:: Gandalf23's Blog ::

:: Wednesday, July 30, 2003 ::

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hehehehehee

:: gandalf23 1:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Jeez!

Looks like things are just nuts in the Isle of the Britons (and the Scots and the Welsh). To quote:

"The protests began with demonstrations by less than two dozen people outside the gates of the Huntingdon centre. These quickly turned violent, with threats to kill staff and to attack their families.

Within a month, activists began making "home visits", often in the middle of the night. Windows were broken, cars damaged and rape alarms thrown on to roofs so that the piercing noise could not be switched off.

Two senior directors of HLS - Brian Cass, the managing director, and Andrew Gay, the marketing director - were attacked. Two years ago Mr Cass, 54, was set upon and beaten so badly that he needed hospital treatment.

"I arrived home in the dark, got out of my car, turned around and there were three individuals with what looked like pick-axe handles already raised above their heads. I protected myself as best I could but they hit me on the back of the head," he said.

Mr Gay, 47, who is married with four children, was also assaulted outside his home. "Andrew stepped out of his car and two people sprayed something in his face and punched him," a company spokesman said.

"He stumbled against his front door and fortunately it opened. He fell in front of his wife and three-year- old daughter. Andrew went to hospital and for hours didn't know if he would see properly again." Mr Gay made a full recovery, although on another occasion last year 180 protesters turned up at his home highlighting his "murderous" activities. It was the biggest of more than a dozen protests at his house during the past year."

It's funny to me that this thing started over a video of someone punching a beagle in the face. So you have these folks protesting violence to animals by....umm...atttacking humans! Yeah, that's a great idea. Nothing ironic there. Sheesh!

Also note this quote:

"Activists say that they sense "victory" in their attempt to shut down Europe's largest contract medical research centre."
So, ummm...where exactly will future reasearch be done? From my reading of the article, it seems that this company does testing of new drugs so that they can be declared safe for human use. If this place closes, who will do the testing? Will there be no new drugs in Europe or England? Do the people that protest even think about stuff like this?

On the plus side, tactics like this would not work in America. We'd shoot the bloody buggers!

"On Thursday, 1,200 company employees will be sent a short, factual e-mail by their management. It will warn them that animal rights activists are planning a 48-hour weekend of action from midnight on August 1 and staff should take extra care over their safety at home.

For two days and nights, employees of Huntingdon Life Sciences (HLS) will face an even greater likelihood of having bricks thrown through their windows, their cars covered in paint-stripper, incendiary devices put through their letter boxes and hooded men attacking them as they walk from the car to the front door."

In the US, blowing up or setting fire to mail boxes is a FEDERAL offense. Carries a large amount of time, too. You don't want to piss off the post office. No sir.

Hooded men attacking you at night? Shoot 'em! Oh wait, that's right, you can't in England because a) you have no guns, and b) you'll go to jail This wouldn't happen in Texas. I'd like to think that this crap wouldn't happen anywhere in the US, but sadly, I'm sure some people would put up with it and condone it.
:: gandalf23 7:52:00 AM [+] ::
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Wade, the shop forman at the office, caught this a few weeks ago on the Gulf Coast. That fish is four feet long! (or 1.21920 meters ! for our non-American readers)


:: gandalf23 7:38:00 AM [+] ::
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Looks like I was very lucky that I didn't get mugged when I was in London! 164 muggings a day! Wow!


:: gandalf23 8:14:00 AM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 8:08:00 PM [+] ::
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Dr. Pepper (or Pepsi depending on which version of the email you got) are not leaving off "Under God" from the pledge of alliegence. Well, actually, they are, but they are leaving the whole freakin' pledge off! Their "patriotic can" has a picture of the Statue of Liberty and above here are the THREE words "One Nation Indivisible." That's it. According to Dr. Pepper those three words expressed what they at the company felt about America since the 9/11 attacks. They should be commended for their Patriotic can (well, they may just be money grubbing bastards, but let's give them the benifit of the doubt), but instead there are angry Christians all over America loudly calling for a boycott. grrrrrrrrr.

Next time you get an email like this pick a few words out of it, say three of four, that best sum up the email. In this case, "Pepsi" and "Pledge of Allegiance", go to the search engine of your choice and type them in and search for it. 9 time out of 10 you'll see that the email was a hoax. If that is the case, then do not forward it along and please reply to the person who sent it to you to let them know it is fake. We don't need people thinking that we are as bad as the muslims and calling a jihad upon Pepsi!

On a related note, the FCC was _NEVER_ going to stop Touched by an Angel because it mentioned God! They can't do that. This _is_ America. Freedom of speech ring a bell? Ever noticed how many churches broadcast their services on Sunday morning? Or seen the 700 club? If they are allowed, why would Touched by an Angel not be?







:: gandalf23 7:49:00 PM [+] ::
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This one's pretty good, too.




:: gandalf23 2:43:00 PM [+] ::
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:: gandalf23 2:38:00 PM [+] ::
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Got this email today from martinekeh65@eudoramail.com:

"FEDERAL MINISTRY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL&SERVICES,FEDERAL OFFICE COMPLEX IKOYI,
LAGOS.


DEAR SIR,

FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE PLEASE. BASED ON THE INFORMATION GATHERED FROM THE
MINISTRY OF TRADE & INDUSTRY, WE WRITE TO SOLICIT YOUR ASSISTANCE FOR THIS
TRANSACTION BELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NOT DISAPPOINT US.

WE HAVE TWENTY SEVEN MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND U.S. DOLLARS (US$50.5M),
WHICH WE MADE OVER TIME, FROM CONTRACT AWARDED TO A CANADIAN FIRM IN MY MINISTRY
FOR THE SUPPLY AND INSTALLATION OF SCAN MACHINES, X-RAY MACHINES, E.C.G.
MACHINES, FOETUS HEART AND FASTING BLOOD SUGAR MACHINES FOR UNIVERSITY TEACHING
HOSPITALS ALL OVER THE FEDERATION. IN ORDER TO BENEFIT FROM THE PROJECT, THE SUM OF
US$50.5M BROKERAGE COMMISSION OF THE TOTAL CONTRACT VALUE WAS SURCHARGED BY US
THE CONTRACT AWARD COMMITTEE TO THE CANADIAN FIRM,WHICH HAS COLLECTED THEIR
PAYMENT LEAVING OURS IN A SUSPENSE A/C AT THE CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN).IN THE
LIGHT OF THIS THEREFORE, WE ARESEEKING YOUR ASSISTANCE AND PERMISSION TO REMIT
THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY INTO YOUR A/C OR ANY OTHER A/C YOU CAN NOMINATE TO US.

WE WILL COMPENSATE YOU WITH US$5M FOR YOUR EFFORT, WHILE THE REMAINING $22.5M
WILL BE USED BY US TO IMPORT GOODS FROM YOUR COUNTRY INTO OUR COUNTRY OF WHICH
WE SHALL NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE ALSO IN THIS AREA. FOR US TO COMMENCE WITH THIS
TRANSACTION, WE SHALL REQUIRE YOUR FULL BANKING INFORMATION INCLUDING YOUR BANK'S
TELEPHONE, FAX AND TELEX NUMBER. WE SHALL ALSO REQUIRE YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE
AND FAX NUMBERS FOR EASIER COMMUNICATION. COULD YOU PLEASE NOTIFY US OF YOUR
ACCEPTANCE TO CARRY OUT THIS TRANSACTION WITH US BY GIVING US AN URGENT REPLY.

AS SOON AS WE HEAR FROM YOU, WE SHALL IN TURN, INFORM YOU OF THE MODALITIES OF
A FORMAL APPLICATION TO SECURE THE NECESSARY LEGAL DOCUMENTS FOR THE IMMEDIATE
RELEASE OF THIS FUND INTO YOUR A/C.
WITH KINDEST REGARDS,

DR. MARTINS EKEH
CHAIRMAN, CONTRACT AWARD COMMITTEE (FMH&SS)"


It's a scam. I've been wondering why I'd never gotten one, seems just about everyone else on the planet has. Technically I didn't get this, it went to the email address I set up for my dad while he's in Iraq.

Now I have to think of a good way to screw with this guy...hmmmmm.....maybe something about I'm busy in Iraq right now, but give me a few months and I'll try and visit your lovely country in person to work this deal out? Along with, of course, a few thousand US Marines? I'll think of something funny, and if he responds, I'll post that as well.





:: gandalf23 2:09:00 PM [+] ::
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Went to the range again today. Several of us went. It was, as usual, pretty fun. Today we worked with some shotguns. I believe it was the first time Aaron and Chris had shot shotguns. We shot about 150 rounds of 12 guage, maybe 100 rounds of 9mm and a bunch of .22. I think everyone's shoulder is fine. Mine is. Everyone seemed to like the Mossberg 590 the best. It's heavy enough to soak up some of the recoil and the stock is not too long like on my other Mossberg. Had some ammunition problems with my AR-15. Also I forgot to clean it after the last range trip so that may have factored into the equation, although when I switched ammo so some not allowed at the range it worked fine. Stupid inexpensive Russian ammo! I think Serge is going to get a .223 AK variant, so maybe I can sell him the remaining 800 rounds! (AKs will eat anything and keep on ticking, ARs are real sensitive)

I'm going to try and arrange with a friend of my sister's for several of us to use his personal range on his family farm. He has steel targets that fall down when shot which are the same thing we'll be using at the 3-gun match in October. Also we can practice drawing the pistol from a holster there as well as shooting while walking around. Which most ranges frown upon. And we can shoot as fast or as slow as we wish. (Both Aaron and I got talked to because we were shooting "too fast") If we can shoot out there it'd be great, we can practice all three guns and use good ammo.


Liz tried out the Mossberg 590 with some assistance from Serge.


Aaron shooting the 9mm.


Aaron shooting the 9mm.


Chris is ...suprised?... by the shotgun. Not sure what this look is. Don't think it's pain.


Chris shooting the Remington 870.






:: gandalf23 1:46:00 PM [+] ::
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"The Iraqi who provided the information that led to the raid will get the full reward of $30 million -- $15 million for each son. "I'm looking forward to giving that guy a check for $30 million," Bremer said. That informant reportedly now is in U.S. custody."

I say, if the guy wants to, that we bring him and his family to the US. $30 million'll go a long way towards a new life for them all.


:: gandalf23 9:37:00 AM [+] ::
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I heard today that with the deaths of Uday and Qusay only 18 of the original 55 most-wanted (from the card deck) are still at large! Uday and Qusay were #s 2 and 3 on the list.


From Fox News:

"After cordoning off the three-story home with the help of Iraqi police at 10 a.m., U.S. forces determined that their targets were on the fortified second floor of the house.

The military then commenced a "cordon and knock" operation, where an interpreter with a bullhorn first urged those inside the building to come out. When the occupants failed to do so, troops knocked on the door and tried to enter the building.

"Our mission was find, kill or capture," Sanchez said. "We had an enemy that was barricaded and we had to take measures to neutralize the target."

Once U.S. troops entered, the occupants fired at them with small arms, probably AK 47s, Sanchez said.

Three soldiers were wounded on the stairs inside, while another was injured outside. U.S. forces then withdrew and called for backup.

"There was no reason for us to rush to failure" because the building was surrounded, Sanchez said.

At 10:45 a.m., the military began firing grenade launchers, rockets and Humvee- mounted 50-caliber machine-gun fire "in an attempt to neutralize the threat," he said.

At 11:22, more ground forces came in, including more anti-tank platoons. At 11:45, the U.S. commander in charge brought in more assets, including helicopters with rocket systems and a special operations team on the ground.

At noon, troops tried to enter the house again, but they came under fire from occupants on the second floor. Troops withdrew and continued firing from outside the house, using tow missiles.

At 1:21, troops entered the house for a third time.

"At this point, we received no fire as we moved up the stairs," Sanchez said, adding that only one person was firing at troops at this point. That person, believed to be the teenager, was killed a few minutes later.

"At this point, the enemy had been eliminated and the building was cleared in its entirety," Sanchez said."

Wow. I sure would not have wanted to be in a house that was subjected to an hour and 21 minutes of concentrated frie from a lot of pissed off US troops. On the other hand, one has to wonder what the heck the house was made out of that could survive that onslaught?






:: gandalf23 9:31:00 AM [+] ::
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It looks like I can get a 60x24x27 job site storage chest for just a little bit more than one of the 16 gun cabinets, so I think I'll go that route. Instead of turning it vertical I think I'll leave it horizontal and just put it at the foot of my bed, cover it with a throw or something so that it just looks like a normal chest at the end of the bed. A normal chest made out of thick steel and with two monster sized locks.
:: gandalf23 8:52:00 AM [+] ::
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Added more pictures from my Europe trip.


:: gandalf23 3:03:00 PM [+] ::
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I'm looking for a gun safe or safes. Anyone have one just lying about that you don't need anymore? Right now I'm looking at one from Academy for $600. It holds 28 guns and weighs 550 pounds. It'll be difficult as heck to get it in the house and into the closet. Or I may get two of the 16 gun security cabinets and maybe bolt them together so that it'd be difficult/impossible to get them out of the closet and perhaps weld a bit of plate on them for added protection. Or I could get a job site tool storage chest, put it in an upright position and build racks into it. It'd run about the same price as the two cabinets, but would be much more theft protected. Dunno what I'm going to do yet, but I need to figure it out quickly.

If you have any ideas, lemme know.


:: gandalf23 1:54:00 PM [+] ::
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Read the whole thing, it's damn good. This is from the July 20th edition of the USS Clueless (follow the link to the whole article):
Stardate 20030720.1803

(Captain's log): The new refrain is "Bush lied about the reason for attacking Iraq. He claimed that Iraq tried to purchase Uranium from Africa, and that wasn't true." Therefore... only they don't proceed with the "therefore" because their unspoken therefore is "therefore we shouldn't have attacked Iraq; we should have pursued other approaches and left Saddam in power."

And they don't want to formally say that, since Saddam was a monster and the people of Iraq are incalculably better off now without him. But those making these arguments don't care about the plight of the people of Iraq, or indeed the plight of impoverished people anywhere else, except in very abstract terms. The dirty little secret of those on the far left making these arguments is that for all their claims of compassion for the downtrodden of the world, they are primarily motivated by hatred of Western culture, especially as manifested in the United States, rather than by love of the people of the rest of the world.

Which is why they don't like to talk about how awful it actually was in Iraq before we invaded, because they argued at the time, and implicitly are arguing now, that the status quo there should have been maintained.


It's been a pretty bad year for leftists in general; too much has gone right for those the leftists oppose. They made immensely dire predictions about the consequences of war in Iraq, including millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of civilian dead, a bloody stalemate, rise of the Arab street, a massive uptick in terrorist attacks against us, and a whole lot else – none of which actually happened. It's a real bummer.

So rather than concede that they may have been wrong, they're trying to shift the terms of the debate, and to that end they're engaging in historical revisionism, as well as the odd rhetorical ad hominem.

They're attempting to focus the entire debate on one small and, in fact, extremely unimportant event which took place in the last few months. They're trying to claim that the inclusion of one specific sentence in this year's State of the Union address is the total political issue, and since that sentence appears to have been based on faulty intelligence, trying to claim that this somehow shakes the entire foundation of the case for war.

I feel as if it might help a bit if we review the real issues. I have been criticized by some as not having tried to deal with the question of whether "Bush lied!!!", and the main reason I haven't is because I don't think that the specific question of the claim about uranium from Niger is important.

I. What is the root cause of the war?

A. Collective failure of the nations and people in a large area which is predominately Arab and/or Islamic.

B. This has led to rising but unfocused discontent, anger and resentment.

C. Some in the region have tried to take advantage of that for their own purposes.

1. Governments in the region have tried to focus it on external targets to deflect it away from themselves.

a. Israel has been the preferred target.

2. Ambitious leaders have tried to harness it by claiming that they could change it if supported.

a. Khomeinei and the Taliban used it to support revolutions respectively in Iran and Afghanistan.

b. Saddam used it to gain support for creation of a united pan-Arab empire ruled from Baghdad.

II. Why is the US fighting the war? Why were we attacked?

A. American success casts Arab/Islamic failure in sharp contrast. Politically, economically, militarily, technologically and culturally we set the standard and our accomplishments make their failure look particularly bad.

B. America is the largest and most important supporter of Israel. Arab leaders have used Israel as a scapegoat for their own failure, and part of that is to blame us since we refuse to abandon Israel. They have provided enough support to the Palestinians to keep the struggle going, so that their own people have someone outside to hate, which is why Israel is top of their shitlist. But that also causes them to hate us for our support of Israel.

C. America is secular. Islamic religious zealots have been preaching that much of Arab/Islamic failure happens because Muslims have not been sufficiently devout. Allah has not been fighting on their side because they were sinners who have turned away from the teachings of the Prophet and a true virtuous life. The zealots claimed that only by embracing extreme forms of Islam could they again gain Allah's favor and begin to succeed. But in the US all religions are tolerated and none dominate, and the government itself is secular. At the same time, in the nations where the extremists actually took power things got even worse. American success thus is heresy; it seems to have the success Arabs/Muslims crave without embracing extremist Islam. In religious terms, the only explanation for that is that America is in league with Satan, and Khomeinei said as much.

D. American culture and American ideas are very popular with many of the people who live in the Arab/Islamic belt in question, particularly among their young people. This is viewed with alarm by traditionalists of all kinds. Their own people were being seduced away from their traditional culture and extreme religious practices.

E. America gained a reputation in much of the world as a nation which was rich, well-armed, but also cowardly; full of bluster but having no guts. Such events as our defeat in Viet Nam, our experiences in Beirut and Somalia, our half-hearted and largely ineffectual responses to the attacks against us in the 1980's and 1990's, and many other episodes contributed to the impression that we would not fight back if attacked, and that there was little risk in denouncing us or in outright attacking us.

Thus al Qaeda committed its fifth successful attack against the US on September 11, 2001, and pulled off the single most destructive terrorist attack in modern history."

Read the rest, it's all good.
:: gandalf23 1:47:00 PM [+] ::
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I'm so glad I don't live in England. Hopefully it'll never get so bad that you can be imprisioned for murder for shooting someone who was burglarizing your home here in Texas.

A few choice quotes:

"Tony Martin, the farmer who killed a criminal who broke into his house, has been denied a preparatory home visit before his release on parole next week because he is considered to be a "danger to burglars"."

DANGER TO BURGLARS!!!!! And this is a BAD thing?!?!

"Ms Stewart has previously written a report on Martin which was submitted to the Parole Board before its ruling in January. In it she said that Martin's support base in the country had made him more likely to reoffend.

"This is a case which has attracted immense and ongoing media attention and public interest," she wrote. "I believe this has had an impact on Mr Martin's own perceptions of his behaviour and his right to inflict punishment on those whom he perceives to be a threat to his own security.

"Indeed this may have contributed to his justification of the offending. This encapsulation of his views has served to disallow any rational contemplation by Mr Martin of his crimes and he does not express any remorse for the death of one so young."

Fine, so one of the burglars was 16, the one that was killed, the other was 33 and had over 30 criminal convictions. That means you can't shoot them? He was old enough to decide to burlge a house. I got to tell you, if I wake up in the middle of the night and my place is being burgled I'm darn sure going to confront the burglars with my 12 gauge. That's why i'm getting one of those really cool surefire light forearms (or maybe a cheaper knockoff) for my shotgun, so that it'll have a built in flashlight (that way you can see the burglars and make sure that they are actually burglars and not friends who stopped by unexpectedly before shooting them). It does not mention it in this article, but the burglar who lived shot the home owner in the legs. So he was armed.




:: gandalf23 12:52:00 PM [+] ::
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must...build...gauss pistol!!!!

You know, I bet we could knock out one or three of these down at the office. I guess it is a good thing after all that we have scrap heaps going back to the early 70s.


:: gandalf23 7:36:00 PM [+] ::
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I may have to make a knife like this:



Except with different scales, as I don't have any bone or antler handy.
:: gandalf23 10:53:00 AM [+] ::
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Sometimes Penny Arcade just kills me:



heheheheheheheheh!


:: gandalf23 11:34:00 AM [+] ::
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Anyone seen the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen yet? I haven't but this weekend I hope to rectify that. I did read the comic book and thought it was great.

In the comic the characters are:
Miss Murray from Dracula.
H. Rider Haggard’s Allan Quatermain from the books Allen Quartermain and King Solomon's Mines
Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea
H. G. Wells’ Invisible Man
R. L. Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde.

The movie is a little bit different. It has Allen Quartermain, Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. But instead of Miss Murray we have the vampire Mina Harker (I think this was Winona Ryder's character in the movie) from Dracula, and we are introduced to Tom Sawyer,an agent of the US Secret Service, and the imortal Dorian Gray. Should be pretty good.

By the way, if you click on any of the links above it'll take you a page that will allow you to (legally!) download the book in question from Project Gutenburg.


:: gandalf23 7:36:00 AM [+] ::
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I got my pictures back today! Some are kindy crappy, so I just grabbed a few good ones and stuck them up on the web. A lot are really grainy, I'm not sure if it's the film or me or the conversion from film to digital that is the culprit. I don't think I stuck any of the grainy ones up.




:: gandalf23 7:49:00 PM [+] ::
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Spent two days in Munich. Thilo and Kerstin's flat is very nice. Real wood floors, huge ceilings, and it's right on the tram line, so it's easy to get around.

Got to Laupheim about 5pm Saturday, the party started at 6pm and I left at 4am. It went on for another 2 hours. Then we all met back at the place the party was for a breakfast at 11am. There were quite a few hung over people that morning, let me tell you. Good time was had by all. There was a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire? - Kerstin and Thilo's Wedding Special Edition" Where Thilo and Kerstin had to answer questions about each other. It was funny and quite well done. The wedding band was the best wedding band ever. Kicked Adam Sandler's arse. They rocked hard. Well, actually they jazzed hard, but you know what I mean.

Stayed after the breakfast was over to help clean up, stayed till about 6:30pm, then went to Thilo's in-laws and crashed for a while. About 8 his parents came over and the newlyweds opened gifts. They got a lot of vases. My knife was a big hit. About 12 went to sleep. Got up around 9am and talked with Thilo and Kerstin till 2:15 then we had to run like crazy to the train station.

I somehow ended up on the wrong train or train station and I never did get to Brussels that evening, but I did get into Aachen, Germany about 11:30pm. Got a hotel and crashed. Got up about 7am and caught a train to Brussels that got in around noon. Wandered around Brussels till 8 or so then caught the 9pm train to Paris. Got in around 11pm, then the next morning got up and caught the metro then the train then the bus to Mont St.-Michel. Very cool place. Spent the night in a hotel on the island. Lots of stairs. Tons of stairs.

The monastary here is really cool. Very quiet, very serene, I can see why the monks choose to build on such an out of the way hunk of rock. The island used to be accessable by land only during low tide, and even then you had to watch out for quicksand! But the French decided to dam some rivers and build a car park close by, so now the island stays dry. In 2009 it will once more be an island, a multi-million dollar project is about to kick off to rid the bay of silt and stuff and get it back to the way it was.

Got back to Paris in the afternoon and am now in London. Had to go First class on the train in order to get here, there were no 2nd class tickets left today or tommorrow. So instead of a $70 trip it was a $135 trip!!!! Or a $70 trip with a $65 meal, in which case I got ripped off as there is no way that cold mackerel and a small glass or orange juice is worth $65.

Should catch the plane out of here tommorrow, I think it leaves Gatewick airport at 1pmish. Not too sure as my notebook is missing. I either left it in Cologne, which I doubt, or when this guy bumped into me and ripped my camera bag he took it, probably thinking it was a palm pilot or something. Anyway I lost most all of my notes of the trip, both my preplanning and my what happened notes. What I'll miss the most is that I lost all the stuff I wrote down and the museums and gellerys on the cool artwork that I saw. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to come back again :)


update: It's now Friday. Wandered around Big Ben/Parliment this morning. Talked to some Bobbies that were armed, some with some really nice guns. Finished doing socks at the laundry, ran back to hotel, showered, changed into clean clothes, checked out, Tube to Victoria. WHoops, wrong way. Tube to Victoria. Victoria to Gatwick...$20!!!!!!!! Outrageous! Gatwick is big, another 30 minutes of walking to get to the gate! Stopped at an Italian place in the food court for a calzone. Pretty good, but overpriced. Saw National Security and Treasure Planet on the flight back. Read a bit. Didn't sleep any. Meal horrible, glad I had the calzone. Back in Texas at 8pm.

:: gandalf23 11:18:00 AM [+] ::
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I feel soooo much better after a good night of sleeping. I did wake up at 2 am and had no idea where I was. I woke up again at 6am. Then at 7am when the bells went off. Talk about disorenting, it took me a while to figure out that there was not a crazy alarm hidden in the room that it was the bells of the cathedral going off for 15 minutes. The room was about the siye of my parent's closet, maybe a little bigger, but it had an attached shower and toilet that were just for me, so that was nice.

The Cathedral here is even cooler on the inside than the out. The stained glass is just mind boggling. The differences in the styles of the glass were pretty cool. The North side started in the Mideval times and the last piece was finished around 1870. The newer stuff is less busy and more realistic, the older stuff is very stylized.

I walked up the spiral staircase to teh top of the cathedral, well as far up as they'd let us. 157 meters up! Almost two football fields straight up I spiraled. And have the sore legs to prove it! A young Russian girl got kicked out for scratching her name on the wall. :( Once done at the top you have to walk back down the spiral staircase. You'd think they'd open up another one, one for up the other for down. Lots of collisions with people on the staircase. The stairs were old, the stuff at the top was older, at least it had deepeer ruts in it.

Taking a break right now, drinking some crazily priced lemonade in an internet place. Maybe it's because I'm in touristy areas, but the prices here are crazy. $2 for a coke? $1.70 for a lemonade? $4 for a big mac? (got a...thing that I don't know the name of from a Greek street vendor instead). On the train they were charging $4 per coke, $3 for coffee, and $4 for a cheese and bread only sandwich.

Heading to Munchen tonight. Hopefully I can find out Thlio's address (don't have it yet).






:: gandalf23 3:48:00 AM [+] ::
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I'm now in Cologne. The cathedral here is absolutely incredible! I don't think my pitures will do it justice, may have to buy some postcards.

It rained in Amsterdam so I didn't get to see the painter on the street. Went to the Rijksmuseum, it was veryvery cool. Also went through the flower market which was pretty neat, but very little there would be allowed back into the US, so I bought nothing. (they had ig signs saying it was illegal to take the tulips to the US)(also had big signs all over warning of pickpockets)Spent too long in Rijksmuseum so didnät get to the van gogh museum.

Went to Arnhem, then after a while figured out where the bus station was for the trip to Osterbeek and the Airborne Museum. Very neat, lots of cool guns from the battle and medals and photos and such. They even had a sherman tank and a few artillery pieces! Was unable to find the cemetery. Then got lost trying to find the cemetery. Stumbled upon another train station, so took train to other station and my luggage, just in time to catch the wrong train. Lost a few hours, but no biggie. Took a long shower and feel much better and less stinky. Will go grab a bite to eat and call it a night. it's 10pm now.


:: gandalf23 1:10:00 PM [+] ::
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Slight change in plans already. It seems that Bastonge does not have a train station. Or at least I can't find it on any European train schedules. So....guess the stop off in Bastogne is out. Bother!


:: gandalf23 6:25:00 AM [+] ::
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