miss you all…oh, start planning your trips to Italy soon…1-16 May is already taken, so work your schedules around that.

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Ciao everyone…well, I finally got my stuff from Hawaii–they delivered it Friday…a lot of people around here were telling me it was gonna be a really big hassle to get my Harley thru customs…apparently nobody at stateside bases know about the customs requirements for motorcycles coming to Italy…but, lucky for me, there was absolutely no problem getting my bike to my house…also, I got a bill of some kind about my gas–I can’t really ready it, but it looks like my gas is finally turned on…I have to talk to the people here on base to figure it all out…so now the next step is to go to the Furniture Management Office to get a fridge, stove, and all the other furniture items they will let me borrow, and I can finally completely move into my house and get settled…in a couple weeks I am going to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation course and I will be able to cruise the bike all over–unfortunately, the weather is starting cool off quite a bit and my riding will only last a couple more weeks, maybe a month, before it gets too cold and rainy for cruising…I plan on riding as long as I can take the weather tho…last week was our big inspection…they waited until the last day of the thing to come to our shop…we were all sitting there waiting and worrying and kept cleaning and preparing, even tho we were ready for them Monday…it was kinda like hearing “wait till your father gets home”…we knew it was coming, we just didn’t know when…finally, Wednesday afternoon, my boss told me they would be at my shop Thursday morning….every day of the week we would all gather in the flight chief’s office and discuss all the findings from the shops the inspectors visited that day…Monday was all about checking the stock-pile–that’s all the bombs stored in the buildings…the inspectors were really impressed with everythin they saw–the inspection team chief said it’s the best stuff he had seen in the past 3 years–and they inspect every munitions storage area in Europe…our Chief and commander were happy the whole week…we had a few findings that were considered “Major write ups” but overall the whole place did great…they only inspected one area of our shop–Hazardous Waste Management…obviously this is something that all Air Force leadership is concerned with…this is the operation/program to dispose of used oil, antifreeze, batteries, aerosol cans, grease, fuel, and anything else having to do with hazardous chemicals…there are 456,326,498,120,453 rules we have to follow to ensure this stuff is disposed of properly–in accordance with military, Italian, EPA, and a host of other laws…our shop is the main accumulation point for all the waste from the entire Air Force operation on this base…so, we are responsible for getting rid of a lot of waste products…our only finding was a documentation error that was corrected on the spot…and, it just so happened-and maybe helped a little, the guy inspecting us was stationed in Korea the same time as me…we used to party together back in 1994-1995…definitely a small world…so, Friday I had my stuff delivered to my house, then headed back to base for a BBQ–a “victory” party I guess you could say…the senior leadership met with the inspectors and went over all the findings and write ups and got a draft of the final report…they came to the BBQ and told us we kicked ass and they were proud of all the hard work and they appreciated everything we did and all that stuff…so, this week we can finally start working on trucks like we should have been doing for the past 3 months…I told my guys we were gonna bust our asses to get all the trucks out so we can relax at the shop and cut out early every Friday…this will probably take a couple weeks, but we WILL NOT be working overtime at all…ok, so for the weekends–a couple weekends ago a few of us went out to a town called Carara to hit up a “September Fest”…it was an Italian version of Oktoberfest but it had all the German touches to it…the food, the giant steins of beer, the Polka band…it was great…it was a much needed weekend of letting loose…me and a couple other guys parted with the crowd of married/dating people and cruised around the fairgrounds looking for small groups of single women…we talked to a few nice young ladies, got a few phone numbers, shared a few shots of whatever they were drinking…it was some good fun socializing and trying to practice the Italian that none of know how to speak…one of the girls I talked to is a tour guide around the Pisa area–so obviously she spoke great English…she translated for the rest of the girls and whatever we said so the other girls would understand the conversation…we hung out there until around midnight and hit the road to get back to our area –it was about an hour drive…we got back close to the base and hit another club here on the beach…it was a cool club, but it was crazy expensive…I had 2 drinks and my bill at the end of the night was $32…it was a good weekend and it helped relax us a little before the inspection…this past Friday we had the BBQ here on base until about 4pm, then we headed out to Livorno to an AMMO guy’s house for a Friday night of grillin and drinkin…basically we just hang out, grill some meat, drink some beers, and talk about whatever…my friend Jeff lives a couple doors down from an Army dude that likes to be a bartender…he mixes all kinds of whatever and lets us taste and we all discuss names for this improvised, possibly something to put in the book of new drinks, concoction…it’s a good time and it’s usually pretty chill and mellow…this was no different than the other few times I have been over there–all the married people and their kids and a couple of us single guys…it was a good weekend…Saturday I got up and headed out to my house to striaghten things up, trying to organize whatever I can without furniture or closets or even a couch…around 9pm I was having a glass of wine, went outside to have a smoke and my feline friend came around–I have decided to call her Lucy–since I don’t know her name and I live in St. Lucia…at first I called her Popolo after the street name, but then I figured out she’s a girl, and Popolo seems to be more of a male name…seems to be a theme with the animals I have been around lately–naming them after streets or neighborhoods they are found in…anyhoo, she came rubbing up against my legs begging for some attention, so I pet her and gave her a little bit of cheese…she ended up following me inside the house and running upstairs exploring or whatever…well, there are a lot of insects around my house at night so I closed all the doors and the cat ended up staying in the house all night…I was about to fall asleep and she decided to jump in bed with me and rub up under my hands begging to be pet…she ended up sleeping in my bed all night and every couple hours she would nuzzle her head up in my face and I had to push her back to the other side of the bed…apparently she doesn’t get enough attention at home…anyhoo, she stayed all night and didn’t really want to leave in the morning either…I put her outside and she was still hanging out after I showered and got ready and packed the car with laundry…she hung out till I drove away…so, now, I got my computer working, will set up furniture delivery for this week, starting the motorcycle class next week, got my house ready to move in to…everything here is awesome and great and wonderful… I guess that’s enough rambling for one session…I love you and miss you all…also, this week I will buy a big wall calendar and schedule everyone starting next spring so start working on passports…Ciao for now

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Well, I got the hub/bearing assy in yesterday afternoon… I put it in the car and now she rides like a dream … so, I hauled ass out the gate to get some gas before the ESSO closed, then I cruised out to my house …I checked the place out thoroughly and went thru every square inch of the place…there is a fresh coat of paint inside the whole thing …it is so nice—4 bedroom, 3 bathrooms with bidets in them(well, I guess, 1 full bathroom, ¾ of a bathroom, and ½ of a bathroom—the ¾ bathroom just has a toilet, shower, and sink, and the ½-bathroom downstairs just a toilet and sink), the kitchen is nice and roomy with a couple doors that open up into the yard, the dining room is big enough to be another living room, the garage is perfect for the Harley—it is way too small for a normal sized car, all the rooms have floor-to-ceiling, large-pane, glass doors with wooden shutters on the outside, the master BR has a small balcony, with the large glass doors, that overlooks the sunflower and grape farms in back of the house, the yard is pretty much privately enclosed by tall, thick bushes… the two smaller, upstairs rooms share a large balcony looking over the front yard, the side yard of the house looks directly at a small farm/garden with tomatoes, pear trees, small rows of some green leafy stuff, a few grape vines, and some other vegetables I can’t quite make out … I can’t wait to get moved in … right now the problem is with the gas company –the last guy moved out and the gas company decided to take the freakin gas meter off the house …I have no idea why they would do this but I guess it has something to do with the fact that we US personnel have been trying to all use the same gas company to make things easier, so the previous gas company said “screw you, I’m taking my meter back” …whatever … I am waiting for the liaison here on base to figure out what the deal is…electric and water are on, so gas is the only hold up – and I wouldn’t mind so much about the gas, but the FMO people won’t deliver a stove until the gas is hooked up so they can test the stove—plus, they will only make one delivery –that means I have to wait for gas before I can get a bed, furniture, fridge, or anything else …anyhoo…I will take some pics in the next few days so you can see the place …I cruised around the “neighborhood” too …the whole village is about as big as the Satellite High and DeLaura Jr. High area surrounded by sunflower and grape farms….literally a “no-stop-light town”—I don’t think there is even a stop SIGN….ok… well, thank you so very much for getting that part to me …I love you and miss you all…

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