*** Friday, 24 Jan 2003 ***
Mark sent me an email that he had been unable to call me on my cell phone. I sent him a corrected number but it still didn't work. He called the operator and she said that the cell phone system refuses to accept calls from the US. A bummer if so. Days later Mark was able to get through which showed that connections from the US were possible -- if the network was functioning properly.

When I later talked to Ion about this he assured me that it was a temporary glitch and would be fixed soon. Later, he casually mentioned that his wife worked for the company and that's how he knew about the glitch.

Many buildings from the 19th century contain charming details like the portion of a facade shown here.

I walked along Balcescu and Magheru looking for the Hollywood store that Mihai had told me was there but I couldn't find it. No rented DVDs tonight. Several investigations later I found it just off Magheru but the sales prices (averaging about $22 seemed very high and I couldn't rent because I don't have a ligitimatsia yet.

A root canal that I had last June started to act up. First it just seemed sensitive but it quickly became painful. I emailed my doctor and he advised me what to do just in time. I got some penicillin and the sensitivity declined dramatically but by then I had an abscess on my gum. It broke this morning so I guess I am on the mend.

I do have a developing problem. I am running low on my arthritis prescription. I have started visiting larger pharmacies but they seem flummoxed by it. To make things a little worse, I have a significant inflammation of the middle finger of my right hand, so I don't dare stop taking it. My doctor suggested some equivalents and I was able to find one. But when I went back for more they were out. Now I can't pass a pharmacy without trying to find it.

Recently I was walking down Balcescu toward my apartment when a well-dressed rather pretty young woman started to talk to me. As she walked toward me she spoke as if she knew me and I said, "No," loudly enough to be heard but she continued walking towards me and it looked to me that she was going to block my way. This made me angry so I snarled, "No!" very emphatically and she changed direction very quickly and muttered something that might have been the equivalent of "Why is he in a bad mood."

Larger and fancier than the detail shown before, this is what you can do when you have some money to spend.

*** Saturday, 25 Jan 2002 ***
I walked along Balcescu and Magheru on the other side looking for the Hollywood store but couldn't find it there either so I took the train from Romana to Dristor and then the linea 15 to the Bucharest Mall. I found the office supply store that had the business card stock but they were out of it. Bummer. Then I took the linea 23 to Regina Maria street and walked up Victoria from the bottom looking for the tailor shop. I think I found it but I need a Romanian speaker to accompany me if I am to get some pants made.

*** Monday, 27 Jan 2003 ***
Last night I tried to connect to fx.ro from home and got a message in Romanian that sounded like they didn't pay their phone bill. I got quite a chuckle out of it.

*** Tuesday, 28 Jan 2002 ***
This morning I tried to show Allen that fx.ro hadn't paid their phone bill by dialing their computer on the speaker phone. There was no message and the computer answered. I figured that they must have paid their bill first thing in the morning. Tonight I dialed the number from home and got the message again.

Putting it all together, I realized that it was my phone that was shut off from outgoing calls. I never got a bill so I never paid it. I called Professional Realty and they took care of it for me.

Surprise party for Dennis. We all gathered in the large conference room and when he walked in and reached to turn the light on we shouted "Surprise!" as Mihai flashed a picture of him and Dennis nearly jumped out of his skin. He ended up outside the room peering in from the side with a look of complete amazement on his face. I haven't seen anyone that surprised in a long time.

*** Wednesday, 29 Jan 2003 ***
I had lunch at the restaurant across Aviatorilor and brought my own pepperoni with me. I asked for a margarita pizza (tomato and cheese) and gave the pepperoni to the waiter and asked him to ask the chef to put it on the pizza. He showed no surprise and agreed to it. The result was a pizza smothered in pepperoni and I was a happy camper.

Allen suggested we go to see the James Bond movie "Die Another Day" and I agreed. Since my apartment was on the way to the Hollywood Multiplex at the Bucharest Mall, Allen got to see it and seemed to like it. We had to hustle to get to the theater on time. It took two trains and a trolley with perfect connections. We walked in as the opening scene was playing and caught the entire meringue of escapism. It was so over the top that I enjoyed a lot. I laughed a lot at the silliness of the scenes: cars sliding on ice and firing missiles at each other with barely a dent in either car.

Allen bought some popcorn and several times during the movie I thought I might taste some but every time I looked over his hand was in the bag so I can't comment on the quality of Romanian movie popcorn.

*** Thursday, 30 Jan 2003 ***
Today was the vindication of my mac System X! IT staff brought up the new Windows 2000 server and then told me that I needed special software to be a full partner on the network. I said that System X could do it all by itself and we agreed to try it out. With some suggestions from the help files (now actually useful) we were able to get my Mac printing directly from Mac applications (goodbye cranky VPC!) in about 5 minutes. Connecting to the network on a peer basis took more like ten minutes (I had forgotten the "Go" menu's "Connect to Servers" option). But we sorted it out and my PowerBook was a peer on the network in no time. The PC staff were impressed.

Then we installed Lotus Notes and it went flawlessly. I have to use the program to develop an opinion but I liked what I saw from the training I got. This gives me an email address for all work-related activities and allows me to have my personal address just for friends. Continue sending to me with the email address you already have.

*** Friday, 31 Jan 2003 ***
Last night I had a dream that involved me having all my documents stolen -- passport, driver license, credit cards, etc. All were gone. I was anguished about what to do and then I woke up and breathed a sigh of relief.

A densely foggy morning. So dense that the streets and sidewalks were coated in an icy layer of congealed fog. I walked to the Metrou with careful steps and hoped that temperatures would rise enough to make the going safer.

At about ten AM, large flakes of snow started to fall. By Noon it was starting to stick and by two PM there was slush in the streets. And soon, ice!

I will be obliged to leave Romania within two weeks to avoid the 90 day limit on my visa; headquarters has not yet completed the registration process so I cannot get my legitimatsia -- nor rent DVDs. I have to iron out the details soon.