Thank You Jessica Simpson

Way To Go Big Blue!!!!!

Thanks Jessica!

Happy New Year

It's 4:48 am and I just got in from a great night in Hybe. (zoom in) Happy 2008 and I hope it will be a great one for you. (yes beverages where consumed.)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

I wanted to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all my faithful readers. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday season.

I am currently in Hybe with Kate and her family for Christmas. I am enjoying the different traditions of Slovakia. Kate and her sister Susan put up and decorated the christmas tree today. It is the tradition to put the tree up on Christmas Eve and take it down on the 6th of January. We will do gifts tonight instead of tomorrow.

As for a New Year's Resolution to update the blog more often, I am sorry to say back in 1990 I made a resolution never to make New Year's resolutions ever again. 17 years I have keep that resolution so I don't plan on breaking it now. Sorry, what can I say I'm a slacker, we all have are parts to play.

Google Ron Paul

What can I say, I am going to shill for him until he is out of the race.
Take a few minutes and watch the video. Make me proud.
Comments are always welcome.

Betsy & Nathan's Wedding Photos Slideshow

Click the photo for Slideshow.
Playback Controls are on the
bottom left side of the page.

I am About to Head to America for 6 Days

I will try and update when I get in.

My flight leaves in about 10 hours and in need to get up in 6 hours.

Football Induced Insomnia

So it is now around 2:20 a.m. and I am waiting for the Sunday night game to start. I was able to watch on of the best displays of how not to play football. The Giants looked like, well, crap and the is being nice. But the folks at FOX kicked it over to the end of two great finishes. The Tampa Bay / Redskins game was great as was the Seahawks Rams game was the twin brother of the Skins game.

I am heading home in in less than 55 hours so I am getting excited to see the family. I have a ton to get done in the short time I am there. I will get into Newark on Wednesday around 6 p.m. and go hang at my brother Tim's house. I will most likely get to bed early because of the time difference. So when I land it will feel like midnight to me. The advantage to me is I will wake up very early and get on the road for Richmond. I need to get to the DMV to renew my license and car registration. I can't leave this until Friday, as it is the last day before the new month and it can take hours then.

As for my sisters wedding I have to shot the rehearsal at the church then dinner. Saturday will also be busy taking photos starting about 2 hours before the service and then 5 to 6 hours of reception. I am sure i will have a brunch on Sunday. Let me rephrase that, there better be a Sunday brunch.

I then fly out of Richmond Monday around 2 p.m. for a quick flight to Dulles then a 9 hour flight into Vienna which gets me in around 9 a.m. local time. I can tell you this I am going to have trouble sleeping when I get back.

I also have some goodies waiting for me in Richmond. I got 6 or 7 books from Amazon and I have a new Macbook Pro waiting for me. My old one is still going but she is showing her almost 4 years. So I will be prepared for a clod bleak winter.

OK the game is good and I want to go watch.
Thanks for reading

My Reading of History Convinces Me That Most Bad Government Results From Too Much Government. - Thomas Jefferson

Click image to find out more.

It's time for Americans to take OUR country back! If you are happy with big government then vote for Hillary or Rudy. They both want it bigger, Hillary wants the government to pay for everything and Rudy wants the government to know everything. So what does Ron Paul want? He wants a government based on a document most in the government have forgotten about or choose to ignore.

The Sun Has Returned

After at least a month of a overcast sky mixed with rainy weather the sun has returned to Bratislava. I am not kidding when I say I saw the sun for less than 10 hours total over the last month. It was just one low pressure system after another. The sun was out all day today and we should have it until Saturday. Needless to say my mood has improved greatly today. The flip side is because Bratislava is on the same parallel as Nova Scotia it gets dark early here, today at about 4:10 with less than 9 hours of sunlight per day. I have not taken any pictures because of the weather, sorry to all of you who what to see more photos but without sunshine the photos are not worth taking.

I return to the States in about 8 days and I am looking forward to seeing everyone. Of course those of you who really know me will not be surprised to learn I am only staying for 5 days. (Life Lesson - You have to leave them wanting more.)

So what have I been up to? Well most days I just surf the net for TV shows to watch or catch the news on CNN International or BBC World but of course there is never enough news to fill more than about 20 minutes. The other thing I do is watch the markets including the currency markets as the Dollar gets pounded, which sucks unless you are exporting goods. Most days I am just hanging out in the flat which for most people would drive them nuts but for me it doesn't seem to bother me, I can always find something to entertain my brain. I have found a book store that sells books in English so I have started reading more when I am bored. I am looking forward to getting home so I can go to Barnes and Noble to load up on books to bring back. I also can buy a few magazines in English and once a week I pick up Time, Newsweek and The Economist to stay current with what is going on in the world. I highly recommend The Economist as one of the best magazines you can read. It is not always the easiest thing to read but it gives you a great view of what is happening in the world.

One of the main questions I get from people in the US is "What is the food like?". For those of you who have been with me from the beginning of the blog you know how much I railed on the food in New Zealand and Australia and wrote many blog entries dealing only with how much the food sucked. That cannot be said for the food in Slovakia, here the food is very good, I have not had a dish that I didn't like. Cheese, Potatoes and Pork based meats are the main staples. The national dish is Bryndove Halusky (brins O va hAl usekey) which I enjoy and is not hard to make. I make it by going to the restaurant on the ground floor of my building and order it. What? do you think I would really cook it myself when I can get enough for two meals for about 5 bucks and 15 minutes. Most days I make a sandwich for lunch and then we try and cook something for dinner when everyone gets home. Ramen noodles are also a staple around here. (FYI - I stopped typing for 5 min. so I could make some Ramen as I get ready for Monday Night Football, yes it is almost 2am here, insomnia strikes again.) One of my favorite things to eat is...Pizza, yeah I know, "Big Shocker" but there is a great little pizza place that delivers in about 15 to 20 min. tops and they have great pizza and salads. We also go to the restaurant on the ground floor a few times a month for dinner and a beer. We also go a few times a month to "El Dorado" (a low grade "Western" feel restaurant filled with on mainly over 40 crowd dancing to singer who would not be welcome at "The Armada Room" at the Holiday Inn.) We mainly go just for drinks around every third Friday night.

The other question I get is "How are the language lessons coming?". Well I can now count to thirty but I can understand up to one hundred if they speak slowly. The 50 or so other words I know I am getting better pronouncing them. I just have not added as many words to my vocabulary as I would have liked. I ran into a technical issue with the CD and they had to ship me a new one which, by the time I figured out I had a problem, and they shipped me a new one was about 3 weeks. So I didn't get as much time to "study" as I would have liked so I am not above a 1 year old (Wait I know what you are thinking. "You have more free time than almost anyone!" What can I say, that's my story and I am sticking with it.)

O.K. it's kickoff, got to go.

Windows Vista SUCKS!!!

I will not go in to the many reasons why but trust me when I say it SUCKS. If you are in the market for a new PC make sure you can get it with XP. If not, enjoy hating Vista as much as the rest of the world.

But wait Sean you are a Apple man how do you know Vista sucks, easy Kate's laptop came with it and now I am forced to listen to her complain about how much of a pain in the ass it is and then try and figure out how to fix whatever problem she is having.

So my advice to you is if you have to buy a new computer get a Mac.

Why I Haven't Posted Lately

The main reason is because it has been cloudy and rainy for the last 13 days. I am holding out hope that I will see the sun tomorrow afternoon but the forecast said I was going to see the sun on Thursday. I feel like I am living in England. I am just killing time right now waiting for the Giants game from London. We finally got the sound problem I was having with cable fixed so I can now watch CNN and BBC news now. That brings me up to 6 channels in English. The only problem I have is the program guide is in Slovak so figuring out what is on has been fun. Other than that I have just been hanging out in the flat, I go shopping for food every 2 days and I make at least 1 trip to the mall just to walk around.

I will be heading home for a few days on the 28th of November and heading back to Slovakia on the 3rd of December. I fly into Newark on the 28th and will be driving to VA on Thursday the 29th. I have my sisters wedding on the 1st so I will not have a lot of time for visits, sorry about that. I was able to find a great price on my return trip to Vienna right out of Richmond. If you have the time to search you can find deals online. I spent about 2-3 hours trying different days and routes and was able to get a round trip ticket for about 850.00. The normal fare from and back to Richmond was 1500.00 but Expedia.com had an internet only special.

OK that's all I have for now. Thanks to the small group of readers who keep up with the blog. Down at the bottom of the page is a small map which you can click on and see where my visitors are coming from. I just added it last week so there are not many dots yet. I am averaging 45-50 visits per week.

Ron Paul - America's Only Hope

I have make my choice on who I will support for President. Click the image and find out why I think he is the only choice for America. Take a few minutes to find out for yourself. If you like what you see please make a donation to help spread the word.

Entrance Hall

The TV / Laptop Room

Entertainment Center

Smoking Porch

There is also another porch off the other bedroom.

Our Room

The Kitchen

The Toilet

Bathroom

Yes, 5 of us share just this little bathroom.

Back Hallway

Kitchen then Toilet than Bathroom on the left side

Eva, Vrbo and Martina's Room

I Now Have Cable TV

And what is the first thing I find in English?
The Jets Giants game. YES!!!!!

The Language Lessons Have Started

Today I received my two CD's I ordered from Eurotalk. I worked with the first one for about 1.5 hours today. I like the way it teaches you with games and other fun ways to make it interesting. I highly recommend checking out the web site if you need to learn a language. It seems like it is geared towards the business traveler but right now I am just learning the basics. I will let you know in a few days how it is working out.

I enjoy going out by myself just so I am forced to try out my basic skills (i.e. hello, thank you etc) I have gone to the supermarket and and an electronics store. I have been studying my map of Bratislava and I can get around fairly well, even if I can't pronounce the names of the streets. Most of the younger people and the taxi drivers here do speak some English which had made it easier on me. I hope to have the vocabulary of a 4 y.o. by the end of November, but that my be asking to much. What I really need is English subtitles for the TV. That would make easier to learn but they don't have them, so I am stuck watching American shows dubbed in Slovak. The one show I can watch is "Slovak Superstar" (The Slovak version of American Idol) not that I want to but everyone else in the flat loves it. For me it is just funny to listen to them try and sing in English.

The weather has been nice but cloudy so I have not taken any photos lately. Daytime temps are in the high 60's with it getting into the mid 40's at night. We are planning on returning to Hybe next weekend and I would like to go driving and get some more pictures of the "High Tatras".

That's all for now.

Bratislava Update

So it has been a while since I gave you guys an update so let me begin. I have been in Bratislava for over a week now and I am still having a great time. I have gone out on my own a few times and I haven't had any trouble with the language barrier, must people here speak some English. I have taken the bus a few times but I find for the short distances I need to go I can walk or take a taxi. I can get a taxi to the main shopping mall for about 4 bucks. I could take the bus for a about a buck but I have to take two buses to get to the mall and it takes about 15-20 min. In the taxi I am there in 5, so needless to say I take taxi's most places I need to go. I am still trying to find a bookstore that sells English books but I have found a few English magazines so far. I also picked up a prepaid mobile phone so if I need help I can call one of my roommates for help with getting around or what ever.

In my attempt to learn Slovak I found a U.K. company that sells software that teaches you with interactive games and what not, I ordered it and should have it by next week, I hope it helps. I am picking up words as time goes by and I would say I know about 30 words so far. I can say the basics like hello, thank you, please, etc. plus some not so polite things to say. Why is it you learn the bad words in a new language first?

The food here is very good and cheap. I also found a great place for pizza that delivers. I can order on-line to avoid any language issues. The bread here is very good and every 2 days we get a fresh loaf for about .70 cents. Most of the time we snack on a slice of bread with some soft cheese with tomato or green peppers. Breakfast for me is 2 eggs and some fried salami on bread. It's not pork roll but it's close. (I would kill for a pork roll, egg and cheese on a hard roll from the O.B. Diner)

I am still trying to get cable TV with some English channels and I hope to have it taken care of by the end of the week. The Internet has been the only way I can watch TV. If you know where to look you can download shows a day or two after they have aired in the US. I am keeping up with some of my favorites like "Curb Your Enthusiasm", "Weeds" and "Survivor". I was able to download the Giants/Redskins game from last week and I should be able to get this weeks game also. The great thing about getting them from the net is no commercials, the game was only 2 hours without commercials. I did bring my external hard drive stuffed with movies and TV shows so if all else fails I can watch one of those. I can't wait to see the Giants game from this week.

We went out this weekend to the "Old Town" and had a great time at the bars. I need to go during the day for pictures but with everyone at work or school during the day I may have to go on my own. It is a stark contrast between the look of "Little Brooklyn" and "Old Town". I would love to live in "Old Town" but the rents there are twice what they are here so that's out. While Bratislava is the most expensive place to live in Slovakia I still think it is cheap. I also think the real estate market here is only going to get better and I am looking at ways to get in on the ground floor. Most Slovakians think that 100k for a 2 bedroom flat here in Petrzelka aka "Little Brooklyn" is very expensive but in 5 years it will look very cheap. The economy here is good and getting better. Slovakia is really focused on the automotive industry, they are doing a lot things to attract companies to build automotive and parts factories here. I am going to work on a short video of the flat so you can get an idea of what it is like to live here. I should have it done in a week or two.

Thanks to all of my fans who read my updates and I will post more in the future. (yes that is my way of saying, when I feel like it.) Oh yeah, Henry and Kelly, the Redskins still suck! Go Big Blue.

180 Degree Panorama of Little Brooklyn

You Can't Beat a Pair of $2.00 IKEA Slippers

High Tatras Panorama

Hybe and the High Tatras

Krivan

One of the highest peaks in Slovakia at over 8100 ft.