Prison Break

No, this is not a rehash of the American TV show, Prison Break. This is prison break, Hungarian style. Who said my life is not interesting? Um, that would have been me. What was I thinking? Last night I checked my e-mail after a small dinner party we hosted. There was a cryptic message "I am John Doe's sister. I need for you to contact me immediately regarding him." Certainly, his name is not John Doe. Duh! I am saving him from public disgrace, but this story is too interesting not to share. I e-mailed her back stating we had not heard from her brother for months and I was a bit concerned. He is an American living here in Budapest, but only has been for the last five months. John Doe was a B and B guest a couple of years ago. He landed in Budapest with some friends who were going to hang out here for a year. After a few weeks of being a roomie, he could not take their fighting, so walked out and landed in our apartment. He paid for a week, but then was getting tight on money, so asked if he could barter his services for things about the apartment. We reluctantly agreed to barter another ten days. John fulfilled his part of the bargain, convinced to barter for more work and another ten days. He completed all of his obligations, but left before his freebie nights were used. We gave him an I.O.U. or in this case a WE.O.U. for twelve more nights to be used whenever we had a vacancy. He disappeared for over a year, without any contact and no responses to my e-mails. In September 2007, he reappeared out of thin air back to Budapest. Popped in to see us, but only Ron was home. They had coffee. A couple of weeks later, he e-mailed to come over and see us. When he did, he needed a place to stay. He was living with a woman friend, but it was not working out. He came here for three nights, but during that time, met a hostel owner who was closing the place for the winter and agreed to let John stay there in exchange for keeping an eye on the place and doing some work. John left us to go there. Thanksgiving came and we invited John to dinner. He brought a date. A young man we wanted to card to see if he was of legal age. John is in his mid-forties. This was the last we saw of him, but he did send me a couple of e-mails regarding his adventures with getting a long term Visa to stay in Hungary. That was at the end of November. Nothing after that. According to his sister, in December, he took a bag of drugs he found at the hostel to the US Embassy claiming it belonged to the workers there. He was arrested and put in jail. When he was released, he went back to the hostel and broke windows. He was arrested again and put in jail. Upon release, he went to the Marriott hotel; we were already on vacation by this point, so he would not have been able to reach us. He became disruptive and abusive at the hotel and they called the police. Once again, he was thrown in jail where he has been since December 18th. While in jail, he became combative with the guards, so they put him into solitary confinement for two weeks. His family in the mid-western part of the US hired two attorneys here. The Embassy official finally convinced John to sign a release of confidentiality statement, so they could keep his family updated. In this release, he also named ME, stating we are the only family he has here in Budapest and he trusts us. Notice the plural pronouns, but only my name had been given. Ron lucked out on this one. My guess had been that he was bordering on bi-polar, but now it seems he has had a psychotic break. He had called his mother to say he was named Ambassador to Hungary by President Obama and was having a private jet sent to pick her up. He told the same story to the embassy people and the guards at the prison. Life is interesting.

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Ring-a ding-a ling

After doing copious amounts of research for the phone of my dreams and finding that the pomegranate phone in the video below is not available yet, or perhaps in my lifetime, I settled. It was a toss up between a Nokia N96 and a Samsung i850. The Nokia won out after reading dozens of comments on the Samsung forums, where people complained that SMS would not work after about two months. It is a shame though, the phone has a camera with more pixels than my Minolta Dimage 7i, which was the top of the class when I bought it; well perhaps for that one day only. Not being able to browse the Hungarian web pages, I asked my private language student to aid me in finding a store to purchase the phone. He chose that option instead of a lesson and insisted on driving me there too. The two guys working in the store spoke bits of English. If I had had the pomegranate, it could have translated for me, but then again, I would not be there for a phone either. The salesmanship was above and beyond most of my experiences in Hungary. They really went out of their way to be helpful, allowing me to play with the phone. It has a one year guarantee and a second year for another 100 Euros. I almost opted for the second year, but realized that in a years time, I would be wanting to move on to something newer and spiffier if this should die on me. My relationships with technology do not last long. I am a fickle lover in that regard. Here today and gone tomorrow when a new pretty gadget passes by and captures my attention. This phone has too many bells and whistles to list. If you are curious, here is the web site. http://europe.nokia.com/find-products/devices/nokia-n96/specifications So far, I know how to turn it on, but I have yet to make a call. Gosh, do I really need to read the instructions?

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A Note from Louise

Louise has left a new comment on your post "Our Picks - Melaka, Malaysia": Hi, nice post :) Melaka is really an amazing historical city and it's amazing that how heritage and culture is well-preserve in Melaka and no doubt that's why it's one of UNESCO world heritage site :) I visited this amazing city once and feel like going there again :) All the red buildings, old architecture, Melaka River, Jonker Street .. everything is just amazing ... I put up some information about Malacca Malaysia in my blog . Please visit and have some comments .. Hopefully I will visit Melaka soon :) cheers ...

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Pomegranate Mobile Phone

I found this ad in one of my computer newsletters. I thought the timing was perfect until I watched the whole video. If this were for real, I would be in line waiting to buy one. A minute into the video and I was salivating like Pavlov's dog. Enjoy, but don't get too excited yet. If you watch the real ad, it ends as a commercial for Nova Scotia, where you can have it all.

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Technology Hell Calling

I confess, I am a technology junkie. There I said it. My name is Ryan and I am addicted to technology. (Chorus: Hello Ryan). There is a certain pride that at my age I am more computer savvy than many of my students. This all goes to hell when something goes belly up, which happens often when I near anything electrical. One of our acquaintaces insists it it the Mercury Retrograde that is responsible. If that is the case, the retrograde has been in my star sign for decades too long. It used to be so common at one point, I would plan on returning an appliance before I ever left a store, knowing ahead of time it would not work when I returned home. It was habitual. Everyone that knows me, knows that I have perpetual computer problems. One of my students came over a month ago to see why our router suddenly stopped working. I tried everything Google had to offer to no avail. He finally switched it out with his own and took mine home to try. Within ten minutes, it went up in smoke. So was I surprised when my Western Digital 500 GB external hard drive stopped cold in its computerized tracks? Well, seriously, I really was. We were having such a good relationship, I thought we were beyond the stage of "Is this really going to work out for us" when it dumped me. Not only did I have abandonment issues, but it stole the 500 movies I had stored on there. Now that hurt. While I was licking my wounds, what I did not need was a dash of salt poured into them. My Palm Treo 750 died. Not even plugging it in to charge showed an iota of life. Now I am phone shopping, but time is short. For a brief moment, I thought of taking it for repair, but hey, I have spent 24,000 forints on the selfish little ingrate already. Time to kiss its little touch pad good bye. It causes me to laugh when I read in consumer magazines that extended warranties are worthless. They should spend a month with me.

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Drip, Drip, Drip

I am beginning to hate pipes, plumbing, faucets, tubes, water, and anything else that needs to be supplied into the apartment by any round tubing. The plumber came again to check on our new faucet in the kitchen. Once turned on, it took a good 30 seconds before it gathered the energy to provide a liquid. We could live with that, but it was when we turned it off and it continued to shower the sink for a full two minutes, we started to drown our sorrows. Seriously, two minutes of a steady gush of water is not normal. We could wash the dinner dishes, turn the water off and then rinse them while waiting for the water to finally quit. A call out to Imre the plumber again, this time add in the new water heater in the large bathroom, and the cold water in the small bathroom to the "To Do" list. This guy must think we have crush on him and purposefully find things to keep him returning. Hardly! He originally said it would be two days work to change out the water heater. Fine, but we would have to work around B and B guests. Imre showed up anyway with a helper. The new expensive kitchen faucet just had issues with our plumbing. We don't get it. When we moved in here, there was a uni-handle faucet, but when it corroded, we replaced it. There has not been a single uni-handle faucet that has worked properly since. We have tried every brand, size, shape, and color, but they refuse to play nice. Once installed and removed, they are no longer returnable, so the plumber-du-jour gets a bonus to take home. Kind of a parting gift for appearing in our comedy of errors. Within three hours, Imre and Imre 2 changed out the faucet, fixed the bathroom faucet, and replaced the hot water heater plus adding new exhaust pipes. All of this for 12,ooo forints ($50.). I gave him 3,000 forints extra as I always do, knowing I need to insulate my plumbing karma. Ron goes into the bathroom two hours later and tells me he thinks the bidet is leaking. Just whack me with a pipe wrench and be done with it. No, it was not the bidet, it was the hot water heater. Drip, drip, drip, every five seconds a drip, timing it like a woman in labor. Too late to call anyone to call Imre. Old towels on the floor, catch the drips, hoping against hope that we don't wake to a flood, we go to bed. For one second, I had doubts about that 3,ooo forint tip. A quick review of our plumbing history assures me it was worth it.

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New Writing Assignment

Through a professional travel writers organization I joined, I found an advertisement for destination experts being needed. Budapest was on the list, so I sent off my C.V. and all of the other required information. Thursday, I received an e-mail stating they would like for me to write for them. I am reading through the contract and other information they sent today, but it looks like I will be signing on the dotted line. The site is www.nileguide.com.

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Where Readers Are From

Australia barely shows on this map, but they make up 7% of the readers.

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The Hood

Anna, our interpreter whose brother is our cabinet man, sent an e-mail needing the exact measurements of the hood for the stove. This is a bit tricky since our hood is on order, will be three more weeks before its arrival, and the store had no measurements to provide us. We took matters into our own hands and decided to shop elsewhere. Ron went exploring while I was in school, found one locally and had me meet him after I finished for the day. Nice, but no cigar. First of all, they did not have any in stock. Their other store on the Buda side might, but we could not convey that they should call for us store to store. Actually, it was not necessary anyway, this hood was stainless steel and black. The stove is stainless steel and the cabinets are cappuccino. I was not crazy about the black. Some former students had invited me for a beer, so I was going to be tied up in the afternoon, so Ron went exploring on his own. His mission was to find a 60cm wide hood in stainless steel. Simple! He found one and bought it, brought it home, unboxed it and held it in place. It was 2cm too wide. After a little ranting, which I should have videoed since it is a rarity, he decided to return it and buy the 50cm hood instead. When we both returned home, he empty handed, he explained that he thought he smaller hood would look silly. Call Anna and tell her the dilemma. No problem, the cabinets can be adjusted for the 60cm hood, which has been restocked at the store. No, he did not take off to buy it again, we had Michael coming over to watch a movie. Tomorrow is another day for fun and aggravation. In the meanwhile, I was socializing with two former students who had met in one of my classes early on in their academic careers. Both having at least four courses with me and with each other started dating. Their reason for the drink invitation was to announce their engagement now that they have both graduated with a May wedding. They want both Ron and I to attend. They had been at our place for a student Christmas party I used to give each year, so they both know Ron. I was elated at their announcement and am looking forward to their nuptials come May.

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H2O Saga

Imre, the plumber returned with our new hot water heater, but could not tell us when he would have time to install it. Ron showed him the removable faucet, but he fixed it within seconds. We were again happy... until he left. We turned on the water. Hot water, cold water, seemingly perfect. Turn off the water, turn off the water, turn off the water. Yes, the water is turned off, so why is it still streaming out at full force only reducing to a trickle after one minute, but still a hearty drip by the end of two minutes. We did not need a plumber to tell us that this was not good news. Thinking over our six+ years in this apartment, we cannot blame Imre for this one. We have had four different plumbers and five different faucets. Each faucet has had its own problems. No one has been able to translate reasons why that we can understand. It is our belief that they just don't know the answer either. When Imre returns to install the hot water heater, we will try this again, but in deep in my heart, I feel another faucet is in our future. Whis is like the movie Groundhog Day with a plumbing twist.

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Sink, Flow, Drip

The plumber returned to put in the yet another new faucet, this one with the required three hoses. It took him three hours. We did not realize that our new deep double basin sink was so much lower than the old one, a hole had to be cut in the bottom of the cabinet to set the hot water heater in so it would fit. Hearing the plumber using a saw, we just sent up silent prayers, not wanting to check up on him and have panic attacks in the process. Plumbers and saws go together like carpenters and monkey wrenches. There is just something illogical in the combinations. Three hours later, he announced he was finished. The new faucet looked lovely, but we never gave it a trial run before he left. His fee was 7,000 Huf ($29.00). Yes, Americans, read it again and weep. Three hours of a plumbers work for $29.00. He told us he would have to pick up a new hot water heater for the bathroom. Fixing it would cost more for the parts than a new one, so we gave him the money to pick one up for us. As soon as he was out the door, we tested the faucet. The water pressure popped it right out of the base. Not good. Okay, I see now you Americans are no longer weeping over the $29.00, but laughing instead.

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Yea!! Boo, Hiss!!!

The plumber came today to install the faucet on our new sink. We have been doing without a kitchen sink for the week that they remodeled, but thought today was the day we did not have to wash dishes in the bathtub any longer. I was so charged, I would have volunteered to wash them. It only took the plumber three seconds to tell Ron he bought the wrong kind of faucet. Ron protested that the salesman at the store said this was the best for this sink, but as it turns out, we need a faucet with three hoses for our hot water heater. Why? Nem tudom! I don't know. While we had the plumber captive, we had him look at our other hot water heater. There has been a leak somewhere. Big mistake! It needs replacing. Miracle upon miracle, he is returning tomorrow to do both the sink and the hot water heater. Ron went back to the store he bought the faucet at, after some English/Hungarian interchange that neither he nor the service desk understood, they gave him a new faucet and a refund for the difference. Okay, I am not washing dishes tonight. Afterall, Ron has it down to a science by now. Anna, our kitchen remodel interpreter sent an e-mail asking that I spell out for her what I want done to complete this job, also jabbing that I should be so very grateful it only took one week to do all that they did. Personally, I want to cast all of them in bronze and build a religion around them, I was so impressed. What I did instead was take detailed photos of all of the little things that need to be corrected, labeled them 1-11 and sent them to her with instructions in elementary vocabulary, hoping there is no miscommunication this time. At times, I think I am repeating myself, but no one is listening or those who are do not speak English. It reminds me of an old FAR SIDE cartoon. The guy is saying to his dog "Good Ginger, you are such a good girl. I love you Ginger. You are so sweet, Ginger." What the dog hears is "Blah, Ginger, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, Ginger...

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Thank You Allison

This came in my mail and I wanted to share it. I had asked Allison if I could, but I figured as long as I do not post her last name or e-mail address, it would be fine. "I had to write you and tell you how much I'm enjoying your blog! Thanks allison"

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Voices From the Past

About a year ago, I received an e-mail out of the blue from an old roommate from Modesto, CA. The strange part about it was that we had lost touch years before while I was still living there. He was gay and Mormon; for him it was a crippling situation that he could not resolve. When he was in full Mormon swing, all of his gay or gay friendly friends were suddenly purged from his life. When being on the inside of Mormonism looking out became overwhelming, he would return to each of begging to forgive him for his actions. For the most part, we were forgiving, pointing him in the direction of 'Affirmation' the gay Mormon group, but he did not find solace there either. After this rubber band back and forth, it finally snapped. We did not hear from him again. His e-mails since are from an entirely different person. He credits two different therapists in two different states for his renewal. It is a pleasure to communicate with him again. Through him, I had met a lesbian who I had befriended for a number of years. For a number of reasons, mostly pertaining to her mental health, we parted ways. I have to say, she was a fantastic cook and baker. I missed that part of the friendship as well as the socialization. She too resurfaced in an e-mail about six months ago. We maintain a casual writing relationship. Our paths are so very different now, there are few commonalities beyond pleasantries, but that is fine. Then there was the former student who tracked me down not to very long ago. She shared her professional accomplishments based on the college course she took with me. A couple of weeks ago, a nurse I used to work with found me after ten years to say she and her husband would be in Budapest while on a Danube cruise. They want to get together for dinner. Last week, she shared that the husband of another nurse we worked with had been killed in a motoring accident. He was on a bicycle, hit by a motorcycle. Again, I had lost touch with this couple, but not to lack of trying. I sent them notes and cards, but they were both devastated when we left. We were close. They never responded to my overtures via post and at the time, did not have a computer. I have obtained the phone number and will be calling tonight to share my loss. Jim was one of the few non-gay men who allowed me to be completely comfortable around him without having to be anything other than me. Just knowing he is not walking the earth any longer is heartbreaking. I have thought of the two of them so often over the years. They were both special people in my life. Last night, right before going to bed, I happened to check the e-mail. Ron received a Facebook message stating "I found you while looking for Ryan James. You have a travel picture in your profile, which makes sense. If you lived in Modesto, CA then this is the correct person. Otherwise, ignore this message. This is Kim and I would like to get in touch with you guys again." Dare I say this was another nurse I was really close to for a number of years. Like deja vu, one day we were friends, the next she would not pick up the phone or respond to any outreach. To this day, I am uncertain what happened, but her friendship was a great loss. She is a single parent and I watched her daughter grow. I have thought of both of them often over the years wondering what they are doing. I went into Facebook, searched for her and sent her a friend request. She accepted it. Now, I am waiting for an e-mail. I sent her my addresss. It just strikes me as weird how these past contacts are returning to my present after all of these years. The rest of it either speaks to my choice of friends or there is something in my relating to people that I am missing causing them to go undercover for years, finally feeling safe to resurface. Either way, it is gratifying that they do. They all have had a special place in my heart and life that was left empty for a number of years. Now, maybe those holes can be patched up.

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Salmonella Peanut Recall

Here is a product recall widget. You can check this for peanut products recalled by the FDA in the US.

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The Kitchen Is Done...Sort of

Thursday, the cabinet man arrived with his helper at 9:00 am. Who would have guessed they would still be here at 9:00 pm. Not I, for sure. Our old cabinets were in great shape, so we kept the basic structures, just having the doors and borders redone with replacement parts. They kept the kitchen door closed most of the day. We were not sure if this was because we kept peeking in or to block the noise and dust from their sawing and cutting of the counter top. As Ron claims, I notice things that most people don't. Alright, I give attention to detail, but most people would look at these things and wonder when it was going to be finished off. We tried occupying our time like expectant fathers waiting to hear the good news! Finally, at 9:15 pm, we had the unveiling. It was joy and disappointment at the same time. The cabinets look lovely; however, something was lost in translation. Along one wall, there are three cabinets. All six doors were to have glass panels in them. Only two of them do. The others are solid doors. If it were the center cabinets that had the glass, I could live with it, but alas, it is the two at the far end. It looks ridiculous. The cabinet exposed sides and bottoms were left white, though with new molding. I specifically requested it all be the same as the cabinets. It definitely has an unfinished look to it. A call into Anna, our interpreter and the sister of the cabinet maker, was frustrating since she said she could not remember any of these instructions when her brother took his notes. I tried tripping her memory by recalling the things that she and I discussed, but it was useless. Perhaps because she was here that night with both of her babies, there were too many distractions. Lesson learned, make notes of your own and go over them before everyone leaves. To add to the mix, they inserted the new sink, which looks lovely, but they could not put in the faucet, or the 'tap' as they call it. We need to call a plumber to do the work. Hence, we have no kitchen water yet. The stove hood is on back order and will be up to four weeks to arrive. We will look elsewhere in the meanwhile. We had asked if they could get two sliding drawers for the other lower cabinets like we have in another lower cabinet. That never happened. Now we have to look for those on our own also. They did not reinstall our under cabinet lights. We have to get the electrician back for that too. We spent the day carting things back from hither and yon to place them back into the cupboards, I mopped all of the floors since tile and counter top dust can travel all over the apartment. Ron had already done the dusting. We still owe the cabinet man money, so he is guaranteed to return. Our translator will be thrilled to have this end. I am sure it is more than she bargained for. We did get her a gift certificate for a restaurant for she and her husband, but that was some time ago and is now feeling like a drop in the bucket. Nothing other compensation will have to follow. The bright side is that we are now convinced we need to re-tile the hallway to match the kitchen floor.

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It's a Stove, It's an Oven, It's Convection

Not much happened today, while I was at school. The stove/oven with ten functions was delivered, but the cabinet maker decided to return tomorrow. He had changed his day when we thought the stove/oven was coming on Thursday, so stuck to his guns in spite of the changes. The electrician did return to put in all of the sockets and covers. However, so far, we are not cooking with gas as the old expression goes. It is still take-out dinners. I wanted to take a picture of the new cooker, but my batteries were dead in my camera. Oh, well. One of our B and B guests arrived today from the States. She is a Frommer's guide reader. I had warned her ahead of time what she may be facing, but she is a good sport. Hopefully, the two coming tomorrow are as well.

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Phase One Completed

When we were stilling living in California, we had both bathrooms remodeled, in addition to many other jobs requiring contractors of one sort or another. In my experience, it was rare when a work person, showed up on time or even on the day they promised. Sandor, our tile man has been here at 8:00 am each day as promised. Today was no exception. This was the last phase of his work. He had to cut the tiles to create the baseboard and then grout the walls, floors, and baseboards. He was not satisfied when we said not to bother with tiling the baseboard area behind the radiators. They are flat and low to the floor, so it would not be noticeable. He, however was not satisfied with this, so cut them so that they could be slid from underneath and up. By 3:00 pm, he was finished. It looks so good, we are going to have the hallway done in May, matching the tiles from the kitchen to have continuity. We have to rid the place of dust. There is dust everywhere, even in the medicine cabinet in the large bathroom. Tomorrow, the electric gets finished off and the stove is delivered.

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Construction Worker Tango

Good to his word, the tile man was here again at 8:00 am to start putting down the floor. He said that it would be ready to walk on by Wednesday, the day that the cabinet makers were returning to do that installation. This left the stove/oven installation, but first we had to go pay for it. We wanted to give them money when we first looked at it, but they said it would be better to pay when we arranged delivery. Anna, our interpreter called to say we should have the stove there on Wednesday so the cabinets can be installed around it. We walked down to the appliance store; it is just down the street from us. The wonderful gentleman we spoke with on our first visit recognized us immediately and said "I have bad news." Those are four words you don't want to hear when you are trying to coordinate a number of laborers in a language you cannot communicate in and have to use the sister of one of them to translate. The bad news could have been worse. They sold the stove hood, but not the stove. At first they could not deliver on Wednesday due to some mysterious problem. A call into Anna to tell her, but she said it was ridiculous. Her brother the cabinet maker was coming in from the country on Wednesday specifically and could not change their days. We just turned the phone over to the salesman. He finished with Anna and gave us the phone. She would have to call her brother and call us back. Four minutes later, she called and her brother would come Thursday. As she was telling Ron this, the salesman was telling me he did manage to arrange delivery on Wednesday. Yikes! I am so confused now, I am overjoyed that I start school tomorrow and Ron will be here to deal with anything that happens on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Except for the hood, we should be complete by Thursday afternoon. Ron had the foresight to ask our salesman to call the company that would need to hook up the stove. There is only one, not the gas company, who is authorized to do it or the guarantee is void. With an oven with ten different functions, I want it working all the way through its three year guarantee. It has only been days, but it has felt like a whole lot longer. When this is over, I am putting Anna's name in for sainthood. This has turned into a part-time job for her. We gave her a gift certificate for dinner out for two, but we will have to do more by the end of this adventure. The tile man will return tomorrow to do the baseboards and then grout the entire tile work and he is out of here.

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Heartfelt Sadness for Victoria

I just want to take a moment to say that my heart breaks for the people of Victoria, Australia. The devastating fires and the victims who have died and are hospitalized has been covered on our news. Having been there, having loved it, I really feel their pain and despair at a deeper level. They are not faceless strangers to me, but people that welcomed us. All of you will be in our prayers and positive thoughts.

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Measure, Measure, Measure

Size DOES matter, regardless of what anyone says. Before we ordered the tiles for the walls, our tile man measured and told us how many square meters we would need. It was after this that I convince Ron we really needed to redo the floor also, but it was up to us to do the measurements. We just showed the tile store the measurements and left it to them to figure out the number of boxes we needed. It was only the day before they were delivered that it occurred to me that our baseboards were also tile, not wood. After searching the tile stores' catalog again, I was assured that they did not carry baseboard tile, so called Anna, our liaison translator in a panic. She assured me it would not be a problem. The tile man would cut tiles and make a baseboard. Whew! Well, relief for a matter of minutes only, when it next dawned on me that we would not have enough tile to cover the floor and to cut up for baseboard. The tile order took two weeks. Today, this trauma was reinforced by our tile man. We decided we would get any color tiles from the Practiker store, like the local version of Home Depot. These would be hidden under the cabinets and then the saved tile from there would then be used for baseboard. We traipsed off to the store today, so he could finish up tomorrow. With our grocery trolley in hand and a giant Ikea heavy duty bag, we set off. Miracle upon miracle, Practiker had the identical wall tiles we already had. We needed two more boxes (30 pounds). We needed to pick up three boxes of grout at 5 kilos a box. For those unknowing, one kilo equals 2.2 pounds. The last item on our shopping list was two more boxes of floor tiles. We found a darker color in the same product line as what we bought for the floor already and thought this would make a nicer accent than monotone floor and baseboard. Each box is 20 pounds. I have to say that the employees at Practiker were beyond helpful and friendly from start to finish. We put the two boxes of floor tiles into the shopping trolley on wheels, but we could only fit one box of the wall tiles on top of it. The three boxes of grout and one box of wall tiles had to go into the Ikea bag. It was too heavy for either of us to lift alone. We had to each grab a handle. Now the trick was getting this on two trams and then three blocks home. By the time we reached the first tram and packed everything on, both wheels of the trolley broke off. Kaput! Never to be fixed again. We seriously thought of a taxi at the end of the line, but neither of us brought our phone. When we did get to the end of the first tram line, one of us was going to go home and call a taxi while the other waited. However, I had a better idea. We found someone waiting for the tram, a really nice African man. Explained what happend and he called a taxi for us. All that was left for us was to drag the stuff upstairs on the elevator. I think both of us were thinking heart attack by the time we finished. This is the progress made today. The electric outlets are wired, the walls were prepped, and Sandor put on all of the wall tiles today.

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The Cost of Remodeling

When one decides to remodel a kitchen, one cost that needs to be taken into consideration is the amount of money it will cost for eating out each night during the process. This is one expense I had not calculated. I guess after five weeks of eating out in Australia, the thought of eating out was blocked from my cognition. Obviously, we could not cook here, so we called Michael, the guy studying at CEU and went to the Galleria for dinner. It is cheap and close-by, fitting the needs for a damp cold evening. So when the men left last night at 6:00 pm, this is the way the kitchen looked.

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The Real Nightmare That Did Not End

This is where they finished off last night. The tile man arrived shortly after 8:00 am to start ripping out the tiles. The good news is that he proclaimed the floors and walls in good shape under the old tile, not causing any surprises or extra work. We are having a number of extra electrical outlets put in so that means coordinating with the electrician. Then there was a problem with the gas pipe to hook up the new stove, so that will be dicey also.

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Remodeling Hell

Kitchen cupboards are like any other closet. You never know how much you have stashed in them, until you have to empty them out completely and find a place to store all that crap for an indefinite period of time. Ron did the lion's share of clearing them out while I read student theses, but we completed the finishing touches this afternoon in time for the cabinet man to remove them all. The tiles arrived, sitting in the hallway, in front of one the two doors to our bedroom. Now that they are here, they look different than in the lighting of the showroom. God, I hope we did not make a mistake. However, the choices here are not the extensive range as in the States, so we were not as flummoxed when making choices. The cabinet man and his brother showed at 3:00 pm. By 8:00 pm, not only did they remove the cabinets, but the sink, the stove, and the fridge. The kitchen is empty except for the table, but we removed the inserts making it comfortable for two rather than eight. This is what our kitchen looks like in stages of mass destruction. I had forgotten the hideous green that it was painted when we first moved in here.

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And Now the Fun Begins

Yesterday, we went down to the tile store and shock upon shock, the tiles were in on the day they were promised. Good timing. The cabinet man is coming today to take off all of the cabinets. Tomorrow, the tile man is coming to remove all of the wall and floor tiles. He was over a few nights ago to remove a part of one tile to check the floor underneath. He proclaimed it in great shape, so all systems go. There will be no sleeping in tomorrow morning after 8:00 am, but no worries, I am usually up by 7:00 anyway. Ron will have to make up an hour of his sleep somewhere along the way. We hoped against hope we were going to be able to circumvent this work with guests, but we had a booking I responded to while in Australia and had forgotten about. A young woman arrives on the 11th for five nights. We have a couple coming from Stockton, CA our old neighborhood on the 13th. Because I hate surprises, I sent both of them a warning letter and promised to make their stay as uneventful as possible. The noise should all be over by then, but the kitchen may still be in an uproar. In the meanwhile, I have found an excitingly effective resource for selling things. There is a web site here called Ex-pat Loop http://xpatloop.com/. For years, I have tried selling old furniture or other things we wanted to dispose of on various local English speaking websites, but without any success. Just by serendipity, I registered and put in an ad for the old sofa bed we replaced in the small bedroom. Within 24 hours, I had four people inquire and ask for pictures. I took pictures, posted them into the ad and last night, the sofa bed found a new home. On Monday, a gentleman is coming to pick up the HP Deskjet V40 I advertised. At this rate, we just may go through our storage unit in the basement and clean out. When we bought the apartment, we bought it furnished, but over the years have been replacing furniture with new items more attuned to our own taste and sensibilities. It is not that I am out to make a killing on these sales, but it does relieve space. The old sofa was clogging our bedroom for more months than I care to remember. Now let's see, what else is hanging around I can sell?

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A Long Time Waiting...

Back in June I had to write an update for my book outlining things that have changed since it was published. This is entitled "What's New" followed by the destination and is standard for all Frommer's guide books. This is then posted on their web site and usually is a feature article on their newsletter when it is posted. I waited for months, checking each issue, but it never appeared. During this time, Frommer's online went through a major overhaul, updating the entire web site. Thinking this perhaps was the reason for the delay, I waited with baited breathe, but still it never appeared. Well today, just by chance I looked at their site and viola, there it was http://www.frommers.com/destinations/budapest/0047010001.html What prompted me to look was that Ron was checking out a restaurant here and came across the NY Times travel section review. It is my review from my book. The NY Times has an agreement with Frommer's and what goes into the books, goes online in the NY Times online.

http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/hungary/budapest/restaurant-detail.html?vid=1231545938418 So bear in mind, if you are reading the NY Times reviews on a destination, they are from the Frommer's guide of that destination. It would be wonderful if our names were put on it, but they are not.

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Do You Hate Going to Work?

Today was the first day of the new semester. Is there a connection with this video? Well, maybe come March, there will be. Note: No koalas were harmed in the making of this video.

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Hobart

This is the last, but not least album. I really loved Hobart and the other parts of Tasmania that we traveled to on our two day trips.

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Cairns

To see the whole album at once, click on any picture. It will take you to the web album at Picasa.

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Sydney

If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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Melbourne

Kodak Gallery turned out to be a problem for a number of people to access the photos, so I am trying this a different way. If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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Kodak Gallery Issues

Kodak Gallery turned out to be a problem for a number of people to access the photos, so I am trying this a different way. There are Picasa slide shows embedded into this blog, but if you still have problems and want to see our photos, go to www.budabab.com to click on the Photos link.

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Glenelg, Kangaroo Island, Adelaide

Kodak Gallery turned out to be a problem for a number of people to access the photos, so I am trying this a different way. If you want to see the whole album at once, click on the picture and it will bring you to my online Picasa album.

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Picture Sharing

It took forever to upload all of the pictures into five different albums, but when I sent them out, Kodak Gallery grouped them into one major e-mail. People told me they could not get it to open. Most likely it was because there are over 1100 pictures total. Here are links if anyone wants to look at the photos. They are easier to open one at a time. Kodak Gallery will automatically open with a slide show. You will see a black screen with spinning symbols. They may appear to stop for a moment, but they will continue again to spin and then the first photo will be highlighted. You have the choice of watching as a slide show or individual photos. I tried repeatedly to hyperlink all of them, but Blogger is not cooperating. You may have to copy and paste the URL. Sorry!

Glenelg, Kangaroo Island and Adelaide

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=34fv5s4n.aqs0st0r&x=0&y=59z9hi&localeid=en_US

Melbourne

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=34fv5s4n.a4ttpigr&x=0&y=-269oug&localeid=en_US

Sydney

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=34fv5s4n.8a559ai3&x=0&y=-wd78y7&localeid=en_US

Cairns

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=34fv5s4n.81ldxu7f&x=0&y=7ivy89&localeid=en_US

Hobart

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=34fv5s4n.cnwpulm3&x=0&y=-h0oii4&localeid=en_US

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