My iPhone won't let me post a full blog entry. Oh well.

Things You're Not Supposed to Take Pictures Of...

This is number one on the list, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel Paintings.

I got yelled at by a security officer after taking this picture.

Anyways, today we went to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel.  The Sistine Chapel is amazing.  I can't really describe to you how big these paintings are, and how beautiful.  I had seen it before, but it's something that my brothers needed to see.  

So, a couple more days of updates and then back to the same old bake.

-Nick.

Marco. Polo.

You know, it really is beautiful.  St. Peter's Basilica, or the Vatican. 

All roads lead to the pope?  Maybe.

Anyways, today we went to the Vatican, and explored.  It's really a reflection of one's faith.  I cannot explain it's size for those who have not been there.  Think of all the churches you know, then combine them in one common purpose.  

We also visited the tombs of the popes.  It was surreal.  I did see the tomb of Pope John Paul II, who just died in 2005.  

Ok, tmrw more family, and Piazza di Spagna.

-Nick

Favorite Sweater.

Colosseo.

1,936 years later, it still stands.  We're staying about 3 blocks away from the Flavian Amphitheater, or the Colosseum.  This country is beautiful.  

I'm having a tough time understanding the language, but it's getting better.  Today we saw the Foro, or Forum, and the Colosseum.  We visited some family and ate great meals, again.

The history here is amazing.  It's physically impossible to have history like this in the USA.  We simply haven't been on the continent long enough.  

Sleep time.

-Nick

Something About Airplanes.

Those pesky Wright Brothers.  

I’m sitting on a plane right now on my way to Italy.  Final destination, Rome.  Going to visit family, sightsee, and relax.  It gives me a chance to practice my Italian.  My mother’s family lives in Rome, and she was born there and lived there until about 12 years old.  

I’m pretty excited, as you can imagine.  It’s not my first time, but every time you get the opportunity it’s a great deal of fun.  We’re staying in an apartment one block away from the Colosseum.  I’ll have internet access, so I’ll keep you updated.  

It’s not the best weather this time of year, but it’s certainly warmer than Connecticut right now.  The ten to twenty degrees will really make a difference.  

I’m putting the over/under as to when I eat my first pizza at 2 hours.  There’s a good chance that’ll be the first thing I do.  

We’ll be in Rome for 8 days.  I’ll be coming back the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I’m really interested to see what we end up doing for Thanksgiving dinner.  My bet is we won’t miss it when we’re stuffing our faces with good Italian cooking.  

We’ll I need to try and get some sleep.  We land at noon local time, so I need to try and get a good night sleep.  I don’t want to waste any time.  

Goodnight Canada.

-Nick

Sunglasses.

Raisins are funny.  

You know, it never fails, it's 11 O'clock at night and I'm starving.  I could get some pizza, but then I'll probably be too full and then I'll feel sick.  Don't worry, this isn't going anywhere.

What exactly is Mad Cow?  Is it a group of angry cows?  Is it some type of weird tongue disease?  Well, whatever it is, it's in Canada now.  You know, the nerve of those Canadians.  First hockey, now this.  Canada is kind of like a buzz kill in my opinion.  

All they do is bitch about things.  In America, we have mad PEOPLE and we don't bitch about them.  I've never heard one positive minded Canadian.  Well, except Jim Carrey, I guess.  And he's just nuts.  

I do have to thank them for the Zipper though.  Without that pants would be a whole lot different...in the worst way possible.

Anyways, if Canada could just leave us alone, and stop pushing their politics on us, then I'd be a lot happier.  

Oh, and thanks for Pamela.

-Nick

PS. I'll talk more about raisins later.

Brian.

I was at the gym yesterday and something made me laugh pretty hard.  While do my workout, I looked up at one of the TV's.  It was on MSNBC and it's headline said..."Breaking News: California Burns."  

My first reaction was "what the hell?"  Who is filtering these headlines?  To the person who cannot hear the TV, or is at a distance where they cannot see the closed captioning, it appeared as if California burned off like a space fart and fell off of the continent.  In the process taking Arnold, San Francisco, and Jamba Juice.  

It's funny because people make a good living writing headlines.  How could this possibly make sense?  We pay people to write catchy slogans and headlines?  Doesn't that go against the "American Dream?"  Where you need to work hard for success and don't give up against all odds.  But yet, if you write a stupid headline like, "PHantastic!" when the Phillies won the world series, you win!  You just won the American dream!

-Nick

Shower Lady.

I made a speech yesterday about the war.  Went pretty well, Doctor Fischbach seemed to like it.

On another note, I'm waiting to take a shower, because the woman is here to clean the bathrooms.  It never fails, as soon as I get my shower gear, she shows up.  I applaud people who can do the job that she does.  I don't have the stomach for it.  

Be back later.

-Nick.

Bail Me Out!

As we all know, the 700 Billion dollar bailout plan was passed several weeks ago.  This morning it was announced that the first parts of that money will be given out.  It's started off with AIG getting 40 billion dollars.  However, because of this, the government will now have partial ownership of the company.  

Does this sound familiar?  No?  It brings to mind something that we've fought against for many, many years.  Communism.  Now, I know there is no such thing as a completely free-market economy, but ours is supposed to be pretty darn close.  This has me questioning our motives.  Wasn't Castro looking for the same thing?  

By creating a bailout plan like this it takes away a company's responsibility to perform and the very essence of a competitive market.  Let's think about why the Russian economy went under.  When the Russian (Soviet at the time)  government had a stake in it's industries, it couldn't let them fail.  In other words, it would spend whatever it took to keep them running.  This seems to be what is bound to happen when the U.S. Government has a partial ownership over companies like AIG.

By not letting companies fail, like what is supposed to happen in a competitive market, you put your government at risk.  Now, instead of just the company failing, you have the government taking a financial hit.  And who pays for this?  We do.  Are we all of a sudden communists?  

We should be bailing the people out, not the big companies.  If we leave the market alone new companies will find there way in and make money.  That's how it works.  We can't expect to be on an economic high all the time.  There all lulls in the system, that's how it works.  It's usually just controlled by attitudes.  Look at the markets the last couple of days.  They're on the upswing.  Why is this?  We have a new president?  No.  The bailout is starting?  No.  It's the Chinese.  The Chinese have just created a bailout in their country of 586 billion dollars.  But, along with this they've created tax-cuts and looser credit policies.  

The Chinese have done things the right way.  They aren't getting the money from the people, they're putting their own asses on the line.  They are trying to stimulate a boost, by lowering taxes and loosening credit lines.  So what did they do?  They went out and bought stock in an economy that will soon be government controlled, so how could it fail??

Good morning Alaska.

-Nick 

Anti-tank.

I am the anti-tank.  What does that mean?...I don't know.

In other news, I'm starting to get sick.  I know this because my body is starting to get weak and wants to implode.  Well, not the implosion part, but the weak part is certainly valid.  One of the interesting things about being sick is that you can get someone else's sickness.  Bacteria and Viruses are like whores.  They go jumping from one body to another, trying to exist.  

Once inside the body, they hump your white blood cells until they die.  (I'm not sure if they literally hump, but they certainly kill.)  We've all seen the movie, "Osmosis Jones" and we all know what goes on inside your body.  

Flubber.

-Nick.

Cloth of the Country.

As the new president was announced last night, I did some thinking as to what it meant to me.

For some people, they view it as an end to an economic crisis or a change to the old administration.  

One of the most important things we must remember is if we stay divided in our ideals, we will fail to get out of the troubles that we are in.  To the people who are strong Republicans, you must learn to embrace a new president, even if you didn't vote for him.  For the people who voted for Barack, you must accept the people who feel differently about the issues.  Let them be heard, and do not just shut them out.

When we turn a cold shoulder, or stop listening to each other, we end up divided.  We all live in one country and we must work together to make this country great.  

On another note, I was extremely satisfied with the MSNBC coverage of the election.  I thought they covered all sides well.  They even were able to include the other races taking place.  Some channels really didn't do that well.  People don't realize how important Congress really is.

More on this later.

-Nick.

"You'll be like...90?"

I'm sitting in a Starbucks on the University of Oklahoma campus.

This place is really really nice.  

I fly back to CT this afternoon, land at about 11.

It's sort of funny just walking around aimlessly on a campus that I don't go to.  People don't question someone my age walking around, and I even ate lunch with a group of people who do go here.  The people seem really friendly.  

I was at TCU yesterday visiting my lady friend.  TCU is really nice as well.  

We went to the zoo in Fort Worth.  THERE WERE Penguins.  There were other animals as well, but they didn't seem to matter as much.  

Ok, I've got an appointment at the admissions department in a few.

Catch you later.

-Nick

Carnivals.

I'm now in Texas.  Ft. Worth is really nice.  There's no shortage of things to do, although right now I'm sitting in our hotel as opposed to going out.  Things ARE bigger in Texas.  This includes cars, people, and even spirit.  Texas is playing Texas Tech right now and I think everyone in the state is probably watching it.  

Ok, I'll check in tmrw.  

Extra hour of sleep tonight. 

Goodbye Dan.(?)

-Nick.