Gather 'Round Kiddos!

This one time I made a bunch of bad decisions and somehow still survived the night. Also I was sober.

So I decided to go on a random internet date with a guy who seemed fairly nice. He picked me up and we were going to go somewhere by his place. I told my roommates where I was going so I wouldn't just disappear off the face of the earth.

When we got down to his neighborhood he asked if he could just cook me dinner instead. I should have said no. However in a moment of stupidity I agreed and went up to his high rise apartment. He made something boring. I don't remember what but it was similar to the quality of something that may have come out of the microwave. It was not good. He then proceeded to say he was tired, and that I should leave, and oh by the way could I get myself home? I should have said no. I had however seen the train station mere feet away and thus thought it would not be an issue.

I was wrong.

I walked to said train station. It was for the wrong train. I figured that the right one could not be THAT far away and started walking.

About 15 minutes later, with no train in sight, I started to get worried. It became very clear that I had wandered into a not very nice part of town. To boot, if you have somehow missed my pictures, I am the most unintimidating little white boy. Ever. Greeeaaaat.

Then the police sirens started. I was getting worried. I called my best friend to calm my nerves. Why I did not get into a taxi I do not know. As I began talking to my best friend he also explained that he was in a similar situation. I am not sure why he was walking through a rough neighborhood in the middle of the night as well but he was. We decided it was safer to be alert and get off our phones.

A little while later I found a street with a bus stop I recognized. I began waiting for the bus. A very tall and scary looking man walked up. I was terrified. He was also waiting for the bus. He asked me about the bus. I answered quickly and shortly that I was walking to the train and giving up on the bus. He was following me.

After about 20 minutes I decided that is this man was going to jump me, then he probably would have already. Good. Safe. We finally reached the train.

At this point I should probably talk about karma. I don't believe in much of the supernatural. HOWEVER I do feel that when you have been given a gift you should repay the world for it. I survived this night and was now owing.

I met a man on the train who said he was going to visit his child aged daughter for the first time. He played out this huge sob story that was probably fake and asked me for money. I gave him $20. I don't know if I was just scared shitless or what but I certainly paid my karmic debt back that night.

To complete my night I got home and one of my roommates was clearly tripping. I came in and he was in the bathroom, with the light on, staring at himself in the mirror. This is really the best part of the story. So I said hello and that I was going to bed. The rest of the conversation followed thusly:

Roommate: Look at my eyes. They are huge.

Me: Ummmm yes. Yes they are.

Roommate: We should do something.

Me: It is almost 5 am. I am going to sleep... you should consider doing this as well.

Roommate: No no. We should go for a walk or something. The sun is coming up.

Me: Um yes. But it is early and I have been up all night and its not been fun and I really need to sleep.

Roommate: NO. I don't think you understand. We need to go for a walk. The sun is coming up. WE HAVE TO STOP THE SUN.

Me: OOOOOOK. It is bedtime. For me and ABSOLUTELY for you.

... And that was my worst date ever.

Friday Recap!

The secret is it is actually Saturday. Shhhh don't tell.

This week I think for now I am going to do away with the random photos. I am bored with that. The end.

At work this week I have been working with brand new employees. Two of them. They are nice and will be great and, as much as some people complain, I find working with newbies to be a breath of unjaded air. It has been lovely. Also I am working with a leader who is sort of attempting to groom me to be promoted into that position which I would quite like. Fingers crossed hoping that possibility becomes a feasibility soon.

Marc and I have been discussing remodeling and more excitingly redecorating a room in the house. I love planning those things so we have been emailing back and forth possible layouts, new furniture, ideas, etc. It will be interesting to see what happens there and I will post pictures as things progress.

Speaking of Marc I will be headed home on Monday! I convinced work not to send me home and to let me galavant around Europe instead. After a very frustrating morning in which Marc saved the day and did it for me I am not booked on a flight for Monday evening. The nice thing is I will have all day to explore a quaint little city in Poland before heading off.

As it stands I only need a little over 9500 frequent flier miles before the end of the year to hit platinum on star alliance for next year. This may seem trite HOWEVER I am a pretentious ass about my airline status. Marc has already hit his platinum (on a different carrier) for next year and if I hit platinum as well we are going to have a platinum party to celebrate our snobbery. Maybe we will buy some shrubbery and paint it blonde. Something like that anyway. The point is my flights from Poland will count toward the 9500 I still need so YAY. Probably more like 8k to go woo! Thanks Marc :)

A little bit of time this week has gone into planning this years Thanksgiving with my family. Marc and I will be hosting it in Chicago and the folks and siblings will be coming to visit. Because of my schedule we will be doing it a week late. We also don't do a traditional Thanksgiving meal (though this year there will actually be turkey...). We are doing a sort of low gourmet potluck. This way everyone can be involved AND we still get a nice meal. I will post the menu closer to the date!

All of next week and into the following I will be in Amsterdam so expect an exciting recap post on Friday! As Tigger would say TTFN!

Widget Wednesday!

This is a better name I think.

This week I have started to learn dutch. As I am, and plan to continue, spending a lot of time in the Netherlands I feel that I should have a least a marginally functional competency in the language. It is also helpful that Marc speaks it so I have a personal tutor at hand to answer all my questions.

I have been using the website www.livemocha.com. For those unfamiliar with Livemocha it is a free language service and community. Essentially you sign up for a profile and enroll in the course of your choice. I am currently enrolled in Dutch 101. In this particular course there are three units each comprised of around five lessons. There are four courses but the number of units per course lessens in the higher courses so there are ten units all in all. I can take each lesson at my own pace. They are structured into required exercises and practice exercises. The interactive page will speak the words for the user and give challenges by matching pictures with words or arranging sentences.

In each unit there is a writing and a speaking component users submit. These are both corrected by fellow language learners. In my case a native dutch speaker will correct and review my submissions. After I have submitted LIvemocha asks me to review another user's English submission. In this way the whole community benifits.

For about 100 USD a year users can subscribe to professional reviewing plus special course features and exercises that are not availible to us cheapskates. Also for every review a user does of another user's work they are given "tokens" which can be exchanged for professional review of his or her submissions.

Thus far (I am half way through unit 2) I have been very impressed. While this is not the way I have been traditionally instructed in other languages, I am finding it to be effective and the feedback I have gotten from my dutch reviewrs has been extremely useful. One kind woman even recordered herself repeating my submission to help me with my pronunciations and inflections. Awesome.

My favorite thing about Livemocha is the idea and principal it exists upon. Users are rewarded for helping other users. People of the world are reaching out to help one another communicate. This is so important and amazingly cool I would consider getting the yearly membership. If I am a good little dutch student and stick with it maybe I will reward myself by subscribing. If nothing else you should all check it out. It goes at YOUR pace so as long as you can devote a little time every now and then you too could be preparing for that trip to Paris you've always dreamed of.

Monday... Recap? Also a Story!

Kinda missed Friday's post there. By "kinda" I meant "most certainly." I will attribute it coming down with a quick but nasty head cold that rendered my desire to troop to Starbucks for internet insignificant in the wake of sleep. Sidenote: I know it is 2011 and I don't have internet at home. Anyway I intend to throw in a short recap RIGHT NOW, just before story time so everyone can sleep well tonight. Phew.

Picture time! This one time I dressed up like a pirate. Maybe this year I should be a ninja so they don't get jealous....

Last week I was working most of the week. Which for me meant time zone hopping. Normally this is not much of an issue and I just sleep it off. For what ever reason this particular week I went a quarter of the way one way around the world just to go halfway the other way the next day. I find that it is much easier to adjust your time forward than backward when travelling and the halfway was backward. This may have contributed to the timing of my cold. Now that I have resumed my forward march however I am 95% recovered and returned to you, my adoring public.

I was introduced to foreign dollar stores this week. This is not something I would ever imagine to be the amazing gem it turned out to be. While I spent more than I probably should have, my kitchenware has improved greatly due to this. That is worth the lugging this crap at least a quarter way around the world.

Speaking of travel, travel, and more travel, Marc and I have been planning my visit for next week and if everything goes according to plan then I will be at his, or as he is quick to correct me "our", house on Halloween day (my favorite holiday!). The one hiccup is that work keeps changing plans and I am sort of caught waiting til the last minute to book my travel stuffs and that makes me nervous since I am coming from somewhere I have never left from via train (the method I will be taking to our home). Not only that but they quite possibly do not speak English. This is fine of course and I have navigated the world without translation many times and I myself have a very slightly diverse language base so I *shouldn't* be worried. I would however like everything to go right and to get there as soon as at possible! Wish me luck :)

Finally, in a quick update to a previous post, I have been such a good little not very much meat eater! Yay!

On to Story Time!

Today's story is in relation to my up coming venture through the semi unknown.

I have mentioned in the past how I was a fairly fearless and extroverted child. Well the year I started kindergarten was no different. Up until this time I had been going to preschool and my parents had been driving me. Needless to say I found my reliance on their help in the act of transit irritating. So when I first discovered I would be going to kindergarten all those years of watching that big yellow bus that all my new friends were already so accustomed to I was, of course, not about to waste a smidgen of time with my parents. I immediately insisted on taking the bus to school from the first day.

My wonderful and protective mother was hesitant.

"You are sure you don't want me drive you?... It is your first day. How will you find your class room?"

I looked at her with all the seriousness of a determined 5 year old.

"I want to take the bus."

So my poor mother put her reservations aside and signed my up for the bus. Now in my school district, that year, the buses were labeled by insect. I don't know who thought this up or thought that a preteen boy would be thrilled but I, as a five year old adventurer, was super pumped to be on the majestic BUTTERFLY bus.

The big day came and I waited by the stop. Mom was staring out the window to be sure I made it on. Not only did I confidently stride right on to the bus but chose a seat right next to an enormous sixth grader and just started chatting away. Now I am not sure if she would have anyway but that certainly sealed the deal. As well all know preteen boys are evil. My mom hopped into her car and followed the bus all the way to school.

After she had parked and tried to catch up she finally found me happily sitting in my class room all ready to go. Silly mom.

It turns out though maybe she was right about the bus. It was not actually dangerous it seems while ON the bus but I picked up some colorful language on the way home. On the second day of school as I was preparing to prove the previous day not a fluke I seemed to have *erm* misplaced my backpack. In my mounting frustration I MAY have shouted, "Where the hell is my back pack?!?"

That went over well.

Now all of this has me thinking about how great it is to be a kid. Five year old me would be approaching next week without a second of trepidation and/or worry about the possible disasters that could strike. Truth be told, adult me is probably channeling my mother in the fact that the worst that will happen is I miss connection and catch the next one and maybe have to wait a few hours in a train station. In this day of cell phones it is not like I could not just text Marc to look it up, or call the train service, or go on the internet with my smart phone and look it up myself...

Please tell me you like me channeling me to combat channeling my mother. I do.

Travel Wednesday!

So for my first Travel Wednesday I think I will pick Prague. It's a good easy start and I know so much about it and I love it there.

I went to Prague for the spring semester of 2007. I lived in a dorm with a few hundred other foreign, mostly american, students. Prague has a reputation of being a little bit of a party city and, I can speak from experience, it is well deserved. I have never been in a city where it was common for people to go straight from the bars to work. I am talking about business men not bartenders.

Albeit the crazy drinking and wonderfully affordable party scene the city itself is a wealth of history and sightseeing attractions. On my daily walk down the hill to school I walked through the presidents castle and right next to the royal gardens. The building where I had classes was where Vasclav Havel was teaching and beginning the velvet revolution. A few blocks, if you could call them that, further into the heart of the city the old town square with the doomsday astronomical clock. Beware the doom of you wallet to the hands of idle pickpockets at this attraction. Further still into the city and you could find yourself in Wenceslas Square. It's a huge rectangular plaza with a large statue at one end and plenty of shopping through out. Let me not forget the most famous Charles bridge fabled to hold the lost sword of the hero for which it is named said to return when the Czech people are in the time of their greatest need.

In visiting Prague to get away from the beaten tourist roads there are several things I would recommend:

1. Have a picnic at Vysehrad. It is a beautiful castle and less frequented than the presidents' castle. Right along the Vlata it gives you a splendid view and if the weather is night it makes for a splendid afternoon.

2. Watch the sunrise from the observation point on the side of Petrin. On top of this hill (Petrin) is a monastery and walking southeastward from the monastery and a tad to the right is a little train that goes up the side of the hill to a little observation point. My best mornings in Prague were spent drinking cheap red wine with my compatriots and watching the sun rise. Don't judge us for the booze... we hadn't slept yet.

3. Probably the most touristy but most certainly a worthwhile endeavor is right off of Wenceslas square is a wine cellar bar called U Sudu. It is an underground labyrinth of little rooms with various tables, Foosball, and wonderful pitchers of wine. I cannot even count the number of nights we spent in this bar before making the mandatory fried cheese sandwich stop on the way home.

And speaking of Czech cuisine try the potato dumplings and, of course, the fried cheese sandwich. I also tried pig knuckles one night which are not as bad as they sound and a fairly standard bar fare. An absolute must is honey cake or medovnik. There are not words to describe how wonderful it is.

Last but not least I feel that I should touch on my favorite gay bar, Termix. When entering the bar you must ring a doorbell out side a random sheet metal door. It plays Fur Elise. Once inside you will stand in a small coat check with a stairwell which after descending leads to a long bar room with a car sticking out of the wall. Yes a car. There is a private room up top that can be rented out but other wise is available for sitting and a nice small dance floor. They play all the right gay hits and several of the wrong ones. With all the cheap beer you can drink and hours that usually last until the sun is up.

I hope that each and every one of you has a chance to visit some day. Prague is one of my favorite places in the world and I miss it all the time. Maybe I'll see you there!

Story Time!

Ok. So This is where planning would be SO useful. I travel a lot. For today's post I was looking for a picture of me as a 12 year old. It is at home. I am not. So I am not actually 12 in the photo... just use your imagination. Also my mother had much longer hair... it WAS the 90s.

When I was a kid, even more so than I am now, I was of the mindset that strangers were new friends I just hadn't met yet. In the checkout lane at the grocery store my mother would just shake her head as I, comfortably seated in the cart, invited the people behind us in line to come over and play. My father once let me go in the mall to see how far I would go before looking back. I didn't.

Now my parents got divorced when I was very young and my brother even more so. He is almost 3 years younger than I am and was not much more than an infant. Several years down the road my parents were living in different states. My mother was in Wisconsin and my father in Texas. This is obviously no small drive for the weekends so we spent summers and some holidays with my father and some holidays and the rest of the year with my mother. All of this was really my introduction into the world of air travel. We did a lot of it.

At one point my brother and I were walking down the street with my mother to go to a friend's house and a car pulled up next to me. I was walking far ahead of my family members which, not surprisingly, arose a state of panic in my mother. This may be a good time to explain a few things regarding my mother.

My mother is one of my best friends. I talk to her on an extremely regular basis and about most everything. She is a lovely woman. She also is very anxious. Anxious to the point of over protective. It's endearing how much she cares for her children. She panics when driving in fast traffic. She worries. Always.

This car was going to steal her child forever.

My mom starts running down the street. To her horror I am actually TALKING to the stranger in the car. My friendly nature supporting that I would talk to any strange person and probably climb in their car to go and play. I was around twelve years old at this point and not actually likely to climb into strange vehicles. She is rushing and rushing and I'm talking and talking.

When she caught up to me the nice gentleman in the car explained that he had sat next to my brother and I on flight some two or three weeks prior and complimented her on our manners and how polite we were. My mother was of course relieved even though I was still getting the "how dare you scare me like that" look. Afterwards he waved and drove off and on we went.

My mother, thankfully, still had a beating heart. I was oblivious to her concern still at this point. This is why being an extroverted kid in a family of introverts is fun.

Friday Recap!

This week's picture is of me dressed up to go to a costume party as the March Hare from Alice in Wonderland. I did the makeup myself and this picture must have been when I returned home because what the hell is the ribbon about. No idea.

On that note I have been travelling for the last 16ish hours so if I seem like a crazy today you have been warned.

So this week Marc and I returned from my family gathering/my friends wedding. It was a great time and fun was had by all. YAY! My family gave me a dining room table (which Marc cleverly ripped in half so we could fit it in the rental car) and I have been arranging and rearranging my great room to find a good set up. I love doing that. Inevitably I end up sitting on the couch staring around the room for an hour at a time deciding if I like and and what else I need. At this point I have no chairs for the table but for whatever reason I still went out and bought fall place settings. They look wonderful though.

Other than that I lounged around my days off at home and tried to be cheap and cook all of my own meals. Go budget action!

The big news I have is that after 5 years of a faux facebook marriage to a dear friend of mine Marc and I have now made our relationship facebook official. So congratulations to us! You can start sending us gifts to commemorate the occasion. I don't mind.

Now I am back at work and after a day of arguing with United (even though I was flying Lufthansa...) I ended up sending them a nasty letter where at one point I asked if they were mailing me things via carrier pigeon. Which if they actually were I would so be ok with it taking 8 weeks to get my premier exec card. Sigh. Oh well.

Have a wonderful weekend all and I am off!