Update as of 10/30/04

So yeah, I'm back from vacation.

In about 14 days' time, I have experienced a litany of emotions. Some new, some old.
And there's so much to tell. So much that I'd have to break it down into a LOT of entries...some with pictures, some without.

Trailer:
Left, saw some of the world, made some new friends, got some email addresses and a phone number, and had the best birthday two-week period I've ever had.

Jessica, Mike, and Megan told me to have the time of my life before I left...
I did just that. Still could have done more... but i'm the conservative type. ;)

Here we go again

Done packing for now.
I'm gonna get ready to sleep in a bit (before 1am, I hope). Everything's set.

• Clothes, check.
• PHK, check.
• Rechargable batteries for camera and minidisc player, check.
• Vienna Teng and Garden State soundtrack, and other songs, check.
• Platform shoes, check.
• Pirate pimp hat, check.

Yeah, I think I'm good to go. Today was a neat day. Had an awesome time during our all-hands meeting. Got my mind on my pie, and my pie on my mind. Long story short, as Cube said, Damn it was a good day.

I'm gonna take lots of pictures. I know I can at LEAST take 600 pictures with the digital camera alone. To Pink Tiger, Happy B-Dizzle a day early. To everyone else, yo, much love. I prolly cursed myself earlier in Pink Tiger and Big Ern's presence by saying I'll run into Romancer's twin. No! There is NO THAI COTTAGE in Europe! PLEASE for the love of God, please let there not be one. And yeah, for the hell of it, I'll have a crown and coke with cherries on Tuesdays. Say hi to B-dub Meg. It's now 1am, and i need to take some meds. Damn stuffy nose. Well, not really stuffy, but still. Ok, I'm into giddy mode. not to be confused with giddy-up mode. which could also be mistaken for giddy-up mode. or giddy-up-a-la-mode. but right now, it's just giddy-mode.

Oh, and I finally changed the settings so more folks can comment. Ninight, and see y'all in a few.

Temptation

I am so tempted to do a pictorial blog of the Romancer's adventures (more than one).

LiSTeN aLL oF Y'aLL, iT'S SaBoTaGe (just one)!!!

Avast, as I entered me lil' pirate's lair that I call my desk space at work,
i gazed 'pon four pies sittin' under te lil' pirate flag I hang over me desk.

Yarr, be my eyes playin' tricks on me, I ask, praytell. Nay, me hearties. Tis be true, those pies be. As sure as we all go to Davy Jones' Locker (and sing I'm a Believer).

Dear sweet and lovely Pink Tiger, pimp-a-delic baby dollin' Big Ern, and rapid-fire laughing "ah-hahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha" and hearty "daaaAAAAAaaaaah!!! BuuuuUUUuuum! I'm gonna keel det mah-der-fah-kerrrr" Pepe, the pies kicked all ass. I smile. I smile thinking about it.

I was very surprised, and must've smiled for a good while before taking another step. Y'all are awesome.

An Allegiance

I pledge allegiance to the pie
of the United States of Ameri-pie
and to the pie-nanni
for which it stands,
one ninja, also a pirate,
arch-nemesis of Wee-bull
with liberty and Weebl
for Bob.

Out of nowhere....

plunder...

P L U N D E R...

-P-L-U-N-D-E-R- CATS.... YAAAAAAAARRRR!!!

Plundercats are on the loose
Plundercats are loose
Hide your booty
Hide your loot
Plundercats are loose...

PIe- RATE - JOES!
Real American Pirates!
PIe-RATE JOES are there.

Whereever there's booty
whereever there's loot
PIe- RATE - JOES are there
they never give up
they'll stay til the pie's gone
PIe- RATE - JOES will dare... PIe-RATE JOES!!!

This Space for Rent

Ok, so i might have some internet time. While away. and all.
if ya wanna leave me messages while i'm out, just leave comments on this specific one. or something.

ok. ninight

Cry, Say Uncle, and think Immortality

So before I forget this, I had this random thought as we listened to Vienna sing Say Uncle.

It's not an original thought, mind you, because I'm sure that with all of our history as mankind, many, many people, have pondered this... but as she sang this song about her Uncle who passed away, and "these days everyone cries "say uncle"they want to touch your spirit lest it die."

It really is true. Aside from how we live our lives, how others perceive and choose to remember us when we have gone determines part of our immortality. How our relatives, and to some degree, our friends and those we touch along the way, they all add to our sense of immortality. They would carry on our memory, and isn't it our memories that add to who we are? Everyone knows the body ages and passes its cycle until it has died, but the constant is that spirit inside that keeps going. Maybe it's another reason why we say the expression Keep the spirit alive. We can't keep the body forever young, but the spirit, our spirit, has the power to stay young as long as it can, and hopefully, can be granted immortality.

Can't Stop Now, I've got to keep on moving...

2am.
I'm sick..under the weather...

Megan, Princess, you kick all ass. We saw Vienna Teng. She's awesome. More awesome in person than on CD. I had so much fun. And I had fun just driving ot the place. Driving and getting lost in Downtown is always fun. Well, depends on the company too, but still. We seem to have a knack for it.

I'm so glad the picture turned out AND that she still signed it. (I'll post it one of these nights).

Basically, it said,
To Bum,
Thanks for this,
Vienna Teng

Way awesome. It's been long coming for me to look forward to my birthday time period, and between you, Vienna, my folks, Pink Tiger and Big Ern, thanks to having me look forward to the coming week(s) [more than one, heh].

Wow. I saw Vienna Teng live in concert. She's a cutie. She finished off with Harbor. She's a cutie. She signed my picture. She sounded awesome. She's a cutie. Oh, and Meg, Todd, and Monica were awesome company too :) Vienna Teng is a cutie.

Rest In Peace, Superman

Christopher Reeve
September 25, 1952 - October 10, 2004

No matter what you say, or who Hollywood will have as the superhero, Christopher Reeve will always be Superman. Fate dealt you a hand in 1995, but instead of backing down, you fought and pushed yourself to keep on living.

Rest in Peace, Christopher Reeve. Our hearts go out to those you have left behind.

Interstate Love Song of Sorts

The song goes like,

leavin' on a southern train
only yesterday, you lied,
promises of what i seemed to be
only watch the time go by,
all of these things you said to me.

The only reason...or reasons I picked this song for the moment is that everything happened on a Sunday afternoon today, and the song starts out with Waitin' on a Sunday afternoon...and the fact that this song, this album...back in 1994 (yes, June 7, 1994) was one of, and still is, one of my favorite CD/albums. You know, way back when you got a CD and more than one song was good, and you knew the words to most, if not all, of them.

So, before I digress further, back to a decade ago,...
Today, since I went to bed late, I slept in til about 10 something AM. Got my sleepy self up, got my breakfast, then hit the showers before heading on to church. It'd been awhile since I'd been to this particular church. I used to sing in the choir and teach Sunday school there. I usually jump between four different churches in my area...depending more on which I can go to without being late, traffic time included. But I still go.

After church, had to pick up a few things from Wal-mart, but stopped by the outlet center. They had a sale on the Lego Space Shuttle, so I picked one up. Actually just finished putting it together an hour ago. It's dwarfed by the Space Shuttle put out by MegaBloks, but has neat features. I know, I'm such a geek.

Got some other errands done and out of the way... pretty much got what I wanted to do done. One thing that's scary though. Yesterday, went to walmart to get a few things, and picked up a Richard Petty figure. Today, after church, went to walmart to get a few things, and picked up a Dale Earnhardt figure. What's next? I watch NASCAR religiously? Help. Please.

Eh, so nothing exciting today. 2 more days til Vienna Teng. I can hardly wait.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me

If pirates had a heaven, this would be the start of it.
And if you ever wondered what they meant by pirate booty...
Avast and look smartly upon these...

Ok, daily summary later on today.

Just for Ced

Cedia likes Angelina Jolie. I collect autographs.
So, just to share... voila.

Right now, I think I like Bob Hope's the most, but they all have their own significance.
But for now... here's my Angelina.

Renaissance Festival

a.k.a. Renn Faire.

It's October once again in Texas, and that means...it's time to go medieval.
Heh, more ways than one, but in this sense...we're talkin' going back to King Henry the 8th (i am, i am)'s days, where you can eat a big ass turkey leg, and women wore tight laced-up clothing that made you say, ooOooo...giddy-up.

Granted, I probably go once every three or so years, I am not due until 2006. The Romancer had emailed about going this year, and as much as I'd liked to, the schedule this Fall is not so permitting. At most, I will be able to go in November. Maybe Pink Tiger and Big Ern will postpone until then, and then I'd go. But otherwise, I'd prolly sit this year out.

I've never really dressed up for Renn Faire. I mean, I have swords I could bring, but they have steel handles that look like lightsabers (made by United Cutlery). That or I could go as a monk. I mean, a cloak here, some rope belt there...gotta keep the robe from fallin' so the belt's gotta stay on mighty tight, mighty tight. voila... instant costume.

No....oh no, my friends, that would be too... plain. And sane. Therefore, if I ever go in all-out costume...I shall dress up as...

Elvis

Yes. Elvis. Elvis was the king, and this was also the time of kings.

Kings wore those luxurious robes.

Elvis wore flashy jumpsuits with snazzy capes.

Kings wore jewelry.

Elvis wore rings.

Kings wore jeweled crowns.

Elvis wore jeweled sunglasses.

At a wave of their sceptre, kings made the land tremble.

Elvis shook his hips and captivated generations.

Yes, so while everyone else will say "Greetings, your Majesty!", I would reply with a sneer and a hearty "Hunka hunka, uh-huh-huh"...

At the Renaissance Festival.

Technophobia and PDAs

No, not Public Displays of Affection, but rather Personal Digital Assistant.

I've realized this new technology, and against my prior will, am starting to become assimilated by it. I can synchronize it with my email...(very helpful during meetings). I can take notes with it, I can check my schedule with it (mainly to remember Birthdays and what not...oh, and meetings too), I can even do some excel spreadsheet stuff with it (but haven't exactly tried to yet)...

But more importantly... I think I'm addicted to playing Jawbreaker. Basically, it's MARBLES but using a PDA...and a different name.

What will be next?

Did you know Orlando Bloom is a technophobe?

"I think I'm rather anonymous when I walk around in the city. I have short, dark hair, dark eyes and olive skin, and somewhere people are looking unconsciously, for a longhaired, blond, blue-eyed guy, when you say Orlando Bloom."

However, he can be a little scared of all the websites on the internet about him. "It really scares me. So many people are concerned about me, and it is really spooky. Internet is a spooky thing. I am a total technophobia, and that's the reason why, I don't have e-mail."

Vienna Teng Update - 10/09/2004

Ok, so yeah, like...it's now October 9. Almost 10pm.

Few more days til Vienna Teng comes to town.
Megan and I are excited. Well, I know that she knows that I am. Mainly cuz we talked about it at work yesterday. She was also being mean cuz we also talked food. Not just blah food. I mean the good stuff.

We're talking:
http://www.fogodechao.com/flash_index.php
http://rudilechners.com/
http://www.meltingpot.com/
http://peiwei.com/thelocation006.jsp?loc=0058&state=tx
http://www.noodlesrule.com

So aside from food,...Vienna Teng. For those of you just joining us, visit www.viennateng.com.
Good music. And she's cute too. You can listen to some of her songs there.

Ok, gonna make like a kitchen bandit and raid some food.

The word is Devilicious.

Word.

No...not in the old school Word to your Mother sense, but as in...the vocab sense.

I know GW gets a lot of shit for making up words. Like... oh. Strategery.
But I'd be lying if I didn't do it on my own.

Electrical is a word.
Electronic is a word.

Why the hell I used Electronical one day, I have no idea.

But if I were to ever coin a word, it'd be devilicious.
You've heard hellishly. There's Devil's Chocolate. And now... Simply Devilicious.

[ Damn, woman, you look devilicious! ]

You have a thick accent when...

Yesterday, after doing a quick-turnaround for Mr. Viper himself, (I have no other nickname for him since he's not with the beerling crowd), I was going to return back to my office when I had asked one of the folks in Shipping and Receiving for a lighter.

"Howdy, y'all got uh lah'ter?"
"A what?"
"uh lah'ter."
"Sorry, we don't have any."
"Ok, eh'ny matches, by chance?"
"Wait, did you say 'ligh-ter'?"
"Yessir, uh lah'ter."
"Ooooooh, I thought ya said 'ladder'. Sure I got a lighter."
"No'sir, uh lah'ter"

Went to Wal-mart, got the onions and otehr stuff I needed to get,...and also picked up one of those McFarlane Sports figures for NASCAR, and picked up Richard Petty. I guess this means pretty soon, I'll be getting Dale and Jr. Damn, I am a southerner. Well, that's another item to remove from the mission list.

Anyway, back to packing.

DAMNIT, WHAT's THE NAME OF IT???

Damnit.... there's a song that I kept hearing on the radio....
It's a chic singing it.

No, it's NOT Britney, or Ashlee, or Christina, or Madonna, or whatever. Not Avril, but it had a pretty... Top 40's beat to it. I checked Bilboard, and so far, no luck. Not jazzy like Joss Stone, and faster than Norah Jones style.

Checking Mtv Europe now, but....hrm.

Shit, I hate it cuz now i can't figure it out

Dance music afternoon

I'm procrastinating.

I'd rather call it taking a break. I mean, I -did- start packing for my trip again, but i'm just taking a small dance music break. And I've had a really weird taste in old music. No, not too old. But we're talking Ace of Base and techno versions of like... Fast Car with Tracy Chapman, The Lion Sleeps Tonight, Bob Marley...whatever... just all in techno dancehall remixes.

The privacy of my own home. I dance. I dance like no one's looking, and even if they were, I would say fuck it, join me. I like to dance. I have no qualms looking like an idiot at times (those around me would say more often than not. heh heh)

Right now, Sarina Paris with Look At Us Now. One can only take so much dance music, but hey, I'm good to go with it right now. I did some errands this morning, and still have a few more things to do before I consider today fully successful. Like in one of those video or computer games with missions.

Your assignment:

• Pack
• Fix lights
• Balance checkbook
• Do Laundry
• Get stuff from Wal-Mart

Secondary Mission:

• Bake something

No idea, but i'd been wanting to bake lately. That or just have dessert every day. How rare. Anyways, on to the techno dancehall remixes of Boot Scootin Boogie (Brooks and Dunn) and Sweet Dreams Are Made of These (Eurythmics). Yes, they do exist.

Random Thought before 6pm

Ok, so those around me have heard this before but...

Listen to Cartman from South Park.
Listen to Macy Gray.

With enough imagination...or additives, they frickin' sound the same.

An Ordinary Thursday

and nothing much else to write about.

It rained almost all day. I guess I don't mind the weather, although right now, I'm feeling a little under it. Almost 01:00, and I'm considering sleeping early. Again. Before 1am. Is the insomniac ready to turn in his membership card? I don't think so. But it's just one of those... group of days, I guess.

I miss the real autumn weather where you can wear jackets. That and I have more stuff to put on that I can actually use at work for the colder weather, especially since I don't really wear t-shirts to work. If I could, you know I would. Tomorrow is Astros Day. Yeah, I know, tough 4-2 loss today. But... winning one in Atlanta was still good. They can pull it off all in Houston. I just might wear my Biggio jersey.

I'm giving up on the 'timer' Big Ern and Pink Tiger know what I'm talking about. Right now, I beat my 3 hr record and am actually on 7th hour. No idea what to do for lunch tomorrow. Is that bad? Not even near breakfast, I'm already thinking lunch. I've got donut duty tomorrow...well,...few hours from now.

My ass had BETTER wake up early, so... I'm calling it an early night. After I check eBay. Heh.

Go 'Stros

The Houston Astros are in the playoffs. They won today against Atlanta AT Atlanta.
Tomorrow looks promising as well. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping the Astros do well this time out. In fact, they said that Friday is a Go Astros day and wear Astros stuff to work. Hrm...I wonder if they'll have issues with that. Well, I'll find out cuz I'll wear my jersey.

Going for a team win or lose is supposed to be easy. But, with me, some teams, win or lose, I'm for. Some teams, winning, great. Losing, eh. blah. I could care less. And then some other teams? Win or lose, I don't care at all.

The Astros fall in the FOR THEM win or lose. Let's go Astros.

Resolutions

I only hear this word when it's either New Year's Eve, or when it's preceded by "U.N."
Granted it's not New Year's yet again, I've been trying to be good. I'm trying to curb being 'mean' to the Romancer. So much so, we've started to see how long I can last as far as time is concerned. Sleep time not included. That being the case... 3 hours. Bt, we're all equal opportunity. We have stuff on Pepe as well...and Pink Tiger. Me? Ugh, they have stuff on me too. ;)

The presentation went well today, but I hate this feeling of just...sitting around. Because I've got some vacation coming up, my plate isn't as full as I would normally like it to be, and it leaves me at the end of the day feeling as if I didn't do anything.

I've been wanting pizza for a few days now. Hmm.

Not much else to write about. Randomwise, I wonder what I should do for Halloween. I'm thinking...the platform shoes, with black vinyl pants, and some disco 70s shirt, and just have at it. Hmm...that or white face paint and a white sheet...and be like those living sculpture thingies at the parks.

Yeah.

Bowling for (a) Concubine

Yeah, yeah, I know. But tonight was bowling night. Hadn't been in a week, and after tonight, not gonna go for a while. For starters, next week is Vienna Teng. mmmMmm...Vienna. Today was a pretty nice day. Got some more headway into one of my reports, went to a few beatings..er... meetings...

After work, the three musketeers and D'artanpepe went out for jogging. Running. Sprinting. Power walking. Heh. I did all of the above. Big Ern was basically lapping us. Pink Tiger was going a good sped, and Pepe was doing pretty well. I haven't run in years. I'm out of shape. But I'm proud of me. We did 2.5 miles today.

After that... Bowling. It's been so long since we had gone as a group. We still have to get Pepe to come bowl with us.

01:35... Just got home. Well, 15 mins ago or so at least. And I have to work on a few charts for tomorrow.I think it can be done. And then, I think I shall crash.

I had a nice conversation with a friend tonight. Funny how freeing it felt, but it's true. Sometimes, it is good to speak your mind.

I have s'more pictures, but as it is... I think I'll delay til maybe tomorrow. Ok, off to the charts. Stay warm all y'all.

Well, damn...

Is all he'll post about today is about bitching and venting? Nah. The reason I didn't get much sleep on Saturday after the wedding is because I finally opened up Star Wars: Battlefront for Xbox. Granted it's more fun to play with multiplayers... I'm content with playing solo missions.

Hmm. a Quake-like shoot them, get shot, respawn type game. Not always my cup of tea, but it's more realistic than jumping higher than a tall building in a single bound... And you can shoot the innocent Jawas, or the Ewoks. Heh. Heh. Heh. Wicket meets Wicked. Hi. I'm Wicked the Ewok.

Not much else happened today. Aside from buying Punkin Pie at Boston Market during lunch. The usual suspects all partook, and we all love our pie. mmMmmm pie.

Tomorrow, Aladdin comes out on DVD. Go Disney. Ok, time to kill ewoks. Ninight.

On being: Gracefully Single

Today is Big Ern's Birthday. Next week, it'll be the Pink Tiger's. And after that, it'll be Sexy Bitch's. Oh, almost forgot. Big Ern = Baby Doll. Pepe = Sweetheart. Me? I got Sexy Bitch. These are Megs' nicknames for her 'boys'. She kept calling Big Ern Baby doll. Pepe got jealous and asked to be called Sweetheart. And I come in and wanted a name... Snookums wasn't gonna cut it. So end of story... I'm Megs' Sexy Bitch.

We decorated Big Ern's desk area, and being the cool person that he is, took it all in stride. The rest of the day was reports, visits, meetings, and other things.

But during the early morning, as I honestly was trying to get some headway on a report, I got a call, and it was related to love life. Normally, I don't mind, even at work. But I also have the slight problem of typing what I say. Last thing my report needs to say is "The vendor stated that with regards to testing procedures, he should just go fuck himself". Heh heh, as funny as it sounds, um...no. Not a good thing. So I requested that the talk be continued later. Much later. After work.

No. Calls and emails came on through. I flirt, but I don't have that many women in my life that I cycle through. Maybe it's bad...or not, that I lose track of one's lovelife as far as who one is seeing now. I can't even keep up with my own, or lack thereof.

Today, it was pretty stormy, so I left for home work instead of going about. Got home, took a nap, got a call that Dad got in a car accident so Mom and I went to pick him up. He's ok, just some damage to the truck. Some fucker decided to go on a red and hit Dad. Anyway, I get home, I get another call. I missed the previous one cuz I was still napping. I said sorry for missing the call, but I was napping. Now I just got home with my folks and am checking on them. Oh, sorry, hope he's ok. By the way, so-and-so is probably seeing my Ex. OK! That's nice! Let me check on my dad now!

As my coworker said, some folks just need to be gracefully single.
Personally, I know I can be a pain, but I'm trying to be graceful.

How to tell if you need to pray at work:

My dear KC sent this to me on email today. Oddly enough, at my desk area, I have a small picture with the words of the Serenity prayer on it.

1. When a coworker comes in a little too happy singing "good morning" to everyone and you think, "Somebody needs to slap the sh*t out of her"...You need to pray at work.

2. When someone comes in and announces, "office meeting in 5 minutes," and you think, "what the f#&$k do they want now?"........ You need to pray at work.

3. When your computer is mysteriously turned off and you want to say, "which one of you sons of bit*&^@ turned off my computer?" You need to pray at work.

4. When you and a coworker are discussing something and a 3rd person comes in and says, "well at my last office...", and you want to throw a stapler at him......You need to pray at work.

5. When you hear a coworker call your name and the first thing that crosses your mind is, "what the he** does this b!#@h want now?" and you try to hide underneath your desk.........You need to pray at work.

6. When you are asked to stay late and help do someone else's work and the first thing that pops in your head is, "both of y'all can kiss my A**!!".......You need to pray at work.

7. When you're in the elevator and it stops to pick up someone who stood for 5 minutes waiting for the darn thing only to go DOWN one floor, and you say "that lazy a**s b%&t.rd"......You need to pray at work.

8. When you take some vacation time and come back to find a mountain of paperwork sitting on your desk because no one else would do it and you think, "sorry as*s M#$^% F%&#s"....... You need to pray at work.

9. If you have ever thought about poisoning, choking, punching, slapping, or flattening someones tires that you work with...... You need to pray at work.

10. If you avoid saying more than hello or how are you doing to someone b/c you know it's going to lead to their life story........ You need to pray at work.

11. If you ever sit at your desk all day and play Solitaire, FreeCell, Jeopardy, Hearts or any other game then get pissed when someone walks into your office and you have to stop playing.......You need to pray at work

Patience is a virtue (Rated R for language)

and lately, I find myself not being virtuous. Don't get me wrong, I've become a patient person as the years progress, but when it comes to driving... I have my limits.

I don't flip people off, and I don't like honking my horn unless it REALLY warrants it.
I have reduced the number of times I cuss out loud because someone can't drive properly
to when they almost hit me. I accept the fact that folks who are a bit older in years tend to drive slower, so I just wait for the next opportunity to switch lanes...

But I fucking swear, if you can NOT fucking multi-task where you can drive at LEAST the fucking speed limit, be it 35, 45, 55, 65, or whatever the fuck the sign says, AND talk on your piece of shit cellphone, then DON'T fuckin' talk and drive at the same fucking time. Either pull your ass over and talk to your heart's content, or hang the phone up and drive, bitch.

Now mind you, I can understand EVEN if you work from your car and DO have to dip a little below the speed limit...say 5 miles when the folks around us are driving say...10 miles per hour above the posted speed limit, I can still find some patience to do that.

However,....Jesus fuckin Christ, if you are laughing and just having a wonderfully great time on the phone with whomever, congratufrickinlations, butif the reason my vehicle is starting to look bigger in your rear-view mirror, it's because you have decided to slow down to the point where I am even with my slowing down, getting closer to your vehicle. This does NOT mean I am tailgating your ass. It means, MOVE, stupid fuck.

The fact that you look in your rear-view mirror, see me getting closer, assume that I am tailgating you, AND THEN SLOW DOWN EVEN MORE...

Dear God, why am I so tempted to punch out my Ten Commandments card and complete the set?

I feel better now. I've spoken my peace. I still have patience driving, but then again, I don't listen to Offspring's Bad Habit while driving. Anymore. Since 1996 or so. I prefer hiphop.

Every day, I take a trip

And the trip is to hell. Big Ern and I talk about this, and it seems as if we are frequent flyers. I once said, dude, I'm going to hell to which he replied I'm already there. My response to this was that No, I meant for my daily trip.

I am 85% evil.


Wow! I'm almost pure evil! Sin is my way of life. If there is a hell I have packed my bags for the trip.

Are you evil? find out at Hilowitz.com


Nah, I'm not really THAT bad... oh, but I could be.

Who Will Save My Soul?

You're just the happy go-lucky type. You might have
your pet peeves, but other than that, you're
mainly calm. Blending in with your
surroundings, you're the type of person who
everyone likes. Usually it's you who cracks
jokes at social gatherings - after all,
laughter is the best medicine. Sometimes you
pretend to be stupid, but in all actuality, you
could be the next Einstein.

What Type of Soul Do You Have ?
brought to you by Quizilla

Last but not least of this trip...

The more people, places, and things are different, the more we are all the same. Silly case in point...Starbucks is universal.

Thank you, Drive Thru

Not just a Drive Thru, but a McDrive Thru.

Sts. Peter and Paul

I love European architecture. It also shows through their churches. This one is St. Peter and Paul church. The inside was beautiful as well. I lit a candle, said a little prayer, and went on my way.

Stairway to...

the top of one of the buildings I visited while on the work-tour. When you're at the top, looking down, the floor has a round ceramic tile image of a few signs of the zodiac. Anyway, I liked the view looking up, so here it is.

Swiss Parliament...a.k.a...

the House of the Swiss Cheeses. Heh heh. Ok, so really, the plaza looked pretty spiffy, and the view of the rest of the city from the other side of the Parliament building was beautiful.

From what I was told, you have Parliament, and then you also have some Council members or something that they elect. There's like... 7 or 9 of these elected folks. They serve terms, but pretty much, do a decent job, you keep getting elected at a Council member and become President for a year. Well, that's the gist of it.

Bern has a busload of fountains

And this is one of them. They actually helped out since with the city map, I used the location of the fountains to navigate the city.

Einstein's House

Before you think, I had a lot of freetime, man... no way. I got in late afternoon, just enough to unpack, gather and review my notes and information, and then call it a night after dinner. The next day was the only day of freedom that I had because the following day was all meetings and work-related tours. So, I tried to make the most of it, with what little I knew. My counterpart suggested visiting Bern, so there I went.

One of the neat stops I stumbled upon (courtesy of the city walking map, 1 Swiss Franc at the travel/tour office at the Bern train station) was Einstein's House. Yes. That Einstein. E=mc^2Einstein. The tour cost like...under 2 dollars to walk around his houe...which is now upstairs of a restaurant. A wooden spiral staircase leads you up to a floor, and you pay an older lady for a ticket, and you can walk around at your leisure. This picture is of his living room. You can sign and leave a message at the sign-in book in the picture. His place wasn't all that big, but was pretty nice and cozy. They also had a few artifacts from his life both in Europe, as well as his years at Princeton.

Pirates of Omega

Granted this trip was a business trip, and it was to visit the vendor for one of my projects,... My counterpart took me on a tour of the facilities, the museum, offices, and the hardware I had requested to see. While passing through the design group's room, I saw this pirate flag, and he pointed out that it was designed around their logo. Now how COOL is that? Thousands of miles away, people I work with are pirates too.

Did I mention we discussed bowling during a group dinner in between work related topics? Heh. I even described to my counterpart about delivering curve balls instead of the straight-rolling approach. Hey, when it's Tuesday, bowling's on my mind.

Swiss Pirates

You can take me away from my normal environment... but you can't take the pirate in me away. I passed by a toy store, and DUDE!!! They've got pirate lego sets that we don't have here in the States yet. This particular setup isn't Lego, but it's a pirate. The Swiss love pirates. How cool is that? Eh, how funny is that? Yarrr.

Claudia

Claudia was really sweet and pretty. I'd gotten some chocolates for the boss and coworkers, and Claudia guarded them as I returned the cart to the store a few blocks away. She said that I wasn't gone long enough for her to get one of the bars, and she had a nice smile while saying it. Eh, so I said, if that's the case, here's one from me. Girls and chocolate. Both are sweet, and while make ya feel good, ...eh, what am I saying? Can't live without them. :)

A Flirt's Sign

One of the first steps to recovery is Acceptance. I've accepted the fact that deep inside, as some of my old and close friends will admit, I'm a flirt. And this, a sign outside a store... is my sign.

The Flowergirl

The two ladies at the reception desk of my hotel, Claudia and Eva, have been really nice to me. (and really cute too) They had that European charm, and, well... I miss seeing Eva in the morning already. So, I decided that before I leave, I'd buy them a flower. On the walk back to the train station in Bern, I walked up to this nice young lady, and bought a couple of white roses from her. She smirked and smiled and agreed to a picture. Bad news was, the people passing by didn't seem as willing as Americans usually are about taking a picture. That and the language difference... so this is another hold the camera out and hope it comes out shot. Not too bad.
And she was a nice lady too.

Bern N' Bridges

When you hear of Bern N' Bridges, this might be what they meant. For those who are wondering, Huh?, say it slowly. Again, nothing major about it, but as I was sitting in one of the train's on the way to Bern, I saw this, and took a quick picture. Glad it still came out somehow.

Bern is the capital of Switzerland.

A Game of Chess

Strolling through the town on my second day there, I came across a chess game. Nothing really major about it, but it just caught my attention. If all else, if one person got pissed at the match's results... the knights and kings could do some serious damage. Heh.

The funniest thing...(i.e. The Train Encounter)

I got to the airport, did a little souvenir shopping, and then made my way to the train ticket counter. I'd asked for a round-trip ticket to Biel-Bienne, to which the nice person said, By the way, the train leaves in 5 minutes. Granted, I've never taken a train in Europe... the tube in London, yes. The subway in Paris, yes. But a train...no. I was already a bit off with time and all, so I made a dash down some stairs to one of the train terminals... for a train leaving in 5 minutes...there's no train. ACK, it's the terminal ONE over! so, I haul ass up the stairs, around the corner, and down another set of stairs, PRAYING it was the right one. The young lady in the middle of the pic was the first face (a cute one at that) that I see, and I ask if it was the train to Biel.

She helps me...and the folks were friendly on the train that eventually, the gentleman on the left said, yes, this is the right train, you'll need to make a transfer at the next stop. So, after the 'excitement', we smile and chat as the door closes... on the young lady's heel on her high heel shoes. It was sticking out enough that it got caught by the door, so she slipped out of one shoe til the next station. I told her that since I was the klutz, I offered to buy her a new pair of shoes. (Yeah, I'm for real). When we got to the next station, we checked out her shoe, and it was ok. I still offered to get her a new pair, and she said that it was ok. Being a memorable experience, I had asked for a picture with the two of them.

The Welcome Sign

The first thing I saw after walking out of the terminal is this sign. I feel like such a tourist, but hey, it's a nice welcome sign. Had a little Southern Charm feel to it. So... welcome to Switzerland. It's been 10 years, dear, and it's nice to say hello again.

Loungin' at Amsterdam

I was passing through Amsterdam's airport to my connecting terminal, and I walked by this sculpture. No idea what it means, but they were doin' some serious loungin'. After traveling, I felt like assuming this position as well.

The Friendly Skies

The only times I can get a glimpse of heaven as I see it...are when I have the window cover up while flying. Some saying goes, On a clear sky, you can see forever. Here's my glimpse into it.

Listless

It's 6:45 am on a sunday morning. At this rate, i might as well stay up for the sunrise. but then again, i need some sleep. still too lazy to do a full blog-a-thon of my last week, although there's a lot of things to say...i'd prolly do a story per blog.

it's 6:45 am, and i am still awake. i read some of cedia's recent posts to pass the time. Neat to know that even though we're each one of akind, there are folks out there that have a good number of things in common with you. I'd start listing some, but again, i claim laziness.

6:48am. i must be delirious. i have some ungodly desire to bake cookies from scratch. not right now, at least, but soon. maybe later tonight. for now, time to count sheep. KC cut her hair. she looks much younger with it. brings her eyes out more. she looks nice with it.

oh, and as a placeholder, i went to a wedding reception earlier, danced, met Erica, and danced s'more. The crew of Pink Tiger, Big Ern, Romancer, and Pepe went out. We sent our lil messages in between, but i had a crown and coke with cherries with them, even if we were split by some 70 miles or so.

Ok. tomorrow, well...later today, we continue with the regularly scheduled blog. ninight.