Hello dear Ladies and esteemed Gentlemen,

Here comes a new ***long*** issue of my non-periodic newsletter! PLEASE, DO NOT INCLUDE THIS MESSAGE IF YOU LIKE TO REPLY, unless you want to fill up my mailbox... First of all, I would like to apologize with those of you who wrote me and did not receive any answer yet, namely AnnaF, DanielaM, ElizabethR, EnRiCo, FabioT, Gerd, Liz, Margherita and Valentino and some I might have omitted. Here, I'm going to explain why I did not have very much time lately...

All begun a couple of weeks ago when a crew of nine sailors and I rented a 42ft (i.e. 12mt, it's easy to get used to this non-metric system!) sailboat, called "Charismatic", for a day. We sailed to the Coronado Island in Mexico (just a bit more than a dozen miles from SD). It was a great sunny day, the temperature was about 84F, the Ocean was really Pacific and a fresh breeze blew though our hair and I learnt to sail the sailboat. I think I will soon try to gain the license as I think this is a great way to spend my weekends here and maybe I will come back in a solitaire trip across the seven oceans! ;-) Of course, not everything that glitters is gold, the fresh breeze left a "hot" present for me... when I went back home and I saw my face in the mirror, I had a greater shock than usual: my face was completely red and I started to feel the heat on my nose and forehead and the day after my skin was already falling apart. I did use a sunscreen, but the best sunscreen is not to be exposed between 11am and 3pm or wear a sombrero because sunscreens may increase the skin sensitivity to UVA rays... this is what the doctor at the pharmacy, who gave me some vitamin E, told me. As today I still have some signs of this terrible photo dermatitis but the worst has passed... to leave room for an annoying stiff neck that is still bothering me! Anyway, it was a great day and I will soon sail again!

I'd better you have a break now, do some work and then continue later on... you are not close to the end yet!

I said "doctor". Yes, quite unbelievable for those of you who know me best... well, it was not the last time I saw a doctor! In fact, a few days later I got a stiff neck, as I mentioned above. Oh, just a stiff neck - that is not a problem for you, Costa! Well, it went on for four days and the fourth night, i.e. the day before MarcoF and CarloF visited me, I could not sleep at all. It was getting worse and worse hence I decided to see my doctor this time. He saw me and had pain himself... I was walking like the 99 years old man who allowed me to get the driving license! The doctor gave me a painkiller and something to relax my neck muscles (by the way, these two pills are as big as my little finger...). I bought the pills but I did not dare take them, in the hope that it was enough to threaten my neck to get rid of its stiffness, but it did not work. So, when MarcoF and CarloF came on Friday, I was still stiff-necked... They just stayed for one night, actually less as they left at 4.30am to flight to NY.... The day after, i.e. Saturday, I took the pills and "finally" moved into my apartment. I saw again my wonderful IKEA bed, IKEA table and chairs (yes, LauraB, chairs! I bought 6 of them before leaving Sweden but I still have the stools for you as well), IKEA bookshelves, IKEA pots, IKEA knives, spoons and forks... Americans have really gone crazy for IKEA: I received the 2003 IKEA catalog (IKEA Mathematics) the same day I moved in my temporary apartment! IKEA advertisement says: "Hot Swedish models at home!"... I was really looking forward to moving in as I felt like a gipsy...

Closer to the end but not quite, another break? ;-)

Now, every apt I saw so far in SD has the floor covered by a fitted carpet (moquette) and mine is not different. When I moved in and started to assemble my brand new IKEA bed I realized that the moquette was still wet from the wash! Later, I understood that my apt was not cleaned until the day before my move-in date, even though they claimed that they did it one week earlier. I virtually moved in but I still have my stuff packed and the boxes are lying on some IKEA polistirene bars... I think I will proceed legally against the landlord, after having talked with the relocation firm, since my move in date was delayed by two weeks, one of which was for cleaning the apt, and my company had to pay the price for my extra days at corporate housing. In my next newsletter I'll give you more details on this since now I want to tell you about the pills!

I warned you that this is a long newsletter...

At the end of the long Saturday, I almost forgot my stiff neck, thanks to the pills, untill my eyes "fell" on my arm and saw a "tide of? rushes (I know this is Italian English, Ellie and Sarah). Panic! Whaz goin'on??? At the same time, the landlord dropped by, saw my arms and got really worried. Well, I ended up at the UCSD Medical Center: allergic reaction to the painkiller! Nothing to worry about, luckily.

Nonetheless, my social life is slowly, very slowly, too slowly, improving.

Hopefully... that's all folks!

---costa

PS: I finally found a huge food supermarket, called "Whole Food", where you can really find every sort of food including a fresh, soft and tasty mozzarella! Their Mascarpone is not just a bunch of chemicals - it also includes milk! - even though it is still tasteless, and Lady Fingers are the right ones: Vincenzovo, wow!!!

PPS: IKEA will pay me a dime every time I write IKEA... :)