Books I've read so far this summer:

• Diary, Chuck Palahniuk
  
• Chinese Takeout, Arthur Nersesian
  
• Breaking the Tongue, Vyvyane Loh
  
• Graceland, Chris Abani
  
• The Greyhound God, Keith Lee Morris
  
• Dogrun, Arthur Nersesian
  
• The Pleasure of My Company, Steve Martin
  

Currently working on Slaughterhouse V.

My roommate, Young-Li, arrives on Sunday. This means two things: I have to start picking up after myself better, and I need to get out of the habit of lounging around in my underwear.

Work is going well. The time passes quickly and the work is even engaging sometimes. I'm learning a whole lot, but I've barely made a dent on what I'd need to learn to be up to speed on everything.

Eat, work, sleep, repeat. It's not that I'm trying to be anti-social, it's just that by the time I'm done with work I don't have the energy to entertain.

Seeing as I'm too lazy to write out a detailed log of my three weeks in Eastern Europe (and you'd probably be too lazy to read it all even if I did), I give you the Cliff Notes rendering of my adventures:

Frankfurt, Germany > Maastrich, Netherlands > Cesk� Krumlov, Czech Republic > Prague, Czech Republic > Budapest, Hungary > Ljubljana, Slovenia > Piran, Slovenia > Bled, Slovenia > Munich, Germany > Frankfurt, Germany

• Czech Republic: Admired the stunning architecture of Prague along with all the other tourists. Enjoyed the street performers on the Charles Bridge and visited the castle in Cesk� Krumlov that had a "bear moat" which was quite literal- true to it's word, there were two brown bears living in the moat.
  
  
• Hungary: Saw St. Stephen's Cathedral in Budapest, complete with St. Stephen's mummified right hand on display in a glass case. It more looked like a hunk of black... I don't know what... but I guess that's all you can expect considering he died about a millennium ago.
  
  
• Slovenia: Parked the rental car (unknowingly) on a restricted street in Ljubljana, Slovenia- came back to find a boot on the it. Walked around the most impressive outdoor market I've seen in a while, and bought Honey Brandy that tasted like candy. Visited Lake Bled which was the prettiest scenery I've seen in years, and went to Piran on the Coast and had Pizza that rivaled the best from Italy (which makes sense, since Italy was only a few miles away).
  
  
• Germany: Stayed a few nights in Munich and ate sausages at the Brauhause. Shopped the European department stores and enjoyed my last few cups of European coffee.
  

For pictures, go here.

Work is going well. It's nice to be a part of something big again. It's hard to explain, but it's one of the few things I missed about GRT. So far the work hasn't been all that stimulating, since I had to help Alex mail out a bunch of thank you packages and such to sponsors and supporters. Luckily, that's all done and out the door so now I'm working on more interesting stuff involving shock isolation of the on board computers and magneto-rheonetics.

I've got enough frequent flier miles on US Air to get a free ticket (within the continental U.S.). I could be responsible and use it for a trip home, but where's the fun in that? Other options I'm considering right now are New York City or Boston. Anyone have any suggestions?

Arrived back in the US on Sunday afternoon. My flight was a whole half hour early, which is always a nice surprise. I got back to campus and into my room with no problems, and collected the critical things I really need right now from Stu's to hold me over until I can con someone with a car into helping me move the rest of it.

I started work the next morning; needless to say, it was a long day. I had woken up at 5:30 due to jetlag (at least I slept though the night...), and ended up staying at work longer than I intended, especially considering I had to make a run after work to g'eagle since I had no food. By the time I was on my way to g'eagle I had a huge headache, which made grocery shopping even less fun than it normally is. By the time I got back to my room I barely had the energy to put away the groceries before collapsing into bed.

I hope to update about my trip soon, but right now isn't really the time (I've been up since 5:30AM, due to jetlag, and I have to be at work soon). Look for an entry this week, hopefully, highlighting the past three weeks of bumming around Eastern Europe. Until then, here are a few of the pictures I took:

Charlie, Uncle Bill, and my Dad (Maastricht, Netherlands)


Stained glass in St. Stephen's Cathedral (Budapest, Hungary)


St. Stephen's at night (Budapest, Hungary)


View of parliament from Buda Castle (Budapest, Hungary)


Ljubjana, Slovenia


Church on the island of Lake Bled (Bled, Slovenia)


Lake Bled, with a view of the Julian Alps (Bled, Slovenia)