Of latvians and jewish grandpas

Such very funny and scientific!.. Ya?

As heard from a wizened latvian gentleman at a conference a few weeks back.  He had such an adorable accent, I wanted to adopt him!  I guess the stereotypical eastern european accent is a generational thing.

Sleeping in other people's beds

... a how-to guide.

It seems like over the last month or two, I haven't slept in the same bed for more than a week in a row, if that.  It's required some adjusting.  Now before you gutter-minded people jump to tawdry conclusions, let me state for the record:  while it's true these beds were not mine, neither were they currently occupied by anyone else.  So there.

Bilbao update

Well, I haven't had any luck yet understanding why there are so many X-es around.  Other than that, this place is shopping heaven!  Clothes are a fraction of the price of Paris - though I still don't regret my swedish undies.  Speaking of which, I couldn't help myself.  On my second trip to Stockholm (last week), I bought another pair.  This time, they're not only Bjorn Borgs.  They're (get this) Lucky Underwear.  According to the package, Bjorn Borg guarantees that if I slip them on, somebody else will take them off.  Which sounded great, until a friend mentioned it might be a nurse.  Ah well.

Basque-ing in the sunny weather

Well folks, I'm in Bilbao, for what looks like my last scheduled mission.  It's been a zany few weeks!  I shuttled between Paris, Stockholm, Brussels, and now here, in Spain.  And it's pretty grand!

I wonder what Bilbao has in store for me.  I'm not really sure what to expect, but the Basques certainly like their X-es.  The language is chock full of 'em.  I will strive to discover why!

Meanwhile, work has me staying in a 5-star hotel in the very heart of the city.  We passed the Guggenheim on the bus into town.  It looks like a shiny, silvery snail.  Pretty though.  From tomorrow I'll be staying at a slightly less fancy, mere 4-star hotel.  I don't know how I'll manage.  I love traveling outside of high season, the prices are just so much better!

Now then, off to luch!  Let's see what this place has to offer!

A good sim with text!

Huzzah!  And on with the conference!

... and thank goodness for internet access during breaks :)

As seen in Stockholm (in my new underwear!)

Become a swedish export

Swedish Exports are ordinary people, transformed by the power of underwear. They roam the globe, wearing nothing else but their shining underwear and sparkling personalities. Are you a Swedish Export? Send us a picture of you being you, in a pair of Bjorn Borg's. Every month, the most outrageous picture is awarded with an underwear collection.

And on the other side...

Have you discovered the internet?

Yes, unknown to most of us is this parallel world, filled with extraordinary experiences. It's called the World Weird Web. Now, Bjorn Borg is ready to take you to this amazing new place. To get there you need to power up your computer, start this program called web browser and write BJORNBORG.COM into the text field. To not completely blow you away, here is a sneak preview of what's to come.

So... yeah. All I can say is, Stockholm is fantastic, but it's a bit of another world... and they worship Bjorn Borg and Abba.

Misadventures in Rome - pt 3

FINALLY, IN THE PLANE ON ROUTE TO PARIS! (BUT BACK TO THE EVENTS AS THEY UNFOLDED)

Finally, the exhausted-looking manager, frazzled and seemingly at wit’s end tells us that as we’re the last, and they haven’t managed to find any other hotels to accommodate us, we’ll be staying at the most luxurious one of the lot, and that the bus will be here “shortly”. He looks like he’s about to cry, and in his over-sized suit he looks like he’s literally been shrinking under the stress. The man probably lost a few pounds that evening. Before, however, the bus shows up, a couple of Italian carabinieri mosey on over. It seems they’re unhappy. One of the poor wretched forgotten souls decided he refused to sit on the floor (nor on the hard metal bars of the carry-on measuring stand) and grabbed a chair from behind a check-in desk. By this point, everyone was ready to lynch the carabinieri. Which I dare say they suddenly understood, when they tried to growl at us and were met by a wall of steely, sullen stares. At this point we were nearly ready to piss them off further, just to find a place to sleep for the night.