Exploiting bulgarian transportation.

I was cheated by a taxi driver the other day.

In Sofia, there are many different forms of transportation. Trams, buses, marsharutki, the metro (as of summer 2009). Oh yeah, and taxis. Now, funny thing about taxis, some of them are fakes. There are a handful of honest, legit taxi companies in Sofia, but then there are many that, on the outside, are identical to the honest taxis, but the rates are outrageous. Well, I hopped in a taxi at the Business Park. My dad had given me 5 leva for the trip, assuring me it would be enough. We had not driven 100 yards when I looked down at the total so far, and it was above 2 leva. Caught off guard, I ganced at the sticker on the window which displays the prices in a super-small font, and, squinting, I saw that the rate was 2.49 lv per kilometer (5 times the standard rate). I asked the taxi driver to drop me off at the next bus stop. Outraged, I payed him 4.59 for a 3 minute ride. He didn't even give me change. I shut the door, trying not to slam it out of anger, and stood at the bus stop. I was meeting my brother and his friend at the basketball court, and I knew their dad would be driving them, so I gave him a call. He offered to meet me at KFC to pick me up, so I got on the next bus. At the very next stop, three men got on and as soon as the doors closed they produced their handheld government machines. You've got to be kidding me, I thought. I had left my wallet because the only money I would need on the trip was the 5 leva to get me there. I already had secured a ride back. Therefore, I had no money to buy a ticket with. When the man asked to please see my ticket, I told him I didn't have one. He promptly told me to get off with him at the next stop, which I did. After the doors had closed and the bus continued on its path, he turned to me and asked why I didn't have my ticket. I expained to him my situation, and he told me I have got to be more careful with taxi companies and to always, ALWAYS, check the rates on the window before getting in. He then asked me where I was from. I guess I'm losing my authentic native accent. When he figured out I was from America he asked how I knew the language so well and why I was in Bulgaria of all places. After a short discussion, he asked where I was going and I answered the Mladost 1 metro stop (direclty across from KFC). He smiled and said that's where they were going to, and that I should travel with them the rest of the way. So the four of us got on the next bus. One of the ticket-checkers handed me the case which held his machine, asking me if I could help him out. So I sat there, holding his case, as he went around checking people's tickets. The irony of it made me smile. There I was, a dude without a ticket, yet I was traveling with and assisting the men who checked for people's tickets. And they even KNEW I didn't have a ticket. All in all, I got off at the stop and said goodbye. Got picked up at KFC and had an awesome time at basketball.

Man, I just love Bulgaria.

Shoutout to Colonel Sanders

I love crunch burgers.

I dedicated this post to Kentucky Frie...I mean KFC for their secret formulas that make such magically delicious and affordable foods.

Thank you Colonel!

Here we go again

My friend Owen googled my name. He found a picture of my blog (don't ask me how). He got all excited about starting his own, and I have been wanting to re-start blogging, so here it is. Fresh start. I might put pictures up, or just talk about things I think about, and we'll see if I actually continue this.

Go Rockies (2010!)

You Can't Myspace at Work!

I just read a blog titled "Log Off and Get to Work," by Brad Stone of the New York Times. It talked about how business block blogging sites on the computers of their employees. It was polled that 44% of businesses block MySpace, while only 26% block Facebook. The first issue that came to my head was trust and the lack of in this situation. It's conceivable that a parent would block certain sites from their children, just to protect them, but what is this?! Do workers actually log into MySpace and go chat with their friends, during work hours? If they do, that is what I call either too much time, or not handling your time wisely. I do sports and I keep a very tight schedule. This week it has been basketball tryouts, every day from 5-7:30 PM. I come home from school, exhausted from that. I sleep, because I am so tired. I wake up, go to basketball, work my butt off, come home and eat a humongous dinner. Then I start my homework at around 9:00 PM. Right now I am blogging at 10:36 PM. Not too bad. But I do not have time to fool around on Facebook, or check my email. I save that for the weekends. Is the internet distracting people from their work, not letting them get it done? I know people go home, don't do their homework, and just play video games all day long. What has happened to hard-work and studiousness? And, while I am asking questions, might as well ask what has happened to trust and reliability between co-workers? Are technology and the new distractions of this generation causing people not to focus on their work, or work hard at all? Because of this, people's trust for one another, at work particularly, is being lost. Trust has left them so far behind, that bosses have to block, of all things, blogging websites, such as MySpace and Facebook! How ridiculous is that? I think the internet has taken away people's devotion to working hard, liability and trust. If that is happening now, when the internet is fairly new, what could it do to us in the next 20 years? I know people say technology is taking over the world. Technology is actually taking over the world, by taking over our morals. Trust. Gone.

Headline: McDonalds taking over the world

This blog is going to add some variety to my collection of posts. Variety is good. The quote was from "Funny Quotes of the Day (Brainy Quote)" thanks to Charles Kuralt. I might as well just the put the quote out there for y'all so you can understand what I'll talk about later on.

"You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars."

Hahaha! First off, the country in the joke is our country, America. Second off, there ARE a lot of burger joints. When I first moved here from Bulgaria, one of the first things I noticed straight off the bat was all the fast-food places available everywhere. Seriously, no joke! In Bulgaria, they had Pizza Hut, KFC, McDonalds and other, local restaurants. They were actually expensive for people, so not many people would visit them, so not many people got addicted and fat. But, looking at America and its inhabitans, it was like not technology but fast food was taking over the world. Maybe it is. The ceaseless multiplying of fast food restaurants does not exactly help the factor of obesity in this country. I did some research and America has one of the top, if not the top, level of obesity in the world. I know that a lot of other factors are included, but it gets you thinking with all the different fast food restaurants. What is your view on fast food restaurants? Do you visit them often, do you enjoy them? Do you really think they "control" our country? Why or why not?

8.5 Million People. 90 Minutes.

8.5 million People in 90 minutes, no wonder the server crashed! This blog is on an article from the Rocky Mountain News entitled "Roxtra!, October 23."The Rockies are in the World Series, and everyone wants tickets to go watch them play. So how do they get the tickets? Some idiot put together a system where people could go online and buy them after a certain time. This person must have thought that people would patiently line up and purchase the tickets online peacefully and in an orderly fashion. Didn't work! 90 minutes after people were permitted to go onto the Rockies’ website to buy tickets, a grand total of 8.5 million people tried to gain access to the online tickets. The server, obviously not being able to hold that many people, crashed. This is all after Matthew Gould, vice president of corporate communications, MLB.com stated that, "Obviously, this is not a first-time thing for us. (Online) traffic is not an issue." Whatever. I think this idea was unique but not thought-threw. They must have known an insane amount of people would want to buy Rockies’ tickets. It made me really mad because at home my dad (got’ a love it) had our three laptops out and was trying to get in on all three of them. But it didn't work, and now games 3, 4, and 5 are sold out! I personally don't mind watching the games from my couch, but my dad and brother really wanted to go. One of those 50 things to do before you die, y'know?! It just blows me away that 8.5 million different people/computers tried to get on the website in the first hour and a half. What a bandwagon. Or maybe they are all hard-core Rockies fans. Which side do you fall into: a jumper on the Rockies’ fan club band wagon, or a 10-year straight, hardcore diehard Rockies fan whose favorite player is still Larry Walker or Todd Helton? At the games, it's funny, whenever the people with the mikes going around and asking people who their favorite player is, the hot chicks and the younger crowd go with Tulowitzki or Holliday, while the older crowd is generally for Todd Helton. I guess when people just start liking the Rockies, they see that Matt Holliday or Troy Tulowitzki are hot (athletically doing well) and just add them to their top player list, while the old-timers and hardcore fans have liked Todd Helton because he has been on the team for 11 years! What a vet! He is my favorite player by far!!! Who are you for, Boston or Rockies?

Rollerblades, Starbucks and Wild Hogs

I'll be honest. It is monday, the begining of a long week (I have gotten used to PLCs and days off that a full week seems like a lot) of school. I am not looking forward to the late nights of studying and the early mornings of waking up. I was browsing the Education articles under the 2¢ Worth and saw one that did not have to do with the K12 conference or the Did You Know powerpoint. So I clicked on it and figured, ah, it will work. The article, "Way Stupid,"by Mr. Warlick about him buying a pair of rollerskates the day he turned 40 thinking it would solve all of his mid-life crisis.

When I read this article, my first reaction was the picture. Isn't if hillarious?

Another connection I made while reading the article was a text-to-text connection with the movie Wild Hogs. The four old guys get out their motorcycles and pretend to be care-free college students, when they are married, middle-aged men. But they ride off and have fun and experience the "wild" and meet some adversity. But they are going through a mid-life crisis, kinda like Mr. Warlick was at age 40. The Wild Hogs got out their motorcycles and rode off, while Mr. Warlick bought his rollerblades and bladed off. Whenever I think of mid-life crisis I just laugh and think, wow, you must be old to have one of those. I will never know what it feels like until I am at that age. I always make fun of my dad for having his "mid-life crisis," (which he doesn't, but I tease around with him anyways). I think this story and Wild Hogs have a lot in common, personaly. I have already stated why. I chose this article because of two reasons" it had a decently catchy title that brought me in (like it was supposed to, dang, i fell for the bait) and because as soon as I read it the movie Wild Hogs popped into my head. I will say this is not my best blog yet, but hey-it works!