Athens, Greece

We arived in Athens this am. We spent most of the day walking around the old city. We are both a bit jet lagged. It is fascinating to realize that you are walking in the same placed where Aristotle, Plato, and Paul taught. But right now in my jet lagged state Athens strikes me as a bunch of old monuments surrounded by a polluted and over populated city. Looking forward to getting on the rails tomorrow.

I think Athens, Georgia may be more my kind of city. It wasn't the cradle of western civilization, but it is home.

Backpacking in the Old World

Joya and I have packed our bags and we are off to see the world! Our plane leaves today. We will be backpaking Europe while riding the rails for the next 4 weeks. I'll try to post some updates on where we are and what we are doing on Gridbook Notes when I am able to find affordable internet connections. I expect that the Gridbook Blog will be quiet for the next month, but hopefully afterwards I'll have some interesting musings inspired by different peoples and cultures to post.




Sorry that I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone. Life was a little crazy there with both moving to Georgia and packing for our big adventure. I miss you all.

Sorry for the recent lack of info coming from this direction. I know that The Gridbook Blog has been quite sparse recently. I don't mean to leave it un-updated for so long.


We have some exciting new news. We have a home in Athens, Ga. Hopefully closing next week. It has enough space that we should be able to welcome many of you into our home!



In the mean time we have been living in New Hope B&B here since our house sold. We are paying the monthly rate which is actually not bad. We also love the folks that run this fine home.

A few weekends ago Joya went on her first backpaking trip. She did great. She and I went with Chris, John and Hannah.





Brian and Scharlie couldn't make it because of the exiting arrival of Samuel Jonathan Carlisle.




Well, that is life right now. One month left in residency....

The Gridbook Blog Turns 1 Year-Old

I just realized that it has been one year since I sat down to create a blog. I named The Gridbook Blog after the old grid-lined notebooks I used for collecting my thoughts when I was in college. It has been fun and terrifying throwing personal thoughts out into the world to be read by friends and strangers alike. Between the essays on The Gridbook Blog and Gridbook Notes (this personal blog with the various news items from my life) I've sent out almost exactly a post a week over the last year, which is pretty good considering my work schedule.

Thanks to everyone who has read, commented, and corrected. These blogs have been a fascinating interaction. I hope next year goes as well. Thanks for reading.

Doctor's Day

So yesterday (still "today" for me because I've been in the hospital all night) was Doctor's Day. Some of the nurses gave us cake. I didn't even know doctors got a day.

The irony that Doctor's Day is right after April Fool's day could lead to all sorts of humor.

Switching to a Mac

So this is the first post I'm doing with my new laptop. I've had a few buggy Microsoft machines in the last few years so I thought I would try something different instead of Vista. Linux still seems like a bit too much work for someone with my rather basic computing needs so I decided to give Apple a try. Several friends who have Macs swear they never display those nasty habits of the cranky computers I'm used to.


So here I sit, up way too late playing with my refurbished macbook. Right now I'm working through a few mild frustrations of platform switching, but no major hang-ups. Time will tell if I've become a victim of clever marketing and fashion, or I've discovered the secret to worry-free computing...

All Things Go (Moving)

Well, we are frantically moving all our belongings into boxes. As of March 22 our favorite place in Kingsport will be someone else's house. This weekend John Drake is coming up to help me load the truck and take everything to Athens. No job yet, but a couple prospects. I'll miss this old house on 310 Union Street. I'm still here in Kingsport for another 3 months finishing up residency while living migrantly.

We got some exciting news yesterday. We had no idea that the Okies are also moving to Athens, Ga. It will be good to see them again.