this is my strenesse purple mohair suit. scrumptious huh? i wore this, plus the one pony tail hair to ask our ceo a question. it was about reporting. i liked her answer and i quote it quite a bit. if they don’t believe me, i send to the video on the intranet. cheers.

today the stores are open until 20:00. they are practicing. of course we have been trained to finish by 16:00. we went and looked at my dresses and shoes. with the euro though, i can’t afford them.

we’ve decided. we are going to firenze for our ‘harry potter’ weekend. the book will be like 700 pages plus long and i’ll want to read it all at once so we thought we would go somewhere specifically to read the book! at first london made the most sense. they will have lots of stuff going on when it comes out. but that seemed a bit dull and typical. we wanted to go somewhere fabulous and a-typical. firenze! (florence for you americans…speaking of that…why don’t we call it what the citizens of that country call it? how come we call it munich, when it it muenchen? and germany, when it is deutschland? from now on, i am calling it what the locals call it.)

going to see jonathan richman tonight in tuebingen. he is referred to as the godfather of punkrock who got quiet in the 80’s. i’ll let you know. cheers.

i am truly disturbed by something my colleague showed me on the internet today. on the pentagon home page, they list, every day, what american soldiers are killed. they give name, where they are from and what branch they are with. i find that disturbing…shouldn’t they be left in peace? while their families mourn? i bet they do this because others accuse them of covering up. i still think it is sad.

my mom is upset by the war taking precedence over the return of elizabeth smart. i think the smart family is glad the cameras are in iraq and the pentagon. makes it easier for them to move on and heal. cheers.

i saw a very funny commercial for pepsi this weekend. you would have to know a little about football though (and i mean the european version). the commercial is set in a western town circa 1800’s. in a salon a group of people sit, in dusters, drinking pepsi. in walks a new group in dusters, cowboy hats and football uniforms. the main guy walks to the bar and asks for a pepsi. the bartender slides it down to him but it is intercepted by another guy who has just appeared at the bar. the first guy looks at him, room is hush, and says ‘outside’. then you see a sheriff like referee with a football. he places it on the ground. the two men drop their dusters and hats. it is beckman (man utd) and rivaldo (fc milan). rivaldo stands between the posts of another building. beckman looks around and then whistles. his horse kicks the ball and it flys right by rivaldo, who stands in shock, and through a window of the store he was in front of. everyone cheers, except rivaldo, and beckman gets a pepsi. then suddenly, a guy walks out of the building with the ball that went through the window. it was a barbershop and this guy has a bit of shaving cream on his head and the hair cut cape still on. he doesn’t look happy. apparently this is roberto carlos (real madrid). i’d say this is a to be continued…

btw, the wc’s in praha were very very clean. no smell, no graffiti, everything worked. it was very nice. in fact, the entire city was very clean. oh, and for the record, this was my 4th visit to praha, number 5 will be with patrick in july.

the war goes on and there seems little that an individual can do. a friend remarked it is hard to watch the war, live, and then go to work, but what good does it do to stay home and watch while all goes to hell at the office? i think americans have a habit of watching, instead of getting involve. lots of famous cases of no good samaritans but lots of witnesses. at the same time it only seems fair to expect people to get involved to their personal level of comfort, therefore allowing them to be effective. we should all stretch ourselves a bit though. yeah, anyhow. cheers.

so in ‘about schmidt’ he signs up for one of those ‘adopt an african orphan’ programs. he sends money and writes letters. the thing that kept going through my mind was, ‘what is this company is a sham’? here warren, nicholson’s character, puts love and energy in this organization and child but what happens if it is all a fraud? if the kid doesn’t exist? how will that make him feel. besides feeling duped, i would feel like my emotions were stolen. i guess i a really really tainted at this point in life. i am certainly a doubting thomas. i want to touch the stigmata for sure. but with all the moral corruption around me, all the people in it for themselves, all the lying and cheating and deal making my management and our government representitives partake in…how can i maintain my faith? when everything goes on sale…how can i consider paying this price? see what i mean? i would much prefer a no-haggle, best price the first time, kind of world, but it doesn’t seem to be going that way. i would like to have faith, but i have been burned too many times. what is that you say? what about deferred gratification? well, yes there is something to say for that, but again, too many times, i saw too many good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people, for me to maintain my faith. i hate to ask for proof but hey, let me touch the stigmata, that doesn’t seem so hard. and yes, i realize that my lifetime is little compared to all enternity in heaven or hell, but i am a product of my surroundings and if i take jesus’ teachings to heart (because i come from a judeo-christian society) then i don’t fear i will go to hell. but i also don’t look like those self-righteous purveyors of god’s word and i’m ok with that too. so what is the point? i follow the faith but i ask for proof along the way and i struggle with whether those shoes will go on sale or not. i common terms, i do my homework and make my decision based on the available facts and what faith i can muster. sometimes this means some people don’t get what they should from me and some get more than they deserve but that is the best i can do with the system i face. feels like something is missing though…cheers.

i read an article in details mag last year about couples that dress alike. they showed examples and they were pretty scary. but i think you can’t really help it, especially if one person is buying the clothing. with patrick and i, well, he has fantastic taste but we are a bit heavy on the euro trash thing, i suppose. very dieter some days.

i think that your body changes to be like your mates, too. all those obese american couples, you know. i see this happening to patrick and i as well, though in a very different and strange manner. patrick has cycler’s calves. always has. super hard with big defined muscles. not terribly feminine. now i am getting them. when i was young(er) and just skinny, i had very shapely calves. but then i put on some pounds and my calves were bulbous. worked well with my thick ankles, i suppose. (my dad called me clydesdale when i was a kid). then, as i have lost fat but gained muscle, i am getting cycler like calves. like patrick’s. not feminine. there are girls in korea that get the muscle snipped to have thin calves. i do wish mine were slimmer, but that is a bit much. having cycler’s calves makes finding boots hard. good thing i found some in praha this weekend….oh did i fail to mention that? cheers.

so i imagine you have heard about the comment the lead singer of the dixie chicks made while on tour in england? she said something to the effect of, ‘we are embarrassed that our president in from texas’ i thought it was a great statement. accurate in fact. others feel differently though. they are entitled to, of course. that is what makes the US great. unfortunately, there are those that are taking a nazi germany approach to their feelings about her comments (her name is natalie, btw). they are burning the cd’s. i came across the blog of a guy from houston who says at the closing of the rodeo, when the name of the band came on a screen, there were many boos. now, again they are entitled to their opinion, but why not use it more constructively? why simply boo or burn cd’s? why not go out engage people in dialogue about your opinions and the facts and issues that you know to support and explain them? that seems so much more mature and useful. anyhow, i think it is great she expresed herself as she did and even better that she refuses to back down and apologize. she shouldn’t. it is her right to feel the way she does.

moveon.org is holding another candlelight vigil, only this one is suppose to happen in each of our homes every night until the war is over and then some. i have seen various posts by germans that explain this was done during the cold war so that those on the other side of the iron curtain had light to find their way back. well it eventually worked for them (ok Gorby helped too) so i will try it. make sure not to leave candles unattended. wouldn’t want a fire.

well i’ve got my body back. my banana republic skirt fits losely on me once again. i love that. i have maintained the mid-54k for two weeks. i eat like a mad woman on weekends but am very good during the week. now i just have to keep going to the gym and i believe all will be ok. and to think it took a mere 2 and a 1/2 months to change my habits. see you can do it.

going to praha this weekend with friederun. oh, can’t wait. my shopping partner in crime! we’ll eat and shop and hang out and be girly. yeah! i’ll even make a point to find an internet cafe and blog from there just to prove it.

cheers.

i just finished watching ‘about schmidt’ and i am left wondering again why i am plagued by this desire to find meaning. all my life, ok well for the first part, until like 12, all i tried to do was fit in but when i gave up on that, and since then, i have been trying to find the point! most people would say that i simply need to find god and then there is the point, but to the best of my knowledge i have to find god through man and that just doesn’t cut it. yeah i could go stand in a waterfall in tibet and achieve enlightenment but i bet it will really be hypothermia masquarading as enlightenment. anyhow, this movie is about my greatest life concern…that i will look back and it will all be meaningless. ok, well, schmidt was pretty suburban and i adore my husband, so i won’t fall in that same trap, but what about what i achieve? my job? my impact on society? i must keep repeating to myself that if i can influence those around me, i can influence the world. by influence, i don’t mean persuade to my thinking but simply cause to think. that’s all i ask. but in this movie, you should see it by the way, he determines that his life is a complete failure because he has nothing to show for his life and so many other people did so much more difficult things. but really, it is a different time and place and if you want to be super great, then work towards that, but if you just want to look back and know there was meaning…well i am not 100% sure about that, but i feel good so far, most days at least. i just need to keep talking to myself.

this is where i am now cyberteria

time to catch a train. i love the european rail system…cheers.

this is where i am right now…

http://www.czrb.cz/detail.asp?detail=12&code=1283

it is another coffee shop/internet cafe. verz nice people and i am going to buz some coffee to take home. as zou can see though, thez have the other kezboard. on well… we are just off narodnz not all that far from mz hotel.

i’m alone now in praha. friederun went home. she couldn’t get a flight for mondaz. i like being here alone. i can contemplate more. nice to have someone to talk to though. i guess mz absolute perfect travel mate would be a professional shopper who likes to otherwise sit around at coffee shops, eat sushi, stuff themselves with it, see the sites, though quicklz and sleep in. oh and preferrablz i can have sex with them. prettz much patrick is near perfect, though his passive nature is sometimes frustrating as i hate bein julie everz minute. he is such a perfect husband though, i mean without expecting perfection. i mean anzthing better would be perfect and that would be creepz. man, is mz brain out of it or what…

tomorrow i shall check a few more stores that i discovered in a magayine will eating fish and chips at the james jozce irish pub while watching arsnal vs. eventon (might have that spelled wrong). it was verz entertaining. then i will sit on the square, assuming it is sunnz and warm like todaz, and people watch. might walk up to the castle again to burn some calories. i might also ask about somewhere i can see a report about the floods from winter. i haven’t seen much that looks obviouslz damaged but considering the pictures i saw on the news there has to be pictures. thez have done a brilliant job of cleaning up. i had almost forgotten it even happened. cheers.

i am on my 4th internet cafe. this one is just off the old town square. the first was at the mall, then the next along the shopping pedestrian walk, then a cool coffee shop tucked away of narodni and now off the square. prices are about the same. if i spend an hour it is about $3. machines are the same. though everyone uses exploder!

today is beautiful again. i could easily be a low key ex-pat living in praha. i walked around randomly today. honestly, i was looking for a store and just got sort of happily lost. so many beautiful buildings. praha survived the communists so much better than warsaw. i suppose i might not be as happy were it the dead of winter, but if i had a decent job and made some friends and picked up some czech, i think i could be happy here for a while. it’s a weird feeling. i mean, i have no connections here and being no one knows me and no one can find me, it is as if i have no connections anywhere. it is an amazingly relaxing feeling. there is the war in iraq and i can’t deny for long my dumb gov’t. i certainly don’t want to deny my darling husband, but in a way it is easier to relax without him because i have no ties. nothing shows who i am or where i come from or what my life means. on the other hand i think it is easy for me to let go like this, because i know what i have and who i love. gives one strength. anyhow.

did you hear, eminem won best song at the oscars? but didn’t show up to receive it. i wonder why. poor randy newman has been trying to win for years (finally did last year) and eminem gets it first time out. cheers.