Had a blast on Saturday. Andy was hosting his mother and sister for a vist and invited us over to see them. We went over a little early and I helped Andy put together some deck furniture and a grill, then we all hung out, drank some wine, ate some good food and generally had a blast until the wee hours of the morning.
Today, I slept.
A couple days ago, my computer’s monitor burned out. There was smoke, the smell of burning insulation and everything. Quite dramatic. I’m working with a borrowed 15″ thingie and will have to get a new one shortly after I return from Tbilisi. Do I get another 17″ or step up to a 19″? Decisions, decisions.
I’m 2 days away from taking off.. Lots of laundry to do between now and then. 
Here’s a great travelogue from a guy who traveled from Singapore to the european artic. This particular section describes his trip through Asia Minor, including stops in Baku and Tbilisi.
Here’s a link to some info I have yet to read on Azeri Art and music. Society and culture. Azerbaijan Internet Links
Its official. I’m off to Georgia and Azerbaijan in a bit more than a week. I’ll be out for a little more than 2 weeks.
Time to start cruising the web for info about these countries. I know that Georgia makes good wine, and that Baku, Azerbaijan is on the coast of the Caspian Sea, but that’s about it. It shouldn’t surprise me to find some parallels between Azerbaijan and Iran. For instance, the Azeri new year is Novruz Bayramy. Novruz is very close to the Persian, Noruz (NOW-rooze), or New Year, and Bayramy might as well be the Turkish, Bairam, or “celebration”. This will be very cool.
Unbeknownst to a lot of people, Virginia has a thriving wine industry. There are at least 60 Virginia Wineries and Vineyards now and more are opening each year.
I took a nice leasurely weekend and visited a few in central virginia. The highlights were easily Wintergreen winery and White Hall. The people conducting the tastings at each had a great sense of humor and really knew their wines. Especially good at Wintergreen was the Cabernet Sov. Reserve. White Hall’s 2000 Chardoney will be really nice in 6 months or so.
I based myself out of Waynesboro, VA, but another really neat place that would be a good hub for a wine tour is Scottsville. I stopped there for lunch at the Cafe Bocce. If you do end up in Scottsville, make sure you eat at Bocce – the folks are so nice and the food was great!
Oooh.. this is good stuff! The Etruscans were a interesting people, but we don’t know a lot about them. The excavation of this settlement will no doubt shed some new light on old assumptions. These guys inherited a lot of culture from some of the early Middle Eastern people and transmitted just as much culture to the Romans.
Yahoo! News – Etruscan Ruins Show How Italian Ancients Lived
Yahoo! News – Vermont Teen Pleads Guilty to Dartmouth Murders
I was at Dartmouth in the late 80s – early 90s. I never knew the Zantrops (the professors to whose murder the teen plead guilty). The entire community of students, faculty and alumni were shocked when word of the murders was released. Hanover, N.H. is a pastoral, small town and the college has a pretty tight-knit community. That such a think could happen to one of ours was a terrible shock.