We are everywhere

So far, wherever I went in the world I always met my own people. This time it is the same. Troy, MI. A town (village - meaning farm building connected by 6 lane freeway) in the middle of nowhere not so far away from the one of the most dangerous places on Earth (Detroit) I met a guy, who's working in the hotel and came from Serbia (Yugoslavia) and he can speak some Hungarian. It is always so nice to hear your own language when you're far away from home.

And the other magical thing. We all know, that Hungary has a really bad relationship with most of its neighbours (Serbia, Slovakia, Romania; apparently there is no problem with Austria, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine). But strangely this bad relationship is limited to the Carpathian Basin. Whenever I meet Serbians and Romanians (I haven't meet any Slovaks abroad yet) they're always nice, and tell me how good the relation is with Hungarians, and how much they like us, and that Hungarian women are the most beautiful in the world (well I do agree ;)).

I just wanted to share this

Way of success in business life

Simpler as I thought: So you have to have several meetings on the topic. If you have a Power Point presentation then you are almost かみさま (God). The result shall be an Excel sheet and nothing else. The more complex the Excel sheet is the better you are (meaning you need to use auto filter in order to be able to overview something in it, or even hiding some columns).

That's it. Easy innit?!

I f*cking hate flying

I loved flying. All the excitement of the journey. The luxury of airports. The tempting of duty free shopping. Service on board.

Now I hate flying thanks to Delta. Unfortunately none of the airlines in the US are different. For a 4.5hrs long flight you can drink once, but no you cannot have the whole can of soda. To eat you can choose between cookies (2 pieces so it is in plural), peanuts (approx 15 pieces) and pretzels (not more then 10 in the package). Even though I almost reached Medallion level, I cannot choose my seat. Most of the time they are assigned at the gate. If I can choose myself I have the option of choosing from exactly one middle seat.

This time on my left there was an old guy, middle size overweight, on my right an fat Asian guy literally flown over the armrest. None of them had problems not fitting in their own seats, so to survive I lent forward playing and watching movies on my PSP the whole time, so I didn't have to cozy up with them. Brr...

So now I totally support RyanAir's solution of charging obese people to buy an extra seat. And in the US this would happen to every other passenger. In the future when they furnishing an airplane they should have a section for overweight people. New airplanes will be a topic of the near future. I've never seen an ashtray on an airplane before... For how long is smoking banned on board again? ;)

Thank you Delta.

P.S.: Ticket price was $1200...

Update: I forgot to mention, that the Asian guy smelled like onions, and during landing he farted a couple of times to make sure I never forget this flight

Bonny Doon Beach

Just decided to go to the ocean on Saturday, and we just picked a random parking lot next to the road (if there is a parking lot without anything else, like petrol station or restaurant, that means there is a beach), and that is what we found:

However, this beach had a nude section too

(I have no idea what he is trying to do)

Unfortunately we couldn't stay long because around 4pm the fog arrived

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20 years back in time: Venice Beach

Once you live here you must appreciate long weekends. With you 10-15 days of paid vacation (including sick leave) in case you get a long weekend because of a holiday, you have to do something. That's how me and m wife spent the last weekend in L.A. Considered as a mini honey moon.
The hotel was cheap but great.

We saw the start in the pavement, the Hollywood sign, laid on the sun on the beach's white sand and enjoyed the whole day long carnival on Venice Beach.

Venice Beach is a freak show. You get first the muscle beach of course where Arnold started many years ago. We got lucky, and the annual contest was held on Monday:

Luckily this is not only for men but also for women. And even more luckily women were not so bulky but had a rather sexy body:

And no age limit:

And again, freaks :)

But you meat freaks and other crazy people everywhere here

Shows were the same every day, with the same jokes. And they worked every single time. Question if that is thanks to the medical marijuana you can get (along with the required prescription) right on the beach

If you are in the mood, just start a festival right in the sand. All you need is the mood (remember you need prescription, but thanks God, the doctor was in :P) a couple of drums, and the people

And the beach? Well it is marvelous, but only in the afternoon. Mornings it is foggy and super cold.

And you need to buy souvenirs? No problem

It did worth the 8 hours drive from the Bay to L.A. I had the time of my life even though I couldn't get my prescription since I don't even have a social security number yet. The place is odd, but a must see :)

Highway OF hell

Yepp. I never thought that once driving around 130km/h on a highway will give me the feeling of receiving a speeding ticket, must pay $400-$500 and the risk of going to jail. 130km/h is around 81mph. Well on the highway speed limit is 65mph (104km/h). On interstate it is the generous 70mph (112km/h). Above 85mph if they get you, you will be charged with attempt murder, meaning jail. What shall I say about when I was driving home from Munich to Budapest and sometimes in Germany my speed was 180km/h (113mph) and it happened that in Austria I reached 160km/h (100mph). :)

And no, this is no testimony ;)

Anyway this is the land of cruise control (tempomat). You set your speed (65mph or 70mph), and choose a lane (yes, the left one) and you cruise. So if you want to reach your goal faster, pick the right(most) lane! It is unlikely that you have to hit the break or the gas pedal. However it gives me the question why the need for huge engines in cars anyway? 100-110km/h can be reached easily with a Peugeot 106 of Suzuki Splash :D No engine higher then 1.4L is required, even with automatic transmission!

Another thought: USA won the 2nd world war against Japan, right? However Japan invaded the US by now. You can see many different versions of Toyota Camry on the roads (almost every 2nd or 3rd car is a Camry). Apart from that a lot of other Toyotas and Lexus (==Toyota), Nissan and Infinity (==Nissan), Honda and Acura (==Honda) cars are on the road. Even the ugliest ones that in Europe no one buys. Strange compared to the fact, that once (30-40 years ago) the most amazing cars were made by the US. It is really rare that you see a Cadillac, Chevrolet, Ford or Dodge on the road. However the new muscle cars (Mustang, Challenger or Camaro) are popular. I bet there are more Mercedes or BMW on the road than any US brands. Even those typical pick up trucks are Japanese brands. So who lost the war now?

Elevator misery

I thought it was only my opinion, that "Close door" on elevators here do nothing. But apparently it was not only my finding :)