Thoughts……

….there are times in my life when I realize how messed up the world has become. How messed up it has always been, and I try to understand why it is this way.

Here are my thoughts.

People look for answers to the meaning of life. Some find it in religion, some find it in others, and some find it in themselves. Others never find it at all.

The problem as I see it is hypocrisy. We all suffer from it to one extent or the other. We all hold values and try to live by them, but we have our own exceptions to the rule.
Growing up I was always told that it didn’t matter what I believed, as long as I had a belief. I was not directed toward a religion, I was allowed to study and find out what felt right to me.
As a result, I studied a lot of religions, I talked to many followers of religious belief systems, and I discussed beliefs with those who had firm beliefs, and with those who had no set beliefs.

This has opened my eyes to one truth that exists in all religions. One simple tenet that everyone has to one degree or another; that life is sacred. Whether the belief stems from religion, or a personal awakening, and whether the belief is you are sacred or all life is sacred; EVERY belief follows this truth.

But we are hypocritical people, some believe that those who believe exactly as they do, are sacred and the others should be brought to this belief or eliminated, while some believe that regardless of your belief, you are sacred.

This is where we, as human beings, fail. We miss the purpose of our own belief, we miss the important thing we all must never loose sight of. That love is all, love is good. Love thyself, or love all, makes no difference what the belief is, as long as you follow it.
There are those who feel that religion is a structure with rules and a code of conduct. There are those who do not believe this is so, these are the atheists and agnostics of the world. But even they have a belief system, even if that belief is simply to love all, or even only to love themselves.
It is not important to follow a religion, what is important is to never forget to follow your beliefs. They will change, even if only slightly, as you experience life. You will change, your beliefs will change, but this doesn’t matter, as long as you follow that belief, never losing sight of what is important to you.

The troubles we have in this world are simple; thrusting beliefs on others is wrong. All beliefs have that one simple truth to them; life is sacred. Even the most truncated version of this belief; that all life must be eliminated for it is all eveil and corrupted, has this tenet, because if you truly believe this, than YOU are the one being who realizes this and must bring this to pass. So you are sacred, your life is sacred, as you carry out your belief.

Of course, this is not what I believe; I believe all life is sacred, and should be respected. I believe that all things have life, and is sacred and should be respected. I also believe that life carries with it some basic needs; food, shelter, and love.

All life feeds, whether it is on animals or plants, or both. So to deny this need to feed is not holding life sacred, it is denying an essential part of that sacred life. Respecting life and holding it sacred does not mean that eating plants or animals is wrong, on the contrary; being true to your nature is holding life sacred.

All life needs shelter; whether it is the lion pack sheltering under a tree from the heat, or a bear sheltering in a cave for the winter, or even you in your home; it is an essential part of life. Does it matter if the tree is small or large, ornate or plain? The cave for the bear? Or whether you live in a mansion, or an apartment? No it doesn’t, as long as you have shelter.

All life needs love; love of others, or just love of yourself. Love something, and allow yourself to be loved.

Life is sacred.

The problem with us humans is this; we are hypocritical. We hold what we believe is sacred, but we want to deny others that same right. We have a world full of people that want to make others believe as they do, or they will force them to, or destroy them if they do not.
We go so far as to try and decide how right or wrong someone can be; abortion, self defense, murder, theft, rape, birth control, sex, race, religion.
We try to set a specific set of rules for what we will personally accept and not accept from others. Forgetting the one thing we all hold most dear. That life is sacred. We hold our own beliefs, and we do not want others to force us to believe differently, but hypocrisy makes us try to do that to others.

The problem with our world has always been, and always will be this; our beliefs are not balanced with our hypocrisy.

The line needs to be drawn within ourselves. If the rules we make, or the laws we enforce do not infringe on our beliefs, than why not life with them? Not not accept that we are all different, that each and every one of us have differing beliefs?

You see discussions and arguments about how life should be in every facet of society. Cardinals in the Vatican arguing over Catholic Doctrine, politicians arguing over what law is fair and just, and sports bar patrons arguing over whether a ruling is a game is fair. This is because we all have differences, even when we follow the same beliefs. None of us believe exactly the same as any other in all things.

So why can’t we understand this, and resolve to love one another regardless of our individual beliefs? At least as long as our basic needs are met: Food, shelter, and love.

 

(Note: A lot of people say that health is a basic need, and will wonder why it is not listed here or even discussed. Simple: health is not a basic need, it is not guaranteed to us. We may live to be 100 years old, or we may die in child birth. Life itself is sacred, but health is not something we can guarantee to one another, we cannot provide it, we can only provide the three basic needs: food, shelter, and love.)

5-8-2011 thru 8-8-2011 WOW

It’s been 3 whole months since I last blogged. What the heck have I done?

Well, it’s been hectic. First off I have been dealing with school, it’s summertime so the festivities have been rolling in like mad, these Ukrainians like their fun time I tell ya.

Lulu’s birthday was May 17th.

Happy Birthday Baby!!!!!!

Then we went to Bristol England on the 19th of May and returned on the 25th.

Washington Lic Plate in Kiev.

The train station in Bristol, WE MADE IT!!!!

Canal boats in Bristol.

An old keep in Bristol.

 

This keep is heavy.

Our first meal at BEEFEATERS!!!!!

Our second meal, Lulu had Tarimisu.

I had CHEESECAKE!!!!!

Lulu's first double decker bus ride.

An old entry gate into old Bristol.

Nice double decker bus.

We also went to Bath, but the busfor Stonehenge was full so we stayed for a comedy tour of Bath. Then Lulu found shopping at All Saints. We were in their shop for four hours.

Lulu loved this pub in Bath.

I liked it too.

Games Workshop in Bath.

Train tressel on the other side of the river.

Nice old church.

Had to look at this sign twice....I miss home.

Touring Bath, comedy style.

The Rabbit went into the river, and escaped it's chains!

The park at our hotel......

After England it was back home for parties every weekend, one was a special dinner by us to show thanks to the Ukrainians that have helped us since we arrived here. They were most pleased, especially with the vodka and cognac.

We (Chris, Alex, and I) took a tour of Chernigiv with a coworker of Lulu’s who was visiting from the states. There were a ton of churches and even a catacombs to explore. Way cool.

Then June 8th thru the 18th we went to Barcelona Spain and were joined by Alisa, Lulu’s; best friend. We drank a lot and had fun.

Our first night.

Lunch time!

Shopping.

The bazaar.

Wall of WINE, the girls were in heaven.....

...but opted for the beer.

Lion riding is big in Spain.

Sangria and food....what could be better?

Touching the bullet building.

In Guell Park.

The Gothic Tour.

SPF 6 does NOT do the trick.

Yep, sunburned and hungover on the beach, not a good combination.

Lot more photos on my Facebook page, check those out.

So the last 30 days have been fun,riding my bike almost everyday now. Chris and I go on weekday mornings for about 25 Km. On the weekend a group of folks goes for 30+ km long rides.

Aug 8th I started working out again with Oksana, they did some renovations to the gym, so it’s been closed all of July. She tried to kill me, we did a full workout of chest, back and abs, 3 sets for each at 15 reps a set, all in under 45 minutes. I am one sore man.

Hopefully, I’ll be a little more active in blogging, but that hasn’t worked out so well, but we’ll see.

 

Miss ya’ll, hope all is well where ever you are.

4-12-2011 thru 5-7-2011 Manic Marina Madness

So, I like totally suxzors at this blogging thing. A good friend, who is celebrating her first Mommy’s Day today, told me I needed to post soon, or face certain dismemberment, anguish, and possible deathly tickling, should I survive our trip and arrive safely back in the states.

So in the interest of not having my corpse defiled by the angry Ann of the Garden Gnomes Clan (Head Twinkie Executor), I needed to get this posted, and *AGAIN*, I will try to keep up with it.

So……what’s been up with us in Ukraine since we got back from Texas?!?

NOTHING!!!!!!!!

It’s so damned boring here. Nobody to talk to. Nobody to hang out with. No friends.

NOTHING!!!!!!!

or

I might be kidding.

Maybe.

Okay, I’m kidding.

(Put down the gun Marina…..)

So, we’ve been busy actually.

I’ve been doing a ton of school work, and then…….Spring Break………?!?

What is that…..it’s been too long…….?!?

A few vodkas, sleeping in till noon, and a frozen pizza later………

Heeeelloooooo Spring Break!!!!!!!!!

I’ve missed you.

The week went by…..way too fast.

Spring Break my old friend…..no beach, no nudity (That Lulu will let me post about), no wild frat parties and getting arrested………..but Spring Break all the same.

Yeah.

Then school again…..this session; LAWS310 (Legal crap for business and IT), Systems Analysis (Developing IT crap from concept to finish), and Statistics (Math crap……does anyone ever use this crap?).

So I’m back in school, Lulu is working , and we’re both taking Russian lessons two nights a week.

Lulu has dancing 3 nights a week, and spends the other nights dancing and doing Yoga at home.

I spend 5 days a week in the gym.

SO I miss bicycling……..Lulu mentions she would like to ride more but we don’t have bikes.

Her birthday is almost here…..so I go out and buy us bikes….mountain bikes……to ride.

Our new bikes.

Hers is red and mine is grey. They are so cool.

So here’s to getting into shape, feeling the road beneath your tires, and hoping not to get run over by crazy Ukrainian drivers.

4-6-2011 thru 4-11-2011 TEXAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1am is so very early in the morning. With Ukrainian roads being as they are, it’s impossible to sleep in the van, so I just stayed awake the whole trip to the airport.

We get there a little early, and I am remembering our last trip. When we tried to go to Spain, they stopped us, gave us the run around, till Lulu coughed up some lunch money for them.

Well, this time we get in line, get our bags checked, made sure Lulu didn’t have anything even remotely pointy to give them an excuse to check bags and ask for more lunch money.

We go through security, and we get to the customs border passport check. The dood shook his head, and we thought, here we go again……

His boss comes out, looks at us, checks the passports and sends us through. Wait, what?!? No asking for lunch money?!? Holy smoking altruist Batman….an honest Ukrainian……..wowzers…..

So we get on the plane and fly to Amsterdam.

Really hope that one of these trips we can take a day in Amsterdam. That’d be cool to leave the sirport and actually SEE the country or at least the surrounding city.

Well, the flight to DFW was long, I watched Red, Salt, and Inception then slept for 4 hours. We got to eat twice, and I found out that KLM airlines serves liqueur for free. But since I would be driving the rental car once we got in, I kept it to two drinks.

Yeah……it was not easy……

So we land in DFW land about 1pm, go to our rental car, and they didn’t have one in our class, so we got the option to pick anything we wanted off the line. No mustangs were present, so we chose the Nissan Versa. Roomy and small, and great gas mileage. We packed it up and headed over to the Holiday Inn on Meachem and 35W. Nice place, totally forgot to go swimming, but that’s because Lulu didn’t bring her swim suit……..I haggled over the liberal use of the word “forgot”, but then I acquiesced when she gave me the “Don’t go there” look.

We stopped in at the Texas Pit BBQ in Saginaw for our first Texas food of the trip. Man I miss sausage and brisket. I had the jalapeno sausage and she had the regular.

We dropped in on Doodlebug (Dawn) and the family for a bit to say howdy, we made it safe, and to pick up my brand new Alienware M11x laptop, which I had shipped to Dawns house.

It wasn’t there. Me not happy. I call Dell.

2 hours later, the laptop is cancelled and I am really not happy.

Basically, they swore it would ship on April 1st to get to Dawn by April 3rd. On the 6th while I was somewhere over the Atlantic, they sent me an email to tell me it wouldn’t ship till the 12th and get to Dawns on the 14th. We fly out on the 11th.

The offered to knock off $95.00 to continue the sale. I reminded them that I was LEAVING on the 11th. What good would it do to send it after I am back in Ukraine. I reminded them that the sale had been strictly contingent on it getting to Dawns on the 6th. Period.

They haggled, I stood firm, they hemmed, I stood firm, they hawed, and I stood firm. Finally, they gave up and cancelled the order.

Asshats!!!!!!!

So we leave and go to the hotel.

Thursday, we get up and go over to Ihop for breakfast. That was nommyful. Then we head to Hulen Mall, Lulu is in heaven, she loves Texas. We ate Panda Express for lunch. We leave Hulen and head over to Ridgmar….YIKES……we flee to NorthEast mall. Lulu buys almost everything she sees. Hee Hee, just kidding.

We head out to meet Phillip and Regella Peterson, and Matt and Joanna Pegues at Casa Rosas at Western Center and 35W. We have an amazing dinner, and the company was even better. Man I miss my Texas friends. We head back to the hotel.

I mention how good a nice swim would be about now. I get a dirty look.

Friday morning we head back over to Ihop for breakfast, then we head over to the post office to mail of stuff we got for folks here in the states.

Then we head over to Frys and we go nuts. Two Apple Ipod Touch 64Gb 4th Gens, one exclusive set of Lady Gaga headphones for Lulu, and one Sony Vaio laptop that blows the Alienware I was supposed to get, out of the water. TAKE THAT DELL!!!!!!!!!! Asshats!!!!!

Ipod Touch 4th Gen 64Gb

Sony Vaio 3D

Man I love them both. Lulu and my electronics. 😉 I got pictures too…….

My lovely Lulu, so happy to be stateside.

First Pic with Ipod.

So after Frys we stop by the hotel to freshen up and then shot over to Dawns house to surprise Dad with all of us being here.

Dad rang the doorbell and I answered. He was totaled shocked.

We had an amazing dinner of Spanish style lasagna, beans, green salsa, and this totally amazing cheesecake that Steve made.

My Aunt Linda, cousins Penny and Wendy and Penny’s son Dalton also showed up to surprise Dad. He was very happy.

I gave Dad a Ukrainian flask and a commemorative Ukrainian pocket watch which marked the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis during WWII.

He immediately wondered where the alcohol was, so Lulu filled it with Brandy.

Friday ended with us walking back into the hotel and me remarking how good a swim would feel.

I really hope I never get used to those dirty looks.

Saturday started with us grabbing a bite somewhere (Memory is going), and then heading over to buy boots near NorthEast mall. Then more shopping at NorthEast mall, then heading back to the hotel.

We then took off to meet the family at this BBQ place just off of Western Center and 35W. We had a blast.

Doodlebug organized the whole Dad weekend.

Steve Grandmaster of Cheesecake.

Brady and Macz (my nephew and niece.)

Dalton, Wendy, Penny, Linda, and Dood.

Mom and Don

Us.....

I wish I knew where Lulu hid our camera, it has a lot better pics on it then my Ipod Touch does. So I guess I’ll have to do another post for Dad later.

Anyways, it was a good night.

Sunday opened with us going shopping, then heading over to Whataburger and meeting up with Gerry Ellis, Susan Sullivan (Ellis), and her husband Kelvin Sullivan. Kelly Sullivan couldn’t make it, and Mike Purdin was working so we made plans for later on with him.

Chophouse Cheddar Burger

Gerry Ellis

Again, more pictures exist…….

So we left there and went shopping again, till we met up with Phillip and Reggella Peterson with their two boys Matthew and Michael at Red, Hot, and Blue. Man the food was good. It was so fun hanging out with them, that we totally forgot to take any pics. So……..deal. 😉

After that, we ran over to Cody Alvarado’s and hung out in the man cave for a bit. I gave him an Istanbul Harley Davidson shirt, and he thanked me with Crown and coke. A very good arrangement.

Cody has only gotten even more wiser and more funny over the years. No pics here either, yeah, I know, we suck.

Lastly, we went to Mike Purdin’s and visited with him, his wife, and two new born identical twin daughters. Gerry Ellis was there to keep the laughter going, so a fun time was had by all.

Sunday night ended with me commenting on how cool the pool looked at night. The shiver was from the look I got.

Monday morning opened with us packing, getting everything squeezed into our luggage and then the two duffel bags, and hoping we were not over on weight. We then headed over to Dawns to say goodbye, and then, on a whim, we stopped at Joe’s Crab Shack on our way to the airport.

Our very cool waiter.

Lulu's steam pot.

My chicken strips.

Lulu really likes crabs.

SHARK ATTACK!!!!!!!!

Needless to say, we had an amazing last meal. Yep, last meal, because now we board the plane back to Amsterdam and then to Kiev.

Then the long ride from Kiev to Slavutych by car…….but we were still smiling.

Ride home from Borispol airport to Slavutych.

4-5-2011 TEXAS!!!!!!!!

Told you I’ld blog soon.

Spent all day packing, cleaning, getting everything ready for our trip to Kiev to Borispol airport at 1am tomorrow morning.

Not taking a lot with us, but Lulu has the “I get to go shopping in Dallas” gleam in her eye. So I packed extra duffel bags for all the stuff she’s gonna buy.

Oksana made sure to kick my butt while working out today, just to make sure I was sore during the trip I think.

ANyways, time is drawing near, will tell ya’ll how the trip went.

Miss ya’ll.

3-7-2011 thru 4-4-2011

WOW, so totally immersed in school, and Lulu, that I totally have been neglecting my blog.

Sorry folks.

I’d tell you that I’ll do better, but I did that already and yet didn’t post for a month.

I should be flogged.

But till then, here’s what been up since I last posted.

School, housebitch duties, Russian language classes, working out 5 days a week, and the occasional coffee at Fantasy with Chris and Alexi.

Yeah, pretty boring huh?

But guess what?

We’re going to Texas tomorrow. It’s a surprise birthday for my dad, who is turning 70. Lots of family coming in from all around the country, so it should be awesome.

I’ll be sure to blog about it……I will…..really……..stop laughing…..

Keep it up and I won’t add pictures……….Okay then.

2-27-2011 thru 3-6-2011

A day of rest on Sunday, and then back to work again, as the new school semester starts up.

I passed the FUBAR coding class, for those of you who kept track of that fiasco. The advisory board is looking into what they can do to fix the course. A lot of folks did not pass that class. It’s hard to do the work when the previous class only taught about two thirds of the material this class expected us to have learned already. Yeah….FUBAR!!!!!!!! But hey, putting in 40+ hours a week on one class, pulled me through with a 76% overall for the class. Which sucks, cuz till this class, I was a firm Deans List Honor student.

Stop the incredulous looks, I’m serious. Me. Deans List. Honor student. Yeah…..me. Weird huh? I guess people do change………

Anyways, rested at home all day Sunday. Unpacked and did the laundry, but otherwise, we chillaxed……….totally dood.

Monday, started the new semester; Professional Communication (Sophomore English class), Information Systems Security (Junior Security Class), and Cultural Diversity (Junior Sociology Class.) Yeah, gonna be writing a lot of papers. Ew.

Good thing; I should be graduated by this time next year.

Lulu brought up and interesting point. Why continue on and get my Masters, when I can take a year off, and do all the other things I want to do; drawing, drumming, martial arts, write my own RPG, and just all the personal development stuff I keep putting off………and when we get back to the states, I can get me a job in the industry, and then get my Masters at a nice slow pace and have the company pay for it…….

Do you know how AMAZING that is? GOD I LOVE THIS WOMAN!!!!!!!!!

I’m even seriously considering it…………I mean, I seem to be handling the not working for the first time since I was….13….?!? Yep, I have not been unemployed since I was 13. Not saying I have always worked the great and galm jobs…..oh no……Harbor club marina……DFW airport…….Security…..Skip tracing…….Restaurants……..sometimes having to work a full time job and two part time jobs, just to make ends meet…….

We all have our stressed times, and down on our luck stories…….but hey this is my blog so I get to rant all I want. 😛

Hee Hee.

The point is……it was very hard to come here, knowing I would not be working, contributing, being THE MAN………..but my father reminded me of something. Taking care of Lulu, and getting more eduction is self improvement, so I can provide even more later……..so it’s all part of being a couple…..give and take………I’ve never taken before………it’s a new experience……..but one I will not get used to…….

So what do ya’ll think? Relax a bit…….or work my ass off?

Inquiring minds want to know.

2-20-2011 Thru 2-26-2011 SPAIN!!!!!!!!

First thing; we’re gonna have to do this AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

After the initial FUBAR at Borispol airport, the trip was AMAZING.

Let’s see;

Sunday, I worked on homework while Lulu ran around Capileira taking pictures and seeing the village.

The village stone.

The view over the village.

Another view over the village.

Bubion, the neighbor village as seen from Capileira.

Monday thru Wednesday I had finals to do, so I did those while Lulu was taking a Flamenco Intensive with Cristina, a professional Flamenco dancer who lives in Capileira. When she was done with class, she would meet with me at the hotel and we would roam the village, just relaxing meeting new people, and enjoying the myriad bar/restaurants.

Tuesday we decided to go horseback riding. That was amazing, especially since I haven’t sata horse in a goodly while. I thought with the steep terrain, I might not do so hot, but apparently, it’s a lot like riding a bike, it all comes back pretty quickly. I rode Monti, a nice Arabian/Andalusian/Quarter Horse mix, who was a little high spirited, but hey, after a while of taking opportunities to eat grass and drink water, Lulu reminded me that letting them do that is a control thing for the horse, and bad etiquette respect wise to the owners. So I took the reins and stopped him. He was a little unhappy, but eventually settled down and we got along really well. Of course, I had to remember how to trot, and then the gallop was a real treat……..half way up the mountain before I remembered to not to play paddle ball with myself and the horse…….Ouchies……

Leaving the stable

Lulu and I giving the horses a small break before getting to play paddle ball.

Nice and slow.....Less painful......

Man I miss riding………

Well, we really had a great time, including taking one night to ourselves up in the room…….or rather, out on the balcony enjoying a couple of bottles of Brandy and bottles of blackberry juice.

My baby....so beautiful......

She made me do this........no really.....

Our hotel was great, it had everything, and I want to come back so we can experience it again in warmer weather. The pool especially………..my baby in a bikini…….

Ahem….I digress……….

Here are two parting shots.

Lulu showcasing the hotel billboard.

Lulu with Capileira in the background.

The trip home was uneventful….well, until we actually got to Kiev in Borispol airport. They scanned my luggage and then pulled me to the side and asked me if I had bought any gifts. I was like “What?!? Huh?!? Gifts, what I get a gift…..cool.” The were trying to find out if I had brought anything back to give away as a gift, because then they can TAX it. That tax is sometimes as high as 40% of the cost of the item.

Lesson: DO NOT CLAIM TO HAVE BROUGHT GIFTS!!!!!!!

“We yes mam, these 15 Kindles are for me, if one breaks I have others as spares.”

 

😉

2-19-2011 The Rain in Spain…….

Got up at 1am to finalize everything before heading out to Borispol Airport in Kiev. It’s a good 3 to 4 hour drive, depending on conditions, so I should get some sleepies on the car ride in.

Oh hell no. Driver is doing 110kmph on icey roads, we get to Kiev in 2 1/2 hours. I’m wide ass awake……….

We walk in to the new terminal F, for foreign flights, and try to check our luggage in.  But since our flight does not board till 6:40am, they will not let us chek in so early. Thanks Mr. Speedy Gonzalez Ukraine dood. So we stand there for 30 minutes, not a soul in line…….then we check our luggage in.

Then we calmly walk up to the security check point and they run us through the nudey machine that everyone is all up in arms about, and they pull Lulu to the side.

They search her bag, they pull out two hair sticks, antique, and metal……kinda like a fancy dancy butterknife………key word being KNIFE. They think these might be weapons of mass discussion.

They tell her she can’t have them on the plane, but she can check them in her luggage……which is already checked…….the asshat holding them is looking at the admiringly……like how fortunate it is he found a great present for his 13 year old mistress……sleaze ball. So I tell her to check her backpack which was going to be her carry on. That once we got past the passport check, we’d get a real bag for a carry on.

He was not happy to have to give her back the “WMD”‘s, she heads back out and checks her backpack. I wait patiently in between security and passport control, till she returns. We now have 30 minutes till our plane boards.

(Ominous music in the background.)

So she comes up and is not happy, but is much happier she didn’t lose her antique hair sticks.

We approach passport control. We wait in line. Lulu walks up to the passport agent……..he leafs through her passport…..then he starts shaking his head……

CRAP!!!!!!!

He motions for me to step up next to Lulu. I walk forward, knowing this is not going to be good. Lulu is distraught and tells me our Visas are expired. We’ve been in the country 93 days….on a 90 day visa. Our residency papers are not done yet, so we are stuck…not able to leave Ukraine…….

CRAP< CRAP!!!!!!!

We look at him, he looks at us. I ask, there isn’t ANYTHING we can do? Get another Visa Maybe? ANYTHING? (hint, hint, wink, wink, fondling my wallet for emphasis.)

He smiles, and gets up, closes his booth and walks us over to the “office”. His boss comes out and explains to us that there is a standard “Penalty” we must pay to reinstate our visas. It’ll cost us 680 uah each. Lulu is so mad at this point, that she is almost in tears, she’s shaking, and I’m thinking, thank god she isn’t armed……

Oh CRAP, we don’t have uah on us……so she needs to run downstairs to the bank to get the uah to pay the fine……..back through security……

She takes off. I wait….next to passport control. She comes back, all messed up. The police downstairs told her the bank was located in the other terminal…..way the hell over there…….the cab wanted 50 uah to take her the1/4 mile to the terminal…….she is pissed and ready to just say to hell with it.

The passport control guy sees his lunch money for the year about to walk out of the airport. He offers to take her there in time to still make our flight…….

The plane started boarding 5 minutes ago………

CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!!!!!!!!

He comes back about 5 minutes later…..no Lulu…….where is my LULU?!?

I look around, she’s not there, I start walking over, thinking about all the stuff I could do to get a gun from the guard, and take this asshat at gun point to go get my Lulu.

I really should stop watching spy movies, Jason Bourne, I am not.

Anyways, just as I am about to get to him, I see Lulu coming through security, she is frazzled, but looks like she is coming down. I rush over to her, we go to the passport control, and the asshat takes the cash, and leads us through to the head of the line. We get through passport control and walk up to our gate in time to board……5 minutes before take off……

I slept the whole 4 hours to Madrid.

We get to Madrid, and we go SHOPPING!!!!!!!

We ate McDonalds!!!!!!!!!! (I had the chicken grilled thingy, Lulu had the bad bad burger. Her’s was so much tastier than mine.)

I bought a new set of Oakleys, to replace the ones that got stolen at the last Runway Renegades show, that’ll learn me to work the door and set something down next to me. They are so cool.

Anyways, we had a 4 hour layover in Madrid, so we relaxed, then caught our flight out from Madrid to Granada. I slept.

We get to Granada, and disembark the plane, we go to the baggage claim……..and wait…….and wait…..and wait……everyone else gets there luggage……

CRAP!!!!!!!

Not a single one of ours is there…..NOT ONE!!!!!!!

CRAP, CRAP!!!!!!!!

Lulu is stunned, totally looking at me with this “You have got to be kidding, right?!?” look on her face.

A local baggage claim attendant walks up…….she asks us where we flew in from. We say Madrid, she smirks, then she asks if that was a connecting flight, we say yes, from Ukraine.

She smiles, and nods, all knowing and full of wisdom. She leads us to another baggage claim area, and there they all are, sitting there looking smugly at us with this “You didn’t think we’d miss out on a trip to Spain did you?” look. Smart ass luggage……

We walk through customs. Outside is Marco, our driver that will take us the remaining 90 kilometers to the hotel in Capileira. Marco walks us out to the van, we load up and we’re off.

Marco speaks British English, sounds like one of those Orbitz commercials…”Dirty Mouth?”

But he’s originally from Chile in south america.

Long story short, we stopped for coffee at a cafe. He paid because we didn’t have small enough Euros to pay for our own…….then he took us to the hotel.

It’s dark outside, wonder how cool it looks in the morning.

2-15-2011 thru 2-18-2011

Absolutely the same stuff different days.

I didn’t realize just how soon I would run out of stuff to keep ya’ll entertained.

I work out, a do homework, I have cofee once a week with some of the ex-pats, and then Lulu and I have most nights were we work on stuff, watch a movie, or just relax and BE for a bit.

No too great for story telling or anything.

However, saturday at 2am Ukraine time, we fly out to Capileira Spain for a week, so I’m hoping we have some stuff to tell you about then……

Hope ya’ll are having a great time back home. It’s -20C here now, so I think our wintered was just playing hard to get earlier…….