Speed Painting

Amsterdam Spring Slideshow

I AMsterdam ;)

A Few Great Days at Skalka

Bode Miller Has Nothing to Worry About

Sorry to the little girl Joey ran into :)

Joey Shreds the Terrain Park at Skalka

Sunny Thursday at Skalka - Solo

Skalka Web Site

Web Cam

I love the place.

I went by myself because no one else was able to go and I could not pass up such a perfect day, Sunny, no wind and just below freezing.

Last Weekend at Skalka

Another Great Weekend Skiing

We had great weather on Saturday, the sun was out and blue sky's and -4c temps but no wind. The snow was not great as it was pack granular, anyone who has skied in Vermont know what I am talking about, icy with granular built up bumps. I am going this week to a second hand shop with Joe to buy skis and boots. I really love that I can get to the mountain in under an hour from my flat. During the week when the slopes are groomed the skiing is great and no one is there. The one ting this weekend taught me was first, while it is much easier to ski as a skinny guy, I am way out of shape and second at 42, 4 ours of skiing takes 48 hours of advil to get over.

A Great Day Skiing

Martina, Jozef, Dominika and I went skiing today at SkiKrahule. We went for a half day and had a great time. The last time I was on skis was about 12 years ago and the last time I was on ski's that short I was 8 years old. I don't miss my old 205's at all. I am into the shaped skis. We are planning on going back next weekend. If so more photos to come.

My Pizza is ready, got to go...

Birds in Zlate Moravce

It was a great day today. The sun was out and it got up to 2 degrees C and humidity is low so I went out to try and find some of the Hawks I see when I am out driving. I saw at least 6 different Hawks today alone in a 10km stretch of road I like to drive.

Christmas in Amsterdam with Barbora

Christmas in Amsterdam

I am going to spend 4 days in Amsterdam with my Slovak friend Barbora over Christmas. She is living and working in London, we will meet on Tuesday the 22nd and stay until the 26th. This is her first trip to Amsterdam and I am looking forward to showing her some of my favorite places in the city. I am looking forward to seeing the city at Christmas time and I am hoping to get fresh snow just one night for photos. I need the current weather system to stall just 24 hours and I think it will happen.

So what else is new?

Really, not much, I have not had many classes this month, busy schedules, people sick, end of year stuff. Things will return to normal by mid January. I have spent the last three weeks pouring over the Climategate issue. I am still deciding if and when I will post my opinions and things I have found. I want just a little more time to put everything together in an easy to understand and highly sourced post that I hope is able to only present facts and not just opinion.

I will post some photos if I feel they are worthy while in Amsterdam if not don't expect to read anything until after Christmas.

I hope all of you have a safe and wonderful Christmas and New Year.

Remember,

I Love You,

and there is nothing you can do about it.

Yes YOU.

New Neural Net Upload

Sometimes it takes just a tiny spark to light a fire.
My friend Zuzka Bakova provided the spark today, thanks Zuzka, I needed it.

Today marks the third day in a row that this bright yellow thing, I think is called the Sun, has replaced the normal solid grey that covers the sky. It has made a big difference in my mood. This is my third Fall in Slovakia and I now see a pattern emerging, things are nice until about the middle of October then the Sun goes on vacation for a month or two. Now it has returned but since it his busy season in the southern hemisphere he doesn't get as many chances to visit us here in Central Europe. I am also noticing a correlation between the taste of Vodka and the amount of sunlight, the less sunlight the better it tastes, further research is needed and is underway.

I would like to say I have so much to write about since my last post, I would like to but I can't. Not because I don't want to upset anyone or I am hiding something but really it is because not much has gone on in the last few weeks. I have gotten into a routine and it is boring. But boring in the sense of it is not interesting to write about, I don't find my life boring, while it is not super exciting it is fine for me.

So I will write about my plans for the future or more accurately what I would like to do. I looked into visiting my step sister Jean Marie and the rest of her family in Italy for Thanksgiving but I was unable to come up with a plan that was both cost effective and time sensitive, these two factors are important and I was unable to come up with a workable plan so I had to forget it. That leaves Christmas and New Year to plan. I have a few options I am looking into. The first is a repeat of last Christmas with a return to Istanbul for Christmas. The second is a trip to Amsterdam for Christmas with the possibility of my Slovak friend Barbora, (she lives in London) meeting me there. The third is a combo trip to London then Amsterdam, this would give me the chance to also visit with Zuzka and Milos (if they are in the UK at that time). The forth option is to stay in Slovakia and spend Christmas and New Years with Joe and Martina in Kremnica. I need to make up my mind in the next week so I can book flights and such if needed.

Some other bits and pieces.
Snoop Dog is getting big and I enjoy having him. (Yes he is a he, my skills as a vet suck. - see my first post about snoop)

I found out I am in fact able to register my car in my name, but I have to go through the process of changing my address, which is not a simple or quick process, then I will get the car in my name.

I am still waiting and waiting and waiting for one judge to put a stamp on the contract for the sale of the cottage I am trying to buy. I really did not expect it to take this long but as long as it is done before early spring I will be fine. I want to get started on the renovations as soon as the weather permits in the Spring.

That's all I can think of.

Why I Am NOT in Amsterdam

Amsterdam Again

It is time for me to return to Amsterdam, it has been about 4 months since my last visit. I was able to get a super deal and got round trip airfare and 3 nights hotel for $345.00. At that price it is hard not to go. I am hoping only for clear skies, I don't care if it is cold, I am hoping for some night shots that I have been planning since my last visit. (right now there is a 60% chance of rain for all three days) I leave on the 3rd and return the 6th. I will let you know how it goes.

Oh yeah, I love you and there is nothing you can do about it.

It's Time to Feed the Mojo Wire.

So the words I promised all so long ago. What can I say I am just lazy, well that is not accurate, lacking my muse has been the main problem coupled by a case of U.M.S. (ugly mood swings) that I have seem to have turn a corner on, thus the words.

So this is going to be as close to straight from the noodle as possible, I find it is just easier to write this way. The trip to america was a great time to say the least. martin, joe and i had a super time traveling the east coast on the 15 day tour. that is a good a place as any to start.
we land in newark on labor day the 7th of sept. in the afternoon. my brother tim had a town car waiting for us to drive us to my dad's house. (much love to Spaz for that and the many other things he takes care of for me on that side of the atlantic. dude i do appreciate it.)

grammar and other rules have been thrown out the window for this one, i will try and correct the major spelling errors but other than that forget it, just let it go, the english language is changing so fast that the style i now write in will someday be looked at as old fashioned. it will be sad i admit but it will happen, back to the story

fuck my clock needs a battery, hold on, wait oh that is why, never mind. it has no battery for a reason, (yes jake, it is right where you would expect it to be) the new flat is fucking with me some. more on that later but i need a few seconds to contemplate the clock and its significance in my life. i am not just speaking about time in a general sense but more in the is it only man made sense. thus the overlapping hands.

OK that was time well spent even while i listen to the brazilian bubble gum beauty sing her truth, yes i can admit i dig shakira, she's my debbie gibson of the new millennium. my mac keeps fixing my spelling mistakes for me thus making life that much easier

so we hung out in NJ with my dad and Janet in Chester for the evening. we woke up on tuesday morning and started the drive to virginia, with a quick stop at abbess of maines so joey and martina could buy a new camera for the trip. we then drove the 5.5 hours and arrived in richmond in the early afternoon. we hung out for a while with my mom and steve, we then headed into town to show them the west end, (sarcasm on) i have never been so proud (sarcasm off) just to make it totally clear to people why i do not live in america anymore, the west end of richmond, hey guys rome is burning. I was waiting for it to rain frogs when i was there, while i am not a religious man by any stretch of the imagination but that place is going to be the first place god decides to blot out first, is smitten the word i am looking for? as my english skills continue to decline with age and lack of proper use. so anyway we went to the most authentic restaurant i could think of was Mexico in Innsbrook, i know it is like going to the heart of the beast and dinning on the earthly delights of the the the word i cant think of place that represents everything that makes me understand how ignorant i once was and how much i still have to learn. do you have any idea how long it takes to deprogram yourself from all the bullshit you have been feed since birth? welcome to my world, a no stop questioning of everyone of my motives and actions, not always in real time but always reviewed, thus the insomnia. but the food was great. We then went home for an early night as the jet lag was still messing with us. we awoke the next morning, late, if i remember correctly and we went into richmond to show them carytown, VCU (and may i just say, what the fuck VCU, what happened to that part of the Fan? it was I nice place that people lived in, that felt open and welcoming, now i feel so boxed in and the lack of the old neighborhood feel is long gone, way to go, you get smitten third, NOVA is second, you fucks deserve it and you know it. nova= northern virgin, for those who don't know) yes my proclivity to use the work fuck today is also a bit of a surprise to me as well but the slovak bad words i would like to use are hard to translate sometimes and fuck covers most of it with little fanfare and even less need for long winded explanations like this one about fuck, this negating my previous hypothesis. basically fuck you VCU administration. I may not speak for the masses but there are many of us VCU dropouts who hate to see what is happen to the school that accepted just about anyone.) we had lunch with my friend carol ann at Dot's Back Inn, in the north side of richmond for what i now consider the best place I know to get a cheeseburger, google it and go. (extremely smoker friendly), we hung out some with carol ann the we then spent wednesday evening at my sister jennifer house with her husband and there 4 kids, my brother kevin his wife and his 4 kids, my brother macro his wife and their 3 kids my sister betsy and her 2 kids my mom and my step dad for a typical family meal. It was a great time and the kids loved playing with joey. we then spent that evening hanging out with Jason at his house before coming home. We did some more exploring of richmond on thursday morning before having an early dinner with some family and we headed to DC to visit my friend Kelly for a few days.

DC was cool and it was great to have Kelly's place to crash in. we got up and started to do the typical touristy things one does in DC. We started at the White House, my first visit, and got lucky and saw the presidential motorcade returning to the white house, the amount of support vehicles was amazing, at least 20 others in the motorcade. we then headed to the WW II memorial then down the reflecting pool to the lincoln memorial, over the the Vietnam memorial, a quick cab ride to the capital, worth the 10 bucks for the 6 min ride, it beats an hour walk. then we went to the museum of native america which was really lacking in north american native american history. If i want to know about south american native americans i will go to south america, enough said. we then had dinner with kelly at a local restaurant that was very good then back to her house for an early evening in chatting. The next morning we awoke to drive out to Dulles airport and the new Air and Space Museum, (so worth the trip, it was the highlight of my trip to DC and Joe and Martina both loved it. If you have kids take them, get there early and plan on a whole day and even then you will feel you wished you had more time. they close at 5pm.) i am going to cook a pizza, not that you would need to know that but sometimes the fingers just keep going an the brain says fuck it you are typing at a speed not known to you before run with it pony boy run with it, natures first green is gold, stay golden pony boy, i am going to get feed.

we headed to NJ and the beach house in Bay Head saturday night as we where going to the Gaints / Redskins game the next day. Know i have to tell you when we were in richmond at the short pump mall Joe saw a shop called Redskins, now keep in mind when Joe thinks redskin he thinks native americans and this is a shop with native american goods he can buy. I was unable to keep him from going in, it was too late, the hook was set and from that point on Joey and Martina became redskins fans, even me telling them over and over again that the redskins suck but this did not deter him as a matter of fact he take much pride in his redskins tshirt he found. but they still suck no matter how much he likes them, dan synder has to go then the can be good again. so the four of us, kely is also a die hard deadskins fan so I was looking forward to all three of them dealing with the loss that was about to beset them. it was a 4pm game and we got to the stadium before 2 so we could tailgate, we got a great spot on the grass right next to the entrance / exit. both joe and martina were surprised by the tailgating but i explained that that was sometimes more fun then the game. the giants won, of course and I enjoyed that for what it was worth. the four of us stayed at the Sheraton next to the stadium. I also drove in to Hoboken that night with kelly to go visit a friend of mine Ben who is a Stevens Institute as some kind of biochemical genetic engineer or so other next generation shit that is way over my head. put it this way, the kid is wicked smart and crazy talented. I got a view of manhattan at night I had never experienced and wished I had brought my camera with me, and if was not so late when I returned to the hotel I would have gone bcd that night but knew we had a long drive ahead of us in the morning and needed to get some much needed rest.

week 2 begins on monday morning as we leave the stadium complex and head north towards camp. The NY throughway south of albany is fairly bland but once you get a bit north on the northway and you skirt the western edges of the adirondack state park past lake george and we went up to the Blue Ridge rd, rt. 2, so worth the drive but it is better to go west to east from long lake for this drive, east to west is not as scenic. we then came past long lake to blue mountain lake, my favorite of all the lakes i have been to in the park, which is quite a lot. we then made it to camp in the late afternoon where we meet up with T, John and Dave and had dinner at Dakkers. It was great to catch up with them an hear all the stories about camp this year. i do feel bad for mike who did the driving this summer with all the problems with airport runs. I hope next summer when I return everything will run like clockwork, we shall, as always, see. the next day I packed up a few things I wanted to bring with me, mainly my nintendo ii. I have missed it these last two years. we then headed to bethel NY, the site of Woodstock, as Joe was very keen to see it. I was also interested to see if the field was small like I thought it would be, in my brain after seeing the movie it feels like a great expanse but haven worked with wide angle lens for sometime now I have learned how to resize wide angle images in my head. it field is in fact much smaller than you would think. the photos kind of give you an idea as I tried to give you a true to life view of the place and shot at 50mm, the closest to the human eye. we then continued south and drove to Newton to show them the dealerships and have diner with the last of the family martina and joey had yet to meet, tim, aka Spaz, and his wife and 3 kids. we then headed back to the beach in NJ for the rest of the trip.

just to let you know this is 3 hours of writing so far. it would be so much quicker to tell you on video but i would want to write it first anyway instead of off the cuff which i would skip from place to place leaving you with half processed ramblings of an addled brain but enough of that back to the beach.

this was now tuesday night and we settled in for the next 6 nights before flying out the next monday. to be honest the next few days tend to blend together so instead of when, which is not really important i will just tell you you the what. we, well me, i dragged them along to best buy as i loaded up on electronics i wanted to get before returning to the very expensive E.U. I picked up a tom-tom gps which i love having here and a video projector, for both future teaching uses, it now serves as my 8 ft wide TV and computer monitor. Once I get internet in the flat, more on this later I will post photos. it was also a great purchase that i got a great deal on. we did some more shopping for them and got the gifts they wanted to get. we then spent the next few crappy weather days doing much of the same, shopping, eating out at local places for the atmosphere and playing the Wii, Sean White snowboarding with the balance board is way cool and joe says feels very realistic to actual snowboarding. part of me has been wanting to play for the last hour but i need to get this shit out of my head and off of my plate as I have other things that are demanding that brain space. a promise is a promise and jake is jonesen' like a mother fucker for words, the stats don't lie. but i need to finish this up in the next 30 minutes or else i am ea.ting in to sleep time before a early and long day tomorrow. we then drove in to see ben again and get photos of the manhattan skyline at night but i forgot the camera mount for my tripod at the house like an idiot so my photos did not even come close to what i wanted or hoped for. but it is the first place i am going when i return. for that matter i want to return to ireland to visit santa in the off season, (are you lost, look at my ireland slideshow for the man with 3 dog, then you will understand.) and amsterdam while I am thinking about it, so anybody who wants to go, tell me when and i will meet you there, 30 hours notice is plenty for me, ask my friend matt, thats all i needed for my last trip in july. time sean, time, focus.

so we hung out in Bay Head hoping for good weather and hanging out with my friend sophia. (in my world she is a pure blue, and blues are hard to find let alone a pure blue, she is special, you figure that out about her as soon as she smiles at you. hard for me to explain colors to you guys but everyone i know has a color, some change but most are what you are, me, i am a yellow, but enough of that.) we had a super time even though it was cold and raining most of the time, we made the best of it and it was also nice to slow down after the 8 days we had just had.

we flew out on monday night returning to vienna on tuesday morning. I got my car from my friend Vrbo's flat and if I remember correctly I drove them back to Zlate Morvace that afternoon. I then return to bratislava and my flat in the middle of no where for bratislava standards, it is a long bus ride to get anywhere except the VW plant a few miles down the road. I was happy to have my car. but getting the car into my name was not going to happen no matter what i wanted so I decided to just have it put into joe's name which is just as good. But a few days later my starter shit the bed as noted before. it took me a week until i could get someone I trusted would not rob me blind like the porsche dealer in bratislava wanted to do. it limited my driving as I had to make sure i parked in a location that allowed me to roll down hill to jump start it or at worst a open flat area for me to push it, which after 3 tries always started when i was alone. in the end 130 bucks for a fixed starter new oil and other minor issues resolved, i am happy i have a local guy i can trust to fix it, the guy is like rainman with cars. i don't question it, just enjoy the fact i have him to take it to for any future issues. I spent these next 2 weeks getting back on european time and finding a new flat in Zlate Moravce, which i was able to do with joe and martinas help. it is nothing special but it is big and cheap compared to what i was paying in BA. I am having some problems getting internet here but they are problems which i created so I am dealing with it the best i can. every two days i go to intro, the big city 25 minutes away and to the big new mall which has free high speed net. in about 1.5 hours i can download a few hours of the latest tav shows i like, grab some food, check email and then head home to watch what i downloaded. I also have internet over my cell phone now but it is at best 5k - think dial up, so gmail takes 2 minutes to load but i can at least check it now.

shit 10 minutes to my deadline

i drive the hour and 45 mites to BA on tuesdays and thursdays to teach, i am finished by 2 pm both days and on tuesday I finish at 1:30 and am only 45 min back to ZM. the drive can be a pain with traffic some mornings but i enjoy the drive and have really missed not having a car for 2 years. I am listen to stuff on my ipod i forgot i had, a lot of zeppelin, which is nice.

As for the cottage i am trying to buy, i am waiting on a judge to put a stamp on the paper and i can pay the man and it will be mine, i also want this off my plate as the reconstruction in the spring will need the space. I will update you as soon as i know something. if for some strange reason it does not go through and I can't buy the place then I will know what the universe is telling me but until then the signs are still unclear on the path ahead of me, the only thing i know is this, it's mine to enjoy the view, it is my job to give you the best description as i can, here i feel i have failed but the photos should make up for it, now go look at the slideshow again.

3 minutes to spare,
i am done, much love

I Know I Promised Words But..

I have been going non stop since I have returned. My car's starter motor has decided to shit the bed. On the upside, I have a new huge flat in ZM and by next Friday I should have closed the deal on my cottage. I promise I will write more but until I have time to really write something worth reading I will not waste yours or my time.

Panorama's

Click for larger versions.

Photos First, Words Second

So Much to Tell You..

but no time to write about it. We are having a great time, taking lots of photos and I will write about all of it and post photos and slideshows when I get back home, I promise.

Hang in there.

Let the Fun Begin

Martina, Joey and I are now at the Vienna airport about to board the plane to begin our journey. We have 12 hours of nicotine free traveling ahead of us. :) I am hoping my download of Mad Men from last night finishes before we board.

More when I get in tonight.

What A Week

I am not sure how I really feel about it other than this morning I understood that it is not for me to worry about, they are things I have little or no control over so I will not allow this "course correction" (setback is the word I would have used yesterday.) to bring me down. Just to give you some background, I moved from the flat I have lived in for the last two years and have moved to a temporary flat 20 minutes outside of the city the second issues is trying to register my car in my name. There appears to be a new law in Slovakia that will not allow me to register a car because I have not lived here for 5 years. I am trying to get the exact law in question but the Relocation Firm which is helping me is also as confused by this as I and promise me they will figure out a way. The car issue is more of an typical government red tape issue i had not expected but should have. The real issue has been the move. I finally got it this morning, that I had spend the better part of 2 years there and I felt as if I was just starting to become part of the community and really knew the in's and out's of my little section of Petrzelka. Most people will never be able to understand why I love the place so much but it was the location and view from the flat that made it so special to me. I will also miss the people who have come and gone through those doors who I am not sure I will see again, life is funny they way people enter and exit your life sometimes. But right now as I write this I feel better because I will have the memories of so many great people and times in that flat. My only hope is the new tenets take my advice and keep the great energy the place has going.

So what is next for me? Monday I leave for the States with my friends Martina and Joey for a 15 day trek around the Eastern Seaboard from Richmond to D.C. to New Jersey for a Giants / Redskins football game, up to Camp then to the Beach House for a few days of relaxing and day trips into NYC. I will see about updates as I go but most likely I will not post much for a few weeks but be sure to check bak often just in case. Remember the site is Ad free so the only one who profits is my ego when i get my site hit report.

My New Car

1996 Audi A4 TDi 170000km
ABS - Airbags - Leather
CD - AC
Other than the rims, (spinners maybe?) I love it.

Update

So my permit is only good for one year, which sucks as I was hoping for a 2 year but no worries, renewal is just a formality and payment and I get to stay another year.

Waponi Woo ver. 2.0 was picked up today.

I should have a car by early next week. (I am looking now at an 1998 Audi A4 TDi)

And the cottage should be mine by the end of September.

Snoop Dog is growing at a rapid rate. I took her to the vet today for a quick check up and she is doing fine.

I will spend the weekend in Myjava for a Ska and Reggae festival.

That's all for now, I am busy and have shit to do. Later....

It's Official!!!

I am a legal Slovak resident now for two years. The papers have been issued and I pick them up on Wednesday. I can't tell you what a relief it is to have this done and off of my plate. The stress of wondering if anyone was ever going to figure out I had been here for 2 years illegally before I got my working and living papers.

Now what is on the agenda for me.
1st - Waponi Woo ver. 2.0 (don't worry if you don't understand, it means something to me, it is a promise I made to myself when I first got here.)

2nd - VW Golf TDi for around 3000 euro (the conversion rate of $1.42 to 1.00 euro is killing me)

3rd - Close on the sale of my cottage in Kremnica

4th - Find a place to rent in Kremnica while I am renovating the cottage.

Ok I need to get going as I have a ton of stuff I can now start in motion, things that have waited to long for this day.

More to follow.

I Have a New Girl in My Life

I meet her at Joey and Martina's cabin last Friday. I could not believe it, I saw her, we both walked up to each other, I reached out to touch her and it was like magic. Total love at first sight. She followed me up to the cabin and we have been together ever since. My pet name for her is Snoop Dog or Snoopy. She is soooo cute.

Photo of her..

Please feel free to leave comments or ratings. I always enjoy reading them.

Hi

Can't Sleep

So I Am Still Waiting....

I hoped that my visas and other documents would be finished by now. I misjudged the pace of government work in Slovakia but really I knew I was kidding myself to think it would be done by the end of July. So now I am hoping for the 15th of August. That is a more realistic date. Of course I could be wrong. These last few months have been stressful for me (remember - my level of high stress may be very different from yours, it's about perspective.) because I have many plans that are on hold until I get the temporary residency papers and working papers. The first thing I will do is buy a car, a VW Golf TDi. I am spending to much time in Kremnica not to get one and the TDi gets great milage. The other thing is the cabin, I want to start the reconstruction as quickly as I can. Even though I will not get electricity until December I want everything ready to go by then. I plan on selling my Honda when I return in September, there is no reason for me to keep it as I will be here for the next two years at least.

So what else? I am sitting out on the balcony smoking and writing as the rain gently falls on this cool gray day. I have not decided exactly where I will land on September 1st when I have to move out of my flat in Petrzelka. Part of me is thinking of making the move to Kremnica then and finding a small flat to rent for 6 moths to a year while I take care of the cabin renovations. But this will only happen if I get my papers by the 15th. I want to be positive I can stay before I make that move. If I still have not heard by the 15th I will concentrate on finding a temporary place to live for 1 month and still keep Kremnica on the back burner in case the paperwork does come through. But again I am hopeful that everything will all fall into place exactly when and where it needs to. We will see.

OK time for me to get some lunch, I will see if I am up for writing more later.

Ok today is better