the stuff jealousy is made of

Δύο Έλληνες, ένα τζιπ και μία περιπέτεια 800 ημερών.

around the world on a landrover in 80 days! god, i have to do something like it one day!

greek article

english website.

monday morning

what a great weekend i've left behind me. things have suddenly started moving on a lot of levels, personal, work, social, travel, and everything else. i left to work with this site today, which was pretty depressing for a monday morning, with all the fog. but the day wasn't quite as foggy. a good day at work, followed by a lecture at the lse and meeting some new people there as well.

now back home, just resting up and planning the next step.

και τώρα τα ΠΡΑΓΜΑΤΙΚΑ αθλητικά νέα

ΕΚΤΑΚΤΟ ΠΑΡΑΡΤΗΜΑ: το προεδρικό ζεύγος στο θέατρο "αλίκη"!

ποτέ δεν κατάλαβα γιατί έχουμε αθλητικές εφημερίδες στην ελλάδα (και μάλιστα τόσες πολλές). αλλά πάντα με διασκεδάζουν, γιατί τώρα πια ούτε καν μπαίνουν στον κόπο να προσποιηθούν πως κάνουν αθλητική ενημέρωση! ιδού ανεκτίμητης αξίας κομμάτι από χτεσινό πρωτοσέλιδο!

:-)

there must be another way

there must be another way to do things in this world. i think that if a kite can almost pull a ship accross the atlantic, there surely are more sustainable ways to go about transportation and other aspects of modern life in terms of energy and friendliness to the environment.

it would probably take time, inspiration, good ideas, practical minds, investment, and above all, will.

live through this - 15 days in a year

a brilliant video, with the underlying message of "carpe diem" since it's too late for us to remain kids (those days are long gone). worth watching.



but at least we managed to live through this: the most depressing day of the year.

the third monday of january would be that day, according to an elaborate formula expressing the delicate interplay of lousy weather, post-Christmas debt, time elapsed since yuletide indulgence, failed new year resolutions, motivation levels, and the desperate need to have something to look forward to. but the reasons given in the article to be happy for, are in my view pathetic, more so if anyone actually agrees to some of them.

carpe diem.

i had to post this

talk about loving stereotypes! the muppet show in greece!

βέροια ή ιμπέρια?

μολονότι δεν συμφωνώ καθόλου με την κλασική ηλίθια ποδοσφαιρική νοοτροπία που έχουμε για τους προπονητές στην Ελλάδα (αν κερδίζεις? θεός και μάγος της τακτικής! χάνεις 1-2 αγώνες? έφυγες. χάνεις το derby? έφυγες), και θέλω να μεινει ο φερέρ στην ομάδα, δεν έχω παρά να χαμογελάσω με το ευρηματικότατο πρωτοσέλιδο της "γάτας", εν όψει του σημερινού αγώνα της αεκ με τη βέροια :-) όλα τα λεφτά είναι φυσικά ή φωτό, που συνδυάζεται με τον τίτλο!

άντε, και με τη νίκη μάγκες...!

becoming an uncle for the first time

yes, it's true: other people are getting older :-) they've become parents, which makes me now an uncle. i met the most wonderful little baby girl ever in greece in december, my sister's new born baby. her first one and my first niece as such. the joy of having a baby in the family has changed everyone, we all seem much more relaxed and happier somehow. how could we not? she's just so amazing! [or maybe it was just the holiday season?]

boy am i looking forward to spoil her :)

εσάς, σας μύρισε ο σκύλος σήμερα?

άλλο πάλι και τούτο. επιστρέφοντας σπίτι από τη δουλειά σήμερα, είχαν μόνο μία πόρτα στο tube ανοιχτή για να χτυπάει ο κόσμος εισιτήρια και να βγαίνει. δίπλα, ένας αστυνομικός που προέτρεπε (ευγενικά και με χαμόγελο) τον κόσμο να προτείνει τις τσάντες του στο σκύλο που κρατούσε, και να τις μυρίζει, λέγοντας να μη φοβόμαστε και πως ο σκύλος είναι φιλικός.

τώρα το τι έψαχναν, άγνωστο...και το γιατί επίσης. πάντως άλλο από ναρκωτικά ή βόμβα δε μπορεί να ήταν. ή κανένα χαμένο αντικείμενο του συμπαθούς αστυνομικού :ρ

η μεγάλη άμμος

ακόμα ένα πολύ καλό βιβλίο από τον αγαπημένο μου έλληνα συγγραφέα και το μοναδικό του οποίου έχω διαβάσει όλα τα έργα, το βαγγέλη ραπτόπουλο. μονορούφι σε 2μιση μέρες, εργάσιμες παρακαλώ. καλή ανάγνωση,

got to be a classic

κ έχει και άλλα τόσα links με θου-βου το youtube. ο μοναδικός παλιός έλλην κωμικός που με κάνει να γελάω!

...ctd

speaking of florence, that's where i met my childhood friend Kostas, whom we practically grew up together till the age of 15. hadn't seen him in 4 years now, and i discovered that he decided to try and make a dream come true, make a career out of music, in the same genre that we used to listen to together, years ago.

i took a look, i liked it, and now there is a permanent link on this blog, to the florence based band, 81db. enjoy!

la bella italia #2

well, i've been to italy a few times in my life, but most were in the earlier years (as a kid or transiting :-), so i think i am able to enjoy it more now. after the trip to alghero, sardegna, in october, i took the opportunity to go to firenze for the first time in my life, in december.

unfortunately that was only for 2 and a half days, full of rain. but i can tell you that the city definitely lives up to the expectation its name creates. got to practice my italian a bit, ate so much prosciutto, gorgonzolla, peccorino, pizza and pasta/meat that i can't even begin to describe, walked on the coblestone streets of florence and caught a glimpse of the extraordinary palaces filled with masterpieces in that city. there's so much art to see over there it would take you weeks to appreciate it all. the medici family did a good job of collecting all of that.

also met a good childhood friend who's setup up there for the past few years and is now on his way to become a rock star :-) but more on this on another posting.

all in all it was a great 3 days and i am looking forward to exploring more of beautiful tuscany in the future with a car and better weather.

images from Oman

i know i know, it's a bit late for all these postings now, but better late than never, no?

well, here's the story: my friend Valia, who lives in muscat, had sent an open invitation a few months ago to celebrate her birthday over there. Valia is an old friend from the 1990's aiesec times and i really wanted to go, though i didn't have any days of left from work. surprisingly in the beginning of october i managed to put my final 3 days together and tadam! booked my tickets to spend 4 and a half days in the middle east, mid november.

i was so much craving for a "different" destination (not that i spared myself of those in 2007, including china, malaysia, singapore and thailand) and there i was, enjoying the sun, swimming, celebrating my friend's birthday and being in a different world, in november, when it was cold all over europe. i hadn't been to the middle east [save for egypt in 1992] before, and i enjoyed every minute of it.

oman struck me as a country with beautiful landscapes, friendly people, a strange political system (a very progressive sultan), modern infrastructure and a capital developed in traditional architecture but with quite a bit of anarchy there. the recent history of the country is quite impressive. the current sultan basically lifted the isolation that the country had been into for decades, started training, founded schools and universities, made a more secular state than before, invested in infrastructure and started making a business out of oil and tourism. that's not bad at all for 37 years, when previously the country only had a handful of schools and about 11 km of road strip.

all of this has brought a certain pride to the omani people, who nevertheless are very tolerant and open to foreign people. the biggest contrast that impressed me was the fact that tradition and modernisation so far seem to be going hand to hand. the religious feeling is there, the traditional way of life and dress is there, but so is the education, the training of the workforce and the modernisation of the country. i haven't visited the wealthy neighbours to have a measure of comparison (UAE), but it seems to me that oman is progressing without necessarily selling out to the west.

if my impression is right, i wish it lasts for long. eitherway, it's a country worth visiting.

τι? δε μου δίνεις χαρτζιλίκι?

θα σου κάνω μήνυση, ρε! ακούς εκεί! να μη μπορώ να βγω έξω σαν άνθρωπος? να αγοράζω όλα όσα θέλω? ποιος τις χέζει ρε τις οικονομικές δυσπραγίες και προτεραιότητες? οι δικές μου ανάγκες είναι πάνω απ' όλα. ΤΙ? ΔΕΝ ΑΛΛΑΖΕΙΣ ΓΝΩΜΗ?

ΘΑ ΤΑ ΠΟΥΜΕ ΣΤΑ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΙΑ.

και για του λόγου το αληθές, η είδηση είναι αληθινή. στη γαλλία έχει ήδη δημιουργηθεί δεδικασμένο με περιπτώσεις παιδιών που πάνε τους γονείς στα δικαστήρια επειδή δεν τους έδιναν χαρτζιλίκι. κι όχι τίποτε άλλο, τις κερδίζουν κιόλας τις δίκες! για το λόγου το αληθές, ιδού!

τρέμω για όλους τους φίλους και συγγενείς μου που μόλις απέκτησαν παιδιά, μιας και το trend θα μας βρει κι εμάς σε καμιά 15αριά χρονάκια. κουράγιο, αδέρφια!