Tuesday, November 30, 2004

Forgot

The whole point of my previous post was this link, which I left out. I really need an editor. Or Carpal Tunnel Syndrome...

Evolution and stupid people

Religious people are okay with me. Hell, I go to church at least twice a month (the average number of sunday mornings when I not recovering from drinking too much of the Devil's Brew). I'd go even more often, but since services are geared towards old people (who are rearin' to go at 4am) than young people (who are more than willing to go to an 8pm mass (see: my packed college church)) I am often left out in the cold. But I digress. This insistance of the religious right in America that creationism be in textbooks is stupid, moronic, insane, a blight upon civilization. Sure, if you want your kids to be mill workers and watch NASCAR all weekend, fine. But, shit, give them a chance to learn something. I mean, even the Pope recognizes evolution. You hear, THE POPE. Pat Robertson doesn't have the ear of God. Jerry Falwell doesn't either. Contrary to (somewhat (51.1%))popular belief, George Bush doesn't discuss his golf game with the Lord. But John Paul II, who is a VERY conservative Pope (Gays=evil, birth control=evil, wants to move Italy back to the days when people like my Great-Grandmother were popping out kids at the same rate G-Dub makes spelling mistakes) believes in evolution. The Pope wants to move us back about 100 years (pre-mousselini or however you spell the bastard's name). The Christian Coalition wants to take us back so far that I'll be picking ticks out of my neighbor's hair. And using them as seasonings for my banana.

Soccer Riot

I was in a soccer riot a while back. Well, not in - about 5 people down from a soccer riot. Here are the pictures from the team's fan website. Notice the website name. No, they're not racists - they're just not overly familiar with the english language.

Me and my scarf

So, turns out that the scarf is the most important new development in my life. I don't know why, but add the scarf to any outfit and i'm immediately warm. Cool.

Monday, November 29, 2004

Thanksgiving in Eastern Europe

Went to socialist doctor today. Suprisingly competent and capitalist. Dude even spoke English. I saw the Incredibles on Saturday. Subversive little cartoon. “Saying everyone is special is just another way of saying that no one is.” I think George Bush is special, but in that Special Olympics kind of way. On Sunday some Americans here put together a little thanksgiving celebration. I always wondered what thanksgiving would be like without family. Turns out it’s about beer. And turkey. My favorite part: The women were in the Kitchen and the men were all out on the Balcony toasting our success in getting some women to cook for us. We did well.

Saturday, November 27, 2004

Saturday

Read this article on Ukraine (http://www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine/story/0,15569,1359099,00.html). Good Stuff. I found a free wi-fi bar/cafe right behind my apartment. Zdarma is the most important part - that means free. But for some reason it is filling up with punks in mohawks and studded jackets. the girlfriend has just requested that we leave... no word yet on our BCS screwing. I'm waiting. I like how Mack Brown asked people to vote us higher, basically saying we're better than Utah or Cal. Which we are. That article I posted yesterday saying Cal deserves BCS- that's crap. crap. We went 9-1 in the toughest division in football (big 12 south). I stand by that. Pac-10 is where players go for medical marijuana. i'm going to go see the incredibles now. actually, i'm about to go eat czech pub food then see it. Moved into apartment today too. First time in 11 months i have had my own place. (Jan-feb - lived at michal's. march-june - lived at michal's parents extra apartment. june-august lived at parents, august-october lived in Danbury Connecticut hotel. oct-now lived at girlfriend's flat. ) Now I will put pictures on the wall and live like a normal human being with a kitchen and a job. cool. and my neighborhood has a preposterous number of bars at which i will ingest beer and coffee and stay up late arguing crap. life is good.

we win

wow. so now we can be properly screwed out of bcs berth. cool. so we're 9-1, let's have crappy teams go ahead of us. bring it on, oregon...

Bevo 14

He's lookin good. far less drugged than bevo 13

fourth quarter

cool, we're winning and i've been enjoying the golden brews of prague. life is good.

Friday, November 26, 2004

crap

young fumbles at goal line, 13-6 at half. fuck. girlfriend leaving for party, i am left in psychological termoil. atlantic ocean no block to emotional pain related to texas football. do i want them to win or lose? if they win maybe mack brown stays? if they lose butch davis comes, better for long run? i donno....i donno...

EP's

TWO missed extra points in the first quarter? wow. Girlfriend is uninterested - reading previous posts about Ukraine.

Game

Girlfriend has arrived: I have chatted with the other americans in the room. I'm currently sending SMS updates to my Czech friend in Turkey. Texas-Texas A&M has arrived...

The night begins

Well, it's 7:50. My quest to watch the Texas-Texas a&M football game has begun. I have arrived at Jama over 1.5 hours early, to make sure that no one else shows up demanding to watch their football game. This worked last time: I got here 2 hours early for OU-UT. About an hour after I got here a Michigan fan got here. Some Alabama/tennessee/etc fans showed up later. I'm hedging my bets. And this place has free internet and good beer anyway, so why not get here early? Anyway: Jama. I like this place. They have good hamburgers. The place claims to be an American Pub, which differentiates it from the legion of British/Irish/English pubs. Or Czech pubs, for that matter. Interestingly, they seem to be the only place in prague with free Wi-Fi. This means that instead of hanging out at pretentious coffeeshops debating the finer points of Camus, I spend my time watching the Armed Forces Network, drinking beer, and surfing the web. Somehow I've come to prague and become more american.... So: Here I am. The backroom has a private party, but the surly waitress put me in here anyway. I have a beer, i have a blog, and hopefully soon I will have football. Cool.

Update

Hmmm...last post maybe a bit Uni-bomberish. Anyway, I'll be posting my reactions to the Texas-A&M Game tonight. So check out my blog around 10:45-12 CET tonight . There is an article over on CNNSI.com about how Texas doesn't deserve a BCS spot, but Boise State and Cal do. Screw those teams. Texas has to play in the Big 12 south - where 5 of the 6 teams have been ranked at some point this year. 5 OF 6. Cal plays in Pac 10, where there are 2 competitive teams - USC and Cal. Unimpressive. Oh, and Boise State could barely beat San Jose State. Texas will get screwed once more. *sigh* BTW: if anyone doesn't have it, my email address is still nickmoles@mail.utexas.edu.

Nick's Manifesto

Shit, I need an editor. There is a really interesting article over at the Guardian today. It tells the story of how the US and some NGO’s are ‘controlling’ democratic revolutions in a number of Post-communist countries. It’s the first real negative opinion of Ukraine’s revolution that I’ve found, and it leaves me with some conflicting feelings. First: a little bit of background. Part of the argument in Ukraine is between a Western-leaning Vladimir Yuschenko and Moscow-toadie Vladimir Yanukovitch (sorry for the editorial, can’t help it). So what if Yuschenko worked with NGO’s and the US to inspire a democratic revolution. Who the hell cares? There are MILLIONS of people in the streets. They aren’t thinking of overbearing US foreign policy – they’re thinking of their own self interest, of their country, of their desire to be a free, normal European country. And the argument isn’t just between capitalism v. socialism, or Brussels-Washington v. Moscow. It’s between people who genuinely care about the condition of their country v. self-interested gangsters. Check out this quote about Yuschenko from Scott Clark at Foreignnotes “In a speech yesterday, Yuschenko talked about 150 or so Yanukovych supporters who were standing guard near one of the government buildings in downtown Kiev on Tuesday. They were from the eastern part of the Ukraine. He said they were cold and hungry and that some of his supporters, who had taken up positions near that same building, had given them food, some warm clothes and had tried to make sure they were taken care of. He said that on Wednesday, those Yanukovych supporters were no longer there. And then he said, “I call upon the Prime Minister to send us trainloads of these people. We will feed them, take care of them and they will find out what the truth is.”” Check out this quote about Yanukovych supporters from this blog “You have to understand the situation in Ukraine. The country is run by a series of oligarchic clans that actually found their beginnings in the Soviet Union, and then grew fabulously rich during the early days of "privatization". Compare the situation to Russia, where an authoritarian Putin faced off against corrupt oligarchs. In Ukraine, authoritarianism and oligarchy are fused. Yanukovych isn't just another unscrupulous candidate, he's the main man of Akhmetov -- the duke of Donetsk and the richest man in Ukraine. The current president, Kuchma, is the head of a different clan, Dnepropetrovsk. The presidential administrator is Medvedchuk, who happens to run the Kiev-based Medvedchuk-Surkis clan. He also owns the two biggest Ukrainian TV stations, which is awfully convenient." It's gangsters v. people who actually care about their country. Even if you hate Bush you can't deny that the man deeply cares about the success of the American republic. Another argument is that they don't want American firms buying up all the assets. Yet look at what the last government did: "A good example of the clan system in action was the recent privatization of the Kryvorizhstal factory. Western firms offered 2.1 billion dollars. It was sold to the presidents son-in-law for 800 million. His son-in-law is Pinchuk, the head of the Pinchuk-Derkach clan. " - Le Sabot Post-Moderne But these countries need Americans to purchase these firms. Russian/Ukranian managers don't have experience. You don't want to re-invent the wheel - let Americans come in and create successful enterprises. Their experience will rub off- just look at any other country in the Globalized world. Would you rather have your boss be an efficient foreign firm that pays, on average, 20% more than the local wage? Or a local, but corrupt, son of a regional governor who doesn't care if he runs the firm into the ground? Okay so that's my spiel. My reaction to Ian Traynor's negativity. I believe the people in Kyiv will succeed, and I know that's a good thing.

Thursday, November 25, 2004

Happy Thanksgiving

I hope that everyone out there is happily eating food, watching football, and chatting with family. I'm quite jealous - i worked today, i'll be doing nothing this evening. Sounds cool, huh? But that's the price I pay for living outside the US. On Sunday I'll be having a thanksgiving dinner with some Americans, so I'll be able to satiate my desire to fill myself up on turkey and mashed potatoes, and stuffing and cranberry sauce, and green beans and wine and bread and rolls and the Dallas Cowboys hopefully losing to someone and 3 hour naps on my parents couch....sounds gooooood... Interesting development: Today I came to work at 9am, instead of my usual 2pm. I experienced what is known as 'sleepiness' at work today - usually I get 10-11 hours of sleep per night (spn), but last night I only got 6. That's slightly less than half my usual amount! Obviously I've been useless today. Luckily there is absolutely nothing to do but read FASB Financial Accounting updates: powerpoint slides. Joy. I feel pretty grumpy. So that's all for me. To everyone out there in Jesusland, Happy Thanksgiving.

Kiev Blog

Hey Guys - Check out this blog from a guy named Viktor. Another here. Go to the bottom of the page for latest updates.

Wednesday, November 24, 2004

Hi Folks I hope everyone gets to where they are going safely. Eat some turkey and watch some football for me – I will be working. Well, since no business is going on in the US, I will actually be reviewing some material that my boss sent over. So not too bad. On Friday I will be watching the UT-A&M game at 9:30 pm our time. And on Sunday some girls are cooking me thanksgiving dinner. Cool. I’ve posted a bunch of Ukraine-related stuff today. Check it out. It’s so incredibly exciting. We can read, real-time, the stories of what goes on in an actual REVOLUTION. It deserves capital letters. Imagine if you could read the story of some Boston cobbler as the British invaded. Or some excited Frenchman as the Allies liberated Paris in 1945. This is happening RIGHT NOW. And it’s being blogged. Ignore the network news or the papers. Read the blogs.

Ukraine Primer

Need background on Ukraine? Read it here.

Revolution in Ukraine

Read the Blogs: TulipGirl Pora Le Sabot Post-Moderne The Periscope Ukraine, Russia, Europe, the US, Oh My! Maidan A Fistful of Euros

Revolution in Ukraine

A Few More: o | b |d | y | m |o | k foreignnotes Europhobia Volodymyr Campaign Keep an eye on Fistful of Euros. They seem to be updating news the most often.

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

Tuesday

Interesting weekend. My cousin was in town, so I showed him around. By ‘showing him around’ I mean I took him to some cool pubs. Of course I made them walk all over town to find places I liked, but they enjoyed it. They were like ‘we’ll stop anywhere, don’t worry’ – but if you visit me you’re gonna go to the best places, damn it. None of these touristy-pizza joints, no place where you’ll pay more than a dollar fifty for a beer. This is my pledge. And hot girls will come along too. Seriously. Things that have been obsessing me lately: my new apartment has TV. Free. Cable. With 10 english-language channels. And a dedicated-Czech Reality TV station. I feel like a drug addict, 2 years out of rehab, who suddenly finds himself with the world’s largest crack rock. Must….resist….. Oh yeah, and the election in Ukraine. Fascinating story for me, living in a country that went through the same thing a few years ago. Basically a Russian tycoon just ‘won’ the election there. There are 200,000 people in the main square protesting. Apparently they’re trying to take over the presidential palace. It’s really quite amazing. And of course, American papers don’t say too much. Read the Guardian, or the Financial Times. IHT. Something besides the Nashville Post or whatever. So that’s my spiel for today. I am going to the doctor tomorrow, so I’ll post my review of socialized medicine on Thursday. Cheers.

Insurance

Woo-hoo! I have socialist insurance card. Now I can live off the dole and abuse the welfare state. Joy....

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Odds and ends

Has anyone randomly searched through Blogger? It's fascinating. Besides all the spanish stuff you can find lots of psuedo-intellectuals like myself, and, of course, some guys that just can't write. You have your girls who like to post pictures of flowers and write poetry about the tragic beauty of clouds. Lots of fake politicos. Occasionally something really interesting, like the guy at Wal-Mart...but those are few and far between. If you like my blog you should consider posting your own. Besides my joy at placing a link under 'Blogs', it'd be fun to hear from people (say, Sara in Benin) about daily irritants. Like Malaria, in her case. Or old people on trams, in my own. It's fun, it's subversive to traditional media (in the same way that Reality shows challenge traditional tv actors) and it's free free FREE. Um hey for that Flickr picture thing: sign up, and you can resize the photos. I know some of the night photos look crappy in small size so sign up and pick 're-size photo' from the options thing. And you should sign up anyway and make a blog like me. That's about all my posting for today. Peace.

Weird Commies


Weird Commies
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Me and Commie in anatomically impossible position of freedom from the Bourgeouise. I'm am also free of the ability to spell, apparently.

Weird Commies


Weird Commies
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Nick, Vlad, and Jana

Weird Commies


Weird Commies
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Jana and the proletariat.

Budapest Photos


Budapest Photos
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Reflection of Fisherman's Bastion in the windows of a crappy commie hotel. Now actually the hilton. The reds had a weird habit of tinting windows poorly. Well, i suppose they had the habit of doing pretty much everything poorly.

Budapest Photos


Budapest Photos
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Another night picture that worked out successfully. Actually the same stuff as the other one, just from different angle.

Budapest Photos


Budapest Photos
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

A pretty cool pic of the Chain Bridge with the old Royal Palace. Notice the quality. It only took me about 15 shots to get something that worked. But there is the beauty of digital photography

Girlfriend


Girlfriend
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

If anyone didn't know, here's my girlfriend Jana

Budapest


Budapest
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Budapest is quite a cool city. Actually a lot like Prague, except...actually it is a whole lot like prague..maybe a little less Disneyland.

114_1422


114_1422
Originally uploaded by nickmoles.
This is just a test.

Flickr

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thursday, November 18, 2004

Outsourcing

I guess I should write a post about outsourcing at some point, as it's my title. But other people are so much better.

Thursday and such

I'm sick of the US political scene. So much nastiness, pessimism, and weird religious sayings. Although I love that map with the 'United States of Canada' bordered on the south by 'Jesusland'. That's genius. So my girlfriend graduates from college tomorrow. That makes me nostalgically remember my own graduation. The night before we had a big party at the co-op (not for me, simply in celebration of being college students in possession of 7 kegs). At 5:30 am I was in a little circle of people huddled around the remaining keg. Good times. Woke up at 7am for the ceremony (which I had erroneously believed began at 9). Anyway, the ceremony was fascinating. The students were quite reserved (hung over), and generally apathetic (incredibly frightened) towards the whole graduation experience. The parents were generally proud (ecstatic) and politely cheered for anyone vaguely related to them (blood-curdlingly screamed in the excitement that their wayward children would no longer be ravaging their bank accounts.) And then we were all off, to get jobs, to be stressed, or to hang out in our parents’ basements and smoke marijuana (to each their own). Hey: so the purpose of this blog is to give me the chance to write some. I never write anything I want to anymore – in sending out business emails I must beware of any adjectives that might upset clients. And I have to be very careful of writing anything that could be taken the wrong way by the AUDITORS. You have to write AUDITORS like that because whenever people say it they whisper it in a very loud voice. So bear with me while I get my feet wet in this blogosphere thing.

Gyros in, gyros out

It has been an article of truth since I started drinking alcohol: eat something afterwards to prevent sickness. I dutifully ingested a vast range of medicants for this ailment: tacos, cookies, popcorn, and schnitzel. But I have discovered one type of food that does not agree with me: Gyros. They should be in no way ingested by a drunken body. I cannot stress this strongly enough. On the other hand, pre-gyro, I went out with some co-workers last night. Good clean Prague fun. Czechs & foreigners sharing a few pints. Some noisy late-evening sports fandom (me and some guy in the other room loudly yelling 'Slavia' - a local football team). And, of course, valuable time spent with my fellow vagrant alcoholics on the night tram. I love this place.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Link

Slate.com has to be my favorite website. I mean, what other serious news organization would post something called "The Slate guide to managing your posse"??? http://slate.msn.com/id/2109619/

Love and Marriage

Why aren't my friends married? More importantly, why haven't I had the opportunity to drink 2 bottles of wine and drunkenly croon old Sinatra songs to my friends' grandmothers? I really feel like I'm missing out. This made me realize that all of my friends have left their safe, cozy college environs and moved into the wider world. Me-Prague, Kyle-NYC, Lil'Steve-Afghanistan, etc. My friends literally lead lives far too adventurous to be bogged down by trifles such as 'long-term relationships', 'relationships', 'hitting on girls', etc. This must mean that my friends are more adventurous, and willing to take more risks than other people. They in turn will end up wealthier, and with hotter wives than those that settle on whoever would talk to them at the kegger in college. Writing this has made me quite happy. On the other hand, we could all just be too butt-ugly to get chicks, so we export ourselves to countries where the women have lower standards. I'm talking about you, lil' Steve....

ODB: DOA

Did you know that Ol' Dirty Bastard created a pan-Asian-ghetto-gangsta rap style? I didn't. Click here and educate yourself. http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2004/11/16/o_d_b/index.html

Tuesday, November 16, 2004

Nick's Blog

Hi Guys. I've been lazy about this, but it's time to finally share my thoughts with the world. So prepare for Nick's Blog.