I am walking down the street, with the sun setting behind me. My pace is slow, I walk with a purpose but it is not apparent to me, as if I was watching myself from above. I am really drifting between the various moods that a certain album inspires. Then for some reason I think about consumption, and my appetite for everything; and I think about how I get obsessive over things and have to consume them. Not food, more like media and information, there is no such thing as too much information in my mind, there is always one more article I just have to read, one more profile to absorb, one more page to turn, one last paragraph to finish, one more episode, one more highlight reel, one more listen…and it does not stop
“I can't get no satisfaction“

So I fear as to what am I becoming, a consumer with a never-ending appetite that just wants to swallow everything and absorbs nothing. Is my soul empty and hollow? Am I just a product of greedy western consumer culture that takes all it can, regardless of necessity? Or do basic survival instincts take over and demand that I consume it all before it, or I disappear.

napping on trams

this is a dangerous topic my friends.

you get on a tram, and you are confident you will get home, however you have 10-15 stops to go till your stop...so slowly your eyelids start to close, and as you struggle to fight a losing battle your eyes give out, and you convince yourself its just for a station or two...

then before you know it, you are at a new station name, one you do not recognize, and now comes the issue.
do you walk left or right, if you follow logic, you know all tram stops before your stop, and thus when you get dropped of, you turn left and walk that way till you reach something you recognize.

unless you are Lav, then you go right, and you pass one tram stop and loo for familiar sights and as you dont see any, you keep walking, and you walk, past the next, and the next, and the next station, and soon you see a tram waiting in the distance (never good news, since it means you have reached a turning point for trams) but you walk towards because for some reason you are sure that is the way to go. As the tram leave the station you notice that there are no more tracks for you to follow, and that you have in fact reached the end of the tram line.

At this point you begin to curse. everything. mother father brother sister friend uncle cousin and anyone you cna think of, and you start to call people that may be awake so that you may bitch appropriately about the fuck up you just created. and hope that maybe they see some humor or positive side to it, because you surely do not.

when you realize that in fact everyone is sleeping and that no one gives a fuck that you are a fucking moron who sleeps on trams and they feel no pity or anything for your stupidity, that's when you realize that you have to walk back, all 4 tram stops, and even if that happens to be 2 miles, and there is nothing that is separating you from that fact, you are tied to it. if you wish to come home, you will walk, if not, you can nap on a street corner like a bum and hope to catch a morning tram...

the moral is my friends, do not sleep on trams, and if you do, when you get of, and you are unsure of your surroundings, always, ALWAYS turn left and walk towards the left side, as that will bring you back......


my legs and my brain is tired now, and to top it off....i missed an NBA playoffs game.....now that's a real reason to be damn pissed off!

Pasticada part II

2nd part of recipe

To the marinating mixture also add a glass of wine, and some chopped up onions, like 3-4 of those little bulbs that are the size of garlic bulbs, and several carrots
Now that the meat has sat overnight….take it out of the fridge, sauté a few onions that are chopped into quarters and add them to the mix, about a cup of tomato sauce, and then put it on the stove, and let it simmer, on a light fire, for a couple of hours. At this time, take out the chunk of meat, and cut it into long cuts (making sure that you cut with the meat ex. Do not cut against it, meaning go with the lines on the meat) that are about an inch thick. Then get your blender out, and slowly pour the veggies and sauce into it (several times if needs be) and blend thoroughly, return everything to the pot. And let it cook for another 30-45 minutes.
In a separate pot, bring to boil a lot of water, and toss some gnocchi in it. Make sure it’s enough gnocchi, and that they are at least 80% potato, or else they are not as good. Now with gnocchi you do not need to drain, as soon as one of the buggers floats up, he or she is done, and take him out, use one of those spoons with holes in it so that you do not take water too. It is crucial to take gnocchi out one by one, and not drain them like pasta, because some are done faster and some slower.
Place the gnocchi in a bowl, go to the pasticada, take out a few pieces of the meat, and place over the gnocchi, and cover in the sauce.

Enjoy….

p.s.
Make sure you have leftovers, because it tastes way better the 2nd day, and way way way better on the 3rd day, so I was not kidding when I said to make a lot. Also do not re heat in a microwave, put it on the stove. This only applies to the pasticada; the gnocchi should be made fresh each day!

p.p.s.

sorry no post sooner....was too busy eating pasticada....my favorite part is the sauce....i could eat just the sauce with some fresh bread....mmmmmmm

The times we are in

Good analogy...

When a fireman sees a house on fire, he sounds an alarm, dons his turnout gear, bravely rescues the occupants and puts out the fire.

When an investment banker sees a house on fire, he quietly sells the burning house short, uses the proceeds to buy a larger house for himself and, when someone suggests that his taxes be raised to help the homeless, he rails against the dangers of socialism.

I saw this at NY times this morning...i think its very appropriate

Update

A month has gone by and I am sure many are wondering ‘what has happened to this blog?’
Well nothing to be exact, I have posted some cool links and videos mainly on my facebook page since it is so much easier to link to that page. However this I can access from work thus it does also have some advantages when I just absolutely must publish something no matter the price.

In culinary news:
Made ‘pašticada’ with the dad two weekends ago, and it is an amazingly delicious dish, here is how we prepped and then made it.
First you buy a giant piece of beef (not baby beef, but older) about 2 kg (4-5 lbs) because when you make this it is for a lot of people or you want to eat it for a few days. Slice and dice any fat of the edges, now what we did next was amazing, get a blub of garlic, peel all the cloves, and start making small but deep cuts into the meat and stick the garlic cloves into the meat, do this all over the meat, from all sides. Next get some pieces of bacon, and now this is not the kind of bacon that is soft, you want the cured bacon, the one that you cut with a knife that is hard and not the soft stuff that you fry in the pan with eggs. Slice the bacon into pieces about a 2 cm (1 inch) in length and roughly the thickness of an iPod nano, and proceed to stuff them into the meat in the same manner as the garlic cloves.

Dump the meat into a giant pot, and I cannot stress enough how giant the pot should be, freaking huge, and also cut up a celery root into fairly large chunks, toss into the same pot, along with what I believe was some vine vinegar and a bit of water. (I will double check the amounts tonight, as I am making this again, and then update the post) and let it sit marinating overnight. (Again if I have missed anything this will be appended tonight to let you know)

We resume this recipe tomorrow when we begin the 2nd half  so you have something to wait for!

In upcoming trip news:
Its Easter soon which means that I am off to the bundesrepublik! To visit a lil burek eater that is demanding I bring her at least 2, but I know that she would prefer a minimum of 3!
It is going to be exciting as I am also tasked with brining back some hardware for my dad, and more than that, jenny will have loads of Easter chocolates and eggs and various things to make me get fat  which I love oh so very much.
And lets not forget that I am also going to get too see my burek eater! This is the whole point of the trip.

In sports news:
Liverpool is playing the best football I have seen a team play in a while, to beat Real Madrid in Madrid 1-0, then a week later trash them 4-0 at home, and a mere 4 days later go to Old Trafford and destroy Man United 4-1 speaks volumes! The club is on a roll, I can only hope that Arsenal gets their act together and makes some noise in the champions league as it is clear that domestically they are no match for Man U and Liverpool. DaSilva is back, which is great news for Croatia too, we really missed dudu, he is the spear of our team as we do not have anyone as capable of unlocking the game with some wizardry. Milan is getting older and older and one can only hope they reinforce their defense and attack with some fresh faces this summer, but somehow I doubt it will happen.
Lakers are doing great in the NBA, and D-Wade is tearing it up lately, though it seems as if LeBron got a bit annoyed at all the attention Wade was getting, so he went out and had 3 triple doubles in a row…BEAST!

In I am a working man news:
IM GETTTTTING PAID!!!!!!!
Yeah that’s all im going to say about that

In economic crisis news:
Some good news, some bad news, some interesting ideas, but really does anyone at all have a clear picture of what is going on? And has anyone give a good reason as to why we should or should not be bailing out corporations all across the world? It seems as if there is so much posturing on all sides and the media is loving it, especially as they were so disappointed that the election was over, they are loving this crisis, they can print print print about it day in day out. However they are adding nothing to the debate, and are actually taking away from what is important and focusing on issues that in the grand scheme of things do not matter that much. Most notably Rush Limbaugh, as if anyone really cares what twiddle dum has to say? Does it matter? And who gives a rats ass if he wants anyone to fail, hell I want him to fail, but I do not assume that I will be getting thousands of stories written about it, that all just repeat the same one quote and add nothing to any debate.
AIG, has managed to usurp Rush as the story, they paid out bonuses of 165 million $ to the same traders that almost collapsed the firm so that they can retain them. First off, this is about .1% of the total amount they have received from the government (170 BILLION $) THAT’S RIGHT 1 TENTH OF 1 PERCENT! Instead of focusing on the rest, and why should we sink even more money in a company that until 2 days ago was trading at 40 cents with 2.69 billion shares outstanding, that means you could own the whole company for 1.076.000.000 . This is roughly 1% of the amount of money the government has subsidized AIG with so far… chew on that for a minute
And all anyone can talk about is 165 million in bonuses, how about the fact that AIG is unlikely to be able to repay the 170 billion anytime in the next 2 decades….
Magicians everywhere know the tactic, show a shiny object in the left hand, while you pick pocket with the right hand, this is essentially what people in power do every day, and the media are such tools they fall for it every time.

A Confession

Since the spring, and most acutely this autumn, a global contagion of fear and panic has choked off the arteries of finance, compounding a broader deterioration in the global economy.

Financial institutions have an obligation to the broader financial system. We depend on a healthy, well-functioning system but we failed to raise enough questions about whether some of the trends and practices that had become commonplace really served the public’s long-term interests.

As policymakers and regulators begin to consider the regulatory actions to be taken to address the failings, I believe it is useful to reflect on some of the lessons from this crisis.

The first is that risk management should not be entirely predicated on historical data. In the past several months, we have heard the phrase “multiple standard deviation events” more than a few times. If events that were calculated to occur once in 20 years in fact occurred much more regularly, it does not take a mathematician to figure out that risk management assumptions did not reflect the distribution of the actual outcomes. Our industry must do more to enhance and improve scenario analysis and stress testing.

Second, too many financial institutions and investors simply outsourced their risk management. Rather than undertake their own analysis, they relied on the rating agencies to do the essential work of risk analysis for them. This was true at the inception and over the period of the investment, during which time they did not heed other indicators of financial deterioration.

This over-dependence on credit ratings coincided with the dilution of the coveted triple A rating. In January 2008, there were 12 triple A-rated companies in the world. At the same time, there were 64,000 structured finance instruments, such as collateralised debt obligations, rated triple A. It is easy and appropriate to blame the rating agencies for lapses in their credit judgments. But the blame for the result is not theirs alone. Every financial institution that participated in the process has to accept its share of the responsibility.

Third, size matters. For example, whether you owned $5bn or $50bn of (supposedly) low-risk super senior debt in a CDO, the likelihood of losses was, proportionally, the same. But the consequences of a miscalculation were obviously much bigger if you had a $50bn exposure.

Fourth, many risk models incorrectly assumed that positions could be fully hedged. After the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management and the crisis in emerging markets in 1998, new products such as various basket indices and credit default swaps were created to help offset a number of risks. However, we did not, as an industry, consider carefully enough the possibility that liquidity would dry up, making it difficult to apply effective hedges.

Fifth, risk models failed to capture the risk inherent in off-balance sheet activities, such as structured investment vehicles. It seems clear now that managers of companies with large off-balance sheet exposure did not appreciate the full magnitude of the economic risks they were exposed to; equally worrying, their counterparties were unaware of the full extent of these vehicles and, therefore, could not accurately assess the risk of doing business.

Sixth, complexity got the better of us. The industry let the growth in new instruments outstrip the operational capacity to manage them. As a result, operational risk increased dramatically and this had a direct effect on the overall stability of the financial system.

Last, and perhaps most important, financial institutions did not account for asset values accurately enough. I have heard some argue that fair value accounting – which assigns current values to financial assets and liabilities – is one of the main factors exacerbating the credit crisis. I see it differently. If more institutions had properly valued their positions and commitments at the outset, they would have been in a much better position to reduce their exposures.

For Goldman Sachs, the daily marking of positions to current market prices was a key contributor to our decision to reduce risk relatively early in markets and in instruments that were deteriorating. This process can be difficult, and sometimes painful, but I believe it is a discipline that should define financial institutions.

As a result of these lessons and others that will emerge from this financial crisis, we should consider important principles for our industry, for policymakers and for regulators. For the industry, we cannot let our ability to innovate exceed our capacity to manage. Given the size and interconnected nature of markets, the growth in volumes, the global nature of trades and their cross-asset characteristics, managing operational risk will only become more important.

Risk and control functions need to be completely independent from the business units. And clarity as to whom risk and control managers report to is crucial to maintaining that independence. Equally important, risk managers need to have at least equal stature with their counterparts on the trading desks: if there is a question about the value of a position or a disagreement about a risk limit, the risk manager’s view should always prevail.

Understandably, compensation continues to generate a lot of anger and controversy. We recognise that having troubled asset relief programme money creates an important context for compensation. That is why, in part, our executive management team elected not to receive a bonus in 2008, even though the firm produced a profit.

More generally, we should apply basic standards to how we compensate people in our industry. The percentage of the discretionary bonus awarded in equity should increase significantly as an employee’s total compensation increases. An individual’s performance should be evaluated over time so as to avoid excessive risk-taking. To ensure this, all equity awards need to be subject to future delivery and/or deferred exercise. Senior executive officers should be required to retain most of the equity they receive at least until they retire, while equity delivery schedules should continue to apply after the individual has left the firm.

For policymakers and regulators, it should be clear that self-regulation has its limits. We rationalised and justified the downward pricing of risk on the grounds that it was different. We did so because our self-interest in preserving and expanding our market share, as competitors, sometimes blinds us – especially when exuberance is at its peak. At the very least, fixing a system-wide problem, elevating standards or driving the industry to a collective response requires effective central regulation and the convening power of regulators.

Capital, credit and underwriting standards should be subject to more “dynamic regulation”. Regulators should consider the regulatory inputs and outputs needed to ensure a regime that is nimble and strong enough to identify and appropriately constrain market excesses, particularly in a sustained period of economic growth. Just as the Federal Reserve adjusts interest rates up to curb economic frenzy, various benchmarks and ratios could be appropriately calibrated. To increase overall transparency and help ensure that book value really means book value, regulators should require that all assets across financial institutions be similarly valued. Fair value accounting gives investors more clarity with respect to balance sheet risk.

The level of global supervisory co-ordination and communication should reflect the global inter-connectedness of markets. Regulators should implement more robust information sharing and harmonised disclosure, coupled with a more systemic, effective reporting regime for institutions and main market participants. Without this, regulators will lack essential tools to help them understand levels of systemic vulnerability in the banking sector and in financial markets more broadly.

In this vein, all pools of capital that depend on the smooth functioning of the financial system and are large enough to be a burden on it in a crisis should be subject to some degree of regulation.

After the shocks of recent months and the associated economic pain, there is a natural and appropriate desire for wholesale reform of our regulatory regime. We should resist a response, however, that is solely designed around protecting us from the 100-year storm. Taking risk completely out of the system will be at the cost of economic growth. Similarly, if we abandon, as opposed to regulate, market mechanisms created decades ago, such as securitisation and derivatives, we may end up constraining access to capital and the efficient hedging and distribution of risk, when we ultimately do come through this crisis.

Most of the past century was defined by markets and instruments that fund innovation, reward entrepreneurial risk-taking and act as an important catalyst for economic growth. History has shown that a vibrant, dynamic financial system is at the heart of a vibrant, dynamic economy.

We collectively have a lot to do to regain the public’s trust and help mend our financial system to restore stability and vitality. Goldman Sachs is committed to doing so.

The writer is chief executive of Goldman Sachs

From the financial times, http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0a0f1132-f600-11dd-a9ed-0000779fd2ac.html , at least one man, Lloyd Blankfein, has come out and said what they did, and the funny part is, Goldman Sachs was the only Investment Bank that made a profit last year. I want to see John Thain and company also come out and at least tell us what they did or at least admit what they messed up, show some pennance!


This is the industry that interests me, so i hope that they find a way out of this mess, through regulation and self review. Because as Blankfein says, 'a vibrant, dynamic financial system is at the heart of a vibrant, dynamic economy.'



-

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED LAST WEEK, THE SYSTEM MADE AN ERROR

-

World Handball Cup!

I know its a little late, but i have been busy and lazy. work, a jenny visit, and all other things considered...sorry for neglecting el blogo!

enjoy our celebrations of 2nd place in the world handball cup, that took place right here in croatia!





more videos







when second place feels like first place! :)

Disgusting

PRIVATE school: $32,000 a year per student.

Mortgage: $96,000 a year.

Co-op maintenance fee: $96,000 a year.

Nanny: $45,000 a year.

We are already at $269,000, and we haven’t even gotten to taxes yet.

Five hundred thousand dollars — the amount President Obama wants to set as the top pay for banking executives whose firms accept government bailout money — seems like a lot, and it is a lot. To many people in many places, it is a princely sum to live on. But in the neighborhoods of New York City and its suburban enclaves where successful bankers live, half a million a year can go very fast.

“As hard as it is to believe, bankers who are living on the Upper East Side making $2 or $3 million a year have set up a life for themselves in which they are also at zero at the end of the year with credit cards and mortgage bills that are inescapable,” said Holly Peterson, the author of an Upper East Side novel of manners, “The Manny,” and the daughter of Peter G. Peterson, a founder of the equity firm the Blackstone Group. “Five hundred thousand dollars means taking their kids out of private school and selling their home in a fire sale.”

Sure, the solution may seem simple: move to Brooklyn or Hoboken, put the children in public schools and buy a MetroCard. But more than a few of the New York-based financial executives who would have their pay limited are men (and they are almost invariably men) whose identities are entwined with living a certain way in a certain neighborhood west of Third Avenue: a life of private schools, summer houses and charity galas that only a seven-figure income can stretch to cover.

Few are playing sad cellos over the fate of such folk, especially since the collapse of the institutions they run has yielded untold financial pain. But in New York, where a new study from the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit research group in Manhattan, estimates it takes $123,322 to enjoy the same middle-class life as someone earning $50,000 in Houston, extricating oneself from steep bills can be difficult.

Therefore, even if it is not for sympathy but for sport, consider the numbers.

The cold hard math can be cruel.

Like those taxes. If a person is married with two children, the weekly deductions on a $500,000 salary are: federal taxes, $2,645; Medicare, $139; state taxes, $682; and city, $372. With an annual Social Security tab of $6,621, the take-home pay is about $293,000 annually, said Martin Cohen, a Manhattan accountant.

Now move to living expenses.

Barbara Corcoran, a real estate executive, said that most well-to-do families take at least two vacations a year, a winter trip to the sun and a spring trip to the ski slopes.

Total minimum cost: $16,000.

A modest three-bedroom apartment, she said, which was purchased for $1.5 million, not the top of the market at all, carries a monthly mortgage of about $8,000 and a co-op maintenance fee of $8,000 a month. Total cost: $192,000. A summer house in Southampton that cost $4 million, again not the top of the market, carries annual mortgage payments of $240,000.

Many top executives have cars and drivers. A chauffeur’s pay is between $75,000 and $125,000 a year, the higher end for former police officers who can double as bodyguards, said a limousine driver who spoke anonymously because he does not want to alienate his society customers.

“Some of them want their drivers to have guns,” the driver said. “You get a cop and you have a driver.” To garage that car is about $700 a month.

A personal trainer at $80 an hour three times a week comes to about $12,000 a year.

The work in the gym pays off when one must don a formal gown for a charity gala. “Going to those parties,” said David Patrick Columbia, who is the editor of the New York Social Diary (newyorksocialdiary.com), “a woman can spend $10,000 or $15,000 on a dress. If she goes to three or four of those a year, she’s not going to wear the same dress.”

Total cost for three gowns: about $35,000.

Not every bank executive has school-age children, but for those who do, offspring can be expensive. In addition to paying tuition, “You’re not going to get through private school without tutoring a kid,” said Sandy Bass, the editor of Private School Insider, a newsletter that covers private schools in the New York City area. One hour of tutoring once a week is $125. “That’s the low end,” she said. “The higher end is 150, 175.” SAT tutors are about $250 an hour. Total cost for 30 weeks of regular tutoring: $3,750.

Two children in private school: $64,000.

Nanny: $45,000.

Ms. Bass, whose husband is an accountant with many high-end clients, said she spends about $425 every 10 days on groceries for her family. Annual cost: about $15,000.

More? Restaurants. Dry cleaning. Each Brooks Brothers suit costs about $1,000. If you run a bank, you can’t look like a slob.

The total costs here, which do not include a lot of things, like kennels for the dog when the family is away, summer camp, spas and other grooming for the human members of the family, donations to charity, and frozen hot chocolates at Serendipity, are $790,750, which would require about a $1.6-million salary to compensate for taxes. Give or take a few score thousand of dollars.

Does this money buy a chief executive stockholders might prize, a well-to-do man with a certain sureness of stride, something that might be lost if the executive were crowding onto the PATH train every morning at Journal Square, his newspaper splayed against the back of a stranger’s head?

The man would certainly not feel like himself on that train, said Candace Bushnell, the author of “Sex and the City” and other books chronicling New York social mores.

“People inherently understand that if they are going to get ahead in whatever corporate culture they are involved in, they need to take on the appurtenances of what defines that culture,” she said. “So if you are in a culture where spending a lot of money is a sign of success, it’s like the same thing that goes back to high school peer pressure. It’s about fitting in.”

By the way, the frozen hot chocolate costs $8.50.

The fact that someone had the gall to write this is insulting. NYT should really think about what they publish, as i was unaware that they were into satire, and comedy.

The author should hang his/her head in shame for actually arguing that these people need full time nannies (hows about raising YOUR kids), limo drivers (WOW!), a Vacation home (it be nice, wouldnt it), $10,000 gowns (ARE YOU FUCKING SHITTING ME), and i mean it goes on and on

This sounds like a LUXURY whishlist, not a list of necessities for living in Manhattan or NYC, i am sure anyone of us can make a list of things we 'need' and are 'part of our social standing' but this takes it to the ridiculus heights, and only serves to show how out of touch with regular people these peddlers of crap are

Smiling Faces

I need to know this - cause I notice when you're smilin'
Out in the sun havin' fun and you're feelin' free
And I can tell you know how hard this life can be
But you keep on smilin' for me

Things that have made me smile recently:

Getting that giant 'zagrebacki'
Hearing Jenny got a perfect score on her exam in linguistics
Having a job
Buying a squeezer for oranges, to make fresh juice, my task for the week, and something I will appreciate every morning
Seeing that I have the flyest wardrobe for work at work
Wearing ties
Seeing my hair grow back in the way I want it to
Croatia kicking ass in the Handball World Cup
Getting some winter style socks (go above the ankles)
Sending cards with little yellow bears on them
Going on my first business trip
Having beers with my dad
Watching sports with Neven

Thing that will make me smile to most soon:

Jenny coming for 5 days
Getting to wake up next to her
Showing her more of Zagreb
GIVING HER THE BIGGEST KISS EVER!!!

Rain

Rain. Miserable. Rain.
It keeps coming. Never stopping. Never letting up. Persistence is the game. Grey skies. Muggy streets. Puddles that splash. Cars that drench. Wind breaking umbrellas.

I know that rain nourishes the land, fills our rivers and lakes, and is a life giver to all flora and fauna. But why does it have to rain in succession, day after day, never taking a break, not even for lunch. It weakens my spirit, tests my resolve, and restricts my movement, crushes my plans, ruins my coats, stains my shoes.
I am a whiner at times, I know it, and anyone who knows me knows it. I am a happy person, always thinking the best of people, or situations, but some things get me in such a funks that make me feel like a piece of rotten wood, still the same on the outside, but decayed on the inside. Rain does that. It hides from me the thing I love the most, the sun. And honestly I whine rarely, I tend to suck things up, or so I think, feel free to be honest.
Last weekend, it was sunny, for a few hours on Saturday morning. It was perfect. I was ready for that Saturday, I would make the most of the sunshine, I would enjoy the day to its fullest. Go for a run, walk around the city, sit in a cafe outside and read a paper. Instead by the time I made it home from the market, the grayness took over, the sun was stolen from me. It threatened to rain, but the clouds did not follow through, and it was just gray for a few days. Then Monday evening on my way home from the gym I noticed something, the temperature dropped, and quickly, usually it is warmer after a workout cause my blood is flowing and I am all pumped up, but not this time, I stepped outside and it was chilly as if I had entered a meat cooler, and right then and there I knew what was coming. Sure enough it began to rain, and it has not stopped yet, it is not hard rain, or fat rain, or another kind of rain that Forest Gump described, unless you really paid attention and remember that rain that last for months, the monsoon, and well this is not a monsoon, but in my mind it is.
Miami has rain, it is furious, it comes down hard and fast, umbrellas are useless as the splashes from the ground get you soaked, and the rain comes from all directions, so you will get wet. But the rain comes and goes, it never lingers, it does its job in an efficient manner. Here the rain has that Mediterranean spirit, work for 10 minutes, go easy, work 10 minutes, go easy, take a break (but not an official one, so keep drizzling in the slightest), work hard for 20 minutes, and then ease up again, and so on and on. It is funny, but the way the rain falls here corresponds to the pace of life, it is slow, no one is in a rush, and everything can be resolved, slowly. Miami, everyone is in a rush, nothing can wait 5 minutes, and if you are not going full speed you fell like your life is passing you by. I know most think, well the beach is relaxing, well no its not, it is active, barbeque, football, soccer, carrying a heavy cooler full of beer, swimming, sure you take a nap here and there, but you always feel more exhausted when you come home from the beach then you did going to the beach.
Rain. Miserable. Rain.

A meal for a lion

So I got a real treat this weekend, it was an amazing event, one of cosmic proportions!

Look at the size of that CORDON BLUE, it is larger than my elbow to my tips of fingers, man oh man. What we have here is a piece of Veal that has been sliced in half, filled with cheese and ham, closed, battered and lightly fried. It is approximately 45 cm (17.7) long and it is quite a bit of meat, cheese, ham and all coated into one amazing piece of food.

So I heard that there was no way that I would ever finish this, that "bigger men then you have knelt before the 'zagrebacki' and walked away proud to have come half way" and that I would get a tip of the hat as a man's man if I was to take the whole piece out. Now naturally that is not the goal, the goal is to eat a meal, meaning, a bowl of salad, the 'zagrebacki', the potatoes, and dessert. My dad was laughing at me before we got the food. He saw the look in my eyes, I was a kid who was about to get the biggest treat ever, but he also thought that there was no way that I would finish it all, I mean how could I, usually this was shared by two people and there were leftovers to be had.



That is me at the halfway mark, the first half has been digested, the salad is gone, and the roasted potatoes are proving to be no match for me. I am ready for more with the knowledge that this has been nothing for a man of my appetite. Let me though give you some info on this lovely piece of meat. It is veal, meaning it is about as soft as a baby skin, and it melts in your mouth, chewing is optional. There is a delicious ooze of cheese with every slice of the knife that just adds flavor (and fills you) and makes your mouth tingle. The only issue was that I am a hasty fellow and well biting into this is a bit tricky, cause the cheese is reallllly hot, so if you are an over eager eater like me, then chances are you will burn your mouth, and even your teeth will feel like they are en fuego!



Last quarter before me, and I am feeling like Kobe must feel, the game is on the line, it all comes down to this, but I feel no pressure, and I have never been more confident in my stomach then I am at this moment!



There is the last bite before me, and I am not even straining, the potatoes are gone, and I feel like I got a 10 point lead with 30 seconds to go. The other team can try to foul me, but they got no chance, and so I prepare for the last bite of this delicious 'zagrebacki' and I know that I will miss the big guy, and wish that he was just a bit longer so we can spend some more time admiring one another.



Now I’m a bit sad, I got nothing left in front of me and I think that I could fit another one in me, and not strain. That could be the wine thinking though; it has been by my side to wash down each mouthful.



What this.....it’s a piece of my dad's schnitzel and it is all mine!!! MMMMmmMMMM it is a perfect filler for my tummy and I polish it off with the biggest smile on my face, knowing that I have conquered the 'zagrebacki' and then some, just cause I can.



Clean plate ladies and gents! That is how Lav does it....



ICE CREAM!!!!!!! Man this really is my day! And the waiters were confused, we ordered 2 scoops of ice cream for me, but with two different waiters, and I had just polished the first bowl, when the second waiter comes with another bowl! He drops it on the table and says it is on the house....and my smile just grows as I go to town on the second ice cream bowl, which was more like 4 scoops, compared to the first one. I let my dad get in on the ice cream action too, but he is looking like the guy in monthy python, and is refusing the last bombon for fear of exploding. Me, I am as happy as a fat kid can be, as long as I’m not actually a fat kid!


I ate my ass of, and the best part was that everything is so well made with such good ingredients that I did not feel bloated, nor was I queasy. Nope I was satisfied and hoping to return again soon and enjoy my meal with a little less pressure then this time. Safe in the knowledge that tomorrow at work, two colleagues will be tipping their hats to me.

A interesting side note, this did not sit on my stomach the whole day, nope, it was so damn good and well cooked and free of trans fats and grease that it was less heavy on the stomach then a double whopper which once had me feeling like I had 10 extra pounds of rocks in my stomach.

Restaurant Ribic will be a tour stop for anyone who comes to visit me in Croatia, the food is amazing, the portions make the big cheese seem stingy, the service is first rate, and the wine is smooth and easy flowing. The vibe is totally Miami with light pink/orange, grapefruit colored, walls and waiters wearing similar dress shirts. So come one come all, I challenge you to an eating contest! My belly knows no fear!

And the biggest props go to Dad, aka Berni, for taking me for the amazing lunch! I owe you one.

HVALA TATA ZA RUCAK!!!!!

update, no smart thoughts at all, disregards this really, its a pointless entry

What is there to say, I am now a working man, or rather i am a man who is supposed to be working. The transition into a job is not a hard process, getting something to actually do, unless you are heading a department is. So my day is spent at some meetings where we have some basic level introductions to department heads, and there are plenty of them, then we create a short memo of the meeting, and then poof, back to kind of, sort of, do not really mention it, but doing nothing. See that is the issue, we will have a project coming up next week, and untill then, we are kind of in that state where there is nothing to do, the prep work is done, and we are waiting on documentation to analyze before we go in.

Why in the hell am I possibly complaining about having a lack of work? This guy is nuts, but really I am dying to do something, to learn something, to be needed for my brain, or what is left of it since it began a prolonged vacation last April.

Jenny is on her way back to SOUTH CENTRAL EUROPE, which makes me excited, she promises to bring supplies (gummies, milkas, nutella, kinder, all those things kids like me love). I am hoping she brings good weather like she did the last time she came here, that was appreciated. T’was warm back then, I am down with warm coming back. Plus it will be good to see Jenny go beer for beer with Neven and then have them discuss German television celebrities as I wonder why the hell I am still paying attn. to such a silly convo. If it is actually nice and warm weather then I would love to take the little one to Plitvice for a day.

I am getting a business phone, that can only call within the firm, which is pretty useless when you think about it. It has no benefits of someone paying your cell  which sucks, cause I was dying for a job perk, alas that will have to wait.

Luna has arrived in Rome, I wonder how that experience will be for her, I am sure it will be amazing, you cannot have more fun then studying abroad. Pretty much all you do is drink and party, and claim you are studying and learning a culture, where really what you learn is to say cheers, order a round of shots, a pitcher of beer, and where you can get the best drunk snack at 4 am. Yeah, I want to see pictures. She should do a blog to document her trip, but then again Luna is far to lazy for that I think.

Adventures in Germany II

Part Deux,

On a cold and blustery day, which was similar to most every day, Jen and I hopped into the little speedsters precious Honda and set off to Osnabruck. First order of business was Michi, who had recently become a daddy which in itself is a bit of a shock considering that less than a year and a half ago he was in Miami, partying with us like a nice irresponsible twenty something, and now he has a precious bundle that just wants to put stuff in his mouth, that he calls Len. It was great to see Jen get down and play with the little kid, she always claims that she has no interest in babies and how she is not a big fan but everyone knows she is a total softie on the inside, and just pretends to be a tough cookie. But you really get to see how becoming a dad changes someone, as Michi was totally obsessed with his boy, he was showing us videos that were taken three days ago, and it was as if it was not even for us but more for himself that he wanted to see them again, and not miss a single moment of Len's life, which was so admirable.

Following our baby adventure, we went to see the BIG BABY, or at least I claim would be the perfect Halloween costume for large. We went to his house, where his dad kept bottles of beer popping out of nowhere and Pascal made sure that there was a never ending cast of visitors stopping by. I have to say it was totally cool. I think almost every single person that I have met who has visited Pascal in the almost 2 years that we lived together showed up on a freezing Sunday night to chit chat, relieve old stories and see what everyone has been up to since the last time we met up. It is strange because I was like a host for most of the visitors in Miami, showing them around, giving them tips on where to go, and taking them out clubbing. It is strange but I kind of like the role of being the host, and someone who leads others around and shows them the best of a place, or at least what he thinks is the best of the place. Jenny is similar I have a feeling she loves it too, but she is more of a democracy then I am, I just take people where I think is good, and really discourage them from places that do not interest me, Jen is much more open and willing to let them do what they want to do. In any case it was a great evening seeing Pascal and everyone. It is so strange but when Jen and me were casting for a house mate way back in November of 06, never did we imagine that the 6 ft 8inches (205 cm) giant that had to bend his head to walk through doors would turn out to be such a great roommate and a great friend. That was the Benevento house, and anyone who happened to spend some time there during the 2 years we were there for knows what I am talking about, there was always something going on, you were never for a second bored or lonely in the Benevento house, there were visitors, parties, basketball game watching, beach days, barbecues and countless pregames held there.

Next day J and I anticipated that we would be going back to the Heartz for skiing and snowboarding, but thank god that we did not, we were both so totally tired and exhausted. Instead we spent the day chilling and then we had Large come over to Bad Oeynhausen and we all went to the Bali Therme, which is a kickass place. It is a bunch of pools that are heated by underground springs, and it has a whole Indonesian vibe feel where the three of us recapped our times in Miami and tried to make plans for when we would all see each other again.

SKIIIING! That was the news of the day, it was time for shaky knee's Lav to learn to Ski, and man oh man, was that an adventure. So first is walking in those boots, man that is a mission, and has anyone noticed that Ski's are kind of heavy, not at first, but when you have to climb up to get to the slope cause that’s the only way there, dude....Once I got there I strapped in and started going, well going is not the right way to describe it, I would being to slide and freak out. Usually like a bad cartoon I would go down backwards, sideways and any which way, I would attempt to break but that was laughable, mainly I would fall into a heap of cris crossed ski’s and my legs in angles I never dreamed I could pull off. But those initial problems were quickly solved and I thought myself to be well on my way, except I had to learn how to turn and that is no easy feat, or at least not when your instructor, and well mine being Jen’s dad who has been skiing since before he was born, tells you to lean into the valley (meaning put all your weight into that big drop down there and do not worry it will all be ok) which seems simple enough, except what you know you should do and what your body does are two total opposite things, it took me some time to get used to that. I ended up in several hedges of the forest because of my lack of shifting weight in the turn, or not mastering slowing down into the turn and thus just ramming myself right into the forest, where my ski’s would be so tangled I looked like those people who play the game where you spin the spinner and put your hands and legs on the colored patches on plastic and you end up in funky contorted usually very explicit poses. Now I managed to get a hang of the whole turning thing soon, and I was picking up speed, a few times I would go into a turn and come out going twice as fast somehow and then with my increased speed it resulted in lack of future turns on the way down, and into a full speed descent down the mountain…..not a good idea if you cannot stop, so just about when it looked like I would crash into the host of people waiting by the lift, I decided to sacrifice for my fellow humans by throwing myself onto the ground and trying to stop by clawing my hands into the snow.
All in all it was amazing, after about two hours I felt like a pro, which is why you see that facebook picture of me, do I not look like I could be in a slalom race, or any of those? I was totally impressed with Jen though; man she can board like it is nothing. I mean wow, totally cool, I will have to try that next time, she was weaving and curling and it was impressive to see her look so damn cool! I also managed to fall of the lift once, and instead of just going to the line and getting a free lift up again, I walked up the whole way, like a moron in snow shoes in snow that was knee deep. Let me just say that this was the first and last time that I will ever do that again, I was so damn tired of carrying those ski’s up the slope and trying to not have my feet sink to my knees on every step.
With that our adventures in northern Germany were coming to a close, we had some great times, lots of great dinners (the duck was delicious, especially when Jen’s dad pretended he was dancing with the duck just to scare Jenny, who has a fear or rather is completely disgusted by raw meat). It was New Year’s Day and we had a date with a train back to Mannheim. A pleasant 5 hour ride later we were in Mannheim and planning for the evening, we would be going to a club called Baton Rouge with some students from Jen’s Uni, including Simon who was this totally nice dude who just happened to be completely wasted, and was hilarious all night long. The DJ was pretty good and we had some fun time dancing, but the time seemed to go by real fast, it was almost 3 am before we noticed and all of a sudden it felt as if the playlist was on repeat as the same songs were coming back on, probably the DJ had some extra bubbly and was in no mood to keep up the creativity so we slowly made our way home. I say slowly, because the whole city was icy, I do not know if it rained or what but there was a thin layer of ice everywhere that made for some nice sliding, though it was fun to slide for a few meters until I almost cracked head a few times and was more careful.
Then slowly the worst days started coming, it is when you know that the trip is almost over, and I was about to be heading back to Zagreb again, and parting with Jenny. You always hear how people can get used to anything, that it is just a matter of routine, well Jen and I have parted ways so many times, and it is never easy, in fact it is harder with each visit. We made some lovely dinners and lunches those last few days, and watched several movies, it was a great time, on the last night we went out to this cocktail bar that is on top of a tower, it is in the center of Mannheim and it overlooks the whole city, 360 degrees around, a great view. There was talk of some cocktail specials but alas they had changed the specials with the new year, so I was ready to order some celebrity (the names of all the cocktails are celebrity names, and they kind of go with their personality) when I see a picture of Clint Eastwood looking all cool and well like Clint Eastwood, so I had to have his drink, and Jenny had a Jude Law, which is hilarious cause I always imagined Jude Law as a sissy, and when she got some large glass that had pineapple, and all other fruits I knew it was Jude Law for sure, there was barely a hint of alcohol which confirmed that Jude Law is a girly drink and a girly dude. Clint was like a kick up the ass, it was 3 kinds of rum with a dash of lime juice and lemon squeezed into him, Jenny said that she could smell the alcohol across the table. We even got to go drinks, I had Uma Thurman and Jen tried another English/Scottish/British/Pompous actor, who in this case was Colin Farrell, who I will admit was more of a manly drink then Jude Law could ever hope to be.
With that my trip was over, all that remained was a train ride to the airport, and one tearful goodbye with my Jenny, we parted ways on a train platform, with tears and kisses, totally movie cliché style, I even had something fall out of my pocket onto the tracks, but to be honest, I would not have had it any other way. There was the slight matter of finding a seat on a packed and booked out train, while having tears down your cheeks that was a bit unsettling and got me a seat quicker than normal, but that was that. Oh yeah, I was 7 kilos overweight and had to repack, and pay a bit of a fee, but it was worth it. I even have olive oil that Jenny got me, along with 10 milka chocolates :) All in all my adventures in Germany were awesome, and there was not a thing I would change about them, well except to appreciate every hug and kiss more than I did, and maybe try and not get a cold sore on the second day, and thus lose about 7 days of getting kissed.

Let it Snow

Isnt it amazing, thats from my window, in the morning.
I woke up and saw that the city was covered in white gold, twas so pretty, and the park outside my window had yet to have a single step ruin the perfection of the snow blanket that fell over Zagreb.


This was as I walked toward a tram station in New Zagreb, where i was picking up some documents related to work, i loves how the trees and the tracks looked.



Snow is so amazing, it covers all the imperfections and makes everything a pristine white, until people wake up, move around, cars make their way, then it becomes a gray/black mixture that looks like rain puddles and is far from the perfection it was before.

What i loved most about the snow today, as i was taking my grandma to her doctor, was that there was a beautiful blue clear sky above me, with a sun shining so bright, white gold all around the floor, and snow was still falling, there were amazing flakes trickling down.....

Adventures in Germany I

I have just come back from an amazing vacation in Germany, I was there for 15 days. I arrived in Stuttgart, and went right to Mannheim to see Jen, who had a little cold, that she managed to brave very well. We made it to Heidelberg with her buddy Fabian and some other peoples the following night, for what was an eventful night (I broke my jacket in two places, we met people who are going to MBA in the USA without taking the GMAT, and we managed to freeze our asses off). I had my UniClub experience the following night, now this is truly something everyone should have: You arrive in this restaurant/bar/wooden place, where they have great beer on tap in all sizes, with large tables and lots of cushy pillows to sit on, if you look up onto the ceiling you will notice that there are tables glued to it, looking down at you like a mirror, with cutlery, menu's and everything glued on, but the real treat is the SCHNITZEL! Two big pieces that come with a mountain of thin crispy french fries, and a large portion of salad....MMMMmmmmMMMMM

Then was the train ride to Bad Oeynhausen, which lasted 6 long hours, mainly due to severe train delays cause of an engine problem, and more likely the fact that half of Germany was on a train going somewhere for the holidays. But the ride was worth it, we get to Jen's parents house and we have fresh squeezed OJ waiting for us, and dinner....MMMMmmmMMMMM again. Delicious, you really could not have asked for more, it was some soft meat in a sick sauce, man i was drooling over it! Christmas came and went, I gave some hopefully good presents, and I received some lovely ones a scarf, tie, soft as all hell towel, sweater, chocolates, etc. And ate a good piece of fish, very nice! There also was a 7km walk around some swamps, which was good, cause the air was fresh, and the walk was nice, i like to walk, and i mean the swamps were not much, in fact not even swampy, a few ponds, and some amazing sunset pictures, and others



We went hiking up the Brocken, which was a total trip, it looked like a winter wonderland. I seriously felt as if i was in the disney cartoon, and there was someone singing

Gone away is the bluebird,
Here to stay is a new bird
He sings a love song,
As we go along,
Walking in a winter wonderland.

Damn disney, im looking for a clip and i cannot find anything, they are tight asses with videos of that little mouse. Suffice it to say that it was amazing, a clear blue sky

and snow everywhere, pine trees covered with snow, and the whole time i was expecting a white tiger or moose or some other winter animal to come out of the trees and greet us....and half the time we were walking on half a meter of snow on top of little streams or who knows what, but it was not a path by any means, we just kind of went into the forest and navigated, SPECTACULAR!....and i love this picture
Thats my Jenny chilling over a bridge with a stream flowing underneath, with the top kind of fake frozen, but the current strong underneath...the solitude you feel while walking is crazy, one moment there are 10 other people there, and you turn a corner and you feel as if there is no one for miles, and you are lost in a forest and who knows what kind of snow wolf will eat you


There is a feeling of peacefulness and total calm that you feel as you climb a winding path towards a target with snow all around you. The sun beating down on you, making you reconsider wearing that sweater under the jacket as you begin to sweat, and yet the snow is showing no signs of giving up its domination of the terrain. As soon as you turn a corner you are more grateful for the sweater's warmth as the shade makes the temperature drop several degrees in an instant.

Tomorrow on the blog: Skiing, LARGE, New Years, Mannheim, Train Scams, Leaving Jen, Zagreb again

If

IF

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream-and not make dreams your master;
If you can think-and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And-which is more-you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling