Back in Carlsbad, life takes on the usual flow of dinner at KS and a Belgium Brown Ale. We're only a few days away from Oatmeal Stout!
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After a fun weekend, it was back to the usual non-fun hotel life. Long days, nothing to do besides work at night makes for an empty blog. So sad. I have calculated that by May I will be at the halfway points for both United & Marriott for status renewal (Yea!) so this is working out for 2010. I think stuff may have happened in the world while I was in a bubble but my priority tonight was to destress by watching Rock of Love Bus. It is the best.
While I'm home in California, I'm not really home. I arrived and spent the night near LAX and now I'm in Ventura as I have one of the rare weeks where I'm in an office for a few days. My puzzle now is how can this hotel be so cold and a/c running inside when it's 50f outside but in Amsterdam it was 35f outside and I was never once cold in the hotel? Oh the mysteries of hotels.
White beer is not a good idea. I was on a quest to drink dark beer in Amsterdam. I went from a Stout, to Heineken, and ended up with a White Beer. The last dinner ended up a Hard Rock and this was the only unique beer choice so I went with it frothy lemon wedge and all. Witte Tap means "white beer on tap". Dark beer lovers ignore. It is pretty hard to talk about Amsterdam without getting flagged by Blogger. I had a bit of trouble logging on today but all seems to be okay. One of the walks that I went on took me through the red light district. In San Diego, there is a strip club in Point Loma that sometimes has a girl in the display booth to bring people in. In Amsterdam, the booths are rows of rooms all dowsed in a red light. The girls in the room are wearing no worse than a bikini top with a thong but what is amazing is the reactions from men as they walk down the street. One group of college guys had to control one of their own as he was screaming in hysterical excitemen...
The rain has stopped and I can see out my windows. Above is the view below with the bicycles, houses, and lives of people who live here. Below is the big church which is too big to fit into the camera lens. So you get to see the dome. I thought I'd be woken up by bells but all is quiet on the street below.
Beer in Amsterdam
Dinner was at the Three Sisters Pub. The burger was nothing special but the fries were good. The only Dutch beer was Heinekin so I opted for a Murphy's Oatmeal Stout. After walking around in the cold rain this was a much needed meal. Tomorrow the challenge is for a better dinner and better beer. You can't see in this photo but it's a mini beer - only 12 ounces!
Old Church Coffee Shop
The Old Church Coffee Shop is next door to one of the biggest, old churches in Amsterdam. I'll go back and take a photo when it's daylight since it is pretty cool. The latte was an overindulgence but it was interesting to watch the Amsterdam coffee shop culture which has nothing to do with coffee. My latte was 5 euros but for people who prefer the many wide varities of pot those options were cheap. I skipped on the smoking but anyone who walks by one of these shops is going to inhale something.
AMS Airport
Homer your cows are even in the Amsterdam airport! I'm here and it's raining. I'd post the view from the window of this cool old round-top church dome but all you'd see is fog and rain. Maybe tomorrow. For now, I've had my sleep and it's time to find the umbrella and get outside.
Segment 1 - New RCC Chicago
After I woke up the entire RCC with the screaming from Cousin Bonnie's walk-in beer closet, I guess I should have posted a beer. But, for whatever reason, I can't drink beer on an airplane. It goes right through me and I'm up every 10 minutes. So a glass of wine before the flight to Amsterdam so I can sleep will do. This weekend is just because. I'm supposed to be relaxing but I got to Chicago and ended up working. Such is the price to pay for a nice long flight out of contact range. The movies are so dull this time but I have a book and I'm hoping to sleep. Will moblog and I broke down and brought my laptop so I can blog for real.
Downstairs, the rooms of my house are void of furnishings and clutter. If you looked in the windows you would think someone was moving out. I like the empty space and it provides a calm from everything that is so busy around me. Recently boxes and cartons from work have made major inroads into the empty space and it is time to get a move on. So first up was the two crates of plastic food that I use for training. These had to be split 50/50 for shipment to Pakistan. But because shipping to Pakistan will probably cost a few hundred dollars I'm going to see if I'm brave enough to add another suitcase to my next trip and bring one to Dubai and let the next person carry the food on to Lahore. In about 3 weeks, I can start shipping the 13 boxes of Spanish materials to Mexico and then declare my home a storage free zone!
Last night we finally made it to Stone Bistro for dinner. Originally this was going to be the site of Homer's birthday dinner back in October but the place is always crowded and has a one hour wait without reservations. It is only 6:00 but I look ready to fall asleep. I knew it had been a long week and after 1.5 beers, I was done. The best part is I have leftover food for lunch today!
People weeks take up a lot of time. This week I had one group go out, one come arrive, and the other luckily is stabile in the middle. Putting them in new locations requires extra attention and long days. Friday night at 6:45 pm was when I put this day to rest. Tomorrow is the wrap up stuff from everything that slipped by me. What I learned new: The DMV is the best place in the world when you have a driver from another country who drives the same here as at home. We have a California pause, I sat in the passenger seat watching slow rolls through stop signs. 3 way stops have routines, we ran them. My Spanish is much improved out of sheer fear. So I stopped at the DMV and grabbed books in Spanish, English, Russian, and a random language just because. I have never been so happy to be at the DMV ! Seriously, fear is the best way to quickly learn a language. Forget Rosetta Stone or immersion. Sheer survival works. No wonder prisoners of war go home speaking the language of their captor...
Slumdog Millionaire
Yeah, it's really as good as everyone says. Slumdog Millionaire has a name that doesn't say "see me" but the title fits and the movie works. Set in Mumbai , the story follows Jamal, a product of the slums and street life as he inexplicably finds himself on the Indian version of "Who wants to be a millionaire" and on his path to the million. The life of a slumdog is told through Jamal's story of how he knows the answers to the questions during his police interrogation for fraud. Slumdog Millionaire takes us into the life of a street child and what survival is like for those children. This isn't pretty and it's not pleasant but since the story is told through the eyes of the child living it, the abnormal situations to us the audience are simply life to the child. Flashbacks present the key moments in the life of Jamal, his brother, and Jamal's childhood crush Lakita . The audience has the dilemma of do you support survival of the characte...
Twilight
I like vampire movies so it was pretty much a done deal that I would like Twilight . The movie is most definitely for teenage girls but the story holds up for anyone who is willing to accept vampire logic and go with it. The heart of the story is really about fitting in and acceptance. Teem drama and danger give the Twilight the edge over standard high school movies. I had heard that it was best to read the books before seeing the movie but I found it easy to follow the plot, who was who, and pick up on the nuances of what is to come. I thought the core relationship between Bella and Edward to be believable and the chemistry with the two actors had a lot to do with that so I am bummed to hear rumors that the lead actor may not be in the sequel. For the vampire part of it, I'm okay with updating legend. I don't mind if vampires don't turn dead at night and if they live off the blood of animals instead of humans. Variations keep the story fresh. I was glad I saw Twilight i...
Doing my part for the economy - this weekend has seen me spend more money on stuff than for longer than I can remember. This isn't counting travel or car repair but stuff. The big ticket was the Sony Blu-Ray S550. In all fairness to me, I did wait 12 full months before buying one so I was due. Then came the HDMI cable and of course, some movies! Yesterday was a couple of books and a cd plus a bunch of iTunes download on top of that. Add in 2 tanks of gas, shopping at the health food store, coffee at Starbucks and you get a nice contribution to the economy. One of my stops was at the local bagel shop only to see it stripped of all signage and out of business. Bummer. I guess my $2.49 wasn't enough to keep them going.
Frost/Nixon
Frost/Nixon is going to have a different reaction depending on age and political awareness of the audience. I went in with the basic understanding of Nixon’s resignation but having been 12 at the time, my concern with Nixon was the fact that he brought Pandas into our lives at the San Diego Zoo. My emotional reaction to the movie was based on the movie and not on any personal attachment to the actual events. The movie solves the problem of historical knowledge by providing a quick look at the events that led up to Nixon’s resignation and the sense of outrage by the public. We get just enough background on Frost’s career and the circumstances that brought about the series of interviews. I was entertained by the movie and Frank Langella did an amazing job as all critics have stated. The supporting cast was all good or great but the movie pace bogged down a bit and my mind started wandering. In contrast, the lady sitting by me (maybe in her 60’s?) was quite involved and even shook her fi...
In light of the news that many people bailed out on New Years, I feel pretty good that Mondo and I fully participated in the event. 5:30 pm: First up was Bistro West for dinner which probably could have been better but was crowded and we couldn't drink since we were going to a movie. However, I did finally try the Bistro Burger & mashed potatoes (yummy) and Mondo had a sliced ahi and caper plate (not the best meal choice) but an adventure. 7:40 pm: After Bistro it was off to see Frost/Nixon - an okay movie with a great job done by Frank Langella. Review later. 10:00 pm: Too early to return home, we were in search of fruity drinks. Islands closed by the time we got there so we headed across the street to TGIF for a strawberry margarita (me) and mango mai tai (mondo). 11:20 pm: Back at my house in time to watch Kathy & Anderson on CNN and count in the New Year with Times Square and watch the clock for the extra second. Only on the countdown did we realize that CNN was showing...
