in germany, there is a wonderful yogurt like product called quark. actually, yorgurt like flavors and consistancy is just one of its forms. this so called quark comes in tons of consistancies and flavors. it's great, and i never saw it in the u.s. before. so now green pants and i are on a mission to find out exactly what quark is, and how we can get it's deliciousness (the yogurt-like quark is the best) in the states. i'm hearing that quark is curd product, also known as "cottage cheese, quark, or panner." great, but that doesn't quite explain how one quark has so many different properties.
oh yes! this fantastic website from vermont butter and cheese company explains what quark is and they even make it. quark and vermont, my two favorite things, wow. please check it out.
must find even more info. oakdale cheeses has quark, but only the sour cream type...so how in the world do they make the fruity yogurt kind, and how can i find it here?

wowzers, the first day back at work is hard. especially since it's a gorgeous day outside today. so far i've balanced my accounts and gone through all the mail while i was gone. no mr. squirrel, don't be jealous. and i've planned what i'll do next...but i don't quite feel like playing with duct tape yet. the urge will hit soon enough though, i'm sure of it.

there'll be a new addition to the super blog list soon...raspberry world! any friend of the painted turtle is a friend of mine...and there are so many connections too. like hamden and germany and the list goes on. i should have met her while i was in munich...we must have been very near each other.

this is the actual website posting from the government which calls for the use of duct tape. i hadn't seen it until now. is 'junk' a technical term?

i like this guys sense of humor in making hilarious parody duck and cover animation. check it out for a giggle.

you can read hereabout the increase of duct tape usage in the arts as war commentary.

good morning all!
the good thing about jet lag (sort of) is that sometimes you wake up real early in the morning when you are back home. but i'm happy as can be, and ready to start blogging again. i thought all my diligent readers (ha!) might need a quick update on duct tape in the news. here's a link to a bizarre story about a mother duct tapeing her children...and going to court.

...and my archives aren't working. grrr. any ideas?

i'm home. i've got my alias in. i'm too tired to follow dragnet, and i'm heading to sleepyland. i'll be back to regular duct tape blogging soon enough though!

tonight green pants and i watched 'risky business' for the first time. ok, so that's not really something german. but it's fun to watch an american 80's movie 20 years after it was made, and in a foreign country. what was all the hype about? this movie was ok, i guess. silly and nice to laugh at...but did people really take it seriously? the best part is that it led to green pants having another nickname...guido the killer pimp. i am now t-love, too. we always end up with road trip names, and since this is the ultimate road (plane?) trip it's only appropriate. favorite line of the movie, "i have a trig midterm tomorrow, and i am being chased by guido the killer pimp." thanks american cinema for timeless classics like this one. well, off to german mtv dancefloor classics!

reasons i like munich...
golden girls in german
the real version of the t.a.t.u. video (it makes more sense)
the world snooker championship on 24/7. now i have to learn about snooker.
pretzels
fruit and quark. yes, it's like whipped yogurt, but even more delicious. must find it at home.
good chocolate and marzipan.
green pants

i hope blogging from a land line works, green pants says she has had problems with it. glad to see there are so many shout outs (ok, more than the one a week i usually get, and they aren't all just from b.p.) they make me happy. so, here's the low-down...
the train trip back from venice was arduous. i am also a bad speller. there were rowdy, drunken americans (those darn americans) in the compartment next to us, and the man above me snored the whole night. so it took a nice nap on tuesday to get al and i back into shape. then tuesday she showed me munich, and it started to rain. but there was thunder and lightening which makes it all ok. today we walked all over munich, climed the tower at st. peters church (i think) and got to see the view. anyone who knows me knows i like views, so i was happy. then more walking and we saw the river and the english garden and sausage and the biggest daffodils i have ever seen, and lots of grass and trees. these were a happy site after venice, which had no grass or trees in the main area, and a few in the public park. tomorrow we go hiking in the alps, which i am extremely excited about. yay. and friday to dachau, which will undoubtedly be a moving experience. we ate and drank lots of chocolate tonight, so we might be up for a while, but other than that...life is good!

tonight we head back to munich. this is exciting. then tuesday we rest and recover from the night train and bad sleep. probably a relaxed day and night with some movies and more catching up. i am excited about a day of hiking in the alps, another of exploring munich, and hopefully meeting up with thekla...who was a nanny to me growing up. that sounds like bad grammar. and the best part is...lots of pretzels. and beer, but the pretzels take the prize. my time's up, be well!

31. help wandering tourists.
32. play the 'what country are they from' game

things i have done in venice, in no particular order:
1. walk
2. eat gelato
3. stop in the window of every bakery, yum.
4. buy something in most bakeries. merangies, odd pastries, something with bracy (ick!)
5. eat delicious little panino sandwiches. prosciutto, brie, mozzarella. yum.
6. walk
7. cross bridges.
8. frown at the bad smell of canal water.
9. pet dogs.
10. shop and splurge. i will write later about the leather journal store and the SENT murano glass house. two of the highlights of my trip fer shure.
11. catch up with green pants, very fun.
12. buy and write post cards...discover that post office has been closed since friday and will re-open tomorrow, or else next monday (4-26) no one seems sure of when really.
13. walk
14. be afraid of pigeons
15. chase glass jewelrey, long story
16. eat more gelato
17. get rained on
18. take the water taxi
19. explore murano island and see more glass than ever in my life
20. eat a small bit of pasta, but it was delicious. it had bacon, how can anything with bacon be bad?
21. ignore gondola drivers
22. attacked by pigeon
23. be home by 10pm every night
24. walk
25. get a good night of sleep!
26. get losted on the narrow streets
27. admire international fashion
28. have fun conversations with nice shop keepers (again, leather store and SENT)
29. oh geez, i have to think of at least 30. look at people's purses (naturally) but i always wonder if they think i am eyeing it because i want to steal.
30. fight walking tourists.
ha, there...30 things, and i bet there are a million more i can't think of on the spot.

wish i could use some html or post 'shout outs' to other posts. so much to say. but sadly the european keyboard is killing me and html would take too long, even the smallest bit...and i can't get blogger to work right to do anything else. and worst of all, i can only open one window at a time, so no shouting out! oh well.

thanks again b.p. for taking such good care of the blog while i am away. i am so glad you posted the minpin from the rally, that was the cutest thing ever. i'd been telling green pants about it, and now i have photos as proof. my one thought, in retrospect, as all good thoughts are...it might have looked a little like you were hitting on the owner of the minpin...as you were so persistant on getting said owners attention and petting the dog. just a thought!
you'll be glad to know that there are tons of cute dogs here. adorable, running all over the streets, most not on leashes. and unlike most other countries i've visited, these aren't strays! nope, apparently people who tour here just love bringing their pups on vacation with them. yay, so lots of pups, big and small all over for me to play with. in the streets, in the stores, everywhere. and cats too. my favorite is seeing the cats on the boats or gondolas in the water, do they know they are on water? if they did, would it take away any enjoyment of their lounging?

greetings from casanova disco, the only real disco in venice. it's 19.38 on monday, and green pants and i are sort of killing time until our night train departs. i am secretly excited about taking a night train because i have never done it before. although i am sure i won't get a good night of sleep, oh well. i have 17 whole minutes left on my internet card and i am going to use them, right here on this blog.

greetings from venice! thanks to b.p. for posting, you're fantastic. venice is quite surreal, sort of like the pirates of the carribean at disneyland...not a real place. ah, 2 minutes left at cafe. green pants says hi too!
to the fam: happy easter
m-dog: miss you.
b.p.: thanks for keeping things in order

ciao!

that didn't come through...grrr. i'm going on vacation to venice and munich to visit with green pants. hopefully the old guy will keep things up. i'm outta here, back on the 26th, with photos!

well, the time has come, and i've been too busy lately to give my loyal readers (ok, b.p.) notice. i'm outta here for a bit...i'm going to munich and venice to visit with 0 comments

i'm late! i'm late for a very important date...
but i still have to tell you all (with details to follow) that this is the second day in less than a week in which i have been blocked into my parking spot by a rig or firetruck. but it's ok, cause i'm happy.

ah, tax time. i love it. i love it about as much as i love swimming in boiling water with ravenous sharks. i filed my taxes a long time back, but i still seem to be stuck in the chaos and panic of the tax rush. all i can say is...growl. to make matters worse, my favorite store in town, the post office has been transformed into something more gruesome that all realms of dante's inferno combined. yea, it's that bad.

congratulations annabelle matheys on the completion of your senior essay!

yes, i am known as the evil child because i am a bit evil, but only on rare occassion. in this episode, the distributor's cell phone fell out while he was riding in the back of my car. i found it today, and i feel evil. he also looses his phone a lot, and i'm wondering how long it will take him to find it, or at least realize where it is. maybe he's freaking out a little thinking he lost it at a club or other sketchy locale last night. hee hee hee.

any thoughts on the ed season finale last friday? i thought it was pretty dopey and drawn out, and had lots of that high-school feeling 'oh my gosh! i can't believe you told him my deepest darkest fantasy" feeling. if ed keeps moving at this rate, i sort of hope they go off the air.

sadly, my archives aren't working. harumph, is there a reason for this?

one lone last post, i promise.
i seem to mention sport the dog a lot in this blog. he's the newest member of the vanessa jean crew, but until now, no one on the blog has seen his adorable puppy face...until now! luckily, steve the monkey recently popped down from eugene, oregon for this photo shoot with sport. isn't he just the cutest pup you have ever seen? c'mon, give a shout out and tell sport-o just how cute he is!

and although dogs on a run are pretty great, nothing is better than dinner at hama in hamden with the crew, especially when it's with the distributor who i haven't seen in ages! that was fun, fun, fun. and the food was delicious! i highly recommend this japanese place, it's the best and most creative sushi i have ever had, despite the weird karmic problems that often ensue.

running with dogs...
even after such a busy day tomorrow, it was sunny and i was energetic when i came home. so i decided to take a run and tackle the mountain! well, the mountain turned my run into more of a hike, but there were adorable dogs at every turn, which made for an excellent outing. the best part was the group of three pups outside my house, mingling with their owners and each other. it was so cute and i even got to play with them!

i promised duct tape party stories, so here goes...
yesterday a fantastic friend of mine hosted a vanessa jean duct tape party. it seemed too good to be true, as her best friend from high school (oddly enough which is my high school too!) would be in town. so we had lots of cookies, looked at duct tape bags, and people got quite excited about custom made darcy bags! it was fun to see some friends and tell the duct tape story, but the best part was a completely surprise high school reunion. there were 6 of us from the small high school in one room, and the distributor was in town too, and so was a rugby-playing friend, and b.p. too!. wow, it was overwhelming, and it was sunny and beautiful and just fantastic.

i'ev finally got my hands on some information about the new haven zen center. i've been wanting to learn more about it since my summer in a buddhist monastery in taiwan. but i've been so busy since coming back to new haven that i have had a chance to get in touch, but now i can. this is exciting. and for a collection of stories and pictures about 40 westerners in taiwan for the summer check out woodenfish.org.

well, well, well aren't you glad that you can now actually see what i am talking about...ok, it doesn't make sense right now, but if you just count to three, i promise it will. ok, close your eyes and count to 3. 1...2...3... viola! now it makes so much more sense, doesn't it?! this is exciting. i saw this duct tape reference on a phone booth on bleecker street in new york, serendipitously (is that spelled right?) just after i walked out of blush, who now carries the vanessa jean line. i just couldn't resist taking the picture, no matter how much i freaked out the woman who was using the phone. over and out, and more pics to come!

grammar lesson for you:

a bear
two bears
a bear's senior essay
the bears' senior essay

that's all. :)

ahhh, and this is what i was trying to pass along from bethany. it's just more hilarity.

darn it, i hate it when that happens...see post below. basically, you still have to click on b.p.'s link, it's hilarious too.

b.p.'sresponse to 0 comments

a haa ha haa ha!

this is a good day for excellent posts from other people. b.p. is out of control with cats that hate you/ my favorite is angel. oh dear, this is hilarious and hours of fun.

bethany is astute and profound again, as she brings us 0 comments