Gumnickopedia - New pages [en]

Uncle Ed’s Illinois Adventure 2008

Ed — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 20:02:39 GMT

Summary:

In November 2008, [[Ed]] visited the Illinois Gumnicks so that the authorities wouldn’t repossess [[Sarah]], [[Emily]], and [[Becky]] while [[John]] and [[Lori]] went to Canada for a few days.

<gallery>
Image:IMG_1396.jpg|[[Emily]] at karate class, kicking the butt of a skinny little girl named Daisy.
Image:IMG_1398.jpg|[[Emily]] at karate class, accompanied by ghostly presence.
Image:IMG_1409.jpg|[[Emily]] at karate class, more butt-kicking.
Image:IMG_1412.jpg|[[Emily]] at karate class. This skinny little girl really doesn’t even stand a chance.
Image:IMG_1424.jpg|[[Sarah]] at [[Emily]]’s karate class. Bored out of her mind?
Image:IMG_1426.jpg|[[Ed]] and [[Sarah]] at [[Emily]]’s karate class. We were sitting perfectly still, but the room was vibrating.
Image:IMG_1391.jpg|[[Becky]] wouldn’t let us post any pictures of her, so instead, we’re giving you this cute kitty (Tiger) to look at.

</gallery>

Img place

Johnny — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 02:50:17 GMT

Summary:

[[Image:destructor.png]]

Spore

Johnny — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:13:35 GMT

Summary: /* Spore Pictures */

{{Headless box|
|boxcolor=blue
|textcolor=#FFFF00
|text=http://www.spore.com/static/war/images/header/Spore_Logo.png}}
Spore is a game that involves five stages.

==Cell==
The game begins with a meteor falling into the oceans on a lifeless planet. The meteor breaks into many peices and a single cell comes out.
You control this cell and can reshape it, add parts to it, and eat other cells or plants.
==Creature==
Once your creature grows a brain and is on the path to sentience, it evolves lungs and swims to the land. You control one of your creatures,
and you must kill or befriend other creatures to grow a larger brain.
==Tribe==
Once you have reached sentience, your creatures begin to understand the world around them, and build tools to help them. Your creatures join [[Image:Tribal Obsession.jpg]]

together to form the first tribe on the planet. You must once again choose to follow either a violent or peaceful path.

==Civilization==
Your species builds a city and begins to fight for global domination.
==Space==
You pilot a starship looking for the center of the galaxy.

[[Category:John I. M.]]

DO NOT CLICK HERE!!!

Johnny — Sat, 22 Dec 2007 04:37:13 GMT

Summary:

WHY DID YOU CLICK HERE????????????????????????????????????????????????

I JUST TOLD YOU NOT TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can if I want to! {{EdSig}}

J Sports

Johnny — Sat, 06 Oct 2007 14:31:00 GMT

Summary:

==Welcome to the Sports Page!==

'''''A secret sport is being revealed for all to see RIGHT HERE!'''''
Jball has been played in secret for 3 years. I have been inviting only select people for playing this sport.

<table border="1">
<tr>
<td>row 1, cell 1</td>
<td>row 1, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>row 2, cell 1</td>
<td>row 2, cell 2</td>
</tr>
<td>row 3, cell 1</td>
<td>row 3, cell 2</td>
</table>

My home page

Johnny — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:54:24 GMT

Summary:

== Johnnyopedia ==
== Welcome! ==
This is my home page.
== Video Games: ==
*<html><FORM METHOD="link" ACTION="http://www.gumnick.com/wiki/index.php/Spore"> <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Spore"></FORM></html>
This link leads to information about the game.

*<html><FORM METHOD="link" ACTION="http://linerider.com/en/node/365244"> <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="LineRider"></FORM></html>
A simple and easy, but fun flash game. Draw lines and watch the animated figure sled on them.

*<html><FORM METHOD="link" ACTION="http://copperwolf.on.toribash.com"> <INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Toribash"></FORM></html>
Download Toribash here. It is a fighting game. (Warning: Lots of animated blood.)

----



[[Category:John I. M.]]

Question 1

Johnny — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:38:15 GMT

Summary:

How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?

<poll>
Answer here.
<i>
</poll>

Impossible quiz

Johnny — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:02:42 GMT

Summary:

==Impossible Quiz==
No one has ''ever'' passed this quiz.

==[[Question 1]]==
The first question of many.

==[[Answers]]==
Cheaters would ''love'' this page

Election

Johnny — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 14:58:39 GMT

Summary:

Election
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Carreers

Johnny — Mon, 07 May 2007 19:02:39 GMT

Summary:

At age seventeen she
began a carreer as a teacher in Massechusetts.
For six years, she taught school
and then made her own school in 1836.
After ten years she gave up
teaching and worked as a politician, but
later opened another school in New Jersey. When she got very old she studied
healthand became the first war nurse. She formed the American Red Cross and
began to also help in natural disasters.

{{Headless box|
|boxcolor=#EE0000
|textcolor=#FFFF00
|text=[[Image:School.jpg]]}}

==Links==
*[[Back]]

Childhood/Background

Johnny — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:13:15 GMT

Summary: /* Birthday, Birthplace, Date of Death, Place of Death */

==Birthday, Birthplace, Date of Death, Place of Death==
Birthday:December 25, 1821
Birthplace:North Oxford, Massechusetts
Date of Death:April 12, 1912
Place of Death:Glen Echo, Maryland

==Family==
Clara Barton's parents were Stephen
and Sarah Barton. Her two older
brothers and two older sisters taught
her spelling, arithmetic, geography,
and athletics. When she started
started school at age four she found it
very easy and began studying philosophy,
chemistry, and Latin.

{{Headless box|
|boxcolor=#EE0000
|textcolor=#FFFF00
|text=[[Image:ClaraBarton.jpg]]
<<<Clara Barton's house as a child.|left}}

----

==Other Links==
#[[Back]]
#[[Next]]

Clara Barton

Johnny — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:54:29 GMT

Summary:

==Clarissa Harlowe Barton==

[[Image:Barton.jpg]]

{{Headless box|
|boxcolor=#EE0000
|textcolor=#FFFF00
|text=[[Image:Example.jpg]]
^Clara Barton^
[http://www.incwell.com/Biographies/Barton.html]}}

<poll>
Have you heard of Clara Barton?
<i> Yes
<i> No
</poll>

==[[Childhood/Background]]==
==[[Carreers]]==

School Projects

Johnny — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:27:26 GMT

Summary:

=='''Projects'''==

* [[Clara Barton]]

This is a test

Admgumni — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 19:07:27 GMT

Summary:

Gumnick News

Johnny — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:43:16 GMT

Summary:

Let’s turn this into our “Newspage.” If you’ve thought of some urgent news that you’d like everyone to see, write a note about it here.Our editor will change the notes into articles.

{{HotTopic|
|date=2/25
|item=<font color="green">'''Now Hiring'''</font>:Editor for newspage.
}}



[[Category:News]]

!

Johnny — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 13:21:58 GMT

Summary:

{{MezSig}}

[[Image:bulb_tiny.png]]

{{JohnnySig}}

{{EdSig}}

{{BobSig}}

{{BethSig}}

{{Anne.gif}}

Tip: Name

Johnny — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 02:54:02 GMT

Summary:

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JohnnyLand News

Johnny — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 14:49:06 GMT

Summary:

This is my “bulletin board.” If you’ve got something new that you’d like everyone in JohnnyLand to see, write a news report about it here. Put new reports at the top of the list, and I’ll remove old news from the bottom.

'''Helpful hint:''' If you add this page to your “watch” list, you’ll get an e-mail whenever someone makes changes here!



----
{{HotTopic|
|date=:I can't remember
|item=I, Johnny Ivar Malmberg, was declared Grand Emperor of Johnnyland by the first Johnnyland National Decree.
}}
----
{{HotTopic|
|date=:2/24/07
|item=''The JohnnyLand News'' was started.
}}
----
{{HotTopic|
|date=:2/24/07
|item=Robert J. Malmberg was hired as ''The JohnnyLand News''' editor
}}


[[Category:John I. M.]]
[[Category:Malmbergs]]
[[Category:JohnnyLand]]
[[Category:News]]

Page where i will write a completely boring, uneventful, and plotless story that nobody cares about just to waste time

Johnny — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 03:19:16 GMT

Summary:

This will be a highly detailed story about nothing. Nothing is made up of a highly complex molecule called nada.

THE END

Roman Holiday 2006 III

Ed — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:32:53 GMT

Summary:

{{EdRomeTOC}}
== Wednesday, November 22 ==
I forgot to mention that on Tuesday afternoon, I fried the power supply for my laptop. I’d been working for an hour or so at the Internet café in Piazza Barberini when I noticed that the laptop wasn’t charging, even though it was plugged into a power strip. Then I discovered that the power supply casing was burning hot. I unplugged it and let it cool completely before trying it again, but it was a goner.

So my first errand on Wednesday was to replace it, because the computer’s battery was down to almost no remaining charge. On our 2001 trip, Mark and I had had to hunt down a means to archive photos off our camera’s memory card, and in the course of our search, we’d run across a store that sold Apple computer equipment. So I took the Metro over toward the store.

[[Image:Leaves_on_rain.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Rainy sidewalk, Via Merulana]]On the walk from the Metro stop to the Apple store, I happened upon a cell-phone store. Nothing in the window was as cheap as what I’d seen a few days earlier, but a bird in hand is worth two in the bush, so I went in to see what I could get. The shopkeeper didn’t speak much English, but I was able to convey that I wanted something inexpensive and not too small. (My chubby fingers have a hard time with the current trend toward ultra-miniaturization of electronics.) He fixed me up with one that didn’t cost a fortune. It uses a system called TIM, wherein you buy a tiny memory card coded with a phone number, and then you can have your account recharged from time to time at any TIM outlet.

Now I’d be able to walk around with a cell phone stuck to my ear like the real Italians!

I was delighted to find the store exactly where I remembered it to be. (That’s often <i>not</i> the case when I go searching for things in Rome.) I was also relieved to find it open for business, and they had exactly what I needed. The new power supply came with modular attachments for two different types of European power outlet and also accommodates the American attachment I was able to salvage from the toasted one.

[[Image:San_giovanni.jpg|thumb|right|200px|The façade of San Giovanni in Laterano]]The success of my errand took the edge off the morning’s cold, wet weather. Since I was in the vicinity, I decided to walk down to San Giovanni in Laterano. I’d seen it on all my previous trips, but it’s always worth another look. And I’d never gone across the street to take a look at the Scala Santa, the Holy Staircase purportedly from the Jerusalem palace of Pontius Pilate, flown to Rome miraculously through the intervention of some saint or other. (I’m not making this up.) But like so many things in Rome, the Scala Santa has very limited hours. I got there just moments before noon and got only a quick peek at the wondrous staircase before the docent shooed everyone out for the midday closing. The silver lining was being tossed out into the piazza just as the storm was beginning to clear and catching this marvelous view of the basilica as the sun burst through the gray clouds.

A visit to the church, and a chance to sit for a few minutes playing with my new phone. The first trick was figuring out how to change the language from Italian to English—no small feat. Then I keyed in all of the phone numbers I’d accumulated (both of them). The first call after I left the church was to my new friend, Augusto, who was due to get off work around noon. We made plans to meet up in the same spot.

[[Image:Augusto_cooking.jpg|thumb|left|Augusto Campaña]]He picked me up on the <i>motorino</i> and whisked me away to his house, where another delicious meal was in the works. (I confess that I don’t recall what it was, because every time I showed up Augusto cooked me another wonderful dish. It might have been some form of pasta on this occasion.)

After our late lunch and a nap, it was time for soccer practice. Augusto gathered together his gear. Everything was red with yellow accents—the colors of Leonina Sport. We hopped on the <i>motorino</i> for the short ride down to the soccer field. Augusto pointed out some bleacher near mid-field and suggested that I watch from there.

I tried to get comfortable on the wooden bleachers. But a cold front had passed through in the morning, so everything was a little damp, and the cold breeze had picked up after the sun went down. To make matters worse, about half an hour passed by before Augusto and his teammates even emerged from the fieldhouse. I imagined that their coach had things to discuss with the team after they suited up and before practice started, but I never found out for sure.

By the time they started doing warmup drills, I was chilled to the bone. I was also feeling guilty about how little exercise I’d gotten that day, and my guilt was compounded by the sight of all those guys stretching and trotting around the field. I wasn’t dressed for a workout, so I decided to take my chances on a walk. This being Italy, I also reasoned that I wouldn’t have to walk too far to come across a hot cup of coffee.

The neighborhood around the soccer field was mostly commercial, so there were no people anywhere in sight and not a lot of street lights. But I knew that we weren’t far from the main road back toward the center of Rome, so I set out in that direction. Once I got to the main road, I had to climb a few dozen stairs to get up to street level. The road passed over a huge railroad right-of-way, maybe 10 or 12 sets of tracks, which lead toward Tiburtina, one of Rome’s most important railway stations after Termini. (When I’d parted company with him on Sunday, my friend Michele was headed for Tiburtina to catch his train back home.)

Across the tracks, the neighborhood turned more urban—the usual Roman mix of five- and six-story apartment and office buildings with small businesses, shops, and restaurants at ground level. In the first few blocks, I found several coffee bars to choose from. The half-mile walk and a strong, hot shot of espresso were just what I’d needed.

<br clear="all">This is as far as I’d gotten when it was time to return home. I arrived back in the U.S. on December 1 with lots of works waiting for me and Christmas coming on fast, so I never got around to writing about the rest of the trip.

== Thursday, November 23 ==

== Friday, November 24 ==

== Saturday, November 25 ==

== Sunday, November 26 ==

== Monday, November 27 ==
[[Image:Imperial_forum.jpg|thumb|700px|left|Part of the Imperial Fora—at the left edge, you can see Trajan’s Column. In the distance along the railing at right, you can faintly see the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine across the Via dei Fori Imperiali in the Roman Forum.]]

Roman Holiday 2006 II

Ed — Wed, 29 Nov 2006 13:25:58 GMT

Summary: /* Tuesday, November 21 */

{{EdRomeTOC}}
==Sunday, November 19 ==
Sunday started in the usual way: Italian breakfast in the tiny dining space in the reception area on the fourth floor of Hotel Doge. <i>Cornetti</i> (“little horns”), the Italian version of croissants, not as delicate or crispy, but more moist, and coffee in any of several forms. The first couple of days, I had caffè latte, but then I figured out that the woman who runs the coffee bar most days makes a better cappuccino, so that’s now my morning beverage of choice. It’s stronger and hotter than the caffè latte. I also got over my shyness one day and asked for a second <i>cornetto</i>, and now she offers me two right at the start, one plain and one filled with pastry cream.

I checked in and did a little work at the Internet café in Piazza Barberini. (It’s expensive, but it’s convenient, and they let me use my own laptop, which makes it worth the extra expense.) There I rendezvoused with Michele.

We wandered over to a church that I hadn’t managed to see in three previous visits to Rome, San Luigi dei Francesi (St. Louis of the French, one of [[Dad]]’s patron saints). Mark and I tried to go there on our 2004 trip with Patrice, Sherry, and Cookie, but we kept finding it closed. (Many minor churches in Italy operate on the same extremely limited business hours as retail businesses—open for a few hours in the morning, then a few more in the late afternoon and early evening.) San Luigi is the French national church in Rome, dedicated jointly to Saint Louis, Saint Denis (San Dionigio), and to the Blessed Virgin, the three patrons of France. It houses Caravaggio’s remarkable masterpiece <i>The Vocation of Saint Matthew</i>. But we didn’t get to see it. Mass was in progress, in English no less! We took seats in the back. In about five minutes—the amount of time it took me to realize that it was a funeral Mass—an attendant came over and asked us to leave.

Michele found it most amusing that the first time I’d tried to go to Mass, they threw me out. Undaunted, we set out to find another church—not much of a challenge in Rome. We passed three or four in our five-minute walk down to Via Vittorio Emanuelle I, the road that leads out of the old city toward the Vatican. We popped in at San Pantaleo (they’ve got all kinds of saints here that you’ve never heard of), but no Mass was in progress. Then across the street to the beautiful, thoroughly gold-leafed Sant’ Andrea della Valle (St. Andrew of the Valley). Success! A public Mass was in progress, and only approaching the end of the Liturgy of the Word, so I believe that makes it official (like playing through the home fifth inning).

After lunch, we walked down to the Via dei Fori Imperiale, which runs along the northern side of the Forum. It’s a wide street with broad sidewalks on both sides, and on Sundays, it’s closed to motorized traffic. It’s a beautiful setting for strolling, and Michele tells me that they also close it off for outdoor concerts in the summer. The street is too long to see a stage from one end to the other (or even from either end to the middle), so they put up huge video screens along both sides. That would be something to see! <b>Mental note:</b> Come back to the Rome in the summeror stay until summer rolls around.

On Sunday, the strolling Italians and sightseeing tourists are met by hundreds of southern Asian street peddlers selling all kinds of junk and guys dressed as Roman centurions offering tourists the opportunity to have a picture taken with them. Michele looked at a scrawny 5’ 8”-ish centurion and said (in Italian), “He is <i>not</i> a Roman! <i>You</i> are a Roman.” I would have been more flattered by the compliment if I hadn’t immediately understood that the judgment was all about the poor guy’s stature rather than that ineffable Roman-ness to which I aspire.

By the time we’d walked down to the Colosseum, the temperature had worked its way into the mid 70s. Everyone who wasn’t souvenir-shopping or waiting in line to get into the Colosseum was sprawled on any available flat surface soaking up the sun. We exercised that option. After basking for an hour or so, we climbed the Esquiline Hill, and I got to play tour guide for a change. Michele had never been to the Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains, where the (alleged) chains in question are on display, along with the (much more plausibly authentic) Michelangelo statue of Moses.

In my narrative so far, I haven’t been going into a lot of detail about the food, partly because I don’t want to make anyone jealous about all the delicious pasta and pizza and ice cream and coffee that I’m consuming, but mostly because if I mentioned <i>all</i> the meals, you might start to get the impression that all I do is eat. It’s important to put the eating in perspective; the usual pattern is: walk two or three miles seeing some sights, stop to eat something, walk a mile or two seeing some sights, stop to drink something, etc., etc. A lot of introduction just to get to this: We ate a late lunch of Chinese food. Nothing was remarkable about the food—for the most part, it’s the same as American Chinese food, with slight differences in the vegetables used. And it’s served in the order of a typical Italian meal, with an obligatory pasta dish coming before any meat. The names are kind of fun: <i>involtini primavera</i> (spring rolls), <i>pollo alla kung pao piccante</i> (Kung Pao chicken), etc. We had a “culture bump” when I ordered hot and sour soup—Michele told me that only old people eat soup, and I tried to get off the hook by explaining that in the U.S., everyone eats soup, but he would have none of it.

After lunch, we hit the streets again.

This seems like a good point to inject a tribute to my shoes. The only pair of shoes available for the first four days of this trip turned out to have been a great find—they remain comfortable even after 12 hours of walking around on cobblestones. No blisters or sore toes. I’m a Sketchers customer for <i>life</i>! Or maybe all the weight I’ve lost since my last trip is responsible for the improvement in the quality of my walking experience. In any case, my feet are still going strong after more than a week. And all the stair-climbing is having its usual effect, too—calves of steel!

By the way, by Saturday night, my camera battery was dead, and my luggage was still missing, so there’s no photographic record of Sunday. That’s a pity, because among the places we explored was the lovely Romanesque church of San Vitale. St. Vitale’s martyrdom (torture and crucifixion, it would appear) is depicted in excruciating detail in frescoes around the main altar. The other striking feature of this church is that its floor is at the level of 12th or 13th century Rome, so you have to climb down a few dozen steps from Via Nazionale to enter.

The neighborhoods around most older churches have been excavated more extensively, so the changes in elevation aren’t usually so striking, but at San Vitale it’s easy to see how much the ground level has risen over the centuries. From what I understand, periodic flooding of the river is responsible for most of the change, but it’s hard to fathom the long, slow cycles of ebb and flow of civilization that it had to have taken for entire neighborhoods to disappear into the mud and to become the foundations for new neighborhoods later on.

We sat for a long time on the steps of a decrepit palace—under redevelopment as some sort of residential/commercial complex—watching people walk by. I taught Michele the word “gaydar.” He liked it a lot and now tries to make it a part of every conversation. He taught me a few words of Italian gay slang, but I’m not sure how vulgar they are, so I won’t share them here.

Then we headed in the direction of the train station, because it was almost time for Michele to head north for the work week. On the way, a visit to a Sicilian-style bakery, where I ate a chocolate cannoli, my first since college, I think. (I used to eat them almost every day when I was at University of Dallas at Rome; there was a wonderful <i>pasticceria</i> near the place where we changed buses.)

After I’d seen Michele off, I hiked back to my hotel where I made the delightful discovery of my suitcase in the hallway outside my room. Hurrah! Fresh clothes and chargers for all the electronics.

== Monday, November 20 ==
Monday was the first day that the weather wasn’t so beautiful, so after breakfast, I spent the rest of the morning in my room writing, editing an article for an HTML e-mail project, and catching up on reading and replying to e-mail. (When I work in the hotel room, I have to save outgoing messages to send later, so I’m not doing a lot of that.)

When the rain let up, I meandered up the street toward the Spanish Steps. I found a promising looking <i>tavola calda</i> (“hot table”) and bought a few slices of pizza and a bottle of water. Then on to Piazza del Populo, where I attempted this panoramic series of photos:

[[Image:Populo_panorama.jpg|thumb|left|650px|Piazza del Populo, a 150° or so view from the spot where I ate lunch on Monday. Mark would have done a better job on this panoramic thing, but it gives you the general idea, and maybe he can make something better out of my raw photos when I get home.]]<br clear="all">

I ate my lunch in the middle of the piazza, having to get out the umbrella once or twice. By the time I was finished eating, the rain had stopped and it was turning into another beautiful day. I felt a little lost without Michele’s dynamic company, so I went into wander mode—my default setting in Rome when I’m not sure what to do next: walk a few blocks in an unfamiliar direction and see what crops up.

That day, it was a surprising view of the Ara Pacis, Augustus’ Altar of Peace. I don’t recall seeing the Altar when I was hear in college, and on our previous two visits, the area in which it sits was completely cordoned off with construction barriers. I’d had no idea what was in the works. Apparently, since some time before 2001, they’ve been working on constructing a new building to house the Altar. The new facility opened two months ago. The building is a beautiful modern design. [[Image:Altar.jpg|right|thumb|180px|The museum that houses the Ara Pacis.]] But I would have to wait a little longer to get a look at the Altar itself, because I discovered that like most museums here, it’s closed on Monday. Drat!

Then I went off on a wild-goose chase. While strolling in the Prati district, Michele and I had stopped to look at cheap cellular phones in a shop window. I’d been contemplating buying a cheap phone to sign up for the free wireless Internet access in the Villa Borghese park, and I also figured that it would be handy to have one as a way to keep in touch with any new friends I might make.

I should have bought one when we saw them the first time, because try as I might, I couldn’t relocate the store in question. First I went to where I thought we’d seen it. Nothing looked familiar. Then I headed for a spot one major street up and a couple of blocks over that seemed like the next best guess. I started to recognize more and more landmarks from our walk on Saturday evening, and eventually retraced a good bit of our route, but still no luck. The trouble with an errand like this one in Rome is that 1) the streets rarely follow any kind of grid (because it’s hilly, and [[Image:Vatican_museum.jpg|thumb|left|Entrance to the Vatican Museum]]because a lot of the roads are fairly recent additions that had to be routed around palaces, temples, churches, city walls, the river, and so forth; 2) shops are only open for a few hours in the morning and a few more in the late afternoon and early evening; and 3) many of them are closed up in the intervals as tight as a drum behind rolling metal blinds that protect against burglary and graffiti. The blinds even cover up the signs over most of the doors, so unless there’s an awning with a sign, there’s no way to tell what’s hiding behind them.

I gave up. My route back to my own neighborhood took me past the entrance to the Vatican Museum. A sign there says that the museum is celebrating its 500th anniversary this year. I hope to find time to get there—you don’t often get to take part in the 500th anniversary of <i>anything</i>.<br clear="all">

== Tuesday, November 21 ==
Success at last! My first stop of the day (after coffee and <i>cornetti</i>, of course) was San Luigi dei Francesi, and it was open, and no one kicked me out. Alas, I took nothing but blurry photos, but the best of the bunch is at right. [[Image:San_luigi.jpg|thumb|right|150px]]The Caravaggio <i>Vocation of Saint Matthew</i> is spectacular, but hangs on the left wall of a chapel that you can’t enter, so photography was out of the question. It’s Caravaggio at his best—full of anachronisms, jokes, visual puns, and unanswered questions.

Next I stumbled upon Palazzo Altemps, a medieval palace that was extensively expanded and remodeled in the Renaissance. It was home to lots of princes of the church, most notably Cardinal Marco Sittico Altemps, whose family name the palace has born ever since. In the modern age, it’s been restored as a site of the Museo Nazionale di Roma. Visitors can see vestiges of the medieval building, including walls of a tower that were incorporated into the foundations of the palace, coffered and arched ceilings and frescoes from the Renaissance period, and sculpture from the collections of several families who once lived in the palace. [[Image:Sarcophagus.jpg|thumb|left|The Ludovisi Sarcophagus in Palazzo Altemps]] I had the whole place almost to myself, so there was time to go slowly and see everything. What a treat! So I took more photos here than I usually do, and you can see the better ones in the [http://www.gumnick.com/gallery Photo Gallery]. Look for the “Palazzo Altemps” album inside my “Rome photos” album if you’re interested.

On my way to the Ara Pacis, I ran across the church of Saint Augustine, where some of the mortal remains of Saint Monica (Augustine’s mother) are venerated. There’s also a Caravaggio. I can’t remember the title, and my photos are so bad that I can’t discern the subject matter. (It sort of defeats the purpose of a travelogue to say, “You had to be there,” doesn’t it? Sorry about that.) [[Image:San_agostino.jpg|thumb|right|San Agostino|150px]]

And then, at last, the Holy Grail of this particular day’s sightseeing: the Ara Pacis. Augustus’ Altar of Peace is an artistic, historic, and archaeological story without parallel. It was built around 9 or 10 B.C. on a spot a few hundred yards from where it now stands. It celebrated the period of peace and prosperity that followed Augustus’ victory over his imperial rivals and various foreign enemies. The Altar is a square marble building with openings in the front and back. It’s covered inside and out with exquisite relief carvings of a procession of priests, Roman notables, and the members of Augustus’ family; there are also floral decorations and scenes of significance in Roman mythology. The interior space is filled almost entirely by a bench-like structure where animal sacrifices were made.

[[Image:Ara_pacis.jpg|thumb|left|The Ara Pacis]]In the ages following the fall of the Roman Empire, it was covered over by river mud and lost. Pieces of it turned up in art collections, but it wasn’t until key fragments were found in the 19th century that archaeologists realized what the pieces added up to. Now the reconstituted Altar stands in a glorious modern shelter across the street from the mausoleum where members of Augustus’ family were laid to rest. [[Image:Altar_detail.jpg|thumb|right]]

It was a beautiful day, and my head was crammed full of enough history and art and wonder for the moment, so I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering aimlessly. Across the river, a picnic lunch in Piazza Cavour, then back home by way of my usual Internet café in Piazza Barberini to catch up on e-mail and see what’s happening at the home base.

[[Image:River_sky.jpg|thumb|left]]There I also chatted online with one of several Roman friends who’d expressed an interest in meeting up. I’d spoken to Augusto on several occasions, so I felt fairly comfortable when he suggested we get together. The only hitch: He’s from Ecuador and doesn’t speak a word of English, unless you count profanity. Not entirely confident that I was carrying out his instructions correctly, at the appointed time, I took the Metro down to Termini (the central train station), changed subway lines, got off the train at Piazza Bologna, and left the station by the Via XXI Aprile exit. No sign of him at first, so I hung out near the Metro stairs. I couldn’t make up my mind whether I was better off trying to look conspicuous or trying to look inconspicuous, so I settled on trying not to look like an idiot who may or may not have been where he was supposed to be. (Not as easy as it sounds.)

A few minutes later, a handsome little guy in a leather bomber jacket and motorcycle helmet walked up and said, “Eduardo?” I’d sort of envisioned us <i>walking</i> wherever he had in mind for us to go, but he led me over to his <i>motorino</i>—what we’d call a motorscooter, I guess—and handed me a helmet. Fleeting thoughts that this would be an exciting ending—robbed and left for dead in an alley on the outskirts of Rome. But then it occurred to me that someone planning to kill me probably wouldn’t have offered me a helmet. (Okay, I confess that I also thought he was too cute to be a murderer.)

My first scooter ride was terrifying! For one thing, it was already dark. And we wove up and down several hills, around some pitch-black curves, and along a big, wide, scary, busy street for a few blocks before we got to our destination. He laughed at me later for having held on for dear life. After a couple more rides, I’d gotten the hang of holding on with my knees (so I could talk with my hands, as any Roman <i>motorino</i> passenger worth his salt would do).

An hour or so of <i>passeggiata</i> and stumbling conversation in my limited Spanish, and then back on the scooter to Augusto’s house, where he had a late dinner ready—an Ecuadorian dish of stewed chicken and rice. Then another exciting ride back to Piazza Bologna so that I could catch the Metro before it shut down for the night around 10 p.m. We made plans to meet up again the next day.

[[Roman Holiday 2006 III|continue >>>]]

J

Johnny — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 01:03:03 GMT

Summary:

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Roman Holiday 2006

Ed — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 15:54:21 GMT

Summary:

{{EdRomeTOC}}
== Thursday, November 16 ==
Mark picked me up from the house around 8:30 a.m. Houston time. We got to the airport in no time flat on the Hardy Toll Road, then I breezed through check-in and security. Since I’d allowed more than enough time, I found that my flight was delayed by an hour and half.[[Image:Clouds_wing.jpg|thumb|150px|left]]

But glad to finally be starting my vacation, I made the best of it—found a fairly quiet spot and fired up the iPod. When our boarding time was only a few minutes away, they announced that because of bad weather in the northeast, we’d have to take an alternate route to Philadelphia, so the plane had to take on extra fuel, so the flight was “weight restricted.” They asked for nine voluntters to leave the flight. I hid in the back of the crowd.

I had been worried that I wouldn’t be able to stay awake through my 2-1/2-hour layover in Philadelphia, but it turned out not to be a problem, since we arrived in Philadelphia about five minutes after my flight for Rome left. Airways rebooked me on a flight to Munich, which was to leave at 8:15 p.m. We boarded the plane on time, but then spent more than an hour on the Philadelphia taxiway waiting for clearance, or an alternate corridor, or some such airline thing.

== Friday, November 17 ==
[[Image:Munich.jpg|thumb|200px|The airport, Munich|right]]Munich (12:15 p.m. local time)—I’m in the airport waiting for my connecting flight to Rome. I can tell I’m in Europe because there are people <i>smoking</i> in the airport. Imagine it!

Only a few moments to write, because I’m on 30-minutes-for-5.95-Euros Internet connection.

As my Lufthansa flight headed from Munich Rome, I finally had time to start worrying about my luggage. Fortunately, I didn’t have the <i>energy</i> to worry about it, so I consigned it to the category of “the things we cannot change,” and spent most of the 80-minute flight napping.

Sure enough, my suitcase was nowhere to be seen on the Lufthansa carousel. The woman at the luggage claims desk suggested that I go take a look on the U.S. Airways carousel, which is in Terminal C, which could be reached by walking through the corridor marked “Staff only.” This suggestion had “international incident” written all over it, but I put on my best “I know where I’m going and I belong here” face and posture. No one bothered me, but I didn’t find my bag in Terminal C.

I returned to the claims desk to start the process of recovering my suitcase. Turns out that the baggage-claim stub must have been attached to a piece of paper that the airline agent in Philadelphia didn’t give back to me after she processed my rebooking. But I’d held on to every scrap of paper that I’d ever been handed throughout the journey, and the baggage people were able to reconstruct the information they needed through some combination of boarding pass stubs, my passport, and a receipt for two slices of pizza from the Philadelphia airport. I suspected that they read the exhaustion in my face and just told me what I wanted to hear: not to worry—they’d find my bag and bring it to my hotel.

On the way out of the airport, I ran into an American family who’d been going through their own luggage travails. The pre-teen girl whose bag was lost was looking very teary-eyed. In a moment of Dad-like enthusiasm I said, “Look at it this way: You’re going to get a couple of new Italian outfits to wear!” (I’m not sure which of us I was trying to cheer up.)

Silver lining! It’s <i>so</i> much easier to get from the airport to your Rome hotel if you’re not lugging a 40-pound suitcase! Especially if you’re too cheap or proud or “adventurous” to take a cab, so you insist on taking the 25-minute train ride followed by riding two stops on the Metro and then walking the rest of the way. Especially when you turn the wrong direction coming out of the Metro station and walk half a mile in the wrong direction before you admit you’re lost and stop to buy a map.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Boarding the train to go from the airport to the city, a young Polish woman asked me to help with her heavy suitcase. (Her share of the silver lining.) We spent the ride talking about Poland, Rome, and Polish people in the United States. Then I helped her haul her bag off the train. A few yards down the platform, she was greeted enthusiastically by a gorgeous young Italian man. I wasn’t, which doesn’t seem quite fair in a karmic kind of way.

From the platform, it’s just a few thousand yards—or meters, as the case may be—to the entrance to the subway. I went by way of an ATM, where I stocked up on wonderful play money. I’m in total denial about the exchange rate. It’s the only sensible approach to a European vacation.

My layover in Munich and the delay at the baggage-claim desk put me right smack in the middle of the Friday evening rush hour. All I could think in the subway car was, “Is that awful smell <i>me</i>, or the other 300 tired, sweaty people in here?”

Then we reached the Barberini stop, and I made my wrong turn. I walked a few blocks and asked a few people if they knew where Via dei Due Macelli is. They didn’t; no one in Rome ever seems to know the name of any street more than 100 yards from their own front door.

I was feeling very down-on-my-luck, and I contemplated the stupidity and vanity of having bragged to someone in recent weeks that “I could never get lost in Rome,” and then (as I turned from Via della Some Church or Another into Largo di a Beautiful, But Not Significant Enough to Be in Your Art History Book, Fountain) I started to think about all the times in previous travel that abject despair has given way to delightful surprises in a matter of moments. And then the bustling rush-hour crowds stopped being scary strangers, and the ridiculously steep, narrow streets turned from dark alleys into nothing more intimidating than a backdrop for this particular adventure.

A moment later, I emerged suddenly into the bright lights of Via Nazionale, a major shopping thoroughfare and an unmistakable landmark. I popped into a bookstore and bought a map of the city. Ten minutes later, I found Via dei Due Macelli. And there at the end of my street was the promised land: an Upim store—Italy’s somewhat more stylish version of Target. For the first time in my life, I had an impulse to go shopping! But first, I had to check into Hotel Doge.

My room is on the third floor. There’s an elevator, but it’s cramped and creaky and doesn’t fill me with confidence, so except for the first time I had to ride up to the reception desk on the fifth floor, I always take the stairs.

[[Image:Room_IMG_0516.jpg|thumb|right|My room, a.k.a., the Rome Headquarters of Starfall Graphics]]The room is tiny. That’s not a problem—I’m spending almost no time here. The bed is also tiny. It’s been a lot of years since I fell out of a bed, but it might happen before my stay here is over.

After I checked into the hotel, I stopped in at my room to make myself as presentable as possible under the circumstances, then headed down to the Upim. I ran into trouble right away—an XL man in Italy is not the same thing as an XL man in the U.S. I had to go with XXL shirts, and a couple of those aren’t going to be a perfect fit until I walk off a couple more pounds. Still, they’re Italian, so they’re well made and more stylish than anything I’d buy at home.

The real adventure was shopping for underwear, one of the more profound cultural divides between Europe and America. They don’t have anything quite like our “tighty whities,” but they offer for sale a lot of things I’d feel very silly wearing (even with clothes on top of them). The diplomatic solution: Boxer briefs. But what size? Theirs ranged from a 3 to a 7. I grabbed a few items that seemed about right, then headed for the checkout counter staffed by a 20-something guy. He blushed when I asked him what size I ought to wear and called for help from a delicate young man working elsewhere in the department, who looked me up and down and gave me a dismissive “These are good.”

Rome (8:15 p.m. local time)—Sitting in an Intenet café in Piazza Barberini (about five minutes from my hotel). I hardly know where to begin—very tired and getting hungry, but I wanted to put down at least a few words while today’s odyssey is still fresh in my mind.

About the time I was writing the paragraph above, I made my first Italian friend. While I was checking e-mail, he settled in at a machine near where I was sitting and struck up a conversation. He asked if I like rugby. I told him that I’ve never played it, or even watched very much of it. He asked if I would like to go to a rugby game on Saturday. I gave a noncommittal answer, since it wasn’t immediately clear whether he was inviting me to go with him or trying to scalp a ticket.

[[Image:Michele.jpg|thumb|150px|left|Michele]]We made some small talk, and when I left the café, he followed me outside and asked, “What are you going to do now?” I told him that I didn’t know, so he asked if I wanted to go with him to see the hotel where Tom Cruise is staying. Apparently, Tom Cruise and his wife-to-be are staying in a hotel just a few minutes from mine {but needless to say, much nicer) in preparation for their wedding, which is to take place in a castle somewhere near Rome. My new friend, Michele, said that lots of American celebrities have been seen coming and going (he specifically mentioned Jim Carrey) in the vicinity. So we wandered over there to attempt some celebrity-watching. No stars were to be found.

[[Image:Fiori.jpg|thumb|150px|right|Campo de’ Fiori]]Next we wandered down to Campo de’ Fiori. It was a beautiful warm evening, so there were throngs of people out walking everywhere we went. At Campo de’ Fiori, we bought gelato (the inexpressibly wonderful Italian ice cream) and then later had some red wine. (Too sweet for my tastes.)

<br clear="all">
== Saturday, November 18 ==
[[Image:Villa_borghese_IMG_0520.jpg|thumb|left|The view from my park bench]]As I write here on Thursday (Thanksgiving) morning, I’m starting to think that I’m already so far behind in journaling this trip that I’ll never catch up. But it’s a vacation, so I’ve decided not to let that bother me too much. I’ll see if I can at least hit the highlights of the days that have already gone by.

On Saturday, I spent a couple of hours writing in the Villa Borghese park. Mark had done some research for me and figured out that most of the park is set up for wireless access. I had to play around with firewall settings for half an hour to get my machine to accept ping requests, only to find out that you need a cell phone to sign up for the free service. Yeesh. (You are <i>nobody</i> in Italy without a cell phone.)

I tabled that project for a while and I met up with my friend Michele at Piazza del Populo. We spent a couple of hours wandering the shopping district near the Spanish Steps and had a minor celebrity sighting—an Italian movie actor whose last name now escapes meChristian something. Next time I’m online, I’ll do a little Googling to see if I can figure it out. We picked up sandwiches and bottled water for a picnic lunch, which we ate sitting in the piazza outside the Porta Flaminia (Flaminian Gate) on our way toward the Stadio Flaminio.

It occurs to me that I haven’t mentioned in any of my previous writing that the weather has been nearly perfect most of the time that I’ve been here. The temperature at night has been in the high 50s, and during the day it’s been getting up into the low 70s. We’ve had some rain, but never for more than a few hours a day, so it’s been easy to schedule around it. Yesterday (Wednesday) a cold front must have passed through—by evening, it was probably in the low 50s, which is a little nippy for whizzing around on the back of a motorscooter. But I’m getting ahead of my story.

[[Image:Festival_IMG_0523.jpg|thumb|left]]Michele and I walked to the Flaminian Stadium, where the Italy–Argentina Rugby Test Match was to take place. There was a street fair in the park in front of the stadium. Hundreds of rugby fans were buying jerseys, pins, pennants, kooky hats, food, and of course, beer. When the time of the game approached, we made our way to our seats. They were on what would have been about the 35-yard-line in a football stadium, and about 20 rows up from field level. An announcer introduced the Argentine team, then the Italian team. A marching band played the Argentine national anthem. Then the crowd rose to its feet and belted out the Italian anthem. It was very moving—they love their country, or at least they love singing the national anthem! Everyone seemed to be singing at the top of their lungs, and whenever their was a rest in the music, you could hear the echo thundering back from the other side of the stadium.[[Image:Anthem_IMG_0529.jpg|thumb|right]]

This is the point where I confess that I have <i>no</i> idea how rugby is played. I spent the first half of the game trying to work out some rules by deductive reasoning, then I gave up and went with the flow—I got excited when everyone else got excited and screamed myself hoarse whenever the people around me screamed. Michele scolded me for not chanting “I-TA-LIA! I-TA-LIA!,” but I was afraid to give myself away as a tourist with my bad accent.[[Image:Rugby_IMG_0537.jpg|thumb|left]]

Italy played well (or was lucky, perhaps) in the first period; the score at halftime was 9–3 Italy. But Argentina came roaring back with 20 unanswered points before Italy could scratch out another touchdown—if that’s what an end-zone run is called in rugby—for a final of 23–16 Argentina. It rained for about 15 minutes at the start of the second period, but the sun was out the whole time, so the end of the game was a steamy affair.

After the game, Michele and I wandered across the Tiber [[Image:Tevere_IMG_0545.jpg|thumb|right|The Tiber at night]]to the Prati district, a fairly new (i.e., only developed over the last125 years) residential area north of the Vatican. It was the time of day for the <i>passeggiata</i> (“the walking around” is about the best translation), the time after work and before bedtime when Italians wander the streets, window shop, meet up with their friends, eat, drink, and talk.

In the company of my Italian friend, I began to appreciate the <i>passeggiata</i> at a level that I’d never grasped before. One all of my previous trips, I’ve spent a lot of time focused on destinations—the next sight to see, the next church, the next fountain, the next delicious meal—but the <i>passeggiata</i> is entirely about the journey. It’s about seeing people and being seen, enjoying the wonderful mild climate, the ordinary sights and sounds and smells, the ever-changing displays in shop windows, and talking and talking and talking.

(As I was descending the stairs to leave my hotel one morning, I heard what sounded like an angry mob outside. It turned out to be two Italian men having a friendly conversation.)

[[Image:Corso_IMG_0551.jpg|thumb|right|Saturday night on Via del Corso]]Our stroll took us down Via Cola di Rienzo, a busy shopping boulevard named after the Italian populist dictator of the Middle Ages who was Mussolini’s role model. From there we crossed the river again to return to the old city by way of the Flaminian Gate, through which we’d passed about eight hours earlier. We headed south along the Via del Corso. This ancient road runs along the east side of the Campo Marzo (Campus Martius, “Field of Mars,” a military training ground in the Imperial age) and through the center of Rome’s financial district and a lot more good people-watching. Then past the spot in the Largo di Torre Argentina where Julius Caesar met his end and across the river yet again to Trastevere.[[Image:Maddalena_ceiling_IMG_0553.jpg|thumb|120px|left|The ceiling of Santa Maria Maddalena, which we visited during our evening walk]]

Trastevere used to have a reputation as the bohemian-artistic-tawdry part of Rome, but like so many bohemian-artistic-tawdry neighborhoods (Montrose comes to mind), it ain’t what it used to be. Gentrification and its popularity as an offbeat tourist destination have diminished the “character” of the area. But they’ve also taken the edge off the crime rate, so it’s not all bad.[[Image:Sta_maria_tras_IMG_0555.jpg|thumb|right|Santa Maria in Trastevere]]

I was beginning to think Michele would never get hungry again (and I hate always being the one to ask, “Is it time to eat yet?”), but we <i>finally</i> stopped at a pizzeria on the main boulevard. We drank a liter of house red wine and ate <i>baccalà</i> and pizza. <i>Baccalà</i> is battered and fried cod filet. I think it’s dried, salted cod that’s been reconstituted by soaking, but my language skills are too limited to ask Michele questions at that level of detail. At any rate, it was delicious.

On the walk back to my hotel, Michele was scandalized to learn that I hadn’t been to Mass iner, um,let’s just say “a while,” so he promised that the next day he would come pick me up and take me to church. I warned him that we should watch out for lightning (<i>fulmine</i>).

[[Roman Holiday 2006 II|continue >>>]]

On the Menu

Ed — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 05:16:09 GMT

Summary:

{{FavContents}}Delights for the discerning (and occasionally ravenous) Gumnick palate.
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{{Col1/2}}
=== Bagels ===
I will never forgive my family for creating my bagel/bread addiction, which I blame for my excess 40 or so pounds. Sorry, Gumnicks, but it's all your fault.

My dentist told me I have TMJ and should give up bagels because they are hard on your jaw, and I said, "I'm sorry. I can't do that." That is just not a sacrifice I am willing to make. (Granted, I have cut back greatly in recent years, less because of my jaw and more due to the fact that the bagels of today are about the equivalent of 5 pieces of bread. But I still love them and always will.)

I think the addiction originated in Houston when we lived in a Jewish neighborhood and near a particularly good bagel shop, maybe? Maybe it sounds like a stereotype, but I think that is how we were exposed to the start of the bagel craze. We got them a lot, especially on Sunday mornings after church, and that was a nice way to segue into Sunday afternoon. Many of us did butter and cream cheese on our bagels, which today grosses me out a little. I am strictly cream cheese now.

Anyway. Gumnicks love bagels. Or as [http://www.amazon.com/Hes-Whole-World-His-Pants/dp/0684825090 my favorite misheard song lyrics book]says (sung to the tune of "Viva Las Vegas"), "PEOPLLLLE LOVE BAGELS!" {{BethSig}}<blockquote>You might also enjoy this entry on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondegreen Mondegreens].{{EdSig}}</blockquote>

=== Buckeyes ===
Or indeed, peanut butter and chocolate combined in almost any form!

=== Cheese Deez ===
Take a slice of bread, and put some slices of cheese on it. Melt it under the broiler. Enjoy the contrast between the bubbly, crispy top and the steamy-moist underside. Yum!{{EdSig}}

=== Dough Balls and Lumpy Quik Milk ===
When we were kids, I enjoyed taking a piece of white bread and smooshing it into the tightest, densest ball possible and eating it. Also, I would purposefully dunk a spoonful of Quik into the milk and not stir it, but wait until globs of Quik bubbled to the surface, then I ate them with a spoon. (and I actually admit all this!) {{anne.gif}}

{{Col2/2}}
<table cellpadding="15px"><tr bgcolor="beige"><td>
[[Image:Cones.gif|right]]
=== Ice Cream ===

Almost everybody loves ice cream, but Gumnicks are genetically blessed to be able to <i>hear</i> the frequencies of sound emitted by ice cream, which are outside the range of hearing of normal people. I can’t keep ice cream in the house, because sometimes I wake up to hear it calling my name in the middle of the night, and then I have to have a bowl of ice cream for breakfast the next morning.{{EdSig}}

Unfortunately, the ice-cream-obsession gene is passed through the mother. Thus, the Swanson children are both afflicted. They do not forget it is there. Kenneth will ask for it for breakfast. It's dairy, so that makes it okay, right? Bob does not understand this problem and is most unsympathetic. (He is confounded by the candy-obsession affliction, as well.) {{anne.gif}}

I have found that the frequencies it emits are capable of mind control if the ice cream is good enough!{{JohnnySig}}

Even the most high tech machines on the planet cannot pick up the sound!{{JohnnySig}}
</td></tr></table>
<br>

=== Peanut Butter Spoons ===
I’m not sure why Mom didn’t like for us to enjoy peanut butter in its purest form—right out of the jar on a teaspoon. Maybe she thought that after we finished licking the PB off the spoon, we’d dip it back in the jar for some more (which we probably would). Or maybe she didn’t like finding saliva-coated spoons lying around on family-room furniture. Or maybe she thought that if we got tired of licking the PB off the spoon, we’d let one of the dogs finish it off (which we also probably would).

This topic gives me an idea for a new page: [[Top 10 Lists]]!{{EdSig}}

May I concur that the peanut butter spoon remains a delicacy in the lives of Gumnicks even today. I have a jar of peanut butter and a bag of spoons in my office at work, no kidding. It's right next to me right now.

A great variation of the peanut butter spoon is the peanut butter apple. Take an apple, a jar of peanut butter, and a knife<ref>Another variation on the Peanut Butter Spoon is the Peanut Butter Knife. Be sure to use a butter knife or dinnerware knife and to avoid drawing the edge with the little sawteeth (if any) across your tongue. Also, in your enthusiasm to consume as much peanut butter as possible as quickly as possible, don’t poke yourself in the uvula.<blockquote>I found an [http://www.recipetips.com/kitchen-tips/t-7-1075/Types-Kitchen.asp interesting page about knives] while researching this footnote.{{EdSig}}</blockquote></ref>. Bite the apple. Scoop some peanut butter out of the jar, smear it on the bitten part of the apple. Bite the peanut butter smeared part of the apple. Repeat until apple is gone.

Peanut butter is perhaps nature's most perfect food and can be used in just about any recipe to improve the taste of the final product<ref>My research suggests that there is almost no recipe or food product that cannot be improved by the addition of one (or sometimes two) of the following ingredients:
* Chocolate
* Peanut butter
* Garlic

(A notable exception is [[Not-so-favorites#Smoked Eel Sloppy Joes|Smoked Eel Sloppy Joes]].){{EdSig}}</ref>. It's true. It is the best thing to happen to mankind since ice cream and bagels. [http://www.peanutbutterlovers.com/ And we're not the only ones who think so.] {{BethSig}}
{{References|
|title=Notes
}}

{{ColEnd}}



[[Category:Trivia]]

Piazza San Pietro

Ed — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 19:02:56 GMT

Summary:

{{Col1/2}}<CSO_iFrame>src="http://www.gumnick.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=1244&g2_GALLERYSID=430511b2ba4f4cf7407f7d0a7ab20a1d" style="width:250px;height:200px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="1"</CSO_iFrame><br clear="all"><br>View of the Bernini colonnade around Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter’s Square) from one of the focal points. From anywhere else in the piazza, the colonnade looks like a wall, but from either of the two focal points, you can see through the colonnade into the surrounding neighborhood.

The mob that’s visible at the end of the video clip is people lined up to get into the basilica. We decided to come back early in the morning on another day, so we didn’t have to wait in that line.

{{Col2/2}}
{{ColEnd}}

[[Category:Ed]]
[[Category:Mark]]
[[Category:Vacations]]

Dogspeak/Catspeak.

Beth — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 12:43:42 GMT

Summary: /* Birdspeak */

{{Col1/2}}
Dogtionary? Favorite pet-related words and expressions, expressions our dogs/cats know and love/hate. Feel free to add to this, including ones from our dogs growing up.
== Words they know (Well, the dogs do, who knows with cats)==
{{Col1/2}}
*Din-din
*Ridies
*Walk
*Squirrel
*Sit<br>
*No (but they act like they don't know what it means)<br>
*Treat
*Rawhide<br>
*Leash<br>
*Hungry<br>
*Outside
{{Col2/2}}
*Kitty<br>
*Aunt Jane<br>
*Aunt Kathy<br>
*Grandma<br>
*Gan-Gan<br>
*Mama<br>
*Daddy<br>
*Ray-Ray<br>
*Jacks (the name of Rebel and Shadow’s favorite frozen-yogurt shop in Houston)
{{ColEnd}}

== Birdspeak ==
<CSO_iFrame>src="http://www.gumnick.com/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=34&g2_GALLERYSID=9bfa8869b3ab9c440c7d29091ab16999" style="width:250px;height:200px;" scrolling="no" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" frameborder="1"</CSO_iFrame><br clear="all"><br>The little guy who was perfectly happy talking to himself….{{EdSig}}

{{Col2/2}}

== Expressions they react to ==
;Who do you love? : The question that makes Jaz squirm and cover her face and act totally precious and adorable when we ask it. So we ask it a lot.
;Do you want a bath? : Stella knows what it means when you ask her. She high-tails it out of whatever room you are in when you ask it.
;What are you doing? : The first thing Rich always says to the dogs when he comes home. They get insanely excited because they think he is saying, "I am going to give you a treat now."
;Go to bed. : Stella goes to the bedroom and jumps on the bed when you tell her this.
;Get the kitty. : Stella goes into "cat police" mode when you say this and chases whatever cat is closest.
;Lie down.
;Backseat.
;Go outside.
;Do you want....
;Not now/Later. : This actually calms Stella down when you say it. Like if you said, "Do you wnt to go for a walk?" and she then got all excited, then you could say, "Not now, later" or "Later we'll go" and she will calm down like she understands that it is not going to happen yet.
;Where's....(insert name of person/other pet)?

== Other dog and cat stories ==
Jaz now believes that every time someone is in the kitchen she should get a treat. She comes in and started dancing around and acting all excited. We haven't trained it out of her because we figure she is at least getting SOME exercise that way.

One of Stella's favorite activities is biting at the stream of water coming out of the hose. I remember Rebel used to love to do that too.

Babe LOVES Jaz and rubs up against her all the time, but Jaz doesn't "get it" and gets this look on her face like she is getting cat cooties, but she is too submissive to do anything to chase Babe off.

{{BethSig}}
{{ColEnd}}

[[Category:Pets]]

James Schap (great uncle)

Ed — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:25:31 GMT

Summary:

Husband of [[Aunt Marie]]; younger brother and next-door neighbor of [[Grandma]].

[[Category:Ancestors|Schap, James]]
[[Category:Uncles, Aunts, Cousins|Schap, James]]

Marie Schap (great aunt)

Ed — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:24:31 GMT

Summary:

Wife of [[Uncle James]]. They lived in the house next door to [[Grandma]] in Middle River.

[[Image:Reunion_1986_chair.jpg|left|thumb|200px|{{Caption03}}]]

[[Category:Ancestors|Schap, Marie]]
[[Category:Uncles, Aunts, Cousins|Schap, Marie]]

What’s with the Different Calendars, Anyway

Ed — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 22:08:18 GMT

Summary:

{{Col1/2}}
As you may have noticed, there are two different calendar functions on Gumnickopedia:
* [[Gumnick Family Calendar]]
* [[Upcoming Events]]
The first one uses a separate application called WebCalendar with its own system of user accounts. It has lots of options for different views (month, week, day), separate categories so you can look at a calendar for just birthdays, just events, etc. It also supports recurring events, which the other one doesn’t.

The second one uses a MediaWiki extension, so the events are more integrated with the rest of the site, and you can use all the same formatting features—fonts, colors, pictures, tables, etc. Each event is on its own page, and you can use the little calendar on [[Upcoming Events]] to get to monthly listings of events. But you can’t sort events into monthly listings of separate categories, and you can’t set up recurring events; after a birthday passes, for instance, you have to revise the page to make it show up again next year, and again the year after that, and so on.

Both systems have their pros and cons, so I thought we could experiment for a while to see which calendar works better for our needs (or whether neither one does).

{{Col2/2}}
To add an item to the little calendar and list of upcoming events on the [[Upcoming Events]] page, you have to make a page for the event, and then format the page using the <nowiki>{{Event}}</nowiki> template. The formatting for a sample event, [[Beth’s birthday]], looks like this:
<pre>
{{Event|
|longdate=November 11
|month=11
|day=11
|year=2006
|description=Number 36!
|alphabetize=Beth
}}
[[Category:Beth]]
</pre>

Once you plug in the variables, the <nowiki>{{Event}}</nowiki> template takes care of categorizing the event into the category “Events” and also into a a specially named category for the date to which the event belongs—in this case, a category called “2006/11/11.” Feel free to copy this code and try setting up some events, and then give me your feedback on whether this is a useful way to manage calendar items.

I’ve been playing around with different ideas about where to stick the calendar, so if you keep coming back and seeing calendars in different spots, bear with me, and [mailto:ed@gumnick.com give me your feedback] about the various possibilities.{{EdSig}}

<poll>
Which calendar do you prefer?
<html><a href="/wiki/index.php/Gumnick_Family_Calendar">Gumnick Family Calendar</a></html>
<html><a href="/wiki/index.php/Upcoming_Events">Upcoming Events</a></html>
</poll>
{{ColEnd}}

[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Help]]
[[Category:Site Management]]

Gumnick-Malmberg Wedding

Ed — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:47:45 GMT

Summary:

===== November ??, 1988? 1989? I can’t remember =====

Dig through those photo albums! We need some pictures and reminiscences here.{{EdSig}}

<gallery>
Image:Twins.jpg|“The twins”—[[Beth]] and [[Ed]] at [[Mary]] and [[John E. Malmberg|John]]’s wedding.
Image:Handsome.jpg|[[John Thomas Gumnick|John]] and [[Ed]] looking pretty spiffy—it was all downhill from here….
</gallery>



[[Category:Mary]]
[[Category:John M.]]
[[Category:Malmbergs]]
[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Weddings]]

Gumnick-Swanson Wedding

Ed — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 18:41:58 GMT

Summary:

===== June 29, 1985 =====

Yeah, it’s ancient history, but we should be able to come up with something to put here, right?{{EdSig}}

<gallery>
Image:Ed_dad_bowtie.jpg|[[Dad]] helping [[Ed]] get dressed for Anne and Bob’s wedding.
Image:Gauge.jpg|Brass tire-pressure gauge—the groomsmen’s gift. Can be found in [[The Museum]].
</gallery>



[[Category:Anne]]
[[Category:Bob]]
[[Category:Swansons]]
[[Category:Events]]
[[Category:Weddings]]

Keys of Heaven prayer book

Ed — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:41:03 GMT

Summary:

=== <i>Keys of Heaven</i>, A Collection of Approved Prayers for Catholics ===
c. 1907<br>
3.875" h x 2.75" w x .875" thick

Belonged to [[Catherine Quaty Birch|Auntie]], and inscribed with her name on the front flyleaf, dated June 13, 1909.

Now in the private collection of [[Edward Francis Gumnick]].

<gallery>
Image:Keys_1_sm.jpg|Front cover
Image:Keys_2_sm.jpg|Inside front cover and flyleaf; “L.B.” is [[Leo Birch|Leo Birch]] (“Unc”)
Image:Keys_3_sm.jpg|Frontispiece and title page
Image:Keys_4_sm.jpg|Sample interior pages, including a calendar of movable feasts for the years 1908 to 1921
</gallery>

[[Category:Artifacts]]
[[Category:Dogma]]
[[Category:History]]

The Museum

Ed — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 22:26:46 GMT

Summary:

{{Col1/2}}
''Silence, please! Do not touch the artifacts. You are being monitored by closed-circuit television.''

We welcome donations to The Museum. You may create new halls and exhibits as needed. If you have more than one photo for your exhibit, you can set up a separate exhibit space and place one photo here as the entrance to your exhibit, as I’ve done for Auntie’s prayer book.

If you’re not comfortable setting up your own exhibit, [mailto:ed@gumnick.com The Curator] will be glad to help you.

''Be sure to visit our gift shop on your way out. Refreshments are available in the coffee shop.''{{EdSig}}

== Hall of Relics ==
[[Image:Keys_0_sm.jpg|left|thumb|250px|<i>Keys of Heaven</i> prayer book of [[Catherine Quaty Birch]] (“Auntie”)  {{TriRt}}[[Keys of Heaven prayer book|MORE]]]]

{{Col2/2}}
== Hall of Souvenirs ==
[[Image:Gauge.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Brass tire-pressure gauge, the groomsmen’s gift at [[Gumnick-Swanson Wedding|Anne and Bob’s wedding]]. Courtesy of the Edward F. Gumnick Collection.]]

{{ColEnd}}

[[Category:Artifacts]]
[[Category:Photos]]
[[Category:History]]

Not-so-favorites

Ed — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:57:00 GMT

Summary:

{{FavContents}}
{{Col1/2}}
=== Smoked Eel Sloppy Joes ===
{{Simple box|
|boxcolor=#cc6666
|headcolor=white
|head=Editor’s Note
|textcolor=white
|text=The incident described below happened after I’d gone off to college, I think; I wasn’t around for it. Someone who can give a first-hand account should feel free to edit/amend this anecdote.{{EdSig}}
}}

Legend has it that one day Mom had something to do in the late afternoon or evening, so she left [[Mary]] in charge of coming up with something for dinner.

[[Image:Eel.jpg|right]]Mary looked around the kitchen and found some buns and a packet of Sloppy Joe mix. Then she went to the freezer to look for some meat. She couldn’t find any ground beef, so she decided to get creative. She thawed out a package of smoked eel. (She couldn’t have known that the writer of the instructions on the packet of Sloppy Joe mix had very ''deliberately'' left out “…or substitute 3/4 pound of thawed smoked eel.”)

Gumnicks are generally ''not'' picky eaters, but it’s said that not even Mom or Dad could choke down a bite of Mary’s innovative dish.

My mom says not to squash her imagination because if you had not insulted her sloppy joes she would have become a good chef. and she says thats just mean

=== Candy Store ===

This was a favorite place to go, but the woman who owned it was old, crabby and scary. I can't remember her name, but I think her son also worked there. This was a place where you could get penny candy. It was in one of those old wooden cases, behind glass. So, you had to ask for what you wanted. I remember being scared going into the store (the promise of candy was the only thing that made it tolerable!) I also remember it was a pretty far walk from the house, but going was an adventure in independence. (I think we walked past a cemetary and through some dark woods to get there.)
: That old lady was horrible! [[John]] might be able to remember her name, because one of his first jobs was working there.{{EdSig}}

{{Col2/2}}
{{ColEnd}}

[[Category:Anecdotes]]
[[Category:History]]
[[Category:Memory Lane]]
[[Category:Wit]]

Tip: Multi-page Table of Contents

Ed — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 23:30:00 GMT

Summary:

{{Tip|
|text=
You can use a template to create a box or bar that contains links to several related pages, then place it on all of the relevant pages.

For example, on all of the pages related to the [[Gumnick-Jones Wedding]], we’ve used a template called <code><nowiki>{{GJWeddingContents}}</nowiki></code>, which looks like this:
<pre>
<table cellpadding="4" width="100%">
<tr bgcolor="lavender">
<td align="center" valign="middle">
Gumnick-Jones Wedding pages: [[Gumnick-Jones Wedding|Main]]
| [[Gumnick-Jones Wedding: The Readings|The Readings]]
| [[Gumnick-Jones Wedding: The Guest Book Table|The Guest
Book Table]] · See also [[Gumnick Family Reunion 2006]].
</td>
</tr>
</table>
----
<includeonly>
[[Category:Beth]]
[[Category:Rich]]
[[Category:Weddings]]
</includeonly>
<noinclude>
[[Category:Templates]]
</noinclude>
</pre>
This code sets up a single-cell shaded table with links to all of the pages that belong to the related group. Then there’s a horizontal rule (<code><nowiki>----</nowiki></code>), and then a list of categories within <code><nowiki><includeonly></nowiki></code> commands, which makes pages that use this template show up in the Beth, Rich, and Weddings categories, but not the template itself. There’s also a <code><nowiki>[[Category:Template]]</nowiki></code> command within <code><nowiki><noinclude></nowiki></code> commands, which causes the template, but not the resulting pages, to be listed in the Templates category.
{{Col2/2}}
To use the template, we paste the code<pre>{{GJWeddingContents}}</pre>at the top of each of the relevant pages. Then if we decide to add a new page to the group, we can link to it from all of the other pages by adding a new link to the table-of-contents template (instead of editing every page in the group). (Also, paste the <code><nowiki>{{GJWeddingContents}}</nowiki></code> code at the top of the new page.)
}}

Bob’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:59:32 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=February 15
|month=02
|day=15
|year=2007
|description=Birthday of [[Robert Christopher Swanson|Bob]]
|alphabetize=Bob
}}
[[Category:Bob]]

Rich’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:58:10 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=April 27
|month=04
|day=27
|year=2007
|description=Birthday of [[Richard Joseph Jones|Rich]]
|alphabetize=Richard
}}
[[Category:Rich]]

Becky’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:56:57 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=July 2
|month=07
|day=02
|year=2007
|description=
|alphabetize=Becky
}}
[[Category:Rebecca]]

Lori’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:56:14 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=June 9
|month=06
|day=09
|year=2007
|description=
|alphabetize=Lori Gumnick
}}
[[Category:Lori]]

Joan’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:54:19 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=June 10
|month=06
|day=10
|year=2007
|description=
|alphabetize=Joan Swanson
}}[[Category:Joan]]

Kenneth’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:52:42 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=September 13
|month=09
|day=13
|year=2007
|description=
|alphabetize=Kenneth
}}[[Category:Kenneth]]

Jane’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:44:51 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate= September 4
|month=09
|day=04
|year=2007
|description=[[Jane]]’s birthday
|alphabetize=Jane Gumnick
}}
[[Category:Jane]]

John M.’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:42:24 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate= February 24
|month=02
|day=24
|year=2007
|description=[[John E. Malmberg|John Malmberg]]’s birthday
|alphabetize=John Malmberg
}}
[[Category:John M.]]

Robert’s birthday

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 23:38:19 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=August 24
|month=08
|day=24
|year=2007
|description=
|alphabetize=Robert
}}
[[Category:Robert]]

Anniversary: Beth and Rich

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:53:35 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=July 15
|month=07
|day=15
|year=2008
|description=Two years!
|alphabetize=Beth and Rich
}}
[[Category:Beth]]
[[Category:Rich]]

Holiday: Valentine’s Day

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 22:09:16 GMT

Summary:

{{Event|
|longdate=February 14
|month=02
|day=14
|year=2007
|description=Birthday of Her Majesty [[Pets#Gumnick/Jones pets|Stella]].

In some less-enlightened cultures, this date is also celebrated as Valentine’s Day, “The Ultimate [http://www.hallmark.com Hallmark] Holiday.” (So-called in spite of the fact that it turns out to be sponsored by [http://www.history.com/minisites/valentine/viewPage?pageId=882 American Greetings].){{EdSig}}
|alphabetize=Stella’s birthday
}}
[[Category:Holidays|Valentine’s Day]]

Michael Gumnick (cousin)

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:30:13 GMT

Summary:

[[Image: dad_and_bros_small.jpg|thumb|left|250px|{{Caption01}}]]

Son of [[Priscilla Gumnick (aunt)|Aunt Priscilla]] and [[Michael Gumnick (uncle)|Uncle Mike]].



[[Category:Family Members|Gumnick, Michael 3]]
[[Category:Uncles, Aunts, Cousins|Gumnick, Michael 3]]

Leo Birch

Ed — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:20:16 GMT

Summary:

[[Auntie Catherine Birch|Auntie]]’s husband



[[Category:Family Members|Birch, Leo]]
[[Category:Ancestors|Birch, Leo]]
[[Category:Uncles, Aunts, Cousins|Birch, Leo]]

That's Gumnick-tainment

Beth — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:41:18 GMT

Summary:

{{FavContents}}
Favorite movies, TV shows, plays, and music.... Feel free to add your own individual faves along with those that are "Classic Gumnick."

{{Col1/2}}
==Movies==
;The Sound of Music
;The Wizard of Oz
;How the Grinch Stole Christmas
;The Year Without a Santa Claus
;A Christmas Story
;Princess Bride
;It's a Wonderful Life
;Monty Python and the Holy Grail
;Raiders of the Lost Ark

==TV Shows==
;MASH
;Hogan's Heroes
;The Electric Company
;Gilligan's Island
;The Carol Burnett Show
;The Benny Hill Show

{{Col2/2}}

==Plays and Musicals==
;The Music Man
;Camelot
;Jesus Christ Superstar
;Godspell
;Evita
;The Man of La Mancha

==Music==
;Gordon Lightfoot
;The Beatles
;Captain and Tenille
;The Little Drummer Boy (Christmas Album)
;Vivaldi's Gloria



[[Category:Trivia]]

The Readings

Beth — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 16:53:35 GMT

Summary:

{{GJWeddingContents}}
[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ecclesiastes%204:9-12;&version=31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12]

[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%204:7-21;&version=31; 1 John 4:7-21]

[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2015:9-17%20;&version=31; John 15:9-17]