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.