MoseleyWorld

I walked in the house the other day and Saxon met me at the door wearing her back pack. When I asked where she was going, she quickly replied, I’m going to see God. Do you want to come? I’m going to see God.

I said I certainly wanted to see God, but wondered if we could wait until after dinner. Saxon continued to politely ask me if I was ready to go see God. By this time, Carey is a bit freaked out, thinking Saxon has received a divine message letting her know her number was up.

When I asked Saxon if she knew where God was, she replied, up in the sky with Jesus. I told Saxon she was right - that God was in heaven. Without missing a beat, Saxon said, Oh great! We can see Ranger too (our dearly departed dog)!

We’re glad to have found a church home and even more glad that Saxon loves learning about God. The children’s department at Watermark Community Church (mainly a huge group of volunteers) is amazing.

Economically speaking, 2009 has been a tough year for many. I’ve experienced first-hand the struggles of running a business in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and have often felt pretty helpless to control the incoming (or lack thereof) revenues. But sometimes all it takes is someone who can put it all in perspective.

If I think things are tough, what if I had been born without arms and legs, like Aussie Nick Vujicic? Uh…yeah. Holy cow. How much more difficult would day to day life be? On Sunday, December 6 , Nick Vujicic of Life without Limbs , is going to be the guest speaker at Watermark Community Church at 9am, 11am and 5:30pm. Nick will speak about how God has given him the strength to surmount what others would call impossible. We’ll be there at 11. Come meet us. Be inspired. Put it all in perspective.

This was take two. I asked Saxon to sing a little louder…You can hear her saying, “OK, I’ll tell it a louder” at the start of the video. Samantha chimes in providing both backing vocals and some percussion. Oh, and Saxon was apparently playing the role of a mouse at her pre-school drama class.

A couple of months ago, I had the privilege of traveling with my father to Europe. Seeing Europe with a veritable walking encyclopedia of history has its benefits! I often joke that my dad was my World Wide Web before Al Gore invented the internet. We figured the chances of the dollar improving, any time soon, against the Euro, were about as remote as our beginning to age backwards and get younger.

So, off we went.

Business class on american airlines is the perfect place for a gadget-lover like my dad.

American Airlines recently upgraded the amenity kits. No more cheap pouch-like sack. Improved socks! Burts Bees products. Bigger eye mask. Our long travel day, which began in the afternoon in Dallas, landed us early in the morning in Frankfurt, Germany. We had a couple of hours to kill before taking our connecting flight to Vienna, Austria.

We took the short flight from Frankfurt to Vienna on Niki Airlines. Even in my jet-lagged, sleep-deprived state, I thought it was odd that Niki’s logo/icon is the…housefly (huh?) and I found it amusing to see both English and German (Speißsackerl) on the barf bag. But we made it to Vienna, or Wien, as it is known in Europe, checked into the Hilton Vienna (free room - thank you very much Carey for the Hilton points!), and hit the ground running.

A reception room inside the original part of Vienna State Opera House, built in 1869. Much of the building is new, or relatively so, since Vienna was bombed fairly heavily during World War II. Apparently, the Vienesse were supportive of their native son, Adolf Hitler and the Nazi rule, so Churchill decided to give them a smack down that would serve as a reminder.

Box seats at the opera (Wiener Staatsoper), which houses 50-60 operas per year in around 200 performances. Both my dad and I recalled my grandmother, who died several years ago, saying she always wanted to go to the opera in Vienna. But I recalled her having gone, and my dad did not. A lesson in the importance of recording your history to pass down to others learned?

Could not find any signage for this sculpture. Figured it must be a monument to Bruno the gay Austrian fashion reporter. If that offends you, don’t watch the movie. Seriously.

Bugaboo Limited Edition 007 Denim Edition.

I had stumbled upon a NYTimes article about a large beer garden called Schweizerhaus that has been open since 1766 in a park called Prater. Schweizerhaus fit to a T the type of experience i like to have while abroad. Locals. Authentic or “Typical” as they would say in Italy. No ugly Americans. Real. How real? Almost too real, since most of the tables are reserved, due to standing Well, how about starting off with a Budweiser Budvar, the original Budweiser. But this wasn’t your daddy’s Bud. A great Czech pilsner served in a cold frosty mug as cold as any Big O from Georges.

But the 400 (500?) people weren’t there JUST to taste great beer. They come for the schweinsstelze, a spit roasted pork shank that is best eaten with the skin on. Cracklins anyone? While reading the English menu, I was reminded how so often the translation doesn’t quite make things sound as good as it probably does in the native language. I just don’t think I have ever seen Rear knuckle of pork on menus here. As delicious as the Headcheese with onions and pumpkin seed oil or the Beef broth with liver dumpling sounded, we opted for something recognizable - potato salad and cole slaw.

The folks next to us ordered the “fresh white radish (Bierrettich) in spiral cut shape” which looked quite interesting. I later found out this radish is traditional beer garden fare.

All I can say is Holy Cholesterol! Boy howdy this was good! More to come from Austria soon. Chris

You know those things that once you get, you scratch your head and wonder how in the world you ever lived without? Like TiVo. Or, sliced bread, for the older reader. Well, introduce yourself to Skype’s free video calls for another one of those wow! moments.

On a recent trip to Europe with my dad, (aka "Gran" to our kids), I was able to make real-time video calls home so I could see my family’s smiling faces. With regular voice-only telephone calls, Saxon’s attention span lasted a few sentences. But video calls was something entirely different. Lots of animated stories. Lots of fun. Again, why didn’t we do this sooner.

click here to sign up for Skype

When we returned, we got the grandparents set up on Skype (trust me, it is so, so easy) and have even been Skype-ing with Saxon and Samantha’s littlest cousin, Patrick, in Chicago. So, if you aren’t skype-ing, get with it!

If you don’t have a camera, get one at the Skype store (link: Get a new High Quality Video webcam. Make the clearest, sharpest, Skype video calls yet.)


Hint: Better camera = better video call experience. But we’ve used the built in camera on the notebook and it works fine.