{"id":50,"date":"2008-09-03T19:43:46","date_gmt":"2008-09-03T19:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/2008\/09\/03\/the-ballbuster-blog\/"},"modified":"2008-09-16T20:22:53","modified_gmt":"2008-09-16T20:22:53","slug":"the-ballbuster-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/2008\/09\/03\/the-ballbuster-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"The Ballbuster Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stepping into Michele Bell\u2019s Shoes (Sort Of)<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First of all, let me say that I don\u2019t think anyone on the planet can take Michele\u2019s place when it comes to writing \u2013 or sporting the trampiest shoes ever, let alone me in my wildest cross-dressing moment. But let me try.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before I talk about vacations and what I really think about them, I\u2019ll grab my bottle of Absolute, a little cranberry juice, a sprits or two of apricot brandy and make myself a good \u201csex on the beach\u201d (Yes, I drink one of those every once in a while) before I work up to my dirty vodka martini with two giant olives in a tumbler, shaken not stirred. Three of these, as my drinking partner Michele can attest, and I am under the table in no time. No one that I know of has ever put Michele under the table.<\/p>\n

To think, I\u2019m sitting here in picturesque Trevose, PA, working my fingers to the bone while Michele is on vacation in Avalon, NJ, skinny dipping capitol of the world. And knowing Michele as I do, she\u2019s really having a \u201csex on the beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

But you know what? I\u2019m lovin\u2019 it. Why? Because I have a thing about vacations. Don\u2019t know why, but I feel better knowing I\u2019m working and not getting behind. My wife Leslie wants to kill me and screams bah humbug every time I bitch about taking some time off. I actually cave most times and reluctantly pack up my laptop, Blackberry, iPhone and assorted peripherals. Then, off I go screaming like a baby like last year when we decided to go to Italy with our close friends Richard & Kippie Helzel (Yes, the same CPS VP we all know and love).<\/p>\n

No time is ever a good time for me and November is almost impossible because I\u2019m finalizing all of my client\u2019s schedules for the new year. I whined, bitched and threw a few temper tantrums but it didn\u2019t work this time and the end result was I had a great time.<\/p>\n

Italy is a beautiful country with beautiful people. Kippie has lots of relatives in the old country and we stayed at her cousin\u2019s Villa in Tuscany which was truly beautiful. We must have driven 1,500 miles or more in a few days but it was well worth it.<\/p>\n

While in Rome we saw all the sights but at the Coliseum a word of advice: If a man dressed up in a gladiator outfit approaches you and wants to give you a photo op, don\u2019t do it unless you ask him how much first. This little trick cost us $50 US. We\u2019re all still laughing at that moment.
\n\u00a0\u00a0
\n
\nAntonio sure saw us coming. I still laugh when I think about it.
\n<\/em>\u00a0
\n
\nHow stupid does this look? When he told me the price I got so angry I thought he was going to circumcise me again.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


\nThe beautiful IMonti Villa owned by Kippie\u2019s cousins, Giulio & Lunella, two of the most cordial and friendly people in all of Europe.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nIMonti at sunrise (I was up all night catching up on e-mail). As beautiful as it was, at 6 a.m. the hunters started shooting double-barrel shotguns. They were loud and pretty damn close.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nOne day in Tuscany can make up for a lot of rough days in the office.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nMe after getting an e-mail from Tim and Rich with my budget expectations for 2009.\u00a0 I am just one happy camper.<\/em><\/font> <\/font>
\nRichard and Kippie Helzel. They look so happy but what\u2019s Richard thinking about\u2026
\n<\/em>\u00a0
\n
\nMust be this newly married couple who were strolling in the piazza. Wait a minute, is that Joe Haley from The Joe Show? Nice try, Joe. Bring back the goatee and get rid of the Italian wife. Bigamy doesn\u2019t work there either.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


\nBratwurst in Italy? You bet. Out on the town for some of the best Italian food in the world and we find a German sausage stand in the middle of Sienna. Go figure.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/font>
\nWe had a ball with Kippie\u2019s family, wonderful salt of the earth people.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n


\nI couldn\u2019t possibly end the photos without showing you what we opened our eyes to every morning in Tuscany.<\/em><\/font> <\/font><\/p>\n

The moral of this story is to take some time to smell the roses. It\u2019s really is good for you \u2013 it recharges your batteries and helps you look at life in a better way, at least for a little while.<\/font><\/font> <\/font>So now that I\u2019m a changed man on the subject of vacations. Where will I be going next? I don\u2019t know about you but I\u2019m going to Disney World in January. See you all in Orlando at the ASI Show.<\/font> <\/font><\/font>Ariva derche!
\nRon Ball<\/font><\/font>
\nP.S. – For those of you who miss Michele and want to party with her in Avalon, just look for the house by the beach shaped like a bottle.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stepping into Michele Bell\u2019s Shoes (Sort Of) First of all, let me say that I don\u2019t think anyone on the planet can take Michele\u2019s place when it comes to writing \u2013 or sporting the trampiest shoes ever, let alone me in my wildest cross-dressing moment. But let me try.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fun","category-personal","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellwether-asicentral.com\/bellblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}