I'm moving to Cologne!!!!!!!!!

Enough said.

Couldn't resist. Had to add a picture like the one Becky has on her blog. Can't wait to see this in real life!

Mating Hares Block Milan Airport Runways

hehe, copied and pasted from the NY Times.

MILAN, Italy (AP) -- Wild hares at Milan's Linate airport seem to have only one thing on their mind, and their excessive mating and growing numbers have blocked takeoffs, landings and radar systems.

Officials on Sunday mounted a daylight raid to keep these furry creatures off the runways, part of a twice-annual capture to keep the airport population under control.

''There are always hares at the airport, the problem is that lately there were too many, and they cause problems with the radar and sensors that monitor the airport,'' said Nicoletta Angioni, spokeswoman for SEA, the company that operates Milan's airports.

Blowing whistles and waving their arms frantically, some 200 volunteers spooked the hares out of their holes and into waiting nets. The animals -- 57 hares and four wild rabbits -- were put in wooden crates and transferred to a wildlife preserve, officials said.

Usually the hare hunts takes place overnight, when the airport's runways aren't terribly busy, but because there were so many hares this season, officials mounted a daylight capture so volunteers could better catch their bounding prey.

The airport reopened after a hare delay of just a few hours.

Figuring out this blog's template...

...is so frustrating! i somehow managed to put up a picture of a golden retriever (i LOVE golden retrievers. it broke my heart when simba died), but i had actually wanted to cut and paste in a picture of simba. simba was such a gentile dog. he never barked when he wanted to go outside for necessities. he would just look at you and expect you to be able to read his mind. power of the brainwaves, i'm telling you.

i went to another salsa lesson today. had my ankled kicked by someone, and i stepped on my own toes (not once, but twice). as tom says, that takes a lot of skill!

Salsa...

...gives you a fantastic workout. My calves are sore like no other right now. I was dancing for a good two hours of practically non-stop spinning. Yes, I tripped over my own two feet. Yes, I became so dizzy I was afraid of crashing into the guy next to me. Yes, someone kicked me. But it was all in the name of fun. Why are all of the guys so much better than me??? Ah well. Thank god everyone wore deodorant today, because one of the new moves we learned entailed the girl ducking her head and spinning out from under the guy's arm.

The Mets....

...are awesome! Even though they lost today against the Phillies. I was not happy. We all know how I feel about Philadelphia. Amanette had extra tickets to the game tonight, so she invited a few of us to go along with her, which was quite nice of her. Stephanie and I screamed at the pitchers, while Amanette and Lushana chatted away. I don't think they watched much of the game. To the right is the cap that I bought. I'm starting to think I should have gotten the one with the blue brim. Dang it.

Here's a question: why does everyone hate Jimmy Rollins?

When in Germany, Do As Germans Do...

...is a great book that my cousin Chris sent to me for my birthday. According to this book, it is a sign of inefficiency for someone to stay late at work. Wonder what the folks at Covington would have to say to that. Just makes you realize that sometimes, Americans are a bit too hard core when it comes to work. Maybe that's why Germany doesn't have any paralegals; we'd be considered as inefficient!

Waiting...

....for the next packet to arrive and tell me where I'll be living next year! I'm leaving on July 28 for DC (we fly out as a group to Frankfurt on August 1), which is in less than two months now, and we still don't know where we're going to be living. How ridiculous is that.

For those of you interested, CBYX consists of three phases: the language phase, the university phase, and the internship phase. The language part will take up the first two months in Germany, which is when we'll be learning German (gasp, what a surprise). After the language part is over, we will be moved to another city/town (considered to be the permanent residence) for the university and internship phases. The university part will last for one semester. We're supposed to take classes related to our career field. And then the internship phase starts, which will last for the remaining five months or so.

And the countdown begins...