I think in the US a common expression is that someone really put their blood, sweat, and tears into something. Meaning that they were really dedicated and did everything humanly possible to try and influence, change, build, created, or otherwise affect some kind of result. A quick internet search actually shows the phrase blood, toil, tears, and sweat being used first by Theodore Roosevelt around 1897 and then in a Winston Churchill speech in 1940; Churchill’s speech being the noted origin of the phrase. But I have only hear it used as Blood, Sweat, and Tears (there is also a band with this name). I never took the phrase literally - at least not until recently. Getting a Russian Visa so I could travel to visit my wife cost me just these things. Blood, Sweat, and Tears.
I am not joking about the blood part either. To battle HIV the Russian government has decided that anyone that is going to get a visa that has a duration of more than 90 days needs to provide a negative screening for HIV (I guess only people that are there for more than 90 days might give it to someone else, seriously what is the point). So I had to give a test tube of blood to prove I was HIV free. I took this test last year for my visa as well but it was in a new facility and they didn’t need much blood so it was basically pain free. This time though.. Forget a bout it. They used the big needle, really dug in, and sucked a lot more blood out. They were so rough in fact that the bruise didn’t heal for more than two weeks.
The sweating of course has been constant through out the process. There is a lot of documentation to create, gather, and provide and there are many places where everything can go wrong. The first thing to find out of course is what you need. Well as it happens as I was applying in UK rather than in the US and of course the requirements are completely different. I had to scour the website for the proper form (I did fill out two of the wrong forms before finding the correct on) and spent a few days filling it out. All the time sweating over how honest to be in the form and how much information to provide. I also had to write a letter of intent/introduction to obtain the 12 month visa again sweating over what the correct information to provide was. I sweated over whether or not we could get an invitation from a Russian company. Of course I also needed a bunch of other bits and bobs I had to go searching for. If any of these forms were wrong we could lose the processing fee, the fee we paid for an invitation and countless hours in preparation, so I sweated through the whole process.
Tears came at a few time in the process to. Most notably and least seriously when I saw the line outside of the Russian Embassy in Moscow and realized that instead of needing to spend a morning trying to get a visa I would need to spend the whole day. I also shed a few tears from the pains I developed in my legs from standing all day in very uncomfortable shoes (in retrospect I should have wore trains in the morning and had work shoes in the car for if I did make it to the client). Finally that same day I shed tears of joy when after 12 hours of torment that day alone I received the visa. More seriously of course I have on occasion teared up a bit from the longing for my wife. From being unable to see her for weeks and weeks at a time. This happens normally when I see something sad on the TV or watch a movie that gets sappy. While I may not cry myself to sleep I certainly can’t claim to be totally stoic either.
Keeping with Winston and Theodore I will also say that this has caused me to toil in my cause as well. But it all worth it for those weekends and times that I can spend with RG. And I am sure that I will spend more of my blood, more of my sweat, and more of my tears to get her home as well.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
New Roommate number uh, I lost count
My house is no longer being left unwatched and unguarded. In a Ferris Buellerian set of connections my old roommate’s wife’s brother needed a place to live. He graduated from St. Cloud State and is now working at General Mills. So he needed a place to live and I needed someone to watch over things. So that seemed like a good idea to me and RG was down with the plan so we went ahead with it. As he was moving in it struck me. I have had a lot of roommates/renters in my house. I have owned it the better part of 8 years and there have been a lot of people there. I had never counted them though, so I could not say with certainty how many I have had.
So I counted. 11 people besides myself have lived full time in my house since I have owned it. And that doesn’t count another 2 or 3 that only lived there for a week or two because they needed a place to stay. To put this in perspective I am only the fourth owner of the house in 100 years (the house was built in 1905). All of the previous owners were families. So assuming 4 people in a family plus one other person I know lived there I estimate that possibly 10-13 people have lived in the house prior to my tenure as owner. So basically nearly to 50% of the residency have been my roommates or tenants and then mostly over the last 8 years! Now I doubt I will have any more roommates that aren’t related to me while I own the house. So this new tenant is probably the last renter. But it was a surprise to me to think about the number, and variety of people that have lived in the house.
A somewhat related situation that also happened as the new guy – JA – moved in also occurred. When we got to the back of his moving truck I was shocked to see that he had a motorcycle in the back. And not just any motorcycle, but a 2002 SV650S Suzuki. I had before deciding to leave the phone company been planning on buying a 2003 SV650S six years ago. So I must admit I was a little jealous. I even contemplated offering him free rent for a year in trade on the bike. I didn’t of course but still I do have to say it does get me thinking of motorcycles again, even if I would only get to ride the thing twice a year. To be honest I haven’t even had time to get my golf clubs out this year so what would I do with a bike? But it was funny that my new roommie, has practically one of the bikes I drool from time to time over. The other being a BMW R1200C. Though last year I also liked but didn’t add to my list – due to the high cost – the Fat Bob from Harley.
So I do wonder how many people will eventually live in my house. I know my wife would like to see us plus 4. Though I have a suspicion that we may also house some other relatives from time to time, so really I may end up responsible for 20 people living in the house over my ownership.
So I counted. 11 people besides myself have lived full time in my house since I have owned it. And that doesn’t count another 2 or 3 that only lived there for a week or two because they needed a place to stay. To put this in perspective I am only the fourth owner of the house in 100 years (the house was built in 1905). All of the previous owners were families. So assuming 4 people in a family plus one other person I know lived there I estimate that possibly 10-13 people have lived in the house prior to my tenure as owner. So basically nearly to 50% of the residency have been my roommates or tenants and then mostly over the last 8 years! Now I doubt I will have any more roommates that aren’t related to me while I own the house. So this new tenant is probably the last renter. But it was a surprise to me to think about the number, and variety of people that have lived in the house.
A somewhat related situation that also happened as the new guy – JA – moved in also occurred. When we got to the back of his moving truck I was shocked to see that he had a motorcycle in the back. And not just any motorcycle, but a 2002 SV650S Suzuki. I had before deciding to leave the phone company been planning on buying a 2003 SV650S six years ago. So I must admit I was a little jealous. I even contemplated offering him free rent for a year in trade on the bike. I didn’t of course but still I do have to say it does get me thinking of motorcycles again, even if I would only get to ride the thing twice a year. To be honest I haven’t even had time to get my golf clubs out this year so what would I do with a bike? But it was funny that my new roommie, has practically one of the bikes I drool from time to time over. The other being a BMW R1200C. Though last year I also liked but didn’t add to my list – due to the high cost – the Fat Bob from Harley.
So I do wonder how many people will eventually live in my house. I know my wife would like to see us plus 4. Though I have a suspicion that we may also house some other relatives from time to time, so really I may end up responsible for 20 people living in the house over my ownership.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Apparently I already did that
A funny thing happed to me at work the other week. I was asked to prepare a document and when I started to gather my notes I realized I had already written it. In fact I had finished it only two weeks before the request. The fact that I did it before I was asked isn’t surprising. I am getting the hang of this consulting thing and I can on occasion see some of the needs on the horizon and prepare material proactively. This of course helps to curb the late night projects and long extra hours when things are asked for on short deadlines. No the thing that was surprising was I didn’t remember writing it. At all. I couldn’t recall even starting it! What a hoot. Here I had, and it was all obvious my work, around 30 pages of documentation I couldn’t remember doing it. At least not at first. I was baffled and amused that I could play such a trick on myself. I started to wonder if I was going senile already. I didn’t think I was that old yet.
So I started to investigate a little. I verified in the document properties that I was the creator and last modifier of the document. Then I read the document, or at least skimmed it. I started to remember creating the screen shoots and even typing some of the text. Then I checked the date of the document. It was created during the week I was in workshops in Munich. That week was basically a set of meetings of which my part was very small. I gave one 20 minute presentation that was mostly a recap of much of the information that was already presented. I also had some side meeting with the team I would be working with, and worked on some defects on the objects I am in charge of. But this was enough to lead me to some conclusions to what happened with the document.
Basically I have to admit that I do not have a typical method of working. I enjoy and need distractions. In school when we did tests to find out our style of learning I was a KT learner; someone who learns by doing and needs constant stimulation. So the work style I have developed is to have tasks that I am actively working on that have close deadlines and to have other work open and in the back ground. Then if my mind starts to wonder I switch tasks for a few minutes. I started doing this when I returned to college and seemed to work well for me. I also tend to keep things open even when I am not working in case I get an idea.
For example when I was in college during programming classes I would code while watching TV. I wouldn’t seriously be dedicated to it but I would do a little bit of the boring parts of projects bit by bit. So by starting a project early and doing these pieces in little bits, by the time the deadline was coming up I only had the interesting work left and I wouldn’t get bored doing it. Sometimes I would even do more than my part of a project just because it was open in the background. I remember one partner being surprised when a couple days before a project was due I had 80% of it done. So even though my wife yells at me for always being on the computer it does have some benefits.
So this is basically what happened here. Even though I was involved in workshops and working on defects I also had this document open in the back ground. Every once in a while I would take a screen shot or type up a couple of sentences. In the course of the week I had put the entire thing together. The reason I didn’t really remember it is because I had never felt that it was “finished” so I just thought of all I had done as a work in progress or working notes. However when I reviewed it there was very little left to change a matter of 3% or so. So I was very happy to be able to turn this around quickly to client. It is fun when you surprise yourself I for time to time I think.
So I started to investigate a little. I verified in the document properties that I was the creator and last modifier of the document. Then I read the document, or at least skimmed it. I started to remember creating the screen shoots and even typing some of the text. Then I checked the date of the document. It was created during the week I was in workshops in Munich. That week was basically a set of meetings of which my part was very small. I gave one 20 minute presentation that was mostly a recap of much of the information that was already presented. I also had some side meeting with the team I would be working with, and worked on some defects on the objects I am in charge of. But this was enough to lead me to some conclusions to what happened with the document.
Basically I have to admit that I do not have a typical method of working. I enjoy and need distractions. In school when we did tests to find out our style of learning I was a KT learner; someone who learns by doing and needs constant stimulation. So the work style I have developed is to have tasks that I am actively working on that have close deadlines and to have other work open and in the back ground. Then if my mind starts to wonder I switch tasks for a few minutes. I started doing this when I returned to college and seemed to work well for me. I also tend to keep things open even when I am not working in case I get an idea.
For example when I was in college during programming classes I would code while watching TV. I wouldn’t seriously be dedicated to it but I would do a little bit of the boring parts of projects bit by bit. So by starting a project early and doing these pieces in little bits, by the time the deadline was coming up I only had the interesting work left and I wouldn’t get bored doing it. Sometimes I would even do more than my part of a project just because it was open in the background. I remember one partner being surprised when a couple days before a project was due I had 80% of it done. So even though my wife yells at me for always being on the computer it does have some benefits.
So this is basically what happened here. Even though I was involved in workshops and working on defects I also had this document open in the back ground. Every once in a while I would take a screen shot or type up a couple of sentences. In the course of the week I had put the entire thing together. The reason I didn’t really remember it is because I had never felt that it was “finished” so I just thought of all I had done as a work in progress or working notes. However when I reviewed it there was very little left to change a matter of 3% or so. So I was very happy to be able to turn this around quickly to client. It is fun when you surprise yourself I for time to time I think.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Motorcycle or Sidewalks
On this last trip back home to the states I had a nice little note from the city. It made me start to think of two great uses for my money. Not my tax money mind you, my post income tax, non-property tax, non-State Sales tax, non-County Sales Tax, and non-City Sales Tax money. My personal hard earned dollars. The choice hypothetically be between new sidewalks along my property and a used motorcycle, a used motorcycle that I been thinking a little about for years. So basically the situation is this. The side walks around my house are shoot. Anyone can see they are in bad shape. So the city has decided for me that it is time to replace these. For most people this would only be a bill for a couple of hundred dollars. But because I am on a corner lot my bill will be a couple of thousand dollars. The cost of the sidewalks would be just shy of what I was looking for a starter bike. But it really isn’t a decision, it is mandated by the city.
I always knew this could happen I have heard about from other people. There are many things in a city that you would think were paid for by taxes but are actually the responsibility of the home owner. Things that your neighbors may use more than you do, things you may not even ask for. Worst of all things you don’t get to really choose. These are of course the same sidewalks I must keep clean in the winter or be charged just under a grand if the city does it for me. That is by the way each time they would do it, not a monthly or seasonal charge, a per visit charge. It is kind of like a fine but billed as a service. So anyway my side walks have been assessed as needing to be replaced. And I will get billed several thousand dollars for the new concrete work. Last year of course I got a city ordinance situation to paint the house, and before that I got a notice to clean the alley. This year just happens to be sidewalks. I wonder what they will come up with next year.
Now of course I joke that it is a choice between the motorcycle or the sidewalks. I don’t have a choice it was made by the city for me. So I will be getting them. And in all honesty, I would like to say that it angers me and confuses me, that the city would do this to law abiding and tax paying home owners. But in reality I don’t really have an issue with it. I use the city side walks all of the time. I am surprised that it isn’t included in the property taxes but that is the decision that was made by the city planners or council members. People elected by the same people who complain that sidewalk maintenance isn’t covered in taxes. So I realize that this choice was made by due process. If I don’t like it I could run for local office and try to change it. Or just vote for people the might change it. But since I probably won’t get hit up for this again and I can afford it I will just shrug my shoulders and enjoy the new uncracked, unheaving sidewalks. Too bad they don’t throw in a used bike though.
I always knew this could happen I have heard about from other people. There are many things in a city that you would think were paid for by taxes but are actually the responsibility of the home owner. Things that your neighbors may use more than you do, things you may not even ask for. Worst of all things you don’t get to really choose. These are of course the same sidewalks I must keep clean in the winter or be charged just under a grand if the city does it for me. That is by the way each time they would do it, not a monthly or seasonal charge, a per visit charge. It is kind of like a fine but billed as a service. So anyway my side walks have been assessed as needing to be replaced. And I will get billed several thousand dollars for the new concrete work. Last year of course I got a city ordinance situation to paint the house, and before that I got a notice to clean the alley. This year just happens to be sidewalks. I wonder what they will come up with next year.
Now of course I joke that it is a choice between the motorcycle or the sidewalks. I don’t have a choice it was made by the city for me. So I will be getting them. And in all honesty, I would like to say that it angers me and confuses me, that the city would do this to law abiding and tax paying home owners. But in reality I don’t really have an issue with it. I use the city side walks all of the time. I am surprised that it isn’t included in the property taxes but that is the decision that was made by the city planners or council members. People elected by the same people who complain that sidewalk maintenance isn’t covered in taxes. So I realize that this choice was made by due process. If I don’t like it I could run for local office and try to change it. Or just vote for people the might change it. But since I probably won’t get hit up for this again and I can afford it I will just shrug my shoulders and enjoy the new uncracked, unheaving sidewalks. Too bad they don’t throw in a used bike though.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Cornwall and Wales
No I am not talking about a corn maze in the Midwest and animals in the ocean. I’m talking about two larger regions of the United Kingdom. Cornwall having been the supposed land ruled by King Arthur Millennia ago and Wales which is still a principality ruled by the Prince of Wales the future king of England. Because England and the United Kingdom are the result of years of conquest of one set of kingdoms over the others government and politic structure is quite different than any other place in the world. There are still regional dialects, there are still ruling royalty (in name if not in practice), and the people identify themselves with their local identity first and the larger country second. Taking a road trip through these two regions was very fun and informative the other weekend.
We started out going to Cornwall. The area is different from anywhere else I have been in England. Cornwall has beautiful scenic views in all direction, different plants, a crazy Moorish (boogy) landscape, and signs in another language. While everyone speaks English they also speak a local language, but only with other residents, however much like Quebec in Canada they have signs in both languages. The first site was Tintagel a place that includes several ruins that are on an island just of the west coast of England. At one time there was a settlement and garrison if not a castle on this island. This is the place where King Arthur was to have been born and ruled from after the departure of the Romans from England. The town on the main land by the ruins is also very scenic and has a lot of tourist shops revolving around the Arthurian myths. Surprisingly there was also a fun little stop in town where you could tour a post office from the 1500s. This was a house/postal office in the town and it was interesting to see the construction used 500 years ago, and amazing that it was still standing and in good shape.
Our second stop in Cornwall was one the BMc wanted to do. He had found the link to a strange museum on witch craft on the internet and it was only 10 minutes from Tintagel. So we went. The town was called Boscastle and contrary to its name it never had a castle in it at all. The museum was a little strange for my taste. It was also some what hokey. The first few rooms showed witches in pop culture, exhibits such as advertising, books, stories, movie posters, etc. showed the popular view of witches. As you moved along they showed some of the plants and ingredients used in spells and remedies real witches might use. After that protective charms and voodoo dolls and things were on display. The museum in all was maybe 5 or 6 decent sized rooms and took us about an hour or so to get through. I wasn’t that impressed but BMc seemed to eat it up. At the end of the tour though he started arguing with the witch that ran the place, I told we should get out of there so she didn’t curse him!
After that we headed up to Wales. The drive wasn’t bad we got a little rain, but surprisingly the dumb little car I had was pretty comfortable. I don’t think I would choose a Renault Scenic myself but it did surprise me a little, but I think it is still to ugly to own. We stayed at the Marriott in Cardiff, the capital of Wales and went out for a little that night to the local bar area and to get a late dinner. The next day we went to Cardiff Castle in the middle of town. Now that is a castle lover’s castle. It is rather large, in pretty good shape, has a remodeled main building from around the time Neurswanstein was built, but it also has the ruins of an old keep that you climb around in and that is surrounded by a moat. To top it off there are the remnants of a Roman fort. So I was really glad that we got to tour that castle. Even if it was raining like crazy. In fact many of the metal ribs of my umbrella were bent it was so stormy.
After the castle we took a double decker tour bus around town. It was too hard to get many photos because it was raining so the windows made photos blurry. The top of the bus, where we sat, was only cover for the first 4 rows then it was an open cab. So every time the bus turned a corner we got wet. But it was worth it. Cardiff is a nice town that is certain an up and coming area. It boasts a lot of modern development along with many older buildings and neighborhoods. I could easily spend a weekend exploring the city. As if our day wasn’t already pretty full we had two more stops to make. A set of water falls that had been used to drive water wheels that powered a tinning plant in the 19th century and an old gold mine. We arrived at the gold mine to late to do the tour but that was ok we got to crawl around on all the equipment and pan for gold so that was fun. The waterfalls and tin works were amazing. Now we were only able to hit about a ¼ of Cornwall and a ¼ of Wales but I can’t wait to make another trip to Wales. There are still amazing beaches and mountains to see, along with another fort and some manor houses. I think I will combine my trip to Liverpool and Manchester with Northern Wales. I can’t wait, maybe I can even bring the wife this time.
We started out going to Cornwall. The area is different from anywhere else I have been in England. Cornwall has beautiful scenic views in all direction, different plants, a crazy Moorish (boogy) landscape, and signs in another language. While everyone speaks English they also speak a local language, but only with other residents, however much like Quebec in Canada they have signs in both languages. The first site was Tintagel a place that includes several ruins that are on an island just of the west coast of England. At one time there was a settlement and garrison if not a castle on this island. This is the place where King Arthur was to have been born and ruled from after the departure of the Romans from England. The town on the main land by the ruins is also very scenic and has a lot of tourist shops revolving around the Arthurian myths. Surprisingly there was also a fun little stop in town where you could tour a post office from the 1500s. This was a house/postal office in the town and it was interesting to see the construction used 500 years ago, and amazing that it was still standing and in good shape.
Our second stop in Cornwall was one the BMc wanted to do. He had found the link to a strange museum on witch craft on the internet and it was only 10 minutes from Tintagel. So we went. The town was called Boscastle and contrary to its name it never had a castle in it at all. The museum was a little strange for my taste. It was also some what hokey. The first few rooms showed witches in pop culture, exhibits such as advertising, books, stories, movie posters, etc. showed the popular view of witches. As you moved along they showed some of the plants and ingredients used in spells and remedies real witches might use. After that protective charms and voodoo dolls and things were on display. The museum in all was maybe 5 or 6 decent sized rooms and took us about an hour or so to get through. I wasn’t that impressed but BMc seemed to eat it up. At the end of the tour though he started arguing with the witch that ran the place, I told we should get out of there so she didn’t curse him!
After that we headed up to Wales. The drive wasn’t bad we got a little rain, but surprisingly the dumb little car I had was pretty comfortable. I don’t think I would choose a Renault Scenic myself but it did surprise me a little, but I think it is still to ugly to own. We stayed at the Marriott in Cardiff, the capital of Wales and went out for a little that night to the local bar area and to get a late dinner. The next day we went to Cardiff Castle in the middle of town. Now that is a castle lover’s castle. It is rather large, in pretty good shape, has a remodeled main building from around the time Neurswanstein was built, but it also has the ruins of an old keep that you climb around in and that is surrounded by a moat. To top it off there are the remnants of a Roman fort. So I was really glad that we got to tour that castle. Even if it was raining like crazy. In fact many of the metal ribs of my umbrella were bent it was so stormy.
After the castle we took a double decker tour bus around town. It was too hard to get many photos because it was raining so the windows made photos blurry. The top of the bus, where we sat, was only cover for the first 4 rows then it was an open cab. So every time the bus turned a corner we got wet. But it was worth it. Cardiff is a nice town that is certain an up and coming area. It boasts a lot of modern development along with many older buildings and neighborhoods. I could easily spend a weekend exploring the city. As if our day wasn’t already pretty full we had two more stops to make. A set of water falls that had been used to drive water wheels that powered a tinning plant in the 19th century and an old gold mine. We arrived at the gold mine to late to do the tour but that was ok we got to crawl around on all the equipment and pan for gold so that was fun. The waterfalls and tin works were amazing. Now we were only able to hit about a ¼ of Cornwall and a ¼ of Wales but I can’t wait to make another trip to Wales. There are still amazing beaches and mountains to see, along with another fort and some manor houses. I think I will combine my trip to Liverpool and Manchester with Northern Wales. I can’t wait, maybe I can even bring the wife this time.
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