Sorry

Sorry, too much to do. I'll post later sometime when I have more time.

The Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice! Today is the shortest day of the year, which means that its time to party like its 2000 B.C. The ancient tradition is to take a large log and to put all the bad energy (sins, spirits, daemons, etc.) into the log and drag it around town collecting these evil things and then burn the log in a huge fire to purify the town and the people, so they are ready for the new year. There is of course a lot of singing and dancing to go with the purification ceremony, which means good times for everyone. In related news the shortest day of the year also means that from now until mid-summers the days will get longer and not darker. Wooohooo!

Good Weekend

I finally got the chance to relax a little this weekend. Lena and I slept in until noon on both days. The weather was crappy so we didn't go out much. I tried not to go at all, but sometimes that just isn't possible. Things are going well. I'm looking forward to spending Christmas in Madona. It should (and always is) a good time. In other news, it was trying to snow here, but all that came down was a wet mush. Unless something changes it doesn't look like its going to be a white Christmas, but from what I've been told it is white in Madona, so things are looking up. Anyway, that's all for now.

My quiet requests

Well Christmas time is here, actually it's been here for awhile, but I've been so busy that I haven't had a chance to enjoy it. I probably won't be enjoying it any time soon. In case it anyone was wondering what Christmas in Riga is like I'll start the countdown. The big thing is the Christmas market that has been set up outside of my office window in Oldtown. I remember more decorations last year. The Christmas spirit isn't as strong this year as is was last year or maybe I just haven't noticed. Lena and I are planning on going ice skating on Saturday, which should be fun. The place where we are going should be completely engulfed in the Christmas spirit, so hopefully I'll get a feeling for it then. I have been constantly thinking of the new year and all the hope and joy that I am expecting it to bring. I heard from a colleague that 2005 is shaping up to be one of the most profound years of his life. I'm hoping that 2005 will be a turning point for me as well, and that from that point on my life will be full of nothing, but happiness and joy with moments that make great stories to be told to children and grand-children. Maybe I am expecting to much. The one thing that I have to continually remember is that none of this will happen by me just sitting here and hoping. Which of course begs the question of whether I'm doing enough to make the changes. In truth, I have no idea. Conceding I don't know what needs to be done. I know where I am now, and that it is not where I want to be. I know where I want to be, but I'm unclear as to how I get there. I do know how I will know once I've gotten there. At that point my life should be complete, and there won't be anything left to do but live it.

The Weather.

I think I've been posting a little too much about myself, so I think that I should do a little run down of what is going on in Latvia. Well, its cold, but not as cold as it could be. I remember last year around this time it was - 12 degree C (? 'F). Which for those of you who don't know that means that no matter how many layers of clothing you put on, as soon as that wind blows your going to feel it. It's a piercing wind that seems to go all the way to your bones. Most people don't stand around outside for very long. Along with the wind comes the darkness. For you southerners, which is everyone (except Scandinavia and St. Petersburg). It starts getting dark around here at 3 PM (15.00) and when the sun doesn't shine for a few weeks you start to notice it. Usually around mid January you start to her people asking each other the last time the remember seeing the sun (?Dark City?). I saw the sun on Sunday. I haven't really been bothered by the darkness as much as I was last year. Lena helps a lot to take my mind off those kinds of things. Usually the weather doesn't bother her at all. I really am grateful to have Lena by my side through the long winters. Oh well, there I go talking about myself again when I wanted to talk about Latvia. Maybe next time.

It's Here!

Well things are finally looking up, because I got a call from the package guy. My family in the U.S. sends Lena and I packages about 4 times a year usually filled with junk food, because you can't get decent junk food in Latvia. The package guy is the guy who delivers the packages and he usually calls to see if we are home. Well, he called this morning and said that he would drop off the package this evening, so ever since this morning I've been eagerly awaiting the end of the day so that Lena and I can rush home and have an early Christmas. Lena and I were going to start a new diet today, but I guess that idea is going to have to wait until we eat everything. In other news the one project that involved a radio station is holding its first event on Friday, which should be interesting, and without even doing anything this project is going to help and turn into another project that involves setting up a consultant firm. Oh well, that's all for now.

Tired

I don't really have anything important to say, other than I'm tired. Why is it that I'm always tired after I eat lunch? I think that this isn't good...long pause...what!whathappend? Oh, sorry I must have dosed off there for a bit, but I'm back now and ready for action, but there is no action to be had. O.K. well I don't feel like writing anymore you can just make up the rest yourselves. Bye.

Worst

Does anyone remember afew weeks ago when I said that everytime I say "its the worst day ever" then right around the corner there is another day that's even worse. Well for those of you who don't remember it seems like everytime I say "this is the worst day ever" there is always another day that's just around the corner that's even worse. For those of you whose heads haven't exploded, "This is the worst day ever". Things are going poorly. I seem to be losing control of my life. I don't know why it took so long, but yesterday I realized that I'm not as good a person as I thought I was. I realized that I had made some mistakes in my life, but I thought that a mistake was a mistake and there was nothing a person could do but move on, but now looking back on all the mistakes I realize that I have just been careless. There have been countless times when if I would have just stopped to think I could have avoided total disaster. And while I don't want to be consumed by regrets, I have the feeling that it is already to late to learn from my mistakes. Learning to stop and think is one thing, but learning how to handle a disaster after is has happened is completely different. Preventing the disaster from happening again is easy, but trying to get people to forget the disaster is impossible. The only hope I have found is a stupid quote from and movie I've forgotten long ago "Time heals all wounds", but what happens if you don't have time, or if everyone involved can't wait. How can time do it's work when memory is constantly regurgitating the information so it stays fresh in your mind? Is it possible to fight memory? How do you fight it? Right now that more actual quote that is running through my head which I'm still not sure if I'm going to listen to or not is "Every New Year's Eve is a second chance". I'm still not sure if that's true or if I want it to be true. Right now all I know is that I'm lost. My mind is betraying me, while my heart is staying on the path, which has turned into a rocky cliff leading up into the blinding light.

Thank you for reading. This rant has been more for me than for you, but thank you for participating. If any of this makes sense to anyone, please write me an explanation, because I have no idea.

Worries

Well, another day another thing to worry about. Tomorrow I'm going to finally read my paper that I have written for Lettonia. I still am not sure how I'm going to do, but at this point it has been put off for so long that I am not worrying about it too much. Things at work are getting better. I finally started doing a few things that I've been trying to get out of the way, but that I haven't had the motivation to do. One big thing that worries me that I need to send out Christmas cards to everyone tomorrow so that they get them around Christmas time, but I haven't been able to get to the store to pick them up. I took the night off from Lettonia so that I can take care of things like the Christmas cards. Lena and I still have no plans for New Years, but today our grand plans of traveling somewhere have been boiled down to either the cultural centre in Riga or the cultural center in Madona. My vote is for the one in Madona, because we will know more people and beable to let loose a little more. The cultural center events in Riga are usually full of rich old people that long for the days of the first republic. It is a shame though that we won't be going anywhere like Tallinn or Minsk, but those things will come with time.

A Lost Friend

Today, I got an email from a guy named Janis who was here when I arrived in Latvia in the fall of 2002. We used to party hard and had a good time doing it. He tried to do what I have done and make a life for himself here in Latvia. Its hard to come here and start a new life. Anyway, he moved to California and as I understood things went well there, but now he has a huge credit card debt and is looking to go teach English in South Korea to pay it off and make some money so that he can move back here and give living here another try. I told him I'd help him out as much as I could, but that will all depend on the completions of my projects. If things go well then I'll not only beable to give him a job, but I'll beable to help other foreign Latvians that want to come here, but don't want to work at The Baltic Times and don't speak Russian as to beable to get a better job. Many people have come and gone since I've been here. I guess I'm barely hanging on myself, but I've plans.

Things to do

Again I have been slacking on blogging duties. I have been going months without anything to do and now all of a sudden the heavens have opened up and I don't have time to blog anymore. Don't worry I will find time to blog even if it is not regularly. I have so many things to do I thought my head was going to "Asplode" but on Sun. I sat down and wrote out a list of things I have to do and rank them in the order that I have to do them. It turned out to be 12 things that reach into next summer. I did a presentation for one project this morning that went well and I can finally reveal that I have been hired as a consultant to StarFM (A radio station that just launched a morning show and is looking for help with it's image), which means that I won't be leaving The Baltic Times right away, but I will be sending a lot of emails and going to presentation while working at The Baltic Times. Other projects I don't want to jinx so I'll keep them on the"downlow", but don't worry as soon as something happens you'll be the first to know.

A New Project

Last night someone told me that people who are busy always find time, and those who do nothing never have enough time. Well just when I thought my plate was full, another project falls into my lap. The benefits of this project are that it is actually interesting and something that I have a lot of experience in. The big question is will I beable to pull it off. My work on the project will either get me a job or slap me in the face and make me re-think one of the other projects that is currently asking for time. I might actually discuss this project on here, but I have to think about that one first. See ya tomorrow.

Kegs vs. Cases

Its that time of year when my friends for high school and I would organize a new years eve trip to a cabin in the Pocono's. Obviously this year I will not beable to participate, but through the magic of modern technology I have been able to keep up to date on the planning process through mass e-mail. Today an interesting problem arose that I thought I should mention. "Which is better for a weekend of drinking? Kegs or Cases?" I came up with this short list of pros for each, please feel free to add your own.

Kegs:

1. Kegstands
2. Less Mess
3. Doesn't take up valuable fridge space.
4. The thrill of kicking it
5. Solo cups

Cases:

1. Shotguns
2. More Variety
3. No head
4. No ice bags
5. Bottles

Thanksgiving and a Speech

Yesterday, after work I ran home to get my laptop so that I could go over to the Lettonia house to see if the projector is compatible with my computer for the presentation I have to give tonight. After that I went to the store and picked up some pieces of turkey, corn, and veggies. It set a table made of stools with a towel for a table cloth and lit some candles so that everything would be ready by the time Lena got home from class. Everytime I try to surprise her with something romantic she always seems to come home early, or I'm running late, but it didn't turn out that bad. We had a lovely thanksgiving, unfortunately I spent most of the night working on my presentation. This presentation has taken up most of my life for the past week and I will be very happy when it is all over, but only if I do well. I have the feeling that this presentation will be a major disaster. I have spent most of the day working on it while avoiding the mountain of stuff that I have to do for my job. The second unfortunate thing is that my mind is elsewhere trying to deal with a major problem that I won't go into right now. This "other thing" is huge and I wish I could focus all my time and energy to resolving it, but my life won't allow that right now. If all goes well, after tonight I will beable to think clearly and figure something out to make everyone happy. Wish me luck!

Thanksgiving, Ukraine, Kongress, Snow

Happy Thanksgiving!

My plans for thanksgiving consist of getting ready for my presentation tomorrow. I'll probably call home, but there will be nothing major.

I wanted to mention the situation in Ukraine and how crazy things are getting. Even worse is the fact that it is splitting U.S. and Russian relations. All it would take would be one gunshot and Russian troops would move in to protect pro-Russia supporters and then the U.S. would be forced to send in "Peace Keepers" and there goes the whole shabang.

Something that I completely forgot about until I saw it mentioned on Latviansonline was that ALJA Kongress has started today. The American Latvian Youth (Jaunatnes) Association holds their annual congress on Thanksgiving Weekend. I remember going to several in High School and college. I look back with fond memories, but being in Latvia has changed my outlook on the organization as a whole. Before I get ahead of myself I would like to mention my disgust at the fact that an American organization who has voted against merging with their Canadian counterparts has decided to hold their congress in Toronto. Who's in charge? The organization as a whole has lost its way since Latvia regained independence in 1991. Luckily there are a few people that are doing something about it. A new organization is taking shape that will shake the very foundations of ALJA. Philadelphia (Filadefijas) Latvian Youth (Jaunatnes) Organizing (Ricibas) committee (Komiteja) or FLJRK has set about to bring ALJA back to its roots including bring the congress and other events back to Philadelphia and its surrounding area.

Its still snowing.

Bad Day

Well I have nothing big to report, just that its been a crappy day and that I haven't been able to get anything done. I have many many thigns to do, and no time or motivation to do them. I guess I'll just do what everyone else does and blame it on the weather.

Snow

Well, it was snowing when I woke up this morning and there was about a half a foot (15 cm) of snow on the ground and it hasn't stopped snowing since. I checked the weather report and the snow is supposed to stop around...March. This is the Latvian winter I was waiting for. Last year the winter was warm and wet. It was overall just kind of crappy, but this year is going to be full of the winter wonderland scene. I told Lena that I would like to go skiing at some point this year, but that will all depend on time and money. I haven't skied in years, and the mountains (hills) here aren't anything special but it would just be nice to try and relive my youth. To sound even older, Tomorrow is my 5 year high school reunion. I don't think I'm going to make it. I told some friends to get some pictures, but who knows if they are even going to go. 5 years isn't a really long period of time. The 10 year reunion will probably be huge. Who knows where I'll be at that point. Anyway, that's enough ranting for one day.

Monday

Sorry, Alan your not my first comment. Others have commented before you and while comments are few and far between that doesn't take away from the excellent writing (hahaha). Well, I'm glad to see that you finally figured out how to get to my site and post a comment. Anyway, enough about you, here's more about me.

Well, I'm back at work after a four day weekend where I didn't get to relax at all. Thursday was Latvia's independence day filled with parades and fireworks. It was the usual celebration stuff. Friday I had to come into work for an hour because the administration is concerned about a Germany supplement (blah blah). Lena had to work so I hung out at her work for a little while too. Saturday was Management lectures followed by house cleaning followed by dinner at the editor's apartment to discuss The Project. Sunday was more lectures followed by a little relaxation, but that couldn't be enjoyed because of the thought of work the next day pounding in my head. Today at work was spent sending out CV (resumes) and more scheming to figure out a way to get more money. I don't know if it will ever happen, but sometimes its fun to dream or starting several companies all at once in the hopes that one will be successful so that you'll never have to worry about money ever again. Oh well, back to work (AAARGHH).

Last Post (For a little while)

Since tomorrow is a Latvia's independence day and Friday is also a day off, I guess the next time I will beable to post is Mon. Nov. 22., which seems like I very long ways away, but I'm sure I won't be saying that on Sunday. Plans for the holiday consist of participating in national ceremonies on Thursday, relaxing on Friday, and classes on Saturday and Sunday. It will be nice to not have to think about work for awhile, but that just means that all my time will be focused on other projects. So, bye bye for now and if your well behaved then I'll bring you back something nice.

Profile Photo

I should probably explain the change in my profile photo. Well, the picture is from the trip Lena and I had taken to Sigulda with some friends (I think I mentioned it in a previous post). Lena felt that I should change the picture, because its reflects more of what I look like now and how I act. Anyway, so that's about it.

Crazy Weekend

Well, this past weekend was crazy (hence the title). Friday was quiet. Saturday started with Management lectures at 9.00 (9 am) followed by Work at 11.00 (11 am) which was expressed in my previous post. From work it was straight to the fraternity house at 17.00 (5 pm) where this weekend's party started. In honor of Latvia's independence on Thursday (Nov. 18) Lettonia every year has a "Komerš" which is a whole weekend of ceremonies, singing, eating, and drinking (Of Course). Unfortunately I had to leave at midnight (00.00), because I had another Management lecture at 9.00 (9 am) on Sunday. As could be expected I was late to the lecture, but that didn't matter since I wasn't of much use to anyone including myself. After the lecture I dragged myself back to the frat house where a party that started out with 70 men sitting around a huge table in the convent hall was now just ten guys sitting in the kitchen. Some were having breakfast and beers, while other were roaming around house cleaning up and waking up people who had passed out in every corner of the house. It reminded me of the American-Latvian youth weekends that I attended in high school. After I decided that it was enough I went home, shaved and went with Lena to go by a winter jacket that I could wear with my suit, because I was tired of carrying around my jacket in a bag. I would carry my suit jacket in a bag because it would hang out of my fall jacket, which Lena says made me look like a geek. I am a geek no longer (atleast as far as jackets are concerned). OK well that's enough ranting for now. Here's a link to a website where you can read people's novels in progress. Nanomoblogmo.

Working on Saturday

Hey, look at me I'm working on a Saturday!

And now...the explanation.

Next Thursday is Latvia's Independence Day and so instead of working on Friday after a day off the government declares that Friday will also be a day off, but everyone has to work on the Saturday before to make up for the lost work time.

Anyway, that's all I really wanted to say.

Test

This is a test to see if I can post from any email acount.

Whooohoooo!

I figured it out! I need to set the font to Times inorder to see the Latvian letters! Rock on, so now you people should expect to see alot more Latvian on this page.

More Text Tests

I wonder if I need to change the font. ēŗūīāšģķļžčņ,

Encoding

I don't know about you guys, but whenever I type it Latvian it dosen't come up on my computer, so in order to fix this I changed the encoding of the blog to support Latvian characters, but I need to check if it works so here's alittle something in Latvian.

Es pilnīgi nezinu ko rakstīt bet es ceru ka vis izdosies. Man vaidzetu rakstīt kaut ko ar garumzīmem bet man nekas nenak pratā. Nu tagad redzesim. ēŗūīāšģķļžčņ

No photos

I've been trying for the past few days to post pictures to my blog from my email, but it hasn't been working. Oh well, I guess I'll just keep trying. In other news today is "Mārtiņi" here in Latvia. Martini is an ancient harvest festival that is a cross between Thanksgiving and Halloween. Cooked Goose is usually eating and children parade around in costumes trying to ward off evil spirits. Lena and I are planning on going to dinner with Monta and MārtiÅ†ÅĄ (It's also his name day or "Vārdadiena"). Martins is a local DJ with many of the same aspirations that I have to work with sound an music. I had a crazy idea once that we could start our own company, but those ideas will be slow realize, because of our differing schedules. I work during the day at a newspaper. He works at night in clubs all over the RÄĢga. Ok, see ya tomorrow.

Rough Week

Last night was this semester's color awarding ceremony "krasu piesġirÅĄanu", which is when the pledges, who have completed all the requirements, get their colors. Its a night filled with singing and congratulations (usually with a glass of whiskey and a lot of beer). I had a good time. This week is filled with things I have to do for Lettonia, so I hope next week I'll be able to take a week off. Other than work and Lettonia there isn't a whole lot going on. Lena and I forgot our three year and three month anniversary on Sunday so I guess happy anniversary to us.

Weekend Re-Cap

Friday, Lena and I attended the Latvian National Opera to see the Opera "Toska". It was a good Opera (we were late and had to watch the first act standing in the second balcony). The evening was a fraternity and sorority night at the opera where every year the National Opera closes for the student organizations. It was nice seeing everyone proudly wearing their colors and parading around trying to look as respectable as possible. Toska itself was actually enjoyable to watch. It was understandable (other than some other operas I've seen(Magic Flute)). Something that I like about the Latvian National Opera is that all the opera's are subtitled (or overtitled, because the screen appears at the top of the stage). The text makes any opera easier to follow along. Saturday, I woke up late and went to my first lecture of my Management classes. It was as to be expected, somehow interesting and yet, boring at the same time. After class I had to rush to the Lettonia house to get my pitcure taken. Every new class or "coetus" gets their picture taken with their pledgemaster or "olderman" which is then hung on the wall in a room next too the previous "coetus" pictures dating back to 1870. I remember when I was a guest at one of the guest (recruitment) nights, looking at the pictures wondering what life must have been like back then. Now future generations will beable to stare at me. It is kind of a cool feeling. Sunday, I woke up for the first time in a long while not being more tired then when I went to sleep. It felt great. Lena and I spent most of the day in bed watching TV. Later in the evening I got an SMS (text message) that Bar One was showing the Philadelphia Eagles vs. Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Football game. So, as any Eagles fan would do I jumped out of bed and landed at the bar with a beer in my hand. Unfortunately, the game was just painful to watch. I kept wondering if this was the same team that had been playing the previous games. It was a tragic 27-3 loss. Go Eagles!

Report

There is to report today. Just more of the same. Lena and our going to see Toska at the National Opera. Tomorrow classes start. Sunday, more classes. Monday back to work. Here's a blog of two people taking a trip around the world Worldtrip2004.

Helpful Tips

Today I was in sort of a funk. I had a mountain of work to do, but no desire to do it. Somewhere in the recesses of my mind I pulled out this list of tips for World Domination. (Most likely posting the list would put me on some kind of government watchdog list). I've posted the list in the World's End section of the Neil Gaiman message board, so I can see what people think. Here's the link Tips and Plans for World Domination.

Post-Election Day

Wednesdays are usually the days when the newspaper goes to press. The editor'n chief is on vacation so I was asked to help proof read the paper. I've done it before, usually when anyone goes on vacation I get the call, but today it was hard to concentrate on the paper when all I wanted to know was who won the U.S. Election. I don't know why. I don't really care who wins. My vote has already been rejected, but I stayed up late last night to watch the first returns, and I after waking up, the first thing I did was turn on the TV to see what had happened. The suspense is killing me. I guess I'm attracted by the pageantry of it all. That should also explain why I like Triple Crown and the Superbowl. The U.S. Election has the same pull as a major sports event, but imagine the TV networks cutting the TV feed on the Superbowl with a message saying that the result will only be announced tomorrow, because the all the spectators have to send in their thoughts (OK bad analogy), but the point is that I hope something happens soon. Here's where I've been watching the action unfold. CNN. BBC.

Election Day

The U.S. Election Day is here and eventhough I voted weeks ago, by absentee ballot, only to have the candidate I voted for stricken from the ballot a week later I still fell compeled to find out whats going on as if it were a sports game. the only problem is that due toe the time difference nothing is happening yet and no results are being post other than from a small village where people voted after midnight which I think is strange, but I guess somebody has to be first and there is probably a historical reason for all of it. In other news I didn't post yesterday, because I was finishing up my paper for Lettonia. I handed in the rough draft yesterday and have to hand in the final on Fri. and prepare a presentation for Nov. 19. Also the governemet has fallen here which means that the President has to pick a new Prime Minister to form a new cabinet, but with all the holiday's this month I doubt its going to happen any time soon. I guess thats all for now.

Quick Post

This weekend is full of stuff that needs to get done. Its also Halloween on Sun., but it dosen't look like there is going to be any partying. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday.

Happy Halloween!

To do List

Have you ever had one of those periods in your life when it seems like everything is happening all at once and you can't stop it? I mean, a person can go for months of just absolute boredom, when all of a sudden like lightning out of the blue the whole world falls in on top of you. Here's the list...

1. Work is getting more and more annoying by the day.
2. Its crunch time for Lettonia to get everything done so that by February when my dad comes to visit he can see me get my colors.
2a. I have a paper due on Monday.
2b. I have to learn to fence by the end of the semester
2c. I have to memorize 25 songs and the entire history by the beginning of next semester.
3. School is about to start up again.
4. Money is tight and payday isn't until Nov.
5. Halloween is this weekend and I haven't planned anything (mostly due to reason number 4)
6. Our landlady is coming on Monday and I haven't finished renovating the apartment.
7. The U.S. Elections are on Tuesday, but also due to reason number 4 nothing is planned.
8. I don't even have time to finish this post, So if I don't post for a while I'll be somewhere on this list.

Farewell Terre

Last night we had a kind of farewell dinner for Terre before he continues on his European tour to Bologna, Italy. We went to a Latvian restaurant called Mazie Baltie Krekli (Small White Shirts). Its the restaurant we take everyone when they come to visit. Lena's sister Elina came with us but didn't enjoy the restaurant, so afterwards we went to McDonalds, which only through, Terre did we find out that they are serving onion rings for the time being. Lena had a great time with Terre and it is a shame that we all couldn't have spent more time with him. I guess we'll just have to go visit him in Japan. He has a digital camera and as soon as I ask him for some pictures I'll post them for everyone to see.

Since my Last Post

Well this weekend was interesting. Friday after seeing Lena off at the train station I went to the Lettonia house which turned into a party...which turned into a night on the town...which turned into walking home...which turned into being sick all day on Saturday. I had a large amount of things to accomplish this past weekend and none of it got done. I don't think I'll be partying with my frat brothers again for a very long time. On Saturday, I went to see Terre's exhibition. He's a DJ, but has a movie that goes with the music so it is more of a show. After the show I ended up missing consecutive transports and had to walk home in the rain...again. It was not fun. On Sunday, I woke up early and cleaned the apartment a little before going to meet Terre to show him around Riga and grab some lunch. Later, Lena and her sister Elina came back from Madona. Elina is going to stay with us for a few days. I think she needs a break from Madona. Its rough being a 15 yr. old in a town where there are very few things to do. I showed pictures of Madona to Terre from a calendar we have hanging in our apartment and he said something that fits. "Its one of those places that most kids want to get away from, but that older people want to go back to". I guess Lena and I classify as older people.

The Weekend Ahead

Today Lena is planning to go to Madona for her sister's name day. I wish I could go, but Sat. night is Terre's concert/exhibition. I also have a lot of work to do on my Referats for Lettonia. It seems like November is going to be a full month. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll think of something. In other news the weather is supposed to be unseasonably warm in Riga this weekend, which of course means that I'm not going to be able to enjoy it. I also wanted to ask if anyone that reads this blog that might have experience working in a Deli to please contact me. I have a few questions relating to the Top Secret Project I'm working on. That's all for now.

Trivia

I found something else to keep you people occupied while reading my blog. There is a link that now stands in the sidebar that goes to a Trivia page where you can register, answer questions, and compare your results against the other people that answer. Right now the question pool is history and geography, but as soon as I figure out how to customize the pool I'll change it to be either more challenging or more interesting. I keep looking for new things to add to this blog as to make it more interesting for the people who visit. I don't know if it is working, but I'll keep trying.

Pictures and a Novel

I don't know if anyone noticed, but my picture hasn't been showing for the past few days. Well, if you have noticed I fixed it, and through fixing it I signed up for flickr so not only will my picture work now, but I will also, be able to post more pictures to my blog. I have many pictures of family and of trips around Latvia that I want to show everyone so hopefully I'll posting those sometime soon. In other blogger news there is a national novel writing challenge that will start Nov. 1 and blogger is offering to do it online for everyone to see. Basically you have to create a new blog which will be your novel and write everyday for a month. By the end of all that writing you should either have a novel or a pretty good idea for one. I don't know if I'm going to sign up for it, because I have many many other things going on right now and I barely have the time to post on my blog every work day. (I think I've just talked myself out of doing it). Anyway, that's all the news for now.

Riga's Music Museum

Today I saw the post for Terre's exhibition on Sat. Lena and I were walking to work this morning and passed by it. Lena said that the poster has been up for the weeks and is all over Riga. I don't know how I've missed it. Terre is my sister's husband's brother who lives in Japan and is a electronic music artist who made a film that he's going to show on Sat. at the Riga Music Museum. It should be a good time. Upon reading the website I'm very interested to see the film. It might be a good place to try out Audioblogger that I signed up for last week. I've been waiting to use it, but due to the fact that you have to make a call to California in order to record your message I've been waiting for the right moment. I'm not sure how much that's going to cost so I want to try it and then see how many times I'll be able to do post from my mobile phone without going broke. Here's the info (go to the bottom and click ENG for English) Lovebomb.

Sigulda

I know it has been awhile since I've posted, but don't worry everything is fine and I'm back and ready for more. My last post was Wed., so I'll do a small re-cap of what has happened since then. The big reason why I didn't post on Thurs. and Fri. was computer trouble. (Those computer eating giant bugs can really be a pain in the butt) The most eventful thing that happened since my last post was Sat. when Lena, I and several of her friends went to Sigulda (a city about 60 km (the number is larger in miles) outside of Riga). Most people go to Sigulda in the fall, because it is a great place to see the leaves change color, but Sat. was all overcast and cold. Even with the weather being far from good we had a great time. We walked around the old castles and saw a famous cave that has a whole bunch of signitures of people from the 19th century. After the walk we went to a place next to a lake for a campfire and a picnic. The place next to the lake was cold and wet, but that was all cured by a fire, some food, and I few bottles (wink, wink). A good time was had by all.

Soccer

Today is the World Cup qualifying match between Latvia and Estonia. Its being held in Riga and there are expected to be a few thousand Estonians crossing the border to support their team. Both teams have played well in the qualifying round and this game could be the deciding factor for either team to move on. There is a lot riding on this game for the Estonians who are trying to establish themselves as a competitor on the same level with Lithuania and Latvia. Lithuania has always dominated in basketball and Latvia recently has dominated in Hockey and Soccer, but this year all three teams are competing for the Baltic pride of having the best soccer team in the Baltics. Lithuania is currently sitting on top of it's qualifying group. Go Latvia!

Talantu Fabrika 4

Not knowing what to post I begin to type while thinking of all the things that I said that I would post about and now have forgotten. I am exhausted from wandering the recesses of my mind for an interesting gem that I could post to make everyone go "Ahhhh!". I delve into my mind trying to remember what I did last night, but that ability has left me long ago with only echoes of TV left in my brain. I know I watched TV last night, but what I watched I don't remember. I pause and look out the window at the church steeple clock wishing that it were time to return to the TV only to have it suck even more memories away from me. And like being zapped on the ear by a friend who has just spent the last half hour rubbing his/her feet on the carpet, I am zapped with an idea, but just as quickly as the feeling was received it was destroyed by the interference of someone needing something at work, but they are too late I have already mentioned my post and will not forget so that I can leave and come back and finish the post.
PAUSE.
I wanted to post about the horrible reality show that is being shown right now in Latvia. Its called Talantu Fabrika 4, some of you might remember me mentioning last season's Muzikala Fabrika. Its basically American idol placed in Latvia and made by the same people that have made all of Latvia's reality TV only something is different. Its Crap! The quality of the video, audio, backgrounds, participants, "experts", is all sub-par on a good day. Lets go down the list shall we.

Video: The camera work and editing looks like its being done by a horny 16 year old boy. Most of the shots consist of boobs and closeups with the female participants, which most of whom are barely 18 themselves. (I only recently realized that the camera operator is the son of the producer and might actually be 16, but that doesn't make it right)

Audio: For a reality show based around people singing, you would think that someone would be paying attention to the audio quality. The whole first week the entire show had the Tin-can effect that when people sound like they are speaking through a metal tube. This past week there were two days in a row when the sound was blown out giving that screaming into a microphone effect that makes the audio impossible to hear and unbareable to listen to.

At this point there is a lot more I could complain about, but I realize that I'm ranting and I will stop so that I can save the few readers I might have left.

Doing Nothing

I really haven't done anything today at work. I have discovered that it is really hard to not do anything at work. I went through my usual list of websites that I go to to find out what's going on in the world a new edition to the list is Mixonline which is a magazine about the world of audio recording. My mind is filled with a plan to make some extra money or to even leave my job here completely. I don't want to talk about my plans, because then I don't think that they will happen. My life seems to be more and more dependent on money to the point where it always seems that I never have enough. Something has to be done to fix this. I'm thinking of discovering a diamond mine in Latvia. All I have to do is find it.

Lots of Stuff

There is a lot of stuff to post and not a lot of time to post it, so everything will just have to be short.
Continued from the last post the interview in front of the EU Parliament for Ingrida Udre was filled with just as many questions about her being able to be a commissioner as questions about her prior convictions.
In other news a law banning duel citizenship in certain government positions has past its first reading. There are two more readings to go. If you want to look look at the law and discuss it you can do it at Latvians Online.
A few days ago I received my absentee ballot, but of course I forgot to bring it to work today so I will have to send it on Monday. For those of you who know me don't worry I'm not going to vote for Bush, but that doesn't mean I'm going to vote for Kerry either. If you want to know who I voted for then you are just going to have to ask me.
In more pleasant news I received an email from a person who stumbled onto my blog and just wanted to let me know that he was reading it. Its always nice to know that people are reading your blog. OK, well that's all the time we have from today so tune in next week to find out if Batman and Robin get out of the penguin's clutches.

Udre

As a person in Latvia I feel that I should mention something about what's going on in the news. Today Latvia's Prime Minister nomination for EU commissioner Ingrida Udre is going up against the EU parliament, because the EU Parliament has to approve the all the new comisioners. There has been hot debates about Udre, becasuse she has been convicted of illegal campaign funding, but because she was the speaker of the parliament she couldn't be prosecuted. She also was an avid anti-EU activist before the EU elections. Even the way she was nominated was suspect because everyone thought that Latvia would just re-nominate the old commissioner, but at the last minute the Prime Minister nominated Udre who is from the PM's own political party and who just "happened" to already be in Brussels when the nomniation was announced. Udre has also been criticized in the past for brining her stylist along on publicly funded trips. Anyway that's whets going on here. Here's some Halloween Cocktail ideas.

Song in my Head

Why is it that Blogger only eats the good and meaningful posts. Yesterday I wrote a great post about fall in Riga. "These words are my own" sorry about that, I have this song in my head from watching MTV Europe when we woke up this morning. "I feel so A D D" I don't know what to do. I don't know who wrote the song, but I do remember thinking that it was more of a Spring and Summer song than a Fall song. The singing style was similar to Pink, but more upbeat and very very catchy. "From my heart flown" I think I'm going to go insane. I just googled the name of the song and here are the lyrics so that you can all join in the fun These Words.

Heating

Well its that time of the year when the city of Riga fires up their heaters to heat the city for the cold weather ahead. Riga is centrally heated, which means that most of the cities buildings have to wait for three days below 10'C (?'F) in order for the heat to get turned on. You can always tell when the heat is being turned on because the whole city smells like ash and paint. Ash because most places are heated with wood or coal and paint, because the furnaces get painted during the summer. Its a warm smell that gives added effect to the darkness creeping in. Its dark by 20.00 (8 PM). Soon it will be dark by 18.00 (6 PM). Lena's thoughts are filled with a new jacket for the winter. Halloween will come and go. I'd like to do something festive, but I doubt that I will be able to pull anything together. Although Halloween is becoming more and more popular here, mostly amongst the youth who want candy. Nothing to do but wait and see what lurks out of the shadows.

Comment

I finally received my first comment by someone who I don't know. The only problem is that he wrote in Latvian and some of the letters aren't visible. I'm going to see if I can fix that some how, but its nice to know that other people have taken an interest in what I'm writing. Ok, well here's a run down of the weekend.

Friday: Lettonia stuff. (I got fed up and left early (I don't' like being a pledge anymore)).

Saturday: Went to Lena's colleague's Birthday party (It was a nice).

Sunday: During the day Lena, some friends of ours, and I went to Kemeri National Park (It's a huge raised swamp that is really cool to walk around, but it is really hard to get to and spending two hours there is more than enough time to see everything). In the evening I went to Bar One to watch an American Football game, the Philadelphia Eagles versus the Chicago Bears (the eagles were winning when I left. I left because it was a Sunday night and I have to work on Monday mornings (Damn)).

Toy Cars

How's everyone doing? I don't really have anything to post about today except for this Toy Cars in Real Parking Spaces website that was mentioned in the blogger news which thought was really cool. Today I really haven't done anything about work. We got audited this morning and I was told to come into work before noon, and the if anyone asks I was a journalist. I feel a lack of respect from the people I work for and therefore I have a lack of respect for the work I do. Tonight a friend of mine is doing a stand up comedic act at one the local bars. Stand-up comedy is not something that is well known in Latvia. In fact I think that this is the only regular stand-up comic and this is only going to be his second time. Anyway I'll let you get back to whatever it is that you were doing.

The List in my Head

I couldn't get to the computer all day today, because tomorrow there is an auditor coming and everyone is shredding something. All day I kept making a list of thing that I should post about, but as soon as I logged in to Blogger the list flew out of my head. Oh, wait there's an echo of something...Ah yes...I was bored waiting for administration to sign a document and I started looking at a World Map that hangs on the ugly orange wall behind my desk. As I looked at the names of places I've never heard of I started to think about the things I've done in my life and I made a list of things that I want to do before I die;

1. See the Triple Crown Live (Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Belmont Stakes).

2. Travel somewhere below the Equator.

3. Visit Australia.

4. See the Northern Light.

that's all I could think of. I was amazed at how short the list was. I remember when I was younger that I had such high ambitious plans, but life has whittled them down to these four things (two can be combined). Now for a quote...

"How do you know that terrorists aren't planning to drive a train into the White House?" - Ali G while interviewing the head of the C.I.A.

Dad's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!

(Although I don't think he reads this blog, Oh well if anyone reading this sees him give him another happy birthday from me)

To Market

On Friday, night I went to the fraternity and met up with one of our alumni that has been one of the leading surgeons in sports medicine for the last 15 years. Most recently he operated on presidential candidate Kerry's shoulder. On Saturday Lena and I and two friends went to the Market in Old Town, which was fun we bought honey and apples (as is the season). On Sunday, the day was spent as most Sunday's are, in bed relaxing and hoping that the work week would move farther and farther away. Monday's are getting intolerable. I never look forward to going to work and the weekend always seems so far away. Fridays are usually spent dreaming of things to do on the weekend that never get done, because we are too tired from the week that we end up doing nothing, and now time for a joke.

A man walks into a doctor's office with a duck on his head.

The Doctor looks at the man and says, "How can I help you?"

The Duck exclaims, "HELP! I need to get this man off my butt."

Some jokes just get better with age.

Stuff

Well, there seems to be a lot of stuff going on right now, but some how I have confidence that I will get it all done. Maybe that's just my blind optimism, but we'll see. Work is just a pain in the butt. I have a butt load of stuff to do for the fraternity and the project has just been moved up from May to April. So, I have no time for all the writing that I was planning on doing. Money is tight until the end of the month, but on the good side tomorrow is one of the Markets that take over Old Town when the seasons change. I hope I'm not getting my hopes up for nothing, but the potential for a good time is there, and I want to use it. I guess that's all for now.

Voting

Today I sent in my absentee ballot information so that I can vote in the up coming elections. I still don't know who I'm going to vote for. A lot of people here are very angry at President Bush. I didn't vote for him because of his foreign policy. I voted for him, because I thought he would be good for American business, but other than giving the SEC more power he really hasn't done anything good. Apparently his new tax cuts are just going to increase the deficit and not actually help a lot of people. Although I don't want to vote for Kerry either, because he can't seem to take a stand on anything. Bush is dumb and everyone knows that. I still don't know what Kerry is. It should be interesting to see who else is going to be on the Pennsylvania ballot. Maybe I will vote for a third party. I think the U.S. needs a strong third party, because many times the Democrats and the Republicans say the same thing and then do exactly what the other party would do. Bush is talking about the benefits of big government while Kerry talks about controlling spending. Even though I don't know for who I'm going to vote I am going to vote, because I think not voting is bad. I don't like people that criticize the government and never vote. Voting is every Americans right to change what the don't like in government.

Ad Sense

Well I finally figured out how to put ads on my blog. I signed up because I thought it might bring some new people to my blog. I get like half a cent for every time someone clicks on an ad, and since very few people read my blog I'm not going to be expecting any fat checks any time soon. It is nice that the ads reflect my subject. The ads are going to be ads for places or things in Latvia. So enjoy.

Earthquake

Well after just experiencing my first earthquake I'd have to say that I'm a little disappointed and very relieved. An Earthquake hit Kaliningrad today and the aftershocks were felt here everything just kind of shook a bit, but there was no damage. Some people didn't even feel it. As soon as I think that this town is about to get boring something like an earthquake happens to brighten things up. Here's a list of things not to do in an earthquake.

1. Don't start running around screaming "We are all going to die!"

2. Don't make the joke "I hope that's a candy bar melting in my shorts"

3. When the Editors says that he's going to jump out the window, because he thinks it's safer than being in the building don't open the window to try and help him out.

4. When your reflex kicks in and you duck and cover as learned in 4th grade make sure that spot under the desk is empty.

I hope that this list brightens up both my blog and your day.

Mayor

Well a lot has happened, but I can't talk about it. I spent most of last night with a friend in a bar who was "crying in his beer". He asked me not to tell anyone what was going on so I'll just leave it at that. Something that I can talk about is that today is the fourth round of The Baltic Times Open Bowling Tournament. I'm looking forward to the sushi that will be served. In other news, it doesn't look like I'm going to have time to write the musical that I was planning at least until the spring because I have too many things to do for this semester in conjunction with the fraternity, but I can't really talk about that either. In Latvia things are going well, the weather is turning colder. The minority government survived another vote of no confidence and the campaigns for next year's Riga mayor elections are gearing up with several people expressing their interest in wanting the job. Since everyone else is doing it I might as well throw my hat into the ring as well. I'm running on the do nothing platform. I figure Riga is doing fine as it is and I promise to not screw it up, by doing stuff. Vote Karlis for Mayor in 2005.

Birthday

I can't believe I forgot to mention this yesterday, but is was my brother Davis' birthday. He turns 16 and is going for his driving permit today. Good Luck.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAVIS!

Storm

Not to be out done by Hurricane Ivan, there is a thunderstorm that is just starting. The tower of the 13th century Dome church which I can see from my office window is shrouded by a thin vail of slanted rain that is just the beginning of a storm that could turn out to be a pain in the butt. A storm doesn't have to be really large into order to disturb things around here. I'm not looking forward to going home. I was hoping to meet a friend at one of the few remaining beer gardens before they get swept away by the fall wind. Its a sad sight seeing full squares and courtyards empty as the umbrellas, tables, and chairs get hauled off to be stored for the winter. Living here you never know which ones will return and which will be gone forever. It was a poor cold summer so I doubt that many will return. Most of the time a beer garden needs a full profitable summer in order to support itself next summer. Only the beer gardens that are run by bars and restaurants will be staples of next year's summer parties.

Latvia's other blog

This blog was mentioned in today's Blogger News.

Arturs's Photo Blog

My Boring Blog

Ben Franklin once said "A man should either do something worth writing about or write something worth reading." At the moment I am doing neither. My plan to do something worth writing about is sunk into the project that I can't talk about. Due to the fact that I am no longer being asked to write for The Baltic Times, because of budget cut backs and reducing the number of freelance journalists, I have decided to continue writing my rants and raves of sports here in my blog. If that doesn't work out I have a Plan B which maybe more interesting. In August, Lena and I went to see a musical that was far from good, but upon seeing it's popularity I have decided to take the stance that if they can do it anyone can do it and I will write a musical. I will try to write it in Latvian, but translate it and discuss it here. I have a lot of experience working with and reading plays. We'll see how it turns out. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know.

Eatten "Weekend" Post

Of course when I have something meaningful to post that I think might acctually interest people it gets eatten by the system. Like all great dreams the more I try to remember what I posted the more I can't remember what I posted. I guess you will all just have to believe me that it was a great post.

Photo

I finally figured out how to put my picture on my blog. So now you can all see what I look like (in case you forgot). Only now do I realize that the picture doesn't look anything thing like me. The picture was taken during this past Easter that Lena and I spent in Copenhagen. Since then I have lost the hat and the Go-Tea. Anyway at least its a step in the right direction. If I had a digital camera I could post more pictures. That would be fun, but since that's not going to happen any time soon, you will all just have to enjoy my beautiful descriptions of what is happening in my life. I have been asked to not disclose the project that I am working on, which will be a problem since it takes up a large portion of my time and my blogs will consist of "Today I worked on the project" and that will be it. I'll have to come up with some other things to talk about or post. If anyone has any suggestions they are more then welcome to post them or email them to me at the address on the page.

Project

I know I haven't posted in awhile, but I'm working on this side project that is taking up a lot of my time. Also as soon as I get something going to take away all the free time I have at work something happens and all of a sudden I have no free time at work. I don't want to say what the side project is just yet, because I'm afraid that if I start talking about it and dreaming about it's success then it won't happen. I have to keep it on the down low for now.

A Fun Night Out

On Saturday, Lena went to a sleep over party, which left me with a night without anything to do. It had been a very long time since I had gone bar hoping, so I thought that this would be a nice chance to get it out of my system. The night started by heading over to Aaron's (One of the people I work with) place. Elizabeth (Another person from work) was there too. We sat around, drank Gin & Tonics, and talked about the joys of being an American Latvian. I'd like to say that it was a very interesting conversation, but after Aaron said that we had to finish the Gin bottle I don't remember the details of what we talked about. After we were good and tipsy we went to Orange bar (Yes the whole bar is Orange) to wait for a friend of Aaron's who might be moving in with him. Aaron has a huge apartment in a quiet part of town, but without a roommate it's way too expensive. After Martins got there, we went to Tequila Boom. Its a nice place with a staggered terrace courtyard. The tequila is served with oranges and cinnamon and is served on old bricklayer wedges with old bike bells attached. When you've finished your tequila you can ring the bell and another full round will magically appear. After Tequila Boom we got the urge to eat, but we didn't go to a place where we could get food. As I remember this fact I am puzzled as to why we didn't go eat right away. Anyway, we ended up at the new Balsam Bars that opened up across the Dome square from our work. I remember the music being good enough to sing too(and we did), but the prices were a bit high and everything was brown which doesn't make for a comfortable drinking environment. After deciding to leave we went to eat at Pelmeni which is one of the few places you can get food at 2 AM. After filling our stomachs with boiled and fried ravioli with with assorted meats and cheeses, I walked home, because it wasn't until I was at the trollybus stop that I realized the trollys don't run that late at night. Other than that outline the details of the night escape me, but that was to be expected. It was a good night that I probably won't be doing again for a long time.

No Violence

Well the police are touting a victory, because nothing happened last night at the concert. The square in which the concert took place was so confined and filled with police, dogs, firetrucks, etc., that nothing could have happened. I heard today that there were even boats in the river incase a riot broke out on the bridge and people were tossed into the river. With the disaster avoided everyone is watching the news to find out whats going on with the Russian school thats been taken over by Chechen rebels. I've read alot of other blogs today and realized that my blog is no where near as well organized or written as other blogs. So, I'm sorry, I'll try to do better...Tomorrow.

Sept. 1

Today will be the moment of truth. With the concert blaring it's sound checks right outside our window, the view from our office will be a mass of school children and police with a huge cloud of tension hanging over it. OK, here's alittle background. Sept. 1 is the offical first day of school for all public schools, and to celebrate, there will be a concert sponsored by the city council and education ministry, which will take place in the square right outside our office window. The concert will start at 18.30 (6:30 PM). A protest against the education reform that I mentioned in the last post starts at 18.00 (6 PM) across the river. Playing in the concert outside our window is a popular Russian group that most of the people attending the protest are going to want to see. Causing a huge wave of protesters to meet a large amount of drunk education reform supporters. The protesters are threatening violence, while the city has allowed the use of dogs and water cannons should things turn ugly. There is nothing left to do but wait and see if Riga erupts into chaos, because some drunk Pro-reform high school kid bumps into a drunk anti-reform kid. Never has violence so big depended on people so young.

Not Tired

Today I'm not as tired as I was yesterday. I still hate my job, but atleast I'm up beat about it. I need a free day to sit down and write cover letters for my CV to all the TV and Radio stations in Riga, but it seems like the more I want to leave this place, the more work I have to do. Anyway, it started out as a nice day today, but now it looks like its going to rain. Tomorrow is the offical first day of school for the entire country, and everyone is expecting chaos, because the Russian school are being forced to have atleast 60% of their classes in English, so of course there have been huge protests by the Russians and tomorrow its all going to go down. There are protests, concerts, and celerbrations. All oraginzed in close proximity to each other. I have to go so I'll finish this post later.

Weakend

This past weekend was pretty un-eventful. Lena and I just sat around the apartment sleeping and watching TV. Although some how I'm more tired now than I was on Friday. Everyday I come to work just adds to my frustration and makes me want to just leave, but I have no place to go. I'm in a race. I have to find another job, before this one consumes me and I lose what little self-respect I have left. My lack of motivation at work is starting to affect my life. I am developing a lack of motivation to do anything. Right now I see happiness as sleep. In other news the Olympics are over and Latvia walked away with 4 silver medals. I haven't really had the motivation to search for a link or even to take a link from Blogger's recommended links. Sorry.

Friday

Its Friday! Whoo hoo! The Weekend is Here! The only bad thing is that I don't have enough money to go out and party like I want to, but payday is next week so I'll just have to wait. Things have been looking up lately. The only thing thats been bothering me is that my alergies have been acting up. Sitting at a computer all day dosen't help matters. Anyway, thats enough complaining.

Basketball

Today in Athens the U.S. basketball team plays Spain and Lithuania plays China. We are all rooting for Lithuania, because the U.S. needs a big taste of humble pie. Maybe the NBA will wake up and smell the fact the the world has caught up the U.S. team in terms of talent and has beaten them in terms of heart. The U.S./Spain game has just started and I'm stuck here at work. The editor and one of the staff writers have left to go watch the game in a bar around the corner. The Lithuanian game is right after the U.S. game, so I'm going to have to figure out a way to get out of work to go watch the game with them. As you can tell, I have lost all motivation to sell of for the newspaper. Anyway, I hope everyone's having fun.

Baltic Road

I know its been a long time since I've posted, and I'm sorry, but there has been a lot going on at work. Mostly me trying to send away job applications while trying not to take heat from my boss, because her boss is yelling at her. In other news, a Latvian won the silver medal in one of the gymnastic individual competitions. There was a fire today in old town in a building that I walk by almost every day, but somehow I've never noticed it before today. I guess it was trying to get some attention. That's what happens when you ignore something like a building. They get irritable quickly. Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the Baltic Road which was when a few million Latvians, Estonians, and Lithuanians joined hands from Tallinn to Vilnus through Riga. It was one of the largest protests during the collapse of the Soviet Union. There was a nice concert with video clips in front of the freedom monument last night. It was cold, but Lena and I stayed and watched the whole thing. The images of people protesting and being beaten by Soviet soldiers were heartwrenching and hard to watch. I'm sorry but I haven't had time to find a link for today, but if anyone has any ideas, please send them to me.

Relaxation

Its, raining in Riga and The Baltic Times is slowly sliding into extinction. Overall things are looking pretty bleak, but on the up side this is the first Friday night in a long time where I have absolutely nothing planned. It might be nice to go out drinking, but there is no financial backing to support that proposal. It will be nice to go home. I have a lot of side projects that I should be working on, but have been putting off due to the great weather. I need to study for the fraternity so I'm ready for the semester that should be starting in a few weeks. I also need to put together packets of my CV (Resume) and cover letters to send out to all the TV and Radio stations on Monday. I don't really know who is reading this, if anyone at all, but it might be nice to here from you guys and see how you are all doing. Or at least ask a question that I can answer so I'm not just writing about what I do everyday.

Name Day

Today is Lena's name day. PRIECIGU VARDADIENA LENA!

Summer is Over

Well, as quickly as the warm weather got here, it just as quickly ran away. You can feel fall and everyone knows that winter is just around the bend. I noticed for the first time last night that it was dark at 10 PM. It hasn't been dark at 10 PM since April/May. The darkness is starting to close in. Everyone has been saying that this is going to be a rough winter. One thing that's helps people get through it is knowing that nice weather is only a few months away, but this year the nice weather lasted for only two weeks. Oh well, there's nothing I can do about the weather so I might as well just keep working. As soon as I find a better job things should be better. Here's a link that I wanted to post yesterday about a girl that blogged through Hurricane Charley.

Bauska

On Friday, Lena and I watched the start of the Olympic games and it has been showing non-stop on one of the local channels here. I like that I don't have to wait for the time difference to see what's going on in Athens. Its nice to just turn on the Olympics and read the paper or do something else more productive. Its kinds like listening to a baseball game. You don't really have to keep your full attention on it. One nice thing that happened last night in Athens was the U.S.A. Basketball team losing to Puerto Rico. I think the U.S. has become to cocky with their basketball. There are some really good players that didn't even bother to join the Olympic team. I hope that losing will motivate the NBA to take the Olympics more seriously. On Saturday, Lena and I went to Bauska to watch the musical associated with the reality show we were watching in the spring. After working on several musicals in my life time I couldn't help but critique the show. The biggest problem I had with the show was that it was closer to an opera than a musical. There was no dialogue between the songs. The lead female didn't even say anything. Musicals are supposed to be combinations of a play with songs attached, but this show was closer to a concert with a theme of playing a reality show. Lena and I sat next to the sound booth and I could see the producer/director as we watched. I could see him smile and I just wanted to slap some sense into him. The place the show was held was an old castle ruins that sit on a hill where two rivers meet to form a new river. Its a nice place. I didn't find out until Sunday about Hurricane Charley. I don't think that I know anyone that was directly effected and I could only see the BBC coverage that criticized the fact that in a hurricane prone area people place mobile homes that couldn't withstand a gentle breeze let alone a hurricane. Here's a link to the city where we stayed. Bauska!

No Party

Well we ended up not going to the going away party last night. Lena met up with friends after work for a drink and then we just went home, because we were just too tired. Tonight we are having other friends over to watch the opening of the Olympic games. Actually, while I was sitting with a friend in a bar yesterday, we were discussing that the Olympics have gotten out of hand. It's become too large to control. Athens has barely pull this Olympics together. We came to the conclusion that the Olympics need to be streamlined. Most of the team sports have their own International competitions, and know one cares about Olympic soccer so why have it in the Olympics. Needless to say we thought of a whole list of sports that shouldn't be in the Olympics and needless to say since we were sitting in a bar I can't remember most of them. Here's a link to the official website. Olympics!

Olympic Blog

I found this cool blog from two swimmers who are in Athens and blog about whets going on there. Here's the link. Olympic Blog! In other news, nothing has been happening in Riga. Everyone is kind of pissed that the Prime Minister selected one of his own people to be Latvia's European commissioner and everyone is waiting to see what's going to happen on Sept. 1 when all the public Russian language schools will be forced to teach in atleast 60% Latvian. There will be mass protests and riots so it should be a rompin' good time. I have come to the gripping realization that I am never going to make it to the beach this summer. Everytime I make plans to go the beach something always comes up and we never get to go. Tonight there is a going away party for a friend from North Carolina who I met at the same summer camp that I met Lena at. Then tomorrow we are having people over to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremony. On Saturday we are traveling to Bauska to see a play. So I guess I'll just have to wait until next summer to go to the beach. I don't even want to go swimming. I just want to go sit on the beach, and take a nap next to the sea. Oh well. Maybe it will be a warm September. OK, that's enough whining. Have a great day.

End of the Day

The end of my work day is only a half an hour away, but I couldn't go two days without posting. Today was a crazy day. Since most of editorial is on vacation I had to help out proof reading the paper. Anyway this is just a short post so that you guys don't miss me too much. The weather is great and things are finally looking up at work, but I'm still looking for something new. Oh well tomorrow is another day. Here's the link of the day. Its a webpage I've been staring at all day trying to come up with a better slogan for our internet banner. It has to be related to our Job section that highlights Employers as well as employees. See what you can come up with. Allhotels!

Fun Weekend

As I mentioned in the previous post Lena and I spent the weekend in Madona. We took the train on Friday after work. On the train I finished the book I have been reading since I returned from the U.S.. The book Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Prachett is one that I would recommend. Its about the end of the world only none of the heavenly beings on earth want it to happen, and anti-christ is an 11 year old boy. Its a nice entertaining story. Anyway, back to this weekend. On Friday night Lena and I gave out present from the U.S., looked at pictures and told stories of our trip to Lena's family. On Saturday, We relaxed during the day and got invited to a family reunion for Lena's best friend Liga. Apparently they were expecting a lot more people and rented out a cabin by a lake filled with food and booze. Instead of letting everything go to waste we were invited to make sure that it wasn't all just old people. We had a great time. The weather was wonderful. I learned to make Gin and Tonics in the dark using the sound of the liquid hitting the plastic cup. Needless to say we drank a little. Here's a link to a better review of Good Omens.

No Beach

Well I didn't get to go to the beach. I had to go home and pay the rent. Anyway, today after work Lena and I are going to Madona to visit he mom (Aija), sister (Elina) and her mom's boyfriend (Normunds). There is going to be a lot of partying, because yesterday was Elina's birthday and a few days ago was Normunds name day. Other things planned for this weekend consists of going to the lake (or quarry I'm not sure what it is), also on Saturday night is a Latvian movie in the open air theatre. In other news, things are going bad at work. The administration has decided to change the payment structure, and now if we don't sell three ads a month then we only get half of our pay. So, I am now officially looking for another job. I'm going to try to keep writing for the paper, because it is interesting and I could use the extra money. Starting Monday I'm going to start sending out CV's (Resumes). OK well here's a link to Madona's website. Madona!

The Beach

Well apparently I'm an idiot. I just spent an hour writing a post about my trip to Ikskili (A suburb of Riga), how I don't feel like working, and how Lena and I actually might get to go to the beach today, but when I tried to link to the website for the beach where we would be going, something happened and I lost the whole text. I don't feel like re-writing the whole thing. I also don't think that I could remember it in detail, so you'll just have to believe me that is was a great post. I'm going to try the link again. Here's the link of the day. The Beach!

Another Day Gone

After work I had a few beers with some Journalist people I know, and I gave them the blog address so now I HAVE to write something interesting or I'm going to hear about it from them. For all the new people reading I'll do a quick summary of what's going on right now. Summer has finally arrived in Riga which is awful, because I have to work from 9:00 AM to 18:00 PM Monday through Friday. I want to go to the beach, but its not going to happen today or tomorrow, because tonight I have to goes visit relatives. Visiting relatives means large amounts of food being shoved down my pie hole, by aunts and having uncles keep pouring me drinks of some kind of hard alcohol. Tomorrow I can't go to the beach, because we have to meet with our land lady to pay the rent. Although maybe we can go afterwards if she doesn't sit and talk for a long period of time. According to the weather reports the nice weather is not going to last very long so I may never make it to the beach this summer. OK, that's enough complaining. Overall life is good. I've been looking at other people's blogs and I've noticed that they put a lot of links in their blogs, so here's where I get most of my news from. I don't know if I've linked to it before, but here it is again. Fark!

Aluksne

Well this past weekend was fun. On Friday night I went out with a couple of reporters and did some much needed bar hoping. On Saturday Lena and I took the 4 1/2 hour bus ride to Aluksne to see my Aunt who is visiting and go to the city festival that was taking place there. It was a really good time. It was a lot of food and a lot of old people talking about the way things were. We drove back Saturday with my Aunt. In other news Lena has gotten accepted at the Cultural Academy for her Masters in Cultural Management. Also Ryanair starting in October will be flying from London, Frankfurt, and Helsinki to Riga from $8.00. So if you can get a cheap flight to one of these cities you can come visit. Here is the link that my Brother Adams posted in an earler comment so that you don't have to do the copy and paste thing.

Sleep

Its getting harder and harder with every passing day to stay awake at work. As soon as I sit down at my desk my eyelids become the heaviest part of my body. I don't really drink coffee, but I think today I'm going to have to in order to keep from falling asleep. If anyone has some good suggestions on how to stay awake they would be appreciated. The weather today reminded me of a joke that I was told last Sunday.

There is a Baltic person happily walking along the beach on the Mediterranean Sea. He's so happy and enjoying the weather so much that everyone around him thinks that there is something wrong. Finally another person walks up to him and asks, "Why are you so happy? Don't you have summer where you are from?"
He replies, "Of course we have summer, but I had to work that day."

The reason I told this joke is because yesterday was a beautiful day, but today its raining and cold again.

Slacker

OK, so I've been slacking on the blogging. I'm sorry. Today is a wonderful day in Riga. I'm eating an Ice cream cone. It would be a great day to go to the beach, but Lena has to study for her last entrance exam to get into grad school. I had lunch with my aunt who is visiting for a few weeks. She was planning on going to the beach. I have somewhere lost the will to do work. I thought it was the weather, but today has been great and I still don't want to do any work. I guess I've been so lazy that I haven't wanted to blog either. I would love to just sit on the beach with a good book. Every time I close my eyes I'm already there. Listening to the waves and watching the seagulls fly.

I Almost Forgot

I got so caught up in work and trying to stay awake that I completely forgot to blog. It wasn't until I got an SMS from Lena asking why I haven't bloged today. Lena and I are both having problems sleeping. I think its from the jet lag. I get tired right at 15.00 everyday. That's about 10 pm in the states so I guess my body is still set to that time. I wish that people could take naps in the middle of the day like in most Latin-American countries. A nap would be great right about now.

Macy Gray

On Friday night was the Macy Gray concert here in Riga. It was great. I have never heard a lot of Macy Gray's music, but her concert was nothing but funk. She even played a George Clinton & the P-Funk All-stars cover of One Nation Under a Groove. The definite undertone of the concert was peace and love with anti-war chants. The only problem with the concert were the mosquitoes that were noticeably affecting the performers. It is very rare that we get that kind of caliber of performer here in Riga, but I hope that her enjoyment and the large number of tickets that were sold will encourage other groups to come to Riga as well.

July 11 & 12

On Sunday, July 11, everyone went to church. Then Lena, my brother Davis and I went Mini-golfing. Davis won of course because he's good at all sports. It was Lena's first time golfing, she said that she had a good time. In the afternoon Mom had a party for me and invited all the Latvians. It was nice to see everyone. They were all really happy that I was doing my part for "The Cause" (Whatever the heck that is?) I don't think anyone wants to move back to Latvia, so they are happy that I'm here in their place. I told them stories of what's going on. They said that they read my articles, which is kind of scary considering I don't think some of them are that good. Others asked my opinions on the up coming Olympics. I did my best to make up something that would make the Latvian team sound hopeful. I still hadn't really looked into the Latvian Olympic team yet and was making it up as I went along. I got to play horseshoes which was really fun. I wish I had a place to play horseshoes here. On Monday Adams, Davis, Lena and I went to the Franklin Mills mall. I had reserved the day for shopping, because I know that Lena likes it. We walked around for a little, but Lena wasn't really looking for anything in particular so it was actually fun. That night we just went home. Overall on the trip I spent most nights catching up on movies and really just relaxing, because after all I was on vacation.

Kate & Andy's Wedding

On July 10 Lena & I attended Kate & Andy's wedding. It was really nice. Part of me thought that I was too young to be at a friend's wedding, but the majority of me knew this was going to happen when they met. They met at my apartment at college. It was a Thursday night which usually meant that there were many many parties happening on campus. I didn't feel like going to a party, and was bored so I called everyone I knew. Which wasn't a lot of people, but Andy, Meat, Kate, and Jess (who at the time didn't know each other) weren't doing anything so they came over to play a game of Asshole (A drinking game involving cards). Andy and Kate are competitive by nature and sparks flew right away. They got soooo mad at each other that they started playing a game of War (card game) against each other. Jess and I looked at each other cause we knew that something was going to happen between them. Anyway their relationship started over a game of war. Getting back to the wedding. It was nice to see some of the other guys from college. Everyone seemed to be doing really well. Lena and I got royally lost going from the church to the reception, but thankfully we didn't miss anything. The reception was great. Everyone had a good time. I'm really happy for Kate & Andy. They've already made the transition to being normal regular people. They are married, have a house, a dog, with good jobs. If they shoot out a few kids they will be done by my definition. Everything they have is what I'm working for. I wish them all the best and where ever I will be in the future I hope that we will stay friends.

Thursday (July 8) and Friday (July 9)

Well we arrived on July 8 in the early afternoon at Newark Airport. Dad and my brother Adams were waiting for Lena and I. We went home and rested. I made sure to not plan anything for the first two days of our trip just in case the jet lag set in. On Friday night we had planned to go into Philadelphia to go dancing at a club, but we thought that Andy & Kate's wedding was in the afternoon oinly to find out that it was at 10 AM and decided to stay in. I invited some of the guys I went to high school with for some catching up. Most of my friends have new cars and jobs that are going well, which was nice to hear. My parents put a new patio on their house so we sat outside on that and had a few beers. It was what I needed. I hadn't seen those guys in a long time.

I'm Back

Well it was a heck of a trip. The weather was nice most of the time. It was much warmer than here in Latvia although it is getting warmer here too. I have way too many stories, and way too much work to do to post everything in this one post. I'll break it up into different stories and post them seperatly, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Lena and I made it back safely.

Last Post

Well this could be my last post for awhile. If I do post it will be from the U.S.. If not, my next post from Latvia will be on July 22. There will probably be way too much to tell on that day, because of the extent of our trip. I will try to write down or take pictures so that I can tell all the stories when I get back, but who knows if thats going to happen. Anyway, Bye Bye for now.

Strange

I think my blog is acting a little funny. I can't seem to view the page. All I can do is post. I also can't remember if I posted yesterday. If I didn't, I'm sorry. I remember that I didn't have anything to write about in the morning, so I thought I would wait to see if I would have anything to write about later in the day. Actually now that I think about it I wrote about how I wrote two articles for the paper. I guess that's not really interesting, I have been browsing through other people's blogs and noticed that they post links to things they find on the net. I think I'm going to have to start doing that before I lose the three readers I have. Here's a link to my favorite author's website NeilGaiman.com. He's written a bunch of fiction books that are just great. I hope to pick up another one when I'm in the U.S.. He also blogs which is cool.

Articles

Today the sun is shinning in Riga and and its back to work after a weekend that felt too short, as most of them do. Lena and I didn't do much this weekend. We are slowly tring to get ready for our trip, but there is still a lot to do. In case anyone is following my writting there will be two articles in this weeks The Baltic Times. One is about two Latvian hockey teams that are going to play in Belarus next year, and the other is about the Olympiad that took place in Ventspils this past weekend. Today is also payday, which means its time for a haircut. I should probably post a picture in this site.

Rain

Yes, its raining again in Riga. Yesterday was nice though, and I got to sit out in the sun and have a beer with some colleagues. That was nice. In other news I watched Jeff Gordon win some kind of NASCAR race that was really confusing, because they looked like they were racing on a Formula 1 track. Thats what happens when there is nothing on TV. I've started planning our trip in the states. There are a lot of places that Lena wants to see, and that I'm really excited to show her. I hope its not raining where ever you are.

At The Depo

Last night for the first time in a very long time, Lena and I went to a concert at a club called Depo, where we got to see some local underground groups that Lena's been a fan of for years. Its an interesting place. It is exactly what you would expect from a hard rock club. Its small, dark, loud, smoky, and full of people wearing things you wouldn't see in daylight. I had a good time. It was nice to do something other than go to work and sit at home. I would like to go to a rock festival atleast once this summer, but all the good ones will take place while we are going to be in the states. Anyway, in other news a Hessburger has opened up in Riga. Hessburger is a Scandinavian fast food chain. I'm excited to try the burgers, but Lena and I probably won't get to go there until after we get back from our trip. Junk food is probably the biggest thing I miss from the states, besides friends and family.

Nothing to Post Again

Yeah, nothing is really happening. My mind is focused on the big trip to the U.S., which makes it that much harder to focus on my work. The weather is getting colder. There is no humidity during the summer on a wind chill factor. The weather people keep promising that it will get nice eventually, but I trust them about as much as I trust the government here. Everyday I read the paper and its just more examples of how people can't work together. The governments and businesses have finally gotten everything ready to start building the large hockey hall needed for the 2006 World Championships here in Riga. Now they are trying to build a small hall which is also necessary. It could be a bigger debacle, because the mayor of Ventspils is involved. This guy is a millionaire who got his money by buying all of the privatization certificates in the town and sold them back to the people who lived there. He then became mayor and gave all the city contracts to companies that he owns. He has helped the town a lot and no body can prove anything, so he keeps doing what he's doing. Atleast it gives me something to read in the paper.

Nothing to Post

I'm sorry that I didn't post earlier, but I figured that I would come up with something to post. Yesterday I finally bought our tickets to the U.S.. Other then that everyone is still waiting for summer to arrive. Its overcast and nobody knows if its going to rain or not. I hope its better wherever you are.

Midsummer Vacation

Well after five days off its back to work. Here's a re-cap of the vacation. On Friday, I left work early, because at the last minute Lena and I got a ride to Madona with my Lettonia Krasu Tevs (Frat Big Brother). That was fun. There were two other brothers in the car and they tried to convince Lena that the fraternity isn't just a bunch of guys that sit around and drink, but I don't think she believed it. Especially considering that they were drinking at the time (don't worry the driver wasn't drinking). The next day, we visited Lena's grandmother and spent sometime with her relatives. Her uncle always tries to get me to start a business with him, this time it was something to do with exporting moonshine to the U.S.. After that, we went to our friend's house that has a back yard to celebrate the evening. The celebrating started later, because of the Latvia vs. The Netherlands soccer game. The game was painful to watch. Latvia lost 3-0. After that we sat around the fire ate, drank, and talked about what life was like growing up. I, of course, was at a serious disadvantage with the lack of experience growing up during The Soviet Union. After we were good and drunk we went to the dance at the open air theatre in Madona, but we didn't stay there long, because we got the idea to head, back to Riga at 4 AM. Oh, by the way it was dark for an hour all night! Lena had to work on Friday, so we decided to head back early. I slept most of the way except when I woke up and started yelling for people to stop bothering me, but I don't really remember that part. The rest of the weekend was spent calmly around the house catching up on reading and other things. This morning it was really hard to get out of bed. Now, my mind has to turn to planning the big trip.

Green Market

Today is the Green Market in Dome Square. Its a big market before the Midsummer festival where you can buy everything from wooden spoons to half a pig. Unfortunately I have to work, and won't beable to enjoy the full experience, but it is right outside our office window so atleast we'll beable to hear the concert. In other bad news, my next post will be June 28. I know that's a long time, but I hopefully when I come back I should have plenty of stories to tell. Well I guess that all for now. Happy Ligo/Jani!.

Latvia vs. Germany

Yesterday was the Latvia vs. Germany Soccer game in the Euro 2004 tournament. Latvia tied Germany 0:0 to give Latvia its first ever point in the tournament. Now Latvia has to beat or tie The Netherlands on Wed. (June 23). There are a lot of factors that are beyond Latvia's control that have to go our way in order to move on, but it is a possibility. In other news, a long time friend, Aleks got married on Saturday. I wish him all the best. In bad news, I didn't make it to the flash mob, because the Latvian flash mob site is in Russian and I couldn't register in time. I guess that's all for now.

Working on a Saturday

Well because we get friday off we have to make up the day, so we have to work today. Other offices and the government are working, but I doubt that any real work is being done. I'm doing what I normally do. I usually get to work alittle after 9:30; check my email, blog, read the news. Thats about it.

Flashmob

In case anyone is interested tomorrow(June 19) will be the second annual global flashmob. If you want more information go to www.flashmob.com.

Jani

Well its that time of year again, when no one feels like working, because everyone is thinking about what they are going to do for the midsummer festival. This year it falls on June 23-24 so there are five days off. Lena and I are getting closer to deciding where to go celebrate (drink beer). It looks like we might be heading to Bauska, but our planning has only gone so far to decide that we are going to buy a tent and sleeping bags. Once we decide where to go all that is left, is to hope for good weather. Staying up all night kinda sucks if its cold and raining. It usually rains on Jani, but it is also usually warm and most people are drunk so no one notices. Anyway, Ligo/Jani is the biggest thing that happening here right now. I'll also post tomorrow, because we have to work to make up for the Friday that we are going to miss next week, so watch this space.

TechTV

I know I usually only post once a day, but this was something that I could just sit back and watch. Apparently my favorite TV network in the U.S.(TechTV) has been merged with the worst idea to hit TV since Smellovision(G4). The new network G4TechTV is a cheap imitation of this once proud channel with its tech based programming that was not only informative, but also enjoyable to watch. Even though I have been long since out of reach of TechTV's viewing area, I just wanted to add my name to the long list of bloggers and loyal fans who are speaking out against the atrocity that has been committed.

Comment Response

I only noticed today after I had posted that I had a comment from Monday, so I'll do a quick response. Yeah the trip to Madona was a rough one, but the amount of drinking wasn't a whole lot more than usual. Also unfortunately doe to the lack of a budget I didn't get to go to Portugal to cover the Euro 2004. The Baltic Times can barely send people to Bauska (small town about 100 miles outside of Riga). Finally, it would be nice own a bowling alley in Madona, but due to our discussions with Harold the owner of the bar(Slageris), in a few years the competition will be too strong to make a profit.

Latvian TV

Lately I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of TV. I work all day and the weather hasn't been the best so usually I just go home and watch TV. I'm catching up on all the American programs that I never watched, and really never wanted to watch in the U.S.. Programs like Fear Factor and NASCAR Races. It boggles my mind as to why the U.S. is exporting NASCAR Races, but the more I watch it the more it amazes me to the point where I have to watch more of it. Other shows Lena and I like to watch together like Friends and Sex in the City. The best part of watching these programs is that every week is a new episode that is actually three years old, but its new here. You get to see the whole series from the beginning in the order that it was meant to be shown, unlike re-runs that sometimes have no order at all. OK, well that's my TV rant.

Almost

It was the first game ever for Latvia in the Euro 2004 final. In the game last night against The Czech Republic, Latvia was up 1-0 until the 70th minute from a beautiful goal by golden boy Maris Verpakovskis. Verpakovskis has scored a goal in every game he has played in this year including at his new club team Dynamo in Kiev. Every bar in Latvia cheered with the thought of actually pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament. Even a tie would have been a huge set back for The Czech Republic, as they are one of the stronger teams this year. Then in the 74th minute the Czechs scored due to a lack of communication in Latvia's defense. Latvia's back were noticeably tired as the game went on. Latvia's team is not used to the extreme heat of Portugal. In the end Latvia slipped up again in the 89th minute to fall behind 2-1. Latvia's next game is against Germany on Friday, later in the day, which should be a benefit to our players.

The Weather

The weather here in Riga has been crappy at best. Spring lasted a whole week. Summer was a weekend and now it feels like fall. Its overcast and rainy outside. Its cold, but not winter cold. Its just all around crappy. The only bright part of today is the Latvia vs The Czech Republic soccer game. Its the first time Latvia will play in the Euro 2004 tournament. Its warm and sunny in Portugal where the game is being held. With the game later today and the depressing weather, working today is going to be that much harder. Oh well, I'll let everyone know how the game turns out.

Over The Weekend

The weekend started out rough and just got worse from there. On Friday I went from work to our apartment to get our cat, Pepper. In the trolleybus on the way to meet Lena, Pepper started meowing really loudly. I did my best to calm him down, but he didn't stop until we got off the trolleybus. Anyway long story short the trip to Madona was long and terrible. Then in Madona it seemed like things would be O.K., but on Saturday the drinking began. I went with Lena and her Mom to go vote in the European parliament elections. We then went to the town bar Slageris. Slageris is the exact kind of place I would want if I opened a bar. We sat with the owner and talked about everything from soccer to opening up a bowling center in town somewhere. I think, that after one more beer I would have been part owner of any new bowling center in Madona. But luckily we left to the waiting arms of Vodka back at Lena's place. We watched the opening ceremony to the Euro 2004 soccer tournament. Everything was going fine until I here the words "let's go for a walk". I thought sure, I could use the fresh air, but the walk consisted of the procurement of more booze. Back home I had one more drink a went to bed. Bad idea! I ended up doing the technocolor yawn in front of Lena's family. I stayed in bed almost the entire next day as too hide my shame of the previous night. Lena's family were really nice about everything, but I doubt we will be drinking that much the next time we visit Madona.

A Quickie

I don't have a lot of time so I'll make this short. This weekend Lena and I are heading to Madona to visiting her relatives and so that she can vote in the European parliament elections. We are taking Pepper with us. I like going to Madona. It always turns out to be a good time. Ok, well I guess that's it. I wish everyone a great weekend.

Another Day Another Lat

Today I really have nothing to write about, but the latest edition of The Baltic Times came out today. There's an article where I wrote about the Latvia vs. Azerbaijan soccer match. I know that it sounds British, but that's because my British editor all but re-wrote the article. I'm not really upset, because I've never been a good writer, but he always tries to to put words into the articles the don't belong in a sports article. A sports article should be rough and captivating like the game, not soft and subtle. Anyway, I'm just venting. In other news. There's a funny webpage set up for the Euro 2004 soccer tournament at www.football365.com. In there is a survey where you can vote for Miss Euro 2004. The funny thing is that for Latvia they picked a guy, because he has a girls name and they couldn't find anyone else to represent Latvia. The best part is that he's winning the survey against Beckhams wife and Nelly Furtato. Everyone should vote. Ok, well that's enough ranting for today.