HALT! HAMMERZEIT!

Sweden days 5 - 11 are missing in action, so no update for you. Or maybe I'll post something a bit later if I decide one of the pictures is interesting or something.

Right now something more important needs to be shared: The sudden trend in defacing stop signs with horrible song lyrics. All of these were spotted within a few miles of my house (one of them on my same street):

In a rather unusual problem, I am STILL having issues with jetlag three days after arriving home.

Flying westbound is usually pretty easy. It's just like a really long day. You stay awake a bit longer than usual (say 18 hours instead of 14 hours), go to bed when you normally would, and bam, you're fine by the next day. At least that how it's always worked for me.

But for the third night in a row, I've found myself falling asleep REALLY early (7:30 last night) and waking up at 4 am like I did tonight.

I need to somehow stay up until midnight tonight to get me back on track.

I miss her tonight.

And my arms are sore from getting yellow fever shots, so I can't distract myself with Guitar Hero.

And it's raining outside, so I can't distract myself with yard work.

I guess I can pull the rest of the pictures off my camera. Yeah, that sounds like a plan.

Sweden - Day 3 & 4

CHEESE PARTY!!!



No comment.

Sweden - Day 2

To all you Utah people, you should know it got REALLY hot here today ... the high was 75 degrees with a slight breeze. Mostly clear, with a few clouds moving in later in the afternoon.

It was a day of hard work sitting in the park:



And eating falafel:




Most importantly, my lost luggage showed up today:

Sweden - Day 1

1) First flight (Salt Lake City - Atlanta) is delayed. The delay will make me miss my second flight (Atlanta - Paris), so he rebooks me onto a later Atlanta - Copenhagen flight.

2) The delay for the first flight becomes exceedingly long. Rebook myself onto a second Salt Lake City - Atlanta flight, and move the Atlanta - Copenhagen flight back to an even later Atlanta - Paris flight.

3) The newly booked Salt Lake City - Atlanta flight becomes delayed. Hurridly bookmyself on a THIRD Salt Lake City - Atlanta flight.

4) Arrive in Atlanta. Find out that the Atlanta - Paris booking was never confirmed, and I will have to standby to see if I have a seat.

5) Nervously wait for an hour and then find I have a seat. It's next to a guy who smells a bit, but it beats being stranded.

6) Arrive in Paris to find my Paris - Copenhagen flight wasn't confirmed either, and they can't get me on another one until 6:00 pm. Bum around the airport for several hours.

7) Arrive in Copenhagen around 8:00 pm. My luggage decided not to arrive with me. Agent can't find it in her computer system. Gave her my number, they said they'd ship it to us if they found it.

So now I sit on my friend's couch with no clothing but what I'm wearing, no toiletries, and a funny smell eminating from myself. And I couldn't be happier. I love this place.

This "morning" (about noon), I woke up feeling sicker than I've felt in years. My muscles were cramping, I had the chills, a really bad sore throat, basically I felt like I had been run over by a truck. My fever came in at 102.1F, which is the highest fever I've ever had in my life.

I did my best to sleep. I'd sleep two hours, wake up for 15 minutes, try to drink some water, and go back to sleep again.

In the space of just about eight hours, my fever has dropped from 102.1F to 101.3F, to 100.5F, to 99.0F. I'm already feeling more energectic now, and I can actually stay awake more than 15 minutes at a time.

I have no clue what this was, but I'm sure glad it only lasted a half day.

Shot in the dark

My upcoming Peru trip requires the following immunization shots:

- Hepatitis A
- Hepatitis B
- Tetanus
- Typhoid Fever
- Yellow Fever

This is going to suck.

Four fried chickens and a coke.

Well, I was going to post some pictures from San Diego, but they're not really that interesting because they don't relate to the city at all. I mean, look at this one:



It's my friend's cat gnawing on the soles of my shoes. I don't know why it was so interested in them, but he/she/it sat there for a good two or three minutes just biting the tread on it. Funny, perhaps. Related to San Diego? No, not really.

OK, this picture is slightly more related to the city:



A shot of the demolition derby at the San Diego Fair. I wish I had been in front of the damn pole, but I wasn't. Oh well. It's still a fun shot!

However, this last shot (which I grabbed from my friend) (and only because the battery ran out on my camera) (and he borrowed my lens for this too) is definitely worth checking out:




This was the same place that sold me the fried twinkie. Who wants a chicken sandwich with a Krispy Kreme donut as a bun, with the whole concoction fried together? Obviously somebody!

(They also sold fried coke, fried asparagus, and a whole bunch of other things that I can't remember. It was the epitome of American gluttony.)

Rick Roll'd

Holy crap, today was one of the craziest days I've had in a while.

First off, I will state that everybody has a list of things that they want to accomplish in their lifetime. Myself, I have a list of about 100 things I'd like to do during my life, and I did TWO of them in one day!

It started off fairly innocently, lounging around in the cool San Diego breeze, chatting and enjoying a nice lunch.

Around 5'-ish, we decided to white trash it up and go to the San Diego Fair. This fair was 100% all-American fun (excluding the Mexican and Greek food booths), and I engaged in the following "patriotic" activities:

- Attended a demolition derby (Jenny, remind me to tell you about these because I'm 99% sure you don't have them over there)

- Ate a pork chop on a stick

- Ate grilled corn on the cob

- Ate a fried Twinkie, which was one of the items on my "To Accomplish" list. (Jenny, remind me to bring some of these over so you can stare at it and wonder what the hell is wrong with us that we would willingly eat these).

- Looked at a bunch of sheep and cows that won prizes for god-knows-what.

- Checked out an exhibit of rock art, and commented with several high-quality jokes. ("Up until now, I had taken art like this for granite.")

After the fair, we decided to finish off the evening by going to the beach at night and just kickin' it.

While at the beach, I made the mistake of commenting that one of the things on my "To Accomplish" list was to go skinny dipping sometime. Once that got out, the peer pressure to go skinny dipping instantly started. It started off as suggesting, then stating, then nagging, and almost playfully threatening. Finally, after about an hour of cajoling, I gave in. While everybody was chatting with each other, I dropped trou and sprinted for the water, having to drag my feet to scare away the stingrays. I went out a hundred feet or so, jumped in so my body was submerged and wandered back ashore, slightly embarassed, slightly proud.

My friends claimed they looked away when they saw me going for it, but I suspect they discussed among themselves the "two loaves of bread with half a vienna sausage flying toward the water".

I knew I would eventually go skinny dipping in my lifetime. I never thought it would be in front of eight friends, all of whom were fully clothed. It's a surreal experience. Part of me never wants to do it again, but another part of me had a lot of fun and may be willing to give it another go.

A quick dinner at Dennys wrapped up the evening, and on that note, I'm going to bed. Half day tomorrow, the return flight leaves at 6.