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Hospitalis Restaurant (Riga, Latvija)
On my last work trip, I went to London, Riga, Stockholm, and Helsinki. In London, I saw a PVC chef's apron with a Union Jack across the front; on the next rack, there were arm-length black gloves. It was fetishy, yet in plain sight at a department store. I got a good chuckle out of it, and assumed it would be the most fetishy thing I'd see on my ( Read more... ) -
The financial crisis
If Goldman and Citigroup were to merge and consolidate, would they become Sachs and the Citi? -
Travel notes: Esboo and Helsinki (FI)
The Finnish media has been covering the US elections non-stop. The Finns seem happy that the US made a good decision this time ( Read more... ) -
Help me find the right words.
(Fill in the blanks) Oversleeping and being late to work: ____________ ( Read more... ) -
Travel notes: Utrecht (NL)
It seems like there are more bicycle commuters in the city of Amsterdam, than in the entire United States. Even in small towns like den Bosch and Apeldoorn, there are seas of bicycles parked outside the train stations. At most stations, there's also indoor bike parking, and sometimes even bike valets. I wish I lived in a bike-friendly locale ( Read more... ) -
\/1@GR4 Sandwich
Dining out in foreign countries is always fun. Went to lunch yesterday with Ingmar, one of the Germans on the project. Ingmar's been stuck in Qatar for months, is sick of the City Centre mall, doesn't care for takeout from Tasty Bell, and hates the spices in Indian food. So we asked the cab driver to take us somewhere new. He drove us to a hole-in- ( Read more... ) -
Italy's newest Cabinet Minster for Civil and Equal Rights
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's wife may not be happy with his latest cabinet appointment. If the new Minister is qualified, her appearance really shouldn't matter. But Berlusconi can be a bit of a schmuck, so you have to wonder.
Ganked from a German website, which has more pictures information for those of us curious about Italian ( Read more... ) -
Three weeks stranded in the desert
My one-week jaunt to the Middle East became a three-week stay. My original tasks were to install our software in a clustered database environment, do some testing, then replicate the installation in a disaster-recovery environment. But the customer's systems people weren't ready ( Read more... ) -
As if it weren't difficult enough to get a drink around here
The Emirate of Qatar is a bit more conservative than the UAE. Alcohol is strictly regulated. (Pork products are illegal. I had "veal bacon" for breakfast the other day: it was awful, but maybe that's the fault of the hotel restaurant.) Locals need special permits to buy alcohol ( Read more... )
