sin singapore

Singapore

So what do you want to know? Everything? Well alright then. So Singapore was the exercise site for PE this year. I was very excited to go, especially because of the amount of miles we were going to get. The pacific is a giant beast. My flight was from Tucson, LA, Hong Kong, Singapore. That’s a 1 hour flight, followed by a 14.5 hour flight, followed by a three hour flight. For those of you who haven’t flown that long before, here’s a quick snapshot. Sleep for 6 hours, watch 5 or 6 movies, eat 2 or 3 times, and you still aren’t there. But when you do land its nice, because flying into Hong Kong bay is really beautiful at sunrise.

So let’s pickup with our journey already in progress.

Tuesday

Leave America

Thursday

What happened to Wednesday, well you lose it, it just goes away. Cross the International Date Line, and viola, just skip to the day ahead. Ah man. So we landed in Singapore around noon and got through customs pretty slowly. It was a long line and they were not that efficient. Picked up our luggage, met our driver, and then we had a 45 minute bus ride out to our rooms. We were staying in this Navy TDY hotel. There were 3 bedrooms with a common kitchen, living room, dining room. It was alright. They had tv and internet so what else could you ask for. If any of you remember one of my posts in regards to AFN and servicemen, well AFN is the armed forces network, its tv for people who are overseas. Its great and all, but there are no commercials; I guess they don’t want to commercialize everything in the military so all of the breaks in between shows and movies are military public service announcements. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are bad, they even sometimes make fun of themselves and offer the chance to make them better with viewer input. A little viewer interaction never hurt anyone I suppose. So after we got settled in, we went and picked up a few groceries, came back, had some dinner, I watched a movie, tried my darndest to stay awake until 10. It almost worked. Then I went to bed. Our coworkers got in really late that night, they disturbed my slumber, but I fell asleep pretty easily.

Friday

Woke up without much jet lag, high five body, and we went to work. The work site was near the airport. It was in this super controlled area, we needed 10,000 tons of paperwork to get in. It didn’t seem like it was that secure of a place or why we would need that much security, but oh well. We did our thing and got back to our place in the afternoon. We had dinner that night at the terror club. Sounds scary huh, well it wasn’t okay, Im tough, I can handle it. Actually it named after a sunken ship called the HMS terror. I guess we were staying at what used to be a British naval base or at least it had British soldiers at some point. It was pretty good, I don’t remember what I had that night, but I didn’t care for it I don’t think. The food there was super hot, stove hot, so your mouth was always getting burnt with every bite.

Saturday

Our bosses had to go to work. Sucks to be them. So the other guy and I went around scurrying around the country. Its small enough that you could actually scurry. First things first, how do we get down there. Okay take this bus or this bus and then get on the train and go downtown. And more first things first, find the hard rock café. Done and done. Downtown Singapore is like a shopper’s paradise. There is a great deal of fancy shops like Prada, Gucci, Coach, LV, and Old Navy. Of course we avoided all of that because we are dudes. We went to a tourism shop and found out what we could do in the area. After that we went and got some lunch. I had duck, oh em gee, duck is so tasty and cheap in Singapore. Its so oh em gee, that I had seconds, yeah that could. And actually not that big of a meal, so eating two wasn’t like I was a huge pig, just a small pig. After that we were back on our tourism mission. Next stop, Raffles hotel, I wanted to get a Singapore Sling. A Singapore Sling is the national cocktail of Singapore, maybe not really, but it was invented there, its super tasty, and super expensive. Singapore has a high sin tax on alcohol and tobacco. So this awesome drink, which was like bubble gum and gin, was about $30, ugh fml. Nevertheless, it was delicious, and you get to eat peanuts and throw the shells on the floor. That is my favorite thing to do with peanuts. Next we were off to the toy museum. Where we promptly got 20% off our tickets because we had hotel key cards. The museum was too much fun, they had toys from all continents and all eras. There were some things from the 19^th century, but mostly it was the 20^th century. 1910s, 20s, 30s, 40s and so on. English, American, Australian, Japanese, and even the Dutch. Youll see pictures next week, but of course, my favorite toy section were the racially insensitive black toys. With giant red lips, white teeth with big smiles, and of course watermelon. Toys like the Alabama Coon and The Five Nigger boys. Amazing what was allowed, marketed, and sold in those days. I know that that shouldn’t be my favorite, but I was so shocked I couldn’t look away. After that we took a break, we had walked all over the damn city. Since everything I wanted to do was done with for the day I let the other guy choose some things, see what a nice fellow I am. He wanted to go to the Singapore Flyer. Its like the London Eye, but bigger. You don’t know what the London Eye is either, it s big giant Ferris wheel. You can see everything from the top. Really cool and you get some great history about Singapore and the geography. The youth Olympics were also going on this day. The youth Olympics are like the real Olympics except they are for young kids. They said 14-18. I thought that some of the regular Olympians fall into this category but I guess not all. So the place was packed, every where you went down there the trains were full, the busses were full, sidewalks were blocked off. They have this big new casino that was overlooking the opening ceremonies. We werent high roller enough to get into the place, so we just went back to the food court. That’s where I got my duck the first time, the food courts there aren’t like ours. There is no fast food, its just mom and pops shops, so the food is super delicious and good food you. Or at least less bad for you. Had some fresh squeezed juice and then I think I had some more duck. Got back on the train and went home. Not a bad Saturday

Sunday

The bosses didn’t have to work this day, but then they did, so the dude and I went back out. This time to China Town. China Town there is really cool, lots of shops, lots of food vendors, and then we found this really really big temple. Super pretty, super immaculate, it rivaled the ones I saw in Japan. We took lots of pictures, and just walked around the place. In the square bordering the temple, the people were out and about playing games, there was even some line dancing, they were pretty good too. Then we went to get the elusive chili crab. Everyone was saying when you get there get a chili crab. Well I had this behemoth 1.2 kg crab. Covered it hot chili. Not beans and meat chili, but like chile peppers. It was really good and not to spicy. I ate the whole thing up too. Got a bib, destroyed it, got some napkins, destroyed it, there was a lot of destruction going on. The area we were in is like restaurant, bar and club central, so there was lots of picture taking going and some ice cream. Gotta have ice cream after a meal, else how would you know the meal is over. So we got back a little earlier than the night before. But all and all it was fantastic because I never get to be a tourist, so I really made the most of it.

Monday

Oh yeah, we did come here to do some work. So I guess I can talk about that for a little bit. Monday we had an orientation the entire morning so we really didn’t get to any of the planned work. As a matter of fact we didn’t get to any of the afternoon stuff either. So we lost a whole day, because everyone was in training or something….or something.

Tuesday

It was back to work and we actually conducted some test, I trained up my four Singapore data collectors pretty quick. But due to network difficulties we couldn’t do anything until the afternoon, that and of course they had to be in training. So we knocked out like 14 tests in the afternoon, I don’t know if that’s any kind of record, but it sure seemed like one.

Wednesday

More of the same, we didn’t do anything until the afternoon because of technical difficulties, manning shortages…and training. “Did we come here to test or not” You shutup tester, we’ll let you know when you can do stuff. Okay, Ill just be hanging out in Singapore if you need me. So in the afternoon we did the remaining tests. Knocked out 33 tests in 6 hours that was supposed to take 2.5 days. Can I get a what what.

Thursday

Let me give you a brief synopsis of what goes on at PE. We don’t really work, its more about human interoperability. We eat 5 times a day. We ate breakfast at the hotel. Then we had a pre-lunch, a lunch, and a post lunch, all catered and all delicious. We had everything; Indonesian, Indian, Malaysian, Chinese, Japanese. It was all good and I didn’t gain a pound. Ahhh justice, suck it.

Friday

This was our last day for the week. And we were really tired of Oriental Asian food. Sorry James. We were in serious need of red meat. So I told all of the guys about the downtown place where we had our Chili crab. It was called Clarke Quay, pronounced Clark Key, betcha didn’t know that. So we went to this Australian Steak House. And it was super good, I mean really super duper good. I had a 300 gram sirloin with green beans and a few beers. Its tough trying to do conversion in your head from oz. to g., but I got it figured out I suppose. 2.2 lb. per kg, so 1.1 lb is roughly 500 grams, so 300 grams is like 10 oz. I guess. Not exactly American size portions, but I don’t really eat like an American anymore. I just eat often. And then the boss picked up the tab, like a true gangsta. This was my contractor boss, the government boss felt like he had been shown up. So then that dude bought ice cream, and Jacob wee wee weed all the way home. These two guys are exactly fit, make more money than we do, and so, are inclined to take the taxi whenever possible. We on the other hand make less money and like to save money by taking the subway and what not. So I was trying to tell them that taking the subway was quicker and they were super hesitant. Well because we were on one of the really late trains, it actually stopped and went out of business the stop before ours. So I got a lot of ugly looks from these guys. Luckily we did a when in rome and just waited on the platform like everyone else, caught the train one more stop and got of there. Then we were going to take the bus home but we found one of our Filipino friends and he showed us a shortcut through the projects. Yeah we walked through the projects, its not so bad. The Singapore projects are not like the American projects, you don’t get shot, or mugged, or raped. They said Singapore is fine city, that’s because you will get fined for any and everything. So there is virtually no crime, litter, or graffiti; so it really wasn’t that bad walking through the projects at night. They are pretty big so the only thing you really have to worry about is getting lost.

Saturday

We didn’t get lost, as you can see Im writing about a new day. This was our cultural tour day, it was sponsored by the Singapore government. First we went out to a British Bunker. This was the command post for them during WWII. Its also where they decided to surrender to the Japanese. It was a pretty cool facility. One of the stipulations of the surrender to the Japanese was that they take all the resources, but don’t do anything to the people. So we then went to the WWII prison museum highlighting the abuses and atrocities of the Japanese to the enslaved Singaporeans, British, Australians, and whoever else was on that island at the time. I don’t think it was similar to Nazi concentration camps, it was definitely hard labor though, super sucky. Im glad I live when I live. Next we were off to get some lunch. The national dish of Singapore is chicken and rice, pronounced chicken rice. Its fucking delicious, its this half boiled fried chicken with really good rice. Rice for you people who have never been to Asia is way better, way tastier, and I bet way healthier. I don’t eat rice, well I don’t eat white rice in America; Rice a Roni is fucking delicious, but I eat as much rice in Asia as I can. And we had lots of other Asian foods, tofu which sucks, but lots of noodles, and chickens, prawns, even had some pig liver. It taste a lot like beef liver, so if you like that, then come on and get you some. The meal was really good, I could have ate and ate and ate and ate and eat and eat and eat. Then we headed off to Little India and China Town, both lots of fun cuz I love me some minorities. Mhhhmmmhhmm…minorities. We walked around and got some culture from our tour guide, he let us roam around and shop and do whatever else we felt like. Then we were off once again to our last stop, the Marina Barge. It was this place where they blocked the river from going to the sea in order to stave off floods and shit. It was a pretty elaborate system. I would have enjoyed it any other time, but it had been a long day of touring and I was just tired to say the least. So I kind of blitzed through the expose and what not. We went to the top of the building and everyone and their mother was flying a kite. It was very turn of the century London, at least what I would manage you would do when you don’t have electricity and shit. So I took some pictures and then I skipped along singing lets go fly a kite, up where the air is clear…. a la mary poppins. Since it was one of my coworkers last night he decided he wanted to go out with a bang and not got to be early because he had to get up ass early. So when we got home we were really jonesin for some America. We broke down and had some McDonalds. It was so good. A lot of times overseas McDonalds are regionalized and don’t taste like home. They do this to feed the needs of most of the customers. But I guess Singapore really wants to be like America, this was spot on. So we did this and then we went on a night safari. It was mostly a night zoo but still pretty cool. All the animals that sleep all day are obviously up and awake all night partying. So we got to check them all out, it was very cool. Very active, we saw elephants, wolves, bears, lions, tigers, leopards, bats, flying squirrels, deer, birds, and everything else that is nocturnal. We did that, caught a fire show. A bunch of native dudes who were swilling kerosene I think, were blowing the spit into flames. Very cool. Ive seen that before but its always just fun to see flame throwers and shit a la Dhalsim from Street Fighter. So we got back home, hung out for a little while, that dude packed and then I never saw him again.

Sunday

Woke up and wasn’t sure what to do. Slept in late because we didn’t go to bed until almost 3. So I had breakfast and was just chillin on the internet. Someway or another I got to talking about Hard Rock, said I got the one in town, and then I would hit up the other one in the airport on the way out. Well my boss was asking about Sentosa. What the hell is Sentosa. It’s a resorty island off of Singapore. Bitch please I know all about HRC there isn’t one I don’t know about. Well Shiiiiiit. There is, my bad, well that’s what Im going to do. Well can we go with you, yeah sure, are you sure, either you come or you don’t, but Im still going out there with or without you. Its like pulling teeth sometimes. So we got onto the bus and then the train, which they were opposed to. Public transportation, ‘sta loco. Well its cheap, easy, and efficient. So we got to downtown and they were okay. But then we walked about 5 minutes to a food court and they were not happy. They were both sweating. But then they saw the worlds greatest food court, every Asian cuisine was represented. I had duck and noodles. Man duck is so fucking good. They had Korean, they were happy. Then we hailed a cab and headed out to the island of Sentosa. They had a Hard Rock Café and a Hard Rock Hotel. Oh yeah double visits and multiple pins. They had a big nice new casino there. A Universal Studios, super pretty and new and bourgy. We had quite a few beers at the Hard Rock Café, had a really cool bartender. I picked up the tab, but the bosses picked up the tip which is nice because I hate tipping. After we got done there we headed back to Clarke Quay and had some decent tapas. I had chorizo sausage and garlic bread. It was so good almost Peyton’s Chorizo go. We got some ice cream and then headed back to house. Good Sunday

Monday-Wednesday

Just worked a little bit. All of our tests were done. Got all our pre-lunch, lunch, and post lunch everyday. Mostly just worked on cleaning up tests and writing reports. After work just chilled, went to the gym, watched movies on AFN.

Thursday

Our bus broke down on the way to work. We had to walk about a mile, but I welcomed the exercise. My boss didn’t, he waited for the van to come pick him up with AC. When we go there he was already eating pre lunch. What a wanker. Well Thursday was another pretty chill day. Since I was out on the main floor I heard the announcement we were coming into work late…which means I get to sleep in late.

Friday

My boss wakes me up at normal time, hey aint you coming to work. What we aren’t leaving until 9, WHAT, yeah they announced it, WELL I DIDN’T HEAR IT, doesn’t mean it isn’t true, WELL IM GOING TO GO ASK, stand down go back to sleep, yeah whats up. So I got up and they were both smiling at me rather wily. Yeah the young guy knew something you didn’t. Left early that day and we just chilled. Packed our stuff, went to the gym, and then went to get some dinner. I think that night I just watched a movie and finally packed up. I was not looking forward to tomorrows flight because we had to get up so early.

Saturday

Hello 3 am how are you doing, you can go straight to hell. We got on a bus about 4 and headed out to the airport which was about a on hour drive from the base. We got to the airport about 5. We weren’t leaving until 8. We couldn’t even check in. So we just hung out at the JAL counter, staring at the ladies. Eventually they got the jist and they let us check in. I tried to work an upgrade, but no such luck. Luckily there was no one next to me because JAL has the smallest, THE SMALLEST, seats of any airline. I guess because Japanese people are the smallest humans on the planet. So even with spreading my legs it was still uncomfortable. After we took off, the pilot came on to tell us that around hour 3 or 4 we would be going through a typhoon. Why in the world would you tell us that? You are just going to make the people anxious or nervous. Not me, because I have flown through lots of terrible turbulence in my life. Its more conducive to sleep if you ask me. Sure enough hour 3 the plane started vibrating pretty hard. The movie selection was okay, the food was okay, I was actually tired of noodles, so I didn’t eat. The green tea, however, was the best thing I had ever tasted. It was so good. We got to Narita finally and only had about an hour layover. But Narita is setup pretty well. So we got to our gate and got onto a nice fancy 777 business class. Whew thank goodness for Executive Platinum status. I dont know if I mentioned this before, but in order to say money my company bought tickets from Singapore to Frankfurt via Tokyo and Chicago. I went the long way over both oceans to get to Europe. So I had a 7 hour flight, followed by a 11 hour flight, followed by an 8 hour flight, followed by a 1 hour flight, followed by a 1 hour drive. Crazy insane or insane crazy? The flight to Chicago was uneventful, ate some good food, and I think slept for about 4 hours. Not too shabby. Landed in Chicago, got to deal with the greatest TSA agents we have in the world at O’hare International and TO BE CONTINUED……….

Same misadventure station, same misadventure channel,

Jacob

lauppe v. weaver

Lauppe vs. Weaver

Who will come out ahead, who will reign supreme in this bloodbath they call marriage.

Oops, wrong opening.

What I meant to say was, We are gathered here today….. Cue the music, release the doves, pop the bottles we got ourselves a wedding.

So Im off to glorious MCI, that’s Kansas City if you aren’t either of my Matt friends. Those guys have all the airport codes memorized.

Friday

Took a day off from work and flew out to see my cousin get murred. That’s married for people who don’t talk cool. Flights were pretty easy, got upgraded both ways. She was getting married in Manhattan, KS. That’s where K State University is. Its about a 2 hour drive from the airport. It was just me and my Dad. We had a nice conversation about anything and everything. It was nice to have him all to myself and to have his undivided attention. We arrived early and just hung out with Shane’s family. Hes the bridegroom in this lovely story. I was told to dress casual so of course I dressed to the nines. I had come from work so I just kept those clothes on. I had just gotten a hair cut as well too. I was looking F-I-N-E !! My sister even commented and commended, shes a big fan of me and everything I do, but she will be the first to say that I don’t have fashion skills and that I slouch. Jacob, stand up straight, Im taking you shopping. So we had a BBQ there, good food, lots of beer. Got reacquainted with my cousins. Then we went to my cousins house party. It was pretty rocking if I do say so myself. A really nice house, cool people, good music. They had summer brew, for those not in the know, which they are, this is more commonly known as Texas Tea. 36 beers, 2 bottles of vodka, and instant tea or instant lemonade mix. Shit is delicious. And it goes down smooth. We played some beer pong, sung in harmony, told some stories, and went home. A very very nice evening.

Saturday

Going to the chapel and were going to get Married. Gee I really love you and were going to get married. That’s how the song goes. That morning I did some CISSP studying, which it is now the future and I can happily report I passed. So we watched some movies this morning, played some video games, ate some McDonalds, put on a suit and headed out to the church. I don’t think either person was particularly catholic, but we were at a catholic church. The ceremony was very nice, not too long, it wasn’t a full catholic mass, songs were nice and then were out of there. The ceremony was kind of early in the afternoon and the reception wasn’t for a few hours. So we just hung out in the reception hall, drank some beer and had some snacks. There was a lot of hatorade going around. Eventually, the couple showed up and then it was time to get our eat on. They had a country restaurant cater the meal. Now I have had fancier meals, but, man, there is something to be said for brisket, mash potatoes, macaroni and cheese. Frankly, cordon bleu can go straight to hell, Ill take brisket any day of the week. So the party continued, there was drinking, and dancing, and more drinking, and picture taking, and more hatorade. After it was all said and done and the raising of the roof had died down, we cleaned up and then we went out to the KState bars. I forget their name, but it’s the like the 6^th street for UT Austin. There were a lot of awesome bars down then. We had some of the parents try their first irish car bomb, they liked it. We bar hopped to three other places. All the while getting cousins in with fake id’s and what not. Lots of fun, lots of bashing of manhood, as there should be when drunken cousins are involved.

Sunday

Ahh Im 27 today. Fuuuuuuuuck. Okay now Im better, man getting old sucks balls, hairy balls. I was awoken by my sister, so I could come meet some lady that I will never see again. But I guess she just wanted to show me off, fine, Ill take it, shes proud of me, the least I can do is put on some pants for her. So everyone sang happy birthday to me, cut the cake, packed my things and we were outta there. Samm’s grandpa took me to brunch and to the airport, hes a pretty cool dude. Got all my upgrades going home and all was well in the world. This seems to be a pretty short blog, but I guess it was only three days.

Hope to be dancing at your golden jubilee anniversary dinner Shane and Andrea, congrats.

jacob

family reunion oh ten

There were any good pictures this year or least none that I want to share. Also, I did post yesterday, but that was for last week and this is for this week. Plus I leave again so it will be a while again

Another even year and that can only mean one thing, EGGEMEYER REUNION. This time it was held in July due to scheduling conflicts around Labor Day. Yes it was changed because I wouldnt be able to attend. How do you like that. This year it was held outside of San Antonio instead of outside Austin like the last few years. We were staying at the T Bar M Resort. It was a nice place with lots of things to do. So theres your intro.

Saturday

We werent meeting up until Sunday. We were having a Sunday through Wednesday reunion; we waited too long and all of the weekends were taken. So instead of heading out on a Sunday, I thought why stay at home when I can go to Texas. So I went a day early to stay with my Aunt. She is one of my favorite aunts, because she is always generally curious about how Im doing and she always is pleased and proud of me. So I flew into San Antonio and arrived almost late afternoon. We headed out to this Tapas restaurant, although it may have been more fashioned after Spanish street food. Are those one in the same? I dont know. Well it doesnt matter because this stuff was too delicious. There were 7 of us. 2 parents, 4 cousins, and 1 boyfriend. Known only as Murph. We chowed down about 14 plates of food. I think I helped the most on that one. We were at the very end of the river walk. I didnt realize this thing spanned multiple miles, but it did. We were down at the end that had the old beer brewery. So after a quick stroll we came to the conclusion that it was pool time. So we went back to their house, mini-mansion Ive decided to call it, there house is huge and beautiful and super decorated and nice and cool with central air. Jumped in the pool and played basketball and had some races. I totally smoked the girls, once because Im longer and stronger, the other because cousin Helen cant/wont get her hair. She may drown in the shallow end, its a fact. So we did that. Then it was time for a snack. Fresh fruit. Lots of fresh fruit and not cheap fresh fruit; apples and oranges are for paupers. We had blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. She wouldnt bring out the snozberries, but she does for the good guests. She even peeled my grapes. I didnt know grapes needed to be peeled. But yes they do, think about all this time Ive been chewing on vestigial skin. The noyve of these guys!!! Later that night I showed off some home movies from the 80s, everyone liked them. Then we put the youngest cousin to bed and stayed up to watch a movie and eat popcorn and goobers. Livin large I tell you. Went to bed in this big comfy bed with a big heavy comforter, turned the air and fan on full blast. Mmmmmhhhhmmmmm, slept for like 9 hours.

Sunday

Woke up and went downstairs. Talked with my aunt for quite awhile. I got to to talk to her one on one and show how worldy I was. She was impressed. I told her my outlook on life, always strive for mediocrity. She was impressed. Then she made me breakfast, she only knew how to make scrambled eggs, but they were still tasty. We did some more swimming and lounging by the pull. Then it was off to meet my brother at the airport. So I said goodbye to aunt and uncle, picked up my brother and said hello to my Dad and StepMom. We made the trip out to the T Bar M Resort in about 45 minutes. As we pulled in they were also having a cheerleading camp. Hot Dog, but it was high school cheerleaders. Oh well. The resort wasnt ready when we arrived so we just hung out and talked with different relatives. We played a little bit of washers, prounounced worshers if you are from the midwest. Then we made out to our rooms. I think that afternoon we just relaxed and headed out to one of the other rooms and had dinner. We played some games that night, I by games we had in your face violent scattegories. The Eggemeyers can pull alliteration out of their ass. It doesnt even have to make sense. Busch's Best Baked Boston Brown Beans. Yeah thats easy. How about this, Crunchy Chili Chees Chips con Carne. If you can sell it, and someone buys it, then you scored yourself 6 big points. Theyre actually a brand of chips in Kuala Lumpur.

Monday

Woke up early to play golf and were on our way. The golf course was really nice, it wasnt terribly hot or humid. I played decent for only playing golf since our last reunion. I think I shot 98, but that was with Mulligans and other do-overs, and gimees. After golf, we headed to this nice German restaurant and had some really good food. The schnitzel tasted correct, as did the fried potatoes, cabbage, sauerkraut, and rye bread. We came back, I think we chilled and then we headed right back to someone elses house for food. I really wasnt hungry, but I still ate. I really wanted to have some watermelon, which Im slightly allergic too, it made me super sneezy. Usually I just get a scratchy throat, but this time it was pretty bad. Stupid delicious watermelon. My family made fun of me for being a dumbass. I talked with my new cousin, she married a cousin. I missed her wedding, so I wanted to get some details and she said it was a really nice wedding. After dinner, we went down to the gym and played some defend the wall. Thats basically just kick a soccer ball at the wall as hard as you can and see if you can stop it. We also played some hacky sack with a volleyball. We played some basketball and knockout and longest shot possible basketball shots from downtown. It was nice. Got a good sweat on. Then we went to the free self serve ice cream. It wasnt that good because the cones were effected by the humidity, slightly soggy.

Tuesday

Tuesday was boozeday for us. We were going tubing this morning. We woke up, had some breakfast, then went down to the Comal River. Jumped in the cold water and began drinking rum punch. RUM PUNCH. It took about 2 2.5 hours to make the journey. Got a minor sunburn, but it was all good. We got back a little bit after lunch and I had leftover German food. Then I took a nap on the couch, but I got cold, so I pulled some newspaper over my body. It was total hobo style, but man that did the trick. When it doubt, just cover yourself with something. aahahhaha. That night was my favorite dinner of the reunion. Cavatini, its this dish like lasagna but with pepperoni and other awesome goodness.

Wednesday

Well like all things, they must come to an end. Wednesday morning we got up early and made our way back to San Antonio. Had some breakfast at the hotel and said our goodbyes to family members that actually woke up to see us off. Got to the airport, checked in, said goodbyes to the immediate family and we were off. My flights were plane jane, quick and easy to DFW, quick and easy to TUS. Another successful reunion, hopefully it wont be another 2 years before I see them, but more than likely it will be.

much obliged,

jacob

ps. the chips were fake!!!

youre my boy blue

How do I

Say goodbye

to what we had

all the good times

that made us laugh

I thought that we

would get to see forever

but forevers gone away

Your my boy blue. You were taking from this world much too quick any maybe even before your warrant wore out. I am speaking of my beloved 36" blue duffel bag that accompanied around the world for two years from 2007-2009. Thanks to careless handbag hooligans, luggage losers, and baggage buffoons who mistreated you by throwing you, tossing you, kicking you, and punting you from luggage cart, to luggage truck, to luggage rail, to baggage claim. You were beaten, battered, tortured, ripped and thus I was forced to replace you, because you left side was so broken I could no longer roll you around.

Likewise, your my girl green. I force fed you clothes like a fattened up goose and you simply couldnt take the strains and pains and your clips finally burst making you worthless as a garment bag. Less we forget the cruel and unusual punishment you suffered too. You were scratched and dragged. All of you zippers were removed. I cant even imagine how painful that was. I gasp and shed a tear for you.

And now for all the reckless, heartless, bastards of the world. Yes Im talking to you American, SouthWest, Delta, British Airways, Lufthansa, Croatian Airlines, Montenegro Airlines, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, JAL, Finnair, Malev, Swiss, JAT, and US Airways!!! You are the reason after only 200,000 miles of travel I had to repurchase new luggage. Thats just two years, TWO YEARS. The noyve, I tell ya, the noyve.

Okay, well Ive made my peace. I hope and pray for all of your luggage too. May it stay safe and always be there waiting for you in the turnstile. Thank you for you attendance today, thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes.

I hope its years before we find ourselves in this somber state again for my current luggage.

very respectfully,
--
Jacob

montenegro pictures again

so looking through my pictures, there isnt much to look at it. If you looked at montenegro last year, youve seen the same thing. but here are a few new ones.


back to the hotel in budva


some art


mmm capitalism


some rich german lives there



chutch


fun building


cool tree pictures


hot in frankfurt


maybe i should have titled this shortest blog ever!?!!?!??

see you when i see you


jacob

monteNEGRO again

Montenegro again

So since everyone had a great time in Montenegro, CE decided to go back there. I think Montenegro really wants to become a part of NATO as well, so they are more than happy to host. Our trip was pushed ahead a week which was nice because I got to leave the country one week earlier than I thought. Due to whatever we now get to the country we are going to with only one day advance instead of two.

Friday

Nothing special about the flights really. I was upgraded which was nice and because of the Icelandic Volcano ash we were diverted south which added about 45 more minutes to our flight. Not bad Ill just kick it here and sleep.

Saturday

We landed in Frankfurt about 8 in the morning and we were leaving around 4 so there was a whole heck of a lot of waiting and I forget my effing DS. So I was forced to listen to music, but music is not enough to take my mind off my sleepiness, so I was kind of cranky. I went for a walk but there really wasn’t much to do except sit. Everyone was doing their own thing, reading a book, doing work, playing games, drinking beer, or whatever else. Around 2 oclock we went down to Montenegro Airlines to wait for check in. It was a mad dash when they opened the gates. Its always tough that we get 2 fifty pound bags with American but we only get 1 23 kilo bag in Europe. So you have to do some careful packing and or smiling nicely or just hope for the best. Not all gate agents are created equal and depending on who you get and how you greet them and maybe if you are 6’4 and smile you may get better treatment. I was given my ticket and all was well in the world. Not everyone in my group was so lucky and they had to go pay overweight baggage fees. So we went up to the boarding area and just hung out there for another hour or so until we got on the plane. Montenegro Airlines is okay, it was only about a 2 hour flight and we were there in no time. When we landed our van was waiting for us, which was better than last year, it was still a 1 hour drive to Budva. It was a long and winding road through the black mountains, which is what Montenegro translates too; I was starting to get a little car sick. We got there, got settled, took a shower to get the airplane off me, and we went down to the beach to get some food. Since we were there before the first of June, which is the start of the summer season, there weren’t many options for food. The menu was pretty sparse. The food was okay and I was pretty tired from the flights so I went up to my room and crashed out about 10.

Sunday

I slept pretty well considering my balcony faced the rising sun, I think I made it to about 530. Not bad, usually I wake up at 3 or 4 on those first nights. The CE staff did a pretty good job of setting up the rooms so there wasn’t too much setup needed on Sunday. Other people had more work to do so I just chilled and helped out when I was asked. That night we went down to old town and had some pretty good seafood. The fish was a little boney, but still pretty good. I was able to get the local dark beer, that was pretty tasty. We walked around a little bit after dinner, saw a local concert band perform. Then made 2 different gelato stops. Mmmmmm gelato is so good. Another chill night, went back to room watched some TV and went to bed.

Monday

This was the start of the pre conference. Got the network up and running and everything went pretty well. For this conference my roles changed and I was now the trouble ticket software guy as well as network validation guy. I gave a brief rundown on the functionality and how we would use it. People were pleased, some voiced their concerns, but all of those were addressed or I worked on them during the rest of the week. Monday evening I stayed around the hotel waiting for my guest. We are working with a commercial vendor to help us to the network assessment so I was going to be there to greet him. I didn’t get to meet him until the morning, but that’s not because I didn’t try, I just couldn’t connect. The front office gave me his room, which is not exactly safe, but cool, I slipped him a note telling him where and when to meet me in the morning.

Tuesday

Met the dude and he seemed pretty cool. I made a few quick introductions and then we sat down with some of the key players, the organizers involved with the network, and we hashed out the scenarios for the network assessment. We did it in about 50 minutes and everyone was happy. Even the chair of networking, who is usually pretty hard to deal with and can be kind of stubborn, was very impressed with the vendor. We settled on all of the situations and started working. We weren’t told until about 25 minutes in advance that we would need to brief this to everyone. So the vendor and I quickly made a 60 slide presentation. Yeah death by power point but this guy only hits homeruns. Everyone was super impressed with what he had to say and what he had to offer. My bosses, the CE bosses, even the foreign national bosses. I got many accolades, attaboys, and high fives from people for our work. Well it was like 99% the vendor and maybe 1% for me, because I helped steer him in the right direction. But I guess I am ultimately responsible for its success or failure. So I get the rewards or I get the slap down. Tuesday night was also our ice breaker. So we went down to this pizzeria, had some pizza and then had some free drinks. Had some pretty good conversations. We were right on the water and since it was just barely June it was still pretty cold. I had to run up and get my jacket, baby got cold. I stayed for awhile had a few drinks and then called it a night.

Wednesday

Another regular work day and I really can’t remember what we did. We got out early for some reason. So I headed down to the beach with my vendor. He was kind of bundled up, jeans and a sweatshirt. I was rocking shorts and flipflops. I was underdressed it was really cold. We drank some beer and talked. Hes a very successful dude, works hard and parties hard. Takes vacations in Brazil and the Maldives. Not bad, not bad, not bad. That night we again just chilled around the hotel, had some more pizza.

Thursday

Another day of working. I was mostly working on my report and trying to get every details hammered out that I could. I wrote about a 13 page paper detailing what were going to do and why. My vendor took off as soon as work was done he went to eat with the French delegation. We headed down to old town that night. Thursday is usually the cultural tour, I had to skip it; luckily it was the same thing as last year, so I didn’t miss too much. We had a really good dinner, drank lots of beer, and had some ice cream. Not a bad evening.

Friday

Tidied up all the loose ends had a quick meeting with the Polish guys about their network setup and topology, so many green lights, life is good. The conference ended and we cleaned up. It was off again on again rain. Headed back down to the beach, it went from cold to hot to sunny to cloudy to raining to not. But it was nice, hung out with my symbiotic better half D-money. Hes the man‼ Afterwards, D-money and I went to make a phone call with the Fins. It was the Finnish Army Birthday. We had this mint alcohol mouthwash. Very good, lots of breathe in ahhh sensations. Went back up to our room and got ready for the party. Suit up and bow tie up. Im still the only one who is rocking a bow tie to the traditional dinner. The dinner was buffet, which I don’t like, I prefer to be served. I got seconds, I was very hungry that day. The party ended early in my opinion. I would have gone out that night but we had to get up really early for an hour bus drive to the airport.

Saturday

Slept most of the way. Then we had about a 3 hour wait in the airport. Its tough in those airports because you cant go through security until the plane is ready to board. So we had to sit out in the lobby. Flight to Frankfurt was pretty easy. We were staying at the Sheraton at the airport where I have some clout, so I was upgraded to a nicer tower and a nicer room. We went out for a walk around Frankfurt. It was super hot that day, I had fumunda juice like a sonofa. There were some river side topless bathing beauties, mhhm mhhm. We stopped at a restaurant and had some really good schnitzel. Then we went and got some gelato. OMG gelato should be one of the food groups. I had dark chocolate brownie batter. Ohh boy did I feel it in my thighs the next few weeks. Just kidding I didn’t. But that’s what the headline in a Seventeen magazine said. Just kidding it didn’t. What Im saying is you can eat whatever youd like in moderation and its not going to create saddle bags. A lot of the other crew went home after dinner, but me and two other guys stayed out. We were looking for the red light district. Not to partake but to just say I had seen it. I think it was too early out. It was 10pm and the sun was just barely going down. We walked around and saw a lot of sex shops, strip clubs, adult stores, arcades, but there were no chicks in the windows. I don’t know if they don’t come out until after dark or what. But it was marginally satisfying; don’t know when Ill be back in Frankfurt. So you never know.

Sunday

Flight back home was pretty normal. My coworker took the liberty of changing all my seats unbeknownst to me. She just wanted to sit next to me and everything worked out, but I was like ¿come que?, shes like youre an awesome seat mate. Ahh well schucks, lady! I wasn’t tired of drinking but I wasn’t in the mood for AAs selection of alcohol. She recommended an Amaretto and Coke. Shit is delicious it tastes like Dr Pepper. Go get some right now, its really tasty.

Well I think that’s about it for adventures in the Balkans. Hope you enjoyed and hope you keep coming back for more.

Piece, luv, and sole

jacob

boston pictures

Using a new program to upload the blog and pictures, so there arent any side comments. But I think Ive got it figured out for next time. Thanks for everything Catherine!!