Umbria

Our residence in Umbertide, called Petrogallo.  We were in the 'new' part: 1571

Bedroom at Petrogallo

Petrogallo room

Antonella from Petrogallo bringing Jen some food and wine at the pool

Approaching Assisi

Me taking the above picture.  Jen thinks I take too many.

On a slightly-lost walk around and below Assisi

Lunch in Assisi (Jen's in front)

Tuscany

Inner dome of Duomo, Florence

Hailing thunderstorm in Siena

Sign by road

Podere Spedalone, near Pienza

Newly-rescued Spedalone doggie

Jen journaling in our room; 8th/9th century structure

View from Spedalone

Spedalone from estate next door

Just before dinner at Spedalone

Spedalone hosts: Ayisha, Giancarlo, Nicholetta

Pienza

Gelato in Pienza

Pre-Brunello snack in Montalcino

Dinner in Cortona

Florence

I Had To Post This

Seen in a Lifehacker post

Stabilize the Debt: Interactive App

I ran into this site today:

Stabilize the Debt: An Exercise In Hard Choices

It's pretty cool -- it's basically a big menu of federal budgeting options (some positively affecting debt, others negatively affecting it), with explanations and associated dollar value impacts.  The 'goal' in the 'game' is to make choices that would result in a debt of 60% of GDP in 2018.

The numbers associated with the choices make clear how minor the impact of some supposedly horribly expensive things are.  For example, you see lots of news coverage on how the F-22's production run has been capped at 1/3rd of the original slate.  Cancelling all of the proposed defense programs slated for killing (F-22 is just one of several such programs) only saves $30B.  There are individual, much narrower-sounding tax choices on entitlements that have impacts an order of magnitude greater.

Lil' J Has New Wheels

Jen now has a road bike too!  It's a Trek Madone 4.7 WSD, with compact gearing (SRAM Rival).  Because she's Lil' J, it's a 50cm.

How Cool Are These?

Love & Matt Zubiller sent these as a wedding gift. The twist: they bought them several years ago, when they still lived in London. I guess this was pretty obviously a good gift for me: