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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
I was eating my dinner out on the Patio. Everyone loved the vodka I had brought in and I only got one glass. I texted my friend in Switzerland that is coming this weekend to see if she can pick up a couple more bottles. It is sooooooooo good, to bad I can't find it in the US.
Okay so I am so relieved now. I feel like this huge weight was lifted. I watched the Argentina vs Germany game which lasted over 2 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I had asked my office manager if I could take my work with me outside into the waiting room (no patients today) so I could watch the game. For those of you that have not seen it. They were tied 1:1 after the 90 minutes and no goals were shot during the 30 min overtime so they had to do penalty shots. Thats where all the Germans that got to shoot scored and the German goal keeper held 2 of the Argentinian shots so WE WON.
The cooks at the restaurant said yesterday that if Germany won they would buy me drinks and if Argentinia won I would have to pay for their drinks. Well I guess I get to drink tonight. But I may be nice and take the bottle of Puskin Red (a red vodka) I had saved for a special occasion. Here is one of our chefs while eating dinner last night. His brother made me the yummy dish below. 
I had just said no Marinara sauce everything else did not matter. So I got Angelhair pasta with carrots, onion, broccoli, and mushrooms in a parmesan cream sauce.
So now I need to relax so I can watch Italy beat the Ukraine.
smart
Originally uploaded by dino0477.
So my mom just called me at work to tell me that FINALLY the smart car will become available in the US. Ever since Grumpy and I saw them in Europe last year (above is Grumpy with one of the cars we saw then) we knew we wanted one. So now I will have to start saving up for it, I have until 2008. Grumpy and I want one that is the two door version and one with four doors. I just think it is the cutest thing ever. If you want to learn more go to www.smart.com.
Au pairs
Originally uploaded by dino0477.
As the title say these are the au pairs I work with. They are from Germany, Czech, Columbia, Russia, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Mexico. They come here for a year (they have the option to extend for a second year) and live with a family. They take care of the children, take some clasees in school and improve their english while living in a new culture. I was an au pair about 10 years ago. Fun times. I have two meetings a month one is generally fun (water park, museums, limo rides) and the other one we meet at a Barnes and Noble with a Starbucks. we hang out eat cheese cake and drink coffee. Thats what we did today. I also ended up giving them a lecture about DO's and DON'Ts of car use.
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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
So it is still raining and has been all day. I am so SICK of it. The pups are pretty depressed since they do not like to go out in the rain. I was called into work at the restaurant tonight but it was so dead. The rain was not helping. But hey at least I got some yummy food. One of todays specials was Grilled Salmon with broccoli, onion, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes in olive oil and garlic with Angelhair. As I do not eat seafood I left out the Salmon. Mhhhh it was soo good. My boss saw me eat it and decided that was going to be his dinner as well.
This is what it looked like outside of my office this afternoon. It rained hard and long and as you can see part of the lot was flooded but at least we lucked out, DC got the worst of it.
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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
So as on most Sundays, I worked in Busch Gardens again today. It was unbelievably boring. I was in the store called German Gifts. Here they sell everything from Cockoo Clocks to nut crackers, Christmas ornaments and Beer steins. The picture above is fromthe store. As you can see that Nutcracker is hugh - next to him are the store doors. You can buy this one for about $7000.
There were a lot of people in the park today but not many had the money to buy stuff at the store so the time did not seem to pass at all. Of course the fact that I was up until 5 am finishing homework and did not get much sleep did not help either.
One of my friends texted me the scores for todays games and their outcome was pretty much as I had predicted. The next round should be interesting Germany will have to step up if they want to beat Argentina and England will have to play a bit better to advance further.
As I was walking out of the park I checked my voicemail and had a message from one of my host families - something about an accident. So I called the hostmon back just to find out that the au pair ran a red light and got in an accident and the preceded to leave the SCENE!!!! The hostmom told her to go back and by then the cops were already there. So this week should be fun.
I met Grumpy at the bar were we first met for a quick dinner. I had hoped to run into one of my friends that I had not seen in awhile but she wasn't there. I had left her a message that we where there and she did call me as we left. It was nice to chat with her and we made plans for next week when I am off from school. I have to say I have been a terrible friend of late as I am always busy. So I will try to be better.
Just a little post to say GO GERMANY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They just won 2:0 against sweden. Okay now I got to go and get some homework done before the Mexico vs Argentinia game ( I am pretty sure Argentinia will win that one)
cleo1
Originally uploaded by dino0477.
Cleo trying to block me from the computer.
Today was rather boring aside from the bad storm and the rain that flooded my neighborhood. I was trying to get to the restaurant and the water came up to the hood of my escort. I was trenched by the time I got to work. Tonight I had my usual section but we had the day manager hosting so I ended up getting good tables and made decent money. After eating my dinner (Penne with Marsalla sauce - sorry Jin no picture today) I left to go home.
Right now I am watching CNN - Angelina Jolies interview. I think what she does is so awsome, using her popularity and money to bring awarness to the problems of this world. I wonder how much better the world would be if more people would follow her lead.
Well I need to go to get some sleep so I will get up in time to watch Germany beat Sweden!!!!!!!
neptune
Originally uploaded by dino0477.
This is a very cool gigantic statue. It comes with a little sign that tells people about Neptune. In Germany we have what is called Neptune fests. These are usually held in summercamps. Neptune will come from the water and find those unworthy of being in his realm. His helpers will catch the people after a poem is recited about them (their characteristics and then name the person at the end) The trick is to recognize yourself and get a head start. After being caught they will be cleaned by scrubbing their bodies and make them drink and eat something to clean the insides. (the brush is a hard broom and the drink/food utterly disgusting). Once cleansed they will be baptised to their new name and enter Neptuns realm with him (taking a not so voluntary bath).
Its great fun. Click here for some pictures of a Neptune festival in Germany (adults like it as much as kids do :).
I am beat. So I worked a half day at the office where I balanced patients, paperwork and finding yet another au pair candidate for that family. After leaving there I ran home to get my mom and then to drive 30min to the INS office. My mom is always stressing about being late so she made me leave an 1 1/2 before the meeting. Well we got there with an hour to spare. Our Lawyer met us there and we went to the back with the interviewer. He was an odd duck, came across very nervous and spoke very fast making it impossible for my mom to understand him. Our case was easy as we are mother and daughter (and you can tell that by looking at us). Things went pretty well and he said he did not expect any problems and we should have her card within the next month or so.
Sorry I fell asleep trying to upload the pictures I took with my Razr phone.
Okay so the INS thing went pretty well (or so we think) after that we had some time to kill before we were to meet my two favorite Marines. 
I had never taken my mom (in the pic below) to Virginia Beach (the actual Beach). 
It was a nice day so we walked the prominade and stopped to get some coffee and cake. The waitress sucked but the dessert was good. 
When we got back to the car I checked in with "my" Marines and we started driving to the base. They both met us at the gate and we went to get some ice cream. Now believe it on not I used the be the young ladies au pair. 
Man I feel old right now. They are both in the music part of the corp and are in music school down here. I got to go quickly shopping in the commissary (so much cheaper and they have German stuff).
After saying goodbye to those two ( my mom had not seen the young lady since she was 9!), we headed back to the peninsula to meet up with my moms blind date. One of my coworkers and I had been talking about our parents a while back and discovered they had much incommon including being alone. So we met my coworker and her Dad at the restaurant where I work. While we are waiting my boss (the doctor) and his wife walks in. Hes like yeah we called requesting you but they said you are not working but actually have a reservation. The dinner all in all was pleasant. We talked and enjoyed good food and the waitress was my scottish friend. She told me when she brought me my food (Farfalle with Piccatta sauce - mushrooms, roma tomatoes, capers in white wine) that one of the cooks had asked if I was eating here. 
She asked him how he knew and he pointed to my dinner - which is my own creation. So that was it. We went home and I tried to post but fell asleep fighting the blogger to upload the pics. I dropped of my mom at the airport this morning, she is flying back to Florida. Today should be mellow those will serve as a post for 2 days (maybe I start working on the other blog).
I had a few other pics of a big neptune statue at the beach but the blogger wont let me upload it. I will see if I can post them directly from flickr as I did some in previous posts.
Fettucini al Fredo with carrots N broc.
Originally uploaded by dino0477.
As requested here is a vegetarian dish. This was actually my dinner tonight. The cooks had screwed up one of my orders, the table wanted Fettucini al Fredo but Angel Hair pasta instead of Fettucini. After telling the cooks to make it again and with the right pasta, I had asked if they could save it for my dinner and they did. I did have them add some carrots and broccoli to it. It was so yummy. Today was a pretty crappy day, I can't even write about it.
My mom is driving me nuts too. She came yesterday for her INS appointment tomorrow. So far all she has done is bitch and complain and tells me how everything is better in Florida. GRRRRRRR. Anyhow I have to go look for more matches for that family so just a short post today.
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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
This is where I worked today. I was (as most sundays) working in Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I am usually lent out to other areas/stores and today I got to work in Land of the Dragons. That is the kiddie area for the smaller ones that can't go on the rides. I like working in their souvenir store. I like to interact with all the kiddies.
This is the tree house. There are slides, rides and water all the things kids love.
Today was pretty uneventfull, sleeping, homework, watching soccer (well 1 game) and working. I did get a call from the hostfamily that was interested in the Au pair and the Host mom said their meeting went great and she loved her. Then later on I talked to the au pair and she likes her as well. So looks like we may be good to go there.
So I am ready for bed. I am going to real quick answer your comments on yesterdays blog and then hit the sack.
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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
Well Michele suggested to get some rest and Mac took her up on it. It is kind of hard to tell in this photograph but Mac (Lady Macbeth) is a fawn colored Great Dane. She loves to nap in her crate all four in the air.
Well I wish I could say my rest of the week was less crazy but that would be a lie. I spent 2 nights mediating a conflict between a host family and their au pair. The outcome (which I predicted from the 1 second) was that they are parting ways (but amicable) so then I had to work on finding the girl a new host family and for the family a new au pair. Well right now it looks like I managed to do both so keep your fingers crossed for me. After accomplishing that yesterday I decided I earned a dinner with friends.
As you may have thought by the title my friends are European as well. B. Is from Scotland and P. Is from England. We used to hang out every Friday but lately work has gotten in the way of it. We did manage to do so last night. P. And I met at the restaurant for dinner, B. Was working that night so after she got off she joined us. We had a good time it was great. I love hanging out with these gals who are essentially my family here. I can't tell you how many times B. And her husband bailed me out or helped me out. I also like that we understand one another - we all grew up similary and are still adjusting to the US and the people here. We tried to explain the soccer thing to one of the American waitress but she did not get it.
Speaking of soccer I was happy to watch all THREE games today. I have to say my favorite was Ghana vs Czech. Oh my god it was great. I hope they get to move on , I would love for Ghana to get in the semi finals. Obviously Germany will win the Worldcup there is NO question but I'd like to see Ghana advance a bit further.
My night started out pretty good tonight. I worked at the restaurant and got a great section. My customers where nice and spend plenty of money so I made decent tips. The night did end on a upsetting note. I was doing my sidework and when since what I did is usually split up I told one of my coworkers that was doing less, to take one part of it. Well she ran to the owner (the best friend of the guy she sleeps with) and cried that she had to much to do. Her and one other girl had the patio. All there is to do it take the stuff off the tables (about 11 tables) sweep and mop the patio, the patio is pretty small, so that's no biggy between 2 people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My sidework was the bar, I had to clean the machines, stock the wine and beer, cleaned up the counters, got rid of the trash, refilled the olive oil and some other stuff. All they were supposed to do was the fucking floors. Well the owner came up to me saying since they had to sweep and mop the fucking patio I would have to do the bar and bathroom floors. I looked at him and started to say something and then just said what ever. So I decided to hell with those bitches. I am going to do my job and just ignore everyone until I find something better to do. They are not worth it for me to waste energy on them.
So enough bitching for one night. I am going to bed now and I am sure tomorrow will be much more pleasant.
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Originally uploaded by dino0477.
Here is Misty watching me check my messages. All four of them are mad that I pay more attention to the computer than to them. It was a mad house all week but especially today. I just got home and checked my emails since 4pm (when I left my office) I had gotten 79!!! emails. As you can tell by the picture I am sitting on the couch with my laptop on my lap (thats where it is supposed to be right - lap top!?!??)
Anyhow I haven't had any time to blog at work, since one of my patients died. That is always so much paperwork and hassle, getting the medical records filling out the serious adverse event paperwork and reassuring the pharma concern that it was not their drug causing it. If you think that sounds mean - I lost my compassion for this particular patient after he kept refusing to stay clean and took rehab as a paid vacation. And surprise, surprise his drug test (which is done routinely when patients are in a coma) was positive for coke. He woke up just to have 2 cardiac arrests and then died. So no time to do extra curricular actvities at work.
The 79 emails are from my other job (the au pair job) hell is breaking loose as the state department changed rules in regards to the educational component for the girls. So lots of back and forth in our little LCC grapevine. Of course the law of three kicked in and I got a call from one of my girls. She is not getting along with her host parents and I am sure I will have to go and talk to everyone this weekend but I have a feeling I will have to find her a new family and them a new au pair - personality conflicts are hard to get over. And sure enough number 3 hit tonight. I had a message from one of my former families (they moved to DC and have a new LCC). They have problems with their au pairs and asked if I knew of someone that could replace her. Talk about timing the above meantioned girl would fit great (from what I can tell). Thats kind of nice for me to know as I can tell the au pair not to worry as I will be able to find her a new family.
The restaurant was pretty slow today nothing much to report from there. Didn't make much money but had pretty much pleasant tables and got a nice dinner myself (Penne with a Marsalla wine sauce - yummy)
For those of you not following the world cup GERMANY won today!!!!!!!
Well let me go and do some homework so I can go and play with my babies before they get too mad at me and the computer.
Just a quick post. Today was Grumpy's b-day and I made him a cake - the recipe was given to my by Jin. I could not find the cake pan I wanted (I have somewhere some kick ass pound cake pans with cool shapes) so I had to use one that was big and so the cake went a bit flat.
So I am no artist like Miss Jin but Grumpy liked it so thats all that matters.
I got an email about the house hold rules from Germany and since this weekend was pretty dull and there was really nothing blog worthy - I thought this would be fun and translated it for you.
Household rules for women during the Worldcup 2006 from June 9th to July 9th.
§ 1 During the period from 6/9 to 7/9 the man is the absolute ruler of the TV and its remote control
§ 2 The wife is to occupy herself quietly with house work.
§ 3 Prior to every game the man is to be served an cold case of alcoholic beer. This is to be placed next to the TV chair and it is strongly emphasized that the beer is cold
§ 4 During the game the wife is under no circumstances allowed in the TV room. She is allowed to restock beer and snacks as needed.
§ 5 During half time the woman is granted a 15 min right to enter the room in order to empty the ash tray and replace empty bottles with newly cool full once. If necessary new snacks are to be provided. It is not allowed to make any noise (chip bags are to be handled quietly) Every type of verbal communication is not allowed.
§ 6 At least 30 minutes prior to a game the husband is to be served a meal made with love. In order not to interrupt the mental readiness of the man, talking is not allowed.
§ 7 During the worldcup any actions that could result in reproduction are not allowed. It is also forbidden to wear clothes that could cause an urge in the man to do such actions. However wearing such cloths and engaging in such actions are allowed after the game is over and as long as the games outcome was to the mans satisfaction.
§ 8 If the mans generosity allows the woman to take one or two looks on the screen at the came, questions that would reveal the womens soccer intellect are forbidden. The same goes for verbal outbreaks. There can also not be mentioning about the looks of players (i.e. Beckham looks really hot today!).
So dear women if you can keep within these small rules, your man will thank you with trying to
a) not spill any beer
b) ensuring not to put to many crumbs within the 3 meters around the trainings chair (TV chair),
c) while eating the meal mentioned in § 6 he will not constantly reminisce his mothers culinary talents
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As you can see the Germans take their soccer very serious. Jin how are the english rules - has David explained them to you yet?
Well it seems the sidekick story has brought down more than just forum sites but the blogger too. I haven't been able to log on in hours. If you haven't yet you need to go check out the site it is updates as this story evolves. It is great to see how the internet spread the word so quickly so far.
I wish I had thought of this when my pink razr was stolen last month. I had just landed in Frankfurt, Germany when I turned on my cell to check my messages. I did that while walking towards immigration. I put my phone on my belt clip while going thru the immigration part. Right outside from the immigration is baggage claim, thats where I noticed it was gone - I wanted to check in with my hubby. I went back, checked everywhere nothing. I called it (remember I had it turned on) and it went straight to voicemail. I sent two textmessages one in German one in English to please get in touch with me - nothing. When I called t-mobile the next day I had them check if someone used it on my sim and the answer was no. Conclusion it was stolen by pros that took out the sim card right away - put theirs in and are enjoying my cute phone.
Talk about hassle. Not to mention the fact I lost all my pics and numbers and was phoneless for 10 days - I also had to pay $20 for a new sim card and $150 for a new phone!!!!!!
Uh I hate these people. I just got home!!!!!! Once again I was stuck at the restaurant hours past closing and of course no tip to make up for it. I knew tonight was going to suck the second I saw the schedule last week. V. Our waiter that has been there forever and always is the last one out, and vacuums the place at the end of the night requested of yesterday and tonight. I knew when I saw who I was working with that they'd find a way to stick me with his section which translate into his sidework. So sure enough I got in and was told that's what I had. It was sooooo dead to make matters worse, I think I had 5 tables. So I figured maybe I get to at least leave early but no some of the owners acquaintances showed up. They stayed, ate and drank and were ass holes. The owner took me aside to be sure that I charge them which I did. Then they start arguing about who is paying. Now all they were talking about while there was how much money they had, and what they just bought and what they spend on "pimping their ride", and they argue over who is to pay their $70 something bill WTF. You wanna guess at what my tip was? NINE f** dollars. That is barely 10% and they where still there when I left at quarter to midnight!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ASSHOLES I told my boss next time he can serve them as I refuse to waste my time on them. If you can bragg about how you just spend 2k on a stereo for your car then you can leave a f*** tip for keeping someone there forever.
Sorry, * stepping of my soapbox now* have a nice night
So it is Monday morning and I am at work. I just can't get motivated enough to actually work so I figured I update my blog and tell you about the rest of my weekend.
Well actually there is unfortunately nothing really to tell. Saturday morning I spend doing homework for my University of Phoenix class. My current teacher insists on having assignments turned in on Saturdays which really sucks because you do not have the weekend to work on the.
I went to work at the restaurant, got the same lousy section as the night before and ended up not making any money to speak of. It annoys the crab out of me (the section thing) but I guess I understand it to. My bosses son is waiting tables with us till July so he hooks him up (unfortunately his son is not the greatest waiter and my boss ends up having to help him) with the best section and the most tables. And to make matters worse one of the waitresses is dating my bosses best friend so she also gets great sections with lots of tables. I mean I made good money for what I had, I just did not get many tables (17 people - everyone else had 25 and more). The funny part is my boss loves me so that's kinda confusing. He seated me at 6:30ish the last time so when my last table got their check at about 7:45pm I told him what sidework I would do and if there was anything else he wanted me to do. He is like"you can't leave now" and my response was "R. You have not seated me in an hour and a half". R said "well get your tables cleaned and I seat you again (mind you 2 of my tables had been clean and set up for over an hour) So my response was "I have a party to go to so I do not want anymore tables, I am leaving". That was it, I did my cleaning and was out of there and at home before 9pm.
I called my friend whose b-day it was and told her we'd be over soon. I went home finished my homework and my friend called again. She said everyone had left to go to the club. I told her not to worry about us but to go on and go with them we'd see her tomorrow. (knowing grumpy in a club with a bunch of drunk and obnoxiously girls not a good idea.) Anyhow we decided to go and see X-man III. I have to say I was rather disappointed and Grumpy - an avid comic book reader- kept saying that is not how the book goes.
Sunday I had to work at a local Amusement Park - BUSCH GARDENS. I work in the merchandise department in Germany but tend to be loaned out throughout the park. I have worked there for 5 years and do it just for the benefits, right now just once a week. So I worked in my store for like 30min before I was sent to work in Games for a bit, after getting back to my store I was sent out to help a merchandise store in England putting away a big shipment. It did not take me long (matter of reorganizing the shelves and using common sense) and their supervisor could not believe how fast I finished and how much room they still have.
After taking my break I went back to my store and I guess the only interesting thing happened. I was talking to some guests when I glanced over to the door and saw 2 cast members with a guest that appeared to be crying standing there and using our phone to call security. I head between sobs something about lost and figured she lost her/a kid. This is nothing unusual and we know how to handle it and everyone is found and reunited with their party relatively fast. Well this girl (18) started to get hysterical and screamed at the two cast members and then at the guard. (BTW she had not the right clothes for a park - way to much bling bling) So as she gets louder I get more of the story. She lost her friends, well she did not lose them she got mad at them and walked out of where they were. The guard keeps trying to get her to describe her friends which she refuses while she keeps screaming at him (not to stereotype but she displayed behavior that I would call "hood" behavior) that he did not care and did not understand and she did not want to stand there she needs to be out looking for her friends instead of not doing anything. So after 30 min they all left the store and I look at my supervisor who told me she had a run in with her earlier. There she wanted to leave the park immediately and was asking how to get out. We decided she was high on crack or something and had lost a few too many brain cells due to that.
Incidentally not much later I had a real lost kid case. A 13 year old boy lost his uncle, he was calm, collected and gave me all the info including his uncles cell (which they had left in the car). I called security who went to look with him at the last place he saw his uncle. He was the complete opposite to the girl above.
That was pretty much the end of my shift and while walking out I ran into the guard that took the boy. I asked if they found his uncle and he replied no he took the boy to the Wild Moose Lodge where all our lost kiddies wait for their parents/party.
After getting home and soaking in the tub, Grumpy and I left to see the birthday girl. We hung out for a while and then left to go grab a quick bite at TGI Fridays ( I love their mudslides and their mash potatoes - which I eat with Jack Daniels sauce). After that I went home and crashed - well not until after I checked out my daily blog reading list.
So what did you do? I am sure it was more exciting than my weekend.
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Damn blogger I lost more than half the post and had to redo it all. I think I forgot something because the earlier one was longer but I can't remember.
hey I found this on myspace. Its a cool way to view photos and easier than to upload it using the blogger.
So i am sitting at the restaurant waiting for my last table to leave. I never understand to why people keep sitting knowing that the restaurant closed an hour ago. And I will bet you that they wont leave a tip good enough to make up for the hour of my night. We were crazy busy tonight having served over 170 dinners. the sad thing is that I did not make much money as my section sucked.
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crab my boss just brought that table that I am waiting for to leave a glass of wine each.WTF I am trying to get out of here not to spend the night. To think I could have stayed home, but no I had to say yes when my coworker asked me to cover her shift. Lets hope tomorrow is better.
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I was right they left me a lousy $15 that was not even 20% of their check not to mention the free wine of the fact that they did not leave until almost midnight. We started to vacume and they still did not get the hint (BTW we close at 10 which they knew as they asked me when we close)
The stupidity of man always amazes me. Okay so it took me 2 days and the help of a fellow blogger to finally figure all this out. I have to say I am very proud of myself. No I can update my blog from my phone, this way I will not forget important details as I can write about things as they happen (and follow them up with a pic). God do I love technology.
So with the help of Real I have been playing around with the photo blogging from my phone. So if you see random photos on the blog thats it.
Above is one of my babies. Her name is Misty and she is the ruler of the house (she tells the dogs what to do)
