More to come soon.

But don’t worry, it is a good thing that I’m waiting on.

Pay close attention. At one point you will see people digging through blue bins. I’ve been there and done that, and it isn’t nearly as clean or fun as the video makes it out to be.

One of the things that Kelly has brought into my life since showing up almost seven years ago now is animals, specifically dogs. Before Kelly came around, we had cats, but cats are pretty low key. They do their thing, and don’t really mind what you do. Every once in a while you can hang out together, and then you go your separate ways.

But we had never had dogs. In fact, I really didn’t like dogs. Dogs are gross and smelly and slobbery and way more high maintenance than cats. It was even to the point where I was pretty sure that Kelly’s love for dogs would be a problem for us long term. Well it didn’t quite work out like that, and now our family is full of dogs. We have two, Abby and Neo have two, my Mom has one, and Charley has one. Just a big old pack of dogs always running around.

The other thing about Kelly is that she likes broken dogs. So all of our dogs are rescue dogs, with Snowy being the most “rescued” of them all. She came from a puppy mill, and really didn’t know anything about being a dog or even walking. She has come a long way, but is still not the best dog in the world. We love her, but she is still pretty broken.

Anyway, on Monday we had to take them to get their teeth cleaned. Their breath was extremely foul, and their teeth covered with scales, so it was time. Dog teeth cleaning isn’t really like human teeth cleaning either. They get put under, and it is a whole big procedure. So I dropped them off on Monday and was very worried all day.

Well they made it through okay, but a little worse for the wear. Snowy had six teeth removed. And she had already had a bunch of teeth removed years ago, so she is down to working with a very few number of teeth. And Linus had four teeth removed, but he’s still doing pretty well, overall. Snowy was completely stoned when I picked her up, and really couldn’t even walk for the rest of the night. And this whole thing cost a pile of money. Let’s just say I could have a very nice new iPad instead of less dog teeth.

But at the end of the day it is worth it, because having pups around really is a lot of fun. And they can be surprising with how smart they can be, but they can also be surprising with how dumb they can be. I’m glad they are around, and I guess now I’m a dog person.

Okay, so on to the movie. There has been a lot of discussion about the movie online, mostly negative, from what I’ve seen. And I would say that the reaction from my family was the same. Except for Kelly, who said it was her favorite adaptation of the musical she had ever seen. I would say I am closer to Kelly. I really enjoyed it, but think I might still enjoy the play more.

One of the main concerns that my family voiced was that it was too gritty. That I actually liked. The stage version can make 18th century France seem to clean. So while maybe it wasn’t pretty to look at, I thought it worked.

But let’s ignore those concerns and others about the pacing and cinematic choices. I want to talk about the singing. In particular, I want to talk about Russell Crowe.

Russell Crowe is getting blasted on the Internet. People are talking about him like he is the worst singer in the world. And I’m gonna be honest. I think that they are all completely full of shit. I thought Russell Crowe did an amazing job. And I say this having gone in thinking he was going to be awful. But I really thought his voice fit the part, and I thought that he was in tune, and I actually thought that there was a lot of nice subtlety to his voice. In fact, I would say that he was the most interesting performance in the whole thing.

So basically, to sum up – the Internet is wrong. The whole thing does work as a movie, the singing, while not perfectly sweet, fits into a story that isn’t meant to be sweet, and Russell Crowe did an awesome job.

So a while ago I decided that I needed something to supplement TBTL for when things got a little rough. What I came up with is a little podcast called The History of Rome. It covers, in a fairly in depth matter, the history of the Roman Empire from the founding to the fall of Rome. So pretty ambitious. I think in all there are around 185 episodes, clocking in at around 15 minutes an episode.

I studied Latin in High School, and had a teacher at the time who loved Roman history. And yet I didn’t care. I just kinda made my way through the work, but didn’t particularly care one way or another. It turns out that I was a moron. Because Roman history is crazy interesting. There is war, and romance, and intrigue, back stabbing, crazy diplomacy, and the rise and fall of one of the most important empires the world has ever seen.

The narrator does a really good job of keeping it interesting, and keeping the pace moving, while making sure that he covers a lot of stuff. And at times it can get dry. You can’t cover 1000 years of history of one empire without running into a few dull patches. But for the most part, it is riveting.

Right now I am at the point where the Huns are about to become a problem for the Romans, so we are talking about getting pretty close to the end of the West, and I am just as into it as I was when I started back at the very founding of Rome.

The whole process also makes you really take a look at yourself, because there are some interesting parallels between things that happened 2000 years ago and things that happen today. It is also really amazing at the level of sophistication that people had so long ago. And for me it has been personally interesting to watch what I thought I knew about Rome be basically shattered left and right.

So if you are looking for some history to get you through the day, I really recommend The History of Rome podcast. I think even if you don’t like history, you will really appreciate it.

And while I’m really sad that the holidays are over, it is also nice to get back to normal, and back to a routine. I have really missed playing the piano for two hours a night. I have really missed playing Starcraft. It has been weeks since I’ve played, and that makes me really sad. I miss cooking dinner, and I miss watching Downton Abbey. So I need to remember those things when I think about how sad I am that the festivities of the holidays are over.

It also happens that the fun will be continuing for the Halley minor clan for another month or so. Next week Kelly and I go to Chicago to meet the new baby of my friend from Wash U, Matt. And of course get to see Emily and her family. The following weekend we are going to Frohna, MO, to spend some time with Kelly’s bio-mom and sister. That should be an… interesting experience. And then on January 30th, we leave for California to spend a week romping around out there.

As I’m typing this, I realize that by saying that things are getting “back to normal” for us, that really just means “continuing the craziness.” And I suppose I wouldn’t really want it any other way.

Well tonight we wandered back there, with Kelly’s parents, and her aunt and former uncle (long story). This time we got there early like old people, and only had to wait for around 30 minutes, despite being told that we would have to suffer through a wait more like an hour and a half. So clearly they need to get better estimating skills. But they haven’t been around for that long, so I can forgive them that.

I didn’t get a salad, but everyone else did. I think Kelly liked her, but I’m not sure anyone else did. That will be a theme. We did have some really amazing bread, and some chili oil for it, which actually went over really well, sans chili oil for some.

My main course was a really simple dish of a pasta that was similar to spaghetti, with oil, garlic, and chili oil. It was quite excellent. Kelly got some large elbow pasta with cheese and pepper that was very nice. The aunt and former uncle both got a Bolognese dish, and I’m not sure that they liked it. And Kelly’s parents split a pepperoni pizza. I believe the words “not as good as pizza hut” were mentioned. They were completely wrong. I had a piece, and it was excellent, with a really nice artisan pepperoni. So you can take both opinions and decide, but I would definitely recommend the pizza.

Finally we had some gelato for dessert. Kelly and I shared one salted caramel and one bourbon vanilla. Both were incredible. Definitely the best gelato that we’ve ever had.

So overall it was a really fun dining experience. I’m sorry that the rest of the group didn’t love it was much as we did, but that’s their loss. Kelly and I will definitely be returning.

But then last night we were sitting around, and it smacked me right in the face. Of course we need to go to Cyprus. Why would I turn down a chance to go to Europe? That doesn’t make any sense! And so Kelly and I started planning and scheming. We really only need to be in Cyprus for a few days. Two or three. Which leaves us a good six or seven that we could spend somewhere else in Europe beforehand, and then fly to Cyprus for the wedding before returning home. Sounds like a great plan!

Right now the idea is that we’d fly into Paris or Rome, spend a few days there, before heading to Cyprus, or if we go to Paris, Cyprus via a detour to Brussels. I think that right now we are leaning towards Paris, not only because it is an amazing city, but Kelly hasn’t been there and she speaks French, so it would be a much better fit.

But we are also open to other ideas. I was thinking maybe we could be totally crazy and go to Prague. I mean, why not, right?

Anyway, this is short because there is a game night downstairs, but let me know your thoughts!