On Death and Friendship
Somebody I didn't even know died today and the news of their untimely death made me unbelievably sad.
Perhaps I was so sad because she was so young and the young and innocent never deserve to die. Perhaps it was because she was so important to a very good friend of mine. After all, friendship is all about sharing... the good AND the bad.
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| Christian Nasulea - 10.11.2009 | |
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Business Man's Halloween
I'd never taken the time to attend any Bucharest Halloween parties before. After all, it is an imported holiday based on a religious tradition without much of anything to do with Romanian culture, traditions or religions.
Friday morning I got a call from Madalina, who suggested we should attend a Halloween party later that night. With little time to plan, and a full extended work day ahead, my party outfit would have to be the result of imagination rather than the result of an extreme shopping spree.
As I was working on a revolutionary technology that would forever change the face of technology and mankind it struck me. I would dress up as a "business owner in times of financial crisis". The content of the outfit would be a dirty, ragged old yellowish white shirt, a dirty vest, livid corpse-like skin, dark marks under my eyes, a noose around my neck and red ink around my slashed wrists.
Some of you will have probably already seen the pictures posted on Facebook on Saturday but the description above should provide you with the necessary clarification on the philosophical meaning of the costume.
Saturday night I became a repeat offender by attending the "End of the World Halloween Party 2".
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| Christian Nasulea - 03.11.2009 | |
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Squire Deluxe Jazz Bass
After months of research and deliberation I finally went out and bought myself a bass electric guitar in the form of the Squire Deluxe Jazz Bass. There were so many things that needed considering, not least of which the significant aspect of price of a good bass guitar.
It finally took under two hours to tour the Bucharest music gear shops and it was in the end a decision simply based on brand and number of buttons. One has to admit that the buttons method is significantly better than the traditional choice model, reliant exclusively on colour.
Sound reasoning I'd say!
It's likely that Ibanez lost the battle to Squire also thanks to the MC Music shop assistant's presumptuous, disdainful, condescending and downright arrogant attitude towards the client (ME). Not that I'm one to get pissed off or hold a grudge over that kind of thing. :)
In a brief Sunday morning philosophical moment I realized the coolness of the Squire brand name. Squire being Fender's cost-effective little brother, the medieval sense of squire as "a young nobleman attendant upon a knight and ranked next below a knight in feudal hierarchy" (source: TheFreeDictionary) puts it all under an even more customer-satisfying light.
Here's to me and my new bass! May we pass many enjoyable moments together!
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| Christian Nasulea - 01.11.2009 | |
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Susai Spa
As a final cherry on top of the long list of presents, that I received for my birthday this year, I got to spend 2 days at the Spa in Predeal, on the spot which was once (until recently) known as the Susai challet.
The changes which converted the old, little challet into a modern high-class spa center, in the space of 3 or 4 years were incredible. Imagine a swimming pool with a view towards the mountains on 3 sides built in such a way as to give you a warm comforting feeling as you take a swim while the rain outside turns the mountains into unbelievable scenery. All this next to the dry sauna, the wet sauna, the jacuzzi, the game room and the fitness room.
To make the experience even more unbelievable we had it all to ourselves. Talk about peace and quiet and relaxation!
To put a very personal touch on the trip amidst all this relaxation we took a 3 hour break to go mountain biking. It was a short 25 km ride to Azuga and back enjoying the landscape and burning the necessary 2-3000 kcal for the week.
I've added the map of the bike ride and the altitude profile to the appropriate page.
Also a short set of pictures from the spa is available on Facebook to give you an idea of the place. I almost managed to abstain from being in any of the photos. Just two got through.
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| Christian Nasulea - 28.10.2009 | |
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Biking in the Night
As the sun was setting over our beautiful Prahova Valley we set off for a short mountain bike descent down an untried trail in the HTG. By the time we got to the starting point at Crucea Secariei the remains of the day were few and light was very scarce. As we left the main road and hit the trail the surrounding trees made everything seem darker still.
Unfortunately after the recent rains, the trail was more like a river than like a dirt road so we had a bit of trouble getting through the first part. Mud everywhere, water sent flying in all directions by our wheels and the last crumbs of daylight quickly vanishing over the horizon to make room for the inevitable night were the defining points of our 6 km trip.
The night had settled firmly in place by the time we got to the meeting point accross the street from the Club.
You can have a look at the map and altitude profile of the trail.
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| Christian Nasulea - 24.10.2009 | |
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The Bucharest City Marathon
Sunday together with Ina, Cornel and Tudor I ran the relay race at the Bucharest City Marathon, as I said we would a while ago. We each ran one 10.548 km lap through the centre of Bucharest, more or less along the Dambovita river and around the House of the People.
Our goal was to finish the marathon in under 4 hours, which we did. In fact much to everyone's surprise, us included, we completed the race in 3:28:13. I was really astonished at my personal performance of 53:23, which was at least 5 minutes faster than any of my training session results.
The whole experience was a lot of fun. From the seniors race to the 7 Kenyans occupying all the first places we learned a lot about taking part in a marathon.
You can see more about the marathon and the results or you can have a look at the official results of the relay race or you can see some pictures posted to FaceBook.
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| Christian Nasulea - 20.10.2009 | |
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The Authorized Service Center
I was initially planning to make this a well documented account of the facts to prove the malicious intent behind the events presented. Considering my limited availability of time I'm going to skip the documentation and cut to the chase.
A while ago we took one of our cars, the Ford Focus, to the Ford service center in Ploiesti for its periodical check-up. The car was found to have a problem with its steering that made it unreliable at speeds in excess of 100 km/h. We were told the entire steering needed to be replaced for an estimated cost of parts and labour around 8000 - 9000 lei (about 2000 EUR). Considering the car cost 7000 EUR to begin with this seemed a bit much.
Being the responsible individuals that we are we decided to ignore the issue until it became truly inconvenient. After all the car was ok at speeds under 100 km/h. As the car is due to make several long distance journies it was finally time to resolve things. Before doing so we decided to get a second opinion about the problem at the garage in Banesti where we resolve our more generic car-related issues. They took a close look and gave us a very different diagnosis, involving bearings and a couple of other wheel components, giving us an estimate of 1200 - 1400 lei. The diagnosis was correct, the estimate was precise, the car is fixed, there are no more problems.
Taking this story to a few other Ford owners from Ploiesti and surrounding areas I was met by an avalanche of similar stories all related specifically to the Ford official dealer and service center in Ploiesti, Proleasing Motors. The imaginative ways in which the dedicated professionals at PLM find unnecessary, expensive repairs that absolutely need to be conducted on their clients' cars seem to be a frequently used tool in the company's business development toolkit.
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| Christian Nasulea - 17.10.2009 | |
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Autism and Special Needs
One way or another this is something that has had an involvement in my
life for the better part of the past 20 years. I honestly don't know
why I never wrote about this before.
This week I was in Ploiesti for the English-Romanian seminar on "The
importance of early intervention for the recovery of children with
special needs". A large number of organizations came together to make
the event possible and as always the main coordinator of the seminar
was my mother. She's been involved in countless projects aimed at
helping children with disabilities or in projects that have in one way
or another contributed to the improvement of social services in Prahova
county. I'm not going to go into more details about what could easily
translate into a 10 000 page saga covering the past 17 years.
The important part in my opinion is that this week's seminar was a
resounding success. The speakers from The Hesley Group in the UK did a
great job in presenting ideas and procedures. Feedback we already have
from social workers, specialists and parents of children with special
needs is exceptional.
Although I only contributed to the organizational side of the event I'm very happy to have been involved.
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| Christian Nasulea - 14.10.2009 | |
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The Bragger and the Story Teller
I was passively watching a majorly crappy movie on HBO at a very early
hour of the morning, let's call it 5am. There was this character in the
movie, a doctor who was a Harvard graduate, used to be in the military,
worked as a male underwear model from time to time, went rock climbing,
had an acrobatic flight license and went to Africa every summer as a
volunteer for an organization looking after sick kids.
I'm going to mimic modesty and only imply the next part of my thoughts.
As I was watching the movie I remembered something a good friend of
mine told me recently:
"You know, in our 1st or 2nd year in
university you used to tell stories all the time, just like you do now
actually, and I always thought: this guy is unbelievable, how much can
one person brag about himself?! Now after so many years I understand."
Just like those annoying people who insist on showing you their holiday
photos, from their one month Scandinavian summer getaway, my stories
about the many things I do must annoy people too. Actually, I'm also
one of those annoying people who insist on showing their holiday
photos. The truth is I don't do it just to show off "how cool I am
compared to someone else". I do it because I find things I do very
interesting and I feel compelled to share interesting things, knowledge
and experience. Plus I REALLY do a LOT of things!
I've long noticed that some people ask me to tell stories and explain
things on their own, others feel the need to respond with stories of
similar interest (as if it were a contest) never actually listening to
my stories except to evaluate their interestingness score and
counterattack, and others just cut my stories short from the very
beginning by expressing their lack of interest outright. I obviously
love the first, prefer the latter and dislike the second approach.
To cut things short I guess my big question is: How annoying am I really?
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| Christian Nasulea - 12.10.2009 | |
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Seaside Run
Taking advantage of a blitz business trip to Constanta, yesterday at lunch I took the time to do a bit of running. I ran the 10.66 km from the entrance into Mamaia to the end of the beach in Navodari in a little over one hour.
Running barefoot with the breeze in my face made the experience quite exceptional. Although most other people were wearing thick jackets and warm clothes the weather was just right for my running gear. I'm sure running the same track in the summer, through the overcrowded beaches and under the scorching sun would have been much less enjoyable.
You can see some photos of the run here and you can see the training report diagrams below.
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| Christian Nasulea - 11.10.2009 | |
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