My “new” job

I am in the newsroom of Romania Libera. Very “american” I can say still I will keep my opinion about the thing I do not like to hear people from other departments talking (actually shouting) on the phone or shouting to each other. But with all this noise…I should be very happy about my brandly new Mac computer, so this is an extra point for the new working place. Another point is coming from the thing that “the end of the city” (where was the office till some weeks ago) became “down town” and it’s COOL to work downtown. So I am COOL. Or how a friend of mine said: I’m cool and trendy. Gye!!! I’ll let you know people what’s arroung my desk in this new newsroom.

Warsaw is cool, and actually hard to leave

Somewhere in September 2005 I was making jokes with my friends from Otopeni Airport (passports control officers). The subject: I am leaving again somewhere on this planet. I was quite excited because I knew nobody in Warsaw, except prof. Wojciech Wloch that was in touch with me for papers and info I needed.

Arriving in Warsaw. Going to what I was to call “home” in the next 4 months. A very nice “gate keeper” wished me was there to wish me welcome, and actually I feel the need to say that he is the nicest one from the four gate keepers the school has.

After almost four months it is quite hard to prepare for “the trip back”. I got used with my not-early-morning-breakfasts. I love to have lunch in a communist place, one of those places where are fat ladies that are smiling to me all the time even they do no get a word from what I am saying. I love the food you can buy there. Cheap and good. Ok, not always good because it depends on the “women mood”… you know!

I will miss tram 35 (going down town) and tram 22 (going to the train station).

I will miss Arkadia Shopping Center (Good bless this mall - one tram stop from my house).

I will miss my two “offices”: Wojciech one and the library.

I will miss Piotr - the against everything guy, even against me at a point! (friends know why).

And apart from all this I will miss the people, those people that tried how they could to make my life easier and better. So I’ll try to finish this post till my first tear will appear. I’ll say that this post is for “friendship” and for Wojciech, Viktoria, Mariusz (or professor Mariusz ), Aniska and Maryna. Many thanks to one of the cleaning guys - “the big scarry back haired guy”.

Things that I’ve learned in Poland:
- Never say NO to a Polish that offers you a beer. Never say NO to the same Polish offering you the second beer. Never say NO for the third beer, from the same Polish person … And this is the rule of “who fall first”.

- Never talk to a Polish about how great Russians are.

- Never talk to a Polish about how great Germans are.

- Never name the actual President of the Republic.

- Never talk in another language than Polish because you risk to loose your energy without being understood anyway.

- Never take in a bus or tram without a ticket.

- Avoid McDonalds, KFC and so on cause they are not different that the ones from your country.

- Do not stress yourself with running around stores to buy clothes. You will never find something cheaper that in C&A and H&M. If you really want good shoes go to BATA.

- Never use LOT Polish Airlines services. Aircraft sucks and prices are huge. No …they are extremely huge. No…. they are too huge to be true. Please be kind with your wallet and pay few euros to Wizzair (actually cool airline), SkyEurope, Ryanair and EasyJet.

- If you want to buy books, DVDs… and other stuff go to EMPICK.

A new project is online

One of my projects here in Warsaw was to build the english version of the Giedroyc College of Communication and Media website. Today I presented the website to the International Relations Department and also to school’s President. And now I am proudly to anounce that the site is already on the server.

You can have a look at http://www.wskims.edu.pl/english/ .

Nu-i o rusine sa muncesti

Asta cred eu. Nu conteaza ca esti om de serviciu, nu conteaza ca speli trotuarele cu detergenti, nu conteaza ca sadesti plante in parcurile orasului. Nu conteaza pentru ca muncesti. Tot munca este si ca faci trotuarul in Berlin (in Germania chiar au carte de munca si taie chitante si platesc impozite), Milano, Amsterdam sau Paris, nu conteaza nici macar ca esti unul dintre sutele de romani gay din pietele Romei care asteapta sa pcie strainu pentru una mica la un hotel de 5 stele. Practici cea mai veche meserie din lume, deci muncesti.

16 ianuarie, orele 09.00. M-am trezi dupa vreo 11 de ore de somn (simteam nevoia noptile anterioare pierzandu-le cu prietenii pe strazile Varsoviei vechi). Mi-am luat laptopul in poala si am inceput sa lucrez. La vreo 10 minute, timp in care va dati seama am muncit greu,maestrul Subiectiv imi da un link pe messenger. Un link catre myjob.ro. M-am mirat pentru ca nici nu m-am intors in tara si stiu cate proiecte am de inceput - deci ca atare numai joburi noi nu vreau. Ei dragii mei, iata ce am citit eu in domeniulservicii/logistica :

Stanescu AF
Post full-time pe Bucuresti
Oferta este valabila in perioada 13.01.2006 - 12.02.2006.
Descrierea firmei: prestari servicii profesionale

Stanescu AF angajeaza persoana studii medii in conditii avantajoase la IML pentru spalat morti. Conditii avantajoase, plata se face in functie de volumul muncii prestate cu suma de 200 RON/cadavru.

Am incercat sa ma abtin… sa nu rad … credeti-ma, trebuie sa ma credeti. Dar pur si simplu nu am putut. M-am stricat de ras pur si simplu. Nu pot sa cred asa ceva. Stiam ca exista pe undeva prin tarile extrem de dezvoltate, dar la noi la Romania, tara mai conservatoare din fire…stiam rudele decedatului fac aceasta operatiune.

Am vrut sa pun linkul aici …dar nu mai merge. S-o fi scos anuntul sau s-a angajat careva?

Am tras si o conversatie cu o pritena pe messenger:

Eu: auzi ia citeste anuntul asa (si ii copy/paste textul)
Ea: tu glumesti, nu?
Eu: nu, nu glumesc; e real
Ea: de ce mi l-ai trimis?
Eu: stiam ca iti cauti un job
Ea:tu imi esti prieten sau ce?
Eu: Hai ma ca daca ai trei pe saptamana te scoti, 2400 RON pe luna
Ea: asa e
Eu: pe mine ma batea gandul, dar nu ma bag singur
Ea: esti nebun
Eu: daca ai realizat asta abia acum e grav papusha
Ea: hi hi
Ea: Eu zic sa sunam acum
Ea: poate nu angajat inca

Later on:

Ea: mergem?
BUZZ!!!
BUZZ!!!
Ea: ai plecat fara mine la ……noul job?
Eu: stai ma ca imi refaceam cv-ul

Si totusi imi mentin opinia: nu este o rusine sa muncesti!

Dupa o scurta pauza…

Am luat si eu o scurta pauza, doamnele si domnii mei care va obositit sa cititi aceste randuri. Intre timp am lucrat la versiunea in engleza a site-ului pentru universitatea aceasta din Varsovia unde ma aflu, am fost la Londra la o conferinta despre “Europa si terorismul” si am zburat cu elicopterul deasupra Varsoviei, ramanand pur si simplu fascinat.

Londra nu mai e Londra aia de acum 4 ani pe care o stiam eu sau mai bine zis pe care nu o stiam eu. Londra e mai plina de viata, e mai luminoasa, e mai reala si mai ireala in acelasi timp. Londra e totusi naspa. Nu-mi plac britanicii si gata! Sunt cam rasist …dar accentul ala oxfordian si pupincurismul vadit indreptandu-se spre cel american ma scoate din sarite. Ma mai scot din sarite alcoolicii si drogatii pe care sincer nu pot sa-i suport chiar in autobuzele care circula prin centru. Urasc si “Roata Mileniului” pentru ca nu pot sa ma urc in ea… imi este frica si gata. Si totusi imi place ceva … nu stiu cu siguranta ce, dar Londra nu copiaza. Londra este intr-un fel unica in stralucirea si mizeria ei.

Varsovia s-a vazut total diferit din elicopter si am constata ca elicopterul nu e Boeing si Boeingul nu e elicopter. Superb! Nu spun mai mult ca risc sa nu mai termin cu scrisu’.

A gipsy in Naples

Why I love low cost!

Have a look here people and tell me what do you think!
Flying EasyJet seems like traveling by train on Bucharest-Timisoara route.
I know its low cost and there are some risk…but still the prices are too good … and they are true! He he!

PS. for this post I havent take any money from EasyJet staff.

Me on the net

This should be in a “selfish” category .
Look what i found when I searched for some Alitalia news on Yahoo! News:

@))% si @))^

@))%

- am stat o saptamana la Berlin unde m-am simtit minunat impreuna cu gasca vesela formata din urmatoarele exemplare feminine: Mona, Iela si Sheila;
- am vazut de doua ori Johannesburgul care m-a fascinat, m-a cucerit, m-a lasat fara cuvinte;
- am prestat 12 cu Alitalia, 4 zboruri cu BlueAir, 4 cu AirFrance, 4 cu Malev, 3 cu KLM, 2 cu WizzAir, 2 cu El Al si un singur zbor cu LOT. Toate acestea inseamna mai multe zboruri decat calatorii cu trenul ceea ce ma face sa ma simt minunat si sa-mi urez cel putin tot atatea in 2006.
- am achizitionat una bucata laptop;
- rubrica mea din suplimentul Timpul Liber a fost mult discutata (de bine) in cadrul unor focus grupuri legate de un “rebranding” la Romania Libera; In urma acestui fapt ma voi alege cu un salariu decent si cu alte proiecte despre care nimeni de la ziar nu-mi spune despre ce e vorba in propozitie;

Chestii pe care le-am omis in @))% dar le rezolv in @))^

- sa ma duc sa-mi depun actele pentru cetatenia greaca (prietenii stiu de ce pot si de ce vreau!);
- sa devin tare si mare jurnalist la Romania Libera si sa fiu atat de tare incat sa se bata altii pe mine si sa-mi dau demisia (I wish! );
-  sa imi schimb telefonul mobil care tocmai a implinit un an si nu se mai poate trai cu asemenea vechitura;
- sa imi cumpar caine;
- sa nu mai sun la Orange si sa astept 45 de minute ca sa le spun ca nu platesc factura pe 10 ci pe 20 sau 25 ale lunii;
- Sa-l aduc pe Zack la Bucuresti;
- Sa zbor cu MyAir Bucuresti-Napoli, pentru a ii injura si mai bine ca de 4 ani bag sute de euro Alitaliei in buzunar, si ca ei au pus ruta asta directa abia cand m-am mutat eu la Varsovia.

My flickr.com account

As you can see in the sidebar I have opened to the public my flickr.com account. I created it 6 months ago but I never used it properly. Now I think I should start to use it …so here I am.

The direct link is: http://flickr.com/photos/cristiqs. Enjoy!

Changes … in the house

No, no, no! Not at home. In the house of the blog. I am proud to announce that today (just in few hours) I managed to pass from my old blogging software (b2evolution) to WordPress.

Steps:
- installation
- configuration of a new data base
- importing the posts from the old data base
- creating a new theme with the boardingmedia.net actual look (this took me most of the time during the changing process)

If you will discover anything working wrong please just post a comment to let me know about the “buba”.

Back in cyberspace

I choused to not be very active during the holiday, to let my laptop to rest a bit (I wish I could believe my self when I am saying this), to try to not do not spend 25 from 24 hours a day in the front of the computer. Hmmmm… mission accomplished, I can say. But now …back to business, so back to work. In the next days I have to work my but off. There are many things that are waiting for being finished or waiting to start working on them.
But this is a future story. Let�s see some of the latest events that took place in the days when I “de-planed” boardingmedia.net.

ATLASSIB PACK - My mother decided that she cant eat some of the traditional Romanian Christmas “goodies” if her son do not have some too. So she made a pack and she sent it with Atlassib to Napoli. One year ago she did the same, but at that time in Napoli there was no agency so I had to wait for the bus 3 hours (freezing!) in a central square. For one month Atlassib has open an agency so I said to my self it will be much easier. Who I was trying to convince? I knew the day when the pack should arrive. I called the agency and they told me to come next day to take it. Next day in the morning I called again and they told me that the pack arrived but they have it in the car at the moment and they will take it out.
Me and Zack went on a very “nice” raining (cats and dogs) weather in the middle of nowhere (there’s the agency!) to take the pack. When we arrived the car was gone and they didn�t take the pack out. The car was supposed to be back in an hour so we went to have a tea. After tea we saw the car …that arrived and was leaving again. We go to ask …the pack was not mine. “Probably will arrive to night” the guy said to me. Should I make a nerve crisis or not?

Next day - … the weather was better. Lots of sun. The pack was there, we took it an we left. We took a tram. In the tram were us and 4 other persons in the front of the car. At a certain point one guy (around 50) went in the back and it started pissing (probably after he took his dick out ). He finished and he went back to sit. Nobody said anything. I was not able to say something, Zack was probably afraid. Napoli is not really a safe place if you know what I mean … And you know cause some of you are living in Bucharest.

New year’s night - Quite interesting. The “Blanket Hotel” (”cabana plapumioara”) had good conditions. Me and Zack eating, drinking, eating and drinking again, watching tv, making bad jokes about each other. Around 23.45 the “war” started outside. Subiectiv, my friend what are you saying there, was nothing, believe me!

January, 3rd - Fuck! Back to work! No, no, no! Alitalia should have canceled the flight! Why the fuck they are canceling them when I don�t want this to happen??? Shit! Back to work. Damn! Hate Alitalia and it “too regular schedule”. Again “fuck” and I can go on like this till … who knows when.

January, 3rd (while I was writing this post) - I just got this e-mail:
Hi, Ciao!
Complimenti per il tuo eccellente sito “non ufficiale” sul sistema metropolitano di Napoli. Bella la veste grafica e le immagini! Io scrivo in un forum mondiale (skyscrapercity.com/forum italiano) e ho anche fatto una tesi sulla metropolitana di Napoli e pubblicato diversi articoli e reportage-fotografici.
Se vuoi visitare il world-web-site: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=240622

Ancora complimenti per la lodevole iniziativa,
Giuseppe (eletrix).

For those of you that don�t know check http://metronapoli.netzoom.ro.

So … I am again on board. Fasten your seatbelts and let�s take off for 2006.