Things have been quite and unusually busy of late!
Last week I had to report for jury duty for the very first time in the nearly 20 years I have been living in Arizona... and defying the odds, I was placed onto a jury. Of 48 people that were in our pool and at least 40% of those being men, I was the only guy that made it to the jury of 10, that was later whittled down to 8 for deliberation. Like most folks I was dreading the experience, but it actually was not bad at all. It only last two days total and I noted that for the first time in nearly a decade of at-home/self-employment, it was kind of nice to have some place to go (though I am certainly glad to be back in my routine)! I ended up being the jury foreman as the women, mostly 50+, ganged up on me. It was kind of fun as it really didn't have much responsibility other than signing the verdicts and getting to say "Yes, we have" when the judge asked "Has the jury reached a verdict?" and handing the folder containing the verdicts to the bailiff (who was kind of a hottie).
This past weekend was also a flurry of activity! We saw Avenue Q as part of our theater season ticket package. This is the first time the tour has come to AZ as it was embargoed from neighboring states while it was playing in Las Vegas at the Wynn several years ago (and where we saw it for the first time). It is wonderfully politically incorrect and subversive... and thus I loved it (again)! I was kind of curious who they would replace George Bush with in the finale "For Now," I thought they may go local and name our nationally known controversial sheriff, but they went with Glenn Beck, which I thought was still a good choice.
On Saturday, we met up for lunch with some out-of-town friends. Having visitors is quite a rare event for me. While he was always did it begrudgingly, I think my Dad (and thus my Mom) has officially closed the books on coming out here for a visit. I understood that hesitation while he was dealing with side/after-effects of prostate cancer, but I had thought those had gone away or become manageable, but perhaps not... and recently in discussions with my brother regarding my parents' upcoming 50th anniversary, he mentioned that he is no longer flying (and he and his family have never visited AZ). I did not inherit that gene, that's for sure... more on that shortly! So while having one's family not constantly dropping in is not a bad thing, it shows how excited I get when I do have someone in town. Todd's brother's family is headed to AZ for spring break, so we'll see them in a couple of weeks and have plans to see a Suns game... and I am quite excited to meet one of my best to-date "Internet only" friends for the very first time next month.
On Sunday, we day-tripped down to Tucson to visit Todd's parents. Had a nice lunch and the biggest piece of tiramisu that I have ever seen in my life. We are still trying to figure out if they gave us 4 portions, even though I was the only who asked for it. There were no prices on the dessert menu, but it was like a small/medium sized cake when it came out and cost $9... which given that it easily fed the four of us, not a bad deal. Rocky also made the trip down to test out the new fenced in backyard, which means that the puppy may be vacationing in Tucson now instead of at the kennel, errr... pet resort.
Which leads us to the big news of the weekend and a month or two in the planning... we booked our big vacation.
So excited to be going to Italy, the first time for both of us. After our 2008 trip to London, Paris and Amsterdam, it seemed that Italy was the next logical European destination to cross of the list. We booked it through the same site as last time, European Destinations, which is just awesome in the ability to book all your # of nights, cities, hotels, and transportation all in one place.
We're flying into Venice for 3 nights. This was a last minute bump up from 2 nights. It was always a bit of a concern that we would be rushing it too much. We arrive in the morning (after 15-17 hrs of travel) and have that day, the next, and leaving midday the next, so really only one solid day... but now we have two full days, not including our day of arrival, which gives us some needed breathing room. Next, we take a train to Florence/Tuscany for 3 nights and the plan there is take a day trip to a another city (via train), though we'll play it by ear. Finally, we're off on another train to Rome for 4 nights. Again, another bump of an extra night to give us some some leisure time... and we fly out of Rome. Overwhelmed but it all, but terribly excited... and only about 2 months away!
Ok, that's enough for now... and that's not even including that my first ever laptop should be arrving shortly as I plan to use it when I go back to visit my parents in a few weeks after my Mom has hip-replacement surgery... did I say things were busy!?!
As you would expect, it's all very sweet with the "let's put on a show" enthusiasm and plastered smiles. But the main problem is that this is a straight and original musical. It is not a songbook ... so it does not contain any songs from the era... and while the memorable opening song (Sunday, Monday... Happy Days! Tuesday, Wednesday... ) does make a couple of appearances it is not enough to full resuscitate the nostalgia for the old TV show. In fact, without the Playbill in front of me, I can't even tell you the name of one of the songs in the show... let alone, hum it while I was walking out of the theater. Alas, it is not a satire/tongue-in-cheek show (ala The Brady Bunch movies) either ... although it tries from time to time (Richie notes that he "can usually solve a problem in a half hour")... and a joke about astronomical gasoline prices kind of fell flat with the current reprieve we are experiencing at the pump.
