Green Light

Spent a week in Dublin and Berlin, my soon-to-be stomping grounds and the good news is that I'm not trying to repurchase my soon-to-be-much-missed house in San Jose.

I didn't get to see much of Dublin, but I did find time (twice, actally) to test one piece of conventional wisdom. I'm happy to report that Guiness does, indeed, taste better in Dublin.

I was very pleased with Berlin, though I also saw very little of it. What I saw, I liked. Within five minutes of the taxi dropping me off at what had looked like a nice central square with a pronounceable name, I found a store that sells nothing but drinking glasses, all very chastely laid out against white walls, with round numbered pricing. This is the type of store I respect NYC so much for, and I took it as a good omen.

For those playing along at home, I am now officially renting (for free) the house I owned last week, and my wheels-up date is 18.10. (Hah! Never to early to go Euro on y'all).

When in Berlin...

Do as the Japanese do.

This is likely to be the place I start off in. Short-term apartment recommended by the relocation agency.


I admit, I'm intrigued and bemused. It seems well located. I'm assuming it's actually in Berlin.

"Oh, the places you'll go"

I want to make something immediately clear. I don't believe in "keeping score." I've always preferred the idea of spending time in one place long enough to get at least an inkling of the daily rhythms, and, when possible, even to begin to understand what the place looks like when you start to think of it as "where you live."

But, I'm only human, and I do have a list.

I want to go to Scandanavia to pay homage to the designers. I want to go to Eastern Europe to see (and perhaps understand) what a convoluted 100 years have wrought (and to check out the architecture). I want to go to Turkey and Greece to learn whether I am attracted to all Mediterannean places, or just certain ones.

I want to go to North Africa because my parents celebrated their anniversary there -- before spending time there romantically was even a consideration, let alone cool -- and because I still, to this day, have not seen Casablanca. In real life, or on film.

So, this image marks the places (in Europe) that I've visited (blue), and those in which I've lived (orange). Look for much more blue in the coming years, and at least one more orange.

The color scheme is almost certain to change, of course.

Bureaucracy and bHP

During the downtime between mundane tasks like faxing my actual college diploma to the relocation agency, I focus on the important decisions:

OR....

Both have their virtues.

The fact that my diploma is in Latin, by the way, didn't have the impressive effect I assume it's intended to have. I was asked for a translation into German and English. Since my high school Latin begins and ends at "mater est in atrium," I asked the school to send a Certificate of Enrollment instead.