Missed it by That Much

Jeff was in London for one day yesterday, leaving last night around 8pm. News has it the UK had their worst earthquake in 20 years just 5 hours later. Missed it by that much.

Jeff was there for work, but managed to walk about Monday night.
[I have a hard time blogging about myself in the 3rd person, so it's "I" from now on. :) ]
I walked a loop around the bridges near Big Ben.
I stayed nearby at the Grange Holborn hotel. If I remember the signs right, that's the Bloomsbury Square neighborhood, but I should ask Michelle R. to be sure.

Obligatory movie snippet ... "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament"

I walked past the Westminster Abbey. Since watching the Divinci Code only a week ago (finally), I really wanted to see Sir Isaac Newton's tomb. The guard at the gate said that tourist visiting hours were over, but I noticed a couple people just walked past him. Then the guard mentioned that catholic mass started in 15 minutes.

Well, given the choice between attending an evening mass or not getting inside, I took the mass.

So, here's a shot of the Westminster Abbey and the famous globe over Newton's burial spot.

After hearing "Here endeth the lesson" a couple times between the choir boys singing and I couldn't help but think of several Monty Python quotes.

The choral singing was absolutely beautiful, but a big highlight was spotting so many tombs and momuments. It would be unjust to list only a couple here, so here's a link if you want to run through the names yourself.

Just Pictures...

We're noticing some personality differences.
One smiley kid...one grumpy kid.

Mattias: "Get this girl away from me."

"Smile, Schmile...whatever. Just take the shot."


And a quick movie from the "aquarium". Kids all love this screen on the floor, displaying animated fish and water that reacted to movement.
Kids there were loving it, running all around, trying to catch the fish.
The one stationary kid in the middle, just focused on her pretzels - that's Ella.

Relaxing Weekend

First, we're very happy Yaya and Baboo got home safely. A day late, but still in time for Erica's baby shower & party. We are so looking forward to seeing all of you this summer!!

Saturday, Ella and I (Daddy) went to Morsky Svet, or "Seaworld," Prague's aquarium.

Ella absolutely loved it.
Unfortunately for Daddy, he has also seen Chicago's Shedd Aquarium and Boston's New England Aquarium.
Apples and oranges. Like comparing somebody's prized 120 gallon saltwater fish tank to the goldfish-in-a-cup prize you win at the county fair.

After some homework & metric conversion, you compare:
Square Area in square feet
Boston: unknown, but jellyfish exhibit alone is 5,000 square feet
Chicago: 422,000
Prague: 10,700 (...likely including bathrooms and cashdesk)

Total Aquarium Gallons of Water
Boston: 200,000 gallons just in its "centerpiece tank"
Chicago: 750,000
Prague: 19,800

Entry price for 1 Adult & a 2-year old
Boston: $19
Chicago: $18
Prague: ~$15 (240 Kc)

Still, all that's important is, Ella loved it. Especially the 'petting zoo' portion. Ugh...I'll have to post a picture or movie up soon.

What did we do on Sunday? We (Ella and Daddy) finger-painted pictures of our Seaworld adventures. Located just 15 minutes walk away from home, Seaworld is (unfortunately) too close an adventure to ignore. I'm confident that we'll visit often.

Company CEO Update
Klaus Zumwinkel's, who was Jeff's CEO last week, is still being investigated for tax fraud. Klaus has graciously tendered his resignation to Deutsche Post World Net (and the Executive Committee has graciously accepted it).

Klaus Zumwinkel. How neat a name is that? It's best when you pronounce it as a German name should be: "Klaus Tsumvinkel". Just say it out loud to yourself a few times. It's fun, isn't it? But, here, it's neither cute nor fun, it's Dr. Zumwinkel, former CEO Deutsche Post AG.

later, -Jeff

p.s. Baboo - I hung up the 2nd living room lighting fixture. It's more beautiful than the first. :)

p.p.s. New England Aquarium - take a hint from others and update your website with some overall statistics, ok? (It makes it much easier to brag about you.)

Yaya & Baboo have Left for Canada - but stuck in Germany

Twas a sad, sad morning today. May's parents left to return home around 8am today.

Update: Fog delayed flight to Germany; missed their flight to Canada.
New flight to Halifax (from Toronto): flight AC260 at 19:34 (15 Feb)

Words cannot explain how much help they have been. Baboo has become Ella's favorite toy & playmate, and our in-house repairman. Sure, Bill's quite the eager repairman, but in the end, always a craftsman.

Yaya, who's been here since a few days into December, has helped us through so much transition ...the new flat, the new baby, getting to know our new neighborhood and neighbors. Not to mention, Yaya (a.k.a. "Cinderyaya") was invaluable as our indentured servant: laundry, cooking, food shopping, playmate, counselor :)
It's going to be tough, trying to adapt without them.
Thank you, to both of you!! We wouldn't be sane today without you.

In other news, it seems that Jeff's Corporate CEO just had his house raided by the police and served a warrant for tax evasion. Already in the papers, he's accused of stashing some 10 million euro in a Liechtenstein bank account. [Damn that EU bank transparency!]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=armdQVOnKaWk

And what was the effect on our stock price? Up over 2% this morning on the news.

Amazing.

Don't Call Us, We'll Call You

(no, ...wait, that's not good either)

Jeff here. Wow. I was just reading the text of President Bush's speech yesterday.

"Director, thank you for joining me. Good morning. At this moment, somewhere in the world, terrorists are planning new attacks on our country."
Soak that statement up for a while. Bush continues...
"Their goal is to bring destruction to our shores that will make September the 11th pale by comparison. To carry out their plans, they must communicate with each other, they must recruit operatives, and they must share information. The lives of countless Americans depend on our ability to monitor these communications. Our intelligence professionals must be able to find out who the terrorists are talking to, what they are saying, and what they're planning."

Bush is pleading for 11th hour approval of the FISA bill. The bill allows listening and tracking of Americans calling Americans.
I realize Bush has become even less popular since we left nearly 2 years ago. But then I read Congress agrees with him. The bill will pass.

Judging by a lack of riots in the streets, I'm thinking there isn't any news coverage about this back home. Where there may be news coverage, it's only focused on legal immunity granted to telephone companies... [is that really a surprise?] Still, the bill will pass.

Here, my coworkers joke at how ironic it is ...how the US has today become what the Soviet Union was when they were children. Then, it was the KGB; today it's NSA & AT&T.
How does it happen?
I studied a lot of Soviet history in college. I remember reading the speeches from Kruschev and Brezhnev. If I substitute the word "capitalists" for "terrorists", I just gush with nostalgia. :)

Oh well. Just an observation. Meanwhile, if you do call, don't tell us anything too private. But we figure, if you have nothing to hide, it's all for the greater good, right?
Right, Comrade?