Framed!

Every four years, usually in February, something happens around the world that makes sense to some of us and doesn't make sense to others. It's amazing that science and technology has brought us the ability to fine-tune the timing of this event. Of course I'm talking about organizing lodging for the World Cup, which takes place in Germany this year, online. As the self-nominated "cruise director" (as a certain Italian refers to me as) I am working with my comrades on the other side of the pond to try to find a place to sleep for me and my international entourage who hail from three continents. There are a couple of options available to us, and most of them are costing about twice as much as a normal trip to Germany, which is already expensive thanks to exchange rates. New developments from my co-organizers may lead to some cheaper options, we'll have to wait and see. I forsee a weekend of organizing with my World Cup 2006 board of directors over Skype....

A few years ago, I had a bad experience with getting pictures framed. Some of you may recall the infamous Kills Bugs Fast framing incident at Michael's that made me gun-shy for buying frames at anywhere other than the cheapest retail stores possible (like Walmart; what was wrong with me??). However, I bought a nice canvas oil painting on the beaches of Brazil and I knew it deserved something better than a Target frame. I invested a significant amount of reais into the painting (probably $5), so I figured I'd check out one of those custom frames at one of many neighborhood picture frame shops (I didn't realize there were so many until I started looking). Of course I chose the closest one to my apartment. This is usually how I choose everything, including important things like doctors, opthamologists, dentists, and maxillofacial surgeons ;o) . In any case, I picked up my painting today and they did a beautiful job with a simple black frame. As soon as I get my camera back from the repair shop (it had a rough life in Brazil), you'll be able to see it. It's practically a wall mural in my tiny apartment....

My face is recovering nicely and the swelling is pretty much gone as far as I can tell. The hole in my jaw expander appears to have disappeared and I haven't been able to widen my jaw in two days even while toiling with it constantly at work. I get braces on tomorrow, so hopefully my orthodontist can set my jaw on the path to true width in short order - and hopefully it's not too late! Because recovering from surgery and having headaches all day isn't bad enough, I've also somehow managed to grow a nasty canker sore on my tongue that gets pissed whenever I move it, which makes talking a challenge. I guess having $10k worth of metal in my mouth isn't bad enough, my body decided it was important to make me more miserable. How is it that it takes me longer to recover from a canker sore than it does to recover from maxillofacial surgery? Bastard! Maybe the vicadin I have left over can be used to fight the pain this thing is causing ;o).

Paul and Cathy moved to Cyprus, check out the link to their new blog on the right. They've also sent me some great-sounding recipes for soup, which I've been putting to use. Tonight I made a pumpkin soup that had a gynormous amount of curry in it along with some coriander and onions. My tongue was pleased with that decision!

J. Riley, I haven't resumed my gym activities yet. But when I do, there will be no stopping me!