I suck...

...at updating my blog.

Adventures at Copps Food Center...

I went big grocery shopping the other day. I only do this about once every few months. I don't like shopping.

After ringing up my $193.70 worth of groceries, the cashier informed me my "key card" is "no longer good." I told her I just used it a few weeks ago with no problem. It is quite tattered because I've had it since 1997! It is a REALLY old one with a cartoon-like depiction of a guy in a tall Copps Hat. No kidding; I've had this key card ON my keyring for 12 YEARS! I have no idea how I can constantly lose (and subsequently find) my keys, yet I managed to keep a piece of cardboard-covered-in-plastic on my keyring(s) for 12 years...just one of those life mysteries I guess.

Anyway, the cashier tells me they have a new system now, and none of the old Copps cards work anymore. She turns on her light and summons a manager to come over. As we are waiting for the manager, I couldn't help but notice the cashier has what appeared to be a tattoo of a bug on her neck. My insatiable curiousity got the best of me and I asked her "Is that a tattoo of a bug on your neck?" She informed me it was in fact NOT a bug....it is a BEETLE...which is her nickname. Ummm....OK.

This lady comes walking towards me with a handheld scanner and clipboard. She asks for my driver's license. I get it out of my wallet, and as I'm asking her why she needs it, she takes it out of my hand and SCANS the barcode on the back of my license. She then hands me a sheet of brand-new Copps Key Cards (including a credit-card size one, TWO new keychain ones, AND a little sticker that she tells me I can put on my wallet so the cashier just scans my wallet from now on.) Ummm....OK.

The cashier scans my new key card, and I'm happy to see $38.50 come off my grocery bill.

As I'm leaving with my new key cards, I wonder about the privacy of businesses SCANNING the bar code on the back of my driver's license. WHAT information is on that bar code? My SSN? My address? DOB? My driving record? (which, BTW, is completely clean....but still)

Are my grocery receipts going to say "YOU saved $1.30 today! OH, AND don't forget to pay that parking ticket!" from now on?

I didn't have much time to ponder this because as I walked out of the store, I couldn't help but notice THREE POLICE CARS, lights on, parked near my car, and one of them was blocking my car.

The policemen were talking to a man and a woman. I slowly walked up to them with my grocery cart, unsure if I should really interrupt:

Woman YELLING: "I ain't going to fu*king jail, man! NO WAY! NUH-UH! I ain't done 'NUFFIN!"

Policeman: "If you would calm down and listen to me..."

Woman: "You ain't listen'n to ME! You ain't taking ME to jail!"

Policeman: "The warrant is NOT for you, m'aam, it is for HIM" (motioning towards the man)

Woman: "HA! That's right! I told you there ain't no warrants for me! I took care of that s*it!"

Man: "WHAT?!? F*ck that man! What you mean there a warrant for me?! FOR WHAT?"

Policeman (looking at me): "Is this your car?"

Me: Ummm, yea....

Policeman to the two people: "Move over here...let this lady get to her car..."

Another policeman got into the car which was blocking mine and moved it so I could get out.

I was so nervous surrounded by policemen and police cars that I made my car stall cause I let the clutch out too fast and didn't give it enough gas. I haven't done THAT since I was 16! lol.

They were all looking at me as I re-started my car....and then I realized I didn't have my seatbelt on. I put my seatbelt on and managed to drive away without stalling my car again. One of the policemen was smiling and waved at me as I left.

Where can I buy groceries online? lol.

Why I don't take cover...

I have always been intrigued by severe weather. One of my favorite things I used to do as a news reporter was report on Mother Nature's fury. The first time I "reported" a tornado warning and warned people to take cover was on July 18, 1996. I was working with Todd Dehring on the air on WQLH in Green Bay. I stumbled through the NWS report. I read it word for word like a robot and pushed the wrong button when I was done. It was a complete train wreck and I cried.

Luckily, I was able to fine-tune my on-air skills and eventually went on to push the wrong buttons and make it less noticeable, and I was able to stumble while paraphrasing instead of reading word-for-word.

I've always been a people-pleaser, especially with the people who signed my paychecks. So when my boss told me to "go find the tornado, Katie!" I was like "OK!" And so my storm-chasing interest began.

The first tornado I saw was in 2004 in DeForest. I wrote up a little story and the NWS still has it published on their website: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mkx/document/tor/052304.php

EVERYONE made fun of me because I wrote the story as if it was armegdeon, when in fact it was a little F-ZERO tornado (read: a little breezy). I didn't care! I saw a tornado!

I stopped working in radio in 2005, but I never got over my fascination with the weather and I still enjoy finding storms and taking pictures. I always make sure to stay "behind" the storms now that I'm no longer "live on the air" reporting where the tornado is and where it is heading. I still get excited when I "see" something and I'm able to use the top-secret 1-800 NWS phone number that they give out to hundreds of people each year after their "official" 2 hour storm spotting classes. It has been years since I called that number.

I remembered tonight how much I love chasing storms. Some may think my desire to do this is borne from an unhealthy level of adreneline seeking. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. There is something incredibly peaceful about being alone with nature and hearing crickets chirping, the leaves rustling, the wind blowing, and the rumbles of thunder in the distance while all by my self in the middle of nowhere taking pictures.

I love it. And I miss it.

Toiletankaphobia

I learned something new about myself today: I'm scared of toilet tanks. I don't mean I'm simply a little creeped out by them; I mean when I remove the cover on the back of a toilet, my heart starts racing and I get sweaty and have a compulsive need to drop the tank cover and RUN.

I never really thought about toilet tanks, or my irrational fear of them, until today when my toilet broke and water was continually pouring into the bowl. I recently read a news story about an elderly gentlemen who received a $3000 water bill and a leaky toilet was to blame, so I knew this wasn't an "ignorable" issue. Plus, it was really loud. It sounded like the toilet was constantly flushing without the whoooshing sound.

I ended up turning the water off where the pipe meets the wall behind the toilet.

I'm still trying to work up enough courage to investigate this further and try to fix it.

I never realized I was scared of toilet tanks, but I remember a while ago I bought one of those bleach-discs for the toilet tank that was supposed to keep the bowl fresh and clean for 3 months. Sounded like a great idea in the store, but when I was alone with it in the bathroom I just couldn't get myself to take the tank cover off to drop it in.

As I was researching how to fix my toilet (read: I googled it), I found a story about a poor young man who has a fear of toilets in general. He has a better excuse than I do: his fear started after a snake swam through the sewer and bit him on the butt. Ouch!

I think I'm going to call a plumber.

Obsessed!

I've found my new obsession: Genealogy.

A nice man named Nicholas emailed me today asking me to contact his dad, Walter.

Walter is 2nd cousins with my great-grandma Amelia Bertoldi. He has even more genealogy stuff on my great-great grandma Giuseppina Novello's side.

I believe that would make Walter my 2nd cousin, three times removed. Walter is 91 years old. (I'm allowed to mention men's ages, right? That is just a female thing, right?;)

Walter has visited relatives in Italy numerous times. I hope to do the same next summer, 2010.
All the genealogy stuff my family has is on the Bertoldi's (My great-great-grandpa's side) and Novello side (My great-great grandma's side.) The Bertoldi information we have goes all the way back to the late 1500's!

My great-grandma Amelia Bertoldi married my great-grandpa, Primo Cardin. Unfortunately, we have absolutely no information on Primo's side of the family. On a ship manifest from when they came from Italy to Ellis Island, NYC, there is a mention of the closest relative to Primo, and Giuseppina Marchiori is listed as Primo's mother. However, I've been unable to confirm that through any other information other than the ship's manifest.

I found a cousin, Nicolo Cardin, in Italy and he talked to his grandpa, Mario Cardin, and his grandpa said he is cousins with my great-grandpa and remembers the family. He used to live near them in Italy many years ago. Primo had a sister named Virginia Cardin, and she stayed in Italy her entire life.

I'm surely going to visit Nicolo and his family next summer! I'll take a ship if I have to!

I immediately liked Walter. How awesome is it to be 91-years-old, sharp as a tack and emailing strangers who are your distant cousins to share genealogy stuff? That made my day.

What a small, small world.

Ancestors

Amelia Bertoldi (My great-grandma) Amelia's mom Giuseppina Novello (my great-great grandma) and Giuseppina's mom (my great-great-great grandma!)
Mogliano, Veneto, Italy circa 1903.





My great-great grandpa Giacinto Bertoldi (b. 1859 - d.1933)


A younger picture of my great-great grandpa Giacinto Bertoldi
b. 1859- d. 1933




I received pictures and other genealogy stuff from a distant cousin (I think 2nd or 3rd) His grandpa was my great-grandma's brother. I was so excited to get all this stuff. My great-great grandpa Giacinto Bertoldi was really into genealogy. There is a 6 page letter from a priest in Mogliano, Veneto, Italy who researched the "ancient archive of the Pieve of St. Zeno" for baptisms and marriages. It goes all the way back to circa 1580 on my great-great grandpa's side of the family. This 6 page letter is dated 1893. I also have a copied version of the original which is handwritten in Italian.

It gets confusing once you get to the 1700's, because they are named "Sir John Andrew Bertoldi", "Sir John Anthony Bertoldi" and "Sir James Anthony Bertoldi," etc. Some of the dates are baptismal dates with no birthday available.

For example, one entry says: "John Andrew, legitimate son of Nicholas Bertoldi, called Giacomini and of Barbara, his wife, was baptized by me, the pastor Sicher on the 14th of October 1638. Godparents were the honorable Sir Bartholonew Marinelli from Revo, a notary and living in Caset with Margaret, wife of Andrew Bertoldi, called Giacomini, from the same place. See Book II of baptisms: 1637."

Further down the page, a few entries later it says: "Giobatte Dominic Bertoldi, son of the noble sir James Anthony Bertoldi of Caset and of Miss Anna Mary Catherine Turra of Castelfondo, spouses, was baptized by me, Joseph Leo Melchiori, Pastor, on January 21, 1787. "

I am trying to figure out what and where Caset is. I can't find it on any map, of either Austria or Italy (Northern Italy was part of Austria then.)

It says my great-great grandma was Giuseppina Pierina Novello, daughter of Louis Novello, born at Mogliano, Veneto, Italy on July 4, 1861.

It says my great-great grandpa was Giacinto John Bertoldi, son of Peter Bertoldi and Victoria Marchetti, born at Caset on the 9th day of April, 1859.

My great-grandma was Amelia Bertoldi, child of Giacinto John Bertoldi and Giuseppina Pierina Novello, born at Mestre on September 20, 1885.

It also says my great-great grandpa's dad died when he was young. (My math shows Giacinto was 11 when his dad died) and Giacinto's obituary (he died in 1933) says that when his dad died, he moved to Salzano where he received an elementary education and studied under "Guiseppe Sarto, arch priest of Salzano, Italy" and this priest was later created Cardinal and Patriarch of Venice, Italy. My great-great grandpa would go on to teach catechism for him. This priest became Pope Pius X.

My great-great grandpa's obituary further goes on to say "Mr. Bertoldi treasured several momentos of youthful scholarship obtained from this great personage."

How cool is that?

My great-grandma Amelia Bertoldi married Primo Cardin in Italy and my grandpa Gerardo Cardin was born in Italy in 1913.

I still have cousins on both the Cardin and Bertoldi side in Italy, and I hope to visit them next summer! (2010)

Easter 2009

I had to work the overnight before Easter, and the night of Easter too. Needless to say, I slept until 1pm on Easter, spent 3 hours with the family, and then slept another 3 hours before working all night.

After overstuffing ourselves with food, we went for our customary and obligatory walk through the UW Arboretum.

The highlight of the day (for everyone BUT Uncle Fred) was my Aunt's dog Lukey peeing on Fred's foot. We decided it was because Luke did not get any Ham under the table.