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Back in the Burgh after three weeks in Italy.  Since I didn’t get back to the house until around 12:30 am Sunday morning, I took it pretty easy most of the day Sunday.  Despite the light rain, and overcast skies, Lauren and I decided to head up to Mount Washington to watch the sunset.  While we were there, we were joined by another amateur photographer who was taking pictures of a a stuffed monkey with Pittsburgh as the backdrop.  Apparently it was some sort of contest for a poker website.  At any rate, we stayed up on the hill watching the city grow darker, and the lights begin start to flip on across the city until the rain and cold finally drove us back to the warmth of the car, and then on to dinner at “Joe’s Crab Shack”.  Before we packed up the gear, I snapped off a few bracketed images… including a set that produced the image here.

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

Friday, our last full day in Italy, and of course, I have to work.  Lauren spent several hours wandering through the

old city and happened across this hidden treat.  As you can see, she’s getting to be quite the photographer too!

Before leaving Brescia and heading to Genoa, the site of my next meetings, Lauren and I took a small side trip to Lake Garda. WOW. What a beautiful place. We only spent a couple of hours in the town, and I was on the phone working for about half of the time, but we really enjoyed it. The lake is surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains, and quaint little towns. We grabbed a nice lunch, and then made our way to Genoa.

Mountains, sailing, Italy…. what could be better?

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

Lauren and I spent most of the day near the Duomo in Milan. Just before sitting down for a nice lunch, we happened across a huge group of people gathered around and watching a clown entertain all of the kids. Armed with his roller skates, and without saying a word, he played a game of “Simon Says” with a group of kids, and then afterwards gathered them all around. At this point, I’m sure he said something, because all of their faces changed. Nervous excitement. Then suddenly he took off after one of them.

Like a lion singling a sole target from the herd, he skated after the screaming kid, the others scattering out of his way. As he caught each of the kids, he’d pick them up, and skate them back over to their parents. One kid, after witnessing his brother capture and upside-down skate back to his parents gave up and ran back to the safety of his family. The others didn’t give up so easily and put up quite the fight. One kid, perhaps trained by the Iraqi media, took off his shoe and threw it at the clown as he approached.

Looking at photos of this guy, my Mom commented that he looked like a former high powered business executive who finally had enough of the rat race, and now spends his days skating around with his red nose entertaining children.  I like to believe her little theory.  Maybe there’s a carefree future out there for all of us.  In the meantime… it’s back to work tomorrow, but it’s good to have Lauren here, and I’m sure she will enjoy exploring Milan until I’m finished working.

- Michael Dogan

I found myself in Naples on the day of the Scottish League Cup Final, and not a proper Irish or Scottish pub to be found. After scouring the internet, and interrogating a few locals, I determined that all neighborhood televisions would be tuned to the Napoli Reggina game and I’d be more likely to find a proper American cheeseburger than a pub tuned to Scottish football. I didn’t like the odds.

A quick visit to The North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs website, which also has links to other supporters clubs worldwide, led me to Finnegan Irish Pub in Rome, home of the Celtic Supporters Club (CSC) known as “The Italian Bhoys”. Determined to watch the game, and even more determined to watch it surrounded by over zealous Scots dawning the infamous green hoops, I found my way to the train station in Naples, and headed off to Rome. Once there my trusty Blackberry Storm with built in maps guided me through the streets of Rome to the unassuming little Irish pub, tucked away in the center of the city.

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Well I spoke too soon.  So much for yesterday’s “beautiful day in the burgh”, as you can see from the photo, it’s raining like crazy here today.  We hopped in the car and just started driving. We ended up in Beaver County and enjoyed checking out the small towns along the way. We happened upon a park, and decided to take a gander. Less than a mile into the park, we found the bridge in the picture. I’ve seen too many videos of people trying to cross water like this, only to find themselves swept away by the current to try to cross it. We did get out of the car to take a look, snapped a few quick photos, and then got back to the car, and headed back to civilization. Not the most exciting of adventures, or road trips, but quite relaxing and enjoyable none the less. A day well spent.

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

My thermometer disagrees with the scientists theories on this whole “global warming” thing. Pittsburgh has had too many days this winter that were in the single digits… or worse. It’s been blistering cold. Or perhaps I’m just getting older and less resistant to the foul weather. Whichever the case, today was a wonderful and welcome change.

It reached around 70F today and Lauren and I decided to head downtown to take a stroll. Continue reading

With the same blissful disorientation that David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel suffered while searching for the stage and enthusiastically proclaiming “Hello Cleveland!”, Lauren and I explored the streets of Cleveland to determine if in fact, as Drew Carey insists, “Cleveland Rocks”.  What better place to make this determination than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.  While the crew from Spinal Tap was nowhere to be found, we did find Continue reading