Loss of a friend. Goodbye Danny.

Logging on to facebook yesterday morning I was shocked to see my old fraternity brothers updating their status messages with "RIP Danny". What in the world has happened? More details were revealed slowly and I found myself glued to the computer to try to find out more. Danny died in a car crash off the 405 at 2:30 AM. What a tradgedy.

I met Danny freshman year in the dorms and he was always so kind to everyone there. He worked at the front desk and I dated his roommate. He decorated his dorm room with huge pictures of Shakira and Janet Jackson. Our friendship grew as I became a brother of APX the next year. He was always the life of the party. Dancing, singing, and mixing drinks for everyone. He was always the first to show up and help out and was a great listener when you had a gripe that needed to be heard. We became roommates my 4th and 5th year and we always had lots of fun on the trampoline. I will always remember him cooking up plantains and warming corn tortillas.

I'm not sure how I feel. Being here has already put me at a distance from everyone and everything. I'm not connected like I used to be. I feel grief for sure but it reality hasn't sunken in yet. Did it really happen? How is this going to change things? I do know that I got the pleasure of knowing somebody with a warm heart and I will cherish the memories we had together. I just want to hug everyone who is grieving and tell them I understand. I want to share stories of the good times to honor his life. I feel like his life just ended way way way too soon. He never got to experience some of the greatest pleasures in life, and for that I feel terrible.

Now, I don't believe in an afterlife and I think prayers are useless. But whatever helps people be comforted I am all for. I take comfort in knowing that he can never be erased in the history of time. He will always have been there and touched so many hearts.

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Our newest Entrepreneur

Laura is the 115th entrepreneur we have helped support around the world. Sounds like fun doesn't it? Get started yourself and support other entrepreneur's at ~ kiva.org! Microfinance helps lead people out of poverty.

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Swiss Beers From Globus

I realized time was running out in Switzerland and that we would be moving out of Geneva really soon. Keeping this in mind at the Globus market, I picked up these two swiss micro-brews that promised big things but delivered a little flat.

La Cuivrée

Brewed By Brasserie des Franches-Montagnes, Jura Switzerland

Unfiltered Euro Style Pale Lager - 5.2%

I am guessing this isn't the brewery's best work. But I am eager to try other examples!

La Fraîcheur

Brewed By Brasserie Trois Dames - 4.6%

Wheat Beer. Citrusy with Coriander Smells.

It was terrible. Definitely an acquired taste.

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London Beers Are Falling Down ... Falling Down (Uh... I mean Bridge)

While consuming onion rings at the London Pub "Green Man Porter"we had to have some beer to wash down the greasiness. (This was all Tami's idea btw). London has a rich beer tradition and we wanted to sample some cask ale's while we were at it. A cask ale is - "Cask ale or cask-conditioned beer is the term for unfiltered and unpasteurised beer which is conditioned (includingsecondary fermentation) and served from a cask without additional nitrogen or carbon dioxide pressure."

Bulmer's Cider. Original & Pear Flavored.

I know, I know it's not beer. But England has great not super sweet cider's too!

Adnams Broadside.

Brewed by Sole Bay Brewery UL. Dark Bitter Cask Ale - 4.7%

Mellow yet lightly sour. Medium roasted malts.

Forgot to take a picture of this one till the very end.

Marston's Pedigree

Cask Ale - 4.5%

More sour and bitter then the Broadside.

Fuller's London Pride

Brewed By Fuller Smith & Turner - 4.7%

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London Weekend In Brief

Here's what we did in London in brief bullet points:

- Found our way from Gatwick airport, not via Gatwick Express. Via local trains and a couple tube lines.
- Ate lots of food. Whoever thinks England has bad food, doesn't know what they are talking about. Ate full veggie english breakfasts, red veg vegetarian fast food, wagamama, dim sum, smoothies, bangers & mash, fish & chips, and lots of beer.
- Borough Market and Camden Town Markets.
- Went shopping down Oxford Street.
- Went to two of the oldest pubs in England.
- Saw broadway show Ave Q with last minute tickets! Hung out at Piccadilly Circus to see if we ran into anybody we knew.
- Ran thru the airport, cut thru security (it wasn't easy to convince people!), and hightailed it to the gate.
- Relaxed and enjoyed the hotel room and watching the construction right outside our window.
- Didn't do any sight seeing touristy stuff since we have already done it all there. Rick & Tami did the hop on hop off tour bus thing before we met up with them.

I didn't take a lot of pictures.

Full English Veggie Breakfast + Toast

Borough Market

These "Luxury" English Muffins Look Amazing

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Health Care & Insurance Debate

There is a huge debate going on back home about health care and how the whole system is running. Here are my simple points I would like to make.

1. The US system IS NOT the best in the world. It is not the best in mortality rates, life spans, and access to doctors. Nay sayers are trying to SCARE you into thinking that you won't get good health care. That is blatantly false.

2. Lots of people are uninsured. Not just the lower class. So when these people get sick, it costs ALL of us.

3. I would much much much rather have a government employee who has nothing to gain from denying me care approving what my doctors do then some insurance company employee who will get a bonus if I don't get my procedure. FOR PROFIT health care simply doesn't work.

4. Health care costs are increasing. It's a reality. We pay 3 times as much for the EXACT same treatments then other people under a national health care plan.

5. A nationalized system would keep costs under check. Competition is key.

6. People get denied health care ALL the time now. Once again, nay-sayers are trying to SCARE you that you won't get a procedure you need under nationalized health care. The reality is, you will denied NOW under the CURRENT system if the insurance company stands to make a buck.

7. There are simply too many loopholes now for insurance companies to deny you coverage. Pre-existing condition anyone? Everyone has one. Ever been to the doctor? They may count it as a possible pre-existing condition. Even if you are granted coverage, if they find out ONE doctor visit you forgot about when filling out the paperwork, they could deny you coverage and claim you lied about preexisting conditions. Does that seem like a system that is working well?

8. If you want to check out some nationalized health care systems of the world, try looking outside Canada and the UK. The Swiss have a great system and so does Taiwan. Don't let another language stop you from informing yourself.

9. Did you realize people are AFRAID of traveling to the US because our health care system is so bad? Silly yes, but the stigma is there. You don't get bad stigma's from having a perfect system.

The whole point is, the system needs to change. And why not now? Don't be scared to work towards the future!

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Brasserie Du Mont Blanc - La Blonde

Driving back from Florence was a grueling drive. 6 hours in the car isn't programmed into my "routine" driving anymore like it is in CA. We just went thru the tunnel for the last time this year (tear) and stopped for gas. We treated ourselves and bought this beer at the gas station. Don't worry Mom & Dad, we waited till we got home to drink it. It is always so funny how Europeans drink beer during breaks at rest-stops and that beer and booze is even sold there! Oh well, we were thankful to pick up this gem of a beer. The water in it comes directly from the glacier that is melting off Mont Blanc! Yummy!

Brasserie Du Mont Blanc - La Blonde

5.8% Belgian Ale

Brewed by Brasserie Du Mont Blanc in Les Houches, France.

Me like a French beer? Yes indeed!

Something on the internet about this beer:

The Water is particularly pure, consisting of rainwater and snow-melt transformed into ice and filtered over several hundreds of metres through morainic sand and gravel. The role the water purity plays cannot be underestimated, it allows all the ingredients to come into their own.

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