Sunday, October 29, 2006

I know what you did last summer

Winter is at our doorstep, time to look back to the past summer months...

What happened? Much and at the same time, not much...

As usual, there was a lot of travelling involved... It all started off after I came back from Kaohsiung, before that, it still belongs to winter...

I had to go to Toulouse and then for a couple of days visiting my folks in Italy... In Toulouse I saw for the first time an A380, although it was dark and barely visible... enjoyed a coupe of evenings out and that was basically it...


In Italy it's always nice to go, after all my family is there... Get a decent pizza, and many other exceptionally good Italian specialities...


After that, time to go back to Taiwan, for a bit more discoverying of such a nice place... I had an enjoyable time there... I wish I could be there more often... Immediately thereafter, Luxembourg...


Comes August, back to Italy for some more family visiting... important time... after all, those two old fashion people gave me this rotten life, but it's the only one I have, so I better thank them for it :)


In the mean time, as far as relationship with Shihyun goes, summer was a rollercoaster... ups and many downs, totally uncontrolled...


Brother got his second specialization in acupuncture and dad finally decided to retire, on paper... he still gets involved... mom lost a lot of KGs since having being diagnosed with diabetes, and is doing fine... was glad to see that... dad also lost few KGs after being diagnosed with slightly high cholesterol... now he follows mom in the diet, and both plan to live till 101yrs... they will surely outrun me there!!

No time to rest, get to Slovenia to visit one of my closest friends, Tad...
who by the way just SMS me today from the new Bangkok airport and litterally said: "BKK new airport is so fugly, it's a total dump, in fact is much more than that." ... I asked him why, this was the answer: "It's dark, already dirty and looks like a garage". Well, clearly no misunderstanding there... but pity, it spoiled my curiosity... Anyway, I went down to his home country to visit him, and I was very pleasantly surprised how lovely Slovenia is. Take my advice, if you have the chance to go there, don't miss out. I had a great 2 days with him and his girlfriend Mat, the weather was great, the places too nice to describe... I even got stung by a wasp while sipping my Lasko Pivo, how nice :)

After that, a couples of days in Brussels and few days in Andalucia, but it was already September now... In Brussels I stayed at the NH hotel: new, nice, clean and practical for biz people... so, what was I actually doing there?? :) ... In Andalucia, I had a chance to visit Seville and Granada where I hadn't been since 1992... Seville in particular is a very impressive city, very rich of art and culture...


In September Sara and Ale got their first child, and I have been visiting them at least 3 times since that happy event... we had a BBQ and a dinner with other Italic friends, very cozy... then they got their parents to stay with them for a while to help out, and they will be off to Italy soon... Also my buddy Silla and his Krishna wife Gia got their first child... unfortunately I haven't been able to visit them yet, as they live in Rome... Hope I can go there soon... the next generation is here, hope there will be a livable earth for them...

Shihyun started university, and she has been pretty much overloaded ever since... I just hope she takes her time to rest, although she seems quite busy with her Japanese classes :) ... things anyhow have smooth out a bit :) I'm very happy for that...

Did I forget anything? I probably did, as I can't really recall everything but this was what has happened in the past few months... now, I have to face months of darkness, and look forward to the new flowers in Spring...


Saturday, October 28, 2006

Life of a gipsy, part four. Copenhagen

Finally home. Not that I have time off now, but at least I don't have to pack and rush to an airport for a little while now... Last stop was Copenhagen... I didn't remember the city being so nice, as I hadn't been there since 1991... The schedule was tight, but I didn't give up taking a walk in the city in the evening... Funny enough, they don't valorize their pretty city with appropriate lights for the incredibly beautiful monuments... it seems they are afraid to show off the beauties of the city... or is it because their TAX scheme is so crazy that they rather save on electricity? Even the Royal Palace was in darkness, what a shame... Such a lovely place...

Left from the local airport for Amsterdam to Copenhagen and return the next day... of 4 KLM flights, one was on time... I guess now I remember why I decided long ago I would try to avoid KLM for as much as humanly possible... this, anyway, makes me think on the relationship between a civil society and aviation... I will get back to you on this, cos the volcano inside me is about to blow :)

Arriving in Copenhagen, beautiful weather, but who cares? We have to go straight to work, so it could be snowing, and it wouldn't make the slightest difference for me... It seems everyone knew me up there in Copenhagen, since I had a minor disagreement over the phone with one of them, and I didn't use approved phraseology... well, good, then I don't even have to intro myself... :) In fact, this meeting was decided upon after that incident... anything for safety, baby!

We are welcomed by the lady who described me as stressed in one of emails... I asked her to re-think again at the recordings... sorry to disappoint you ma'm, I was totally pissed off, not stressed... in any case, thanks for the coffee and the Danish pastries... wow, now I give a new meaning to it... fantastic, next life I will marry a Danish baker... for this life, I'm booked :)

After a fruitful yet again LONG meeting, hop in a taxi (the only Mercs driving around in the city) and reach the downtown hotel... Grand hotel... Rene told us it's an historical place, as it's one of the oldest buildings in the city... well, you can tell that by looking at the rooms!!! Next time, get me the NEWEST hotel, I don't need history while I'm resting, but a damn luxurious place will do! After the 6 of us checked in, Rene, Andre, Miguel and Herb went to the hotel bar for a beer (or 2)... Stephen decided he needed a nap and I thought I would walk around the city for some night shots (ignoring there was lack of lights!)...


The weather was exceptionally fine, but cloudy. Start walking towards the main square, have no idea what to see or where to go. I really didn't bother informing myself, and I had no map. Just take things as they come along, and remember the way back. I have only 2hrs, as we will meet at quarter to 8 to go for dinner... Eventually I was helped out by the city maps
that I found here and there... I really enjoyed the walk, now that I look back, for some reasons there was a strange atmosphere... I felt it, but I didn't know what... Now I know, although there were no decorations yet, the nice winter weather, the beautiful city and the outstanding shopping possibility somehow created a Xmas feeling... I saw most of the monuments that were still very vivid in my memory, I saw others that faded away with the years, and I even ended up in the Nyhavn (New Haven) where you can find plenty restaurants and bars... very posh place... an improvement sought by the city after that place has been the kingdom of drunken sailors in the past...


After the city tour, back to the hotel... by now, it's raining, so I was forced to get a cab on my way back... the driver, in cool and thick Danish accent, tells me there is a storm predicted for the night... ok, will be fun flying out tomorrow... The rain didn't give us to much of a break now, so we settle for a restaurant nearby, Rosie McGee's... it's a kind of mix up... the name sounds pretty anglosaxon to me, with a kind of new age nordic bar inside and strictly Danish beer... however they serve Mexican food... and a damn good one too... after dinner, I felt so tired, I almost fell asleep right there... the others talked me into staying a bit longer, as there was live music coming up... all this gipsy period was taking a toll on me...

So I tried my best to stay awake, the smoke around me made my heavy eyes itchy too... but there were many nice things to see, if you guys know what I mean... :) ... Shit, I will get in trouble for this remark, I know it already! Anyway, here is the band finally getting ready for action... five young guys (drum, keyboard, bass and electric guitar plus the singer), funny to look at as they behaved as I did when I was 18... but probably they are 18 still, so I guess it was alright for them to be like that... honestly, they put me off a bit with that... but, as soon as they start, hey, it was worth the wait... very very good music, and a gifted voice for the leading singer... I was impressed... they only performed covers, mainly from Robbie Williams, Bon Jovi, Queen, Lenny Kravitz, Nickleback, Nirvana, RHCP but also many others top of the line groups... 2hrs of pure enjoyment... oh, their name... MTW-Rocks... good job guys!


Ok, again a late night, although I start enjoying it now... I haven't been out so often for ages, I thought I was too old for that, but maybe I'm not... on my way back to the hotel, stop at a 7-eleven to get some fluids for the night... can anyone tell me why there are no 7-elevens in Italy and Holland? Is it because they are all in Taiwan and Denmark?? (Geez, you would be surprised how many they have there!!) Anyway, the guy working there wanted to make a little chit-chat, fine with me... it comes out he is from Baghdad, but living in Denmark for 25yrs already... good for you, man...

Better sleep now... the next day I have to bear with yet some delayed flights (although it was cool after take off from RWY22 to clearly see the SW-bound traffic coming from CDA)...

It's been 12 days and 4 different cities throughout Europe... it's nice to be back...

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Life of a gipsy, part three. Luxembourg

So here I am, back from Sofia at CGN airport... it just rained here, but now the sky is clear, and the sunshine is back warming everyone's soul... I like it... walk over to the parking, take my lovely "silver flash", and head south... destination Luxembourg...

I have spent a bit over a year in Luxembourg during my education, I truly like the place... it's a kind of oasis, where everything seems to work, everything seems (or actually is!) pretty new and definitely clean... I remember when I first got there over 10 years ago, it looked so rich... it is a rich place, but now my perspective has changed slightly anyway... but I still have good memories of my time there... a student yes, but surely less to worry about than now... freedom to behave as a young man, which sometimes I feel guilty of nowadays... lovely places, lovely food, lovely friends, some money and no worries... it was the full package... can you ask for more? but times change, people move on, but in my heart I'm still that old young man... :)

Many things have remained has I knew them, some others were created or built... This time I'm going down there to check out a particular presentation delivered by a colleague, but I wanna get to the hotel asap as I need to catch up on sleep... Sofia, from this point of view, took a toll on me... No night out in Luxembourg, I'm afraid... see you at work in the morning...

Remarkably enough, I didn't know where the presentation would be held, and nor did the person who sent me down... only through the kindness of the local employees I was able to find it out at 9am the next morning... yes Raf, that presentation will be delivered at 3pm... oh, thanks!! s**t, I woke up early, skipped breakfast (not that is truly necessary, for me) and now I'm all tight up into my suit for the next 6hrs... ok, get online and start sorting some mails, talk to Shihyun :), since I haven't had the possibility for a little while now, read some news, write a document... going to downtown isn't an option as A-I would definitely end up buying a new suit and I don't need it and B-it's raining horses and cows (which is definitely more than cats and dogs!)...

After having spent about 24hrs in Luxembourg for a 90 min presentation (I would define this as cost-efficient.... NOT!), time to head home... have a little ride nearby, take some pics as the weather by now has improved dramatically... then, head north again, for a day rest... what? a day rest?? are you sure it's for me?? :) Well, by now the sun has left its place to the moon, I am in the mood to get home and relax, take advantage of my 24hrs off, watch tv, take a well deserved shower, SLEEP! Waiting for the next trip to the airport the day after, destination
Copenhagen...

Life of a gipsy, part two. Sofia

The next morning, off to CGN to catch an Hemus Air flight to Sofia... at the airport, meet 4 colleagues booked on the same flight... once again, meet someone strange... after the boarding pass check, I was waiting for my colleagues when a lady approached me... wienerschnitzelbayernmunchendeutschlandueberalles? say what?? oh sorry, you don't speak German... well, can you give me your newspaper?... did I hear that correctly? I just bought myself a Corriere to make the flight less boring... Sorry ma'm, I just bought it.. ok, tell me where you are seated and I come get it later... oh man, another airport lunatic... Needless to say, she did get my newspaper once on the ground, as she bothered me few more times for that...


Sofia airport reminds me a lot of Taichung bus station, just no Asians around... for those of you who have never been in Taichung, it's not a real compliment :)... and the luxury busses are much better than the YAK40 Albanian Airlines on the tarmac ... anyway, off to the Princess hotel, a 4* hotel in downtown Sofia... I wonder in which flea market they bought the 4*... In the eve, meet a rather large group of colleagues and off to a Balkan restaurant... not exactly cheap for local meanings, but darn tasty and plenty... I would recommend it, if only I knew the name and if only I could go there without actually having to be in Sofia... anyway, back to the hotel, try to get something to drink at the bar, but it shuts right in front of us... 11:30pm, sorry closed... but the casino is open... go through the registration procedure, (with picture and everything, much like US&A immigration) we go directly to the bar... at the entrance door, the no knives, no guns signs are a reminder of the place we are in... gosh... drink till you drop policy is stricly applied... at about 6:30am, time to settle the bill and move on... what? free?? sure? ok, the bar policy is that you get drinks and finger food for free, as you eventually are bound to lose money anyway... but none of us was there to gamble, so they made a NEGATIVE profit on us...

Next day, visiting the city with Philippe and Fred, a "gentleman" in suit and tie approaches me (is it me attracting all sorts of human weirdos?) and gives me a biz card...


How thoughtful of him... like if I wasn't asked enough times in my first 36hrs if I wanted a girl... local favourite sport... ok, it's funny anyway, and it doesn't prevent me from touring the city and enjoy the 2 monuments worth a visit... Nice to see was the small garden where tens of people gathered to gamble on chess games, and the small market, where you can find almost anything, from Russian watches to Ortodox Icons, from knives of any size to some medical tool... how gross...(near the knife)...



The days were full house, but the nights were interesting... saturday night was election day, and no one was supposed to sell alcohol... we ended up at the Opera Bar, Fred, Ale, Max and myself... the alcohol free eve was not enforced (obviously), hence... Fred was concerned about getting back to the hotel before 1:30am as the next day he had a presentation... one last drink, then we go... right... the last drink was around 3am, when we walked out only cos the bar closed... few hundred meters walk, and there it is... the Kamasutra Strip Club... someone tried to ask : "What shall ...." and the rest wasn't necessary, since we were already inside... plenty strippers, from nice to "next please", alternating at different poles strategically located near each and every couch... shit, 5 o'clock, time to sleep! Get in a cab, back to the hotel... what about one last drink at the Casino? Well, it won't hurt us any more than the previous ones...

Last day, may the fun begin... even earlier than sunset... something you won't read on the official report... XYXY (I won't tell you the country, but you will have a LITTLE hint later on :)), can you please present your federation's report?? perestroikasmirnoffvodkaspaciba president not here... aeroflotdasvidaniatovarish why you ask me, not responsible... try not to laugh, but this was a highlight, in his kind... but the night had yet to come... gala dinner, entertained by "Sputnik" the DJ... you can actually see him with the 80s Italian pop group "I ricchi e poveri" (you really need to Google this!) on the background... a classic!! :) ...


The lights system was from the mid 60s, his look also, the music, guess, the same... alternating hard rock to slow, confusing the hell out of everyone trying to dance... for me, having the company of 2 Maltese colleagues, and 5 Italians didn't help, as Vitto aka "Uzi" (for his ability to shoot B.S. at an incredible high rate) really made our evening a laughing contest... when joined then by Albanians and Romanians, that was it... taking littlerally the piss (stricktly in Italian) out of the most bizarre behaviors of our over-drunk colleagues was real fun, from the Russian Bear try to get on the British one (known as the Polar Bear for her massive size and white clothes...) or the pilot representative giving a new religious meaning to "watersport" amongst others...

It was fun, if only I didn't dislike Sofia so much... and what's worst, is that the Bulgarian language doesn't have 3 key components: sorry, thank you and customer service. What a shame! Very little eye contact, no sense of humor, no flexibility, no smile... in a way it's like the iron curtain never dissolved...

Well... I'm outta here... next stop, Luxembourg....

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Life of a gipsy, part one. Barcelona

And it was time to pack... not much time to relax after my afternoon duty, go home, prepare my lousy luggage and off at 3am to DUS airport on my way to beautiful, sunny Barcelona. I was told I had to follow an important meeting for 2 days, so I thought I would add one day upfront for my own pleasure, after all I love Barcelona and I would not waste this opportunity.
So here I am, after a shorter than expected Air Berlin flight... take a taxi to the hotel, have a 9am check in (not too bad, hotel Amister... modern, new, clean, free internet) and a nap till about 11:30am to recover from the early flight... then off I go to re-discover the city...

Barcelona is a city full of art... not only historical, like the Sagrada Familia and Gaudi's works of art , but also a lot of modern art put in recent years by the city council to give more value, attraction and cultural look to this otherwise already attractive city... walk to the center (it's a gross lie, I took a cab!), and down from Plaza Catalunya through the Ramblas till the harbour... stopping here and there, a quick look at the food market, at the pet market (if you can call snakes and iguanas pets...)...


Then finally, the sea... walk over the bridge to the aquarium, have something to drink, relaxing in the sunny 26 degrees... how lovely... watch the boats coming in and out... someone is OBVIOUSLY richer than others :)...

Then, off to the aquarium, for a visit... only inside, I realized I have been there already :)... I'm an aquarium freak anyway, everywhere I find one, I gotta visit it... I wonder, according to Oregon law makers, what is the plural of aquarium... anybody has any idea?? :)


Later continue my visit through the city, visiting the main attractive spots... have a quick look at Muji (I have never seen Muji in Europe before...) and off to a nice restaurant to get my sea food dinner with some sangria... life isn't that bad, after all... :)

The next day the meeting was long, yet interesting and fruitful, or so I like to hope... in the evening, guided by our Spanish colleague David, we found a bodega for some pre-dinner drinks and off to a Catalan restaurant... I will spare you the details, however I would like to spend a couple of words on David... he is an "a
ristocrat", or at least he behaves like one.... he took us to a certain part of the city because the right and nice people hang out there, he doesn't fly low cost carriers cos if they cost peanuts, it means monkeys fly them... and so on and on and on... all his words were full of distance from him, and el pueblo... well, although he really meant what he said, he came accross funny as he sounded so old fashion in his ideas... after all, I wasn't part of the pueblo in his eyes, so I was well off as to his colleagues he was a real nice chap...

Time flies, meeting is over, the nights out too... back to the airport, before check in, where I made 2 strange encounters... 2 funny animals, a fury one, and the other one a "human" being, according to most people's standards... the guy apparently was seated next to me on my flight in, and he had obviously recognized me... but the non-sense I heard from his mouth the following 30 min are beyond worth of mention...

So, as soon as I managed to check in, I ran to the duty free and away from him... only to meet one big disappointment... can anyone tell me WHY I can't find in any duty free the only 2 drinks I want, not even in the same country of production??? I wonder if I will ever be able to taste again the Sherry Oloroso and Captain Morgan Rum, the SPICED one... if you are lucky enough to find them, try them... TRUST ME :P

One last remark on my stay... the night I flew out of Barcelona, the 2nd worst storm I ever witnessed in my life engulfed the city... rain was pouring down so heavily, it was like I was standing under a waterfall with my eyes open... the wind was blowing so strong, water clouds were created everywhere around us... the tarmac was flooded, the flight was put on hold although we already had taxied to the holding point... but, what was so amazing, was the lightning storm... a real beauty, a wonder of nature... I never saw one before, if not on Discovery Channel... wow, simply amazing... 3 to 5 lightnings every second, and it lasted at least 90min... that makes more than 21.500 lightnings!!! in fact, once in flight, we had to circumnavigate quite a bit in order to stay well clear from that... but it was simply fantastic to see....I wish I could film it...

Off I am, finally airborne, on my way back to DUS, then hop on a flight to Sofia...

Thursday, October 12, 2006

NBA preseason (and there was light)

Finally the long wait is over... it's been a long summer without the NBA... very few interesting trades... pretty slow and dull... but here they are, the Phoenix Suns and the Phila 76ers playing their 2006-07 preseason game in Cologne... could we ever miss this game? 'Course not!

Well... a couple of considerations... first of all, the friendliness of the locals was once more underlined when they started booing Phoenix towards the end of the game as most of them supported AI... speaking about AI, what's all this fuzz for? He good... he is a scoring machine,but he also ain't a "team player" and last time I checked, basketball was still a team sport. Anyway, I had this SLIGHT feeling most of them knew AI and not much else about basketball... luckily enough, the game was very entertaining, with PHX taking a consistent lead twice during the game and eventually ending up losing... I even got the chance of shouting a couple of things to Raja Bell, the Kobe-stopper... I believe he enjoyed himself, his smile was the proof... for me, the best things of the eve were provided by Steve Nash... his assists were simply amazing, no wonder he is 2 times MVP of the league...

Before this, we watched CSKA Moscow-Maccabi Tel Aviv... the remake of this year's Euroleague final... the outcome was the same, with Moscow leaving with a victory... got to take a pic with coach Ettore Messina, one of the best and winningest Italian coaches of the last 20 years (the other two are coach Dan Peterson and coach Mike D'Antoni). Coach was very kind, as he remembered he promised me a picture at half time and then walked all the way up to where we were to keep his word. Thanks coach, you're real cool!


Almost forgot, during the games the cheerleaders (... oh, not too bad, I tell you :P ) were throwing t-shirts and small basketballs to the fans... the very last one, thrown at us with just over 8 seconds remaining, was just a bit too far on my right, but with one last effort (all my previous efforts were gone into the cheeseburgers!) I managed to tip it and direct it right at Steve... he now will wear it with eternal gratitude :)

So here we are... a bunch of basketball-addicted people... :)

Next day, everyone at Pels' for the Draft of our fantasy NBA league... ten of us, spending some time together with unhealthy but damn tasty food, and with a surely healthy passion... basketball... first pick went to Chappy (the man with only consonants), with which he selected Kevin Garnett... here is the whole first round: 1-the Big Ticket, 2-King James, 3-Nowitzki, 4-Flash, 5-the Matrix, 6-EB, 7-Kobe, 8-Nash, 9-Arenas and 10-Pierce. May the fun begin! :)

Next stop, October 31 for the opening night of the new season...

Sunday, October 08, 2006

Karate Kid... psychology style

Everyone remembers the movie Karate Kid... well, it was an entertaining yet meaningless movie, at least until last week... until a psychologist asked me to watch the movie from a different perspective... so I did, but I hope I won't take this as a bad habit... :)

I was in Brussels, one of these courses on leadership... at the beginning I thought it would be like at the Army Academy... do this, do that, don't argue... but it wasn't entirely true...
ok, if there are two categories I tend to distrust are lawyers and psychologists, but I have to give it to him, it was interesting...


So, here we go with some background info... there are four kinds of Situational Leadership: S1, where the leader has to be instructive and directive, because the collaborator is a newcomer (low competence, high motivation), this is a one way communication scenario... S2, where the leader is coaching as with time the motivation of the collaborator can decrease but with two way communication... S3, where the leader is motivating as the collaborator is generally high in competence and have to boost his commitment to match it with the competence... two way communication... and finally S4, where the leader is delegating, having full trust in his collaborators (high competence, high motivation) and requires just feed back, thus one way communication again.

Now, what about Karate Kid? Well, believe it or not, I will convince you of this S1-S4 theory as it was used in the movie... S1: Daniel-San goes to Miyagi to seek help, he wants to learn karate to defend himself from older guys who already beat him up... Miyagi agrees, and says: "I say, you do, no questions..." ... "I teach, you learn...".... S2: commitment drops after Miyagi asks Daniel-San to paint the whole house and wax all his cars... so he takes the matter into his own hands, and shows Daniel-San why he did all that, and what purposes will serve in the near future... S3: Daniel-San is karate ready, but still doubts of his chances of winning the tournament... Miyagi works on personal relationship with him, celebrating Daniel-San's birthday... S4: the tournament... Miyagi hardly says a word, let Daniel-San find his way to victory, giving him just the minimum support necessary...

Well, if i have convinced you or not, it don't really matter... I just know next time I will watch a movie, I will do it "old style", with some snacks and a beer and no weirdo-psychology in mind... So I would leave you with some highlights from the movie...

Daniel-San: "...if I win... but if I don't, they'll bury me where I fall..."
Miaygi: "Either way, problem solved"

Daniel-San: "Do you think I stand a chance in the tournament?"
Miyagi: "No matter what Miyagi think, Miyagi not fighting"

Daniel-San: "You are the best friend I ever had"
Myiagi: "You are pretty OK too"

Saturday, October 07, 2006

Why do you need friends?

It was around 8:15am... just arrived at work, lazying around an empty Radar working station... as far as I'm concerned, that's a pretty way to start off the day... watch the others sweat around the air traffic and say (just once): not too busy today, eh?

Sure enough, you get covered by insults, of any kind, in any language...

But today was different... as I said, sitting around, having a chat with Uli... when from the other side of the Radar room here comes Smily... he has the rare ability to look like he is coming out of three different places at the same time, ALWAYS:
1- an Armani shop
2- Dubai duty free, perfume section
3- a solarium (unless you believe he's just back from Barbados everytime you see him)

He approaches me, with his usual smile... "Raf, in the morning, with your cheeky smile, you remind me of a porn-star!"

Well, thanks! That's an original way to say good morning! And it's also the best compliment I have received in months, and coming early in the morning to boost up my day! Smily, you just qualified for a Xmas present!

Why do you need friends with colleagues like this?

Long live Ron Jeremy :)

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Cosa nostra

Last night I had dinner with some Italian friends... although few were missing due to different reasons, it's been a very pleasant eve... It was only 4 of us, but nice and neat time together... Started off with me arriving at Gio's... the guy is cool... he showed me some of his videos... he just fix his videocamera on the helmet, and films... he showed me his videos from the heli-ski... being air-lifted with a helicopter and going down in immaculate snow with his snowboard... beautiful... or videos of his skydiving, also EXTREMELY cool... he didn't show me anything of his diving experiences, I guess just because he doesn't have a waterproof equipment for that... oh, did I mention that he is also a commercial pilot? The guy is definitely multi-task oriented, including leaving early from work... :P

Then Clauds arrived... she is always full of S**T, and she is fun for that... plenty stories, plenty trips here and there... she is fun to be around, as soon as she opens her mouth, you know you can expect
the unexpectable... and her clothing style is very much a funny subject to pick up at any given moment... but, watch out for your beers, or there would be none left... :) she is really good at distracting you while she empties the fridge...

Then, after work, Ste arrived... his definition of himself last night was a pedantic logorroic person... right he is, but outside work either he can say interesting things, or you simply ignore him and will die down :) anyway, yesterday he was more of the first....

Anyway, simple eve, nice Risotto with mushrooms Parma's style... was really good ... then an evening of italian chat, it doesn't happen too often to me, I hardly ever speak in my mother language... Clauds tried to convince everyone to pick up sailing, I guess she did a good job in that... well, Ste had a course financed by the Navy and I believe he is licensed, Gio knew a lot of s**t so I guess he did
something too already, and Clauds is just back from Greece where she did follow a course... the only one who knows jack about it, guess who? Anyway, I'm pretty sure Gio will pick it up just to keep up with his multitasking, multitalent personality... after that, we checked out some funnies on YouTube, like Borat and AliG, always classics... finally, at the end of the eve, UPS was so kind to deliver Gio's misled luggage at around 10pm, when they told him repeatedly they would deliver it between 4pm and 6pm... it took ONLY 4 days for Germanwings to track down his lost bag and deliver it... lesson learned? Avoid UPS and Germanwings for as much as humanly possible! Needless to say, all his stockpile of Italian food was so disgustingly ...ehm... rotten... that was nasty... :)

So after picking on each other for few hours, having a couple of drinks, Clauds being mean to Gio's (girl)friend on MSN and having a laugh, everyone headed home for some rest... till next time, CIAO!