Let It Snow, let it snow, let it snow

Tuesday, Decemeber 26, 2006


It is snowing. Brrrrrrrr. It is very beautiful though. I watch it fall to the ground. The flakes are so light I am just amazed at how these tiny flakes land on the ground and collectively make snow.



It's 9:45 am and the sun just poked its rays thru the clouds and the flakes are gone. Not used to the sound of shovels scraping along the sidewalk, and plows clearing the roads. The people here are very used to this weather. The children were playing soccer on the sidewalk with an empty 2,5 liter as the ball. I watched from the balcony for only a few minutes, the cold gets your nose frosty very fast.

Ahhhh. Coffee to warm me up from the inside out. Mmmmmmmm. I need to get back to work. Emi and Denisa come home today from their trip to Italy.

The Yoke of the Matter

Here are what the eggs look like in Romania.
Yummy!!

DAY ELEVEN

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

I am eager to view the site on the testing server. I hope it is updated. I am working on the My Business Section. I have designed the Virtual Rolodex, and I am quite pleased with the way it looks.

I also need to work on the Auto Page of the RSS Feeds. Right now I am doing most of the page design. It works best for me right now.

I figure if I keep busy, it will make my time here go by faster. I am really starting to miss American Food. A nice juicy New York steak with some steamed broccoli and a small dinner salad with Ranch Dressing, oh boy that sounds delicious. I know what I am going to do first thing when I get back to the US! Now I just need to find out who's buying? LOL any takers?

I wish it was February 6th, that would mean I get a steak dinner when I get off the plane. Mmmmmm I can hardly wait, as I lick my lips...... Snap out of it!! Come back to Romania . . .

DAY TEN

Monday, December 18, 2006

Good Morning! It is 6 am here. I am having a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and coffee. I am eager to get the day started I guess. I don't have an alarm clock with me so I am relying on my internal alarm. So far it keeps going off at 6 am. It works for me, I get to say good nite to Brandon, and the rest of my Family who is on Skype because that is about 9 pm US time.

Went to the office this afternoon. It was raining today, the traffic was horrible! It took us about an hour or more to get here. It normally is about a 15 to 20 minute drive. We met with the team and went over the notes me and Emi worked on Saturday. Everyone appears to understand me just fine, Emi translates in Romanian just to make sure. Well, we have to leave in a rush due to the traffic, it is 3 pm and their flight leaves at 5:30 pm. Hope they make it....

Well, I am back at the apartment now. They had to drop me off near Unirii Square, so that they could make their flight. It was sprinkling, not too bad. I stopped at McDonald's for a salad. ($6 USD) It was worth it. They don't have lettuce in the markets, it is the wrong season here. It had a fair portion of chicken and yes I had to pay for the dressing separate. Aaaarghggh!

Very good. Emi called from the airport and they made their flight. Whew! Well I do have to type up todays notes in a google doc for the team. So I better get it finished. I want to set a good example and all.

DAY NINE

Sunday, December 17, 2006

I went to bed early last nite, around 10 pm . When I woke up I looked at the clock and low and behold it was 12:30 in the afternoon ( I slept for 16 hours) Wow! I must be jet lagged. I sure needed the rest. I am still kinda tired, if you can believe that. I think I will stay in my pajamas, at least until Emi & Denisa call.

Well, it doesn't look like we are going out sightseeing today. No big deal. I have to go to the market for food today and will want to relax when I get back. Tomorrow will be pretty busy, Emi and Denisa are leaving for Italy without me. Sob, sob! I will miss them, they have become like Romanian parents to me. I rely on them pretty much for everything at this point.

We went to a different Mall this time, but all the markets are about the same. CROWDED!! You really won't understand the traffic and the crowds until you see my videos. It is absolutely unbelievable. The closest I could relate it too is for you to think it was the only Super WalMart in all of San Joaquin Valley. Of course they don't carry near the amount of products that we do. And the quality of products here is also very different.

Yawn! I am very tired and must get up early for work tomorrow. See you later.

DAY EIGHT

Saturday, December 16, 2006

Today we (me & Emi) are going to work at my apartment. Denisa went to visit her parents. We focused mainly on the main event of Bizzow, the My Business Section. We went thru each tab and discussed the functionality of each section. We are both very excited to see this grow and become live on the internet. We had a few minutes that we were able to chat with Rudy via Skype, that was very cool.

Well it is the late afternoon here, I think I will take a hot bath in that big tub! I can hardly wait until tomorrow, we are going sightseeing as soon as Denisa gets back (she has the car).

Oh we started a blog on http://www.bizzow.com you will have to check it out. We hope to keep everyone up to date on the progress of the website. I can hardly keep this blog up so we will see how it goes. Emi is going to be able to help me out.

Another day gone by.

DAY SEVEN

Friday, December 15, 2006

Today, marks 1 week here in Romania. I am feeling the onset of "homesick". If it weren't for "Skype" I don't know what I would do. Thank you everyone for keeping in touch!

Oh, I had my first experience with a Romanian Fly the other day. It was in the 40's and so I opened the doors to my balcony, well in came a fly. I thought where is the flyswatter? As I sat back down at my computer and I looked down at my coffee cup and saw this huge Romanian fly. My eyes got big, like how am I gonna ever kill this thing...... so my first reaction was to shooo him away, so I did and he ran right into my hand, I thought these flies here are kinda dumb, or really slow due to the cold. He flew right back on to my cup right, so I slowly crept my hand up to the cup my finger ready to flick him right in the melon. Low and behold he let me get right up on him and POW! Romania has one less fly today. Now I know they must have used Romanian flies for Mr. Miagi (Karate Kid) to catch one with chopsticks. LOL!

Emi ordered me Romanian Pizza to be delivered to the apartment for lunch today. For those of you who have been keeping up with my Blog know how appalled I am at how they charge for those condiments right, well you guessed it, I had to pay for the sauce!!! I can't believe how they do this here. I literally laughed out loud when I checked the receipt and saw I paid 75 cents for sauce. By the way they barely put any on the pizza so you pretty much have to buy the sauce! Oh how you gotta love `em. If America ever caught wind of this process I shudder to think what chaos would break out. I would have to start a protest or something. I am sure that when I get back home I will never look at a packaged condiment the same, you're going to find bins of them in my fridge! LOL

DAY SIX

Thursday, December 14, 2006

I ran out of Pepsi Light last night. So I think I will walk to the market to get a few things. It is about a mile walk round trip. I have to walk thru a main park to get across the round-about. In the park there is an ice skating rink with music for the public to enjoy. I liked to watch them. It is so weird, the people here hardly ever smile. Not even in passing. It isnt because they aren't friendly or being rude, Emi says they just never have much to smile about.

Well, I found the market after standing right in front of this huge building. I see the McDonalds we go to but, . . . ah a little stairway going down on the left leads to a whole other level of shopping. Wow! A small grocery store is underneath McDonalds.

I came for Pepsi Light (Diet Pepsi) and some Creamer for my coffee. They don't have the fancy stuff here so I am having withdrawals. No Starbucks here in Romania yet. They have Cafe's but haven't gotten the nerve to go it alone yet. The grocery store is enough for one day. Ooooooh found the cereal Isle, it had 4 selections to choose from. Cocoa Puffs, Honey Nut Cheerios, Romanian Bran Flakes, and a Meusilex Fiber Cereal. They aren't boxed here, they are in bags.
For a bag of Honey Nut Cheerios (500 g) was like $5.25

I found the chip isle. The only brands I recognize are Lays and Cheetos, which I think are Frito Lay. I did see at the G.Store Pringles but not here at this market. The price is comparable to the US. I got BBQ lays. The bags are small here, like our Grab Bag size. Everything is like on a smaller scale. They don't have the size we do, you know the Family Size!

Got a loaf of sourdough bread for 40 cents USD. Yeah! Finally something cheaper.

While standing in the checkout I saw some sugar free gum, Mentos, no price was listed but figured couldn't be that much right, hah! I looked on the receipt - for 36 pieces $3.20 USD
I will never do that again! So I try to chew one for the whole day.

Got to the checkout and noticed all the people that work registers sit down on this low stool. I asked did she speak english she gave me a dirty look, so when she was done and gave me the total ($31.50 USD) gave her the Lei and said in Romanian "Multumesc" = Thank You she looked at me kinda shocked that I knew some Romanian. Ha Ha Ha!

Well now I have to walk back to the apartment carrying two bags with one 2.5 litre of Pepsi Light in each. No problem if the handles on these bags wouldnt rip.

Now that I am back at the apartment I must get back to work. Until tomorrow. Pa Pa! (bye bye in Romanian)

DAY FIVE

Wednesday - December 12, 2006. It is around 3 am here.
My internal clock is way out of whack.





My apartment is really spacious. Here are some photos of where I live. I have no microwave, no oven, just a gas cooking range. There is a coffee maker and a toaster so I will survive the 2 months, at least I hope so.

Due to the smoke I am working from my apartment. It seems to help me breathe a bit easier. Plus I can eat at home - avoid the traffic, avoid paying for ketchup, and wear my pajamas!
I met a designer from here and his portfolio was impressive. He has done over 300 websites I think he said. Between the two of us I hope to stay ahead of the developers. My gut feeling is they will be waiting for us to finish the page they need. We will see.

I shot some video with my new video camera that Rudy bought me the day before I left. I can't wait to have you see how the ride to work is. It rained a bit so hope it is clear enough for you to see when the Taxi driver almost bumped into the side of the car because he wanted to get thru to a cross street (we had the right of way). Emi says they are the worst drivers and think they own the roads. Maybe I will take a taxi somewhere. Hmmmm, maybe not. They are pretty crazy.

DAY FOUR

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

My greatest difficulty to this point is my allergies. Practically everyone here is a smoker. Remember back in the day when smoking was allowed in public places. Well that is how it is here but with 2 million cigarettes lit at the same time. Enough about second hand smoke.

Emi and Denisza are really special people. They are very good to me. They are younger than I am so they sometimes have to wait for me to catch up when we are walking. I am actually twice their age. Now I really am starting to feel old.

Emi has started his own company named Branient. He has a good team of developers. They are very good at what they do. He is very knowledgeable especially when it comes to the latest technology. He is very good to Denisza (his girlfriend). He is a true gentleman.
We get along great - just like a brother and sister.

Denisza is such a cutie puhtootie. I love her accent. I can't wait until we get to go shopping. She is very intelligent. We are always comparing American with Romanian ways.

I shot some video with my new video camera that Rudy bought me the day before I left. I can't wait to have you see how the ride to work is. It rained a bit so hope it is clear enough for you to see when the Taxi driver almost bumped into the side of the car because he wanted to get thru to a cross street (we had the right of way). Emi says they are the worst drivers and think they own the roads. Maybe I will take a taxi somewhere. Hmmmm, maybe not. They are pretty crazy.

The traffic here is just crazy - words cannot give you a true picture of how it is. One thing I found very strange is the parking. They park everywhere they possibly can. On sidewalks There is only 2 freeways here. One leads to, along the side of the road, even double parked right on the streets. Some of the people here take advantage of the parking spots and they will put a red milk crate in the way and if you pull up they will move the crate but expect you to pay them for letting you park in their spot. We paid the man about $1.50 USD so we could eat lunch and get back to the office. The structure of the streets is very confusing to me. (Click on Map to enlarge.) Not at all like California. There is only 2 freeways one to the oceanside and the other to the countryside. No overpasses.

We went to eat at one of the Malls. The advertisements here are very neat. There was a large floor mat on the floor, about 6ft x 5ft and there was an ad that was displayed on the mat, but here comes the cool part - when you step on it it made a ripple effect like water. There was young children having a blast stepping on it. I fit right in with them! I could have played around there for an hour. I wanted to post a picture of it, but cameras are not allowed in the Malls here.

I hope you can enjoy these photos of the Lei (Romanian Money) I had some exchanged while I was at the Mall. As of J Romania has dropped four zeros from its national currency. Yesterday's 28,000
Romanian lei (ROL) per U.S. dollar
now equal 2.80 (new) lei (RON) to one dollar - two lei (lay) and 80 bani (bah-nee).

Both old and new coins and banknotes will be in circulation until December 31, 2006 when the old currency will be withdrawn.

I have to get back to work, but I hope to get my blog up to date also.

DAY THREE

Well it's 11:56 pm, Monday here.

Today I went to work at the office. For lunch we went to Kentucky Fried Chicken. The menu is very limited. The largest bucket of chicken you can order is 6 pcs. and no sides come with it. They don't have biscuits like we do, they have little hard rolls.

We went back to work and really accomplished a lot for the first day. I met with a Graphic Designer from here to get some assistance and he is very talented. We worked until about 9 pm and I was too tired I knew I didn't want to cook. So we went to McDonalds. LOL they only have Big Macs, McChicken, Hamburger, and Cheeseburger, and 6 pcs. McNuggets and of course the delicious fries, and get this - you have to buy the dipping sauce and ketchup packages. They charge 30 to 50 cents USD for each packet! I about died laughing. No wonder they are so poor over here.

I was trying to stay up - to get the schedule made for tomorrow.

I can't wait until I can say ok its live - go to www.bizzow.com!

Love ya all,

DAY TWO

Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 11:00 pm here which is 1:00 pm in the afternoon - US time

Nothing too exciting for today. I went grocery shopping. The grocery stores here are like our Super WalMarts, and they are located on the first floor of the Malls.
They are called G.Store. The food is very different here.

• Milk is sold only in small containers. (about 20 oz. for $1.50)

• Bread is very thin slices and they call it French Toast rather than bread.

• Cheese is very different too. Here it is soft reminded me of the mexican cheese. They also have what they call regular Cheese. It looked like Monterey Jack but it is provolone. They had smoked cheddar but it is very strong.

• Diet Pepsi is called Pepsi Light

• PreMade Spaghetti Sauce like our Prego and Ragu is just entering Romania but the Brand is Dolmio, but it is half the size so you have to buy two jars that cost about $3 USD each

• The Spaghetti Noodles are available by size here.
No. 1 very thin - thinner than Angel Hair
No. 3 Like Angel Hair Pasta
No. 5 Medium Size like in America
No. 7 Thick

• Peanut Butter is very rare here.

• Paper products like Paper Towels or Napkins are one ply - you can see thru it.

• Fruits and Vegetable are very colorful here. Oh and if you want any you have to bag it then stand in line (usually long, but moves quickly) and a clerk weighs it and tags it for you to go pay at register.

• Eggs are brown here. You can get white ones but not always available. And they still have the poop on the shells. I about died laughing.

Anyway - that is about it.

DAY ONE

It is about 6 am here on Sunday, December 10, 2006.

My flight was good. Had some turbulence over Greenland, but nothing too bad. My connecting flight was in Frankfurt, Germany. The airport there was very different in the way you get on and off the plane. When you walk thru the tunnel after getting off the plane you have to climb up 4 flights of stairs to wait at the gate for your next flight. Then when you board that flight you walk down 4 flights of stairs to a shuttle bus that takes you out to the tarmak to climb more stairs to get on the plane. While on the plane, all the announcements are made in several languages, English is usually the last one.

I am staying in a nice apartment near the House of the People. House of the People - which is the third largest building in the world. It is about 1/2 mile down the right hand side of this street. At night it is beautifully lit up.

I will be touring the city later today. Oh by the way the population here in this city is 3 million people. They drive like crazy people too. There are people every where you look. There is so much traffic that there are no posted speed limits due to the fact you rarely get to go faster than 20 mph. (they use kilometers and I haven't learned the conversion yet.)

So far it is going great. The major differences that I have noticed between here and America is they can smoke anywhere they want. I hate that - I was trying to eat dinner last nite in the restaurant and tried to keep from gagging from all the smoke.

I went to get a few groceries for the apartment and the largest milk you can buy is comparable to a US pint. The measuring scale they use here is liters, not too familiar with this system but I will get the hang of it.

The weather is very brisk. They use celcius vs. fahrenheit. It was 8 degrees here today. I was fine with it. I actually dressed to warm and had to take off my sweater and just wear my shirt and jacket.

Well that is about all for today -

Take care and miss all of you.