I went skydiving in Switzerland over the Alps!!! It was unbelievable and probably one of the best things I’ve ever done in my whole life.
I jumped from 13,000 feet and had a 45 second free fall.
They load you into a tiny plane and a professional jumper straps onto your back. Before you leave, you go through about a 5 minute training which is basically “keep you head back when you jump, don’t take your hands off until the pro tells you too, arc your back and keep your legs back.” That’s really about it. Then off you go. Amazing. I was the first one to jump out of me, Sam, and Jill.
The view from up there was spectactular. And you know, I actually wasn’t scared (probably because of all the adrenaline). I can’t really describe the feeling of it. Its like you’re falling but it doesn’t really matter. Its not like when you trip and fall of course, or even jump from a few feet up cause you just no that you have so long to touch the ground.
This was definitely the highlight of this past weekend. I bought a video of my jump, and when I eventually figure out how to pirate it onto my computer, it will be up here.
So I went to Milan first, which basically felt like a regular city with a TON of awesome and expensive shopping. Yes, I actually bought a couple things, amazing right? Its basically what you do in Milan. Arriving was interesting though, as our hostel was two metro rides away from the station and we had to ask directions from the police who pulled out a gigantic map. The girls got a picture with them at least. When we got to our stop, we saw a hooker get dropped off at a bus station, and then we ate at a bar called “Sitting Bull” and was extremely racist and had the worst food I’ve ever put in my mouth. Yes, even worse than Chap Suites employee food, for any of you that might be reading this. The chicken was green… GREEN! I can’t believe I lived through that meal.
The shopping spiderwebs off of the Duomo in every direction. Its strange, you get out of the train station and then BAM there’s this giant ancient marble holy building.
In Switzerland, the hotel was amazing and a relief. They greeted us with a shot as we checked in, and the beds were SO comfortable. We mostly wandered around, talked about skydiving, and paid 20 francs for, well, just about everything. I then took a night train back from Switzerland to Florence which was definitely an experience. They cram six beds in a tiny room, three beds stacked on either side. There not even enough room to sit up on your bed. Oh well, I got back around 6 or 7, slept until 10 that morning, and then was back on regular schedule.
Another weekend down and only a couple more to go. Next up: Cinque Terre!!!
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So I again got behind in posting on here, but I’m going to use the excuse that I got sick (I really did).
Anyway, I went to Venice a couple weekends ago! The only way I can really describe it is as an elaborate Disneyland. There is a ton of walking as there are no cars. There are only walkways and boats. It is completely saturated in tourists as well. I can’t tell you how many people we ran into with suitcases. And the best part about Disneyland, everything is pretty overpriced. But don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
First, our hotel was beautiful and right on the water. The picture at the top of this post is the view from the balcony. All of the food was delicious, I ate as much seafood as I possibly could, as this is what they specialized in. For dinner one night, I had a plateful of just friend seafood!
I of course went to St. Mark’s Square, toured the palace, looked out from the bridge of sighs, rode a gondola, and got lost A LOT. Venice is a maze and everybody gets lost, so I finally wasn’t the only one who didn’t know where the hell I was.
I am very happy that I took the time to see Venice. It was another great weekend on this amazing trip.
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A quick post before I head up to Venice.
Yesterday I went to Assisi and visited the Basilica di San Francesco, who is the guy who could talk to animals. Even though I am not religious, I couldn’t help but be touched by what had been done for this holy man. He is tombed in the lowest level of the Basilica, in the second level his life story is told through historic paintings on the walls, and the top level is a place of worship.
Assisi, by the way, is a beautiful place. Ancient buildings, rolling green hills and the classic old Italians peering out of the windows to see what this giant bus was all about. We also had the biggest meal I think I’ve ever had in my whole life. There was 4 or 5 courses, with bread, salami, proschutto, bruschetta, two types of pasta, dessert, and don’t forget the wine. We split a bottle of wine between two of us, but we ate so much that we couldn’t even feel it at all.
We then went to see artisans make pottery by hand. I’m not really sure how to describe this but to say it looked like magic. A couple of the other students tried it but they had an extremely difficult time, while the artisan made it look like he could do it in his sleep.
Then last night I went to my very first futbol game. Sam, Heather and I went down the “stadio” frantically searching for tickets. When we found the ticket line, it was huge. As we waited in line we A. Found a bunch of others from our group, so there ended up being I think about 10 of us, B. Were told that we should really have our passports with us, which we didn’t have, and C. They stop selling tickets about 10 minutes into the game. We were at the door to the ticket office when they closed it down. There will still lots of people in line so we were all pretty upset. Dom, one of the members of our group, went to try to find more tickets and asked a girl who worked at the stadium that was just sort of relaxing by the fence where we could find tickets… and she gave him 6! We were able to get 2 more from a police officer, then we managed to reuse a ticket by slipping it back into the line from the inside without the guard noticing, and then begged to let the last person in. Then, when we had to present our tickets, we played stupid and said they just let us in, so they finally allowed us in. They put us in a cheap section with a lot of teenage kids, with no covering. AND the section was boxed in so we couldn’t sneak to the good parts of the stadium. But we didn’t care! We are at an Italian national game! Italy vs. Belgium! We were all decked out in our finest royal blue and doing our best to cheer along in Italian with the others, even though we had no idea what we were saying.
About 2/3rds into the game it started to drizzle, and then a light shower, and then it poured. Remember, there’s no covering, so we all got soaked. Most of the Italians ran for cover, but handful of the other Italians stayed and so did we. We’re AZ kids, we love the rain, especially at a crazy futbol game.
Italy ended up winning 3-0. Yesterday was quite the adventure. Hopefully there will be many more to come.
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So obviously I’m having some difficulty keeping up on the blogging. I’ll have to try to get better with this. Anyway, I just got back from Rome yesterday, and it is an unbelievable city.
We first arrived around 9pm by train. The trains are extremely fast, efficient, and easy to use. I wish that the U.S. would come up with a similar system to travel all over the country there. It only took about an hour and a half to get from Florence to Rome.
Anyway, we stayed in Hostel Stargate… yes, like the sci-fi show. It was pretty much a dorm room. Six beds and a sink. Shared bathrooms in the hallways that were cleaned every single morning but were disgusting by about 8pm. That didn’t matter much though, considering I spent most of my time out and about.
On Friday I took a tour down to Naples and Pompeii. Naples was a very quick stop, only about a half hour. Trash was piled up in the streets. There were ancient buildings and new state of the art buildings. I just got the impression it was a sort of confused city. It didn’t have an identity, it was just a mish mash.
Pompeii, however, was breathtaking. Everything is still in shape. For those of you who don’t know about what happened in Pompeii, Mt. Vesuvius erupted and blanketed the city in ash. The explosion was so huge that the mountain is now half the size that it was. I learned that most of the people actually died from the toxic gas that filled the city before the ash even landed. But the ash blocked out the sun for days, killing anyone that was left and preserving the ancient city forever.
We walked on the stones that they had laid 9 centuries B.C. We walked through their buildings, including homes, bars, restaurants, etc. They were actually pretty advanced, considering. They had a plumbing system, and even advertisements for political campaigns on the walls. That’s right, people were being pestered with political advertisements before Christ. I saw the frozen people, which they put behind glass so that nobody could touch or desecrate them. It was still extremely eerie, as I’m sure you can imagine.
That night it was my friend Jill’s birthday. We went out on the town and found a bar called Yellow, which turned out to actually be a bar with a hostel upstairs and a VIP area downstairs, which we got into cause they thought we were staying at the hostel. In short it was a great time.
However, I would highly suggest not to walk around at night by yourself, especially anywhere near the train station, as Rome reminded me of NYC. It is a huge city, and basically gets dangerous later at night as the night creepers like the bums, drunks and druggies come out. All big cities have this problem, and Rome is no different.
On Saturday Sam and I walked all over Rome for about 7 hours. We saw as much as we could, including the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Presidential Palace, and what we thought were the Spanish Steps but were actually some other big building so we unfortunately missed those. I thought that my favorite would be the Colosseum, but I actually enjoyed the Pantheon the most. The Pantheon is the house of the gods, and is simply enormous and spectacular.
On Sunday I went to Vatican City with Sam and Jill. As we approached the city we could see the 4 person-wide line stretching for what seemed like forever. When we almost crossed the street to join the line, a man yelled out “skip the line, English tour!” We stopped and paid 25 euro to wait in line for only about 20 minutes and got a full tour from an English art history student going for his masters. It was probably the best tour I’ve ever been on. I learned about all of the art that we saw along our 3 and a half hour tour.
Now, I’m back in Florence. Its a little bit strange, because Florence is starting to feel like home. It was a relief to come back, as much fun as Rome was.
Hopefully I’ll be back on this sooner rather than later.
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So I am now in Italy! I’m living in an apartment in Florence and it is really great. But let me start from the very beginning.
About 14 of us met at the gate at Phoenix Sky Harbor to fly first to Charlotte. The flight was a piece of cake. They didn’t feed us, but I guess that’s to be expected right now.
Once in Charlotte we all high-tailed it to the departure gate to London as we only had about a half hour until preboard. This plane was gigantic! I was so hungry that I didn’t even taste the food. I’m pretty sure the lady sitting next to me might have been a little bit… irked I guess is the right word cause I ate faster than my dog eats food. I managed to get a little bit of sleep at least.
We then had a HUGE layover in London… 7 and a half hours because the plane was delayed. Oh well. Then was the flight to Florence which I slept through entirely.
Basically throughout the whole flight process I waited in more lines than a kid at Disneyland. It was crazy I spent hours and hours standing in line. It was more exhausting than the flights. All of my bags came in though so I really can’t complain.
After we got to the hotel, Sam and Jill were waiting for us so we went out until about 2 or 3 am with them. Since then, we’ve moved into our new apartment, which like I said in the beginning, is really pretty cool (although its taken me a couple days to write this because my internet cuts out). All of us guys get along great, there’s probably 14 of us in this apartment complex. Its sort of a dorm set up though, as there are only 3 bathrooms for us to share. But we have gone shopping and bought lots of food and wine of course.
So the food here is so good! I have not eaten anything that I didn’t like. I eat entire pizzas. Everybody does. It puts NYC pizza to shame. And the pasta is out of this world. And the wine is as cheap as the water. We had unbelievable $50 or $60 bottles for only about 6 to 10 euro. Amazing!!! We’ve all been having a great time so far!
Class starts tomorrow. Its strange because I’ve already been learning a ton of Italian because I’m surrounded by it all the time. I’m actually looking forward to going to class. I know, I say that now, but I’ve got high hopes. I’d like to be able to speak more of the language besides hello goodbye please and thank you.
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Another Suns season ends at the hands of the Spurs. As I heard one caller say on the Gambo and Ash show “It’s like that damn Ground Hog Day movie, its the same nightmare over and over.” It certainly feels that way to me too. Only this time was worse.
Why?
Because nothing blatantly horrible happened to the Suns this year. No broken eye sockets, no gashed nose, no suspensions, no obviously dirty play, and no crooked refs. This year, the Suns lost because they were the lesser team on the court. They had more turnovers, they missed more free throws, missed more shots, and as usual played worse defense. I can’t even describe how much my heart broke when I came to this realization. It must be how Michael felt in The Godfather when he found out it was Fredo that almost had him killed.
Anyway, the following is a combination of what I think the Suns might and/or should do:
#1 Fire Coach D’Antoni
Not because D’Antoni is a bad coach. He averaged 58 wins per season with the Suns. He made the game fun again, bringing the European run and gun style into the NBA and making it work. But Steve Kerr is a different GM with a different philosophy. D’Antoni doesn’t have Kerr’s support and doesn’t really deserve that. I also think he’s too stubborn to bend Kerr’s way. So they should part ways just on the basis of basketball philosophy. D’Antoni will be extremely successful somewhere else (how about Denver, for instance?)
#2 So who do they hire?
Avery Johnson. I’m not sure I completely support this, but who else is there? Eddie Jordan? It makes sense that this could and probably will happen. Kerr and Johnson both played together for the Spurs. They were both tenacious, fearless, and hard-nosed guards with high basketball IQ’s. Although I’ll hate hearing his squeaky voice at press conferences, the Little General will at least instill some defense and tenacity in the team.
#3 Trade Steve Nash
No, I can’t believe I just said that either. But it is extremely possible, and actually could be a good idea… if done right. Nash will forever represent that offense run ‘n’ gun style that D’Antoni brought to the Valley. He will flourish with another team, but not under Kerr’s or Johnson’s style. Johnson is far too controlling to allow Nash to create and do pretty much whatever the hell he wants on the court. So trade him to Indiana. Nash will be going to a contender with the big guy Jermaine O’Neal and the scorers Danny Granger and Mike Dunleavy. They also have a couple of talented young guys in Ike Diogu and Kareem Rush. And they’re point guard, Jamaal Tinsley, is awful. Indiana has a terrible image, and Nash will clean that right up. He can make O’Neal into a monster again. Indiana can be a titan in the weak Eastern Conference. They were on the brink of the playoffs this year. In exchange, the Suns receive this year’s lottery pick and cash considerations. If the Suns do trade Nash, that means its time to do some rebuilding.
#4 So who do they draft in the lottery?
Well, the Suns pretty much need a new point guard with Nash gone, so unless the Pacers somehow role extremely lucky and get the number 1 or 2 pick so they can grab Derrick Rose (that just made me shake a little) get DJ Augustin. He’s a speedy guard that’s got fantastic court vision, passing ability and a shooter’s touch. The guy is clutch. He’s also young, so new coach Johnson can instill some defense in him.
#5 How about with their own pick?
Remember, the Suns pick at #15… that’s not bad at all. Didn’t Shawn Marion go somewhere around there? Anyway, its time go with a small forward as the Suns are very much depleted in this area, and I vote for Chris Douglas-Roberts. I know ESPN has him going in the late first round, but I really think that’s a mistake. He’s the next Allan Houston or Ray Allen. How can you pass this guy up? He’s a 6-7 guard/forward, meaning he can play in a small fast line up or in a big fast line up (I’ll get to that). Last season he averaged over 18 points and 4 boards per game and shot over 40% from behind the arc. With a quality point guard like Augustin to get him open looks just like Rose did for him at Memphis, he will be fantastic.
#6 Time to get another first round pick
I say do whatever is necessary to get another late first round pick. How about Barbosa or Hill and the Suns second rounder? That’s pretty fair on both sides. A possible candidate team is Seattle. They already have a stockpile of picks for the future, a TON of young talent, and they already have a lottery pick in this year’s draft. Their late first rounder is from another team. So who to take? A center. PLEASE a center. A true center. And a young one so that after Shaq retires Amare can stay dominant at his power forward position. Go with Robin Lopez! He already has a good defensive skill set, which is all the Suns really need on what would be a high-powered offense.
So after that ridiculous draft day orchestration, the Suns line up looks like this: DJ Augustin, Raja Bell, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Amare Stoudemire, Robin Lopez/Shaq. And that’s SMALL ball for the new-look Suns. They could go big with Augustin (the only small guy on the court), Douglas-Roberts, Diaw, Stoudemire, Shaq/Lopez. That allows at least 3-4 scorers on the court at the same time.
Are you kidding me?! How could you NOT want that? That’s a team with veteran leadership in Bell and Shaq, a guy who still has room to grow in Diaw, a superstar in Stoudemire, and a really bright future in Augustin, Douglas-Roberts, and R Lopez. They may not be a championship team the first year they’re together, but if they can keep the team together then they can be lethal in the future. Its a perfect balance, in my very humble opinion.
Whatever the Suns decide to do, I just really hope they build toward the future instead of looking back at the lights in the long hallway of the past.
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Cause I can’t believe the NBA right now. The organization used to be famous for protecting its star players. It used to be you couldn’t even touch a star player. There was no way any player could even breathe on Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Isaiah Thomas. Actually, these players used to get away with everything. How about Jordan’s travel against the Jazz in the finals? Remember Shaq practically pitching a tent under the basket?
Things are definitely changing now, and not for the better. Although it was frustrating, the NBA had good reason to protect its star players. After all, that’s who the fans pay hundreds of dollars to see. So what happened? These guys are taking a bigger pounding than they’ve ever seen before. The most recent egregious act was a hit on Lebron James by Brendan Haywood of the Washington Wizards in this year’s playoffs.
The refs made the right call and ejected him, but the league did NOT suspend him.
Really? How could you not suspend this guy? It’s not a basketball play. He does not even go for the ball. Haywood shoves James in the air. Raja Bell’s clothesline on Kobe was gnarly, and he got suspended for it (deservedly). Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw get suspended for simply leaving the bench. They didn’t even touch anybody, let alone hit “King James” in mid-air causing a potential dangerous play.
The bad blood between the Cavs and the Wizards is now even worse, and Cavs players are taking revenge on the Wizards. Watch a game. Anderson Varejao will throw an elbow at anyone that hits LeBron.
The NBA needs to take control of this series before they have another Pacers-Pistons type brawl.
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Hello hello this is my first post to my first blog. I dunno why I haven’t done this before, considering I’m supposed to be part of the technology generation. Whatever, better late than never. I’m a college kid, I’m traveling to Italy this summer, I’m a Suns fanatic and addicted to music, so that’s probably the kind of stuff you’ll be finding on here! I’m not thrilled with the name of this thing yet but it’ll come to me soon enough.
Also, hopefully this page will slowly change into something interesting to look at as I figure out how to use it.
Trying to test my new skills… Music video time! 
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