Archive for the year 2010
He’s Back!
Posted on July 11, 2010 by Ching under Family, Travel.
Seemed like only yesterday that I dropped Brian off at the airport. Now I’m back at the airport again. I’m not even caught up with posting all of the pictures yet!
Our first stop when we got back into town on Monday afternoon was Great Clips for Brian’s haircut. Then we went to Fazoli’s to have dinner with Brian’s parents and grandparents.
It was a “going away” dinner of sorts.
I took Brian to the airport the next day.
And off he went with his shiny, new haircut.
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I’m So Out of It
Posted on July 11, 2010 by Ching under Life.
So this morning I decided I would go out to the gym to workout. I was totally thrilled to find only half a dozen cars in the parking lot when I got there. I had gotten a text from my sister as I was driving in the parking lot, so I decided to check it as soon as I got the car in park. Jenni said that mom had food at the house.
Not having eaten any real food in almost 24 hours, the tempation was too hard to resist. I decided to drive out to Derby to my mom and dad’s house. Before leaving the Andover YMCA parking lot, I sent off a Twitter update pretty much saying how pleased I am with myself for finding a new workout time when there’s hardly anyone at the gym (because it’s always overcrowded any other time).
When I got to my parents’ house and was able to check my phone again (I don’t check it while I’m driving — safety first), I saw a reply from Jess. It simply stated, “I thought they didn’t open until 12 on Sundays.” That would explain why there were no cars in the parking lot. Doh?!
I could have sworn that I saw a workout class that started at 9:30 AM. I must have been looking at the wrong schedule or wrong day or something. =P I probably would have realized my error had I actually walked to the locked doors. I did check the schedule just now and it looks like they open at 10:00 AM (unless I’m looking at it wrong). Either way though, I was there way too early for them to be open.
When I got to my mom’s house, she already had pancit ready. My sister was also up. We’re the only three people I know who consistently get up at the crack of dawn. My mom and I more so than my sister. I think she only started doing this recently, so there must be something wrong with her. It’s normal for me to get up at 6:00 AM without an alarm. Although, yesterday I was up by 4:30 AM. Today, I got up at 6:30 AM. My mom does the same thing. I guess I must have gotten it from her.
Anyway, I was telling mom and Jenni how I had gotten these two CDs the other day when I was at Linkhaus for Sunny’s remote. Sunny drew my name and my friend’s name so we both got to pick CDs. I ended up with both of them. My pick was Kings of Leon, which I’d been listening to in the car since Friday night. I heard them for the first time when their music was used in the 2009 Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
This morning, I finally unwrapped the other CD. I put it in the CD player and started listening. I really liked the music although (a couple of minutes into the first song) I did tell myself, “I think this is Country.”
So I asked mom and Jenni if either of them wanted this Country music CD that I’d won. “Who is it?” Jenni asked. I said, “It’s a band called Lady Antebellum..” Mom was like, “I want it!” While Jenni was like, “How do you not know that Lady Antebellum performs Country music?”
“I don’t know. I don’t listen to Country,” I replied. “I don’t listen to Country either, but they’re all over the TV. You can’t miss them!” Jenni thinks I’m a do-do head because this is something that I obviously should have known. I’m just out of it, I guess.
This is what happens when Brian is away. I turn into a bumbling fool. I also blame it on the lack of sleep. Usually waking up early (they way I normally do) doesn’t bother me because I’m in bed early also. Falling asleep in a Brian-less bed has proven to be quite a challenge. Excuses aside, I’m just not hip and I’m also not immune to ocassional “stupid” moments.
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My Perfect Future
Posted on July 10, 2010 by Brian under Life, Travel.
In my limited, yet varied travels, I have noticed that there is a wide variety of technological differences in the world. I find it hard to believe that in this day and age, there is not some form of uniformity across the board.
For example, I first started to notice the technological differences when I went to Jamaica. They had English TV but it was limited and not very good. I know what you are thinking, if you are in Jamaica, you better not be watching TV and I totally agree. However, think of those people that travel there for business that are not there for the sites. Those poor bastards have to come back from a long day of negotiations or selling and have limited or no means of relaxing. You have to agree, that TV is one of many form of relaxation. I also took note of the internet speeds. It slays me that we still have places in the world that have no broadband internet access.
Now before you all start tearing me apart, I am not counting those countries that are underdeveloped or under privileged. I understand that there are places in this world that still don’t have electricity.
I continued to take note when I first went to Germany. There they have government run television that is rolled into your taxes. Of those channels, only 1 is in English, the rest are all in German or Dubbed in German. I was told that it used to not be that way. At one point most re-televised American programs were just subtitled. However, in recent years, there are more and more shows that are dubbed. You would think that Germany and Other European countries would jump on the Uniformity band wagon because it would give them a leg up on the tourist industry. Just think of the brochures, advertising to the tourist “American TV, Never miss any of your favorite shows”.
The same goes for the internet. They have it here in Germany, but its very spotty, underpowered and unreliable. You pay 4 to 20 Euros a day depending on where you are in the country to get this kind of service. It’s so poor that you can not run applications like Skype or Google Talk. If you do get it to work its not very good and you drop connection often.
And forget about streaming. Besides the poor internet access, there is the licensing agreement. It amazes me that the networks are not trying to push there products across the seas. I mean BBC has made it to America but CBS, FOX, NBC and any number of other stations, including HBO, MAX, SHO and the other cable movie channels are nowhere here. It’s a prime market; most of these people (especially the younger ones) eat up anything American. They have music stations that play nothing but American music but no Television or streaming sites.
In my perfect future, it would not matter where you went, you would have the same options available to you. The same services that you get in New York are available in the Netherlands. If you jump to Japan, you have the same feature as Johannesburg.
I just feel that the companies are missing out on a global industry and they could be making not only more money, but improving the life of so many by exposing them to American standards that should be available to everyone.
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Some Pictures from Last Weekend
Posted on July 10, 2010 by Ching under Travel.
JC Nichols Fountain
Brian and I were amused by this sign. We understood the necessity for the first two warnings. But the third one? Seriously? Boating has really been such a problem at the JC Nichols Fountain that they felt the need to include it in the warning? Really?
They must have really eccentric people in the area to want to go boating in the fountain. Hmm… I always knew there was something off about Kansas City folks. =P
We took a ton of pictures. Mostly of food.
The sculptures and plants are a constant fixture at the Plaza. They always have great looking plants. I had to take a picture of this hibiscus because the flowers were enormous. It reminds me of Chi-Chi on steroids.
Its leaves are like five times the size of Chi-Chi’s leaves. Brian thinks that if we were to plant Chi-Chi in the ground or in a larger pot, she would grow to be the size of this hibiscus plant also. I think they might be two different varieties, though. I just can’t imagine Chi-Chi ever getting this big.
I took a picture of this corner because Brian and I ate here on our very first trip to Kansas City, over ten years ago (before we were married). The restaurant occupying the space at the time was Canyon Cafe. I think it’s changed a few times since then. Now 810 Zone is there.
Click here for more pictures from last weekend and here for pictures from a Kansas City trip we took six years ago.
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Attendorn Germany, Day 1
Posted on July 7, 2010 by Brian under Life, Travel.
Today is the first day of my trip to Attendorn Germany. This is my second time coming over here so I am a little more familiar with the surroundings. Plus, I have two of my coworkers with me this time, Chad Molen and Jordon Rose.
I am not a big fan of coming to Germany, the TV sucks, hardly anyone speaks English in this little town (the larger cities have more English speaking people) the food is not all that great (except the Turkish place, it’s always great), the hotels are not that good (it’s 80 degrees and the hotel we are in has no AC) and it’s difficult to get anywhere. Chad likes it here and this is Jordon’s first time so he is stoked no matter what.
There is not much to say about the flight, it was long and boring and because I didn’t have Ching to lay my head on, I could not sleep on the flight. I don’t think the burly Coast Guard guy sitting next to me would have liked me snuggling up to him on the flight. It could have gotten awkward. I just got up from a lengthy 5 hour nap. I think I’m going to regret that later.
We got off the plane and headed out to where we were supposed to meet the driver that Viega got for us. After an hour we decided to call Katrin (the lady here in Germany that made all of our arrangements) and find out what happened. We learned a few minutes later that the driver got into a car crash on the way over here, not sure how that happened or if the guy is OK but they said they were going to send another driver to pick us up. After about an hour we wandered outside to see our driver looking for us. We made our way over to his car and off we went.
Now things get interesting. We started our drive out of Frankfurt pretty normal. Then, about 30 to 45 minutes into the 2 hour drive, Jordon fell asleep and Chad and I talked about various things. I had been watching out the front window and I noticed that the driver kept swerving very close to the center line and a few times came very close to other cars as he passed. Remember this is on the Autobahn, so we are doing speeds close to if not more than 100 mph. I decide that I am going to watch our driver in the rear view mirror for a few minutes. At the angle the mirror is at and my position in the car, I can see his eyes perfectly. I start to notice that the guy has the cruise control on and he is falling asleep at the wheel. I immediately point this out to Chad and he said that he had noticed it as well. For the remainder of the drive we tried desperately to make as much noise as possible to keep this guy awake. At one point, we actually thought we were all going to die. We came so close to a semi truck that even Chad turned a little white at that point. Jordon was asleep and woke up to Chad and I screaming and wanted to know what was going on. Our driver spoke no English nor understood what we were saying so we told Jordon the brief horror story. He chuckled and I think tried to suppress his concern. A crash on the Autobahn is a serious thing and I kept telling Chad, “I do not want to die in a foreign country.” He chuckled and said, “I don’t want to die period.” It was then that we decided that we were going to talk to Katrin and ensure that we do not get that driver for the return trip. Hopefully, we won’t get the one that wrecked either. Maybe we can get one of our Viega friends to take us next Friday.
Anyway, thank goodness we made it to the hotel safe and sound and we got checked in. We put our luggage up and I had previously convinced the guys that we should go to the Turkish place and get grub. I got my douner and they got the same with Fries. After that I came back to my room and got my internet access set up (I insisted on having a room with wireless access, it’s a must for communication) and checked my email, Facebook and Twitter. Then I set out to take a short nap that turned into 5 hours.
That pretty much sums it all up. I am in my room now, blogging, which I rarely do. And waiting for the guys to wake up so we can get dinner, I think we are going to go to the Pub on the corner, they server burgers and there is a Big Screen for Jordon to watch soccer on. I guess Germany is playing tonight so we have to show our support for our company’s home team. I doubt I will stay for the whole game. I think my plans involve coming back to the room and going to bed. I have a long day ahead of me and a lot to learn, so I want to be on my game tomorrow, not thinking of sleeping.
I will write more tomorrow but I doubt it will be this lengthy or exciting. I miss my wife and family terribly.
Love you all, see you soon.
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