Brokeback Bush

This video is pretty funny. Bush is so uncomfortable about homosexuals.

Currency Conversions for Frequent Visitors to Estonia

A funny little article from an American living in Estonia:

Currency Conversions

To help friends back at home, here are some basic conversions (and yes, this does read like a lame Yakov Smirnoff routine):

1 American Dollar currently equals 13.25 Estonian Krooni.

5:00PM in the United States is called 17:00 in Estonia.

When it is 11:00AM in California, it is 21:00 in Estonia.

When it is 11/03/05 in California, it is 03/11/05 in Estonia.

In the United States, people wear T-shirts and shorts when the temperature is above 60ºF; in Estonia, people wear T-shirts and shorts when the temperature is above freezing.

In the United States, you can drive on the highways for days; in Estonia you can only drive for four hours – after that, you are in Russia or Latvia.

An American “Milky Way” candybar is called a “Mars” bar in Estonia; yet the American “Mars” bar does not exist in Estonia (it is an Estonian “Mars” bar with nuts).

No, a “Quarter Pounder with cheese” is not called a “Royal with cheese” here.*

The Baltic Sea has no waves and there are only two mountains in Estonia (both the height of my apartment building), yet there is a surf and snowboard shop near my house.

In the United States, when milk goes sour, we throw it away; in Estonia, when milk goes sour, people drink it and it costs more.

In the United States, a gallon of gas in the U.S. is $3.00; in Estonia, it is twice that price.

In the United States, drivers avoid hitting pedestrians; in Estonia, pedestrians run from cars.

In Estonia, all highschool students can identify the United States and Estonia on a map; in the United States, many highschool students cannot identify the United States on a map and even more think that Estonia is a fictitious country from “The Flintstones.”

An American appetizer is the same size as an Estonian entree.

In the United States, people eat fatty orange American Cheese; in Estonia, people eat fatty beige headcheese.

In the United States, beer is sold by the can or by the pint; in Estonia, it is sold by the liter.

The average American weighs around 1.4 Estonians.

In the United States, pepper is a spice; in Estonia, lard is a spice.

In the United States, fruit juice contains: high-fructose corn syrup and 20% real juice; in Estonia, fruit juice contains: juice.

In the United States, movie theaters sell popcorn and candy; in Estonia, movie theaters sell popcorn and candy and beer and wine.

In the United States, a loaf of bread has the shelf-life of two weeks; in Estonia, a loaf of bread has the shelf-life of two days.

In the United States, waiters work for tips; in Estonia, waiters do not get tips and you should be grateful that they even bother to notice you, let alone give you a menu, you stupid demanding American . . . Like what, am I here to wait on you or something?!?

In the United States, television news is about events in the United States; in Estonia, television news is about events in the United States.

The rest of this wonderful blog can here read here http://lettersfromestonia.blogspot.com/.

So Cold it's cool

Estonia and most of eastern europe have been in a super deep freeze the past couple of weeks. We've had daily HIGHs of -20C and lows in the mid -30C's. Basically it's been cold enough to freeze you cajones off in seconds. The upside to it is that being this cold clouds can't really form so it's been quite sunny (at least for the short period that the sun cracks the horizon). Thankfully this cold spell is letting up a bit and we're starting to see some nice weather (-10C and snowy). I think the best part of this was a guy from work who is from Chile had the hardest time believing that the sea can freeze (you can drive your car to some islands).

Really Cold

In the Dark (again)

Back in Tallinn after a couple of weeks resting in Toronto. It only took me 26 hours of travelling to get here, multiple airports and delays. Tallinn is exactly as I left it, dark. I got used to 9 hours of sunlight a day and coming back here was another shock to my system. Thankfully the days are getting lighter and lighter.

Back to work as well. We've grown so fast as a company and this week we are having a big meeting in Parnu where employees from all over the world are coming to discuss the upcoming year. Should be a very interesting week.

2006 and beyond

Another New Year's eve is over and recovering has begun. New Years was busy this year. We started out with our now traditional pot luck dinner, this time held at Micheal and Alexis' pad. From there Dan managed to convince us to go to a party in Forrest Hill, we walked about 45 minutes through some not so nice neighborhoods and finally made it to be greeted by a very small group of people none of us knew. I'm not sure who was more uncomfortable there, us or the other people at the party (I suspect them). A couple of minutes after midnight we darted off downtown to my brother's where we gladly paid cover to get in (some of us more than once). Some dancing, drinking and eating went down before we went forward again, this time to Tartu College for the big bash. There were lot's of old and new faces there, all of them drunk. All in all, it was a decent way to ring in the new year.

Now, it's time to head back to Tallinn. I'm off today and will be back to my routines on Wednesday.