Home...cough...Sweet...cough...Home

Rob and I successfully made it back to the States late Friday night after another great flight on Virgin Atlantic. I actually had fun on both 10 hour flights and that's saying something given my moderate aversion to flying. The upgrade to Premium Economy was (in my opinion) totally worth it.

Our bags popped off in the first couple minutes (another perk of Premium Economy) and we took the train to the rental car stop. We made it out of SFO at about 3pm and arrived in Folsom a little more than four hours later thanks to a stop at In-n-Out and rush hour traffic.

The In-n-Out was fantastic. I didn't miss burgers while in Europe (especially since we ate at McDonald's a couple times in Italy -- don't chastise us for that, btw...it was the only place open until 4am), but once I bit into that sweet double-double I wondered why I hadn't.

After picking up Rob's car and dropping off the rental we met up with Mike, Mark, Mika, and Aiden for a couple drinks and some conversation. It was great to be hanging out with "our peeps" in Folsom.

I woke up early Saturday feeling much more awake than expected. The sore throat that I had had since the day in the Schottenhamel tent was fading...things seemed great! I wasn't exactly productive, but we did manage to make it out to watch some college football games that afternoon (was that Stanford win UNREAL or what?!) and we hit the new Bistro 33 in El Dorado Hills for a late evening snack and some drinks (awesome place - go check it out if you get a chance). This is when the twinge in my throat started to perk up a bit and the congestion in my head that seemed like typical post flying pressure kicked it up a notch as well. Add those fun elements together and throw in a little jet lag and you get one cranky Kipp. Mike, Rob, Mark (and probably our waitress) will vouch for me (sorry guys).

I woke up Sunday morning to a chest and head cold in full throttle. I think America is trying to reject me. To be fair, I probably caught it in Europe, but this was not how I was hoping to spend my first few days back in the U.S. and last few days of sabbatical. I had actually hoped to get back to some regular running and working out. I was looking forward to a little cooking too... I can still do the cooking, but thanks to the cold everything tastes a little bland...unless you do what I did to my chicken soup and just dump in some chili powder. :)

In any case, we're back... I was actually planning to post on how six weeks in Europe had made me think of things a bit differently, but seeing as I've already gone on for so long, I'll save that for another post.

I really hope you all have had some fun reading the blogs. I've actually really enjoyed blogging and I think I will try to keep it up (don't worry, there's no obligation to continue reading it :)). Speaking of reading this blog, thanks to all of you who have read and commented on the posts here - it was nice to stay connected with everyone.

Cheers for now...

Oktoberfest (4)!

Well, we all survived with flying colors! Hell, I was up before 9am drinking coffee and reading the paper in the lobby! My final beer count was either 7 or 8 liters (verified that with several sources). Eric, Jeff, and I set the pace early (and late) - in fact, I was consistantly taking the [lead :)] (also independently verified). :) All in all it was an incredibly fun, zangy night! We've got a couple new German friends and a lot of sore throats from all the drinking, singing, and snorting we did...oh yeah, did I mention we were introduced to a white powdered substance referred to as snuff? It's sold by the equivalent of peanut vendors cruising through the tent floor. It's a mixture of menthol powder and sugar and you inhale it. We have a bunch of pictures documenting the event and we all look like very bad cocaine addicts - me especially, as I took the majority of it on my cheeks. :) Sadly, this is the end of a long, fun trip. I'll do a formal farewell to Europe when I return tomorrow, but I will say a few things now. First, thanks to Dave, Erik, Jeff, Kerry, John, Shaun, and, of course, Rob. I had a great time with all of you - I hope we get to do something like this together again. And I know, I owe all of you some unknown lump of money (my atm card expired Oct. 1) - please send me the bills. :) Thanks again all, next time we "talk", I'll be on US soil (let's hope)! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Oktoberfest (3)!

Ummmm, I totally just spit my beer all over a local German. He reacted like it happened all the time. Hell, maybe in Germany it does! In any case, Rob bought the guy a beer ( I was out of money) and things seem ok. Now we're singing the Stones with the Germans and I'm trying to avoid beer! I love this place!
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Oktoberfest (2)!

We're all currently singing "Sweet Home Alabama" with around 6000 Germans! Yay Deutschland!!
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Oktoberfest!

Holy crap. It's official, the Germans know how to freaking party!! It's 3:20pm, we've been here in Spaten-Schottenhamel since 10am and wow, it's great!!! The beers are large and fantastic, our German table neighbors are fantastic, and well, so is the freaking day. Kerry Brown is here and she just can't stop saying, "Best...day...ever!" I think she's drunk. Can't blame her, we're about 4 liters...yes, liters...into the day. Ok, I might be drunk...but I carry it well. In any case, we're having a great time! Hope you guys all drink a liter for all of us!!! My German table mate says I have to stop...go everyone...drink...be merry!!! Yay!!!
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On the positive side, Rome's train station uses Intel graphics...

...on the not so positive side, they probably hate Intel graphics. I'm basing this on the giant blue screen we found in the middle of the terminal. Bugcheck code: 0xEA, device: ialmrnt5.dll. I'll be submitting the bug when I get a legit internet connection. :)
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