Last Post From Daskaroli

It has finally come true, I am moving out today out of Daskaroli Str. and into my new Penthouse in St. Nikolaus street 110. To be quite honest, nothing is packed yet for I had no time at all last night considering I was having a meeting with Stefanos and the landlord after work , after which came the grocery shopping and going to the gym.
I am not quite sure how I am going to resolve all of this after work but hopefully I'll get a chance to get out of work a bit earlier in order to pack my stuff and be in Mr Georges house by 7pm.
Still need to call him today and see how things are progressing, considering the whole apartment needs a bit of cleaning and freshening up, even though I am very eager to move out today if it takes sleeping on the couch, which might be significantly more comfortable than my current bed. I also need to inform him of the new developments regarding the lease contract, which I got informed last night will be in my name, and not the companies due to the lesser amount stated in.
This is a bit bothersome to me for it makes me exposed and not being flexible to leave if it comes to it, or in the case Stefanos decides to cancel the project. Then I would be obliged to pay the rent until the end of the lease. Another thing is paying each month in cash, which slightly worries me. Anyway, I will see to it today and try to come up with the best possible solution.

Pasta di Ragusa

I have been kind of lagging behind this weekend when it comes to posting blogs but making up for it by freezing my ass off on a Monday morning and trying to resume what was going on.
The weekend had a pasta note throughout it and that fact didn't bother me at all for it is my favorite dish. Apart from making it myself both on Saturday and Sunday for lunch, the dinner I had with my Croatian friends from the marina was taking place in a lovely small Italian restaurant just by the Irish pub I frequent. It is even more enchanting because the fact that the name of the place is Pasta di Ragusa, Ragusa being the Latin name for Dubrovnik. It is a very petite six or seven table restaurant, without much space, but very charming nonetheless. Even though the street it is located is not that particularly nice, they manage to create a very enjoyable and homely environment with the wooden floor and the tall green bushes surrounding the place. It is just the kind of place I like to go out for dinner, with one word, charming. The most important part of it is definitely food, and considering it is a family owned restaurant where they make their own fresh pasta with very simple recipes with only the freshest ingredients, it is the formula for success.
My Gorgonzola and fresh tomato tortellini were superb, with a margarita pizza appetizer and a couple of bottles of Italian pinot grigio made the whole experience complete. I will definitely find my way back there very soon.

It is always sunny in Philadelphia

The second episode of my favorite tv show is being downloaded and I am absolutely impatient to see what the Gang is up to next. I am in my usual Saturday morning spot, drinking the best Freddos and surfing the cyberspace. The day hasn't reached its mean and yet so much stuff happened already.
What I planned to do today, considering I got information from my girl friend in the Gym about an apartment being available in Glyfada center, is call on the number I was given generously and see to it that I made a right choice with Mr. George's apartment, for I have a general conclusion that all the apartments in my price range are crap. Contradictory to my belief, this one was quite decent, and even though I was negotiating the price not to be above 700 EURO in total costs, the monthly rent for this particular one would be probably a hundred Euro less than the one I decided to go for.
That doesn't mean I changed my mind, but I considered it if the price would be favorable and that is EURO 700 in total, which would also prolong my moving out to another date, for this apartment would need furnishing and electrical appliance installation.

I am just bewildered that finally, after spending 4 months in a crappy place, my dwelling is going to be a cozy, livable and decent place and not a dump nut suitable even for a student. Some further details about this rent and incomprehensible price along with murky landlord relations and bank accounts came to light, and things are starting to make sense, but I am not comfortable with making prejudice and assumptions, although I will be more cautious around certain people for they lost my trust for good.

My New Sony Vaio

Due to the fact that my last laptop, also a Sony Vaio mobile model is on the verge of becoming deceased and working on a very slow pace, Stefanos decided to give me his brand new Vaio he recently got from one of his business partners.

My new laptop is unfortunately not a Apple MacBook, but is the closest thing to it, it's only downside is having Windows OS. The design of the Vaio, along with power and performance is astonishing. It is a a mat black piece of beauty with a keyboard similar to the one used on mac's, with aluminum parts and slight lines of neon green lights on just the right spots. I am completely satisfied with it and know is going to be put in good use.

Anyway, I believe this is just a temporary solution because the new company I am going to run in Croatia is going to be based on the Apple OS and fully integrated with Apple technology, so it is just a matter of time before I strt working on my brand new Apple MacBook Pro, a gadget worth aspiring for.

Orthodox Priest Landlords give me the Heebeegeebees

The day was going yesterday in such a great manner that success at the end of it was bound to happen. I got my hopes up so much about finally finding an apartment that there was no stopping my joy. It all kind of crashed in my face after having the meetings with my new real estate agent and the places we went to search.
The first place was just a couple of minutes from my current residence, positioned just below Vouliagmeni Ave. in what seemed the second floor of a family house. It wasn't so bad when I gave it the first sight after a kind of spineless and creepy young bloke opened the door for us. Big balcony, nice small kitchen extended to the living room. The bathroom was quite poor quality with the worse shower I seen so far and and a very low ceiling. The surprise and shock was going downstairs to meet the landlord who apparently is a Orthodox Priest. I was petrified by his reddish alcohol driven face, his black beard, furniture in his living room and ornaments, pictures, painting and all the religious gibberish and kitsch surrounding his palace. It was a definite no no!

The second place was about sixty meters from my petit penthouse on the ground floor of what seemed a very old building. The landlady appeared descending from the main hall stairs and seemed to be the similar age with the house.
The problem about this place is that it was very big and because of this very costly. By entering you immediately got that damp smell of mold and old furniture, which was abundant and asking whether we can dispose of it and bring new furniture, we received a negative answer putting another no on the offer. Well, the place was kind of big and with some amendments it would have looked nice, but the kitchen was not amendable whatsoever and it was exactly the kitchen that made me refuse this with a definite decision. I am a cook and I need my kitchen to be modest.

Five Minute Post. One, two, one, two three!!!

What a nice morning in Glyfada. I kick started the day with a short jog in the athletics court in the neighborhood, after which I had to pick up my pants from the dry cleaners. I have a pretty good feeling about this day for I had made friends a couple of days ago, actually last Friday to be exact with a Croatian captain in the marina I work for and after having coffee yesterday we started talking about accommodation.
He is also looking for a place in Glyfada and was kind enough to provide me with the number of his real estate agent his Company pays for. After making the call and explaining the kind of dwelling I am looking for, next thing you know, she is calling me back saying she has an appointment for me 50 meters from my current location for a 60 meter square apartment in my price range.
Hopefully something is going to come up from it today for I am starting to loose my patience and am very much at the edge.

Teenage Bottle Rocket

I got my hands today on the new Teenage Bottle Rockets album along with Strike Anywhere's Iron Front. Both wicked bands, both of the albums expected to be perfect. My presumptions proved right and I don't think I'll be letting these punk rock gems out of my earplugs for the next couple of months.
Getting the albums was probably the only good thing about this day, for everything else was very pain striking and depressing, the peak of depression being the work atmosphere which shaped my mood and ruined the day.
I didn't have much luck with searching for my new apartment and am starting to loose faith, none of my colleagues giving the slightest effort to help get this over with. I am really not sure how much longer I can take this, especially considering I have to start studying for my exam next month, and frankly I don't see this happening in my current accommodation

Asian Dub Foundation

If this was supposed to be a relaxing and tranquil weekend to recharge batteries from the trip to Croatia, then I was terribly wrong going to a semi punk show in Gagarin 205. I am still recuperating from a wicked night of good fun fast and loud music, astonishingly good draft Heineken and extravagant quantities of vodka. Bottom line, sleeping on stage during one of the best preforming live bands, being asked by the vocalist whether I had a good nap, fleeing home ashamedly before the show ended, hitching a cab and waking up with a bad headache and excruciating hungover, depleted of 75 Euro, a couple slices of pita bread and half an avocado. Well that is what you get when you overdo it.
I finally managed to get a grip and am writing my final lines and listening Alkaline Trio on the balcony before I drop on the bed and start a fresh week tomorrow.

I learned another important thing today. If you say you were going to write something in a blog at a later stage, you never get to do it, so I am going to save me the effort for next time and just not write anything for I know it is going to be a lie.

Utter Exhaustion

So much happened these last couple of days that there really wasn't any time at all to write at least a glimpse of what was going on. All this travels and activities resulted in one of the worst tiredness I ever experienced, even though I slept in my own beds which are indescribably better than the one I have here, if you can call this a bed at all. Never have I experienced such a grave fatigue and guess need the weekend to rest and charge my batteries.

No doubt that I will revert with the things going on and things that will take place from the latest developments, but now I just feel I need to go to sleep. ZZZzzz

A Desperate Housewife

Finally a moment of rest today with my favorite Freddo and Orange juice, after the whole morning spent cleaning, ironing piles of clothes and shirts and packing for my trip. I had a good night sleep but feel wretched now. I am especially aggravated on the fact that all the time during the ironing I thought the air conditioning was on, but instead it was just blowing hot air, so I just got sweaty and furious.
Most of the things are packed and now I am just waiting for an appropriate hour to depart and start looking for a cab to the airport hoping those god damn bastards driving the taxi won't try to rip me off as always.
I wish I got more prepared for the meeting tonight and will definitely try to revise the most important facts about the company I work for and I am sure that Stefanos will give me some advice and pointers so there is no need for panic.

A Tirp Back Home

Saturday morning, and as always, I find myself in Starbucks drinking my favorite coffee in addition with something new I came across today, freshly squeezed orange juice.
I made a stupid mistake of not bringing mu free wireless card with me, but fortunately for me and not Starbucks, they managed to double debit my Starbucks card with 20 Euro, so my balance now is approx. 35 and was able to afford myself the prepaid internet card with 4 hours of surfing time. They are big boys and considering I spend some 30 Euro on a weekly basis in their shop, think they'll be able to surpass this.

Besides this, I have a small hangover from last night, but nothing too unbearable for I had only a couple of pints of the old black stuff last night in the Irish pub. Not a very good turnout because I was hoping to meet some girls and ended up going home alone around midnight half-ass drunk.
This Greek girl I met last week promised me coffee today so I am waiting to hear form her.

I have a lot of cleaning up and packing today and tomorrow morning, my flight to Croatia departing 5PM Sunday. I am going with Stefanos, and starting tomorrow night, we have meetings through the three days of our stay, but I am sure will be able to spend some time with my family and friends.

My company laptop is going dead on me and I desperately need a new one. Unfortunately, I won't be getting the new Vaio I was talking about, but Stefanos promised me, considering he is thinking of buying himself a new Macbook Pro, to give me his own Mac to use, which would be terrific, but I am still going to mention to ma parents the idea of buying my own personal mac now that my old laptop perished.

Calling all Skeletons

Listening to Alkaline trio and drinking coffee on my terrace is a pretty cool way to start the morning. I am all set for my trip to Croatia on Sunday and am quite excited, but afraid it is going to be a bit stretched and I won't be able to see all my friends, especially the once in Zadar who are all expecting me to go out for a beer. I am a bit dumbfounded that I didn't arrange for me to travel on Friday so I can get the most out of this trip and spend the first two days with my friends and family. I guess this solution is also pleasing for I will be able to spend more time with Stefanos and discuss business. I love being in his presence for you can learn a lot from it.
Hopefully I will be able at least to spend some time with my family and possibly visit my grandma. My friend Ena is making me sushi on Tuesday night along with her famous Cheese cake, of which blogs have already been written, and I truly hope I will make it. Would love to see all of them in one place considering the scarce time I'll have.

Apple

I am considering buying a Mac book for myself now that my old laptop has reached its age limit and became obsolete, not to mention that I managed to chrash the screen by letting it free fall from the ironing board and at a later stage giving it a punch and further blurring the screen. The current visibility is at one fifth, due to the spilling of Christal liquids.
I always wanted an Apple notebook and the new MacBook Pro model is absolutely perfect for my needs, plus the whole company is going to be integrated on the Mac system so I might as well preempt them buying me a new one. My current Sony Vaio is very poor quality and is starting to deteriorate with a quick pace, but the good news is that Stefanos has a brand new Viao model he doesn't use and he is willing to let me use it for the time being.
The only thing now is that I need to find somebody going to the US for the prices there are substantially cheaper and there is a big likelihood finding a suitable Mac for just under one thousand Euro. I also need to negotiate this with my parents who will be helping me with this.

I will be leaving for work a bit sooner today since I have a Starbucks craving, and there is a little one just above the tram station. Gotta charge my Starbucks card with 20 Euro so I can get a free drink. Either way I will end up spending all of it by the time I got to Croatia. Another thing, I have to finish the first part of the Business Plan for Croatia today and present it to Stefanos tomorrow. It is going to be a challenge but I will do my best.

Fatigue

The excruciating sound of my blackberry alarm clock forced me to open my eyes and with it started the feeling of the utmost tiredness and discomfort. I was like somebody was beating me with a baseball bat all night long just to stop at the moment of awakening, and the uneasiness continued trough the day, no matter how many coffees I drank having a substantial impact on the concentration and productiveness at work. I just couldn't wait for the day to be over.
My guess is that the cause of it all lies in the bed, which is by far the most uncomfortable bed I ever slept on, and I've been sleeping on it for the past 3 months. Did I mention that it is also very petite and missing at least 5 inches in order for me to stretch fully. Fortunately, Stefanos promised me we would go to Ikea next week and by me a new appropriate bed, even if I by this time don't find a new dwelling.

Considering I wasn't capable going to the gym yesterday, I forced myself today and ended up having a good training, but now I think I'll just go to bed for I am dead. I was invited to a birthday party of my neighbors daughter just the apartment below me, and even though I still hear the party is on, fell that I could not stand on my feet for the next 2 hours and eat my face with pastry and drink beer. I am way to tired.