Alexis, Sandy, Natalie at Heineken

This was taken at the Heineken Experience tour. I've always thought Heinie tasted pretty skunky when I've bought it around here, but it tasted great right at the brewery. It was usually Bonham's beer of choice. 

Bike Rental, Amsterdam

Absolutely everyone was on bikes in Amsterdam. This is a bike rental place - it looks like a barge on the river, but it was like a giant parking garage on the banks for thousands and thousands of two-wheeled vehicles. 

Berlin - Memorial to Murdered Jews

This Holocaust Memorial was called the "Memorial to Murdered Jews of Europe." On the surface, it consists of dozens of monoliths. Underground, there is a museum that tells the stories of numerous individuals and families. This serves to bring real meaning to the tragedy. Everyone gets somewhat numb to hearing "six million died, six million died." This museum houses journal writings and pictures that make what happened much more real. 

Me, Brandenburg Gate

This is a picture of me in front of the Gate. You can see a silver guy standing behind my right shoulder. He was a real person, painted in silver, standing on a pedestal. Unfortunately, I don't know why or what the significance is/was. 

Berlin Wall

This is about a five minute walk away from the Checkpoint Museum, and it's one of the places in the city where the Wall is still standing. This is taken from the Western side. 

Checkpoint Charlie Museum

The original of the famous sign. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I took this one. There is a replica in the street, complete with a tiny checkpoint and sandbags, but this is the genuine article. This greeted anyone traveling toward East Berlin. There is a duplicate of this sign used in Octopussy (Bond movie from 1983). 

Former Reichstag, Berlin

This is one of the government buildings in Berlin, formerly the Reichstag during Hitler's time. I believe it now houses the Bundestag, the upper house of the German parliament. Could be the Bundesrat though - I don't have time to look it up right now. An impressive structure. 

Ducks in Berlin

This was taken the next day, from a bridge in Berlin. I just thought it was a cool shot, with the ducks walking on the little slabs of ice. 

Marooned in Kolin

This shot is just priceless. We were so paranoid about missing the correct train that we decided to wait out on the platform, even after we knew it was going to be late. Although this certainly kept the beer cold, it also drove Alexis to bundle up in a few extra layers. She grabbed her pajama pants out of her suitcase and put them on over her jeans. We were all laughing when we saw the final result. 

Always Be Prepared

After the Eurosim conference, Matt, Kristen, Steph, and Nurangiz decided to stay in the Czech Republic. I didn't think it was wise for me to go all the way to Europe and not see anything but Prague, since I don't know when I'll be back. With that in mind, I took off with Alexis, Sandy, and Natalie to Berlin and then to Amsterdam. Well, we thought we were going to Berlin. In fact, we had taken the train from Berlin, due to the slight language barrier we experienced. We got off at the first stop, which was Kolin, Czech Rep. Here Alexis is seen prepping for the trip back. She ended up drinking 3.5 of the four while we waited for the train back, which was roughly four hours late. 

Jazz Trio

Yeah, I know the picture's blurry. This was taken with my camera's night mode inside a very dark little hole-in-the-wall kind of place. Very good atmosphere, but not good for pictures. Anyway, these guys were great. They played all 30s and 40s era American standards. The piano player, who looked like Norm from Cheers (George Wendt), was actually blind. He also sang. The sax player was very mellow, but the trombone player was the best of the three to watch. He was incredibly animated - smiling at everyone, raising his eyebrows, stomping his feet, and rocking back and forth. The beer at the club was very good - something dark; I forget the name. This is where Kristen, Steph, and Nurangiz had absinthe for the first time, and also where I had some. None of them could finish an entire shot, so I got the leavings. I won't explain the process in detail right now, because I should be getting ready to leave. But basically, the stuff tastes like Nyquil multiplied by a factor of ten. Not something I'd care to drink all night. 

National Museum at Night

Title says it all. This was taken just after coming up the stairs of the metro stop - turn around and there it is. We were actually searching for a jazz club at the time. We eventually found one. 

Looking Up - Cathedral

This is St. Vitus Cathedral from inside the castle grounds. The structure was immense and imposing. 

Prasky Hrad, Dog, Me

This is a shot of me with the castle in the background. The castle is actually a giant complex of buildings that date from somewhere around 1000 AD (or CE, depending on your preference) up to the 1800s, so it's a lot of different architectural styles rolled into one site. The largest building that you see is the St. Vitus Cathedral, I believe. The dog behind me was one of several just roaming around. There was no leash law in Prague and all the dogs seemed pretty happy and well behaved. Matt stepped in some dogshit though. This one was taken when I wasn't exactly ready. The next one has me with a dorky grin on my face, but I thought I'd pick this one instead. There were enough from New Year's of me cracking up. 

Group Picture

These were my traveling companions for the first part of the trip. Clockwise from top, there's me, Matt D, Nurangiz, Kristen O, and Steph L. I met up with all except Nurangiz in NYC on New Year's Day. We flew out the next day and met Nurangiz at the Prague airport, where she had flown in from Moscow. She goes to Fredonia, but is actually from Moscow. Anyway, this picture was taken by a couple British girls who were hiking up past the Prasky Hrad, or Prague Castle. There were some great views up there looking down at the city. This was a nice day. It was our second day there, and the debacle of the previous day was over and done with. We hiked back down very carefully (there was a lot of ice on the trail) and got some pretty decent Chinese food. Some of the group ordered the "strange-taste chicken" which apparently defied description. 

Sorry about the repetition, but here's a close-up. I thought it was pretty interesting. The skeleton, representing Death, rings the bell at each hour. 

Fancy Clock

The Astronomical Clock, in the central town square of Prague. The time stamp is wrong - I hadn't corrected for the time change yet. It should read 11, not 5. 

More New Years Pics, Complaints

Joe H and I at Turck's foosball (spelling?) table. I'm enjoying a Sam Adams Winter Ale. I'm having trouble posting more than one picture at a time, and my apparently spyware-laden computer is inserting weird links when I publish the post. Frustrating. And I should be packing right now, because I leave for Virginia tomorrow. 

In the Midnight Hour

...just like that Billy Idol song. Or not.

Yes, this is the face that Turck makes when Lindsay takes pictures of him. But I shouldn't talk, since only one of the guys in this picture had someone to kiss when the clock struck twelve, and it wasn't the one on the left. 

Poker Game

Joe M, me, and Turck look on as Thom shows us how to disembowel a beer bottle. 

Various

Well, I'm back in the States now. I actually arrived back home around midnight Sunday/Monday. Things have been somewhat busy. The time that I must report in DC has been bumped up - I now have to be in the office at 11am this coming Monday.

I haven't had as much time as I would have liked to update the blog, but I'm going to do a little bit now. I figured out a way around the fact that the digital camera I got (Nikon 5600 - 5.1MP) features software not supported in the now-antique Windows 98, and was able to upload my pictures today. Before I share some of those, I'll post a couple from New Year's Eve at Turck's place. I'm all smiles in all the pictures that Lindsay had added to her Facebook album, which seems a little odd. But I guess I was having a pretty good time.

The trip to Europe was good. Obviously I'll expand on that when I get a little time.

My dog Jane, more often referred to as Janie, passed away while I was gone. She was a cute little Beagle, but at 13 years old, her vision and hearing were almost gone and she was moving quite slowly. She was not doing very well when I left, and my parents made the painful decision to put her to sleep. I heard the news from Berlin when I called to check in on her. It's tough.

The veternarian Dr. Inkley sent a very nice card with a very powerful poem enclosed. I may post that. If you've ever had to have a pet you loved put to sleep for reasons of illness (my Springer Spaniel Blaze had cancer) or extreme age, it will make you cry.

Unusual Roger Waters News

From the Echoes Mailing List:

"On Saturday, Jan. 7th, Roger Waters was vacationing on St. Barths in the Caribbean. He was hanging out with Jimmy Buffett and Richie Sambora (guitarist from Bon Jovi) and, after a long lunch, the three of them decided to play an impromptu set that night.

So they did.

It was at La Vela restaurant, right on the harbor in Gustavia. About 100 people or so were lucky enough to be there. Richie played lead guitar, Waters played bass, and Jimmy played rhythm guitar and did the lionshare of the singing. Word is that they didn't do any Floyd songs; mostly reggae cover tunes. I've heard about this second hand, so I don't know what the set list was, if they had a band backing them or if it was just the three of them, and most importantly, if it was recorded."

Back in Prague

Might be some typos in here, since feeling is only now returning to my fingers. After Berlin, I went to Amsterdam with Sandy, Alexis, and Natalie. They left for Paris yesterday, and I came back to Prague because my flight is tomorrow and there simply wasn't enough time to enjoy Paris correctly. Also, the train ride yesterday was 12 hours and would have been 15 from Paris (and much more expensive). I'm at an internet 'store' right now, so I'll be brief.

Updates galore when I come home, I think. We'll see.

Hello From Berlin

Well, I don't have a whole lot of time on the internet here, but I thought I would 'czech' in with the blog. I arrived in Prague on January 3rd and left yesterday - the 9th. We had a slight delay in Kolin since we managed to take the wrong train, but eventually ended up in Berlin last night around 10pm. We leave tomorrow for Amsterdam, and I have to leave from Prague on the 15th to fly back to NYC and then Buffalo. Everything has been fantastic so far - more or less - but I'll fill in some details later, when I can do so more eloquently, or maybe anyway. The y and z keys are reversed on these keyboards, so it's somewhat difficult to type quickly.

Later -

Joe's Return Party

My friend Joe returned December 23rd from 2.5 years in the Peace Corps, working in Tanzania. I’m going to post some pictures that Wendy took at his coming-home party. I know most of you who visit my site visit Wendy’s on a regular basis as well, but I figured it would be nice to have them here as well. She just posted a bunch of them the other day.

One of them has been cropped so that I’m not showing as much out-of-shape pectoral (AKA flabby man-breast) through my shirt, but you can always find the unedited photo at Wendy’s site.

The last few days have been a lot of fun. I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with a lot of people I don’t normally get to spend time with, and it’s been great. Joe showed Turck and I some pictures from his time in Tanzania, as well as a few short video clips of leopards and elephants. Ben showed up a little later and we watched a DVD of Joe’s white-water rafting experience in Uganda, on the rapids that actually make up the source of the Nile River.

Most of the photos you'll see are smaller than on Wendy's site, and I had to upload them one at time because of my beloved narrow-band connection.

Anyway, I was going to say more, but with all these pictures, I guess there's little need.

Turck is obviously quite amused by something here, although I have no recollection of what it may have been. I don't know if I'm straightening my shirt or pulling up my pants in this picture. It comes to my attention now that the sideburn on my left side is much less distinct than on my right. Odd. We're playing Deutchland Memory in this picture, although Ben, Turck, and Joe all refer to it as "Deuche-land" and will probably continue to do so.

 

Randy, Laura, Kim, and me... apparently in a celebratory mood.

Randy told me that Kim, who had never had the pleasure of seeing me much "under the influence," said that I was "much more fun," "less sarcastic," and seemed much happier. Kim was home from Arizona for a few days.

 

That's quite a wink, Turck.

 

Looks like a double-chin is just a matter of time.

 

James & Joe H, Me

 

DC Internship Destination Decided: Durbin

I woke up at 1:45pm today.

I guess that's what vacations are for. I had some Rice Krispies and coffee while switching between the Colbert Report and Fuse, where the Foo Fighters were performing. Then I showered and left to go get a haircut.

I've had the same barber since I was ten. He's a little old Italian guy in his mid-to-late 70s, but he watches Jerry Springer. I walked in today and there was a guy on TV in a cowboy hat and a lime-green bikini. I really have no idea what the topic of the show was supposed to be, but within three minutes of my arrival, three women had flashed the rest of the audience to loud ovations.

We usually discuss the Yankees or the Bills when I'm the only one there, and today was no exception. While I provided an overview of what I'm doing over the next few months, he showed some interest but eventually turned to talking about the acquisition of Johnny Damon.

I left the shop and went the long way home, swinging by Paul's house and finding his car there, but neither he nor Tia was home. I was in the process of leaving a note when his dad drove up and confirmed that there was no one home and that he would pass along the message that I had stopped by.

I came home and was greeted by my mother in the garage, letting me know that someone from Mr. Durbin's office had called for me. I was coming in when the SUNY internship coordinator called to let me know that Durbin's office was looking for me. I said that I had just found out and went to call her back. I had a fairly long phone interview with a woman named Sally who had gone through the SUNY Washington Semester program and also had participated in two EuroSims - one in Brussels and one in Prague. She had also lived in Colorado for a while. Now she's the internship coordinator for Richard Durbin and splits time between the Whip's office at the Capitol and the main office in DC. She was incredibly conversational and easy-going and for some reason I didn't get nervous; everything went very well.

She asked me about my two year "gap" in college and I explained that as briefly as I could. She talked about Colorado and we knew a lot of the same places. She also asked about my umpiring. She laughed at a lot of the things I said and I never felt like I was under pressure to over-promote myself. Everything was very relaxed and at the end, she offered me a spot and told me that I need not report until the 23rd, which gives me time to get back from the Czech Republic and not rush too much getting down to Washington, which is great. I don't really know exactly what I'll be doing there, and it will likely depend on her evaluation of my "skills," whatever they may be. She said that of course everyone has different strengths and that I apparently write very well, judging by my letters of recommendation. She asked me if I knew what had been written, and I said no. She just said that they were very, very good. So apparently, Dr. Stinson and Dr. Maulucci did a great job of making some great stuff up about me. I will have to thank them again for that.

So I'm pretty excited. I fly out of Buffalo to NYC on Sunday and the next day, I fly out of JFK airport and into Prague.