Roland's Wedding: Days 1-2

Yes, it really does take hate mail to get me back into the mood to blog again. My sincere apologies! It's summer, I'm lazy and lack motivation, and there's too much to write about. So I'm going to try to write a quick summary of what I've been doing the past...month!

First of all, my vacation - which was awesome. The trip to Europe was quite eventful, actually, when I found out in Quebec that my flight to UK was canceled because of a security threat at Heathrow. Having two *long* layovers is bad enough, but throwing a canceled flight into the mix? Not cool. Actually, I got put on an Air France flight through Paris and arrived in Vienna six hours early so this little issue turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

After arriving on Wednesday afternoon and waiting for everyone else to show up with my parents (who arrived the evening before), amazingly we all managed to find the hotel and arrive roughly ontime - Roland being the exception. But Roland is always late so arriving at night rather than in the morning or afternoon is close enough to give him the benefit of the doubt ;o).

Our hotel was in the outskirts of Vienna in an area populated with diverse international residents from places like Turkey, Balkans, Russia, etc. It was very quiet and the kind of neighborhood that I like to stay in when I visit a city because you get the true flavor of a place when you eat at places that have menus in Russian but not in English :) . We ate at a totally local restaurant the first night. I've been studying Spanish and haven't used my German in a while when I was suddenly with a group of eight non-German speakers with a waiter who spoke no English and I had to somehow translate the menu and take orders to give to the waiter. I had a really rough time! I said "Esta bien" to the waiter a few times, asked for "Agua", and through out some other Spanish words that had to be rescinded. I've heard of Spanglish, but I guess a combination of Spanish and German would be called....eewwww, figure that one out yourself ;o).

Thursday we spent the day in Vienna, meeting up with Leif and old friend of mine from Germany who lives in Vienna now. He gave us a wonderful guided tour around Vienna and then took the boys to a local brewery, where we met up with another pilot friend of his. The tasty, fresh beers flowed forth and we finally went back to the hotel to meet the ladies in a very happy mood :) . Later that night we went to the "fancy" dining establishment for dinner and then Stefan, Roland, Leif, and I took him out downtown for one last time before his wedding. We pretty much checked out a few places but ended up going home relatively early because some of us were dying of jet lag - and feeling a little old to be hanging out with college kids!

After another wonderful breakfast on Friday, four of us headed to the airport to get a rental car while the other four headed to Slovakia so Roland could help Csilla out with last minute preparations for the wedding the next day. Those "cross-border" charges on the rental car were pretty steep but necessary, unfortunately. We headed down the smoothe highway into Hungary and finally to the Slovakian border. Thus far, my domestically abused passport hadn't raised any eyebrows at all but we were given a tongue lashing at the Slovakian border by a guy who clearly had a grudge to beat against US residents (like most of the world does - thanks Bush!). He asked me what would happen if he went to the US with a passport like that and told me to go back to Budapest and get a new one. After his chest-puffing speech, he told us to get going and let us go through to Komarno, our final destination.

After reconvening and backing into Roland's car while trying to park (car accidence are obligatory whenever Vas and I meet up - every single time!), we went to a Wellness Center outside of town that had a big pool, hot tub, and various saunas. We totally chilled out there and even took a nap after lengthy steaming before heading back to the hotel. We went to Roland's brother-in-law's restaurant Cleopatra for a wonderful dinner and drinks. The kids certainly had fun at the restaurant, donning Jack Daniels bartender outfits and clearing off our tables (and the tables of other diners!), playing in the bar, etc. Very cute and they were devastated when it was time to go home!

J. Riley, there's plenty more to come!

You can find evidence of the above all at my picture site.

A Recipe for Disaster

What kind of traveling European vacation can you have when you combine the following:

1. Two kids under 10, two adults over 50, and six 20-somethings who have not accepted that they are not young anymore.
2. Residents from four countries, arrivals from five locations.
   
3. One passport that was "mutilated" (according to the US Embassy) in a washing machine and one passport that has no more pages left to be stamped, traveling across three borders, staying in a town split by a border.
4. One two-door sedan that fits 4 people.
5. A trip organized by Vas and his legendary timeliness and logistical prowess (note sarcasm)
6. A schedule that couldn't be finalized until three days before arrival (due to our Vienna tour-guide Leif's flight schedule).
7. Stefan.
   

Well, believe it or not, the trip was amazing! Roland pulled a spade out of his sleeve with this trip, organizing a flexible trip that wasn't too expensive, wasn't too stressful, and one that was appropriate for all age groups. My mutilated passport was causing some issues at the Komarno/Komarom (Slovakia/Hungary) border after crossing it daily and I ended up having to get a new one in Budapest, but it was not a big deal. I hope to blog about our trip over the next few days, though it's possible it won't be as detailed as I'd like (I think I say that every time!)

But feel free to check out pictures here:

Abridged Version (collection of the best from several people's cameras)
J. Riley Version (all of my pictures)

Being a slave to corporate America, I have adjusted my vacation scheduling to fully maximize the days off, typically flying in on Monday morning or, worst case, Sunday night. On this trip, since I was using my miles and the flights available are limited), I was "stuck" flying home on a Friday. I was pretty bummed that I couldn't squeeze those two extra days in, but let me tell you: I have never been so relaxed and refreshed after a vacation thanks to those two extra days between returning from vacation and going back to work. It gives you time to ease back into day-to-day life and fully recover from your trip. I know that I'm to frugal with my vacation days to do this on all my trips, but I think I'll consider doing this on long trips like the one I just finished.

In other news, I think the J. Riley Mac Experiment is over! After dealing with the sluggish performance lately, the OS crashing, the poor clarity in resolution, and the buggy iPhoto plugins for uploading pictures, I have switched back to my PC. Part of the reason was because I have found that Google's Picasa photo organizing software easily matches or exceeds Apple's iPhoto, not to mention the fact that I'll be moving to the Bronx soon and I need to get rid of a computer. It was fun while it lasted, though, and if it wasn't for the cost, I would consider an Apple laptop in the future.

J. Riley, time to start my vacation blogging outlines!

Can't Say it's the First Time this has Happened...

So, for the record, I am going to be moving to the Bronx in August/September.
I'm not sure if that was clear or not in my last blog.

Now I'm getting ready for my summer vacation of the year - a wedding in
Slovakia! I leave tomorrow afternoon and it's been an interesting couple of
weeks on a few fronts. I broke the LCD screen on my digital camera when I was
in Peru a few weeks ago. I've had it for a couple of years and was more or less
satisfied with it, so I started shopping around for a replacement (i.e. newer
model), reading reviews, spending hours at a time trying to figure out if I
want this year's model or last year's model, etc. I was going to buy a used one
I found on Craigslist, but backed out at the last minute and opted for a newer
model with face-detection technology (Canon SD800). Then I started my barrage
of purchases online for the camera (shipping and tax-free) and accessories
(extra batteries from ebay).

Then I thought about it and wondered how much it would cost Canon to fix my LCD
screen on my broken (but otherwise functional) camera. They wanted like $100.
Then I thought about it and wondered if I could somehow get the part and fix it
myself. One google search later and I had found the number for the Canon parts
warehouse in NJ along with step-by-step directions for replacing the lens. Of
course I ordered that up and had the part two days later. That night, foregoing
dinner, I started the replacement process, following the detailed steps. Until I
got halfway into the surgery and realized that the directions I had were for a
similar, but different, model. D-O-H! I was pretty much screwed because I had
taken most of the camera apart and disconnected things I shouldn't have. I
found the correct directions eventually but had a lot of trouble replacing it.
A few hours later, I had it all together finally and amazingly I didn't have
any extra screws laying on my table and the camera actually worked. Amazing!

This weekend was great, apart from spending some time with Alan and Andrea (and
Liz!) I did some major cleaning on my apartment in preparation for my trip and
it's looking great. Unfortunately, in my haste to do my laundry, my passport
landed in my pile and went through the wash. Of course I didn't realize it
until I was folding the clothes. Oh crap - I panicked big time, especially with
the elevated threat level here and in England (which I am going through both
ways). I'm leaving in two days!! All the information (stamps, photo, numbers,
etc) is there but the heat must've dissolved the glue holding the covers to the
pages. I ran out to get new pictures taken and was prepared to go down to the
Passport Center in NYC at 7:00am today in order to get a replacement. But all
the information is there. The guts of the passport look as good as new, it's
just the cover that is seperated from the first and last pages, though the
binding is still all held together. This had to happen to me right now. We'll
see what the passport control folks in the six countries I'm traveling to have
to say...

J. Riley, maybe I won't make it to Europe this year after all....

I'm Just(in) Riley from the Block...

OK, first of all, I coulda swore that J-Lo used to sing "I'm just Jenny from the Bronx" until I made a bet with someone (Rebecca I think?) that I subsequently lost. In any case, I will never be *from* the Bronx, but I may soon live in the Bronx [insert shocker emoticon here]. My friend Melissa has a very nice 2-bedroom apartment that she owns and is offer to rent me the other room for a steep discount compared to what I currently pay for my studio. My lease is up in August and my landlord wants an answer soon on my renewal. Let's break it down:

Benefits:

1. Melissa is an awesome cook and we cook for each other occasionally, so if we were in the same apartment it would be a pretty good setup.
2. I can't remember the last time that I actually did something besides go back to my apartment during the week (exercise excluded). I am really a homebody during the week.
   
3. I would see what it's like to live with a girl (if you didn't pick up on previous blog hints, you might consider re-reading)
4. I would not have a lease to be bound to, meaning I could pick up and leave within a few weeks notice (again, consider re-reading previous posts). Even if I decide that living with Melissa is hell and I want to move to Billyburg in Brooklyn.
5. Melissa doesn't mind visitors at all.
6. Melissa is Mexi-American: Spanish language partner?!?
   
7. Melissa works crazy hours for the energy company, so she's off a lot during the days and works at night, so it would only be like a part-time roommate.
   
8. I need a change, I can't take the Upper East Side for much longer.
   
9. This would do wonders for my street-cred and tough-guy image.
10. There's actually a beach up there, supposedly pretty nice and [gasp] clean.
    
11. Did I mention that I would save almost $1000 a month in rent/bills? Imagine the travel/gadget budget with that.
12. She has a much bigger TV that I do, couches, Lazy-boy, and a stocked kitchen.
    
13. She's the one person who is cheaper than me (besides some of the guys I work with).
    

Drawbacks:

1. My commute would expand to roughly 45 minutes each way (15 minutes more than it currently is)
2. Subway rides home at 3:00am on the rare weekends out on the town would be tough (of course I could just cab it).
3. Getting downtown would take about an extra 1/2 hour (the 45-minute commute as it is now prevents me from going down there much anymore anyway).
4. I wouldn't get to hang out with Andrea & Alan and Paul & Cathy (if/when they come home!)
5. Melissa, how should I say it, likes a bit of attention
6. Melissa has a cat that, as cats go, is chill. But, it's still a cat.
   
7. Mom and pop natural food shops, restaurants, etc. are non-existent there, they will require a commute.
   
8. I would be the only white guy in the zip code (not that I care much about that though).
9. I couldn't be a snobby ass and brag about living in Manhattan (maybe this would fit better under "Benefits").
10. Girlfriend gives me the eye-raising emoticon when I mention that I might be living with another girl (she's given me the ok, however ;o).
    

Comments?

J. Riley, it will be interesting to go back and read this in 6-months if I do end up moving north.

Just Curious...

Just curious, why is my website so popular with people in Romania? Honestly -
it's the teeth, isn't it?

Cultural Extravaganza Road Trip

Sean has recently purchased (outlandishly, of course) a new bike for running errands, touring the city, getting exercise, etc. I have considered doing the same but am having a hard time justifying the $300 purchase right now, when I can rent one for $35. Sure, after a few years it would pay off, but I am still hesitating. Anyway, we decided yesterday, despite my sore-throat-cough-and-evening exhaustion (something I caught in the hospital down south?), to do a serious road trip along the East River, going up to 125th Street, bypassing the high-security mental institution on Randall Island, crossing the Tri-Borough Bridge into Queens, then heading south through Astoria, Long Island City, into Greenpoint, into the hipster enclave of Williamburg, and then crossing the Williamsburg Bridge back into Manhattan.

We left at about noon with Sean already exhausted from the 91 block ride from the nexus of the universe to my apartment, but I was feeling fresh with my newly rented Euro-urban "step-through" (aka girl's) bike and we headed off into the great unknown that is Queens and Brooklyn. It was completely casual and a true stop-and-smell-the-roses type tour that I've wanted to do for a while. We hit up the MoMA PS1 museum, a sculpture park with people doing yoga in it, watched a children's Tae Kwan Do demonstration (or so I assumed it to be), found a Czech-Slovakian store full of goods from that part of the world (I happened to be wearing my Czech Republic soccer jersey so of course I had to stop in and practice my Czech), and finally found our way to Williamsburg in time for lunch.

We stopped into a place called Fada that looked intriguing, desperately seeking as many calories in the form of hamburger we could get in order to replenish those we had burnt. We were quickly re-directed to Teddy's Bar and Grill, which the hipster waiter promised had the best burgers around. And we proceeded to absolutely gorge on nachos, giant tasty burgers with cheese and chili, and polysaturated salty curly fries.

In a food-induced como, we rolled down to the river and found a random "State Park" with people sunbathing, reading, and playing soccer along the river. It was amazingly quiet on that side of the river and it was very refreshing. I am starting to like that area more and more, just like everyone else in the city.

We finally made it back to the madness of the LES and relaxed our exhausted bodies and watched the second half of a movie at Sean's. After the movie, it was time for me to head back uptown to get my bike back in time. Of course, at this point the sky got seriously dark and it started to rain. Perfect. I didn't really mind because I was hell-bent on beating Sean's one-hour commute uptown so I sprinted uptown as fast as I could, even when it started absolutely dumping rain. At least the river-side trail was cleared of pedestrians :o).

J. Riley, I found out when I returned my bike that my food-induced coma caused me to leave my credit card at the restaurant. I had to make a road-trip back out there today to pick it up, but this time I stopped at Fada and ate brunch with the NY Times. Yummy! :o)

Call 9-1-1 - Put Me Through to the Fashion Police!!

Today was a bad day. Not that anything in particular went wrong today, it was actually a pleasant day. But, for some reason in my haze of the early morning hours before I went to work (an hour early), I decided that I should wear charcoal grey (Firefox tells me it's supposed to be spelled "gray" - you've upgraded to the latest version, right??) pants, black belt, and my white Mexx shirt with green-dotted squiglies on it. A nice shirt, but an awful combination. And I felt awkward wearing it before I left for work because it clearly did not match. I have plenty of other freshly-pressed shirts, but I didn't change it.

And I felt like a total dork all day at work. Guess I fit in with the software developers I work with today.

J. Riley, by the way, Erika now had to deal with taking care of her mom (who returned from the hospital) and somehow working her 12+ hour days with a boss who's terrible to her at the same time with nobody else available to help. Any volunteers to go down and help out ;o) ?

My Week in the Hospital

I'm back - again! I spent some of last week down in Peru with Erika because her
mom was going to have surgery for her breast cancer. Although a plethora of
relatives visited, Erika was all on her own as the only child and was mostly
responsible for her mom and needed some support so I made the quick trip.

I spent almost the whole day, every day at the Peruvian hospital where her mom
was staying, and it was certainly interesting. My jaw surgeries were performed
(not by my choice, but the doctor's) at Mt. Sinai hospital. I found out later
that it was one of the top places in the city, and I had a pretty good
experience there. I also spent a year working in the New York City public
hospitals, so I was very curious to compare the Peruvian public hospitals with
those here in the city. It was also funny to be pretty much the only gringo in
this whole huge hospital. I got plenty of strange looks because I was much
taller than average. Erika said that the only gringos that go to these places
are actually doctors...

I found it interesting that her mom had to check in a day before the procedure
so that they could control what she ate and drank before the surgery. OK, maybe
this is something common for these surgeries, but I never heard of that before.
But the biggest shocker to me was that 1.) you have to bring your own toilet
paper to the hospitals with you, and 2.) you have to bring your own soap (which
I didn't see anybody bring) since the bathrooms don't have either one. It wasn't
even like they were always out of soap and/or toilet paper, there was not even a
spot for them in the hospital. Crazy. And needless to say there weren't Purell
dispensers on the walls inside. I can only imagine the infections that must
spread, and needless to say I wasn't eating with my hands much after that. And
thank god I didn't have to do any #2's (or is it #1?) while at the hospital. I
did leave her mom the Purell from my backpack, though they were probably
wondering why they would need to use it :) . Ryan mentioned that he went into a
cevicheria (raw fish) restaurant that had the same thing. Raw fish + no toilet
paper + no soap? No wonder I always come home sick...

My surgeries were more or less on time last year and I don't know how they work
at the public hospitals here, but Erika's mom was scheduled for surgery at
11:00am on Thursday and actually didn't go in until 3:30pm. I suppose that
could happen here. But the shocker? Another lady who was also scheduled at
11:00am was told, sorry, you have to wait until SATURDAY for your surgery. And
of course she had to stay at the hospital those extra days.

The last thing that I noticed was that the shared hospital room (she had a
neighbor) had no window shades and giant windows, so during the day you pretty
much had to wear sunglasses inside the room. I can't imagine spending a few
days after surgery in such a blinding light. I guess these are just things that
we take for granted!

In any case, supposedly Erika's mom's surgery was successful. The doctor said
that she won't need chemotherapy, but I thought that was pretty much standard
these days. Again, I don't know much about this, so maybe I'm totally off-base.
I also know that they are going to do a biopsy (or did a biopsy?) on her lymph
node near the breast with the tumor. Exact details on this were lost in
translation so there are still some question marks. Her mom was having allergic
reactions to something while recovering, giving her rashes on her skin, and was
having stomach problems but otherwise I think she is doing okay. She certainly
enjoyed the company. There were so many cousins, brothers, sisters,
cousin-in-laws, and other distant relatives coming through, it was really
great. I also got to speak a bit of Spanish that I've been learning, though I
still have crazy nervousness whenever I start to say something. I need to study
more!

Outside of the time at the hospital, Erika and I spent time enjoying the amazing
cuisine or Peru, described by some as the best cuisine in the world. Who knew
that there were so many sauces, beans, and multi-ethnic treats? I ate "chifa"
on the first day, which is Chinese food but tt's about as Chinese as our
Chinese food! One funny thing was that I wanted to eat hot & sour soup. Their
equivalent is "hot & acidic" soup, doesn't quite have the same ring to it. I
guess it was somewhat similar, but the "sour" of the American style was
replaced with the "sour" (and acid!) of limes. Overwhelming lime taste!

In addition to the awesome, standard pollo a la brasa (roasted chicken), ceviche
(raw fish "cooked" by mixing it with lime juice), and amazing arroz con pollo
(rice and chicken with crazy chimichurri-type herbs), I also ate quinoa con
maca and leche, which is like a hot cereal served by a street vendor near the
hospital. Interestingly, maca is supposedly like a natural aphrodisiac from the
Incas, no wonder Erika took me there every day ;o).

All-in-all, it was a pretty good and successful trip, mostly because I was with
Erika the whole time. We are in perfect harmony when we are together, it's
actually quite amazing. Her and her family live a very simple life which I
realized even more when we went to her house and I saw their sleeping quarters
and watched (since I am useless in this case ;o) her wash her mom's pajamas -
outside in the sink where clothes and dishes are washed. We've started talking
about the possibilities for the future and spending more time together. I'm not
sure how that's going to happen, but this is J. Riley we're talking about, I'm
open-minded to a number of possibilities!

J. Riley, oh and we did go to a Latin disco with her friend and her boyfriend my
last night there which was of course amazing!

Running: The Aftermath

So I am finally feeling the ill effects from running distances (though nothing major) on concrete. I think I'm getting shin splints because the area around my shins are killing me. I stopped running for a week because of this and now am pretty much planning on just running sprints on the spongy astro-turf at this park near me, which sucks because the security guard there is a pain in the ass. A few weeks back he kicked me out because I was walking on the outskirts of the field (which is a running track) because there were soccer teams who were going to be playing. Uhhh....I'm not exactly using the field. Yesterday, he tried to pull that again and I said (referring to the sub-10 year old children practicing) that it didn't look like they were playing and proceeded to go past him and started my sprints. After about 15 minutes, he said "ok, that's enough", even though half the field was still unoccupied and I was completely out of the way of the practice. I talked with the guy for about 10 minutes, trying to logically reason with him. He clearly just didn't want ME there. There was a dad playing with his kid on the field, but there was no problem with him. Just with me, running on the side of fields. Finally I said that I was only going to be there another 10 minutes, I'm going to the middle of the field where there was no one. He said something like "well if the parents complain, you're going to have to leave". Like a parent is going to complain about somebody using a completely unoccupied part of the field. Well, then again, this is New York.

Did I mention that I'm in Peru? I didn't think so. Erika's mother was suddenly scheduled for surgery tomorrow, 6/6, so I booked a (unreasonably cheap) direct flight down here and thanks to my boss for his understanding and flexibility in allowing me to work from here. Not that he reads my blog (or knows that it exists ;o). So, I'm here, working from my youth hostel (or their neighbors') wireless internet connection!

J. Riley, I don't really classify this as a "vacation" trip, but I'll label it as such anyway.

What The....??

So I was eating dinner with an out-of-town former college mate on Tuesday down
in SoHo when a man walked by. It's common to see people out walking their pets
after work (sometimes I see them at 3:00am, too). But this guy was walking his
pet monkey. I think that's a first for me!

J. Riley, isn't that like illegal or something?