El Principe Returns

That's right, folks. After a month delay, we've purchased our tickets and are on our way. Departure is Sunday, January 15th. Return is Wednesday, January 25th. This serves as notice to the Argentina Bozzolos. Be ready...

Oh Holy Night...

Everybody,
Let me get sentimental here for a second...Thank you all for The First Dark Hawk Christmas...Now the house really feels like home, and even though all of you have a place to call your own, it's really nice that you indulged us and let us have you all here again. We already miss you.
Love
DAD

fotos de uli

Tal como Guille lo pidió publico algunas fotos de Uli una de ellas con Mateo

Babies Everywhere!!!

Exciting and new information is now travelling outside of the U.S. Bozzolo circle, so I'll make this official: Dawn is pregnant.

That's right, folks. We're having a person! Though it's less than 2 cm right now, it has a strong heart beat (dot in the middle of the blob is where the heart is), a large head (big surprise), and, amazingly, a sense of humor. Fetus Alpha has been giving Dawn a hell of a time by making her struggle with the first trimester physiological disruptions. But that seems to be improving recently and nothing but happiness lies ahead. We're thrilled. It's just amazing. The x on your right is where the top of its brain is. It's about 50% head right now. The due date is July 18th.

I know some Argentine Bozzolos have tried calling and I apologize for not being available. This was exam week for me and I just finished. My days were ending at 1 AM or later, so I apologize. We're still planning a trip, but because of Dawn's pregnant status and other related issues, we have to move it to January. Sorry!

So that's it! Don't worry. We know all of you will love it with passion.

Nan

Christmas Talk

Instead of tendy billion emails flying around this year about who is going to get what for whom, Nan and Nati figured we could just use the blog as a meeting point. And I agree. So, I created a post for each member of the immediate family and their significant other whose "comments" section can act as a place for gift discussion. Unless you want this to be the worst Christmas ever, DON'T read your own post!!

Commence.

And feel free to change your photo. I didn't have a huge selection to work with.

--JB

Guille

Nora

Hernan

Dawn

Julia

Alex

Natalia

Guillaume

Carla

Russell

Way to go, Argentina! Now that's a statement!

Please tell me Argentina needs large, bald political consultants...I love this country!

Quieren saber el sexo?

Supongo que si.............., es una nena!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! , asi que, no se podrá llamar ni guillermo ni horacio...........

Thanksgiving in DC

The Ohio Bozzolos have been trying to arrange a weekend trip to DC for Thanksgiving weekend. The tentative plan is to arrive at BWI Friday morning by Southwest (Carla, you should buy your tickets from Columbus or Cleveland ASAP. We're flying from Cleveland).

Can we quickly confirm that a family get-together will be planned for either Friday or Saturday night? Can a propose Friday afternoon/evening? If not, we'll change our travel plans accordingly.

Thanks,

Columbus

Tu no tienes alma

There Munina!

You add the text.

Mom

The Muninos

Wow, it's great to know that there are such strong...warriors?....in the family. First Rolo, now Guigui. Super Guigui's chest looks like you could wash your clothes on it and his stare could wilt flowers.
Nati's costume is actually pretty good--especially the black nipple. That was Marilyn's trademark.
I like the costume of that guy in the background--a down comfortor. Good idea.
Now I really regret that I didn't go with my saggy Spiderman suit. I'd have been the exact opposite of Super Guigui...

Sir Rolo!

I don't have anything to say, I just wanted everyone to see Rolo's costume. Notice how the helmet is more like a headband.

Argentina Reunion Exploratory Committee

I've been talking to Juanonymous and others lately about my upcoming return to Argentina. Dawn and I are planning a December trip, most likely before Christmas. However, wouldn't it be great if we could get the wedding gang together for a Christmas and/or New Year bash? The benefits are obvious (summer, visit to the beach, wonderful asados, and non-stop Bozzolo action).

I'm sure that general interest is not the problem. Instead, the challenges will most certainly be a) fares and b) prior commitments. Let me address both of these issues:

a) Fares:
They're not bad! They're similar to what they were for the wedding ($500-$800). As usual, the trick is finding fares for dates we want, especially since the best fares are date restricted. It seems that the best fares over Christmas and/or New Year are through Despegar.com with TAM and Copa Airlines from New York, but other options are out there.

b) Possible dates:
For those of you who are serious about this, my guess is that we should aim for either Christmas or New Year's Eve, or both. I know Carl and Julia are having family in Philadelphia for Christmas and that some family may be visiting Guille and Nora around Christmas (exact dates?), but I'm not sure how that would affect their ability to go for one or both of the holidays. Thoughts?

As far as I'm concerned, this is just exploratory, so don't feel bad about counting yourself out from the start. I think we need to pin down the date question first. I think the fares situation is similar for both Christmas and New Year's Eve. Let me hear from you all if you're interested in further exploration.

Nan


P.s. Is this flag image I found on the Net the worst flag image ever made?

Argentines on Film!

When I visited the Le Chateau Bozzolo in September, I shared that I had recently viewed and thoroughly enjoyed "Valentin."

As I recall, JB and Guille both had several recommendations of other Argentine films that would refill my heart with the flavor of BsAs and its wonderful people. Unfortunately, I did not write them down and have forgotten them all.

Can I get some of those recommendations here? Please?

Love,
Cacho

PS. I had an extensive discussion with a random girl about whether the little boy is actually wonky-eyed or just the greatest actor ever. Your thoughts?

(Not So) Great Dumpsters of Fire

Saturday, October 8, 2005, I sit in the apartment of a friend, watching the Ohio State football team play Penn State. Anyone who knows Ohio State knows that football is the life of every Ohio State student.... but me.
If Rolo hadn't been in town, I probably would have been watching 24 on Netflix. As the end of the 4th quarter rolled around, and Ohio State was losing, a feeling of complete worry and sadness overcame me... not because we were losing, but because of the riots that I knew were sure to follow.
Sure enough, when Rolo and I got back to my apartment, it was complete chaos. I felt like I was in the middle of the movie Animal House. The dumpster behind my apartment was on fire (that picture was taken from my bedroom window), and the drunken idiots in my apartment complex decided to throw everything that they could find that would make a loud noise off of the balconies and into the courtyard. By the morning, the courtyard was a sheet of broken glass, cans, broken trashcans, fans, a keg, plastic cups, and even a muffin cookie sheet.
Now, I knew that this school was obsessed with football and partying, but somehow I had managed to escape its wrath until this weekend. The sad part is, that everyone in my apartment complex that wasn't participating in the throwing of random objects, still thought it was all so amusing and entertaining, but all I could think about was how idiotic, immature, and pointless it all was. It's sad because this incident was the most typical example of the mentality of everyone I meet here.

How is it possible that at a school of 50,000 people, I haven't met one person that would have seen the situation the same way that I did?

It's about time...

Hello folks,

I finally posted my photos. Guille told me I couldn't call him "Papa Guille" anymore if I didn't.

They are located at: www.thehughcrew.com/argentina.html
Allow the page to load fully to see all 216 photos.

They will soon be with the others on the yahoo site.

Hugh "Cacho" Weber

New House

Hi Everybody,

So here it is. For those of you that haven't seen it yet, here's the follow-up to 603Beech.
Sunday brunch, Oct. 2, 11:48 AM, all invited. There's a BIG change though: the jar of Tang in the previous post is now MIA. I forgot to clean up the fridge at 603 when I left, so the new owners are wondering what is that gluey sugary stuff in the fridge. We have a new jar now, so don't worry, life continues to be good.

DadGuille

The End of an Era II

The Last Supper (with Tang), the Heroes that loaded the truck (all the movers did was take the picture), the experienced driver...this is it!!
Maybe it's not a good idea to get too sentimental about this, but every moment spent packing was very hard, because we packed all these things together with the happiest memories anybody could ever have. It's time to start the party elsewhere, but until we do that, thanks to everybody that made these 19 years unbelievably beautiful for us, Nan, JB, Nati, and Carla: Dawn, Alex, Guillaume, Russell, half of Oberlin (Carl & Julia, Britt, Marguerite, and countless others), EVITA, everybody that visited us from all over the US and the world,and all the Antonios. And thanks to Denison and Fran for being there up to the last minute!
See you in MD! Housewarming party: Sept. 30. The Picture Wall will be up, and it will be Home. Be there. Time to start taking happier pics!

Love you all,

Mom and Dad

More pics posted

Just wanted to send out a heads-up that I finally got around to posting our photos on the web (same place, new album). A word of explanation: Some are from the week before the wedding (with a dramatic emphasis on the Recoleta cemetery), some are from the wedding, and some are from the few days afterward when Tim went with us to Bariloche to visit Jorge and his daughter. I've heard from Evan and Hugh that they intend to post some of their photos soon, too, so we have that to look forward to as well.

Thank you again, one and all, for the most magnificent vacation ever. Like everyone else I've talked to recently, after several weeks, we still think about it daily and wish we could be with you, being that happy, every day.

The End of an Era

It looks better than what it really is...but these are the remnants of what once was the heart and soul of 603 Beech. In that pile of la garbash, there are things that many years from now you'll all wonder where it went and why we threw it away. But we're not throwing it away, really, we're just sending it to other, yet unknown, destinations that will make a lot of people happy just as it made us happy...when they were new.
Thanks to all that contributed to generate and now dispose of all this stuff. 603 Beech will live forever in our...pictures?

Love
DadGuille

He or she is the new Castiglioni baby

Notice: the name in the pictures is mistaken, but is ours, is the belly of Noel.
They were taken to 9 a.m. Everything isl ok

Uli birthday invitattion

Enlarging the family

HELLO EVERYBODY!!!!!!!!!! We are super happy to announce that Ulises is going to have a baby brother/sister!!!!!!!!!
The original plan was to tell the good news while you were here but we couldn´n be sure at that moment…..we are sure now.
The new baby should be born by April/May!!!!!
We´ve done our job, it´s your turn guys (especially Nan and Dawn), we really hope to hear the news very soon!!!!!!!!!!!
WE LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH, and we wanted to share our happiness with you.
Kisses, Igna, Noel &

The Art of a Young Genius

As you can imagine, the move from 603 Beech has triggered the much needed cleanup of drawers, closets and every possible corner of the house where things just plain accumulated. In the process I came across many items that I had no idea I/we still kept. Among those, a set of home made Birthday-Mother's day cards that were priceless and thought I should share.

They are just too much to keep them to myself!

Mom-Nora

Photo Edits

Hi guys,

Mom-Nora has organized the wedding pictures on Yahoo into three different albums (divided into visit, ceremony, and reception). You can access it the same way as before but may need to click on "Back to My Photos" to see the various albums.

Or, you can access it via this link with my username and password: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/hernan_bozzolo/my_photos

Eventually Mom-Nora will be scanning some prints she has from Argentina and adding them to the albums. I hope to convince Carl and Julia to do the same with their prints (welcome back, guys).

Nan

Gracias por la invitación

Hello, es un honor compartir este espacio con todos ustedes, que como veran, desde ahora es bilimgüe, aunque espero poder escribir en inglés, pronto.
Saludos a todos los Bozzolo´s and friends y muy especialmente a los recién casados (just married) JB and Alex.

Kissesssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ignacio

The Real Wedding Photos

David has posted his professional photos for viewing on his website. Go to: www.belsphoto.photoreflect.com and click on the Lundry-Bozzolo link on the upper right. Then enter the password JA.

The Yahoo album will stay up as long as they'll let me, so be sure to bookmark it. If you lose the link, just email me.

Nan

Congrats, Thanks, and Photos

Primarily, this post serves as a statement of happiness. This family reunion was beyond words. I’m sure all of you agree that we need to step-up the frequency of visits and that we must spend more time together.

Second, on behalf of the visiting Americans, I’d like to give a published “thank you” to the Bozzolos of Argentina. You were amazingly supportive, fun, available, and loving. It was truly touching to see the sincerity with which you supported this trip. A special thanks goes to Juan and Xime (aka “The Manager”) who earned our eternal respect and appreciation for a job well done on arranging the wedding.

Third, I’m having trouble reconciling that it is all over! We must mourn together! To that end, I’ve created an online wedding album on Yahoo. Please visit it to upload and view digital pictures from the trip. Ceci has already uploaded hers and Guille (aka “Dad”) will be uploading his and the Creevy’s tonight or tomorrow. Access the album through the email I sent you. If I made a mistake and you didn’t receive an email, let me know and I’ll send you my username, password and link by email.

Finally, I’ve added blog invitations for Ceci, Koke, Diego, Ignacio, and Xime, so hopefully they’ll be participating soon.

Missing you all (sniff, sniff),

Nan

P.s. I have a cold, so the sniffing is a mixture of snot and tears.

Who goes where?

Hello everybody!!! I figured I´d let you know how many beds and bedrooms are available at ade´s, koke´s and yago´s so you can decide who goes where...

Queen Ade´s lodge: Two bedrooms for couples. One is for julia and alex because they´ll be doing last minute things with xime and I. the other bedroom is for a couple (it´s ade´s bedroom, she says she´s moving to the living room with Noel Zucoli).

International Koke and Marce´s Inn: There´s room for two (girls) in ceci´s room (yeah, she has the biggest bedroom ever!!!) and santi has room for one.

Imperial Yago´s residence: Yago has an entire house available (yes, he´s rich, and we never noticed) Has four beds, and it´s not far from koke´s (12 blocks) or ade´s (5 minutes ride, maybe 1 or 2 if I drive)

OK, I hope this is usefull, let us know what you decide.
EVERYBODY IS WELCOME EVERYWHERE.

Love, Juan

Argentina Here We Come!

I'm wondering to what extent we can or want to use this forum to coordinate the Argentina trip. I'm especially interested to know where people (JB and Alex, the Bozzolos, Carl and Julia, the Lundrys, etc.) will be staying throughout the trip. Are hotels already in the picture around the end of the wedding week? If so, where? When?

Does anyone know when Diego will get into town?

Dawn and I are in the process of formulating an itinerary for the trip. We fly out Saturday, August 6th from Washington DC--through Miami, in case you're interested in knowing details--and fly back to DC on Monday, August 15th through JFK. We'd like to spend the first half of the trip in La Plata (with family?) and the second half in a hotel in BA. Any suggestions on where to stay or good hotel choices?

Thank you for your cooperation and have a nice day.

Nanford Bozzolakos

Something to share

This really cracked me up! It is hilarious and better than any of the previous ones.

Enjoy!!!

http://i.euniverse.com/funpages/cms_content/6660/2008cc1.swf


Mom-Nora

Santiago® introduces himself

Hello everyone!. Since this is my first time ever to participate on the blog (by the way, thanks Nan for inviting me), i'll try to do it short. First of all, i apologize now for my spelling.. not good at english writing. Having said that, i continue, not sure what to continue with, but i do anyway.
I guess i just wanted to let everyone here know how happy and anxious i am about this "massive american family (AKA: Bozzolous) marriage invasion", and alex's family too. Really, this is going to be just great, fun, .. intense¿?, unique moment for sure.
I know i personally dont keep much contact with you guys, but still you are as close familiy as my "argentinian-blog-partner: juanonymous" is. So, i take this opportunity to express my love for you all. Well, that's enough, i dont even recognize myself writing like that.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering (im sure all of you where), I STILL am one of the greatest musician ever known since MC Hammer or Vanilla Ice. There.., done.
Sorry about my poor post, im new at this. Oh, Nan, im impressed with your lifestile, and i agree, you sure know how to handle stressfull situations! way to go! i look up to you
Besos para todossss
chau

Santiago®

Nanupdate: the madness is over

At 10:30 PM yesterday, the final two weeks of my quarter ended with a fizzle. And although little nagging issues continue to dribble in from the office, I’m basically done with tying-up lose ends at work for the summer. I have about 4.5 days to a) catch-up on sleep (4 AM bedtime is not healthy, as it turns out), b) pay my bills, c) clean the crap on my bedroom floor that has been festering for 10 weeks, and d) catch-up with everyone who couldn’t penetrate my force-field of madness during the final stretch. I also get to finally write something on this blog—a relaxing and meaningful exercise that has, unfortunately, completely eluded me these last couple of months.

The madness is over! Someone should ring the church bells and announce it to the world. I suppose the blog will do. Since Memorial Day weekend fell right in the middle of finals, the 24 hours with you all is a haze to me. I don’t remember. I’m sorry for being mentally absent.

Here are 10 things I learned during this very busy quarter:

1) Diarrhea: As you may already know, shit happens when you attempt to work from 8-5, then study from 5-later-than-you-should-be-up. It turns out that it’s not so good for your system to overwork it. In fact, my system told me so on several occasions by purging itself forcefully. I like to think of it as a physical catharsis of the academic bullshit I was force-feeding my body.
2) Clumsiness: The first thing to go when you don’t sleep and spend hour after hour studying, working, and worrying: balance. I fell down the stairs last night. I also have mysterious bruises on my shins and ankles. It’s a miracle I haven’t broken a hip.
3) Florida needs a giant dehumidifier: Oddly, I went to Ft. Lauderdale/Miami at the start of the quarter and again last weekend. It’s weird that Dawn and I have been to Miami 3 times in the last year. My crotch was consistently drenched in vapor. I’m convinced people down there have dehumidifying units inserted in their inseams for comfort. Otherwise, people would just start killing themselves. It’s not human to have dampness in the crotch. It just isn’t right. Also, we stayed at the Four Seasons because Dawn was there for a work conference. It was kind of a distraction for me because I had to study, but it reminded me that I’d like to be wealthy. They really treat you well if you’re wealthy.
4) Florida needs a giant deargentinafyer: No offense to Juanonymous and Santi®—I love you guys—but what’s with the walk-into-an-argentine-restaurant-and-everyone-stops-talking-and-arroganly-looks-you-up-and-down bullshit? Very, VERY, uncomfortable. Dawn and I witnessed an incident that illustrates Argentine-American relations: we were sitting in a booth at this South Beach restaurant (Argentine) where the bar next to us was showing ESPN on two TVs. Well, two New Yorkers (not Argentine) were sitting at the bar watching USA vs. Costa Rica on the TV next to them. Just as the US scores a goal, the bartender (Argentine) intentionally switches the channel. The New Yorker, confused, asks why he did that. The bartender gently explains that they have “satellite programming issues” and they’d like to have different games on each TV. The bartender manages to get the USA game on the TV at the other end of the bar. So the New Yorker, pissed, gets up and drags his plate and drink to the other end to sit and watch. But then THAT TV goes blank. The New Yorker, very pissed, stays calm and says, “I think what you need to do is put game on this TV (pointing in front of him) and put something else on the other.” “I know, I know. Don’t worry,” replied the bartender. Both TVs finally land on stations, but the one in front of the New Yorker is NOT playing USA vs. Costa Rica. The game is playing at the OTHER TV. So, the guy, fuming, stands up, drags his shit back to the other end of the bar, and quietly turns to his friends and says, “See? Like I said, the food is amazing, but the service is shit.”
5) Bailey is now a farm dog: That’s right. While in Florida, we left her on a farm. She came back smelling like one too. She actually was forced to live with 10 dogs, 2 horses, several cats, and even a couple exotic birds. She did fine. It is good for her development, so we’re leaving her there in a couple of weeks when Dawn comes to DC.
6) Airfares are NOT going down: I give up. We’re buying our tickets now for Argentina. Looks like 6th or 7th through the 16th are the dates.
7) Coffee is great.
8) Administrative Law: I don’t like it and I hated the class.
9) Data Analysis: Fun. I actually enjoy SPSS and data analysis. I just get it better than some other things.
10) Public Management: I don’t intend on being a manager in an executive agency. Therefore, this was a complete waste of time. I scored 7,000,000 on pinball on my laptop during class though!

I’ll be in touch with you guys soon. The GAO starts Monday, which is strange because they haven’t told me ANYTHING about what I’ll be working on. All I know is that it is health care related. I’m looking forward to it, but the mystery is eating at my nerves. No, it’s not. I’m just kidding. It’s a good thing that I have such strong character (ha ha). I like to think that most people would collapse under the pressure while I merely treat it like a bout of the runs.

Okay, take care.

Nan

Harlan McCraney

I just got this from a friend and I was going to email it to each of you but now we have 603 Beech Street! It's pretty funny--and it's nice to see Andy Dick being funny again. Because I think he forgot how for a while there. http://www.xroadsfilms.com/batescomedycentral/

Sex I.D.

Alex just sent me this today and we both took it: a test that determines "where you fall in the male-female continuum." It's short and simple: it requires tasks that are usually performed better by either men or women, depending on the task, and then scores your cummulative performance to determine whether you "think like a man" or "think like a woman". Kind of cool. Alex (surprisingly?) ended up on the "female" end of the spectrum with a score of Female 20. I got a big fat zero. Dead in the center. My supreme balance is extraordinary, really.

--JB

Juanonymous Bozzundercover

YES, IT WAS ME!!!!!!!!

Juan

WON´T MAKE IT!!!!

Hello, I figured I´d let you guys know that THIS TIME I won´t make it to the big family reunion at 603. I´ve been reading and everybody has confirmed their asistance but me. So please excuse me for not showing up this time. We´ll catch up next time.
By the way, I would apreciate a brief comment on "danger Dog", as far as I knew it was the nicest, sweetest, adorable and lovable dog and that description doesn´t quite match the name.

that´s all so far. I Don´t need to tell you I love you guys, do I?

PS: Please, whatever you do, don´t (and I mean DON´T) listen to the entire KEANE cd. Unless you are looking for a very good excuse for going to JB´s hood and vomit a LOT!!!!

603 Beech St. up for grabs

Beechstreeters,

Just when the world starts to find out about the inner workings, history and secrets of 603 Beech St., the house is going up for sale. Yep. This week, maybe. Just talked to the realtor and we're setting it up this wednesday. The red hot Oberlin housing market is in the middle of a boom, bubble, nuclear explosion (that is, the house might sell in 2008 or beyond), so, it might be clever to reassemble the extended family for one last hurrah before DC sucks us all in. Besides, I don't have enough pictures of all of you sitting around the counter/table/kitchen, just 248,999. It's time we take the Ultimate Kitchen Picture and stop the "Why were you making that face??", 'What's WRONG with you??" and ''Why's the jar of Tang in the middle??'' comments that apply to the last 248,999 pics. So, you're all invited. Mom cooks. Memorial Day?

Love
DAD

Music to My Ears

This is definitely a story that if I were to tell you each privately you would each chuckle, but when I tell you all at once you guys act all grossed out like I don't know how to censor myself. Whatever. You love it.

I think this is hilarious:
It gets a little hot in the upstairs of our house, so when it's cool out we sleep with one of the windows open, which we did last night. At 5am both Alex and I woke up to what sounded like violent vomiting outside of our window (in the alley behind our house). It wasn't letting up so Alex finally got up and looked out the window. Then he quietly turned around and came back to bed. I asked, "What is that?" And he replied sleepily, "It's a guy walking and vomiting and his friend walking next to him pushing a lawn mower." "Oh," I replied. And we both fell asleep. 5am.

I thought that was funny but then later on that day (today) Alex says to me, "So, I don't know if I told you the whole story about what I saw this morning." I became curious to know what more had happend, "Oh?" "Yeah, so, it was this guy walking and vomiting with his friend walking next to him pushing a lawn mower!"
Nice.

--JB

An Evening with Jon Stewart

I saw Jon Stewart’s stand-up show this past weekend in Columbus. He was terrific. The enthusiasm in the Palace was intense and genuine. He’s in an interesting position, isn’t he? He’s got a strong following. And unlike other non-conservatives, like Michael Moore, who seems to capture our anger and thirst for scandal more than anything else, Stewart has an amazing ability to retain a casual sense of logic. His new motto: be reasonable! It’s funny how conservatives seem threatened by him and how liberals latch on to him like the messiah. Watching his act, it’s clear that he sees himself as a moderate. In fact, he recently reviewed John Avlon’s new book about the moderate tendencies in the US, clearly showing intellectual curiosity in the role of moderates in modern politics. I saw a direct link from this interview to his act this weekend. He seems to have adopted this position that moderates need to step up their game. I say, he’s right. Is it time for a third party of moderates so that the current Democrats can stop being portrayed as extreme liberals when they’re not?

I recently saw Matt Drudge give an interview where he criticized Stewart for publicly denouncing the hosts of Crossfire while on their show. He said he takes Stewart seriously and implied that this was an act of hypocrisy because Stewart executes a similar style of entertainment. Really? I don’t think so at all. I think Stewart is a comedian—albeit a very smart, well-informed, comedian—who calls it like he sees it; not for some broader political gain or for advocacy of any positions on issues, but for an entertaining commentary on the state of things. He’s not a pundit. He doesn’t have a career in politics. He’s never worked in journalism or in policy environments. In this sense, he’s just a guy—a very smart guy—with a loud microphone. It amazes me how this scares people, especially when supporters of both parties are being driven by other ‘regular guys’ like Michael Moore and Rush Limbaugh. The right has Limbaugh, the left has Moore, and moderates have Stewart.

Anyway, he was funny. He was very funny. But he was also sending messages. ‘Be reasonable!’ was the theme. How can we argue with that?

Nan

Not Pron

A perfect game for all of us to become addicted to: Not Pron, "the hardest riddle on the internet."

I apologize for all of the lost hours of productivity. Use the comment thread for any desperate calls for help or hints.

I wish mi life was half as exciting as JB´s

Hello 603 Beech Streeters. This is old cousin Juan reporting from southamerica, willing to have, in one year, at least one third of the stories and exciting moments JB has every day of her life.
I can´t promise extremely funny or interesting writting, but I´ll try to find a way to keep you people beging for my posts.
Spelling and grammar are not my strongest points. I´ll make an effort.
I´m glad I was invited.

Juan

Diary of a Young Genius

Okay, really quick: I decided to add something to the sidebar--my diary entries from 1988. Some are pretty funny, others kind of sad. I'm going to do my best to be faithful to the spelling and capitalization, but sometimes it's hard to tell exactly what I was writing. We see some familiar themes come up this year: me wanting a dog, me playing with Ann, me hating/loving mom, dad, nan, nati, and carla. I had so much to think about!

Ghetto fabulous

Well, I think that if we were all sitting around at 603 Beech one of the things we'd definitely be talking about is how Alex and I live in an "up-and-coming" neighborhood. Yes, in case you haven't heard, we have moved to the ghetto. I wouldn't be so quick to call it that if certain key events hadn't occurred in the short one-month span that we've been there. For those of you I haven't kept in the loop (because of my tired old "school" excuse--which expires in two weeks [hurray]), here's the list of qualifications for living in a (superficially) shitty neighborhood (Nan, can we say "shit" on this blog?):

1. I woke up two days ago (8am) to the sound of a very drunk/high woman screaming at FIVE cops to not "fucking touch her" on the stoop out front. After the police took her away, she kindly left her empty 40 oz. beer can and Burger King leftovers on the sidewalk right next to the chicken wings that someone had left a few days before.
2. I came home from walking the dog the other day to find that someone had stolen our only bush right out of the front yard. Dug it right out of the ground. Awesome.
3. Walking on the sidewalk means walking on glass. And walking in the grass means walking in dog turds. Often, walking in the grass also means wading through condoms.
4. The prostitutes on our block haven't been around for a while, but the guys keep coming and honking at whatever woman is walking down the street (someone taught them well to never give up! Their hope is inspirational.). Oftentimes, this is me. Do prostitutes walk dogs?
5. I frequently get asked by older drunk men if they can walk down the street with me--or maybe come see me later on that night. It's flattering, for sure, but if I said yes to everyone then no one would feel special.
6. The backyard of a neighbor's house caught fire a few weeks ago. It was a pretty big fire--personally, I think it could have easily taken the block if it had gone on much longer. Everyone just stood around and watched. Then the fire truck rolled up. No siren no nothing. I think they might have even pushed it there with the gear set in neutral. They were definitely in no hurry.
7. A week or so ago our neighbor beat up the drunk/high woman who was sleeping on his porch. Alex says I'm not allowed to tell this story because I didn't witness it and he did. But I heard it!
8. Almost every dog in our neighborhood is a pit bull, or a more exotic mix of a pit bull and shar pei. Not surprisingly, everyone in our neighborhood is afraid of dogs.

Once we replace the glass-/sawblade-/crack bag-infested dirt in our backyard with actual earth and some grass, we'll have everyone over for a barbeque!!

-JB

Welcome!

In view of the recent Fantastiko meltdown, I’ve decided that we should try something a little different. Welcome to 603 Beech Street. Although it’s not the real Bozzolo home in Oberlin, the blogosphere version is also sure to delight.

Now that we’re scattered throughout the globe (hopefully temporarily), we need a place to have some words fly around in typical Bozzolo fashion—ensnared in fervor, logic, and humor.

Here’s my thought: 603 Beech Streeters—anyone who one might find chatting away at the famed Bozzolo abode—are free to come and go as they please, all with regular author privileges, to post anything from curious reflections on the humdrum of daily life to spanking new thoughts on happenings around the world.

Have you been lured?

I’ll be here, posting as often as I did on Fantastiko when it was in its prime. Feel free to join me or just read along.

Nan