Eagle 1, Eagle 2, Eagle 3, and Eagle four aren’t call signs of fighter pilots, or code names for spies behind enemy lines. Rather it is an small inside joke between my dad, brother, cousin, and myself. Recently I got a plane and instead of going home headed out to San Francisco California. This trip was to visit with family, escape the cold, and to attend a ceremony in honor of my cousin earning his Eagle Scout. For those that do not know this is the top rank in the Boy Scouts of America. While you can continue to earn merit badges and awards Eagle is considered the biggest achievement of scouting. Less than 2 percent of boys that join earn the rank. This is one of the few achievements that you earn as a boy and leave on your resume for your entire life. My dad gave a very compelling speech about the meaning of being an Eagle Scout.
It revolved around the amount of work it takes to get there, how few accomplish it, and what great achievements Eagle Scouts have gone on to make. Eagle Scouts are executives of large corporations, have been President of the United States of America, most space missions contain at least one eagle scout, they have been leaders of the civil rights movement, served there country as soldiers and generals in all American wars beginning with WWI, and have filled many other amazing roles in history. In fact you can see many of these at www.eaglescout.org. Most people in the United States recognize what the boy scouts and above all what Eagle Scouts represent.
So what is the inside joke. Well my dad (Eagle 1 – 1970s), my brother (Eagle 3 – 1990s), my cousin (Eagle 4 – 2000’s), and myself (Eagle 2 – 1990s) are all Eagle Scouts. It was nice to see how much my cousin had enjoyed his experiences in the Scouts as I had. You make great friend in Scouts and get to go on adventures that most boys don’t get to have: Camping as many as 10 times a year, high adventure trips, participate in crazy survival races, work on all sorts of community projects, and learn skills in anything and everything from auto mechanics to beekeeping to art or sculpting. When you are twelve years old to eighteen you can do things most people think they won’t even get to try when they are adults. It was a great time.
One other thing that surprised me about this event was how much I think my uncle enjoyed being an adult leader. He had dropped out of the scouts to pursue agricultural activities and due to some bad experiences when he was a boy. But this time around with his son I think he looked forward to scouting events as much as the scouts involved. He was in many, many photos shown of my cousins camping trips and adventures. I don’t think his younger boy will join so now he will have to convince his family to go on trips into the great out doors (which I don’t think will be that hard to do). But I doubt these trips will be as frequent as he was able to participate in with the scouts. One thing I know too is that my boy(s) if/when I have them will be signed up to try it. They don’t have to stick with it if they don’t like it, but they do have to try it. Hopefully I can have some fun being the adult leader too someday. Plus we could get an Eagle 5, 6, 7, and 8 maybe… who knows.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Friday, February 1, 2008
London for New Years
Well I think the title of this Blog makes it self explanatory. I was in London for the New Years celebration. It is actually the second time I have been in London for New Years, and this time seemed a lot crazier than I remember. The first time was a decade ago when I when with my dad. He was leading some training for the airline at this time and asked if I wanted to. It was a lot of fun. We went to the tower of London, the wax museum, Piccadilly Circus, and a few pubs. It was over my freshman winter break at the university. This year I met up with my wife in London. Or rather I should say I met up with the crew: my wife, my sister in law, their roommate, and another of their Russian friends. It was actually quite reminiscent of college as we had all of these people in a single hotel room.
One of the best perks of my job/career is that I get to rack up the hotel, airline, credit card, and rental car points. So when we travel I don’t generally need to go online and look for the cheapest deal. Instead I go to Marriott’s web site see what they have in the city and use my points. This also makes traveling a lot cheaper. In fact I think in general hotels are the biggest expense when traveling. But using the miles for airfare certainly helps. Our hotel was just outside of the city center to the north and there was an Underground station within 4 blocks. So it was really never more than a 20 minute ride to get anywhere. The underground in the UK is so nice because you can get any where. Its layout is basically a loop with several strands that cross both the loop and each other in a manner that resembles a spider web. Even though we came into different airports we were all able to take the underground to the hotel. No fussing with shuttles, buses, or taxi’s.
The hotel was very nice, though the pool and executive lounge were crowded most of the time. We didn’t spend a lot of time there; instead leaving in the morning seeing a bunch of sites, then returning to freshen up, and leaving again for a bit of night life. We saw quite a lot of sites in face. The tower of London, tower bridge, the BA London Eye, Buckingham palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly circus, Oxford and Canary streets, the Winston Churchill Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms, the original Hard Rock Café (yes it was founded out side the states), Harrods (though it was so crowded the girls had no intentions of shopping), Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, to name a few. We also dinned on fish and chips, Shepard’s pie, and sausage and mash at local pubs and fish n chips establishments. I tried to tone it down, and we only went to se a couple of things a day. But I still think I wore RG out a bit.
Now originally RG wanted to go to a pretty fancy party on a WWII ship anchored on the Thames. I thought it was a little expensive and put off looking into alternatives. So I will give this point of advice. If you are in London for New Year’s Eve have a plan and a venue well in advance. Being out on the streets is insane to say the least. After it was too late I actually found boat cruises on the Thames that were well within budget but they were sold out. So I have to admit I dropped the ball on that one. So we decided we would head down to the river across from the London Eye stop in a pub for a few drinks, then watch the fireworks out side. Well, all the pubs had lines to get in leading out into the street. We didn’t bring any beverages and ended up being carried by the crowd to a location to watch the fireworks, where we hung out soberly and somewhat somberly for nearly two hours. They did have music playing over the loudspeaker PA system and the people watching was good.
However the fireworks were well worth the wait (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tqsQktE2w). The British are nutz. That is all I have to say. They had over 100,000 separate pyrotechnics go off for the show. Not over $100,000 worth, but actually more than 100,000 individual explosions. It was like watching the Fourth of July fireworks. Only the main show was like our finallies and finally was 10 times that. The whole show lasted 30 to 40 minutes and was mesmerizing to say the least. My favorite part was when they had a couple doze rockets launching from the London Eye in a bidirectional loop that started at the bottom of the wheel and me at the top, all while two boats in the river motored back and forth launching several more from launch tube in the back of the boat! After it was finished nothing but madness ensued.
The BBC reported the next day that there had been over 700,000 people out on the streets of London. 2/3 of the underground station had been closed and most people didn’t want to wait in the long lines at those that were open. Neither did we. So we along with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people roamed the streets of London looking for an open underground station. The foot traffic was so great it brought all auto traffic to a stand still for hours. Not only that, but there was no place to pee. This seems short sighted to me. We saw countless people making there own arrangements, it is a good thing it rained within the next few days. We finally gave up trying to find a way back to the hotel room at around 3:00am and ditched into a hole in the wall Indian food restaurant. Shared some appetizers and other small plates of food, used the restrooms, and waited for the crowd to disperse. An hour later we were able to get to an underground station, and we were to the hotel and in bed by 5:30a.
So I guess I should have gotten reservations to a party or cruise earlier, they don’t even let you back onto the streets until the crowds have dispersed and in the mean time you have a place to relax and have drinks. I would be upset if the venue did not offer a view of the fireworks.
One of the best perks of my job/career is that I get to rack up the hotel, airline, credit card, and rental car points. So when we travel I don’t generally need to go online and look for the cheapest deal. Instead I go to Marriott’s web site see what they have in the city and use my points. This also makes traveling a lot cheaper. In fact I think in general hotels are the biggest expense when traveling. But using the miles for airfare certainly helps. Our hotel was just outside of the city center to the north and there was an Underground station within 4 blocks. So it was really never more than a 20 minute ride to get anywhere. The underground in the UK is so nice because you can get any where. Its layout is basically a loop with several strands that cross both the loop and each other in a manner that resembles a spider web. Even though we came into different airports we were all able to take the underground to the hotel. No fussing with shuttles, buses, or taxi’s.
The hotel was very nice, though the pool and executive lounge were crowded most of the time. We didn’t spend a lot of time there; instead leaving in the morning seeing a bunch of sites, then returning to freshen up, and leaving again for a bit of night life. We saw quite a lot of sites in face. The tower of London, tower bridge, the BA London Eye, Buckingham palace, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly circus, Oxford and Canary streets, the Winston Churchill Museum, the Cabinet War Rooms, the original Hard Rock Café (yes it was founded out side the states), Harrods (though it was so crowded the girls had no intentions of shopping), Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abby, to name a few. We also dinned on fish and chips, Shepard’s pie, and sausage and mash at local pubs and fish n chips establishments. I tried to tone it down, and we only went to se a couple of things a day. But I still think I wore RG out a bit.
Now originally RG wanted to go to a pretty fancy party on a WWII ship anchored on the Thames. I thought it was a little expensive and put off looking into alternatives. So I will give this point of advice. If you are in London for New Year’s Eve have a plan and a venue well in advance. Being out on the streets is insane to say the least. After it was too late I actually found boat cruises on the Thames that were well within budget but they were sold out. So I have to admit I dropped the ball on that one. So we decided we would head down to the river across from the London Eye stop in a pub for a few drinks, then watch the fireworks out side. Well, all the pubs had lines to get in leading out into the street. We didn’t bring any beverages and ended up being carried by the crowd to a location to watch the fireworks, where we hung out soberly and somewhat somberly for nearly two hours. They did have music playing over the loudspeaker PA system and the people watching was good.
However the fireworks were well worth the wait (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4tqsQktE2w). The British are nutz. That is all I have to say. They had over 100,000 separate pyrotechnics go off for the show. Not over $100,000 worth, but actually more than 100,000 individual explosions. It was like watching the Fourth of July fireworks. Only the main show was like our finallies and finally was 10 times that. The whole show lasted 30 to 40 minutes and was mesmerizing to say the least. My favorite part was when they had a couple doze rockets launching from the London Eye in a bidirectional loop that started at the bottom of the wheel and me at the top, all while two boats in the river motored back and forth launching several more from launch tube in the back of the boat! After it was finished nothing but madness ensued.
The BBC reported the next day that there had been over 700,000 people out on the streets of London. 2/3 of the underground station had been closed and most people didn’t want to wait in the long lines at those that were open. Neither did we. So we along with hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people roamed the streets of London looking for an open underground station. The foot traffic was so great it brought all auto traffic to a stand still for hours. Not only that, but there was no place to pee. This seems short sighted to me. We saw countless people making there own arrangements, it is a good thing it rained within the next few days. We finally gave up trying to find a way back to the hotel room at around 3:00am and ditched into a hole in the wall Indian food restaurant. Shared some appetizers and other small plates of food, used the restrooms, and waited for the crowd to disperse. An hour later we were able to get to an underground station, and we were to the hotel and in bed by 5:30a.
So I guess I should have gotten reservations to a party or cruise earlier, they don’t even let you back onto the streets until the crowds have dispersed and in the mean time you have a place to relax and have drinks. I would be upset if the venue did not offer a view of the fireworks.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Hosting the Holidays
Many things happen as you grow older. You get your driver’s license; your folks help you get your first car. You graduate from High School, go off to college, get your first job, buy your first car on your own, get your first apartment on your own, and so on. There is a huge list. Some of these mile stones stick out more than others. Graduating college, and getting married for instance. Others sneak up on you and the realization that something has happened plays around in the back of your mind before moving its way into the thoughts that you pay attention too. This year both certainly happened to me. The easy milestone, and the most life changing was getting married to the most incredible person I have ever met. The other milestone, the one that snuck up on me, well that one was entirely different. My folks, my brother, and my sister came, stayed over, and celebrated both Thanksgiving and Christmas at my house.
For as log as I can remember we have either gone to one of the grandparents houses or my parents house for these two holidays. Sometimes we take side ventures to Aunt and Uncle’s houses but the main events are at one of those places. But I didn’t realize what had happen until just recently. Maybe my life is moving faster than my thoughts and my own brain hasn’t caught up with itself lately. It is true that I have been traveling the world and handling a more than full time job plus taking care of my house and at times friends and family. So as I was saying I didn’t realize what had happened. In November has it does every year, Thanksgiving came around. Then in December the big man’s birthday came around and the Christmas holiday was on us. Both times it just seemed so natural to be around family.
But this was different. I had three people staying in my house. Mom still cooked the wonderful dinners; Dad still said his reflective blessings. This year though I spent a couple days cleaning before and after the events – though it probably didn’t seem so to the rest of my family. On top of that I got a tree, did a little decorating, and purchased supplies. Of course I didn’t get or take care of everything or offer all the niceties I should have. My mom and sister did need to the grocery store to pick up supplies, and when parents first showed up for Thanksgiving I didn’t offer them any to eat or drink though I was in the middle of lunch, something my dad did not hesitate to bring to my attention, and rightly so (a bit of rudeness on my part, though I did think they were coming in 5 hours later than they showed up). It really is too bad RG was in Moscow, she is much better at this stuff than I am. I think I get too focused on work and projects around the house when I should relax. She tends to make me slow down a little when I need to.
I don’t think that I was the only one though that felt a little out of order or place, though I don’t any of us realized it. My dad was certainly restless and more so than normal. I think a few days in my house without his own projects to do drove him a little nutz. Additionally, while my parents did go see their friends back in PL they were not busy at all and so they just really hung around the house and watched movies, maybe did a little shopping, and such but certainly they were not as busy as they are at home. For the trip around Christmas my dad had even tried to arrange a couple activities, but because they came in and left so close to Christmas day nothing was really open. Next I will certainly have to come up with some more things to do. Of course none of this ruined the holidays at all. I thought everything was a great success and I very much enjoyed having my family over at my house. I assume this will be a reoccurrence for the next several years. Unless my brother buys a house then maybe we will rotate. I can smile about this though because he doesn’t know what he is in for.
For as log as I can remember we have either gone to one of the grandparents houses or my parents house for these two holidays. Sometimes we take side ventures to Aunt and Uncle’s houses but the main events are at one of those places. But I didn’t realize what had happen until just recently. Maybe my life is moving faster than my thoughts and my own brain hasn’t caught up with itself lately. It is true that I have been traveling the world and handling a more than full time job plus taking care of my house and at times friends and family. So as I was saying I didn’t realize what had happened. In November has it does every year, Thanksgiving came around. Then in December the big man’s birthday came around and the Christmas holiday was on us. Both times it just seemed so natural to be around family.
But this was different. I had three people staying in my house. Mom still cooked the wonderful dinners; Dad still said his reflective blessings. This year though I spent a couple days cleaning before and after the events – though it probably didn’t seem so to the rest of my family. On top of that I got a tree, did a little decorating, and purchased supplies. Of course I didn’t get or take care of everything or offer all the niceties I should have. My mom and sister did need to the grocery store to pick up supplies, and when parents first showed up for Thanksgiving I didn’t offer them any to eat or drink though I was in the middle of lunch, something my dad did not hesitate to bring to my attention, and rightly so (a bit of rudeness on my part, though I did think they were coming in 5 hours later than they showed up). It really is too bad RG was in Moscow, she is much better at this stuff than I am. I think I get too focused on work and projects around the house when I should relax. She tends to make me slow down a little when I need to.
I don’t think that I was the only one though that felt a little out of order or place, though I don’t any of us realized it. My dad was certainly restless and more so than normal. I think a few days in my house without his own projects to do drove him a little nutz. Additionally, while my parents did go see their friends back in PL they were not busy at all and so they just really hung around the house and watched movies, maybe did a little shopping, and such but certainly they were not as busy as they are at home. For the trip around Christmas my dad had even tried to arrange a couple activities, but because they came in and left so close to Christmas day nothing was really open. Next I will certainly have to come up with some more things to do. Of course none of this ruined the holidays at all. I thought everything was a great success and I very much enjoyed having my family over at my house. I assume this will be a reoccurrence for the next several years. Unless my brother buys a house then maybe we will rotate. I can smile about this though because he doesn’t know what he is in for.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
UK for 10 months
So a peace of very good news! I am being deported. The second week of February I will no longer reside in the US. Ok I’m not actually being deported, and my permanent residence will still be in the US. But for 10 months I will be living, working, and playing in Europe. I fell backwards into the role quite really. I had been trying to get onto a project in Germany for months with out any luck. Apparently the German partners are a bit hard to deal with. So when I was on the bench in October I got a call from my old counselor who was one a project in New York. He wanted me to come out for a nothing role really for 5 weeks. I didn’t really want to do it hoping a more meaty role might come up, but since it was just for a few weeks I said ok. Well I didn’t say ok, I basically got dragged in, but that is what happens to junior resources.
Well I was further frustrated by this project when they wanted me to come straight from my PTO in Russia to the project. So that I would land at 3:20p in Minneapolis and leave on the 7:00pm flight to New York. Once I got on site the role was what I expected it to be. Five weeks of busy work. But I was able to talk the managers into bringing on a new analyst for me to train so if something good came up I could leave. Well there was an interesting turn of events coming up. I flew in Monday night, worked all day Tuesday, and mid day on Wednesday the project manager jokingly asked what I was doing for the next 10 months. “Well” I said, “I don’t really have anything lined up”. He then asked - not joking any more - “Really, would you have any interest in working in Europe”. Of I did as it would get me closer to Russia. So I briefly told him about my situation and he told me about a possible role they had.
Four days later I was in. So I will be the only US resource on the ground in the UK with a few trips to Germany for the project. My role has to do with migrating the FICO data for the SAP project (I know most people don’t know what that means but that is ok). I will be put up in a nice apartment, have a company mini-lease car, and have most of my other expenses paid. I am supposed to be on site as of February 11 and I will come back to the states every six weeks for a week. This is pretty much what most people look for when they are single. It almost never happens either. But someone is watching out for me. London is basically half the way to Moscow so this is really going to let me see RG quite more often. Probably twice as often actually, every three or four weeks rather than every 6 or 8.
On top of all of this it is very cheap to get RG to England and she already has a visa good for six months. So we are already planning weekend trips all over Europe. Of course Germany, Paris, Barcelona, maybe a week in Italy in the fall, possibly Bern, I would like to go to Vienna, and half a doze site in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Along with our trip to St. Petersburg we should have quite the year; though it will be an expensive year. But of course the best part will be that my wife is closer and that we can spend so much more time together. So you can be certain that I am no longer upset that I got dragged into this project!
Well I was further frustrated by this project when they wanted me to come straight from my PTO in Russia to the project. So that I would land at 3:20p in Minneapolis and leave on the 7:00pm flight to New York. Once I got on site the role was what I expected it to be. Five weeks of busy work. But I was able to talk the managers into bringing on a new analyst for me to train so if something good came up I could leave. Well there was an interesting turn of events coming up. I flew in Monday night, worked all day Tuesday, and mid day on Wednesday the project manager jokingly asked what I was doing for the next 10 months. “Well” I said, “I don’t really have anything lined up”. He then asked - not joking any more - “Really, would you have any interest in working in Europe”. Of I did as it would get me closer to Russia. So I briefly told him about my situation and he told me about a possible role they had.
Four days later I was in. So I will be the only US resource on the ground in the UK with a few trips to Germany for the project. My role has to do with migrating the FICO data for the SAP project (I know most people don’t know what that means but that is ok). I will be put up in a nice apartment, have a company mini-lease car, and have most of my other expenses paid. I am supposed to be on site as of February 11 and I will come back to the states every six weeks for a week. This is pretty much what most people look for when they are single. It almost never happens either. But someone is watching out for me. London is basically half the way to Moscow so this is really going to let me see RG quite more often. Probably twice as often actually, every three or four weeks rather than every 6 or 8.
On top of all of this it is very cheap to get RG to England and she already has a visa good for six months. So we are already planning weekend trips all over Europe. Of course Germany, Paris, Barcelona, maybe a week in Italy in the fall, possibly Bern, I would like to go to Vienna, and half a doze site in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Along with our trip to St. Petersburg we should have quite the year; though it will be an expensive year. But of course the best part will be that my wife is closer and that we can spend so much more time together. So you can be certain that I am no longer upset that I got dragged into this project!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
A weekend trip to Moscow
Since I have been a consultant I have traveled a lot. Almost every week I head out to a client site away from home. Some of these are a short commute say Milwaukee, others are farther away such as Long Island, while others are just plain hard to get to like Dayton Ohio. But all of these places can be traveled to inside of half a day of traveling, and all of them have been domestic. Now that RG is in Moscow though I need to travel a lot further than I do on a regular basis to see her. In fact it takes at least 14 hours to get there though I have not done it in less that 18 yet. Therefore the round trip travel time is a whopping 36+ hours! The first time I went it actually took even longer because the return took 3 legs and a bus trip from one end of London to the other (don’t ask but sometimes you can be to cheap for your own good). That trip though I was in Russia for 2 weeks and it was certainly worth the travel.
Well this November when I used the second entry to Russia allowed by my visa I wasn’t as lucky as the first time. I only had from Thursday night to Monday to spend in Russia. This means that I had a total of around 95 hours for the whole trip. Of course about 40 of these were dedicated to travel so I was there for about 55 hours. Of course 55 hours with RG is well worth 400 hours or more of traveling but it goes by so fast you wonder if it was a dream that you were even there. In fact it feels a lot like a dream because your internal clock has absolutely no idea what time it is, whether you should be awake or asleep, or if is truly morning or night. It doesn’t help that in the winter Moscow is always over cast and the sun only comes out for maybe 6 hours.
It was fun though to tell people I was going to Moscow for the weekend. Of course I tried to act like it was no big deal, like everyone just pops over to Russia for a day or two. MQ and CQ thought it was funny and I’m not sure they understand it. The way I see it though I go were my wife is and she happens to be in Moscow. Therefore I go to Moscow, at least for now! It is also a pain though because even though I took a day off I was staffed on a project and they wanted me there first thing Tuesday morning. This means that I got home from Russia at about 3:20p and had to take a taxi home to get more clothes then straight back to the airport right away. I ended up flying to New York at 7pm. That is less than four hours after an international trip to turn around and fly out again. Crazy.
The trip to Moscow it self was good. We didn’t go sight seeing or doing anything crazy. Really we just hung out most of the weekend. The one cool thing we did do was go out to dinner at a really nice, and somewhat historic restaurant. The place we went is about two blocks from the old KGB headquarters and was the private club for KGB officers. I don’t know if the decorations are still the same as they were. You sit at couches and easy chairs around the tables and there is a pretty nice and modern looking bar. The food was absolutely splendid. I had some Sea Bass (still on the bone) and I think we split desert. Shortly before we left it was funny to notice a large group of Americans that came in. The restaurant was relatively empty, probably because it was cold and also because we went early. Many people in Russia do not eat dinner until 8 or later.
On the way back to the apartment we also stopped by Red Square. I had been there on my last trip but only during the day. It is a completely different experience at night. The old government run store that lines one side of the square was covered in large white lights, Saint Basil’s was lit with flood lamps, and the Kremlin towers also glowed from below. This time I was also able to get up close to Lenin’s tomb. The whole scene was both surreal and beautiful. It was also cold. Moscow was cold enough in the fall, in the winter it is brutal. Though I suppose it isn’t that much different than Minneapolis, you just have to brave the elements more to get from place to place. Sunday night we went to some friends of girls apartment. They are Americans I think doing missionary work at some school. They were very nice and hospital and it was fun to hear what they go through living in Moscow. But of course the whole trip was to short because before I knew it, it was Monday morning and it was time for me to fly back to the States. Hopefully next time I will get to spend more that 55% of my time in Moscow and less percentage of time traveling!
Well this November when I used the second entry to Russia allowed by my visa I wasn’t as lucky as the first time. I only had from Thursday night to Monday to spend in Russia. This means that I had a total of around 95 hours for the whole trip. Of course about 40 of these were dedicated to travel so I was there for about 55 hours. Of course 55 hours with RG is well worth 400 hours or more of traveling but it goes by so fast you wonder if it was a dream that you were even there. In fact it feels a lot like a dream because your internal clock has absolutely no idea what time it is, whether you should be awake or asleep, or if is truly morning or night. It doesn’t help that in the winter Moscow is always over cast and the sun only comes out for maybe 6 hours.
It was fun though to tell people I was going to Moscow for the weekend. Of course I tried to act like it was no big deal, like everyone just pops over to Russia for a day or two. MQ and CQ thought it was funny and I’m not sure they understand it. The way I see it though I go were my wife is and she happens to be in Moscow. Therefore I go to Moscow, at least for now! It is also a pain though because even though I took a day off I was staffed on a project and they wanted me there first thing Tuesday morning. This means that I got home from Russia at about 3:20p and had to take a taxi home to get more clothes then straight back to the airport right away. I ended up flying to New York at 7pm. That is less than four hours after an international trip to turn around and fly out again. Crazy.
The trip to Moscow it self was good. We didn’t go sight seeing or doing anything crazy. Really we just hung out most of the weekend. The one cool thing we did do was go out to dinner at a really nice, and somewhat historic restaurant. The place we went is about two blocks from the old KGB headquarters and was the private club for KGB officers. I don’t know if the decorations are still the same as they were. You sit at couches and easy chairs around the tables and there is a pretty nice and modern looking bar. The food was absolutely splendid. I had some Sea Bass (still on the bone) and I think we split desert. Shortly before we left it was funny to notice a large group of Americans that came in. The restaurant was relatively empty, probably because it was cold and also because we went early. Many people in Russia do not eat dinner until 8 or later.
On the way back to the apartment we also stopped by Red Square. I had been there on my last trip but only during the day. It is a completely different experience at night. The old government run store that lines one side of the square was covered in large white lights, Saint Basil’s was lit with flood lamps, and the Kremlin towers also glowed from below. This time I was also able to get up close to Lenin’s tomb. The whole scene was both surreal and beautiful. It was also cold. Moscow was cold enough in the fall, in the winter it is brutal. Though I suppose it isn’t that much different than Minneapolis, you just have to brave the elements more to get from place to place. Sunday night we went to some friends of girls apartment. They are Americans I think doing missionary work at some school. They were very nice and hospital and it was fun to hear what they go through living in Moscow. But of course the whole trip was to short because before I knew it, it was Monday morning and it was time for me to fly back to the States. Hopefully next time I will get to spend more that 55% of my time in Moscow and less percentage of time traveling!
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Atlantic City is a Dump
Ok well I need to start writing a little more often. I want to try to write ideas when they are as fresh as possible and now I am at least working on Idea’s 8 or 9 weeks old. I do mix new ones in from time to time, a major reason I think I get behind, but still there is a lot of things that have happened recently I wanted to write about. So this blog is about Atlantic City, New Jersey. I visited Atlantic City the same week that I visited Philadelphia. Unfortunately I had to go by myself since I wasn’t traveling with a team and so I didn’t really know anyone in town. But I wanted to see it anyway. It is about a ninety minute drive from Philly without traffic, with traffic you can add up to an hour. I got to add about ½ hour so I was lucky. I left right after classes and headed to the Atlantic City Expressway. Yes the city has its own hi-way. But to get there I had to spend an hour crossing from the west side of Philly to the East side of Philly. Then I had to pay a few tolls (it is funny but it costs ½ much to get to Atlantic City as it does to return – go figure) and after quite a while in my rental I was there.
I really had no clue where to go or what to do so I just turned into the first parking ramp I could find. It was prepay cash only and I didn’t have any cash (can’t skim credit card bills). But the attendant thought it was too much work to let me turn the car around so she just waved me through for free. The ramp was attached to Trump Casino and Hotel. I walked through the hotel, I wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t like in Vegas where everything is themed and bigger than life, it was just a bunch of slot machines and card playing tables in big rooms with a ton of mirrors, brass, and chandeliers. Even the restaurants looked lame. The casino was built ok and it was clean, it just didn’t have any character. I went through a few of them and only Bally’s had anything going on. In Bally’s it was a wild west theme and it was a bit more amusing in a Gun Smoke kind of a way. There are a lot of casinos though all lined up on the coast boarded by the famous boardwalk.
The boardwalk was actually pretty nice, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it during the summer, though I don’t know what quality the beaches are. I was there at night and it was a bit stormy. In fact it was raining when I walked down the board walk but I couldn’t let that deter me. Most of the old shop fronts have been torn down but there are enough of the original ones to lend an old school feel to that part of the city. Most of the shops were closed but I did like looking at the old buildings from the 20-40s. A shock about midway down the board walk is a Korean War Memorial; the official national memorial. It is a nice memorial with videos on loop, some statues, the names of people that died in the war, and some other information about the war. What is weird is that it is smack dab in the middle of a cheese tourist trap. As interesting as the board walk is I really don’t think it was the place for a war memorial.
Another nice place I came across was a mall build on a pier that juts out into the ocean about a block and half. It is three or four floors, has a nice winding corridor that makes it feel more like a street walk than a mall, and several nice fountains and features. On the top floor there are a dozen very nice restraints, some clubs, and lounges. These were nicer than anything I saw in the casinos themselves. The best part of this mall was also on the top floor. The entire exterior wall was glass so you could see out into the ocean, see the beach, and get a bird’s eye view of the casinos. In a couple of areas they even hand indoor beach for this view. As it was rainy and nasty out I liked this a lot. There was actual sand with several beach chairs for lounging! Then of course the corridor eventually led back to a skyway that attached to another casino but it was still a nice area.
The biggest thing that is surprising is the fact that Atlantic City is actually incredibly trashy. Once you cross the street from the casinos you are basically in the slums. There are run down houses, adult clubs, pawn shops, and hotels that rent rooms by the hour. Down every third street you see cop cars with their rollers on. It is not a comfortable place to be. I was very nervous just being on the opposite side of the road from the casinos. On the boardwalk side of the casinos I had no worries, it seemed safe enough, once I walked through another casino, out the front door, and crossed the streets it felt like a bad gang land movie. Nothing was kept up and every other window was soliciting something inappropriate. So all in all if I was in the area in the summer and a group wanted to go back I probably would go along but I will certainly not make an effort to get back out there again that is for sure.
I really had no clue where to go or what to do so I just turned into the first parking ramp I could find. It was prepay cash only and I didn’t have any cash (can’t skim credit card bills). But the attendant thought it was too much work to let me turn the car around so she just waved me through for free. The ramp was attached to Trump Casino and Hotel. I walked through the hotel, I wasn’t that impressed. It wasn’t like in Vegas where everything is themed and bigger than life, it was just a bunch of slot machines and card playing tables in big rooms with a ton of mirrors, brass, and chandeliers. Even the restaurants looked lame. The casino was built ok and it was clean, it just didn’t have any character. I went through a few of them and only Bally’s had anything going on. In Bally’s it was a wild west theme and it was a bit more amusing in a Gun Smoke kind of a way. There are a lot of casinos though all lined up on the coast boarded by the famous boardwalk.
The boardwalk was actually pretty nice, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it during the summer, though I don’t know what quality the beaches are. I was there at night and it was a bit stormy. In fact it was raining when I walked down the board walk but I couldn’t let that deter me. Most of the old shop fronts have been torn down but there are enough of the original ones to lend an old school feel to that part of the city. Most of the shops were closed but I did like looking at the old buildings from the 20-40s. A shock about midway down the board walk is a Korean War Memorial; the official national memorial. It is a nice memorial with videos on loop, some statues, the names of people that died in the war, and some other information about the war. What is weird is that it is smack dab in the middle of a cheese tourist trap. As interesting as the board walk is I really don’t think it was the place for a war memorial.
Another nice place I came across was a mall build on a pier that juts out into the ocean about a block and half. It is three or four floors, has a nice winding corridor that makes it feel more like a street walk than a mall, and several nice fountains and features. On the top floor there are a dozen very nice restraints, some clubs, and lounges. These were nicer than anything I saw in the casinos themselves. The best part of this mall was also on the top floor. The entire exterior wall was glass so you could see out into the ocean, see the beach, and get a bird’s eye view of the casinos. In a couple of areas they even hand indoor beach for this view. As it was rainy and nasty out I liked this a lot. There was actual sand with several beach chairs for lounging! Then of course the corridor eventually led back to a skyway that attached to another casino but it was still a nice area.
The biggest thing that is surprising is the fact that Atlantic City is actually incredibly trashy. Once you cross the street from the casinos you are basically in the slums. There are run down houses, adult clubs, pawn shops, and hotels that rent rooms by the hour. Down every third street you see cop cars with their rollers on. It is not a comfortable place to be. I was very nervous just being on the opposite side of the road from the casinos. On the boardwalk side of the casinos I had no worries, it seemed safe enough, once I walked through another casino, out the front door, and crossed the streets it felt like a bad gang land movie. Nothing was kept up and every other window was soliciting something inappropriate. So all in all if I was in the area in the summer and a group wanted to go back I probably would go along but I will certainly not make an effort to get back out there again that is for sure.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Looooooonnnnnggggg Distance
Well as I have mentioned before my wife is now living 5000 miles away from me with her sister thanks to government policy. This was something we always new was a possibility and it was no surprise. We did try to plan for it and mentally prepare for the challenge. But I have to say it certainly is more of a pain going through it than talking about it. Most people consider a couple hour drive or more to be long distance; we have an ocean an most of 2 continents between us. Not only that, but unless I am in New York there is no direct way to get there. I have to take a connection and normally a long layover somewhere. As Northwest is the main outfit in the Twin Cities that is normally Amsterdam (no the layovers are not long enough to go into town and party, just long enough to make you super tired). I think the hardest time I have with the situation are the few nights a month I actually spend at my own house. It is really weird to go to bed in our bed and be alone. I am used to waking up in hotels by myself, that part comes with my job.
I don’t think our relationship has suffered yet. So that is an amazing blessing. We still talk at least once a day, if not more. Many days we also email, chat, or send text messages back and forth as well. I am very glad I live in the time that I do. I can not imagine living this far apart even twenty years ago. Back then you could maybe make a phone call once a week and had to wait weeks for mail to make it over the ocean. What would be even worse would be before telephones. If our only option for communications was actual mail this would be really difficult. Not that I really think it is the ideal situation now. The biggest challenge is actually figuring out when we can talk on the weekends. During the week I talk to RG before she goes to work in the morning as I am getting ready to go to sleep. On the weekends she likes to sleep in and I alternate from being very busy to doing nothing, so we have to figure out when we will both have time. This can also be the case on days when I travel. Sometimes we skip a day, but I don’t like to do it. First I tend to miss her more then, and second she can get really cranky if she thinks I am blowing her off. Then I have to spend the first 15 minutes of the next call getting her into a decent mood again - though she does seem to get in a better mood after we start to talk for a while.
I found it amusing when I went through my yearly evaluation because my raise this year was pretty good, but by my calculations it should really just cover my traveling to meet up with RG in Moscow. I actually laughed in my compensation meeting and told that to the partner that is in charge of my counseling tree. I didn’t consider it a bad thing, just ironic. So really that is how we are handling it, bugging each other several times a day scheduling phone calls at weird times, and me traveling ½ around the world when possible. I have been to Moscow twice now. Hopefully it won’t last for that long. I really would rather just return home Thursday night and then spend the weekend with her like before, but what can you do. When I find my self feeling sorry for myself I still have to remind me that we are very lucky people. We have the means to stay so close from so far, and I am able to see her on a semi-regular basis. Though if I can do anything about it I will try to make it more often.
I don’t think our relationship has suffered yet. So that is an amazing blessing. We still talk at least once a day, if not more. Many days we also email, chat, or send text messages back and forth as well. I am very glad I live in the time that I do. I can not imagine living this far apart even twenty years ago. Back then you could maybe make a phone call once a week and had to wait weeks for mail to make it over the ocean. What would be even worse would be before telephones. If our only option for communications was actual mail this would be really difficult. Not that I really think it is the ideal situation now. The biggest challenge is actually figuring out when we can talk on the weekends. During the week I talk to RG before she goes to work in the morning as I am getting ready to go to sleep. On the weekends she likes to sleep in and I alternate from being very busy to doing nothing, so we have to figure out when we will both have time. This can also be the case on days when I travel. Sometimes we skip a day, but I don’t like to do it. First I tend to miss her more then, and second she can get really cranky if she thinks I am blowing her off. Then I have to spend the first 15 minutes of the next call getting her into a decent mood again - though she does seem to get in a better mood after we start to talk for a while.
I found it amusing when I went through my yearly evaluation because my raise this year was pretty good, but by my calculations it should really just cover my traveling to meet up with RG in Moscow. I actually laughed in my compensation meeting and told that to the partner that is in charge of my counseling tree. I didn’t consider it a bad thing, just ironic. So really that is how we are handling it, bugging each other several times a day scheduling phone calls at weird times, and me traveling ½ around the world when possible. I have been to Moscow twice now. Hopefully it won’t last for that long. I really would rather just return home Thursday night and then spend the weekend with her like before, but what can you do. When I find my self feeling sorry for myself I still have to remind me that we are very lucky people. We have the means to stay so close from so far, and I am able to see her on a semi-regular basis. Though if I can do anything about it I will try to make it more often.
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