Shelby's Life and Whatnot

A HappyBeagle Hiatus

The three of us are going on a German adventure! Yes, that means the dog too. We're heading to St. Goar, Baden Baden, and Rothenburg. Will return on Tuesday, probably won't blog until Wednesday. See you then!

Smitten

You may notice my little mood picture is set to "smitten." I'm totally smitten with my husband. I encountered some memories today that reminded me of how much I love him and what a great marriage we have. I love you honey!

What is John Kerry Doing in Hamburg?

I just saw John Kerry! What is he doing here? Courting that untapped majority of ex-pats in Hamburg?

Okay, it may have just been someone who looked like John Kerry.

Last night we went to the movies and saw Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The good news about German movie theaters is that there's a bar where you'd usually find popcorn and you can take your bottle of beer into the theater with you. Bad news: no popcorn, at least not at this theater. Anyway, Eternal Sunshine was good. I have to say I am extremely impressed with Kate Winslet's acting talent. She played the role amazingly. The movie itself was quite strange. It's one of those where you leave the theater saying "well, I think I liked it." And then you think about it for a couple of days after. I would recommend it.

Oh, and while I was searching for Eternal Sunshine on imdb I see that the second season of Six Feet Under comes out on DVD in July. It's about time!

Monday Madness

Well Kevin says he's not going to blog until I update Shelby's Life & Whatnot, so I thought I'd do the Monday Madness. On Tuesday.

1. I started blogging about a year and a month ago.

2. I try to post a new entry in my blog about every once a day, sometimes more days.

3. I read about 20 blogs on a regular basis.

4. I change my layout about zero times a year. (I don't know CSS and haven't really been that inspired to learn it, even though I have the best, most powerful web site software ever invented).

5. I used to spend an inordinate amount of time on a discussion board about diamonds, and now I blog instead.

6. I spend more time blogging than I do um, lots of things. Let's pick "going to the bathroom."

7. I tend to blog (and visit blogs) most in the mornings, afternoons, and evenings. And occasionally late at night. But never early in the morning.

8. The thing I enjoy most about blogging is talking and talking and talking and nobody telling me to STFU.

Sorry about the underlining. I thought it would be a good idea but it sucks and I'm too lazy to change it to italics or something.

The Seventh Level of Hell

Hmmm, I didn't do so well on this quiz. Seventh Level of Hell? I guess that's what you get for being honest.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

More about the 7th level of Hell...

"Guarded by the Minotaur, who snarls in fury, and encircled within the river Phlegethon, filled with boiling blood, is the Seventh Level of Hell. The violent, the assasins, the tyrants, and the war-mongers lament their pitiless mischiefs in the river, while centaurs armed with bows and arrows shoot those who try to escape their punishment. The stench here is overpowering. This level is also home to the wood of the suicides- stunted and gnarled trees with twisting branches and poisoned fruit. At the time of final judgement, their bodies will hang from their branches. In those branches the Harpies, foul birdlike creatures with human faces, make their nests. Beyond the wood is scorching sand where those who committed violence against God and nature are showered with flakes of fire that rain down against their naked bodies. Blasphemers and sodomites writhe in pain, their tongues more loosed to lamentation, and out of their eyes gushes forth their woe. Usurers, who followed neither nature nor art, also share company in the Seventh Level."

5 Transplants, 2 Days

The heart transplant folks at Stanford have been quite busy lately--transplanting 5 hearts in a 48 hour period according to a San Francisco Gate article. 3 adults and 2 children were the recepients of donated hearts during the stretch--an impressive number for a two day period when Stanford usually performs 37 adult and 17 pediatric heart transplants a year. It's so good to see the word about organ donation getting out there and these very sick people getting a second chance at life. And please, talk to your family about organ donation--you can save a life!

Snip Snip

Yes, it's Haircut Day in the Hogan Haus. After the two of us walking around with atrociously scraggled hair, we bit the bullet and went to the hair salon in the Hauptbanhof. Now we figured that the Hauptbanhof, being the main train station, would be more likely to have English speakers, and they did--kind of. They had one stylist who spoke English and translated to the two people who did our respective hair.

The place was basically a Supercuts, which was fine with me. Kevin had his hair cut dry but I have always found that to be problematic for me so I had the full shampoo, cut, blow dry experience. Both of us pretty much ended up with a shorter version of what we walked in wearing. Which, again, was just fine with me. My stylist was a good one, adding texture to my hair instead of the blunt cut I'd feared. So now we're good to go for another little while.

No Way!

A Nepalese Sherpa has broken the record for the fastest ascent of Mt. Everest, scaling the world's highest mountain in 8 hours and 10 minutes. Yes, that's right. From the bottom to the top in 8 hours and 10 minutes.

How long does it take most climbers? Oh, two to three weeks. Non-Sherpas have to stop at four camps along the way to acclimatize, but the Sherpas are amazing. They live on the mountain in low oxygen and are very strong. These guys kick ass.

Hat tip to Buzz.

A Meetup Meetup

We had a great time last night at our meetup through Meetup.com. Kevin and I went and convinced Dave and Frank to come along too. We figured if no one else showed, at least the 4 of us could have a nice meal--plus we hadn't met Frank yet. We weren't sure where to meet the other folks or even how many were coming. 5 other people besides us had RSVPd. The four of us kind of stood around the entrance until a guy came up to us and said "are you here for the expat meeting?" That was when we hooked up with Mark from Hawaii, Neil from Boston, and Bill from New Jersey. They were all really nice and we had a good time sharing how we'd gotten to Hamburg, how long we were staying, and what we thought about everything. The conversation ran the gamut from music (which we didn't participate in since we don't listen to much recent music), TV (which we didn't participate in since we haven't watched American TV for a couple of years), and surfing (which we did participate in, being the avid surfers that we are--kidding). No seriously, we talked about a lot of things that we all had in common. The next official Meetup meeting isn't until next month but we have all exchanged email addresses and talked about setting something up before then. I was a little apprehensive about the evening beforehand but I'm really glad I went and had a good time.

Be sure to read Dave's and Kevin's write ups of the event.

Kevin's entry also gives an update on Scout's current condition. Basically, she saw the doctor again today and he's pleased with the progress she's making. Still no stairs or jumping, but she's doing a lot better.

A Spammer Who Doesn't Want Spam

Now this is funny. Everyone knows that if you put your real email address on the web, spammers can automatically harvest that and send you spam. To combat this, many people use the words "nospam" in their addresses so that when you send an email you have to manually remove those words to have the correct email.

Well today I got a comment spam that looked like this:

IP Address: 210.18.158.254

Comments: [edited]

This cracked me up! Here we have a spammer disguising their email address so THEY don't get spammed. Oh, the irony.

That's the real IP address, by the way, in case you wanted to send some spam of your own.

Social Events, or Look Ma! I Made a Friend!

A quick Scout update--she's feeling significantly better. She's even trying to jump up on the couch. The weakness in her leg has cleared up and she's even stretching out. It's good to see her feeling better, but here comes the tough part--limiting her activities when she doesn't feel they need to be limited. No couch or stairs for a while, and being carried outside, which she pretty much hates. But I'm just really glad to see her perked up.

I've been a social butterfly. Or will be a social butterfly. Anyway, I made a friend! Go meet Dave. In late March I signed up at a website called Meetup.com, a website that coordinates in person meetings of people with similar interests. It turns out they have an American ex-pats in Hamburg group so I joined up. They meet once a month and I had to miss my first meeting because I was in the Netherlands, but while browsing the site one of the people who joined near the time I did left his email address in him profile. I dropped him a line and after a few emails we decided to meet for lunch. That was a while ago, but then our schedules collided and I was gone and he was gone, etc. so we didn't get a chance to meet again until today. Kevin came along this time as he was working from home due to Scout, and we had a really nice time.

And then it turns out that this month's Meetup meeting is tomorrow evening at a location very convenient to us. Apparently 6 people RSVP'd including me but not including Dave (they cancel the event if less than 5 people RSVP). Anyway, so Kevin and I decided to go and Dave and his partner Frank have also decided to go, so even if the meetup is a bust we can still have a fun dinner with the two of them. I haven't met Frank yet so that will be fun. So who knows--maybe after tomorrow I'll be able to hook up with some other English speakers and make other friends. That would be nice. I've been feeling rather isolated lately and I miss talking to people who aren't Kevin. I hope this goes well. I'll be sure to give you a full report.

Puppy Injury: Confirmed

Well, Scout does indeed have an injury. The vet thinks she has a slipped disc in her back that is pressing on the nerve of the left rear leg. It's bad, but not as bad as I had feared.

For now she's on severely restricted activity. Absolutely no jumping or stairs and a complete minimum walking. She must be carried out to go to the bathroom. The vet also suggested we attach a heat lamp to her crate as the heat will help alleviate her pain. He gave her 3 shots today and they have had an immediate effect. She's clearly feeling better although she has some weakness in that rear leg. She goes back to the vet for therapy on Friday (it's not clear what kind of therapy, but something) and will be on restricted activity for an undetermined amount of time.

Poor little dog. This is the second back injury she's sustained in about 6 months. I don't know how much good it will do, but I intend to take her to an orthopedic specialist upon our return to the states. I want to get her completely checked out including x-rays in case there's something we have missed. I hope this doesn't portend a lifetime of back trouble, but if it does, we'll deal with it. In the meantime she's getting lots of extra petties and treats.

Possible Puppy Injury

It's a sad day here at das Hogan Haus. We believe that Scout may have injured herself. Kevin is taking her to the vet in a few minutes so we'll know more in a couple of hours. We really like this vet and he's seen her before so we know she's in good hands.

It's so difficult to determine what might be wrong with a pet. For the last few days we knew something was up. Mild changes in her behavior, like a pronounced lethargy, was one sign. But it's so difficult to tell--is she sleeping all day because she's not feeling well, or is she sleeping all day because she's a dog? There were a few other signs pointing to trouble--her utter lack of exitement about going outside (to potty or for walks), her lack of scratching at the door to tell us that she needs to go out (instead just holding it until we coax her out), and her reluctance to walk up the stairs to the bedroom where she likes to spend at least part of the night with us.

At first we thought it was stomach-related. She has a very sensitive stomach and it gets upset at the drop of a hat. We hoped it would just pass and since she was still eating and not throwing up we weren't too worried about it. However, yesterday I noticed as we were walking up a few stairs to get to the elevator that she was reluctant to go up the stairs, was going very gingerly, and I couldn't quite tell but she seemed to be favoring her left rear leg. I checked out her back and leg and couldn't get a reaction out of her, so I just stored the information away. I mentioned it to Kevin and he also took a look at her and said he thought she was avoiding putting weight on her back leg but wasn't sure.

However, this morning (after another night of not coming up the stairs and after two days of not sleeping on the couch) Kevin took her downstairs and again she balked on the stairs. Kevin gave a tug on the leash and Scout yipped and then started holding up her left rear leg, so it's definitely time to head to the vet. Kevin is looking up some leg-related vocabulary in the dictionary (the vet doesn't speak English) and will be taking her in shortly. Hopefully it will turn out to be no big deal at all.

Please Stand to the Right

It's a kind of escalator etiquette--stand to the right, walk on the left. Unfortunately, clueless tourists are rude enough to block the entire escalator stair thus pissing off a number of locals who are trying to barrel up/down the escalator faster than the stairs can carry them. I thought this was a European phenonemon but apparently it's a pox upon Washington DC as well. You can even buy a t-shirt from standtotheright.com. From that website:

Why the hell is that moron from Ohio standing in front of you as you rush down the escalator and desperately try to make it to your train? Because he hasn't been educated properly. This website is trying to rectify the situation and it is YOUR duty, as a DC Metro rider to join the cause. By wearing the "Please Stand to The Right" t-shirt and buying as much merchandise as you can afford, you are standing up for your right to fly down the left side of the escalator, destroying everything in your path. No "excuse me" is needed, let them read the back of your shirt as they try to collect their loved ones and luggage.

Their graphics are pretty funny, so check it out. And please, stand to the right.

Hat tip to David.

What Does the Future Hold?

I figure I'm overdue for an update on our future plans considering I've been sitting on some information for a while, so here we go.

As many of you know, I applied to graduate schools this year for an MFA in creative writing. Unfortunately, I was not accepted by any of the graduate schools to which I applied. This was disappointing news, as I'm sure you can imagine. I felt that I had a strong application and chose a good mix of highly competitive and less competitive schools, but there were a few things working against me. First, I was really interested in small programs--I think the largest program I applied to accepted 25 people and the rest were under 10. Second, the completely subjective nature of creative writing is a challenge--getting accepted doesn't rely so much on the quality of your writing but how you manage to strike each reviewer. Third, with the economy in the shape it is, all graduate programs are packed with people out of work and looking to get ahead or follow their dreams. I think the junction of all of these factors was just too much to overcome for each of my applications.

That said, I can't deny it was a blow to my ego and confidence. I was pretty bummed about it for a couple of weeks, but I have had time to get over it. I have renewed my effort with my writing. I'm continuing to work on my novel and pursuing my writing career. As my very wise friend Dorothy said, "You don't need four walls and a professor to be a writer" and she's absolutely correct. My plan to be a full time published author is still on track and I also plan to continue taking workshops and classes as well as trying to find a good writer's group like the one I was in in San Jose.

So the question now is "where to go?" The Original Plan was to see where I got accepted to school and then move there, buy a house, and set up shop for a couple of years. With that having fallen through, we are pretty much free to go anywhere to live. With Kevin's work team here in Hamburg he's free to work remotely from anywhere, so our options are wide open.

After my 8 hellish educational years in the Midwest, I would most definitely like to live in California. After several heart to hearts about what we want for the near and distant future, we've decided that our number one priority is to buy a house. With this in mind, we're scouring the Internet to see what different locations have to offer us. San Jose is in the running, but with the housing prices there so high we are leaning away from it. We're looking into several cities in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. With my parents in LA and Kevin's in OC, not to mention a large collection of friends throughout the area, it's very appealing. We'd also like to be around the kids--Kevin's brother Zach who will be 13 in July, and our nieces Corie (8) and Seana (nearly 2).

But when will that be? We're not exactly sure. Kevin has been offered the opportunity to stay here in Hamburg for another 6 months. I'm still not sure how I feel about this--it's definitely not a light decision. The tax situation may be too much of an obstacle, however. We're allowed to work here for 6 months tax free, but it looks like if we do decide to stay we may be liable for a whole year of German taxes rather than just the 6 additional months. We're having an HR person run the numbers and see how that looks.

If we don't stay, our term is up at the end of July, which puts us back in the U.S. looking for a house in earnest at the beginning of August. So much is still up in the air that I really can't speculate further, except to say sorry Mary--I know Philadelphia has many fine things to offer but it's just not on our radar. I'll keep you, my faithful blog audience, updated when things become more firm.

Cool!

Someone asked me for directions today and I was actually able to help them! How cool is that? People ask me things on the street (usually directions) at least once or twice a week. I'm not sure what spawns this phenomenon--I figure I look friendly, I look local, or both. But up until today I haven't been able to answer anyone.

I was a block away from our apartment at a crosswalk when a man asked if I knew where the Musikhalle was. Conveniently, the Musikhalle happens to be across the street from our apartment so not only did I understand what he was saying, I was actually able to provide an answer. Okay, so my answer consisted mainly of pointing and saying yes when he asked "That building there?" but hey, it was an answer. Hooray for me!

Little Kids! The Horror!

Well I'm feeling a lot better today. Scout and I headed out for a long walk. She's been really cooped up in the apartment lately and that results in her behaving like an absolute brat, so it was definitely time to take her out.

We went to the park as usual and were trotting along nicely when we came upon a group of small children wearing identical red hats. They were clearly a preschool or kindergarten class and were SO CUTE! Scout, on the other hand, didn't think so. She got this terrified look on her face and planted her paws. Scout's not really a big fan of the just-potty-trained set. Little kids tend to run to her screaming and want to pet her not so gently and it scares her. Luckily none of the kids seemed that impressed with Scout and none tried to approach her. I dragged walked her past them and all was well.

And I saw a rare sight--a German dog doing something wrong. German dogs are impeccably trained (this may be part of the reason why we don't see any beagles--they're hard to train) and most walk around without a leash and stay quite close to their owners and always follow voice commands. Well on the way to the park we were waiting at a stop light when a loose Husky appeared on the opposite side of the street and bounded across the street with nary a glance to either side to come over and sniff Scout. Fortunately it was a very small side street so there were no cars. The owner soon followed and the dog got lead back across the street by the collar and made to sit and stay until the owner gave the command to cross again. Don't worry, there was no abuse involved, just teaching a lesson. Scout immediately demonstrated her grasp of the situation by attempting to dart directly into traffic at the next intersection. She's normally pretty good at crosswalks but for some reason that all goes out the door if we're either across the street from the park or if there's a grassy island in the median. For some reason the grassy island renders this not a regular street so the normal rules don't apply. I don't know. Anyway, I had her sit at the crosswalk and wait and that worked well.

International Blah Day

Well it seems that yesterday was Official Blah Day. While checking up on my favorite blogs (linked on the right) nearly all of them had a blah day yesterday. Obviously the focus of the news right now is very upsetting. On top of that we had some personal negatives--not anything big but just enough to bring you down a little. And to top it all off, the entire sinus system on the left side of my face has gone toes up. I've been fighting allergies for a few weeks now, and I think the congestion may have settled in nicely allowing bacteria to breed. I awoke with a plugged ear, congested nose, and a sore throat--but only on the left side. I don't think it's anything more than annoying--a dose of Dayquil cleared everything up except for some of the congestion--but it does leave you with a rather tired out feeling. So I'm going to take it easy today and nurse the left side of my face. Let's hope the Scouter doesn't decide she wants to go out every half hour. I'm glad we took a long walk yesterday because today she's getting a short one.

Blah

Today has been a rather blah day. I've got a lot on my mind and the recent news headlines have been very upsetting and discouraging. I also am starting to dislike one of my previously favorite blogs because the author has become a broken record of negativity, anger, and hate, so I've had to stop reading it for now. The highlight of my day was a very long walk Scout and I took through the park, which was very nice, although the temperature is quite chilly again. Kevin's day pretty much sucked as well, so we're just going to head out to an easy dinner at McDonald's and veg out here for the evening. McDonald's is comfort food for Americans in foreign countries.

Postcards for Mom Update

See previous Postcard entrieshere and here .

Well, Mom found out. The paper ran a follow up article. However the project may not be over! We'll see what Will has up his sleeve now.

A Wireless Mystery

I have a laptop here and connect to the internet via a wireless card. My connection tends to run the gamut from very good to nonexistant, but the last few days have been new and unique. It doesn't work when my laptop is on my lap. If it's on the footstool of our black leather Poäng, it works. Lap--no. Footstool--yes. Lap--no. My lap is a mere 2.5 feet away from the footstool but it just doesn't work. As a result, whenever I want to go to new sites I have to hunch over the footstool, and if I want to do any typing I have to bring it to my lap and forego my connection. How weird is that?

German class has suddenly become very difficult. We made it through the first book, which is really only Chapters 1-5 of a larger book (Chapters 6-10 are in the second book). Boy, this text really sucks you in. They start out all nice with "Hello, my name is Shelby. I'm sorry I spilled your beer. May I buy you another?" (okay, maybe just the name part), then move on to identifying kitchen appliances, as in "I wish I had an Elektroherd" (oven), fruits and vegetables, and things to do on a cruise ship. Then we started book 2 (actually Chapter 6) and wham, they slam a ton of grammar on you all at once. This is where it gets grueling. No longer am I the smart student. Now I actually have to know what all of those genders are because there are suddenly all kinds of endings that require this knowledge. And my blind guessing becomes really obvious. Poor me. I can't wait til we branch out from the present tense.

AKIMA!

Here it is--a picture of the long-awaited Akima and her humans Marc and Wendy! Isn't she a pretty girl? What a sweet face! Akima is 2.5 years old, 92 pounds, and adopted from Safe Harbor Lab Rescue in Denver. More about Marc, Wendy, and Akima below.

From Safe Harbor's Bio:
Akima was adopted today by Marc and Wendy Kormori Stager. It's easy to see they really love this big, gentle, shiny, beautiful girl and the feeling is mutual. Wendy used to raise puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind and is experienced with training. Akima is already enrolled in obedience class and is an eager attentive learner who is doing very well with her house manners. Akima has lots of walks and ball playing to look forward to as wells as a fishing trip or two with Marc!

Scout is proud to have played a part in Akima's adoption. Wendy has always been a dog lover and has had dogs in her life for a long time, but Marc had some negative experiences with badly behaved and annoying dogs and wasn't sure he wanted to adopt a dog. Back in San Jose where we met them, we started bringing Scout over to their house. Wendy does this amazing ear scratchie that no one else can duplicate, and Scout with her friendly manner started to win over Marc, showing him that dogs aren't always barking and annoying. Marc and Wendy dogsat Scout several times before they moved to Denver--including once when Wendy was gone for several days and Scout needed daily medicine, which Marc delivered like a pro. Branching out from Scout, Marc and Wendy got to know many other friendly dogs and spent a lot of time playing with them and dogsitting. Thanks to Scout and those other good dogs, Marc and Wendy came to agree that they wanted a dog in their lives. There were a few obstacles to be overcome, but after working out the details, Marc and Wendy were ready to open their lives to the unconditional love that is a dog. And now they finally have Akima! Scout is SO thrilled that Uncle Marc and Auntie Wendy have their own canine companion (even if she's a little jealous that Akima gets to have all of the special Auntie Wendy Ear Scratchies that she wants), and Kevin and I couldn't be happier for them. Welcome Akima and HOORAY FOR DOGS!

Postcards for Mom

We made the paper, and I got quoted! The full article can be found here and I've included it in the extended entry below. My brilliant contribution is in bold. Let's hope that no one lets the cat out of the bag and we can continue this project!

Don't tell mom
By Todd Frankel
Of the Post-Dispatch
05/08/2004

Every afternoon after she gets off work, Celeste Shepp sits down at her kitchen table, letter opener in hand, and reads the mail - hundreds of pieces of mail over the last seven months, all of it from people she doesn't know.

She's received letters and postcards from nearly every state and all over the world. Wishes of happy birthday and sweet notes. Business cards and mementos.

She doesn't know how these people got her address. She doesn't know why they're writing her. She is confused and flattered by all the attention.

"I'm just a nobody," Shepp, 50, insists.

The mail says otherwise. A sampling: "This is it! We finally got our rings! I'm so excited to be sharing this with you! Don't forget the wedding in September! Love, Jen and Eric," a couple from New Britain, Conn., wrote her.

If only she knew them.

Going into this Mother's Day weekend, Shepp still doesn't know what to make of it. She's accused everyone in her family of being behind it. But the cards keep coming, a steady stream of what she calls "silly mail" pouring into her home in Winfield in Lincoln County, about 45 miles northwest of St. Louis. Unable to stop it, she's learned to like it.

"I look forward to the mail now," says Shepp, who works as an aide at a St. Peters school helping a disabled kindergartner.

Shepp's son, Will Hanke, who lives in Arnold, knows all about the mail. But don't tell his mom. What started as a small joke on his mother has ballooned to include thousands worldwide thanks to online word-of-mouth and Hanke's Web site postcardsformom.com.

This story is about more than just a fine-tuned practical joke. It's about mom.

Will Hanke loves his mom. And the idea of writing en masse to someone's mom - anyone's mom - touched many of the thousands of people who have visited his site, the 2,000 people who so far have requested his mother's address and the hundreds who have sent kind notes to her.

They sense how Hanke feels about his mom, and maybe how they feel about their own.

"I think it comes from a deep affection for his mother," Shelby Hogan, 30, an American living in Hamburg, Germany, and a prolific mailer to Hanke's mom since February, writes in an e-mail interview.

"I think everyone loves to get mail," Hogan adds. "... There's something special about receiving a postcard or a letter that someone actually took the time to hand write and mail. Even if it's from someone you don't know."

Dana Kirkwood, who lives in West Lafayette, Ind., mailed a second postcard to Will Hanke's mom last week.

"I don't think it's a malicious thing at all. It's quite a positive thing about how he feels about his mother," Kirkwood, 36, says.

Playing her song

The idea to send postcards to his mother hit Hanke in early November. Hanke, 31, was in the car with his wife, Carol, 28, and their four children. They were on their way back from the Wal-Mart in Festus. The radio was playing the song "Another Postcard" by the pop group Barenaked Ladies. The song caught Hanke's imagination. What if he got a bunch of people to send postcards to his mom?

Hanke first jumped on to eBay, the online marketplace. He asked people selling postcards if they wouldn't mind sending one to his mom. A trickle of mail started to arrive at Shepp's home.

At the end of December, Hanke decided to crank up the prank. He runs his own Web design company, Lighthouse Technologies, out of his home. He threw together a Web site. Postcardsformom.com was born.

To drum up support, Hanke posted messages on several online message boards to encourage visitors to his fledgling site. It took off. He got 44,000 hits his first month. He was up to 88,000 by the second.

The mail poured in at Shepp's home. Shepp kept it in a small basket. Then one kitchen drawer. Now two kitchen drawers.

Shepp suspected someone in the family was to blame. Practical jokes run in the family. Shepp is one of 10 children, and when all the kids used to gather at their mom's house in Texas, the picture of the second oldest child always disappeared from the wall. The joke was that that child was out of the will.

So Shepp has pointed the finger at her two sisters who live in the St. Louis area. She's considered her husband, Jim. She's tried to trip up Hanke and his older brother, Kevin.

"I think they're all in cahoots," Shepp says. "I really do."

As a child growing up in Barnhart in Jefferson County, Hanke loved the Three Stooges. His mom did not. She wouldn't let him or his brother watch it. Hanke found other outlets for his joking streak. He was a little boy looking for his mom's attention. He'd find brown rocks in the creek behind his house and slip them in with the potatoes. He'd gather white wooden eggs from abandoned farmhouses and put them in the egg carton.

But Hanke never liked lying to his mom. And that's one problem with his postcard project. He's had to draw a line between the life his mom knows about and the one centered on postcards that she can't. "That really bothered me when she started quizzing me," Hanke says.

Hanke has some basic rules for "Sending Stuff to Mom": Letters shouldn't mention the Web site or him (so as not to give it away); no perverted stuff ("C'mon, it's my mom"); try to throw in a mention of the Air Force (his older brother, Kevin, is in the Air National Guard); and have fun.

In exchange for an e-mail address, a visitor gets Hanke's mom's mailing address.

Hanke also suggested themes. In January, he asked people to send bottlecaps to his mom. Next it was business cards. In March, recipes with one detail removed and replaced with "secret ingredient." This month, people are supposed to send her comic strips with the last panel missing.

To confuse her even more, Hanke posts on the Web site hard-to-know details about his mom, like the news that her husband's niece's friend is pregnant.

"I've been getting cards asking about the baby!" Shepp says, laughing. "People from Podunk, Arkansas, want to know!"

Hanke knows not everyone understands what he's doing. But those who get it, love it. People ask Hanke to send postcards to their mothers. He's heard from mothers who wished their children had done this for them. Hanke's wife admits she wished he'd done it to her.

"Surprises in the mail every day? It's a neat thing," Carol Hanke says.

Jen and Eric

Jennifer LaFerriere gets it. She stumbled on the site in November.

"I just thought it was hilarious, the coolest thing," LaFerriere, 27, says. "He set up this whole big thing just to send his mom junk."

LaFerriere has written Hanke's mom at least once a month. Her letters read like they've known each other for 20 years. LaFerriere provides detailed updates on her wedding this fall in Cape Cod. She even plans to send Shepp an invitation.

And in some peculiar way, Shepp does know LaFerriere. She is half of "Jen and Eric," the couple who excitedly informed Shepp about their wedding rings.

Hanke's original idea was just to pull a cute prank on his mom. But the people who've sent letters have gotten something in return, too. Michelle Woods, a graduate student in Pittsburgh, first dropped a postcard to Hanke's mom during a trip to New Orleans to visit a friend dying from cancer. Writing that note was cathartic, Woods, 29, says.

"It was an opportunity to send a letter to someone I didn't know, didn't know what I was going through, or why I was in New Orleans," she says.

Today, Woods finds herself writing more letters to her own mother and sister.

Mother's Day is perhaps the right time to tell Shepp about the mystery of her mail. Hanke knows this. But he resists.

"Nah, it's too early. I've been having too much fun," he says.

He pauses, thinking it over.

"It would be perfect timing."

He considers it. He knows he can't keep the secret much longer. Not after a story in the newspaper, which he welcomes as a challenge.

"But there are so many more things we can send her."

Hanke's mom doesn't want it to end, either, even as she doesn't understand why it's happening.

Recently, she went through her collection of "silly mail." She reached into a pile of letters and pulled out a white business-size envelope mailed from Virginia.

"Here's one that I love," Shepp said. She unfolded the letter. Just simple instructions for boiling water. But a yellow sticky note attached to the back caught her eye.

Hanke's mom read the note aloud: "Why don't you ever write back?" And, at that, she laughed.

Farewell Friday Five

Alas, it's the end of the Friday Five. I can't say I'm surprised after their month-long hiatus, but I am a little bummed. I had fun participating. Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to come up with interesting things to say all on my own. Or uninteresting. You know, whatever.

I'm Gonna Be Famous!

Some of you may remember me posting about an elaborate practical joke I'm participating in--Postcards For Mom. Will, a terrible rotten son, set up this site to get perfect strangers to send his mom mail. And not just any mail, but vague, confusing mail. The rules are simple--don't mention the site or call her "mom," act like you know her (and most importantly, like she knows you), and have fun! Each month a different item is selected as a guideline. March it was recipes with one ingredient missing. April it was comics with the last frame removed. This month it's something for her birthday (I'm planning on sending her a "Happy 60th Birthday" card--she's turning 51).

I've had a lot of fun with this since I found the site in February. So far I've sent mom mail from Berlin, Vienna, Amsterdam, and two from Hamburg. In each I'm demanding to know why she isn't showing up for our vacations together and why she's not calling or writing (with no return address, of course).

Well here comes the famous part--word of this has leaked out to the press and today I was interviewed by a reporter with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch! Will suggested me because I'm such an enthusiastic participant. The article should be out on Sunday and hopefully some of my quotes will be in there.

In the meantime, check out Postcards For Mom and send an item or two of your own!

Update: I just realized I'm supposed to keep this under wraps until Sunday when the article is supposed to come out. So, uh, don't say anything, okay?

Book Report

I finished The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle yesterday. Wow, what a great book. It's funny because two different friends both said that they couldn't get through the book (and both of them are avid, intelligent readers) but I found it gripping and very engaging. Perhaps it just struck me at the right time. Anyway, I loved it.

Yesterday we went to a local bookstore. They have a small English language section and I did some browsing. What's interesting is that I saw at least 3 books in paperback that I know are only available in hardcover in the US. Perhaps the American publishers don't want to ship heavy hardcovers of all of their books overseas so they print paperbacks for the international market. Or maybe it's because they want to milk the hardcover market as much as possible. Anyway, I thought that was interesting.

Scout Has a Cousin!

And I almost forgot a Very Important Announcement--Scout has a new cousin! Our good friends Marc and Wendy have just adopted Akima, a 2 and a half year old black lab. Akima came from Safe Harbor Lab Rescue in Denver, where Auntie Wendy and Uncle Marc live. We tried to convince them to get a beagle, but unfortunately they refused to see the light on that front. Marc and Wendy have been anticipating a dog for some time now and it's wonderful that it has finally come to fruition. Welcome Akima!

German You Can Use

Happy Cinco de Mayo! As you can imagine, there's all kinds of celebrations here in Hamburg. Not.

Today is, however, a Massive Cuddle Day. Scout has undergone some changes recently, which I attribute to her finally settling in here in our apartment. She's kind of a sensitive dog and sometimes has a hard time adjusting to new situations, but she seems to have made the final leap here. She willingly goes into her crate on command now--something she did easily in San Jose but has been reticent about here. She's also spending a lot more leisure time in her crate, which means she's much more comfortable there. And then we have today--Cuddle Day. Scout's not the world's cuddliest dog. She likes to be petted and will often solicit that by inserting her snout between you and whatever your hands happen to be doing at the time, but she's never been much for snuggling. Except today. When Kevin left this morning she jumped up on the bed and went back to sleep on top of the covers in between my legs--another thing she used to do in San Jose all the time but hasn't been doing here. When I took my nap she came up, nosed her way under the covers, and did an immediate flop against my stomach. She then wiggled and burrowed in for maximum cuddlebility. We've had a few extended pettie sessions, which is normal for her. And then after her dinner she did the cute thing she does. Usually I feed her dinner and then go upstairs to the bedroom to read on the bed. She likes her after dinner petties to say "thank you" for the food. Well lately I've been staying downstairs and she'll go halfway up the stairs, look at me like "aren't you coming?" and then look dejected if I don't follow the routine. So today I headed up the stairs with her and she was bouncing around with excitement and couldn't wait for her cuddling. It was very cute.

But on to the title of this entry--German You Can Use. As you may know, I took one year of community college German in 2002 and promptly forgot it all needed a refresher course here in Germany. There are some glaring differences between learning German in the US and learning it here in Germany, as you might expect, the first is being taught in English (there) and entirely in German (here). But I've also noticed a certain difference in the usefulness of what I'm learning. Perhaps I can explain this better with my French experience. I took 3 years of high school French and 3 years of college French and thought that I had a pretty good grasp of the language. Then I went to France and realized that just about everything I'd been taught was pretty useless. My language was too formal, too grammar based, and too outdated to really use in the country. I'd learned next to no idioms and hadn't really gotten any idea of how French people actually spoke, so showing up in France was a shock.

It was pretty much the same with my US German. We marched through the textbook willingly and learned "idioms" and had lessons on "culture" but I found once I got here that much of that had little to do with real life. In contrast, the things I'm learning in my class here are immediately applicable.

So this is what I'm getting at. Today Scout and I went down to the Gansemarkt for a little snack and settled down at an interior table to eat it. After I sat down there were no empty tables. Then a cute little old lady with a cup of coffee scanned the seats and approached me. She motioned toward the empty seat at my table and said "Ist hier noch frei?" which came straight out of our textbook. It's an idiom for "is this seat free?" and the literal translation is "is here already free?" I of course indicated that it was and she sat down (common in Europe, to sit down at a table with strangers wherever there's an empty seat) and gave Scout a little pat. I was very impressed with my textbook and class here. We're learning things that people actually say! This was just one example of many interactions I've had were people talk just like the German textbook taught us.

Kevin suggested that the difference is that the textbooks in the US are written by Americans (perhaps of German origin, but certainly not living there now) and are rather stilted and outdated in their information. I think this is true. The German textbook is definitely more relevant, and even more importantly, my teacher is too. More than just a native speaker, he's living (and in my case, studying) here and is completely up to date on what people say in the real world.

I also wonder if it's because in Hamburg they speak "Hochdeutsch" (literally translated: High German and considered to be the "correct" German) unlike some of the other areas of Germany where the speech is more colloquial and there are different accents and idioms. Hochdeutsch is what German children learn in school, and consequently what foreigners learn as well. Here in Hamburg people actually speak like that, so our classroom and real life experiences mesh.

At any rate, it's very exciting to get to put to use what I learn in class every day.

My fellow Albion alum Dave is now living in Paris. I wonder if he would care to weigh in on this subject and what his experiences have been with French either here in my comments or on his blog.

Puffy Things in the Air

The weather is beautiful, despite a predicted chance of rain. Unfortunately the pollen is again out in full force. Today Scout and I were bombarded by puffy things in the air. They looked almost like dandelion puffy things but not quite. I believe they're coming from some tree. Anyway, I'm quite sure I'm allergic to them. My poor nose feels as if it's been abused.

Did I mention I read The Da Vinci Code? Meh. I was hoping to find out what the Big Deal is with this book--and I'm still wondering. The story was interesting and gripping, but the writing was only mediocre and used a few hokey plot devices to drag the reader along. Not being a fan of the mystery genre I'm not qualified to say how this holds up with other popular mysteries, but it didn't strike me as anything new. The ideas put forth were also ones I encountered before and I'm sorry but nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to convince me of a compelling connection between Walt Disney and the Knights Templar. Overall it was an entertaining book and one that I'd recommend as lightweight reading, but I just don't get the hype and the people who think this is the best book ever written.

In fact, looking at the Amazon reviews, the review by "ecri89" (currently the first review on the list) pretty much sums up exactly how I felt about the book.

Speaking of amazing books, I'm in the middle of one right now--The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. I have read one other Murakami book, South of the Border, West of the Sun which I was also impressed with, but this one is better. I haven't read any other books by a Japanese author so I don't know if Murakami's writing is indicative of a national style or unique to him, but it's exquisite. It's not an easy book to swallow--the magical realism is reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but it's definitely worth the effort. So far. I'm only halfway through. I may come back telling you the book fell apart, but I doubt it.

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day in Germany, anyway. And much like every other holiday here, this translates to "Happy Everything is Closed Day." Still we managed to get out to see a few things, although not the museum we had hoped to see.

First we went to a street festival in St. Georg. In German, Georg is pronounced "gay-org" (but then again, if you're a Sound of Music fan you would know that already) and apparently there's a movement to advertise St. Georg as GAY-org. So this festival turned out to be a strange amalgam of Gay Pride and International Festival. It lacked the drag parade that identifies a true pride festival but there was a small parade of what looked like South American dancers--or actually several Germans dressed up to look South American. It was a little odd, but fun.

We then headed over to the museum of Arts and Crafts. That was interesting but unfortunately I should have listened to that little voice in my head that said "go home and take a nap first." I made it through the first floor of the museum but kind of petered out after that so we made an abbreviated visit.

It's raining. It's not. It's raining. It's sprinkling. It's not. It's humid as hell. There's thunder but no rain. Getting the idea? It looks like we are in for an entire week of rain or almost-rain. I'm not a big fan of rain but I'm hoping some good moisture will clear the air of what has to be absolutely astronomical pollen levels. Even Kevin is sniffling and he's not usually as sensitive as I am.

Holland Pictures

Kevin has finished the arduous picture task and we now offer you several pages of Holland pictures. Don't miss them!