Pardon my accent

I am currently in Biatorbagy, Hungary; my other home.  I have been here for about a week.  I thought I would talk a little bit about the differences between here and there (there being my home in California).

The first thing you notice right away is that nearly everyone speaks Hungarian.  This is an impossible language and I sometimes think they are just making up words as they go along.  For example, the word(s) for "to sightsee is nevezetessegeket megteleni. I can spell it but I can't say it without hurting myself. The same word in Spanish is probably something like El sightsee-o.  Spanish is easy.

The food here is great.  Lots of soups, salads and stews.  Most everything has paprika on it.  Paprika is to Hungary what tortillas are to Mexico.  Here is a picture of a breakfast I had at a place I spent the night at near Lake Balaton.

I typically spend my days working out of my home office while my wife is at work.  This time, I didn't bring any work so I am writing.

There are a lot of things to do around here.  Movies hit Budapest about the same time they open in the States.  I walk the dog through the village for about an hour every day.  If you like old things, you only need to go a few blocks to find something older than the United States.  The nearest castle is probably about 5 miles away.

Shopping here is just like any other modern country.  They have huge malls and neighborhood markets and everything in between.

I get all of my news from Europe CNN since it is the only English speaking channel.  Here, the news is about BP and the World Cup.  California's women politicians have been mentioned.  Every now and then they accidentally play a highlight from a baseball game.  About 90% of the news is about this guy that killed a girl in his hotel in Peru.   Obama is always on when he has something to say.  The world loves Obama.  He has completely turned around how the rest of the world views us.

I had to go online to see how the voting went.  I was glad to see the proposition allowing PG&E to run the state was defeated.  PG&E spent 46 million on this proposition saying they "did it to protect our taxes."

I am heading home on Monday.  Off to Ohio on Wednesday for a couple of days.  The next week I am in Grand Rapids.

Traveling Blues

I travel all the time; probably 150,000 miles a year or so.  I have learned to be tolerant - up to a point.

I understand that flights are late or overbooked.  I understand summer vacation is here and airports are crowded.  but there are some things I just don't get.

When I booked my ticket on United to Budapest, I was told that the 10-hour leg was on Lufthansa and therefore, they could not give me a seat.  This is important because the longer you wait, the more likely it is that you get a middle row seat.  I call Lufthansa and they tell me that since United booked it, United must give me the seats.  So, I go back and forth.

In the end, Lufthansa says they cannot release a seat to me until I get to the airport.  I am not overly worried because at the time of booking, the plane was basically empty.  I get to the airport, 6 hours before my second leg, the Lufthansa leg, and find that I have been given a middle seat.  No one could be earlier than me and yet they all got assigned seats.  I made it to Los Angeles (more on that in a minute) and at the Lufthansa counter, I tried to get a better seat.  No luck.  When I asked if there was a secret handshake or something that I was doing wrong, she got mad.  I just walked away; their job is hard enough without me making it worse.

So, I am at LAX.  This place reminds me of bus depot in a third world country.  It is filthy and completely disorganized.  Every time I come through here I marvel that this is the best Los Angeles can do.  Right now its about 80 outside and 90 inside.

So I make it to the TSA donut lounge, also known as airport security.  There are about five squads of blue shirts talking about yesterday's ball game and two people working a line that stretches to Baltimore.  I finally got through and looked up the TSA agent in charge.  I told him that if he worked for me, I would fire him on the spot.  He looked at me with the same expression as a cow watching a car drive by.

I told my business partner that we could eliminate all screening if, when a terrorists tries to take over a plane, handguns fall from the overhead compartment.  My business partner responded with, "That or bottles of shampoo."  The sad part is that this is true.  TSA places the same threat on a 4 oz bottle of shampoo as they do on a bazooka.

Okay, so I am complaining a bit.  I had to dump it somewhere.

Off to my next flight.

j