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TO THE BASEBALL FIELD After meeting Suzanna Zanolli and negotiating our mutually beneficial contract...her translation skills for 'making conversation' - we were ready to get a job playing baseball in Italy! The problem was that Laerte (Baseball Federation President) didn't really want to talk via a translator. In fact, once I returned with Suzanna in tow it wasn't more than a few minutes before we jumped in his Olive Green Mercedes and went screaming down impossibly narrow alleys to the ballpark in Verona. At this point I had been traveling for nearly 20 hours...awake for about 30 hours and was feeling a bit punchy! However doing 50 mph down a narrow cobblestone alley was enough to get me to put my seat belt on and wake up a bit. We arrived at 'al Centro sportivo Gavagnin' (Gavagnin baseball field) where much to my delight there appeared to be a full fledged baseball practice in progress on a gorgeous baseball diamond. The familiar sounds of balls being hit......

ARRIVING IN VERONA, ITALY to PLAY BASEBALL On the train from Milano to Verona I found myself being suddenly freaked out. My family-heritage-enthusiasm was starting to leave me...and self doubt started to pop up. In moments like this...and in my lifetime I had plenty...I did what I was taught to do on the baseball diamond...stick to the fundamentals and don't try to do too much! So I took a deep breath and kept thinking to myself, 'one thing at a time...and the first thing is to get rid of this HUGE, unwieldy, ridiculously heaving duffel bag!' There are two things everyone should know about Italian train stations: Left Luggage - you can leave your bags with them, thus unburdening yourself for a small fee. Buses - there are lots of buses outside of train stations and if you take Bus #1, it will take you to Il Centro (the center) of town. So with this knowledge I rented one of their changing rooms for 30 minutes...took a shower and sorted through what I needed to begin my que...

Living in Italy is Magical! Living in Italy and playing baseball is even better... Italy is full of all the usual things you have heard/read so much about - cobblestone streets, architecture, food, wine, art, history, beautiful people, gorgeous English teachers at German Schools, hand made masterpieces, gorgeous cars, siestas, loving families and talking with ones hands. What you almost never hear about in Italy is the wonderful sport of baseball. Yes...baseball... I have had the privilege of living in Italy three times in my life...for three baseball seasons. An American finding himself going to Italy to play baseball isn't easy. While there are many roads to Rome, there are shockingly few roads to Italian baseball. This is where my adventure began... I had decided that I wanted to play baseball in Italy and had no idea how to go about it. I had heard of Coach John Noce (pronounced NO-CHEE) of San Mateo Junior College (San Mateo, CA). Coach Noce had sons who had played in Italy a...

For anyone who has ever wanted to see exactly how good of a driver they are, there is no better place than 'The Loop' at Nurburgring. My first trip to the Loop was nothing short of amazing! I have bungee jumped, skydived, boxed and scuba dived with sharks without getting overly anxious or excited. In fact, I remember as I was getting ready to jump out of a 'perfectly good airplane,' thinking nothing more than 'nice view.' As I was falling and then drifting to Earth I specifically remember thinking, 'I'd rather be turning a double-play,' for all the excitement I wasn't feeling. In other words, while I get excited by life, I rarely feel like it's out of control. However this is different. I could feel a buzz in the air as we drove up...with beautiful cars arrayed about the parking lot and motorcyclists in full leathers. If all you did was eat lunc h here and admire the cars, it would be a day well spent. However on this day, our goal was to t...

What is it that makes people afraid to talk to strangers? I think one obstacle may that people don't now how to 'disengage' if they don't want to talk further. I have found a polite, 'gotta go now...good talking to you' works just fine! After all, it IS OK to disengage. I think just knowing that makes it easier. Also, it seems that people are suspicious...as in, 'what do you want from me.' I often talk to new people...at work, while at Starbucks and pretty much anywhere. The conversations always start with what's going on around me, and I make a point not to ask what someone does when I meet them, as it takes us from the 'human element' to 'work mode' far too quickly. I don't talk to people because I want anything at all from them, rather just because we are all human after all...we're not rocks! Just this past week, I have met amazing people. Just a quick glimpse into a few should illustrate how easy and interesting it is...

There are parts of every country that embody a feeling of caring and welcoming attitude from the citizens. Cologne is like this. Cologne is a city full of open, caring people, and a wonderful place to conduct business. Cologne is the home of Click andB uy LLC, which is a very progressive player monetizing digital assets, and full of really bright and caring folks . There's a fantastic company culture and caring attitude about the employees that is felt throughout the building. From the time we arrived, we felt the impact of our diverse employee base, that represents 44 different countried (and counting). These are extremely gifted and talented people ...who enjoy life fully. These pics were taken at the annual festival, where the boats jam the river and a million people gather to celebrate and enjoy life. The bridges are closed till 0200, so plan on leaving around 0400. Combining the Mexicans, Dutch and Turks is a pleasant mix! This particular 'crew' represent the best of ...