Schnitzel

[8:43:51 AM] Troy Symington: Hey! You there?
[8:44:07 AM] Katie Symington: hi!
[8:44:16 AM] Katie Symington: What's up bud?
[8:44:22 AM] Katie Symington: I hear you are back in Firenze!
[8:44:49 AM] Troy Symington: Yup got back yesterday (and had to go to school today... which sucked).
[8:45:04 AM] Troy Symington: By the way... I hate Picassa. Just sayin'
[8:45:59 AM] Katie Symington: lol me tambien. porque?
[8:46:57 AM] Troy Symington: Because I accidently deleted these two pictures and now I can't get them back into the folder!
[8:47:11 AM] Troy Symington: Plus you know... everything else that is wrong with it!
[8:47:52 AM] Katie Symington: hee. poor boy!
[8:47:59 AM] Katie Symington: how was your first day of school--again?
[8:48:46 AM] Troy Symington: Fine. Nothing to special happened. In Physical Anthro we're learning about primates and in Italian we pretty much talked the whole class about our spring breaks.
[8:56:14 AM] Troy Symington: You there?
[9:16:01 AM] Katie Symington: oops
[9:16:03 AM] Katie Symington: sorry!
[9:16:18 AM] Katie Symington: I forgot I was talking with youi and shut the computer to have breakfast with nick!
[9:16:41 AM] Troy Symington: Way to ignore the brother you haven't spoken to in days!
[9:16:58 AM] Katie Symington: I'm SORRY! I forgot I had a brother, because he never skypes me!
[9:17:01 AM] Katie Symington: :O
[9:17:34 AM] Katie Symington: plus, you know, eggs. they're distracting.
[9:17:46 AM] Troy Symington: Not. My. Fault.
[9:17:54 AM] Katie Symington: Sounds like you had bunches of fun though!
[9:18:27 AM] Troy Symington: Of course! Did you hear all about it from Mom? I don't wanna repeat everything I already told her.
[9:18:42 AM] Katie Symington: Yes, I did. Schnitzel!
[9:18:54 AM] Katie Symington: Hmmmm, what are you missing here?
[9:18:59 AM] Katie Symington: Oh!
[9:19:10 AM] Katie Symington: Nick is trying to get into the Air Force officer program to be an engineer.
[9:19:44 AM] Troy Symington: ZOMG! That's really cool. But he'd be away from home a lot : (
[9:20:42 AM] Katie Symington: He would say I want one of these bases to work on, and they would say "We'll take that into account" and then ship him where they need him. It would be for four years after he graduates, and he'd get 3K a month before graduating just to go to school and do some stuff. But I'd go with him, bud.
[9:20:52 AM] Katie Symington: So we'd be away from home a lot :(
[9:21:07 AM] Katie Symington: We're hoping, if he does it, that he gets assigned to the Bay Area base, or even LA
[9:22:01 AM] Troy Symington: Wow. It's a lot to think about. But It sure would be an awesome experience!
[9:23:00 AM] Katie Symington: It would, and having the Air Force on his resume would be extra awesome too! He's excited about the work he would be doing- research and development
[9:23:02 AM] Katie Symington: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1848568622/ref=s9_simh_gw_p14_d1_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1YXGA4F0P2M3HNX51KPM&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846
[9:23:58 AM] Troy Symington: Omg... why is there a book?
[9:24:07 AM] Katie Symington: I know right?!
[9:24:10 AM] Katie Symington: nph blogged it!
[9:24:52 AM] Troy Symington: Huh! Speaking of NPH I watched a couple more How i Met Your Mother's today!
[9:25:32 AM] Katie Symington: yay!
[9:25:33 AM] Katie Symington: did you see the latest one?
[9:25:37 AM] Katie Symington: with barney's dad?
[9:25:41 AM] Katie Symington: it was sad
[9:26:56 AM] Troy Symington: Yup. They started addressing slightly more... sobering issues in that one. But still funny!
[9:27:10 AM] Katie Symington: indeedy!
[9:29:55 AM] Troy Symington: Sooooo.... how's school
[9:29:56 AM] Troy Symington: ?
[9:30:21 AM] Katie Symington: meh. I leave in an hour and have to take two quizzes beforehand and print out a research proposal that i worked on for two hours last night with my group
[9:30:34 AM] Katie Symington: and another project is due tonight
[9:30:37 AM] Katie Symington: it's okay
[9:30:49 AM] Katie Symington: OOOOH OOOOH OOOH TROY I BEAT NICK AT CHESS LAST NIGHT!
[9:31:46 AM] Troy Symington: I'm happy for you...
[9:32:04 AM] Katie Symington: ME TOOOOO
[9:32:11 AM] Katie Symington: He always beats me! And I beat him! woohoo!
[9:32:14 AM] Katie Symington: :D
[9:32:34 AM] Katie Symington: gah, i'm tired.
[9:34:01 AM] Troy Symington: Ha, YOU'RE tired? I'm the one who woke up at 5:00 yesterday morning (after daylight savings so it was really 4) in order to catch a train for a 10 hour train ride!
[9:34:12 AM] Katie Symington: eeeew that is sucky!
[9:34:19 AM] Katie Symington: ten hours! were the seats comfy?
[9:34:25 AM] Katie Symington: was it like the hogwarts train with food and stuff?
[9:37:16 AM] Troy Symington: Well, there were two change-overs, so 3 trains in totall. The first one in Austria was really nice!
[9:37:30 AM] Katie Symington: Austria! You were in Austria!
[9:37:35 AM] Katie Symington: hey where are the pics?
[9:39:47 AM] Troy Symington: I'm posting them right now. Remember how I was being pissed off at Picassa? This is why.
[9:46:05 AM] Katie Symington: lol pooooooor boy
[9:46:55 AM] Troy Symington: They're being uploaded as we speak, so you should be able to see them in a few minutes.
[9:47:33 AM] Katie Symington: excellent!
[9:48:11 AM] Katie Symington: stupid websitesr for quizzes suck
[9:48:54 AM] Troy Symington: Websitesr is a word now?
[9:49:00 AM] Katie Symington: shaddup ;)
[9:50:04 AM] Troy Symington: Hehe. Heeeey... websites for quizzes? Katie, are you trying to cheat? Do I need to fly back home and give you a talking to?
[9:50:25 AM] Katie Symington: lol
[9:50:49 AM] Katie Symington: It is the textbook publisher's website with online quizzes for you to take, and we turn in our quizzes in class
[9:52:06 AM] Troy Symington: Ohhhhhhhh. I suppose that's ok then : )
[9:52:11 AM] Katie Symington: though I do cheat.
[9:52:35 AM] Katie Symington: You can take it as many times as you want and they give you the answer if you get it wrong! So I just click random answers, copy the correct ones, and then redo it!
[9:52:46 AM] Katie Symington: ....which is BAD, Troy, so don't do it.
[9:54:01 AM] Troy Symington: Why, I would never! How dare you dirty my good name with such a presumptuous accussation!
[9:54:14 AM] Katie Symington: accusations?
[9:54:19 AM] Katie Symington: acussassasttssions!
[9:54:32 AM] Katie Symington: How dare you accuse me of accusseing you!
[9:55:53 AM] Katie Symington: yay, my research quiz finally let me on the website! phew!
[9:57:36 AM] Troy Symington: How dare you acccuuuuusse me of such a bourgeois act as missspelling thngs!
[9:59:28 AM] Katie Symington: ooooooh good word! And your flagrent mispelings are forceing my braine to stagnat!
[10:00:12 AM] Troy Symington: Nuh uh!
[10:01:34 AM] Katie Symington: uhhuh!
[10:01:42 AM] Katie Symington: lol just like emperor's new groove!
[10:01:58 AM] Katie Symington: nuhuh uhhuh nuhuh uhhuh nuhuh uhhuh
[10:02:02 AM] Katie Symington: uhuh!
[10:02:36 AM] Troy Symington: Ha, I haven't seen that movie in forever!
[10:02:43 AM] Katie Symington: I love it.
[10:02:54 AM] Katie Symington: Carden has it, but I never can stay to watch the whole thing! Drives me nuts.
[10:02:58 AM] Katie Symington: Someday I'll own it.
[10:02:59 AM] Katie Symington: ;)
[10:03:15 AM] Katie Symington: Anyhoo mr, I gotta get going. I have to get ready and get my stuff organized and leave in a half hour
[10:03:44 AM] Katie Symington: Oh wait!
[10:03:52 AM] Troy Symington: Okay, you have a good day at school and whatnot.
[10:03:54 AM] Katie Symington: How are you doing your taxes? they're due April 15th
[10:04:05 AM] Katie Symington: and you sleep well
[10:04:14 AM] Troy Symington: ...Dad's doing them for me.
[10:04:19 AM] Katie Symington: lucky guy!
[10:04:25 AM] Troy Symington: I know right1
[10:04:27 AM] Troy Symington: ?
[10:04:33 AM] Katie Symington: Okay,
[10:04:39 AM] Katie Symington: ....eurgh, that was a bad misspellllling
[10:04:41 AM] Katie Symington: 1@!
[10:04:46 AM] Katie Symington: ;)
[10:04:59 AM] Katie Symington: ninight buddy!
[10:05:13 AM] Troy Symington: Don't make fun of me! My finger slipped and once you hit enter there's no going back!
[10:05:16 AM] Troy Symington: Love ya!
[10:05:26 AM] Katie Symington: Love ya too! :D (misspelllere)
[10:05:34 AM] Katie Symington: adios!
[10:05:39 AM] Troy Symington: Ciao!

Catching Up

[12:29:12 PM] Katie Symington: troy-o!
[12:29:18 PM] Katie Symington: What you up to?
[12:31:14 PM] Troy Symington: I'm trying to find mom and dad! They're not contacting me! I just knocked on their hotel room door for like five minutes! I just got back home (luckily their hotel is like 5 minutes away).
[12:31:35 PM] Katie Symington: Whoa, are they in Florence now?
[12:32:01 PM] Katie Symington: You could always ask the hotel front office about them, maybe they saw them go out or they asked for information about where to go.
[12:32:37 PM] Troy Symington: Yeah, they arrived at like 5. They sent me a facebook message saying that they're here, but I didn't get back from Napoli until 8.
[12:33:01 PM] Katie Symington: what time is it now?
[12:33:06 PM] Katie Symington: ah 9:30?
[12:33:11 PM] Troy Symington: yup
[12:33:13 PM] Katie Symington: they must be exploring!
[12:33:17 PM] Katie Symington: Do they know where to find you?
[12:33:40 PM] Troy Symington: Nope. Because they won't contact me. I don't think that they even know I'm back in the city.
[12:35:21 PM] Katie Symington: oh no!
[12:35:43 PM] Katie Symington: Well, perhaps you could slip a note under their door telling them you are here, and to come by and visit you! Give them your schedule for tomorrow or something.
[12:36:18 PM] Troy Symington: I'm already back home and I've sent them a fb message.
[12:37:27 PM] Katie Symington: Well there you go!
[12:37:40 PM] Katie Symington: So how are you buddy? Now was Napoli?
[12:37:44 PM] Katie Symington: *How
[12:39:44 PM] Troy Symington: Napoli was awesome! The city itself was kinda disgusting and totally filled with trash, but there were some really cool sights and Pompeii was awesome!
[12:40:13 PM] Katie Symington: Pompeii! How exciting, what did you do there?
[12:42:18 PM] Troy Symington: We explored the ruins! There's soooo many ruins but alot of it was blocked off unless your part of a tour and there wasn't too much info available there. There was more in the Museo di Archeological Nazionale in Napoli. Today we saw La Capella Sansavero (a mausoleum/museum) which had the really, really famous Veiled Christ statue and omg... my mind was blown.
[12:42:53 PM] Katie Symington: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html
[12:43:15 PM] Katie Symington: I sure hope that there are some pictures for you to put up! I'd love to see what you saw.
[12:44:09 PM] Troy Symington: Did you send me this link purely because I typed "omg"?
[12:44:19 PM] Katie Symington: because you typed "alot"
[12:44:39 PM] Katie Symington: it's "a lot" and this is a hilarious blogger. you must read it.
[12:46:23 PM] Troy Symington: One type-o and you find this necessary? You're a silly face.
[12:46:58 PM] Katie Symington: She is the most freaking hilarious blogger ever, Troy, and knowing about the existence of the Alot is necessary!
[12:47:08 PM] Katie Symington: Anyhoo. What are you doing now?
[12:50:15 PM] Troy Symington: Talking to you while attempting to do homework. Oh! I typed on an Italian keyboard for the first time yesterday, and it was reeeeaaaally weird. The apostrophes and left shift key are TOTALLY in the wrong spot, and there's a whole different button which is like a shift key except it gives you a third option so it totally took me like five minutes to figure out how to use an @ symbol...
[12:50:37 PM] Katie Symington: LOL
[12:50:42 PM] Katie Symington: what hw do you have?
[12:51:50 PM] Troy Symington: Physical anthro. We just had a test the other day and I totally aced it! (which isn't saying much because all of our classes are kind easy).
[12:51:58 PM] Katie Symington: FABU!
[12:52:25 PM] Troy Symington: Katie... fabu is worse than alot.
[12:52:32 PM] Katie Symington: I'm bringin' fabu back (Yeah!)
[12:52:53 PM] Troy Symington: ...
[12:53:29 PM] Troy Symington: If I weren't 5000 miles away I would bop you on the head.
[12:53:29 PM] Katie Symington: Anyhoo. I just got back from Nick's parent's, it's his mom's b-day and we had blueberry pancakes over there, and then cleaned the garage and I trimmed their dog's toenails and we came back home and Nick left for Sac
[12:53:50 PM] Katie Symington: and last night we were all at his grandparents to celebrate three b-days intheir family and I had PRIME RIB and delicious foods and held a 4 month old baby boy
[12:53:56 PM] Katie Symington: and now I have a ton of hw and cleaning adn stuff to do
[12:54:11 PM] Katie Symington: and I'm fixing myf ish tank. It is covered in algae, my fish are unhappy, and the water chemistry's off.
[12:54:19 PM] Katie Symington: and I'm about to eat crackers and avocado
[12:54:29 PM] Katie Symington: and the internets here is SLOW
[12:54:33 PM] Troy Symington: Cool! (besides the hw and cleaning). How are your classes and work?
[12:55:26 PM] Katie Symington: all bueno! I just did progress reports for all my kids which took a while, and teaching is still fun! My school classes are all good, but the projects are piling up and midterms are upon me in the next two weeks!
[12:58:45 PM] Troy Symington: Ahhhh! I know the feeling. But again, all my classes over here are pretty easy so I don't think I'm gonna hafta deal with that very much! That's awesome that you're still enjoying working there! Is it difficult to write progress reports? I don't think I'd be able to give out bad grades.
[1:00:42 PM] Katie Symington: For the younger grades it's S for Satisfactory with a few Excellents! The older grades get letter graded on their behavior, typing, projects, and overall. I can write comments if I want but I only did for a few.
[1:01:17 PM] Katie Symington: It was fun. A litle tedious at times but overall interesting to do!
[1:01:34 PM] Katie Symington: Okay, my new favorite thing is avocado on stoned wheat thins.
[1:02:24 PM] Troy Symington: That's great! (The school thing, not the avocado thing... it would be great but I don't have any right now so I'm jealous).
[1:02:44 PM] Katie Symington: heeee
[1:02:49 PM] Katie Symington: I'm about out! Very sad.
[1:03:05 PM] Troy Symington: I realized today that I totally should have asked mom and dad to bring me peanut butter.
[1:03:20 PM] Katie Symington: Is there no peanut butter in Italy?
[1:03:22 PM] Katie Symington: Weird!
[1:03:25 PM] Katie Symington: Buy peanuts and grind your own!
[1:04:26 PM] Troy Symington: There's peanut butter but it's RIDICULOUSLY expensive. My roommate Sean was asking earlier today how much it would be to ship peanut butter over from the US!
[1:11:54 PM] Katie Symington: lol wow!
[1:12:02 PM] Katie Symington: how expensive???
[1:13:00 PM] Troy Symington: Hey! Sorry but the internet quit on us for a minute there! Peanut butter is about 4.50 euro for a really tiny jar!
[1:13:11 PM] Katie Symington: Yikes a doodle!
[1:13:34 PM] Katie Symington: Guess you will just have to suffer without it. What about different types of butters--almond or a different type?
[1:14:32 PM] Troy Symington: Ha, it's kinda weird to think that you don't know this stuff! Nutella is sooooo popular over here! It's in all of the pastries and the candy bars and just about everything else!
[1:14:51 PM] Katie Symington: wow!
[1:15:02 PM] Katie Symington: but nutella is so sweet. I was thinking something similar to peanut butter. Do they have different kinds or are they as expensive?
[1:15:49 PM] Troy Symington: I haven't seen anything else. You can probably get others but I dunno.
[1:16:01 PM] Katie Symington: huh.
[1:16:10 PM] Katie Symington: Well I sure am glad I actually get to talk with you today! Usually you're all "gotta go!"
[1:16:20 PM] Katie Symington: :)
[1:16:38 PM] Katie Symington: How is the weather in Italy now? It is raining on and off today here.
[1:18:33 PM] Troy Symington: Ha, well I SHOULD be doing homework! It's warmed up in Florence over the weekend and it was mostly sunny here I guess, which is too bad because in Naples it was raining ALL day on Saturday (which made Pompeii kinda miserable because we were all totally soaked). It was sunny in Naples today though.
[1:19:03 PM] Katie Symington: Dude, how cool is it that you are just tossing out words like "Pompeii" and "Naples"??? YOU'RE IN FREAKING ITALY!!!
[1:19:46 PM] Troy Symington: I KNOW, RIGHT!!! AND WE'RE GOING TO ROME WITH MOM AND DAD NEXT WEEKEND!!!!
[1:20:21 PM] Katie Symington: AAAAIIIIEEEEEE! SOOOO COOOL!!!
[1:20:28 PM] Katie Symington: :D
[1:20:42 PM] Katie Symington: I love just tossing out, "My brother's studying abroad in Florence. Oh, and my parents just flew to Venice."
[1:20:52 PM] Katie Symington: LIKE WE'RE ALL WORLD TRAVELERS WHEE
[1:20:57 PM] Katie Symington: (Except moi)
[1:22:14 PM] Troy Symington: Well... get rich and go travelling! I'll take you to the carribean in my yacht (because in this fantasy I'm rich too)!
[1:23:38 PM] Katie Symington: Such a nice brother ;)
[1:24:12 PM] Katie Symington: The dogs say hi, btw. and Io is walking around yawning. Oz was fascinaed by the fish tank yesterday
[1:24:34 PM] Troy Symington: Ha, good. How is the remodeling coming?
[1:26:20 PM] Katie Symington: the counters are beautiful and the stove, new sink, new faucet, and dishwasher are back in. the dishwasher isn't attached yet because the floors are not put in, so we're walking on the stuff that goes under the tile. The dishwasher tries to tip over if you don't hold it up when loading it! the bathroom downstairs is totally gutted and the new shower floor/concrete bit is going in to cover the huge hole that was in the floor. the entire house is full of dust from the tile bein irpped up and it is still settling!
[1:28:59 PM] Troy Symington: Ha, wow. It's going to be so weird going home with everything totally different!
[1:30:05 PM] Katie Symington: it will look totally gorgeous! mom and dad just chose the tile for the floor--it's kind of hard to explain. It's a similar sized tile, kind of beige/brown with a bit of gray to mach the counters, and the brown to match the cabinets. It's very soothing, the design of it is kind of like sand swirled around so it's not too busy.
[1:30:52 PM] Troy Symington: Molto bene!
[1:31:14 PM] Katie Symington: Yeppers!
[1:31:33 PM] Katie Symington: Ugh totally ahve hw to do today and don't want toooo! I'm having fun researching stuff for my fish tank!
[1:32:20 PM] Troy Symington: I totally have hw to do and I want to go to sleep soon! But I can procrastinate long enough to talk to my sister.
[1:34:39 PM] Katie Symington: :)
[1:34:41 PM] Katie Symington: yay!
[1:35:00 PM] Katie Symington: It's like 10:30 now, though, right? you should probably get to work.
[1:36:12 PM] Troy Symington: Eh. The awesome thing about living with fellow college kids: you can stay up as late as you want and you get used to not having enough sleep. (Although I'm kinda sick so I probably should get some sleep).
[1:36:29 PM] Katie Symington: sick? you got a cold?
[1:37:14 PM] Troy Symington: I've been coughing so much and my throats been really sore for the past day or two. But I have some tea right now and that helps a lot.
[1:40:48 PM] Troy Symington: Yo! You there?
[1:45:57 PM] Katie Symington: sorry!
[1:45:59 PM] Katie Symington: i'm here!
[1:46:16 PM] Katie Symington: Sorry bud, got caught up readin about otocinclus'!
[1:46:21 PM] Katie Symington: what kind of tea?
[1:46:51 PM] Katie Symington: when you see mom and dad please bop them on the head for me too, because I sent them a big facebook message a few days a go and they haven't responded at all!
[1:47:31 PM] Troy Symington: They've been really bad about that! They didn't even let me know that they were alive when they got to Venice! It's green tea, it's not bad.
[1:47:44 PM] Katie Symington: me neither! just that facebook wall post!
[1:48:48 PM] Troy Symington: They would be so angry if we were doing that to them!
[1:48:53 PM] Katie Symington: i know!
[1:48:59 PM] Katie Symington: mom promised she would write me!
[1:49:18 PM] Katie Symington: omg the dogs are running on the ripped up floor and it sounds like nails on a chalkboard! so totally trimming their nails!!!
[1:49:29 PM] Troy Symington: Do it!
[1:49:39 PM] Katie Symington: ;)
[1:51:13 PM] Troy Symington: Sooo... what's on the agenda for you this week?
[1:52:06 PM] Katie Symington: monday school from 10-7 and i drive to sac from mv. tues work 9-2 then home cuz class was canceled in the evening. wed school 10-4ish. thurs work 9-5. fri work 2-5.
[1:52:29 PM] Katie Symington: i visited nanny yesterday for a few hours. i'll be calling her daily and try to visit again.
[1:52:57 PM] Troy Symington: How's she doing? I haven't talked to her at all since coming here!
[1:53:16 PM] Troy Symington: I keep meaning to send her a postcard... maybe I'll send it back with mom and dad.
[1:53:32 PM] Katie Symington: well! she had an international dinner last night at the church up the hill, she was playin cards when i got there. She would LOVE postcard! Write as much as you can on it, k?
[1:53:48 PM] Troy Symington: Will do!
[1:56:33 PM] Katie Symington: Okay bud, I need to go start laundry and get hw together. You go do hw and feel better, k? Give mom and dad a hug for me when you see them!
[1:57:37 PM] Troy Symington: If they ever contact me! Say hi to Nick and Nanny and all the animals for me! Love ya!

Parents in Italy

[3/3/2011 7:12:28 AM] Lisa Symington: hey, sweetie. Do you miss me yet?

[12:01:47 AM] Katie Symington: I gots a mama?

[12:02:39 AM] Lisa Symington: Hey! This izza your papa!

[12:02:54 AM] Katie Symington: Daddy!

[12:02:58 AM] Katie Symington: How is Venice?

[12:03:34 AM] Lisa Symington: Mama is getting dresed-we'll eat BK soon. The room is fine-loud last nite!

[12:04:51 AM] Lisa Symington: Venice is great so far! Not sure what we'll do today.

[12:05:07 AM] Katie Symington: What is for breakfast?

[12:05:34 AM] Lisa Symington: Continental-cofffee and rolls, i think?

[12:05:52 AM] Katie Symington: Is continental the same in Italy as it is here? Enjoy it!

[12:06:06 AM] Katie Symington: I sent you guys a facebook message about what's going on here.

[12:06:41 AM] Lisa Symington: OK-thanks. We're going to eat now. Have a great day. We love you!

[12:07:03 AM] Katie Symington: Love you too! Have fun!

Three Days of Skype

[2/27/2011 10:38:11 AM] Katie Symington: whozat?
[2/27/2011 10:38:32 AM] Troy Symington: zatsme!
[2/27/2011 10:38:56 AM] Katie Symington: nowayz!
[2/27/2011 10:39:13 AM] Katie Symington: Well, what in the world have you been up to, buddy?
[2/27/2011 10:39:46 AM] Troy Symington: We just got back a couple of hours ago! I just finished uploading pictures and you HAFTA chem 'em out!
[2/27/2011 10:40:05 AM] Katie Symington: Okay! I shall! .... got back from where again?
[2/27/2011 10:40:34 AM] Troy Symington: Venice! Carnivale! Awesomeness!
[2/27/2011 10:40:46 AM] Katie Symington: Tell me about the awesomeness!
[2/27/2011 10:41:10 AM] Katie Symington: Did you buy a mask?
[2/27/2011 10:41:33 AM] Troy Symington: Of course! Check out the pics first! They tell the story better than I can!
[2/27/2011 10:41:46 AM] Katie Symington: I'm looking!
[2/27/2011 10:53:39 AM] Katie Symington: Looks super awesome bud.
[2/27/2011 10:54:32 AM] Troy Symington: I know, right?
[2/27/2011 10:55:13 AM] Katie Symington: Who's Alistair?
[2/27/2011 10:56:09 AM] Troy Symington: It was pretty cool that we spent two nights there, becuase even though we got caught up in Carnivale, we were still able to see all the classic tourist things (San Marco, Doge Palace, the Accademia).
[2/27/2011 10:56:26 AM] Troy Symington: Altair is a character from a very, very popular video game... ask Nick.
[2/27/2011 10:57:33 AM] Katie Symington: Nick is giving me a blank look. What game/
[2/27/2011 10:57:50 AM] Troy Symington: Assassins Creed.
[2/27/2011 11:01:22 AM] Katie Symington: Heh. "Oh!" he says.
[2/27/2011 11:01:28 AM] Katie Symington: So what are you doing now?
[2/27/2011 11:01:55 AM] Troy Symington: Laying on my bed thinking of getting an early start on homework but knowing that I'm too much of a procrastinator.
[2/27/2011 11:03:55 AM] Troy Symington: We just had dinner a little bit ago (pasta again). I'm starting to get sick of pasta because it's one of the few things we have to cook for dinner (everything else is so darn expensive!
[2/27/2011 11:04:17 AM] Troy Symington: Pretty much everything is really expensive over here!
[2/27/2011 11:08:16 AM] Katie Symington: that's sucky!
[2/27/2011 11:08:22 AM] Katie Symington: have you made pesto yet?
[2/27/2011 11:08:27 AM] Katie Symington: or....a cream sauce?
[2/27/2011 11:08:45 AM] Katie Symington: you could make a clam sauce too!
[2/27/2011 11:09:55 AM] Troy Symington: No. There is NO alfredo over here at all! And the kind of pesto that comes in a jar is always REALLY expensive. I suppose I could make the pesto myself but we don't have any kind of food processer to make it in!
[2/27/2011 11:10:09 AM] Katie Symington: pooor boy!
[2/27/2011 11:13:12 AM] Katie Symington: do your hw. I'm eating breakfast. I made asparagus with a poached egg with a hollandaise sauce!
[2/27/2011 11:13:32 AM] Troy Symington: Ok, I wanted to get some pb and j for sanwiches. But a tiny, tiny thing of Skippy was 4.50 euro!
[2/27/2011 11:13:40 AM] Katie Symington: aww!
[2/27/2011 11:18:28 AM] Troy Symington: Hey, I'm actually talking to mom who just called me, so I'm gonna go now!
[2/27/2011 11:18:39 AM] Katie Symington: adios!
[2/27/2011 11:18:45 AM] Troy Symington: Love ya!
[2/27/2011 11:18:54 AM] Katie Symington: love you too!
[2/27/2011 11:18:57 AM] Katie Symington: Have fun!



[3/1/2011 3:23:21 PM] Katie Symington: Troy-o!
[3/1/2011 3:25:07 PM] Troy Symington: Katie! ...o? I'm going to ignore you because it's getting late over here and I'm finishing up homework. I'll talk to ya later, okay?
[3/1/2011 3:25:42 PM] Katie Symington: Sounds good, I'm reading an article and I leave for my afternoon class in forty-five minutes. Love you!
[3/1/2011 3:26:03 PM] Troy Symington: Love!



[3/2/2011 7:53:43 AM] Katie Symington: hi!
[3/2/2011 7:54:10 AM] Troy Symington: Yo
[3/2/2011 7:54:35 AM] Katie Symington: sup?
[3/2/2011 7:56:10 AM] Troy Symington: Just got home from Italian class. Sitting down writing music and thinking about doing homework already because we're going to some friend's house for dinner!
[3/2/2011 7:56:29 AM] Katie Symington: Accent friends or Italian friends? Have you made Italian friends?
[3/2/2011 7:58:25 AM] Troy Symington: Accent friends. We've made some italian acquaintences, but not really friends. We've made a Swiss friend though!
[3/2/2011 7:58:30 AM] Katie Symington: ooooh how?
[3/2/2011 7:58:58 AM] Troy Symington: She's in the Accent program.
[3/2/2011 7:59:51 AM] Katie Symington: excellent. Tell me something exciting.
[3/2/2011 8:02:47 AM] Troy Symington: Ummmmmm... I just ate this awesome Pizza Ripiendo which is a layered pizza thing that was full of sausage and some weird vegetable that tasted oddly like brussel sprouts. It was from this tiny food stand on the way home from school that we always go to because it's cheap, filling, and delicious.
[3/2/2011 8:03:14 AM] Katie Symington: I want some! I want a calzone
[3/2/2011 8:03:39 AM] Troy Symington: Ha, the calzones over here are HUGE.
[3/2/2011 8:04:41 AM] Katie Symington: YUM
[3/2/2011 8:04:45 AM] Katie Symington: Did you see the latest himym?
[3/2/2011 8:04:53 AM] Katie Symington: with the calzone?
[3/2/2011 8:08:20 AM] Katie Symington: yo!
[3/2/2011 8:13:18 AM] Katie Symington: Let me introduce you to a concept. It is called "brb". You use it when you are going to disappear randomly.

In which Troy is a twit

[9:18:52 AM] Katie Symington: yo wassup
[9:19:45 AM] Troy Symington: Laying on my bed listening to my iPod and reading Harry Potter. You?
[9:22:43 AM] Troy Symington: Yo! You there?
[9:22:52 AM] Troy Symington: Helloooooooooooooo?
[9:23:16 AM] Troy Symington: Ms. Katrina Ann Symington you talk to me this instant!
[9:26:42 AM] Troy Symington: Fine! See what I care!
[9:27:32 AM] Troy Symington: I'm just sitting here... all alone in Italy... out in the big world with no one to give me guidance... whatever shall I do?
[9:28:06 AM] Troy Symington: I didn't want to talk to you anyways!
[9:28:24 AM] Troy Symington: Nyeeeeaaaahhhh!
[12:35:09 PM] Katie Symington: Hi!!!
[12:35:42 PM] Katie Symington: ...ello?
[12:36:02 PM] Katie Symington: I saw that pencil moving! you can't fool me! I know you're there!!!
[12:36:32 PM] Katie Symington: Hey!
[12:36:37 PM] Katie Symington: Talk to meeeeeee!
[12:36:51 PM] Troy Symington: I'm ignoring you the way you ignored me!!!
[12:37:07 PM] Katie Symington: lol I'm sorry, I had to go to school and I left my computer open!
[12:37:28 PM] Troy Symington: Then why did you message me???
[12:37:45 PM] Katie Symington: I was on for like five minutes!
[12:37:52 PM] Katie Symington: And to say hi!
[12:37:55 PM] Katie Symington: So, hi!
[12:38:18 PM] Troy Symington: Rawr... I will never forgive you.
[12:38:24 PM] Katie Symington: *sobs*
[12:38:29 PM] Katie Symington: *cries*
[12:38:31 PM] Katie Symington: *snots*
[12:38:41 PM] Katie Symington: *flings self onto floor in miserable heap*
[12:38:51 PM] Katie Symington: "Woe!
[12:39:03 PM] Troy Symington: Muhahahahahaha!
[12:39:03 PM] Katie Symington: Woe is me!"
[12:39:13 PM] Katie Symington: Ahem.
[12:39:47 PM] Katie Symington: So, I have about twenty minutes before I need to get ready to leave for my next class. Last I read you were reading Harry Potter and listening to music. What did you do in between that stuff?
[12:41:26 PM] Troy Symington: Ate dinner, read more, listened to more music, and now I'm sitting around a table with friends and ATTEMPTING to do homework... but there's no way I could ever do homework around friends... so now I'm just procrastinating.
[12:41:57 PM] Katie Symington: I do that a lot. Which is why I was up till midnight doing hw that was due this morning. ;)
[12:42:09 PM] Katie Symington: Tell me something amazing that happened today.
[12:42:19 PM] Troy Symington: Hrrrrmmmm
[12:43:43 PM] Katie Symington: There must be something.
[12:43:49 PM] Troy Symington: ... I didn't do too much today. It's kinda been a day to relax, we're going out tomorrow.
[12:45:50 PM] Troy Symington: Tomorrow we're going to the Duomo in our Soc Sci class! We're totally going to the top and I'm so excited!
[12:46:19 PM] Katie Symington: Awesomeness! I didn't even know that was possible until Nick asked if you'd gone to the top. Apparently they talk about the Duomo a lot in his architecture design class.
[12:46:30 PM] Katie Symington: Take looots o' pictures!
[12:46:36 PM] Katie Symington: Have you put any on photobucket yet?
[12:46:46 PM] Katie Symington: *ominous knuckle-cracking and glaring*
[12:48:30 PM] Katie Symington: ...this long pause better mean you're loading them right now.
[12:49:04 PM] Troy Symington: ...no. But yeah, the Duomo was a revelutionary architectural feat! It went unfinished for years because they didn't have a way to create a dome that big until Brunelleschi came along and was all like "I'm a genius and I'm gonna try these new architectural ideas and hopefully it won't cave in!"
[12:49:51 PM] Katie Symington: ....yeah, whatever. PICTURES, BOY!
[12:50:08 PM] Katie Symington: (Also kind of funny, hoping it works. Good thing it did!)
[12:50:42 PM] Troy Symington: I know, right?
[12:51:12 PM] Troy Symington: And look! I'm changing the subject to something other than uploading pictures... inconspicuously...
[12:54:09 PM] Katie Symington: not so inconspicuously, dude. Your blog is like weeks behind! I'm not going to be able to catch it up!
[12:54:38 PM] Troy Symington: Not. My. Problem.
[12:54:46 PM] Troy Symington: ;)
[12:56:22 PM] Katie Symington: Ignoring you now.
[12:56:42 PM] Troy Symington: Wait! Don't ignore me!
[12:56:47 PM] Troy Symington: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
[12:57:08 PM] Troy Symington: Fine!
[12:57:10 PM] Katie Symington: (It is TOO your problem. How are you going to remember things from Italy if I don't write them down? It's a nice way for mom and dad and I to see what you are up to all in one place and I am very upset that you haven't simply uploaded the photos to photobucket already. It would take just a few minutes and isn't hard!)
[12:59:36 PM] Troy Symington: Errrrrgghhh! It's annoying enough uploading them to FB!
[12:59:53 PM] Katie Symington: DOOOOOOOOOOOO IT.
[1:00:13 PM] Troy Symington: Noooooooooooo!
[1:00:25 PM] Katie Symington: Plug in your usb/flashdisk/whatever and load them up!!!
[1:01:54 PM] Troy Symington: No, because I should definitely upload them to picassa (so that I have a backup of all of them), plus, I don't like to upload ALL of the pictures. People don't need to see them.
[1:02:37 PM] Katie Symington: Well they won't unless they go to photobucket. And the 8 photos here and there that you upload . . . we have to look through Alec's 100
[1:02:45 PM] Katie Symington: 's of photos to get a better idea!
[1:02:52 PM] Katie Symington: So yes, you need to show them to us!
[1:04:47 PM] Troy Symington: No one except for you and maybe mom actually wants to look though that many photos!
[1:05:12 PM] Troy Symington: Okay, I really need to go and do my homework.
[1:05:31 PM] Katie Symington: EXACTLY. If you upload them to photobucket I will choose a few to put on the blog.
[1:05:48 PM] Katie Symington: But that was mom and I can see what you are up to! So GODDAMN IT TROY ALAN, PUT THEM UP TONIGHT!
[1:06:41 PM] Troy Symington: I HAAATE THAT IDEA! Besides, I'm busy and really need to stop talking to you so I can get homework done!
[1:07:30 PM] Katie Symington: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOo put them online! You are really starting to get on my nerves with refusing to do this, Troy! You promised you would take lots of photos and you aren't showing them to us!
[1:07:40 PM] Katie Symington: You got a ton of presents at Xmas, remember, that you didn't expect!
[1:08:02 PM] Katie Symington: And that coat! I PICKED IT OUT. THE COAT YOU ARE WEARING IS BECAUSE YOUR SISTER BOUGHT IT FOR YOU AND YOU OWE ME AND THAT COAT PICTURES.
[1:08:13 PM] Troy Symington: GOOD. BYE.
[1:08:18 PM] Troy Symington: LOVE. YOU.
[1:08:31 PM] Katie Symington: TWIT.
[1:08:32 PM] Katie Symington: LOVE YOU TOO.

In Which Pisa Leans and Picassa Sucks

[9:41:39 AM] Katie Symington: hello!

[9:42:33 AM] Troy Symington: Ciao bella!

[9:42:44 AM] Katie Symington: Aww

[9:42:48 AM] Katie Symington: How are you?

[9:43:27 AM] Troy Symington: Good! We just got back from Pisa, and now we're making dinner and I'm going to do lots of homework right after we're done eating.

[9:43:57 AM] Katie Symington: Ah, do you have a minute to tell me about how Pisa was?

[9:54:38 AM] Katie Symington: TROY!

[10:13:22 AM] Katie Symington: DUDE.

[10:13:48 AM] Katie Symington: Generally people say "brb" or even "gotta go" before they disappear

[10:24:56 AM] Troy Symington: I'm soooooorrrrryyyyyy!

[10:24:57 AM] Katie Symington: YO

[10:25:14 AM] Troy Symington: We just finished making dinner and now we just sat down to eat!

[10:25:41 AM] Katie Symington: Next time would it kill ya to SAY SO forty minutes ago???

[10:26:10 AM] Troy Symington: ...yes. I"m seriously sorry, but I got caught up in making dinner.

[10:26:28 AM] Katie Symington: You go eat, I'm watching the long Sense and Sensibility. When you come back to do hw I expect to hear about Pisa, k?

[10:26:48 AM] Troy Symington: Okay, bye!

[11:13:16 AM] Katie Symington: hiiiiiiiiiiiii!

[11:13:36 AM] Troy Symington: Yoooooo!

[11:13:52 AM] Katie Symington: pisa?

[11:15:15 AM] Troy Symington: Such. A. Tourist town. We didn't even go up into the tower because it was SO FREAKING EXPENSIVE!

[11:18:35 AM] Katie Symington: how much?

[11:20:32 AM] Troy Symington: 20 euro! It's ridonculous. We did pay 6 euro to go to the babtistery and the cemetery which were pretty cool, but probably should have cost a bit less. The coolest thing was the cathedral! (which was free).

[11:21:07 AM] Katie Symington: lol sounds awesome! tell me more about your weekend.

[11:24:02 AM] Troy Symington: We went to Fiesole on Saturday. Which is a tiny town on a hill above florence. We saw some roman ruins there and a pretty cool church and the veiw of florence is amazing! Then on Sunday we went to Lucca which was really cool! It's the only Medeival town with a fully intact wall that goes all the way around it! We went to a bunch of really cool churches and their Duomo was awesome! Then we went to the top of a tower (that had trees on the top) and veiwed the city. Then we saw the house where Puccini (the opera composer) was born and we walked all the way around the city on the wall!

[11:24:45 AM] Katie Symington: wow, amazing!!! I did homework. ;)

[11:25:02 AM] Katie Symington: And went to a drive in movie theater, it was awesome. Be jealous.

[11:25:28 AM] Katie Symington: waait they have another Duomo? What is the Duomo?

[11:25:56 AM] Troy Symington: I've been to a drive in before! What movie did you see?

[11:26:14 AM] Troy Symington: A Duomo is.... a cathedral with a dome on it.

[11:26:29 AM] Troy Symington: The one in Florence is the most famous.

[11:26:46 AM] Troy Symington: But we've seen 3 so far and they've all been fantastic.

[11:27:16 AM] Katie Symington: Wow!!! I didn't know that.

[11:28:02 AM] Katie Symington: We saw I am Number Four and Tron. They were fantastic, and it was very very fun. You get to see two movies for 7 a person, so we paid 14 bucks for like four hours of entertainment. Awesome!

[11:34:22 AM] Troy Symington: That's awesome! There are actually movies in english over here (or with subtitles) but I've been told that they suck.

[11:34:49 AM] Katie Symington: boo

[11:34:55 AM] Katie Symington: So what hw you doing?

[11:36:13 AM] Troy Symington: Soc Sci. We're writing journals about the museums we've seen so far. Nothing too difficult, it's just time consuming.

[11:36:46 AM] Katie Symington: fun!

[11:37:40 AM] Troy Symington: Yup, I'm gonna need to go to work on them soon. I'm uploading photos from Pisa right now though!

[11:46:15 AM] Katie Symington: YAY! onto photobucket???

[11:47:51 AM] Troy Symington: Ummmmm... no. Freaking stupid Piccasa won't let me drag photos into a folder unless it's a folder in Picassa! It's ridonculous!

[11:48:10 AM] Katie Symington: yes it is.

[11:48:24 AM] Katie Symington: I hate picasa

[11:48:42 AM] Troy Symington: Didn't you tell me to use it instead of iPhoto?

[11:48:43 AM] Katie Symington: I think on picasa you can select upload at the bottom though...right?

[11:48:49 AM] Katie Symington: Yeah, sorry.

[11:48:53 AM] Katie Symington: I LIED

[11:48:58 AM] Katie Symington: On accident

[11:49:27 AM] Troy Symington: Where on the bottom?

[11:49:54 AM] Katie Symington: one of the buttons

[11:51:08 AM] Katie Symington: ...nevermind, I just looked at Picasa and couldn't figure it out. Freaking picasa.

[11:51:18 AM] Troy Symington: Freaking Picasa...

[11:51:23 AM] Katie Symington: Can you open up the camera on your computer and just select the photos there?

[11:52:20 AM] Troy Symington: No, you need picassa to get them from the camera. Wait, maybe. I just realized I brought a usb drive that you can plug sim cards into.

[11:52:31 AM] Katie Symington: yes! try that!

[11:53:51 AM] Troy Symington: Next time. I just uploaded some pics onto FB so my work here is DONE!

[12:10:47 PM] Katie Symington: pbbbbt

[12:11:20 PM] Troy Symington: Nyeeeaaaaahhhh!

Pisa and Pizza

[10:40:37 AM] Katie Symington: trooooy

[10:43:55 AM] Troy Symington: Myeeeees?

[10:44:11 AM] Katie Symington: Yes yoooooooooooooooooooooooooes!

[10:44:13 AM] Katie Symington: Hi!

[10:44:17 AM] Katie Symington: Did you go to Siena?

[10:44:33 AM] Troy Symington: No, we never were this weekend.

[10:44:41 AM] Troy Symington: But tomorrow we're going to Fiesole

[10:44:48 AM] Troy Symington: And the day after we're going to Lucca

[10:44:55 AM] Katie Symington: Hmm. Have you been to Siena then, because Anna posted pics of it!

[10:44:59 AM] Troy Symington: And the day after that we're going to Pisa

[10:45:11 AM] Katie Symington: Leaning tower of Pizza!

[10:45:18 AM] Katie Symington: mmmmm. Have a slice for me!

[10:45:35 AM] Troy Symington: We're actually making pizza right now!

[10:45:42 AM] Katie Symington: It sounds like you will be very busy for the next few days. Don't forget to take tons of pics and upload them with captions.

[10:45:48 AM] Katie Symington: Pizza? Like you making the crust too?

[10:45:55 AM] Troy Symington: But of course!

[10:45:59 AM] Katie Symington: :P

[10:46:06 AM] Troy Symington: We bought some instant mix.

[10:46:15 AM] Katie Symington: Oooooh. Awesome! What are you putting on the pizza?

[10:46:39 AM] Troy Symington: Ummmm... I'm not sure.

[10:46:52 AM] Katie Symington: Mushrooms!

[10:46:55 AM] Katie Symington: ;)

[10:47:05 AM] Troy Symington: Howzabout NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[10:47:15 AM] Katie Symington: Poor mushroom hating boy.

[10:47:19 AM] Katie Symington: So HAVE you been to Siena?

[10:47:24 AM] Troy Symington: No.

[10:47:28 AM] Katie Symington: Oh. But Anna has?

[10:47:37 AM] Troy Symington: They went on the group trip today.

[10:47:59 AM] Katie Symington: Oh. So when you say "we" are going to Pisa and the other trips, do you mean you and Alec or you and Accent or you and the boys and the girls?

[10:48:55 AM] Katie Symington: Why didn't you go on the group trip? Did you have to pay for it?

[10:49:00 AM] Troy Symington: Me, Alec, Nathan, and whoever else wants to go! We've made quite a few friends so it could end up being a lot of people depending on what people are doing.

[10:49:14 AM] Troy Symington: Yeah, you had to pay a lot for it.

[10:49:23 AM] Katie Symington: Oooh. Well will you end up going on your own to Siena?

[10:49:28 AM] Katie Symington: eventually?

[10:49:39 AM] Troy Symington: Of course! Don't know when yet.

[10:49:48 AM] Katie Symington: Awesomeness! And yay for making lots of friends!

[10:49:54 AM] Katie Symington: How to you travel to Fiesole?

[10:49:58 AM] Katie Symington: *do

[10:51:20 AM] Troy Symington: By bus. It's just a tiny town on a hill above Florence and you're supposed to be able to see Florence on clear days. Lucca and Pisa are both about 1-1.5 hours on train.

[10:52:05 AM] Katie Symington: How do you find the trains and the bus? Are they crowded and dirty, or nice and businessmen and women use them?

[11:03:32 AM] Katie Symington: Um....hello? Are you eating pizza?

[11:10:46 AM] Troy Symington: I'm so sorry! You there?

[11:11:31 AM] Troy Symington: We had some complications with the pizza dough so instead of baking it, I decided to thow it in some oil and fry up some little batter fritter things!

[11:11:48 AM] Troy Symington: But I need to go back and cook now! Love ya, bye!

[11:13:03 AM] Katie Symington: Ooooh.

[11:13:05 AM] Katie Symington: Bye!