Archive for the year 2009
Brian’s Trip Photos
Posted on March 3, 2009 by Ching under Travel.
This is a pretty good representation of Brian’s business trip so far…
Anyway, I thought I would share some of the pictures that he has sent so far. Here’s a picture of one of my favorite poker players, Daniel Negreanu. Brian said everything was in German, including poker!
Brian’s first official meal in Germany…
Some pictures of Brian’s hotel room…
When they say minimalistic, they really mean it! Brian said his mattress was hard as a rock and the pillow was like air. What a combination!
The long and “quiet” ride to Attendorn…
Arriving in Germany…
Keep the pictures coming, baby!
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Germany Day 3
Posted on March 3, 2009 by Brian under Travel.
Well today was a little better.
I got a lot done on the testing, got some data entered and found some errors that needed to be corrected. I went to lunch today and it was a Chinese place that had a buffet. I stuffed myself with sweet and sour pork and chicken. It was wonderful. This morning I had a Banana, man I never thought a Banana could taste so good. They asked me if I wanted eggs. I said yes and they asked if I wanted hard or Scrambled. I told then fried hard. It came out sunny side up with minced garlic and onions on it. I didnt realise that you could screw up eggs, but yep. Had pizza again for dinner but thats only because I am about to drop. I was invited to join a small poker tourney this evening with the CRm deam but I was just too tired to do it. I would have fallen over on them. Only 10 more days left. I am counting them down. Maybe tomorrow I will get a burger.
More tomorrow, at the moment I can barely keep my eyes open. I am hoping to sleep through th night this time.
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Germany; Day 1 and 2.
Posted on March 2, 2009 by Brian under Family, Life, Travel.
I have come to the realization that as Americans we take a lot for granted. I was one of those people. I took everything that I had available to me for granted. You hear so many people that say that other countries have it better. This is not true.
I was recently asked to go to Germany by my company. I was a little Leary at first because it was going to be a 2 week stay. I don’t like being away from my wife and family and if I travel in the states, its a little easier to jump on a plane and get home if something bad were to happen. But not going was not and option. It was going to cost far less and be much easier to go to Germany than it was going to be to have the team come here. I got myself psyched up and decided that this was going to be a good thing. I had talked to a few people that told me that everything was going to be OK that there was not much of a difference between Germany and America. They said that English was like a second language and that pretty much everyone spoke it. Well this was not true.
Day 1: After a rather long and boring flight I landed in Frankfurt. I needed to buy a prepaid phone because I did not have one that I could use in Germany that would not cost me a dollar a minute to make a call. I found one right away and bought it. Got the card put it in and was on my way. I needed to find a meeting point. In German Airports they actually have places that everyone gather to get picked up by various modes of transportation. I asked some guy that worked for the airport (he spoke English) and he pointed me in the right direction. Good thing too because I would not have found it other wise. When I got there I just stood for a moment and sure enough the guy with the Viega sign showed up. First thing he asks me is if I speak German. I responded No. He then told me he spoke no English and pointed my butt out the door. I followed him to his car and then we were off. 2 hours of silence to Attendorn.
There is the first thing we take for granted. Communication, you have no idea the impact it has on a person that has never been to a non-English speaking country to be thrust into a situation where he can not speak to anyone. It only got worse from there. The nice lady at the hotel spoke enough English to get by but not much. When I got in I was told that there was nothing to eat. the Diner was closed. This sucked because I was starving. I found a little shop that was open late so i decided to jump in there. Wouldn’t you know it, they don’t speak any English at all. it took me 15 min to get a cheese pizza ordered. The ability to communicate is very important to a person. You loose that ability and you loose the ability to control the situation. I finally got my pizza and went to my room. I turned the TV on and everything was in German (of course). I found “High Stakes Poker” and decided that it was going to have to do. It was in English but had German announcers and interviews. I decided to get on the internet and see if I could chat with my wife. This at first did not work. The internet that was supposed to be in the hotel was not and the only thing I could find was a week connection from some place relatively close (this is what I am on now).
I learned before I left that I would need a power converter as Germany uses a different power set up. I got one from Wal-mart (first mistake) and plugged it in. I realized after a few hours that I smelled plastic burning. Wouldn’t you know it the dammed converter is melting. I pulled it out then decided to just shut everything down and go to bed. It was about 4 in the afternoon German time and I thought I could sleep until at least 4 or 5 am. Nope. I woke up at about 10. turned the TV on and decided to chat with my wife. I did so for a few moments then she had to leave. I turned everything off then watched some more tv. Around midnight the breaker in the room blew out. Maybe because of the converter. I tried to call the office and there was no answer. I figured they might be busy. I got dressed and walked to the office and it was locked up tight. I then realized that Germany does not have the same hotels as America. There desk people close up shop after a specific time. This is just great. i am sitting in a room with no power and I can not do anything. I use the last of my battery to chat with my wife. Then in a moment of desperation at about 3 in the morning I call her and just unload. I was so emotional that I just could not hold it in. Once i got it out of me I was able to sleep a little longer.
Day 2: I woke up at about 6:30 local time and showered in the dark. That’s a real trick let me tell you. I went to the office and told them about what happened. They looked at my room and told me that they would get the maintenance guy to look and maybe have to move me. I told them whatever worked and thanked them for there assistance. I went to the Viega office and got checked in. Spent most of the morning with Mattias and got introduced to everyone that I would be communicating with in the next two weeks. Luckily all of them speak decent English. There are a few things they have a hard time understanding but for the most part they got a firm grasp of the language. I got schooled real quick about Germany from everyone. They advised me of some real interesting points to remember for the future.
First, Most Germans do not speak English, especially in small towns like this. Second, Small towns like this tend to close up tighter than a ducks butt after a specific time and almost always on Sunday. Then I learned that the food is far different. I got up for breakfast and was served Rolls, OJ and some meats that I could not recognize and Poached Eggs if I wanted them and some very bland cereal. I ate a roll, drank two glasses of OJ then bounced. Lunch was actually good. But Matthias took me to a place that served Lasagna. Dinner was chicken because I asked Matthias and he thought that anything chicken would be good. This is not true. I got a Chicken dinner and there was so much wine in it that I had an allergy flash. I stopped eating after about 3 bites and just ate these little potato things. They were not bad. I bought some snacks earlier from a grocery store thanks to Matthias. I just went back to the room and munched on this stuff.
Here is another example of things we take for granted. We have the ability to get up and go anywhere at any time and have a meal. Most places are open late, others are open 24 hours. When you go to another country you do not have these options. I was told that the larger cities had McDonald’s and what not but most were like here.
I am now sitting in this room and blogging. I am using the weak connection that is holding up pretty good. I will have to go to the diner or te bar this weekend if I want ot use the web cam I think. I plan on doing that simply because I have to see my wife. Other than that I am doing my job and counting the days. I have 11 days left and then its back to the warm loving arms of my wife. I can not wait.
I will detail more of my trip later. I think know I am going to crash.
Everyone enjoy and have a good day/night.
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WPT Celebrity Invitational
Posted on March 1, 2009 by Ching under Poker.
As you know, a bunch of our poker buddies went to LA this weekend to participate in the WPT Celebrity Invitational. Live updates are available on the WPT web site (thanks for the info, Dill) so we were able to keep up with how the players are doing. Of course, Sunny sent some periodic updates also.
| So here’s the schedule.. | ||
|---|---|---|
| FEB 28 | 12 PM | Player registration begins. |
| 6 PM | Red carpet arrivals and cocktail hour. | |
| 7 PM | Tournament begins. $200 re-buys for the first three levels. |
|
| MAR 1 | 3 PM | Tournament resumes for all remaining players. Play ends when only six players remain. |
| MAR 2 | 4 PM | TV final table taping begins for the remaining six players. |
Sunny was knocked out on the first day, but Scott kept the dream alive. He was 12th in chip stack, just behind Phil Laak, at the end of day one (see below).
Incidentally, Scott actually outlasted Phil. Scott was eventually knocked out in 18th place. Not a bad finish considering a starting field of 433 poker players. Anyway, I can’t wait to hear all the stories and see all the pictures!
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My First Necklace
Posted on March 1, 2009 by Ching under Projects.
Jan and I hung out at the mall yesterday after I dropped Brian off at the airport. After looking at some overpriced jewelry, I decided that I would make good on my plans of making my own. So off to Hobby Lobby we went.
After picking up $30 in jewelry making stuff (just miscellaneous odds and ends because I already had some pliers at home, which I use to work with my Art by Amy pieces), I was ready for my first try. My first project was a pair of earrings for me. Those worked out really easily because it was mainly just affixing the glass pendant to fish hook earring wire via jump ring. Quick and easy. I would have taken a picture, my camera phone kept taking it blurry so I just gave up. I think I will wear it today to show Jan.
My second project this morning was Jan’s glass heart necklace (shown above). This posed more of a challenge because I had to hide the ends of the leather cord. Although, it was still pretty simple to do as jewelry projects go. I’m giving the necklace to her at brunch today. I hope she likes it. 🙂
Anyway, I think I’m going to hit Wal-Mart on the way home for some charms and beading stuff. I’m so excited. I can’t wait to make some more stuff.
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