out of the blue

I got to Heathrow tomorrow to catch a flight at 9:30 am. After a layover in New York and one in Houston, I reach PDX at 11:07 pm. Sarah has first claim to my time. After that, I hope to see many of you other delightful people. If anyone in Spokane wants to visit Portland to see me, you're welcome at my house. See you soon!

Showing my family around London for a few days. It's a perfect temperature right now, about 68 degrees. It'll probably get a little too hot this afternoon. Anyway, see you folks when I get back.

The best thing about being away from the internet for a few days is being able to read a couple new xkcd strips in a row.

Some of you will think I'm crazy, but I was bored with this part of Italy by the middle of the third day. Sure, it's absolutely beautiful, with dramatic jutting cliffs and grape-laden slopes upon which perch yellow and red and orange buildings in the small villages that compose the Cinque Terre. And I have to admit that the warm Mediterranean waters make for perfect swimming, especially when jumping from low cliffs into the deeps after a boat has passed and sent its wake on a collision course with your cove. And there is indeed a panoply of fresh foccacia, Italian-style pizza, flaky delicious croissants, pasta and other Italian fare. But the heat withers me, and I can't stand the taste of salt water, and all the restaurants have pretty much the same menu. I liked our trip over the Alps and down into Italy a lot better, but that only comprised a couple of hours of the trip. I'm ready for the UK and its cool weather, and for Portland after that. Pretty much, I'm living for seeing Sarah the night I get back. Six months is a long time.

Miraculously, there was free internet at the hotel today. But it didn't work, until I found a different wireless network and connected to it. Last night I stood above the city on top of an old wall and listened to the bells toll the hour. One bell rang out alone, tolling seven. Two minutes later, I heard a set of at least six distinct bell towers overlapping in their ringing. For a few minutes after that, I would hear more bells every once in a while. The mountains had come out from behind their veils of clouds, and the late sun picked shadows out of the city.

Well, we bought internet for the day at this hotel on the Swiss-German border. Tomorrow we cross the border into Switzerland and hope we don't run into problems due to Euro 2008 (a big football [not American] championship held there this year). My aunt says Lucerne (Luzern) is the prettiest city in Europe. It will be ranked in my own mind tomorrow, though she has still seen many more European cities than I have.

We spent the past day driving down the Rhine, which is quite beautiful. I'm going to have to come back to these places someday and see them in a bit more detail. Hike up to the valley rim, and stuff like that.

Just a quick post, because I have to sleep. We get up at 7 or 7:30 every morning to have a breakfast of cheese, meats and bread. Tasty stuff.

Until later.

We made it through Norwich and to Berlin. My dad had a bit of a stressful time driving on the left on our way to the airport in the UK, but we made it just fine. We've been staying in the NW of Berlin with our exchange student Nora's family, and they have fed us really well. Today we had a goulash for lunch with dumpling-like bread. Each morning for breakfast we have bread, cheese, meats and tea or juice. I've actually been online for a little bit each day, so I've been able to talk to some people online.

From now on, internet is much less assured. We might be able to stop at an internet cafe every once in a while, but I doubt our hotels are going to have internet at any reasonable price. Don't expect me to be around.

I'm really enjoying the trip. I'll post pictures after I get back to the States. And after I don't feel the urgent need to see everyone I know, especially Sarah.

Quick trip from London to Norwich with my family. We'll be kicking around Norwich tomorrow, trying to hit all the highlights. I will be out of contact for a while, although I might manage a post tomorrow night as well. We'll see.

Okay, I'm properly ashamed. Sarah asked me where the McCain video was from, wondering what the audience was. I had watched a carefully-cut-together video that was obviously meant to be critical of McCain, without finding the original source and looking at the context. Even if the cut-together version fairly represented his statements, it still is my responsibility to actually double-check.

So, this was an interview on beliefnet, and can be found here. I don't think much of the other video was taken too far out of context. You can read the entire transcript of the interview if you follow the link.

First watch this video that Aaron Brown posted:

Apparently John McCain has some really strange brain-thoughts. Or spatters. Or fizzlings.

He thinks that America is the political manifestation of Christ's teachings. Does anyone else find that hard to swallow? Especially Christians, I would think.

Why does he think that his faith is "of better spiritual guidance" than (I presume) the other candidates? Just because he's a God-fearing Republican? Or is that merely a demonstration of his personal hubris?

I really wonder what's going on in the back of his head when he talks about the immigrants. Perhaps it's just my bias, but it feels like he wants to demand that they convert to Christianity, which is obviously superior.

Worst of all, he claims that the number-one issue is the candidate's commitment to the Judeo-Christian tradition. I should hope that their ability to weigh the advice of experts and make rational decisions concerning the future of the country is a little higher on most candidate's lists.

At least Obama stands for something. McCain wants to be president because he thinks he's godly. And I'm not sure whether he means "god-fearing" or "god-like".