rawlio's world

Sicky Tuesday

2008-09-23T19:58:00.002-04:00

So, after the big project on Saturday for my company, I got really sick. I woke up, feeling really bad. I pushed through it, and even went to work on Monday. But feeling ill, I decided to take today off, and relax.

It was nice. Linda decided to take 1/2 day as well, and we actually slept in. It was nice. We were having breakfast together and tried to think about the last time we slept in. It was way before the summer, and even then, I don't think we did before the wedding. Jeepers.

After she left for work, I got myself comfortable and watched DVDs and bad day time TV.

It's nice to take a day.

Maybe a slight mood swing?

2008-09-18T20:03:00.002-04:00

So, this project at works come to an end on Saturday, which is nice. I feel like it's consuming all of my time.

But not so, really. I still get out for a run or the gym on mornings, and I can sometimes catch some TV. Now, if I can fit the PS3 time in, I'll be in heaven.

But what's new in the world of Rawlio? Not much, really. Linda's good. She's busy with work as well, which is normal for this time of year.

Even thoughts to my head? Some, but not many. Well, lots come to my head, but not all are really that interesting.

Ok, here's one. At work, everyone is somehow involved in this big project. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing more than my share of work, but I'm glad my friend Scott has put more time in. Anyway, one person was talking about taking care of a small part of the project with other people, and the conversation went like this.

Worker 1: I can take care of the music. I've got Tons and tons of MP3's.
Worker 2: Wow! That's good. Ok. how?
Worker 1: Oh, my father converted all of his music to MP3's. He paid a lot to do so.
Worker 2: Do you have the music that we need?
Worker 1: Um...I've got tons and tons. I'm sure that I do.
Worker 3: Wow! That's really good. I can't believe that you can do all of that.
Worker 1: Yeah, I've got Tons and tons of Music.

Ok, the people I work with are generally good. They're hard working and honest. But sometimes it hurts hearing non-techy people talk. I know they're called 'Newbs,' and it's important to have everyone understand technology. But when a conversation by educated people sounds like that, I wince.

Maybe I was grumpy at the time. I often keep my head down and read the paper.

If I had taken the other path...

2008-09-16T20:01:00.004-04:00

So, I'm just swamped with things at work. We're doing a huge celebration in a few days, which has taken up much of my other time.

But other than that, things are good. I'm back on a work-out schedule and I'm sticking to a pretty clean diet, so I'll be able to work off the European trip from the summer.

Conversations or thoughts? Well, I was chatting with Chris about this one. We were wondering what we would do if we were not doing our present jobs. Granted, I'm not going to disclose exactly what I do, but the thought experiment was about what would we do if we could no longer do what we did, or we decided to pursue something else?

I commented that Underwater Welding/Diving would be an interesting one to be. But also, this was off of another conversation about a person joining the Canadian Armed Forces and having to have a secondary job to do.

But What would I do? Chris was convinced that he would be doing something creative if he wasn't in his current profession. I think I would as well. (yes, being a commercial diver is not that creative, but damned exciting!) [Note: I never know where to put that punctuation, before the bracket or after. I need to look that up!]

Creative? Again, the sexy world of advertising would be fun. Being on a think-tank for ideas would be amazing. Would I want to be in the Entertainment industry? Not sure. It's pretty demanding. It seems fun from this perspective, but doing things for work that is similar is a lot of work.

I'm still a fan of art, but I don't think I have the skill to be a graphics designer. I would love to be a video game designer or even a writer for a show.

Yeah, all over the place. Even doing mundane jobs, like plumber or electrician has is attraction. These professions are simple, but utterly important. True, being a plumber causes all kinds of jokes, but if you can't flush your toilet, you're in deep $h!t.

But then again, the job I do is what I wanted to do. I don't know if I'm lucky, but I'm quite happy at what I do.

Hotty September

2008-09-03T19:11:00.003-04:00

Man, it's hot. It's like, really hot.

and yeah, I'm gonna talk about the weather, but only for a sentence or two. Ok, done.

Phrases: That's my topic.

There are a few phrases that people don't like and some that people do. The Phrase, "Give 'er" seems to be pretty popular, along with the lesser phrase, "Git 'er Done!"

Driving to work, I saw an excavation truck with a sign, "Git R Dug."

Honestly, that amused me for the next 10 minutes of my drive. Linda not believing that "Get 'er done" was a real phrase, the "Get r Dug" was good enough that people are now using it.

Ah, the fluidity of language.

Happy Labour Day

2008-09-01T17:03:00.003-04:00

Last day before going back to work. It's a bit daunting, but it's ok.

But just as an update, we went to a wedding, did work around the house.

Today, we went to the gym and more work. It's nice to relax before it all starts again.

But if you're curious, I finally fixed all the bugs from that nasty virus, got the PS3 up and running on line, and used Skype with Jasse for the first time. Yeah! I'm on Skype. We used it in Estonia to chat with people. And now the idea of chatting internationally for free is really good.

Yippee Skype!

Most Problems, Solved

2008-08-29T19:31:00.002-04:00

So, after that nasty virus, it took the 'screen-saver' option out of Windows. After a quick search on the ol' Google, I found the answer, and it worked like a charm.

Jeepers. not bad. And the computer seems to be smoother. I had to defrag, clean, disinfect.

So, what are 'most problems?'

1. Router - I think I blew 2 routers, so we got a new wireless router, which was 1/4 the price of my original router. That's solved, along with being wireless.

2. WiFi in the house - I got it working well, so Linda can use her computer anywhere in the house.

3. Damn Anti-Virus 2008 - Awful virus. I bow my head to those who contract it. It's one pain the behind. Crap, was it nasty. (i say, again!)

4. Summer - Not really solved, but it's almost over.

5. PS3 - It's Wireless, but for some reason, it's not connecting. As I said, most problems were solved.

Does this work?

2008-08-29T17:57:00.000-04:00

Just trying some new things.

I got the nasty virus off, after about 20 hours of disinfecting with an Legitimate Anti-Virus. It's nice. Apparently I had 250 viruses, 30 of which were worms. Some of them were Key-stroke recorders, which would explain my MSN issues.

now, Just trying Scribefire, to blog without leaving Firefox...Which I do already.

oh well.

Nasty Antivirus 2008...

2008-08-28T17:18:00.003-04:00

Yes, I'm a Mac Guy, but we do have a desk-top PC running for simple things and banking stuff.

Yes, it's not a good computer, especially for that. But we got some really nasty virus called "WinXP Antivirus 2008."

Man, it's brutal. My suggestion: Run your Anti-virus and Malware programmes. I've been Disinfecting and such for about 10 hours now.

ugh. Damn PC.

Happy Birthday Linda

2008-08-26T14:27:00.002-04:00

Today's Linda's 26th Birthday. If you know her, wish her happy birthday.

I've been mired in 'birthday' activities, which is fine. I narrowly escaped a 'girl' thing of Linda and her friends talking about their pap tests, birth, and other 'non-male' things.

Usually, I'm all for that kinda 'other' talk, but I think I'll skip this one.

Casualties from our Trip

2008-08-18T17:33:00.004-04:00

Being back less than a week, we've finally put our things away and have started on seeing what was missing and all that.

Basically, we new some things were gone, but not as much as we first suspected. Here's a rundown of what didn't make it back from Europe.

1. My Leatherman - We brought this because we thought we might be camping a few nights. A leatherman is always good. Unfortunately, I left it in Linda's carry-on, and we got caught at customs with it. It was not quite confiscated, but given to Ave.

Note: Ave, if you read this, could you keep it until next we meet? Thanks.

2. Linda's Sleeping Mask - Y'know, those things that you wear to make sure you don't wake up with the light? Because of the 3 hours of night-time, Linda needed it. We're not exactly sure where this disappeared, but it didn't make it back.

3. My MEC backpack - This was the bag I got in Grade 11, and had since. I have traveled to many countries and places with this bag. I have gone on every camping trip and every multi-day trip with this bag. the inside lining was wearing out really bad, and anything we put in the bag would come out covered. It was time. It's final resting place is in a Danish garbage. (I can't find a good picture of it..but it was sorta like this...but red)

4. Linda's Yellow Towel - She lost this towel on the island of Muhu. We know who has the towel, but the chances of going to get it back are pretty slim. So long, little towel.

5. Unknown item - We're not at liberty to disclose this item yet. We borrowed something from someone, and we lost it. Actually, it was in Linda's bag, which couldn't make it through customs either.

So, there's my entry for today....

and it's really hot today. I had to caulk windows for my dad. It was like 32 on the roof. Ugh.

Late...

2008-08-16T23:25:00.002-04:00

I just got home from my family's pooja. It was ok. The Pundit spoke really well, but he kept going on. I think he talked for 2 hours. That's not really bad, but when it's after a 2 hour pooja, it was a bit daunting.

I did get to see some of my cousins and uncles/aunts that I haven't seen in a while, so that was nice.

Now, I'm home. Alone. Tired. A bit hungry?

Weekend Getaway...

2008-08-16T13:48:00.002-04:00

So, Friday was the beginning of our first weekend back home. Linda and I decided to celebrate it by going our separate ways...

No, don't think that we got sick of each other in Europe, but I went to Steve Little's cottage and she went to her own cottage to see her parents.

I had to go on Saturday to a family event which would be a Hindu ceremony, so she opted to go see her folks instead. I don't blame her. The Hindu ceremonies are nice, but sometimes a bit long. Especially if you can't understand the Pundit.

So, I'm back, and just getting ready to go to Dad's to travel to Brampton for this gig. I'll be home late, but that's ok. Linda's not coming home until about Sunday evening, so I'll have things ready.

What things? Yeah, my life is back to boring. Just dinner.

Jet Lag? What's that?

2008-08-14T22:28:00.002-04:00

Ok, maybe not jet Lag, but Linda and I were up at around 4:00am because we couldn't sleep. We decided to get our laundry done and organize clothes.

As well, we got most of our photos printed, and Linda has them already in a photo Album.

Today's been pretty relaxed. I hung out with dad, and told him stories, and then I came home and made dinner.

We went to visit Steve and Jen, which was nice. They had pie and tea for us, which was a nice change to the bevy of drinks we would have usually...

Yeah, my life is officially back to boring. I don't even have anything to add or say. Oh, maybe a comment about the NFL coming to Canada.

I'm not sure how I feel. I like watching NFL games, but should Toronto try to get their own NFL team? I know that such a move would totally kill CFL, which I like as a Canadian icon.

I don't really watch CFL. Maybe I should try.

Oh, and Russian invading Georgia? What's up with that? Did Russian actually claim to want to make their borders bigger? This scares me.

Home Sweet Home...

2008-08-13T21:38:00.002-04:00

It's nice to travel, but it's also nice to be home.

The flight was pretty good. We landed OK, and got our stuff quickly. Dad was at the airport waiting, and he brought us back to Pickering, where we jumped into the Vibe and came home.

Before coming home, we went to the grocery store to get food. As we got home, we noticed Pat was over feeding the fish and Steve and Jen had dropped off some food for us. Man, that's really nice.

House is intact, and we're gonna enjoy our bed, and a sun that sets at a comfortable time.

Again, Iceland, Denmark, Estonia, Finland and Sweden were nice, but home is always the best place to be.

Last day in Denmark (offically)

2008-08-13T03:30:00.003-04:00

Our bags are packed, and we're ready to go. I won't do that to you again...

But, we're just chilling, and watching the Olympics. It seems that every time I want to watch the Olympics, it's been the water events. I think I've seen every stroke, every dive and every country who has a diving or swimming event, less Water Polo. The events I want to see are not being shown here on EuroSport.

Oh well. I might be an expert the 3 1/2 backwards tuck with a 1/2 twist. And I'm convinced one of the judges hates anyone who's not Asian. I would see a dive that looked technically perfect. The judges give either 9 or 9.5. There's one Judge, usually EX-4 who gives 4.5 or lower.

Yeah, too much diving. It's time to leave Scandinavia.

So Long Denmark and Estonia....and thanks for all the fish.

Last day in Denmark (well, the 2nd last)

2008-08-12T15:46:00.002-04:00

Our last full day in Denmark was spent it the Frederiksborg Castle. Wow, was that a castle. it was huge, and really well decorated.

Without boring you with details about the castle, I had fun. When we got back, we made dinner and spent the evening making copies of DVD's that we made on our Estonia trip.

After clearing Gigs of space, it seems to be going well.

I'll miss this little country, like I do Estonia. Finland, Sweden? Not so much. But we'll see how things go.

Christiania - The Free Town.

2008-08-12T03:54:00.004-04:00

We finally got to Christiania. I've mentioned this place before, but on Monday, we got the chance to explore this 'free town.'

For those who are not familiar (as should you be), Christiania is a bunch of people who decided to break from the Danish norm and build their own society in Copenhagen. Since Copenhagen has many unused Army Barracks, a group of people (mostly hippies and homeless people) decided to break in and start living.

After a few years, Copenhagen tried to throw them out, but since it was a really large land and more people than they thought, they let them live. Christiania asked to be considered a 'Social Experiment' and were allowed to do their thing, living in a communal way with nature. They would build houses that were made from Recyclable materials, and have every decision based upon everyone's input.

Please read more at their own Website, or look them up on Wiki.

Wandering their place, it was kinda sad, as it reminded me of walking through Port of Spain in Trinidad. The places were all made by their own devices, along with the general sense of it's someone else's job to clean up. I can see that the 'free' society model seems like a good idea, but having some sense of cleanliness and neatness is a good thing too.

Granted, this was my first impression. The people were quite friendly and for the most part, they were very tolerant of tourists curious of their lifestyle. I read that they don't like the street lights, as they want to see the Copenhagen sky unobstructed by light pollution. True, at some points I did feel a bit unsafe, but never coming across any violence or bad things on my readings, I figure it was pretty safe. As Linda would say, if something bad happened, tourists especially would be warned.

We had a tour by a local, which was good. He took us through the area, and explained some of the highlights.

It was a nice thing to see. From the Fancy Copenhagen, to the international Helsinki, to the ultra-sleek Malmo (home of IKEA), to the up and coming Tallinn, we saw the other side. That was weird, especially in Scandinavia.

Since today is our last day, we're off to see a typical Danish castle. I wonder if we can actually get some danishes? Maybe danish cookies?

Glyptotek and Beth's Birthday

2008-08-11T02:47:00.003-04:00

Sunday was a day where the boys went one way, and the girls went the other.

Being the 3rd birthday of Beth, Heather and Linda took the girls to the crazy Danish swimming pool while Jasse and I went to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The Glyptotek is a really neat museum with Rodins, Piccassos, Monets and some other crazy paintings and sculptures. The Museum was made by Carl Jacobson's Son who had a personal collection of statutes that wanted to share with the world.

The museum itself is beautiful, along with it's collections. And the best part is that it is free on Sundays!

Jasse and wandered through rooms of statues and Greek statutes and then to the French impressionists, to the modern stuff.

After a few hours, we met the girls at the pool and made our way back home to celebrate Beth's 3rd birthday.

After a home made cake by Heather, we kinda all chilled watching the Olympics, making bets on who would win. These bets were based upon names, countries, outfits, etc., so it wasn't exactly serious.

Monday, Jasse's back to work, and Heather has some appointments with the kids, which means that Linda and I wander Copenhagen again.

Destination: Christiania and the Carlsberg Brewery Tour.

Christiania? What's that? Apparently it's the free state of a section of Copenhagen. The locals call it the 'hippy hangout' in which it's all communal living and sharing. I'm curious. From Narva's strong Communist overtones to Christiania, a hippy-trippy free love society. Let's see...

For Steve Little

2008-08-09T12:55:00.003-04:00

So, being back in Denmark, and being Jasse's super fast computer (well, just as fast as Ave's....), I have the chance to upload and edit some video.

Here is one of my favorites.

The Fish is dried Smelt.

Chilling in Horsholm...

2008-08-09T12:23:00.003-04:00

No posts for a day or so.

We actually did nothing, except walk about 10km on Friday. Jasse had to work, so Linda and I walked to see where he worked. Heather, Angeli and Beth showed us the walking paths in Horsholm and we went for lunch.

Then, in the afternoon, we watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.

It was truly a nothing day.

Which brings us to Saturday, where Linda and I left early to go to Malmo. Sweden is pretty neat, or at least the city we explored. On a normal day, we could have taken one train and get to Malmo, but since it's Saturday and Denmark likes to take holidays, we had to take 2 trains both ways.

We explored the Malmo Museum which was really cool. They had a really interesting zoo and some stuffed animals of things we've never seen before.

The sad part of the trip was that we spend 5 hours in Transit and 4 hours in Malmo.

Our little footsies are getting tired. I'm glad Linda let me get a new pair of Birks!

Back with the Danes...

2008-08-07T15:09:00.003-04:00

We're officially back in Denmark, and I'm sitting at Jasse's computer while Linda and heather get some food. I figure I have some time to update...

Our flight back to Denmark was without hassle. Sure, I left my Swiss-army knife accidentally in Linda's bag, along with a butter knife we used during our trip for sandwiches, but that wasn't an issue. The Security Guards informed Linda that these items were not allowed on the plane, and they had be confiscated.

When we got into Copenhagen, we took a train to Horsholm and a bus back to Jasse's. It was a nice way to end the trip.

Which leads me to this part...

Our 2nd Last day.

This post will be for a small portion of my readers, in terms of the places we went.

It was truly a day for Linda as we went back to Lahamaa to see where her Great Grand-father and Grandfather grew up, and possibly where her father lived before running to Canada.

The family took us to the house where he lived, the store where he worked and ran, and lived apparently. As well, we saw the metal work he made.

There is a cemetery in... (I will make a mistake if I type the town, but I'll try) Vohma that all the crosses were made by Linda's Great Grandfather.

It was really neat to see. Then, we toured around the town and then back to the family house for drinks and dinner.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay much longer in Lahomaa as Ave had a dinner reservation at 'olde Hansa' in Tallinn. Olde Hansa is a traditional Medieval restaurant, which was really neat. They don't have colas or any 'modern' drinks, so it was all mead and food you would get in the medieval times. We ate Medieval bread, rabbit, Bear, Boar and lots of Lentils. The servers are all in the special Medieval attire and are trained to be 'medieval' which was really cool.

Again, it was an 'all-you-can-eat' kinda place, and after a few hours, we couldn't move. We then decided to walk around the old city for the last time before we left. It was nice, as the sun was setting (this was about 11:00pm) and it looked really nice on the sky-line Tallinn.

Again, all of our pictures are either on the camera or our USB-Key. I'll start posting them soon along with some video.

I think I'll add it to my Flicker Account, and make the pics open for everyone. But don't worry, I'll put some good pics on this site, as some are well worth it.

Impressions? Estonia is a good country. It has it's downfalls but so does every other country. Are people nicer than Canadians? It's debatable. Us Canucks are used to a level of politeness not found in other places. however, Estonians make up for that in ways that Canadians seem to not have.

Even the Danes don't have that 'Je ne sais quoi' that the Estonians have. Maybe I'm biased because of my wife, but i really liked Estonia.

i'll comment more later. I hear Linda and Heather are back, and I want something to eat.

Leaving Estonia...

2008-08-07T07:18:00.002-04:00

So, our bags are packed, and we're ready to go.

I won't get all weird on you guys, but I'll miss this little country.

I'll blog later about our day yesterday. Let's just say that we saw a lot of really neat things in terms of Linda's grandparents and where they grew up.

Ave is taking us to the airport. I'll blog from Denmark if I don't get a chance before.

Linda's Family day...Actually Aug. 5th.

2008-08-06T00:50:00.004-04:00

It was late getting home, so this is posted in the Morning of the 6th. Trust me. Don't do the Time change. It's not pretty if you do it.

Yes, being in Estonia has been a whirlwind of Linda and her family trips. Granted, the possibility of the Chans being in Estonia and leaving their mark is quite low, so I haven't been holding my breath.

In the Blogsphere, it is Wednesday, but for me, I'm going to talk about Tuesday. It started with us getting up and having breakfast with Lilly and Veijo. They made us a traditional Estonian breakfast which was quite good. Boy, did we need it for our day.

At about 10:00, Ave came to pick us up again (poor Ave, stuck with us again!) with her mother. It was raining and apparently that is the typical Estonian summer. Us, being here for the past 2 weeks, have been spoiled with the really nice weather. We got in the car and headed off to Lahemaa National Park to see some of Ave's Mother's Land. This is important because Ave's Grandmother and Linda's Grandmother were sisters, so it is all part of the family. They took us to see where Linda's grandmother grew up, which was really neat.

Traveling along the Northern Coast of Estonia was really nice. We stopped in a Marine Museum owned by Ave's Mom's (Eve) friend. He seemed quite knowledgeable, but didn't really explain anything to us. He seemed a bit distracted, but with the awful weather, I don't blame him. From there, we had lunch in an old Fishing house, which was really neat. Very dark, all wood and giant communal tables.

After that, we drove to see Ave's dad, who had a place in the countryside. That is where Linda, Eve and Ave sat down to fill in the holes in their family tree.

Finishing what they could, we headed back to Tallinn to meet another side of Linda's family. This was Linda's Mom's Mom's side again.

I know Linda was really nervous meeting these people, as she wasn't sure who would be there, but apparently the entire family was there. We walked in, and there were about 16 people or so, all related to Linda. They even drew a family tree to show how each of them are related.

Meeting all of them, and spending time talking about Estonia, our travels, Canada and other worldly politics, we were invited to see the house where Linda's Grandmother and Grandfather lived before running to Canada.

We got there, and had a tour. Unfortunately, it was only of the ground floor because the upstairs had been sold to 2 other people. Back in the Soviet day, the house was sub-divided into smaller apartments and then sold off. What I understand is that when Linda's Grandparents left Estonia, they just ran. The house was left alone, and someone else took it over. Somehow, the family was able to get it back, which is nice.

I know I forgot a lot here, which I'll get Linda to correct my errors. But a neat story we found out was that Linda's grandmother, before running to Germany (I think) buried some books and a tea-set. Years later, she mailed her family and friends to go dig around an Apple tree that she had planted and they found it. The books were a collection of classic authors in Estonian. The Soviets had seized all books not supporting Communism and so I guess her grandmother didn't want these to be destroyed.

Again, I've commented about this a few times on my trip here in Estonia, but i can't imagine how difficult it must have been under the Soviet rule. True, there are some circles who think the Communist way was good because it treated everyone the same, but was that really true in practice? Is it beneficial to control what your people read to support your cause? Has that 'iron-fist' worked successfully, ever? Even my base knowledge of history tells me that with such oppression and control, there is always an uprising.

Maybe our system of democracy is the same, just in a different coat? I don't know. It's too early right now, and I'm just babbling.

It's nice to have something else to talk about or even consider.

Corrections...

2008-08-06T00:02:00.000-04:00

I have just made some corrections in my past posts.

Just to let you know. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

The Islands of Estonia

2008-08-04T11:40:00.002-04:00

Ok, being in a country that has WiFi everywhere, we actually found a place where we didn't have WiFi. On the Island of Muhu, we stayed at Ave's mom's friend's place. Yeah, It's a pretty weak link but it was a really nice place.

It's funny, as we've been to the museums and seen how the old-fashion Estonians live, and this woman's place was exactly that. It was an old farm her and her husband took over, and are either restoring, or just making nicer for her to live. It had a gorgeous garden, amazing rooms, and the old fashion Sauna.

Again, old fashion was that there was no running water in the main house, but just outside.

It was similar to Hasso's Mom's place, in terms of construction. I don't know how to describe this to anyone who's not seen this. Let's picture this: In Estonia, their winters are longer than ours. The main source of heat for a long time (and most country houses today) is fire, so the fireplace needs to be in the middle. In Canada, our Pioneers made only one room buildings with a big fireplace on one end to heat the structure. In Europe (or at least Estonia), they had the fireplace in the kitchen, with a chimney that went around into other rooms where there were smaller fireplaces. So, imagine one main chimney coming out, with a series of brick tunnels linking them all. I need to get some pictures of this to show.

Anyway, Ave took us to Saarama (which is the biggest island on the Western Coast of Estonia) to see the huge Danish Castle in Kuressaare. It was a really cool castle with all kinds of caverns and stairways that you are allowed to wander. Sure, they keep tourists to a certain path, but once in a while, there was a staircase that lead up to some weird place. The neatest thing was seeing the Lion keep, with fake Lion sounds when you enter.

Anyway, we wandered a small folk festival and then went back to Muhu. Spending an hour in the Sauna was just heaven. Linda and I have discussed trying to make one in our own backyard, in the same vein as the Swedish Sauna, which is very popular in Estonia.

That leads us to today. Waking up, we left Muhu to head back to the mainland. We drove around the North-western Coast and hit a castle in Haapsalu. At this point, we got really hungry so we went to a cafe for lunch.

As we were walking into the cafe, we noticed some really big guys in suits (bigger than most big Estonians to this small brown guy) with the ear-pieces. Figuring there was someone famous close by, we went into the restaurant. Inside, was Toomas-Hendrick Ilves, the President of Estonia, having lunch with his family.

Linda, curious to see if she could get a picture with the president, asked one of his aides, which worked in her favour. After he finished eating, she was signaled to come out for a picture. Being busy, it was quite a quick photo-op. Linda was pleased that he had the time to offer her a moment.

After that, we just headed back to Tallinn, in which Veijo was waiting, ready to make us dinner.

Our Estonian trip is almost over, but I am getting spoiled by our experience. Before I explain, let me first address something from a few days ago.

1. If I spelled your names wrong, let me know. Argo, I got your comment, then followed by another comment. I'll change the names soon. I don't get much time on a computer, but I will change it, so it's not incorrect when you go back to read it.

ok, that was it, really. Here's how we are spoiled... (Jasse knows about this...)

We got Picked up by an Estonian Diplomat who took us on a personalized tour. That evening, the person in charge of Advertising for Postimees (the biggest paper in Estonia) made us dinner. Then we were invited to party where a huge Estonian artist/folk singer played. When we went to Tartu, the Dean of Education Picked us up and took us around. Then a Professional Basketball Player took us on a tour of the North-Eastern Coast. Then, we meet the president and are back in Tallinn. Where else can you do that?