Brrr

"Brrr" is really all one can say about the weather today. But, since that makes for a pretty lousy blog post, here's a bit more:

It was twelve below when Hilary and I got up this morning. We bundled up in preparation for some Saturday morning errands: bread, farmer's market, library, returning some dress shoes, etc. My car wouldn't start. It had been used as recently as yesterday, but I guess the cold just sapped it of the will to live this morning (that, and I think it's still on its original battery, at 50,000+ miles). Thankfully, Hilary's car did start, which was a very good thing. Hers has a battery that's less than a year old, which was replaced when it had a string of life-less mornings last winter.

Now the errands are taken care of, and we are probably going to hang out (at home, inside) for the rest of the day and listen to the meter tick away the gas our furnace is using. Oh, and we'll take Jasper, who seems immune to the cold in his woolly shag, for a long walk later today.

Checking the weather outlook for the next few days, we probably won't break ten until the middle of the week. A real Minnesota winter, at last.

My One Tech Post Ever

I usually leave the geeky stuff entirely up to Alex. But today I have two tech notes to contribute.

1. I have a new cell phone! After smashing my old one on the ice and suffering a few weeks with Alex's old, barely-functional version, we went to the Cingular store on Sunday and picked up a brand-new phone. It is a cheapo Samsung, one of the only phones in the store without an mp3 player (though I could not avoid a camera). The salesman didn't quite seem to believe me when I said that all I wanted to do with the phone was TALK on it. No texting, no internet, no mp3. The phone is actually great, I'm quite pleased with the interface, the general look, and the fact that it actually WORKS.

2. Along the lines of "smartphones," the phone that I REALLY want is a 16 gig iPhone. However, this does not exist yet, and Steve Jobs' big address today did not unveil it (booo!), so it looks like I will be waiting for awhile, consigned to using three devices (cellphone, palm pilot, and iPod), where I dream that someday only one will do. As I mentioned in a previous post, my iPod is 5 years old (it is a 10 gig, which was the medium size at time of purchase) and starting to show its age. I would like something with more storage, since the Harry Potter books take up a fair amount of room. It also does not play movies (how passe).

My two options for a new device are the classic iPod (now available in 80 and 160 gig versions) and the iPod Touch, which is a stunningly beautiful iPhone-esque device available in 8 and 16 gig. As tempting as the Touch is, it is much more expensive for much less storage. So the current plan is to go ahead and get an 80 gig classic iPod. This will hold our combined music collections AND some movies and will thus be a great travel device even when we both have iPhones.

And then I will hope for the next generation iPhone. Come on, Apple! We bought your stock! Get going!

A Note on Connectivity

Readers of this blog will note that many of them have had the "Sent from my iPhone" signature. I should point out that, while I have been composing and sending these postings from Italy from my iPhone, I have not enjoyed the always-on connectivity that I usually enjoy in the States. Instead, when sending from the iPhone, I used a paid WiFi connection from an Internet café in Radda. I should also note that, although my iPhone uses GSM (global standard for mobiles) technology for its cellular (ie, talking) connection, I did not call people while in Italy.

Mostly, this is a logistic and economic limitation, not a technological one. I did not research it much before I left the US, but my understanding is that there is no technological reason that I could not use a local cellular network (eg, Vodaphone Italy) and have both voice and data connectivity, signal permitting. Indeed, when I have the cellular radio turned on, the local cellular networks show up in a list in one of the menus. I could probably choose one of them and go from there. This is the same as most any GSM phone.

However, I did not actually do this. The real limitation is that if I actually used one of those networks, it would be international roaming, and incur tremendous costs. I did not research what it would be exactly, but probably something like dollars per minute.

Things are bad, too, for data. Where GPRS (aka EDGE in the US) is available, the iPhone is able to connect as it would for me in MN. However, international data roaming charges are as bad or worse than voice. There were annecdotes, shortly after the iPhone's introduction, of people who brought their phones abroad with them, but seemingly kept it turned off, only to find a huge bill when they got home. What had happened was that, rather than turning it off, which actually takes a special manuever, they had merely put it to sleep, which is the usual "off" people use, as it is just a flick of a switch. When asleep, however, the iPhone will still try to use the available network to update the weather, stock info, and email, so that you always have the latest stuff on your phone. This meant these customers abroad had a periodic trickle of data usage, which added up to a big bill. The iPhone now has a mode to turn off data roaming, so that this doesn't happen to people accidentally. Mostly I have kept the phone in "airplane mode" which turns both the cellular and wifi radios off, so that you can use it on an airplane. This also conserves battery life.

There is more I could talk about on this subject - about the iPhone vs other GSM phones, SIM cards, and carrier exclusivity. But, as I am already back in the States, it is largely a moot point.

Sent from my iPhone

Frosted

After a week or so of relatively warm weather, it is once again COLD in Minnesota. Since we're going to have a week where we may not see 10 degrees, I decided to take Jasper out for his daily walk in the middle of the afternoon, with maximum sun and thus perhaps maximum warmth. That warmth turned out to be seven degrees (windchill of -12).

I bundled up in my ski bibs, heavy jacket, and fleece face protector, with my iPod nestled into an inner layer (it's 5 years old and dies the moment it's exposed to frigid temperatures) so that I could listen to Harry Potter while we walked.

We set off, Jasper jogging along completely unconcerned by the cold. We brushed him yesterday, so he has even more fluff than normal, and we've never seen him bothered a bit by low temperatures. His paws have been fine, so he hasn't even been wearing his booties.

Jasper was having a lovely time, and I was quite cozy inside my layers of fleece and Gore-Tex, so we headed past the last bike path bridge and onto the grass (now snow and ice)-covered path that continues to follow the Zumbro River. We often play with Jasper there, but this time he spotted something that looked way more fun than running around in circles! The Rochester geese camp out in this part of the Zumbro for the winter, as runoff from the power plant keeps the water unfrozen. Jasper had shown some minor curiosity about the geese before, but today he set off at a dead run across the grass, down the rocky bank, across the sandbar, and, with me looking on in horror and disbelief, jumped with an enormous splash straight into the river.

This has been our nightmare since it got chilly and we started calling Jasper away from the river on our nightly rambles. With Alex still at work and nowhere near a car, I executed Plan A for "Jasper Jumps In the River in the Freezing Cold": run home.

Jasper, perhaps recognizing the desperation in my tone, ran back up the bank when I called, ran a few circles around me, then stopped and tried to shake. He seemed a little startled when that didn't work: the water had already frozen on him, and he looked just like a tree after an ice storm (and rustled like one, too). I re-leashed him and we headed off at a jog back down the bike path. He still looked completely unconcerned, no shivering or discomfort evident on his face or in his gait. It took us perhaps ten minutes to get back to the house.

We ran up to the solar-warmed porch, where I left Jasper for a moment to grab towels, shed my now far-too-heavy layers, and snatch Alex's camera (Jasper still looked totally content, so I wasn't about to let this event pass without documentation).



The towels didn't do much against the ice, so I ended up just picking Jasper up, dropping him in the tub, and pouring warm water all over the icy parts of him to dissolve it off. He seemed quite bemused by this entire frantic set of events, but still didn't forget his manners: my mumbled "shit!" as I was sluicing water over him produced a lovely sit in the bathtub. So, he's dumb enough to jump in the water when it's 7 degrees, but smart enough to interpret accents. Go figure.

Now he's back in his customary spot by the couch, lying on his fleece blankie and covered in towels.



He seems completely fine—we'll keep an eye on him until he's totally dry, and I'll pull out the hairdryer if he looks cold, but I think that the terror of the roaring device would not go over well.

Goofus.

Knife Returned

It was more than a week in transit, and arrived sometime while Hilary and I were in Italy. But waiting for me when we got back in the weeeee hours of the morning was a nice fat envelope posted with $2.42 in Madonna with Child (Madonnas with Children?). We had ourselves been in transit for 26 hours coming back from Chianti, which was quite enough, thank you. Inside the envelope, of course, was the knife that I had sent to myself from the San Juan Airport. What a relief. The story of having to cut myself free from a taxi cab is now better that it has a complete and happy ending.

Coming to the End

Jan 8, 1745 GMT

Well, this was our last full day for H and I in Italy. Tomorrow we'll be in transit back to the states. Thursday we are back to the grind. Bummer.

But, we made a full day out of it. Under the guidance of Paul, we headed to the south and west of Siena, to a different area of Tuscany. But out of the Chianti area. We ended up spending most of the day at the beautiful walled hill town of Pieza. As we harder farther out of the Chianti sea and more into the more gently rolling hills of outer Tuscany, the temperatures rose towards the 50s, the clouds cleared out, as we got our first real sunshine of the trip. Better late than never.

It is getting a little late, so a full account of our doings just isn't going to happen today. Suffice to say that we had an excellent time and enjoyed the weather immensely. When we rturned to our home base, we stopped by the press of a small olive oil company run by a family that lives a stone's throw away from us, almost literally. Their product, Podere Pornanino, is a real premium piece of work - harvested by hand, no pesticides, only a few thousand liters' production annually. Their equipment is very simple, and they work very hard to ensure the oil is extracted with minimal warming, agitation, and oxidation - all of which reduce the oil's taste and potency. We can't wait to try some that we are bringing back.

Now we are just doing a quick Internet check before heading back to make dinner. Don't expect to hear anything else before we are back stateside Thursday. Ciao!

In Siena

Jan 7, 1145 GMT

After a slow day yesterday, loss of electricity not withstanding, we had our act together this morning. We headed out relatively early towards Siena, which is the main town of the region after Florence, and just as old. One of the main attractions is pictured below: Il Campo. The building across the way is the City Hall. Above the clock in the top center of the frame extends a large tower, which the tour book mentions was built after the Hall was, and without any reinforcement of the foundation. So, the fact that of is still standing is itself a small miracle.

We enjoyed overpriced cappucinos in a café overlooking the bowl of the Campo. A couple of times a year they line the outside of the square with dirt, pack the interior with spectators, and actually run a horserace: Il Palio.

We also took in the main catherdral, built in the 1200 and 1300s, Il Duomo. The interior decorations feature an impressive frescoed library of enormous illuminated choir books. Some of the little chaples off to various sides are adorned with works by Donatello and Michelangelo. The floors have many scenes and saintly portraits inlaid in the marble floor.

We are now sitting down to lunch in a restaurant - Osteria Castelvecchio - recommended to us by one of Holly's former clerks, who discovered it with her husband on their Italian honeymoon. After this we'll wander around abut more before picking up Paul, whose numerous contacts here in Tuscany are what brought us out here in the first place. He is coming into town for his semi-annual trip. And we hope he can show us some of his favorite haunts further south.

Sent from my iPhone.

Rainy Epiphany in San Gimignano

We woke Sunday morning to another rainy day, and after a leisurely breakfast (Alex reconstructed Todd's yummy apple french toast, which was great but suffered from a lack of maple syrup), I fell back asleep. Eventually, the rest of the group decided that they wanted to go out, so I was rousted out of bed and we had a quick lunch before driving to San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is a famous medieval hill town about 30 miles away that has many tall stone towers. When we arrived in the early afternoon, almost everything was closed (as it was a Sunday, and a holiday, and in low season, we weren't expecting much anyway). We wandered around for awhile on the narrow streets. Normally, the big feature of the town is the view of the surrounding countryside, but it was so misty that we couldn't really see anything. (It was kind of like being in the White Mountains and knowing that Mount Washington is towering invisibly over you.)

We ended up toward the top of the town at a wine museum that also does tastings. They poured six wines: three were the local white wine called Vernaccia, and three were Chianti colle Sienese (meaning Chianti from the Siena area rather than Chianti proper, in which case they could be called Chianti Classico). Afterwards, Alex tried some grappa made from Vernaccia, a mere whiff of which nearly knocked me out. It was completely colorless and turned out to be 42% alcohol! The sommelier explained each of the wines to us, and it was generally a delightful and interesting time.

After meandering back down the hill, we found Trattoria Chiribiri, one of the Rick Steves-recommended restaurants. It was incredibly early for Italian dinner (just before 6), so we were the only group in the place, but we had an AMAZING meal. The big feature was homemade pasta. I had a pumpkin ravioli with leek and cheese sauce that was one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten. Everyone else's dishes were wonderful as well. For dessert, we ordered an apple tart, a panna cotta with raspberry sauce, and a tiramisu and just shared them around—also fantastic!

When we arrived back home, it was to a darkened house...no power! The circuit breakers were not the problem, so Dad ended up driving to the neighbors' house (they have been a tremendous help all along). Matteo came over and helped in the futile search for the magic electricity box, and then called the power company for us, flipped the outside switch they told him about over the phone, and became our hero! Power was restored instantly and we all breathed a sigh of relief, since visions of dealing with an unresponsive Italian electricity company were dancing unpleasantly in our heads.

Tomorrow we're off to Siena.