It's hot.

First off... it is a common myth that Austria is perpetually covered with snow, in as much as Seattle is perpetually raining. It's currently 27c in my office right now which is markedly better than the 32c that is outside. Still, when people see me in nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt at work and ask why I am soaking wet, I feel some explanation is in order. I am not sure if it is the explanation or my translation of the explanation into German that is funny, but people laugh. All I tell them is people from Seattle are made of Ice Cream and generally melt at anything above 15c. It's days like this when the -20c to -30c of winter seems like a distant dream.

I don't like heat. When it is cold, you can always put more clothes on. When it is hot, it is hard to get more than naked... even if it is publicly acceptable here. (note to self - go to the river more often while it is hot and take in some visual relaxation)

Hey!

I have an office again! It's only 3 sq. Meters, but it's all mine. Formerly a conference room for two called 'Storm' it seems only fitting to be sitting in what once was the codename for AdPoint 5.0...

In other news, I am still working on getting all the modifications I have made to my car registered and legal. The next steps I have are get an engineering sign-off for my design and workmanship, then take it to TUV Austria for engineering sign-off for the parts I used as they were purchased outside Austria, then I can take the car to the State Inspection Facility to have all the new stuff entered into the title. Then I can have my yearly safety inspection without issue and be road-legal again.

(all that for new poly bushings, modified lower control arms, new adjustable coilovers on all four corners, and a four wheel big brake kit on a car that would already out-corner most 150,000+Euro supercars - I must be mad!)

Personality Defect Tests are fun...

...and I am trying really hard to find fault with what it came up with.

You are the Sociopath! As a result of your cold, calculating rationality, your introversion (and ability to keep quiet), your brutality, and your arrogance, you would make a very cunning serial killer. You are confident and capable of social interaction, but you prefer the silence of dead bodies to the loud, twittering nitwits you normally encounter in your daily life. You care very little for the feelings of others, possibly because you are not a very emotional person. You are also very calculating and intelligent, making you a perfect criminal mastermind. Also, you are a very arrogant person, tending to see yourself as better than others, providing you with a strong ability to perceive others as weak little animals, so tiny and small. You take great pleasure in the misery of others, and there is nothing sweeter to you than the sweet glory of using someone else's shattered failure to project yourself to success. Except sugar. That just may be sweeter. In short, your personality defect is the fact that you could easily be a sociopath, because you are calculating, unemotional, brutal, and arrogant.

To put it less negatively:
1. You are more RATIONAL than intuitive.
2. You are more INTROVERTED than extroverted.
3. You are more BRUTAL than gentle.
4. You are more ARROGANT than humble.

Life Reboot

so, it has been a while. what's changed? well, I have since gone through a major change at work. I am a full time employee now in Austria, as opposed to an independent contractor. What does this mean? well, basically, more hours, but less pay... much less pay... on the order of 40-50%. At present I am trying to figure out if I can still afford to remain in my apartment as well as make the payments back in the US for the mortgage on the house in PA.

Second to that, I am going through the approaching the 30th birthday and subsequent re-examination my life. While it is arguably pretty good, isn't quite where I thought it would be by now.

Coming home to an empty house is getting damn old.

Györ and Budapest

so, this weekend I took a couple of trips to Hungary to meet up with a friend. it was supposed to be only one trip, but let's just say, the Györ train station is confusing, my friend doesn't have a phone, and my phone's web access doesn't work in Hungary, so I went back home.

we both thought the other just didn't show, but comes to find out we were just on opposite ends of the station waiting for each other stubbornly. we decided to try again choosing a distinct landmark inside the Budapest train station and success!

Budapest is cool, it's not quite east-europe and not quite west. I think I coined the phrase yesterday of "being a happy amalgam of east and west that some might want to refer to as central-esque in nature"... okay, so, sometimes I make things too complicated, what can I say, I am an engineer.

A taste of Ljubljana

Okay, a quickly done and simple set of shots from walking around in Ljubljana.

Greetings from Slovenia!

Writing to you from the Hostel Celica (pronounced: cell-eat-za) which is a converted military prison fromYugoslavia times. I have stayed here each year for the festival and find it very comfortable. The festival this year is more spread-out and a much easier pace than last year. This year is only one show a night instead of the two or three madness from last year. Still another week and a half to go and tonight is a show with local Ljubljana High-Schoolers.

Useful Slovene words and phrases:

Dober Jutro - Good Morning
Dober Dan - Good Day
Dober Večer - Good Evening
Živjo - Hello
Adijo - Bye
Ena Pivo Prosim - One Beer Please

anyhoo, that's all for now!

Adijo!