One more midnight Super Bowl + 4 boxes

On Monday 8 Feb 2010 I can cancel my subscription to Kabel Deutschland since the only reason that I have cable TV is to be able to watch American Football (as if there is any other kind...) on ESPN America. The programming is actually pretty good since they show the live feeds of the games starting at 19:00 Sunday evening, plus they replay the later games on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Great for me although Jenn, Sterling and Kimeko do not seem to enjoy it as much as me. I will say that I am a bit tired of seeing the Patriots and Tom Brady's big chin although this year was better since the Pats were not shown every other week like during the past few "dynasty", video cheating, tuck rule (It was a FUMBLE!!) years.


The big event is the Super Bowl of course.

Sterling and Kimeko can skip school the next day if they watch the whole game...No napping. If they fall asleep, then they must go to school. Rules are rules. They both have watched the game for the past 2 years and the Giants win over Tom's undefeated chin was particularly thrilling 2 years ago. Jenn never watches the game, preferring to sleep or whatever. 


I have a few German friends who enjoy football (although they root for questionable teams like the Titans, Bengal and Chargers) and we will watch the big game together for the last time this year. The game starts at midnight and we will have a typical big game meal of beer, chips, nachos, and hamburgers from the grill at halftime while the Who have heart attacks at midfield. Burgers at 2am...what could be better? 


Update on getting rid of stuff:
Paul's Book & DVD club has been wildly successful and I think that this week will be the last. In its place I will be starting up a sort of shoppe where we are free to give away all sorts of junk and hopefully people will provide generous donations. So far we have moved a squash racket, a table and a pair of ladies ice skates. We have big plans for getting rid of furniture and stuff...but I will save that for another time.
I cleaned out an area in the basement where we have started placing packed boxes. So far there are 4!!

135 days left in Germany and already 4 boxes packed. We are in amazing shape.

The Holidays are over

Our last holiday season in Germany is now in the history books. We have spent most Christmas holidays in Germany since we moved here. I think we only went back to the USA for vacation during Christmas twice...And one of those trips resulted in a very sore back while sledding on Foisy Hill. At least Brian Kennedy (son-in-law #2) was there to witness my crash and then continue working on the sled path and jump while I lay at the bottom of the hill. 


We have had the good fortune of several friend and family visits during the holiday season. Munich is really nice in December and it is fun to visit the markets that are set up in the town squares and drink warm mulled wine in the streets. Of course, thousands of other people are doing the exact same thing so fighting through people to get your wine is part of the charm. I must take this opportunity to unequivocally state that Germans are the worst at standing in line. The worst. People will cheerfully cut the line in front of you from every direction. There is no use struggling against the tide, so dive in, knock that old lady out of the way and get your wine!  Frohe Weihnachten!

Christmas dinner 2008: Miche, Kimeko & Jenn

The New Years Eve tradition is to buy as many fireworks as you can afford, drink, and then go light them off from about 11pm until 1am. I must admit that it is really fun, but it is safer to swim with sharks than to be in the streets at midnight. Fireworks are flying around in all directions with no regard given to proximity to other people. Despite the noise, one is able to still make out the distinctive wail of emergency vehicles.Very exciting.

The New Years Day hangover

Update on getting rid of stuff: 
There are now less than six months until we are back and we are really looking forward to it. I started "Paul's Book Club" at work. I bring in some books every few days and people can come take them, leaving a donation if they desire. The only rule is that they cannot give the books back for any reason. It has been really successful so far, so I might try it with DVDs and then maybe silverware or bags of trash. We'll see...

Christmas 2004