bad blogger

My apologies, but I'm in training this week, and spending 11 hours at work hasn't made me a happy blogger. I'll try to get a handle on things and post something amusing soon.

Google moon

So Cool!!!

Kyle's Roommate

I spent 3 years living with Kyle Sonnonstine, one of the stranger examples of humanity that have crossed my path so far. He currently has a roommate, Brady, who is an attractor of extreme situations, some to his benefit and many to his detriment. I wrote an email to Kyle this morning inquiring on Brady's latest antics, and here was his response:

Friday was an interesting night for young brady. I was sick, but agreed to accompany him out nonetheless. We started at a pretty empty bar that had been cleared out by a shitty cover band. Then we went next store to the bier market. We were hit on by 3 different groups of girls during the night. Weird huh? Each time was so awkward. They would come and just kinda say hi and stand there and not do anything. We had to do all the conversation starting. They just presented themselves. It was just awkward. But brady did manage to snag the attention of a young polish blonde named Magdalena. She was there with some tool she met on the internet. Said tool was in a t-shirt and umbros, flopping his hair all around while he danced like some ‘80s sprocket. Fucking Kanadiens. It turns out this tool’s ex-girlfriend (who was quite hot) was also there. so he and his exgirlfriend went outside to talk. At this point brady of course went in for the kill. I thought he had it in the bag. And this chick was hot. Great body. Great dancer. And polish. Pretty cool. The tool was out there forever. I thought he maybe had just left with his ex. While he was out Brady had even gotten to the point of extending the invitation to come back to our place which was just 4 blocks up the street, instead of driving precariously home. Just when I thought she was gonna crack, tool came back to drag her away. And it was almost literally a drag. It was so amusing. There was this chick, her right arm being pulled by the tool, she was looking back at brady like “sorry”. Brady was about 10 feet away. Then she stopped. I thought she was gonna stay. There was this really awkward moment in the crowded bar where there was just one open space – and it was the 5 feet between brady and the chick, and then another 5 feet between chick and tool. And her head literally was turning back and forth, evaluating each option. She went with the tool. Brady was pretty livid and belligerent for the rest of the night.

Internet

What's the deal with coffeeshops in the mall? Either they're all mcdonaldsy with brightly colored furniture and pop music, or overly eurotrashy with waitresses who act like they're working at the Four Seasons. I was at one tonight, 'Cafe Emporio', that had some sort of brightly colored spaghetti decoration on the celing. It's actually in a health club inside the mall. The waitress was a bitch, and was making fun of me in czech cause i couldn't get their internet to work. i didn't give her a tip. But i finally wandered around for a while and found some little wifi cafe that has exactly 3 tables. and now i'm happy.

Church and Saints

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

The same church, from the other side, with the aforementioned saints, Cyril and Methodius. They seem cool, but I can't forgive Cyril for giving the russians that ugly-ass alphabet. Methodius, I have no problems with. That's quite a cool name, though. Maybe I'll name my first child 'Methodius Moles'. Or maybe not, as that would be quite unkind.

The church

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Quite cool, is it not?

The view

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

The lovely Jana contemplates our chances of making it back to the bus without encountering impolite weather. We accomplished our trek without any interference from God or Radegast, but I placated both by 1) making the sign of the cross in the church, and 2) Drinking a pint and a half of Radegast's beer as I made my hike. Gotta hedge your bets...

Radegast

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Of course, this being St. Cyril and Methodius day didn't stop everyone from taking a picture with the local mountain spirit, Radegast. Or drinking beer of the same name. at about 5 beergardens set up along the mountain. Once again, I thank God I was born a Roman Catholic. Beer is practically a sacrament.

St. Cyril and Methodius Day

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

The next day, the 5th of July, was the holiday of the 2 saints who brought christianity to the slavs. So jana and I decided to walk up the mountain and see them. apparently everyone else had decided to do the same thing. there was a temporary festival set up there, selling everything from beer to food to toys to (I kid you not) drapes. like for houses and stuff. just what everyone is looking for when they climb a mountain for a religious holiday. window coverings.

The mill wheel

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

This was pretty amazing. They had a wood mill set up that actually ran on a water wheel. i mean, i knew people used to do stuff like this, but it's really amazing to see. the stuff runs like normal machinery, but it's all powered with some crappy dirty stream running through the village.

Freaky Wallachian villages

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

The strange thing about the villages is that they look like the abandoned texas wood houses! that's probably because a bunch of czechs came over and colonized the lone star state.

We went into one of these buildings, and some old czech woman fed us corn meal that, she claimed, texas settlers ate. Then the gf told her that i was from texas. she laughed, and mentioned that she had been to Austin, and had seen the university there. I was in some wooden village in east moravia, eating some porridge, and the little old czech lady serving me had been to my old university in texas. still amazing.

Skansen

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

They have these three 'Skansen' in Roznov, which are traditional wooden villages that act as museums. They have churches, houses, barns, and, of course, the 'hospoda', which is the czech pub. Probably my favorite thing about the place, sitting in a 400 year old pub and drinking beer named after the local pagan god. good times.

The real town of Roznov

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

Just your traditional Czech small town. Well maintained, though.

Square Dancing in Moravia

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

The real reason we went to Roznov over the 4th was that they celebrate something called 'Texas Days' over the holiday. A bunch of old texans of czech descent came over and saw people doing square dances and riding horses with lassoes and all sorts of other texas weirdness. i was, again bemused. although for some reason it was much less interesting than I had thought it would be. Maybe that's because all the texans were quite old, not the hard-partying bunch I was hoping for.

Funky Folk Dancing

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

We went to the town of Roznov for the 4th of july. The day we arrived there was apparently some sort of folk music/dancing festival. above you can see a risque picture of girls dancing and showing off their fabulous knees. if i was about 100 years older I'd be calling up the federal government to stop this immoral and evil display of sexuality. As I am not, I was slightly bemused.

Roznov

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Originally uploaded by nickmoles.

My apologies on the lack of blogging, i've been busy surfing the internet and complaining about my job. but I finally put aside some time to come over to the internet pub and put my intelligence and work ethic into motion, in order to create some stupid internet posts about how I drank beer in Roznov a couple of weeks ago. Enjoy.

Purple dot

Along with meat and potatoes, cabbage traditionally accompanies any Czech meal. Often it is a strange purplish color, as if it’s been dipped in imperial dye. The problem with this particular food is that it swims in a similarly colored purple juice, usually some sort of mild vinegar thing. Sometimes when you pick up the food, that insidious purple fluid will transfer itself from the cabbage onto your shirt. And when your name is Nick, and the ability to move fork to mouth is often in question, this leads to stains. I have a purple dot on my shirt. A blue shirt that I really, really like, extremely comfortable, fits me well, makes we look good. And now I have some stupid cabbage stain on it. I tried to fix it. I went into the bathroom and wiped my shirt for a while, but couldn’t get out the purple dot. My manager came in, saw what I was doing, and suggested that I put lemon juice onto the purple dot. I did that, and soon had a purple dot surrounded by a big green splotch. I left the bathroom, my shirt splattered with water, with a big water spot in the middle where I tried to wipe off the small dot and the big splotch. I was the object of some good-natured ribbing with colleagues. I was also given various remedies to fix the splotch and dot, from salt to bleach. Some of them were jokes, some were real, and I’m confused as to which is which. But I have a girlfriend who, although she’s a liberated modern female, still has that innate female knowledge. Genetic stuff that I have no access too. I have the genetic ability to speak entirely in grunts, which is useless in the modern world, except to express the fact that I’m hung over and don’t want to get out of bed. Then it’s an extremely efficient way to convey my feelings on the subject matter. But back to the topic: I have girlfriend who knows about this stuff. And this weekend I will bring the shirt to her and request that the stain goes away. Hopefully it will, or instead of saying ‘I’m wearing the blue shirt to work today’, it’ll be ‘I’m wearing the purple dot shirt today’.

Saturdays at the internet pub

The great thing about the internet pub is that it's so damned questionable. We came here at 4, when it was supposed to be open, and the door had a big nasty magnum lock on it. So we went to a cafe and drank a couple of beers. We came back around 5:30 and it was open. The barman, who I think is cool, has dyed his hair blond. There are two extremely questionable people at the bar. And my roommate is here, which allows me to drink beer at the internet pub. Why? Because if i come by myself i don't want to pack up my computer every time i take a leak. The problem goes away when I"m chillin' with him. By the way, i added a link the the old archives of my original website. have fun with that. i'll probably post on monday from Roznov, to describe what's up with the 'Days of Texas in Wallachia'. It's gonna be weird!!

pining for a pivo

I'm sitting at my office right now, at 8:20, when I should in fact be at a bar drinking beer. This is not a very pleasant sensation. I'm actually working on something right now to get some stuff properly changed and throw it in the face of some people who are being retarded and not fixing it. My boss is currently fixing everything, so I'm waiting to get a call back and savor my victory. But that's just it - I can't savor it until he calls. And I need a beer. I will be off for 4 days, which is fantastic. I'll be heading to east moravia to attend something called 'Days of Texas in Wallachia'. I'll keep you posted.