I was sitting in the lobby of the Imperium casino in Moscow, waiting for the complimentary car service for losers, when I noticed something peculiar. I was sitting in front of a row of connected slot machines all with a “Battleship” theme. Now, having grown up with Battleship, this aroused certain nostalgic feelings in me. …
Monthly Archive: June 2005
Jun
27
Jun
27
Hit me Sergey
I had to do it. I’ve been gambling in every country that I have been to where it’s legal, so I just had to check out a Russian casino. The concierge recommended the Golden Palace and called me a cab. He told me it would be 300 rubles. The taxi driver though, didn’t agree. He …
Jun
26
First Day In Russia
I flew into Sheremetyevo airport with about thirteen fellow RSM students. We were waved through immigration by a typically stone-faced official woman, and then I was set loose onto Russian soil. Immediately your brain starts looking for the differences. Everything is written in Cyrillic. Are the ads different from ads in Europe or the States? …
Jun
26
MA Picnic
So yesterday the American Studies students got together to finally celebrate the end of the program. Of course we did this in style with an all American picnic in the Bois de la Cambre, the Central Park of Brussels. There were frisbees zooming over our heads (by surprise nobody got injured), brownies being gorged down, …
Jun
25
Pass the Popcorn Comrade
To get in the spirit of going to Moscow, I did a little inventory about movies I saw growing up that shaped my opinions about what Russia is like: Moscow on the Hudson The Hunt for Red October The Spy Who Loved Me From Russia With Love Octopussy Red Heat Rocky IV Rambo III Firefox …
Jun
25
Countdown to Moscow
In a little more than seven hours I’ll be on my way to Russia. I’m going for a week as part of my MBA program, to do an immersion in a different business culture and environment and broaden our knowledge of how business is done around the world. I have to say, I’m very intrigued …
Jun
24
Pub Quiz
Ann and I, our friend Ian, and two of our colleages (Fleur and Stefan), participated in the Jameson Pub Quiz at O’ Casey’s Irish Pub in Den Haag last night. Generally, I like trivia games. The first challenge, always the toughest, was coming up with a team name. Since all five of us work at …
Jun
22
Madagascar
Pretty funny. The animation was fine, nothing spectacular. The voice talent was good (Schwimmer and Ali G did the best jobs). Story was cute and well done, if a bit trite. The best thing about the movie are all the film references and the New York cliches which are worked very nicely into the script. …
Jun
22
Dralion
Ann and I saw Dralion, one of the newer shows of Cirque du Soleil, this weekend in Rotterdam. This is the third Cirque du Soleil show we’ve seen (O and Varkai being the other two). As with the others, it’s a fantastic display of creativity and ingenuity of what can be done with the human …
Jun
20
Back to School
No, I’m not talking about the classic starring Rodney Dangerfield. Although I did feel a little like his character as I walked into the examination hall for my Mangerial Economics final exam. It was the first time I had taken a test for school in eight years. I had gone through pretty much all the …