Friends and Fam,

After approximately 15 hours of travel by plane and train, Wesley and I arrived in Berlin.

We´re staying at a hostel called Mitte's Backpacker per Katrine's suggestion and it's awesome! We're in a 28-bed dorm room and 24 of those beds are occupied by a large group of Irish college students -- 18 ladies and 6 dudes -- who are here to party for the week.

They've adopted Wesley and I into the group and we're cool with that. The girls are quite beautiful and the numbers are working for us. It's undergrad all over again. Last night we all went out on a 3-legged pub crawl and I was tied up at the ankle with a girl named Holly. Wow.

We're heading out with this crazy bunch again tonight and tomorrow we're parting ways as they're all heading back to Dublin and we're on our way to Prague.

Cheers,
Paolo

I've got that feeling in my stomach again. My flight leaves in just a few hours.

I just finished packing my backpack, the lifeline for my impending adventure that will begin in Germany. I'm anxious and excited.

I grabbed the water bottle that I last used during my trip in September. I opened up the bottle and took a whiff. Switzerland. I could still smell the freshest tap water from the top of the Alps.

I've got that feeling in my stomach again -- that feeling that I'm destined for something great.

Recipe for a good Saturday:

Add one breakfast at Pesos. Pictured left to right: Moos, Wes, Me and Andy. Not pictured: Katrine, who had to work.
Add one walk through Ballard with the Wives. Pictured: Moos aka The Dark Lord, Katrine aka Ginger, and Me. Not pictured: Andy, walking ahead.Add one crackin' CD release party with the band. Pictured left to right: Chris, Danny and Me. Not pictured: Puddy, probably smoking.

Today I was at my favorite little Mexican lunch spot, Tenoch, when I spied a bothersome act:

A young woman was sitting at a table and talking to her friend while flossing.

They had finished their meals, empty plates in front of them, and the young woman was taking out the teeth trash right then and there. And I, waiting for my take out order, had to witness it.

Now I feel for the her. Trust me, I do. Having worn braces myself for a couple years and knowing that flossing is the absolute devil even without braces, I knew she was climbing a steep hill. However, this was appalling to me.

Who flosses in the middle of a restaurant?! Maybe it was because of the Mexican food, but I was disgusted.

Call me a prude. I think flossing should be left behind closed doors. Eww.

Well, Anna already beat me to the punch writing about a Washington Post editorial admitting women are "the weaker sex afterall" -- afflicted by "random emotions, psychosomatic flailings and distraction by the superficial." The tongue-in-cheek article ties into Clinton and the "worst -- and, yes, stupidest -- presidential race in recent history, marred by every stereotypical flaw of the female sex."

It's a good read.

In that vein, one of the more impressive creative political writings I've read recently is authored by TV producer Gary David Goldberg, creator of Family Ties.

In his NY Times editorial, Goldberg asks who Alex Keaton, the politically active and conservative hero of Family Ties played by Michael J. Fox, would vote for in this presidential election. The article clearly has a liberal lean (eventually endorsing Obama), but it doesn't so much play up or down candidates as it does contrast conservative values of the 1980s compared to the perceived conservative values of today.

"Alex Keaton was a true conservative Republican. He was for limited government. He was strongly against government involvement in the personal lives of its citizens... And so it’s difficult to recognize in this current incarnation of the Republican Party..."

Just 25-odd years later, or during the course of my lifetime, we're seeing Republicans in power driving that which would make Alex Keaton's heroes, Nixon and Reagan, cringe -- big government, big spending and big encroachments upon civil liberties.