Taormina, Italy

This is Mount Etna

Taornimo

Ths is looking down on Sorrento

Pisa

The tower, it leans

There are many more pictures but my favorite is a sign that I saw all over Italy.

In American the children walk. Having seen the Roman driver, I understand why the children RUN!

The other half and I are going on vacation. We're taking a cruise to the Mediterranean. Sweet! We're going to Barcelona then taking the ship to Medina, Sicily, then Naples, the Civitavecchia(Rome), then Florence/Pisa (Livorno) then its on to Villefranche (Nice) and Monaco. We are going on tours of Possitano, Sorento, Taormino, Rome, Florence, Pisa and Monaco. Whew!

I've been packed for about a month . There's a catalog company called Travelsmith  that has the coolest travel toys. Many of their items are wrinkle and stain resistant. Chris needs clothes like that.

Any Italian  TV.Commers wanna come wave at the boat?

Though I should be pleased as punch that TV.Com is soooo easy to hang with and I somehow picked up new Editorship, that doesn't matter. Well, actually it does matter but I've been saving up a rant and I will not be denied

I spoke too soon. I'm having HTML issues

There is a terrible misconception out there. Some people seem to think that customers who frequent bookstores can read. I know that it would stand to reason that a person walking into a bookstore, for a book, would have some idea about the alphabet and all that. It has been my experience that a large portion of the reading public gets all shook up when asked to read alphabetically.

Dear friends, if an authors name begins with J and you look at a shelf and you see the following last name : Conway, you are not in the J's. If the shelf next to it has last names that begin with the letter D, then a pattern should emerge. If you step to the side and see the last name Franklin then I'd think that a lightbulb would soon shine. If the shelf ends, that does not mean that the alphabet ends there, my friends. Like hallways, shelves also turn corners. I wouldn't give up my search for the book at that corner, I would look at the shelf on the other side and see what happens. A majority of the time you will find that the alphabet will continue.

Given that I have WAY too many people who ask me if the books are alphabetized my title or author, I shouldn't be surprised. I'm sorry but what the hell kind of sense would it make to alphabetize by title? That doesn't even make sense. If you want more than one book that an author has written, wouldn't it be easier if they were together? Doesn't the logic if that system stike anyone as feasible?

Number two on my bookstore rants is this:

Most bookstore employees shelve books. There is generally only one employee per section. When we shelve books we want you to find the books. The books are shelved in their place so you can find them. That means if you take a book from the shelf, we'd appreciate it if you put it back where got it. Not on the floor, not shoved randomly on top of the books and not halfway across the store. I know that some people will leave the store, disappointed that the book they want isn't there, when in fact some inconsiderate person has shoved the book somewhere.

Personal rant:

There is a woman who comes in our store every Thurday. She will go down every aisle, pick up a book and shove them on top of the books. Every Thursday, I will go behind her and reshelve the books. Most people would take the hint and not be rude but she refuses to take the hint. She will take books from one part of the section to the other then shove it on top of the books. Now, I have a finite amount of time to get as many books as possible out for the public to buy. I will spent time reshelving after this woman instead of getting new merchandise out. Again, I know that someone isn't finding what they are looking for because I'm cleaning up after one person. I know that this woman knows what she's doing because this has been going on for six months. Oh the things I want to say to her

Last rant:

The cart a worker uses is there work area. If you, the customer, shrts picking up and moving items that are on t, you are screwing with our work area. If you are looking for something, PLEASE, ask us for it. We are there to help you. You will be the focus of massive HATE if you pick at our work area. If I ask people if they are looking for anything in particular and the answer is generally "No, I'm just looking." Why not look somewhere that isn't in my way? As I've said, I have a finite amount of time but an infinite amount of work. I want you to find what you are lookng for, I want to help you anyway that I can, I want you to leave our store happy that you've found everything that you're looking for but I can't if I have to fix a mess before I start or can't get to my cart.

End Rant-for now