A Special Thanks to Vroni...

But first a quick introduction to my online journal. I've been toying with the idea of starting a journal and I finally took the time to get it all started.

I don't know how often I'll be updating this log but I reckon it'll be a good vehicle for chronicling my upcoming travels and everyday thoughts. I'm imagining a couple of humorous posts after returning from a week in Vegas with Roman and Jon...

As for Veronika (Vroni), she deserves all the gratitude I can muster after coming through on tickets to the FC Bayern Munich v. Wolfsburg game on 1. October.

For those of you that haven't heard (several times over), I lived in Munich, Germany for a year while studying at Ludwig Maximilians Universitaet. I arrived on a Tuesday and Oktoberfest began that Friday. Soccer was my only option when it came to sports, excepting a memorable Super Bowl broadcast live at ~2am local time (Pats v. Rams if you're curious). In addition to Bundesliga games, I was treated to watching the U.S. make their surprising run into the final eight of the World Cup in a soccer mad nation. I came back to the United States with a new love and appreciation for the sport of soccer and a love for Bavarian beer.

Anyhow - in late September I will be making another trip to Munich and I was hoping to catch an FC Bayern Munich (FCB) game while I was in town. I tried to buy tickets online but the online contingent was already sold out. The website referred me to a phone number that I tried calling several times without ever getting anything but a busy signal. I emailed a list of nine ticket vendors to Vroni and asked if she'd be willing to shop around for tickets since she lives in Munich and I'm stuck in Tucson. She called eight of the ticket shops only to find that that they were all sold out. She called the ninth and final place and was able to purchase two of the four remaining tickets to the game.

Demand for tickets is even higher than usual this season. In addition to having one of the top clubs in the world, FCB is moving into a brand new arena this season. I'm frankly amazed that we were able to get tickets at all. Thanks again, Vroni!