Crapload

A whole crapload of stuff has happened since the last time I posted. I don't have a lot of time so I'm going to have to make this quick.

1. Turned 24, parties were fun, low key, but fun.
2. Started School, I'm going for an MBA in Marketing and a teaching certification to teach English in Venice in the fall.
3. We found a place for the Sandwich Shop. It is right outside of old town between the University of Latvia, Rigas Cultural Center and the National Opera.
4. Lena and I booked our flights to Pisa, Italy.
5. Lenas friend Iveta had her second child, Roberts.
6. Aris is in town.

That is all I can think of at the moment. I don't know when I'm going to beable to post again, but I'll have to make an effort to keep on top of this so that everyone knows what's going on.

Just checking

I'm just checking in. Lena and I are doing fine. Things are going well. The Sandwich Shop is moving along nicely, we are just having some real estate issues, but everthing else is ready to go. Once everything is up and running things are going to be better. O.K. I don't think I have anything else to say so keep it real, but make sure that keeping it real doesn't go wrong.

Sorry no Pictures

Since I can't post pictures easily without the right click option I am going to have to resort to writting. Overall things are going well. The sun is shining and the temperature outside is slowly climbing. It was rainny over the weekend which was kind of a bummer, because we really couldn't do anything. However, on Saturday we went shopping, and if you've been reading this blog then you are aware of my feelings on shopping. I'm just waiting for the wind to die down and then we will beable to enjoy the great weather outside. OK well as you may have noticed I don't really have anything to write about so I'm just going to stop now and let you get back to whatever it was that you were doing before this.

Hey.

Hey there, how is everyone? I know, I know, it has been way to long since I've written. Anyway, the sandwich shop is going well. Things are moving forward. They aren't moving forward as fast as I would like, but atleast they are moving. Outside of work things are also going well. Of course money is tight, but that is nothing new, and I've come to terms with the fact that money will always be tight, because as soon as there is extra money then imediatly something is though of to do with it. The weather has gotten a whole heck of alot better and hopefully I'll be sitting on the beach relaxing, before the month is through. OK, well I think that is enough ranting and raving for one post. P.S. Another reason that I haven't been post so often is because since I have to use my laptop to post I can't right click to post pictures and the spell checker dosen't work. I am a terrible speller, and when I can't think of the correct spelling I just usually delete the whole sentance. I apologize for any misspelled words.

Lieldienas

I hope everyone had a great easter. I don't have alot of time so I'll give you the quick run down. On Thursday Lena and I got a ride to Madona from Lena's schoolmate Sintija. We took Pepper along, because he would have been four days home alone. Unfortunetly we forgot to not feed him before we left so he crapped twice in his box on the way. Lena and I were very embarassed. On Friday Lena had to meet with the organizer of Madona's summer concert festival to do an interview for a project for school. After that We meet Lena's other classmates and their respective significant others to go and visit Sintija at her work, which is a lovely french cheatue in the countryside. We had a wonderful evening and many of the pictures in the link are from that night. Then starting on Saturday and following through to Sunday we met with both Lena's grandmothers and a few aunts and uncles. Those would be the family pictures. The wig pictures were from Easter Lunch at Lena's uncle. The other pictures that are of Lena's sister and friend who were fasinated by the digital cammera and you can see the results. Overall it was a great trip and Lena and I are both sad that it had to end.

MYFOTO

Post

This is just a quick post to check in and let everyone know I'm still alive and kicking. Things are going well with Baltic Sandwiches, but slower than I had imagined. Lena and I are going to be heading to Madona for Easter, which should be fun. I don't have a picture to post, but I should have several when we get back. Anyway it is gradually getting warmer and everyone keeps saying (praying) that spring is around the corner. OK, well I guess that is all for today.

JD 2005 - Bildes

Hey, since I don't have any new pictures of my own I'm going to post the pictures of my brother Adams' organized Jauniesu Dienas. It looks like everyone had a great time, and I'm glad to see so many new faces that make me feel older and older with every picture.

JD 2005 - Bildes

BlogThis!

I jut found this thing that allows me to blog whatever I see on the internet with a click of the botton. So I'm trying it out. I realize that I haven't been keeping people up todate on whats going on in Latvia so here is a link to one of Aarons stories. I couldn't think of a good picture today, so I'll try and do better tomorrow. In other news today was the first day in a long time when the temperature went above freezing.


Art - The Baltic Times- NEWS FROM ESTONIA,LATVIA AND LITHUANIA

Little Post Big News

I have a boatload of stuff to do, but I realized today that I haven't posted in a while and thought that I should. Well it is official now so I can tell you what the Big Project has been. There is a group of us that are opening a Sandwich Shop in Riga. The Company is called Baltic Sandwiches and thats about all we have right now. I've been working on it full time since I quit The Baltic Times. Gary has been in the states doing research and putting together a menu. He gets back tomorrow, and that is when things get thrown into full gear. There is a massive amount of things that need to be done and very little time to do them in, because we want to be open by the end of April as to hit the tourist rush that is expected. OK, gotta go.

British Embassy

IMG_0148
Originally uploaded by Auseklis.

This is a picture of when I went to the British Embassy to recieve our diplomas from the British Ambassidor to Latvia. I have been taking these Marketing and Management classes so that I can one day get an MBA. Overall things are going well, from this picture that is a few weeks old I realize that I should take more pictures as to keep you people up to date.

Hello There

I know I haven't posted in a while, but I've been busy so lay off. Things are going well. At the very least I am much more relaxed since I quit The Baltic Times. I am currently at The Baltic Times office patiently waiting my pay check, which is always a stressful time, because no one ever knows how much they are going to get. All it takes is for the boss to come up with another way to motivate the workers and there goes half the pay check. Anyway, enough about me here are some pictures from the party Aaron threw from Aelita who is here visiting for a few days.

Time to Start Anew

Well today is my last regular day at work here at The Baltic Times. I'm sure that I'm going to come back to finish up some stuff at some point. I have to write a few invoices so that I keep getting the 10% commission every month that I was promised. It also means that I might not be posting for a while, because I won't have free access to a computer, but don't worry I will continue to post even if it won't be every day as it has been up until now.

This picture was taken this past weekend in Madona at the dance following the "žeton vakars" for the high school that Ļena went to. The other two people in the picture are Māra and Mārtiņš. They both graduated with Ļena. I don't know what Mārtiņš is doing with his finger, but I'm sure it is meant to be cool.



Anyway, so I guess that is all for now. Wish me luck.

Quick Post

Sorry no picture today, I just wanted to say hi and that we are heading to Madona for the weekend so we should have some great pictures from there when I come in for my last day of work on Monday.

I'm Back

Sorry I was sick for the last two days and hence my reason for not posting, but now I'm back and ready for more. I don't know if I mentioned this before but Dad was in town visiting for a few days, I didn't get to see him much because he was running around doing things for work, but here is a picture of when we went to lunch one day. I like this picture because I think Lena look particularly good in it.

Vincent's First Month

Hey here is a picture of my nephew Vincent upon arriving home from the hospital after being born. He is about a month old. We were all a little worried that he was dangerously underweight from the first pictures we were sent here, but he seems to be growing fine and should be running around and causing trouble in no time.

Early Post

I know that I usually post later in the day, but today is a busy day with a bowling tournament at the end of it. Yes, it is that time of the year again when The Baltic Times organizes a bowling tournament for the diplomatic community, and that is one of the most boring event I have ever attended. On the up side this could be the last bowling event that I will attend. Anyway enough with the complaining and more with the photos. This is a picture of me with my "Krāsu tevs" (Frat Big Brother). I know that all of my pictures have been of Lettonia, but that will change soon as soon as I have time to copy the pictures off of my computer at home and bring them to work to post them. Things like that take time which I don't have a lot of.



To make up for the third Lettonia picture in a row here is a link to a better Latvian photo blog. Canned environments.

Hey That Guy

This picture was taken right after I recieved my "Krāsas" (colors). Lena mentioned that there is a contest "Latvijā" (in Latvia) somewhere where you can enter pictures that have interesting people or things in the background. The guy in the background is one of our new "fukši" (pledges), but I have no idea what the heck he is doing.



In other news I decided not only to post a photo a day, but also to use a Latvian word everyday to expand your vocabulary. (You can thank me later)

Welcome to my Photoblog

So much to tell, so little time. I haven't blogged since Friday so let me start there. Friday I had my Olderman Exam which went well, but not as well as I would have wanted it to. Saturday I went to watch the fencing tournament, where Andris from our frat won. Woohoo! Sunday was a lazy day filled with shopping and relaxing. Monday during Lunch Dad and I went to go get me a digital camera. We bought the Canon PowerShot A85 it is great a will fill the little free time I had very nicely. The best part of the camera is that now I will beable to post pictures of the stuff I talk about on this blog. On Monday night I received my colors in the fraternity. The first few pictures that I'm going to post will all be from that night. Needless to say I was really up to par on Tuesday, but today I'm feeling much better. So here is the first photo. (Drum Roll)



This is a picture before I got my colors with Andris who won the fencing tournament and has been teaching me fencing for the past few weeks.

Bizz, Bizz

Well, last night I passed my fencing test and I have the scars to prove it. Today has been filled with the Big Project and nervousness about the Olderman Exam I have to take tonight. The Olderman Exam is a general exam about the Fraternity, it's history and the way things are done. After that I have to sing three songs that I'm not sure I know, because I have been running around all day I haven't had time to look at them. The big thing is the exam if I don't pass that then there is no point worrying about the songs, so in a "worst-case" situation I can save them for Monday, but that will be cutting it really close. If all goes well tonight then Monday I will find out if I get my colors or not. Anyway, as then say in Latvia..."hold your thumbs" (cross your fingers).

The Best Worst Day Ever

Today started off bad. I was late getting up and going to work then we had two Major set backs with the Big Project. We are behind schedule and today we thought that we would move ahead, but document problems push us back to Monday. The other big problem was that we lost the space that we thought we were going to move into, but everything is O.K., because I just got back from a meeting where we found a bigger and better place that is just slightly more expensive. It is a good thing I over estimated a few things in the budget to cover these kinds of situations. In other news I have to take my fencing test today, so of course I'm a little nervous, but I've been doing fine so far and the only thing I was worried about was the fact that I was having a bad day and I didn't want that to affect my test. I have been reassured by the turn of events surrounding the new place. That is all for now. Have a nice day.