German Black Forest

Having a relaxed Sunday, Patrick and I went with Andrea and Tim to the Black Forest in Germany. It was about an 80 km drive from Strasbourg, and we ended up at the largest waterfall found in Germany. After climbing to the top, we ended up in a little restaurant and tried the Black Forest Cake - not bad, but still a bigger fan of the fondant.

Staub

While in Indianapolis and walking through Williams-Sonoma, I came across a cool cast iron plate. Basically you put it in the oven when you're cooking, put your hot food on it, and your food stays warm during a nice leisurely meal.

Imagine my surprise when I turned it over and it was Made in France. Also imagine my surprise when I saw that one plate was $35 smacks. Looking at it a little closer, I saw on the box that it was made in Alsace of all places, and even further research on the Internet discovered that it's actually made in Turkheim. Fast forward a couple of weeks, and after a day of asparagus shopping, we head down to Turkheim and find the plant complete with outlet store.

Granted outlet shopping has not reached the same heights found in the US, but it was cheaper. I figure it's worth buying it there and not having to cart it back on a carryon. We also went with Jill, and she found pottery by the kilo - let's just say I need to apologize to her husband Chris, when I see him next.

Back to France

Thank God, we're back.

Again with the exception of a long layover in Paris, and relatively uneventful trip back to Strasbourg. Testing was a huge success, and we were able to spend a lot of time with family and friends. Glad to be back in our spacious 65 square meter apartment after living six weeks in a not so spacious 15 square meter hotel room.

Again, let me take a moment to bitch about business class on American Airlines again - guys, you suck. Just stay with me, I'm usually a very nice person . . one issue in coming over to Indianapolis was that I did not order a vegetarian meal, and they ran out. How they run out when I'm the sixth person they ask what I want from the menu of four entrees, I'm not sure. Regardless, the flight attendant cobbles something together after he realizes that I haven't eaten meat in 18 years and having me eat the pork loin is not going to be good for anyone. So lesson learned - even though I've flown business class before and I've never had a problem, I'll order a vegetarian meal the next time.

Here comes the next time. Like a good customer I order the vegetarian option 3 days in advance. When I call she mentions that it COULD be a vegan meal - meaning bad food because those vegan wackos don't even eat milk, cheese, or eggs - give me a break. To which I clarify with her, "Look, all I want to do is make sure that I get the vegetarian pasta option and they don't run out."

Fast forward to the flight over to Paris. I notify the flight attendant that I ordered a vegetarian meal, but I just really wanted to make sure that I get the pasta entree. To which she replies, "Well, I'm sorry but they made a vegan meal for you - and you have to take it." So this time they had extra pasta dishes, but I had to have this thing that quite frankly - I still don't know what the hell it was - it kind of reminded me of the one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Captain Picard is kidnapped by an alien race and put in a room with four other aliens who react to authority differently - you know which one I'm talking about? Well, the food that they supplied was poisonous to the Anarchist guy with really bad teeth. Dude, I think I would have rather had the jello thing that could kill the Anarchist with bad teeth.

Bottom line: I know the unions have taken over the World, so we're paying a flight attendant some ridiculous salary and pension, even though she wouldn't get a 5% tip from waiting on a table at Olive Garden because her service skills are so bad - but come on . . . is the price of plane fuel so incredibly high that a $5000 ticket in business class can't even get you a decent pasta dish for lunch? Again, I'm really a nice person - and yes, I should be lucky that I wasn't in coach - but . . . (OK, Patrick is telling me to shut up now) . . . psst, I'm trying Lufthansa next time, and I'll let you know how it works out.

Lunch with the Family

Although my mother would tend to disagree with me, I did have a lot of time to spend with family while I was home. After a funeral of an old family friend, Bill Holland, we all went out for lunch at Bazbeaux's in Broad Ripple. Only my oldest brother who lives out of town was not there, which meant that this was the first time in a very long time that most of the family was together.

Starting at 12 o'clock is Tim (older brother by two years), Julie (older sister by 9 years), Dad, Chesela (neice via brother Tom), Cheryl (Tim's wife), and Tom (older brother by 5 years). Not pictured are Mom, Ryan (nephew through Tom), and Chandler (nephew though Tom).

Above all it was very special to see Tom and his children again after such a long time - and the only regret is that Tom's wife, Sherry, couldn't make it.

The original rules of basketball

While staying at the Residence Inn during the Final Four in Indianapolis, you're bound to run into all sorts of interesting people. Enter Ian Naismith, grandson to James Naismith, who is credited with coming up with the original rules of basketball (They're in that briefcase).

Pictured here is Thomas Veith, an Alsatian, visiting Indianapolis with us as we test SAP, who is a bit of a basketball fan himself.

Final Four in Indianapolis

Don't really understand the fascination myself, but the NCAA Final Four Men's Basketball championships were in town the same time we were. For me it just meant that Lilly had to pay some ridiculous rate for our rooms that weekend and the restaurants downtown were really crowded - but it was cool to see so many people downtown. This is the pic of the Circle with a huge stage setup. It all seems like a warmup to something bigger like the Olympics or something.

Party at Bart and Pete's House

Here's Bart and Pete's house - they live just down the street from us, and they both work at Lilly. Bart is currently working on a project where he has to work with some of the same people that I do, so when Severine was in town for testing, Bart and Pete all invited us over.

They've redone their basement and put in an amazing bar, which among other things demonstrates that you don't need a lot of space to have a really cool room. They are also into making beers, so the selection was absolutely amazing - they're my role models.