Daily Grind

I came back from my trip full of energy and determination. I was going to change things up, get out of the old groove. Well, I just got home from a tiring day at work to an apartment that's messier than it should be. I should make dinner but I don't really have the energy. Yikes! What's going on here! This is not what I planned!

Fortunately Christmas is coming, so that means a bit of fun. Also the move to new digs will be a major change. I think matty and I are both looking to shake things up a little, so hopefully we can help each other accomplish that. Things on my list to do/try:
- find some damn shop space and get the welder going again!
- go for an indoor rock climbing lesson (I think that would be fun)
- go kayaking (this could wait for the spring maybe)

I'll keep you posted on how it all goes.

cheers,
bms

debit card fraud

There's a lot of talk lately about debit card fraud. Pin pads are being swapped out and replaced with units that transmit the card information and PIN to criminals via bluetooth. They're talking about it in the papers, on the news, all over the place. Solutions like security software, steel cable locks, etc etc are all being thrown around.

Why hasn't anyone suggested simpler solutions? One article pointed out the potential signs of tampering: popped screws and ill-fitting seams due to all the extra components stuffed into the hacked unit. So if the 'scam' pin pads are full of extra crap, why don't we simply manufacture all of these items using clear plastic???

You can't expect the Chevron kid to double check the serial numbers on the pin pad every hour, but you CAN expect the kid to notice when all of a sudden the device is full of extra electronic stuff that wasn't there the day before!

bms

I'm baa-aaack!

Hi everyone. I'm at mom's house right now talking about the Canucks and getting my head back on straight. Took roughly 38 hours to get home, but I had some sleep on the flight to Vancouver as well as on a bench at YVR, so I feel ok. I'll be playing a hockey game tonight, I've already reinsured my truck and put on a load of laundry (hope it doesn't permanently soil the machine!)

Thanks for arranging this beautiful weather today, btw. It was an amazing ferry ride home: I was comparing it to all the beautiful places I've been, and once again we find that good ole Vancouver Island stacks up with the best in the world.

cheers everyone!
bms

more Bratislava

I'm just having too much fun here in Bratislava to leave any sooner than absolutely necessary, so I've extended my stay one more time, and I'll be taking an early train tomorrow to Vienna, and then connecting directly to the airport by bus. From there, I fly to Toronto at 2pm, arriving at 7:30. My connection to Vancouver departs at 10pm, and lands at 12:30am, so I should have my luggage and be cleared through immigration by 1:30 or so. From there it's a snooze on a bench until 6 when I can get a bus to the ferry (I hope: still need to confirm that the airport PCL to the ferry goes to that early boat). --UPDATE: nope, the first bus from YVR is for the 9am ferry. Oh well, I can still make that.--

We have family friends in Delta that offered to pick me up and let me sleep after my flight, but I've decided to just tough it out and do the whole trip home in one go. It's a sort of masochistic pleasure that can be derived from doing a ridiculous stretch of travel. I think Slovakia->Austria->Toronto->Vancouver->Victoria is pretty good. I'm sure I'll count the hours up and make a big deal out of how long it took. You can all look forward to me being loudmouthed about that one!

I don't really have anything blogworthy to report from Bratislava, it's just been a really relaxed, laid back place to chill out for the end of the trip. This hostel is just awesome: their restaurant is absolutely fantastic! I've had four meals here so far, each one just amazing. Going to have another tonight after a bit of a nap (ok, ok, so I was out until 4am last night. There's a group of 12 british girls here at the moment... what can I say? ;)

This will probably be the last entry from foreign soil, unless I find a terminal in Vienna to use while I waste time. I'd like to finish up with something profound, but I think I'll leave it for now, and perhaps write up something interesting after I get home. If I never get around to that, though, let me just thank everyone who's come by here, and especially those of you who left comments for me: they really helped to keep me going a couple of times, and were a constant reminder of all my friends and family back at home. much appreciated everyone!

cheers,
bms

Bratislava

Hi everyone,

I've been in Bratislava for a few days now and I'm really enjoying it. It's a great place to finish up the trip, as there's not really that much to do here, it's just a nice place to be. The hostel is great, with a fantastic restaurant in the basement serving up excellent, moderately priced food. Some good people around too (Canadians vastly outnumber Aussies here: weird). I extended my stay an extra night (to 3) and will only stay in Vienna for the night before my flight. I'll probably leave early tomorrow morning though, so that I can at least spend the day wandering around the city a bit.

We went to a Slovakian elite league hockey game last night. It was great to be in a hockey arena again. When the players came out to warm up I got a major urge to get back on the ice myself. Can't wait to suit up for the Knuckleheads again when I get home!

The game itself was pretty ho-hum. Those europeans never finish their checks, so to my eyes it felt like a very lazy game with no intensity or effort. The home team won, though, so the best part was at the end of the game. They left the ice, but returned sans helmets and gloves, and did a big victory lap, waved to all the fans, and then went down to line up on the blue line, opposite the crazy fans in the standing room section. These fans had been going crazy the whole game, and now the players lined up in front of them, joined hands and started lifting their arms into the air repeatedly, really fast. The fans all did the same, and it was like this big fan/player love fest or something. We were killing ourselves laughing, it was so funny to our eyes. Still, it was really cool to see the players engage the fans in that way. I liked it.

I'm starting to look forward to some of the simple things of home now. Like sleeping through the night without having your bed shaken like an earthquake by the dude on the top bunk at 5am. Or going to the bathroom when you want, not when its available. Or a million other little things (knowing where you can get bacon and eggs for breakfast being one that immediately jumps to mind).

So that about catches me up I think. I'm not going to write any more Romanian stories, as there's just too many to type out. Hopefully I'll generate one or two more good ones in the time I have left, and then it'll be back to the real world. Yikes!

cheers,
bms

the big kahuna

As I prepare to write this, I'm expecting it to be the longest post on the blog. The limiting factor may be this wooden stool that I'm sitting on, as it tends to put my leg to sleep!

Where do I even begin to describe my time in northern Romania? The wild, windy mountain roads that look like they're straight out of Gran Turismo? The strange, unspoken animosity that I felt was directed my way from one of the guys? The bizzaro route we drove to get back to Cluj? The club that we went to in order to kill time before our 3am train out of Romania?

No. This story begins and ends with a single scene. It's not an action scene. It's not a love scene. It's a panoramic shot that would've made Peter Jackson proud.

On my birthday I woke up early, put on my boots, toque, gloves and a few layers of clothes before heading out for a walk through the contryside. We were staying in a guesthouse in a town called Ocna Sugatag, right in the heart of the Maramures region of Romania. I told the gang that if I wasn't back by 11am they could head out on their day trip without me. I hit the road and headed straight out of town. After the last house I spotted a thin trail heading into a huge hay field. I jumped the ditch and began my adventure.

The sun was climbing into a pure azure sky, casting long shadows across vibrant green grass that still sparkled with a fringe of frost. Beads of dew clung to the heavy grasses that parted for my muddy boots. The trail wound alongside an ancient fence made of woven branches before it veered off into the middle of the field. In the distance was a low ridge obscured by massive haystacks. Far off to my left was an a old man scything grass by hand, head down as he worked.

I wandered through the haystacks, taking a self-portrait of myself beside one of them for posterity. These stacks are really interesting: they're formed around small trees that have been topped and limbed, leaving a 15 or 20 foot post with 8" stub branches upon which the hay is piled and draped. In the end it forms large, rounded stacks of hay that sometimes have to be propped up with extra poles.

Nearing the ridge line I saw the trail disappear through a hole in a hedge that was made cattle-proof via a small wooden set of stairs. I had to duck to get through the hole in the hedge, and when I raised my head on the other side I was almost knocked backwards by the scene before me.

Stretched out as far as I could see in the early morning mist was a valley so green, so rich in detail, that I was left stunned. Within moments I had tears in my eyes. I stood there for a long time, contemplating my presence in this amazing place, thinking about what a unique birthday I was having. Words really can't describe the scene. Even the pictures that I have can't do it justice. The landscape wrapped around me like a fireside blanket on a cold night. The view to the east can't be appreciated without the hedge wall behind you. The view across the valley to the north isn't the same without the experience of having hiked a similar valley in order to see it.

After some time, perhaps ten minutes, a short, round Romanian woman of many years wandered up the path towards me. I gave her a big smile and said something about the beautiful weather and gorgeous scene that I knew she wouldn't understand. Evidently I had my arms lifted up with my palms facing the sky as I said it, because as she smiled back at me she returned my greeting by making the same gesture with a slightly confused look on her face. It was a classic moment.

After absorbing as much of the scene as I could, I began my descent into the valley. The trail wound alongside a pumpkin patch, a pasture, through a fallow field and down a horse cart path. I passed one of the famous wooden churches of Maramures on the way, stumbling upon the structure in the middle of an copse of trees. There was a small plaque on the wall that I couldn't read, but it placed the church's construction in the 1600's. Finding that church was a treat, as I was sure that it was not one that many tourists ever get to see.

From the church I followed a very rough rough that led down to the main asphalt strip that ran along the valley floor. I was intent on climbing up to the opposite ridge line, so I followed this road until I found a bridge across the picturesque little river and began the trip up the north side.

At first I followed another gravel road that quickly turned into a canyon of mud. The road wasn't a road in the way that we think of roads. This was a cart track that was so old, it had eroded down to the point where the fields on both sides were a good four feet higher than the path. Walking through it, trying to hop from stone to stone to avoid the knee-deep mud, I could put my arms out to brace myself against the dirt walls. The grass in the fields was almost at eye level at times.

Eventually the road forked and I took the less-travelled path. This petered out to a barely-discernable path through goat-cropped grass, surrounded on all sides by more haystacks, withered corn fields, seed cabbages and pumpkin patches. I was passing random people and exchanging big smiles and waves every once in a while. I kept moving on, lost in this land of wooden pitchforks and hand-scythed fields.

After a time I began to realize that I should have brought some food with me. I was getting hungry and there was clearly no chance of stopping at a shop for a bite. My cutoff time to hookup with the group was fast approaching, and I was unsure if I wanted to go back or to just push on by myself. Strangely, the decision was made for me by an irritated old man with a very sharp pitchfork.

I'd been walking up a grassy hillside when I heard a piercing whistle from down below. I turned and saw an old Romanian man standing in the field below. He waved me down, so I turned and walked down to meet him. I was surprised when he started in at me in Romanian. Not surprised because it was Romanian, of course, but because he was actually a bit angry. Maybe not angry, but irritated. I tried to sign that I was just out for a walk and didn't mean to cause trouble. He pointed at the way I was going and gave me the "nu, nu" shake of the head. Then he pointed at a hedge straight ahead and gestured that I should go that way. I tried a little more to figure out what was going on, but it was no use, so I started off in the direction he pointed.

I hadn't gone more than 30 feet before it became clear that there was no way through the hedge. I turned to him and pointed to the hedge, indicating that there was nowhere to go. He just pointed back and shrugged, as if to say "I don't care, just get off my property." Truly strange. Since there was no way through, however, I pointed back in the direction I had come and just said "Ocna Sugatag" and made a walking motion with my fingers ("I'll just go back then"). This seemed to satisfy him, so at that point I decided to head back and rejoin the gang.

As it turns out, they were just headed out when I stepped onto the main road. They literally drove past me and then slammed on the brakes as one of them recognized me at the side of the road. I jumped in and we took off for a full day of sightseeing and hiking high in the hills on the Ukranian border.

There are more stories from that one day, my birthday, than I could type here in a full week. This will do for now, because as I said at the beginning, that panoramic valley scene was the defining moment of my experience in Romania. I've now done my best to describe it for you all! (pictures to come later)

cheers,
Mike

still alive!!!

Hi everyone! I'm still alive, even after four days in a rental car in Romania. I don't have much time: I'm just jumping online to see how many people loved me from afar on my birthday (answer: lots! thanks guys). This is just to let you all know that I'm back in civilization, namely Bratislava, Slovakia. I'm going to go to a hockey game tomorrow night with some other Canadian boys and try to enjoy my last few days here.

I plan to write up a looooong post about Romania when I have more time tomorrow. It was amazing!

cheers,
bms