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the century mark

Posted by cris on 7 July 2009, 11:25 am

i’ve started this blog a while ago, and while this was inevitable, it is still quite a mark. this will be post number 100 on the blog, the century mark. thus, i’d say this does require a bit of reflection and the post itself does require to be dedicated. with this occasion i’d like to dedicate this post to someone special, to someone that’s been an inspiration over the last year. someone that has manage to inspire me to accomplish things i would have thought i could before… for this i would like to thank you for being part of my life…and influencing it in the way you have so far. i am eager to see what follows, as i’m certain it will be special.
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ISOI part 4

Posted by cris on 7 January 2009, 5:36 pm

it’s been a while since this happened, but i’d have to finish the airport round-about. well, tarom’s rule in europe is 1 bag per person of 25kg, plus the carry-on (not more than 11kg). well, i had two, one of roughly 24kg and the other of roughly 12kg. the nice german girl said she’s only charge me 10 euros per kg over 25. … that’s pretty much my reactions. anyhow, some complaining, whining and smiling got me the following deal. get the smaller bag under 11kg, and they can both go on, at no extra charge. at least one less worry. well by the time i turn around a ‘nice’ romanian fellow decides to make small chat. well, at least i have someone to talk to. get into the secure zone and i my attention gets caught by a commercial, 1L bottle of vodka (smirnoff) for 11 euros. well, that’s a deal in anyone’s book (with some exceptions).

got a bit of time to waste till the plane is supposed to take off, so i whip out my macbook, all happy i finally have free wireless…and to my suprise, the free wifi is nowhere to be found. if i would have known…i would have walked through the secured zone about an hour later. oh well, life goes on, i’m on my way ‘home’. well, it wouldn’t be a true romanian company if they did not delay. of course, the plane had to be delayed. why? well it’s not as if i was gonna get an honest answer from them.

eventually we’re on board, the plane takes off and suprise…tarom is good for something, they give some snacks and yes, beer :) . well, that helped a lot. i sort was willing to overlook the ‘late’ part as long as i was gonna catch my connection to sibiu. well, we arrive in bucharest, and same old airport. same lousy service and same lousy attitude.

given i never flew interior in romania, i was looking for some help. i go to the first information desk i see and ask. and i’m told, ‘go forward and to the right’. i go forward, and the only right i can take it’s through a window. so i look for ‘help’, yes…’help’ in otopeni (stop laughing it’s not that funny). i go to the first person i see with some sort of work clothing; however, as i approach he whips out his cell phone and starts talking… i’m left basicly with my mouth open. well, well…welcome ‘home’. i got to some security guy, who turned out to be quite nice, and he explained how to get to the interior flights.

well, i have to pass through another security point. i am asked to take my shoes off, sweater, and belt. it’s an interior flight, who in their right might would ever consider it? oh well, rules are rules. well, i take my laptop out, place it in the tray. they noticed wires in my bag…so the guy finds it necessary to take each and every one of my wires out. yes, i have my monitor connector, yes i have my audio cables, etc. well, enjoy putting them back together.

eventually i get to the gate. 4 gates to the interior, 4 flights (sibiu, satu mare, baia mare and oradea). all 4 flights leave at 20:45. otopeni only has one take-off strip for interior…something’s gotta give. well…it turned out my flight only left at some time past 21:10. well…i did get to sibiu, a bit late…but then again it’s romania…it’s to be expected.

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ISOI part 1

Posted by cris on 16 December 2008, 6:18 am

as i’m writing this i have to suffer due to lack of free wi-fi in microsoft’s backyard. yes, i’m in seattle as i’m writing this, in a txt document rather than right into the blog itself, drinking out of the tasteless un-sweet white chocolate mocha from ‘seattle’s best coffee’. you’ve probably seen my rants about free wifi and how every place should have at least one option to log onto the internet. yes, for cheap bastards as yours truly. nothing to be ashamed off, but if starbucks can reverse its decision and once again offer free wifi because of loss of customers, why can’t it be offered everywhere else. hospitals in vancouver offer free wi-fi (hopefully I won’t get into to much trouble for divulging this one), some restaurants have finally joined in (yes thank you sammy j peppers), and other various places.

the first thing i should probably explain is what the four letters stand for, but i won’t. it’s not important what the letters stand for, it’s more or less what they mean together, whispered in the appropriate order, at the right time. the journey started on the morning of the 14th of december. for the first time in ‘way to long to remember’, vancouver was hit with snow storms and temperatures under -5C at night. wasn’t much prettier in the morning, snow falling, freezing temperature and the requirement to bus from downtown vancouver to seatac international. all sounds rather good, decided to take ‘quick coach lines’. not a bad decision, at first considering they allowed me to change my departure time from 10am to 7:45am once the snow warnings were in effect and they offer, are you ready for this, free wi-fi on their buses. safe to say that helped with what was to follow.

make it to the bus early enough to make sure i don’t rush, and try not to stress. what would you know, the streets of vancouver are not all cleared. keep in mind, friday was the first snow storm. the snow fall for sunday morning was announced…however vancouver just doesn’t learn. clean the snow…make life safer on the roads. anyhow, as you’d expect due to the uncleaned snow on half the roads the bus arrived at the stop roughly 15 minutes later than expected. bus driver was pretty nice however, a bit slow, but nice. once everyone is on board, luggage placed inside…we’re off to the races. i’m thinking…it’s only 15-20 minutes…my plane leaves in roughly 10 hours…i’m good to go. we drive less than 2 km. my ipod is blasting away…and the bus stops. it’s probably a stop, i continue to pay attention to my laptop…then i see the driver walk through the bus and sort of try to explain something…by the time i take my headphones out…i hear “we’ll either get a replacement bus, which takes about 35 minutes, or they’ll come fix it which should take 20 minutes’. and he leaves…i figured…well at least i have 10 hours…half an hour passes…nothing…45 minutes pass…nothing…the door to the bus is left open…the bus is not on…and it’s getting rather cold in the bus…after all outside…it was only roughly -1C. eventually the second bus shows up. the luggage gets moved…the passengers move as well…and we’re on our way. only about 1.5 hours late. we make it to the boarder…everybody off the bus!!! grab your belongings and proceed to get inspected…good part, our bus was the only one there…so the inspection took almost an hour.

as we get back on the bus, everyone sort of sits wherever there’s space. of course, there’s at least one person that has to interrogate someone (me) if the space they’re sitting in is the same one prior to the border cross. at which point i’m essentially responding with…my seat was also taken plus there’s no assigned seating…i guess she thought she was already aboard her flight to the bahamas. we make it to seatac…in one piece and with an empty laptop battery. being early has its advantages…check-in started almost 4 hours prior to takeoff (that’s right 3pm). first in line, got my bags checked…made it through security…had to ‘undress’…take my shoes off, belt off…good thing i managed to keep my jeans on. and now i’m sitting waiting for boarding…with my laptop connected to one of the only plugs i managed to see. gotta charge it up…the flight…she’s a long one…

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