Hi, everyone!  Welcome to our blog!  I never thought I'd see myself writing one of these...but here I am.

We're counting down the months 'til we can leave W behind -- as in George and as in Work.  Right now we're getting ready to put the house on the market by clearing out junk, renovating a bathroom, and fixing all the things that never bothered us.  Also generally obsessing and stressing out about all the things that are supposed to make our lives easier and didn't exist last time I lived abroad, such as PCs, cell phones, and internet banking.

I'm very proud of myself for having entered the 21st century.  I forced myself to learn how to pay my bills on line, figured out how to make a blog, and today I downloaded Skype and made my first internet call.  It's FREE and it's easy -- and if you get it, too, we can talk to you from anywhere for free.  Go to www.skype.com.  (I hope this isn't going to be like MCI's "Friends and Family" where they con you into getting your whole family to sign up so they can overcharge you, tape all your calls and then hand it all over to the NSA.)

So this week's online poll is, assuming I figure out how to let you all vote (no Diebold on this blog!):  Should we spend January 2007 in Brazil or Sicily?