Peeing my pants...

I'm so excited for football season. Especially since I have been given permission to make the trip to Chi-town for the game on Saturday. I'll be heading out on Saturday morning, going to the game and then trekking straight back to CR. I'm doing the trip Han style--solo. Can't linger around too much in Chicago because the little guy might decide to join us any day now, and we can't have Dad in Chicago when that happens.
Although we are taking a red shirt season from this season, I do still plan on being at Homecoming and marching Alumni Band, both the parade and game. I am also hoping to get to one more game at some point this season, maybe Illinois or Minnesota, depending on how things go, ticket availability, etc.
I am so excited for college football season! My normal preseason tradition of watching Rudy has not happened yet, but hopefully I can squeeze that in tonight or tomorrow night--we'll see.
GO HAWKS!!

Back to school

Yesterday was the first day of school. Although we started back to work last Thursday, the kiddies came back for a half day yesterday, making today the first full day of classes. So far, so good. I'm trying to maintain as positive an outlook as I can.

En casa

Home again. Without luggage. Thanks, US Airways. Nobody on the flight from Philly to OHare on Tuesday night received their luggage. How do you lose everybody's bags?
The first suitcase was delivered to our doorstep while we were out running errands on Wednesday afternoon. I got home to find that the back panel was completely ripped halfway down the suitcase, leaving a gaping hole. A phone call on Thursday alerted me to the fact that my other suitcase was at the Cedar Rapids airport, but it was at the United desk and they would not deliver bags from US Airways, so I would have to go out there to pick it up.
Turns out I had to go there anyway, because when I called to complain about the status of suitcase number one, they told me I had to take it to an airport to file a claim and have the damage verified. So I lugged the suitcase out to the airport and filled out the paperwork. After which, the United employee (since there is no US Air desk at the CR airport), informed me that I would have to empty the contents of the suitcase and leave the bag there. Why couldn't I be told this on the phone before I schlepped all the way out to the airport? So I threw everything in a giant plastic bag they gave me, got my second suitcase and sulked out of the airport. Damn you, US Airways!!

So back home, enjoying the unpacking, doing some chores around the house to finish getting ready for the baby and dreading going back to school in a week. Also catching up on movies--saw The Simpsons Movie today and I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud so much in the theater. Hilarious.

Vacaciones...de puta madre

With a few days before I return to the US, and classes finished this week, a couple classmates and I took a short trip north to the País Vasco (Basque Country). Two days enjoying the beach and the cool weather of the northern part of Spain. I had never been to the northern coast, and I absolutely loved it. How could you not, with views like this:

The city rests around this bay--Bahía de la Concha and the beach of the same name. Concha, because the shape is just like a seashell, or concha. Our hostal was right underneath the big statue of Jesus on the mountain in the picture.

The trip was fantastic, relaxing on the beach, taking a boat ride out into the ocean and around the bay, enjoying the view from the top of the mountain, and taking in the spectacularly cool night air. The most interesting part was the signs posted around the city that read (in English):
"Welcome tourist. Remember: You are not in Spain nor France. You are in the Basque Country." Well, if that didn't put those thoughts in the back of my head about ETA to rest, I guess nothing will :)

Despite the scary separatist propaganda, it was cool to see the Basque language on all the signs and everything. We thought about counting all the appearances of the letters t, x, and k, but decided to stop after the count hit 100--on the first sign :)

Got back to Madrid around 7:30am this morning and it was pouring rain, with a little thinder and lightning. I am not sure I have ever seen a thunderstorm in Madrid. Granted, it has nothing on the storms you see in Iowa during the summer, but it is rare to even see rain during the summer here, so the thunderstorm is a bit of a conversation piece here. I took advantage of the free day at the museum on Sundays to head to the Sorolla Museum and to make a visit to the Prado. Sorolla was Spain's best impressionist painter, and the museum is in his old residence here in Madrid. Nice, but I was disappointed there was no store to buy a print or two. The Prado store also disappointed, since I really wanted a couple Goya prints for the house. I took a stroll through the Goya wing and visited my favorite Velazquez works, the got the hell out of there, because the Prado on free Sundays is a tourist haven and the crowd was driving me nuts.

Tomorrow is my last day in Spain :(

I am having lunch with MadridMan (see sidebar link), and then the traditional dinner with Marcos and Sandra on the night before I leave. We have gotten together for dinner in Madrid on my last night in Spain every summer for the past few years, and I am looking forward to doing it one last time.