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Friday, December 21, 2007

We are going to Germany!

Yea!!! Holiday season is here, and we are making our way to Germany!

I will report back with some pictures of course about our trip.

Friday, September 7, 2007

AT & T Service Disruptions

I am not sure what is going on with AT & T but it seems that there service has failed us today. I woke up early in the morning and got on the phone (I do most of my work over the phone), by 10am my phone (Blackberry) stopped making any outgoing or incoming calls at all. Those that have tried to get in contact with me would not even get a busy signal or voice mail, the line would stay quite with not sound at all when someone called me.

Thankfully I was receiving my e-mails and sms messages.

When I got to the office I called AT & T to find out what is the problem, and they told me that they are experiencing difficulty with service in New York area, when I mentioned that it is effecting my business tremendously the representative told me that they sympathize with me but nothing can be done until approximately 2pm. How does that help me?

Thankfully my service was restored by 11:30am. But guess what, now I don't receive my e-mails.

This reminds me why I switched from AT & T 7 years ago and now I thought that it would be different this time, but I guess nothing has changed.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Los Angeles - Day 8

I haven’t had a chance to upload pictures from today just yet and will probably do it tomorrow night when we are back in New York.

It has been a wonderful day in LA, a little hot, but we are not complaining.

We took another tour this morning to see the City of Angeles, or at least the famous places that everyone talks about.

Let me recount what we saw: the Hollywood sign - did you know it was originally put up as an advertisement for a company, but then it was decided to keep it for the sake of the industry; Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood Boulevard, some of that walk of fame, the foot and hand prints of famous actors. Then we went into Beverly Hills to see, of course, you guessed it, the houses of the rich and famous, among those were Tom Cruze, Shawn Connery, Tom Hanks and so on and so forth. Wonderful estate, a lot of property, everything is green and neat with butlers, maids and service entrances for personnel. :) Of course we loved it.

Quick pick at the Rodeo drive, the van didn’t stop for us to shop, and that somehow is a good thing. But all your favorite boys and girls are here: Channel, Dior, Michael Corrs, I might be misspelling some of the names, forgive me, but there were so many of them there.

We did stop at Farmers Market, and had a quick lunch there. Again I picked at some stores, but there was no sense to shop so far away from home in a timed break. Common shopping is not something you do in a rush, ok maybe if there is a big sale, but that is a different story.

After that we came back to our room and just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. And now we are sitting in the lobby of our hotel and I am working on this blog, while Gor checks some news and figures our way to the airport for tomorrow.

It is always a little sad when your vacation is over, but to be completely honest with you, we love our home too much, so we are actually happy to get back to our place.

Kisses, pictures are going to be posted tomorrow evening.

Pictures are here

Los Angeles - Day 7

Los Angeles, there is a lot of controversy about this city. Some will say they love it, so will hate it; some will just simply stay indifferent. We liked it a lot, not enough to say that we want to live here if a right opportunity will come along, but enough to say that this is a place where you can have a good time, either just the two of us or coming out with friends. There is definitely a lot of interesting things to do here.

So today we spent the whole day at Universal Studio, I have strategically made reservations for a VIP tour around Universal Studio, and it came out great. Aside from having a illustrious tour guide, who obviously likes what she does for a living, we have managed to get on practically every ride and without having to stay in line.

You will see on the pictures some of the rides that we were on, and just to mention a few: Back to the Future (which will be closed tomorrow for good), its been open for 14 years to entertain and now will be permanently closed. Instead of it there will be a new ride made especially for Simpsons.

The Terminator, Shreck, Sea World, and Jurassic Park were among many rides we took today.

But I am also taking my hats off to the tour behind the scenes of the studios itself: the making of the sound, and decorations, I can go on with the list of the things that we saw and learned about endlessly.

Just to sum it up, if there is a kid in any one of you my dear friends, this is the place where that kid should come out and have fun to the full extent.

By the time we came back to the hotel we were pleasantly tired. So we went to bed right away.

Well without further bragging about it, here are the pictures, see it for yourself. Pictures

Santa Barbara and Universal City - Day 6

We left Pismo Beach at about 11 am and started moving toward our final destination Los Angeles. Since we skipped breakfast we decided to stop for quick bite at Santa Maria. I don’t know what it is, but food excites me (in a good way of course), so we went in an all you can it buffet. It was good and we sure enjoyed both the main course of breakfast and of course ice cream for desert covered with chocolate chips and crushed nuts.

Then we have stopped at Starbucks a few miles away, and did “number twerve” (if you don’t know the joke please use the link joke (sorry don’t have it now but promise to post it later), if you have no time to watch the joke is has to do with the fact that this was a drive through Starbucks. Satisfied with out version of the joke we then got back on the road to see the beauty of the Pacific Coast and to visit Santa Barbara on the way.

Santa Barbara turned out to be a beautiful town, we only had time to explore the State street with its shops, cathedral and Museum of Art. And guess what the bus that runs up and down this busy street cost only 25 cents, that is why it is filled with tourists and those who just begged for the money. But it is beautiful and we appreciated the little streets and shops that we saw. I am hoping you would be able to appreciate by looking at the pictures that we did.

Of course those of you who know that in the 80th and 90th everyone was watching a soap opera “Santa Barbara” in Moscow, for sure and probably other parts of Russian Federation. It was an experience, I haven’t missed an episode of “Santa Barbara” Somewhere from 1990 through 1994, then I came to New York and realized that the show lasted 20 years, so I parted my ways with it. But being in Santa Barbara, felt like being in a place where you know pretty much everyone, and even though we haven’t really run into Cruz, Iden or Mayson, we also still don’t know if Cici is in a coma. But it was great and we loved it.

Then we were on the way to our hotel in Universal City, which is 7 minutes walking from the Universal Studio and since everything has been ordered through AMEX, we are of course are treated to complimentary breakfast all three days, wine and cheese platter to fulfill our Romance package, and are staying at Sheraton with a very impressive lobby. I am sitting in the lobby at this moment enjoying my complimentary Mimosa and Gor just finished his Mohito waiting to be checked in. I will finish the blog with links to the joke and links to pictures tonight.

And I am back, not that you would notice the break that I took from writing, but we had dinner at Universal Studio Street Mall and it seems great. We are going to spend a whole day there, since we booked ourselves some VIP trip.

and here are the pictures for you, and wine and cheese in the room for me. :)

Pictures are here

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

California Vacation - Day 5 - Pismo Beach

Just a lazy afternoon here at Pismo Beach, Cliff Resort.

Since we will have to drive for the most part of tomorrow, going through Santa Barbara and right into LA, Universal Studio City to be exact, we have decided to spend a somewhat laid back afternoon here at the resort. Especially since Gor came down with a little cold. :(

We woke up early enough to catch up with some work, even though we are away, we can’t seem to part from the work that we do for more than a couple of days. So morning started early with some e-mailing and some conversations (all work related).

Then we have decided to catch on with the fact that we are on vacation and we went down to the spa to have a couples massage. 60 minutes of bliss, laying side by side with two therapist working their way through the stress and tension of our bodies. By 12 p.m. we felt better and took a walk through the private beach that our resort grounds have, as you can see on the pictures it was very nice.

Later we took a quick drive down to the downtown of San Louis Obispo and had a nice lunch there sitting on the patio and overlooking a creek that goes through the town.

As I said nothing much to report, just a lazy afternoon in front of TV.

Pictures from today are here
http://picasaweb.google.com/MukBan/PismoBeachDay5

California Vacation - Day 4 - Carmel and Rt 1

I can’t believe that this is actually day 4 of our vacation and that we are almost half way through with all the fun and entertainment. But so far it is great to be here!!!!

We woke up in our enormous suite, made some coffee, took a bath and enjoyed a quite peaceful morning on the patio. Carmel resort was filled with love and quite beauty of nature. It is filled with upscale golf courses and multiple tennis courts, aside from the spa and delicious restaurants on the territory. This resort grounds stretch out for 1700 acres. A lot of the suites as it turned out are condominiums and do belong to someone, primarily some golf maniac, but very upscale. :)

Since we don’t play golf, yet, and we weren’t up to tennis, or swimming or even spa activities, we have decided to hit the road in the morning to see more of California.

After a delicious breakfast we were on the way to Pismo Beach where we are staying for the following two nights. As a route for our journey we picked famous for its scenic way Pacific Coast Highway or Rt 1. As you can see on the pictures the views are just mesmerizing. The whole road takes your breath away, by the combination of different floras combined together in one environment. I hope you can see it on the pictures.

To us the whole ride, which with all the stops took us approximately 4 hours or about that time, was an enchanted forest that came down on us with its live ocean and sun that hides behind the haze and then comes out to shine at you again.

I felt like a little girl from a fairy tale. Ok, ok, maybe I am not a little girl, but we were part of that enchanted forest and it was amazing.

Nature has it way with you when you are exposed to it, it affects you deeply on the levels that we are not able to comprehend or understand, in a mean time it interacts with you and becomes an integral part of your life. Seeing the ocean move on its on with spontaneous combustions somewhere in a middle was wonderful and weird at the same time. Seeing palm trees integrate with evergreens was funny. Nature has combined its sources here on the coast and allowed us to participate in this joint venture of humanity integrated with raw nature. If it makes any sense at all, we were drunk with visual information that we processed on the way. We are happy to live in this world and to explore some parts of it that were unknown to us before.

This trip is turning out to be an awesome adventure and an excellent road trip.

Enjoy the pictures from today Pictures

San Jose and Carmel - Day 3

Finally a piece of heaven!!!!

We woke up to the fogs of San Francisco and as mentioned before couldn’t wait to get out of town to see more of California, hopeful for the great places that we have been told about. After having a quick breakfast we went to Alamo car rental to pick up our compact car. Two and a half hours standing in line and witnessing to British tourists going off on the poor worker of the car rental place, we finally got our compact car that can fit about 10 people inside and were off on the road to meet our friends in San Jose.

On the way to see our friends at their suggestion. (Thank you) we stopped by Santana Row. And HEAVEN began to come down on earth. Santana Row is a very colorful street filled with cosy restaurants (I am not sure if the pictures can really reflect it) and some great shops where we bought our Ace of Base CD for the road.

Quick stop for margarita and guacamole and we were on the way to see our friends.

Meeting friends is always a positive and enlightening experience, especially when it is accompanied by two adorable and sweet kids. Dinner was great, conversations cheery and we were back on the road to our nightly stay at Carmel Valley Ranch.

My God! If there is God, the God bless American Express platinum who helped me book this resort.

Aside from being treated like royalty we are staying at the property stretching out many miles in all directions. With its own golf course, tennis courts, swimming pools (in multiple) and Jacuzzis (one is conveniently located right outside our suite. Yes, we are staying in a suite that is bigger than our apartment. Living room with cosy couch and arm chars. Large closets and enormous bedroom with fully functional fire place and a bathroom that is 3 times bigger than home with both shower and a bath. We are also of course, are in for a complimentary late check out at 4pm, free breakfast and lunch.

I love this place and I feel like we are on top of this world.

Tell you more tomorrow, because now we are off to burning a log in a fire place and taking a bath with out complementary bottle of wine and cookies.

OH HEAVEN!!!! Pictures

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Vacation in California - San Francisco - Day 2

San Francisco has officially failed any touristy expectation that I had. We grade it an overall - F.

Good things first, if you are going to look at the pictures you will see the beauty of some of the Victorian houses that has been remodeled after the earthquake and have some interesting detailing on the facade. With the real estate costing millions of dollars and being build on the grounds that will not sustain an earthquake, makes you wonder if this is a worthy investment.

The hilly parts of the city have excellent views and do look quite delicious to some. We weren’t impressed. And I can see the fumes coming out of the ears of those who love this city. I apologize, but it is not what we expected at all.

Golden Gate Bridge is impressive, with its built in movement and historical significance to the city altogether, we have graded our experience with the bridge at a - B-

China Town - is great touristy place, it stretches out quite a bit and is located right next to the Union Square having a French Quarter by the entrance to the China Town. (French Quarters by the way sucked), but back to China town. It does have a lot to offer and more colorful then the one in New York, but its the same shops and the same souvenirs with just a different city name printed on tee shirts. Overall, you will see some rated R figurines that we photographed while window shopping. Impressive - China town gets a - B+. You have to appreciate the preservation of culture and decorations on the buildings. I think out of the two and a half days we have been in San Francisco, China Town was the only place we could actually enjoy the walking and looking around without being abused.

Here is the scoop.

San Francisco is a beautiful city, it has a lot to offer to the wondering eye of a tourist. It holds different dynamic and cultures around every corner. Aside from general shops like Saks, Barney and CHANEL which every American city has, it also holds that authentic taste of personable shops and tons of souvenirs. We loved this part which was completely overshadowed by the number of homeless people on the street.

DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!!!!!!!!

Homeless here are aggressive and not in a good way. We got abused by a women clearly in need of psychiatric help. And all the homeless asking for money are actually in your face. Coming from New York, we know a thing or two about homeless, but never in our life have we experienced such pursuit of their need for money and food. It is disgusting to walk the streets and only see the homeless. Where are the people that live in the city? I understand that this is the weekend and all of the busy people of San Francisco do not come to work and therefore spending time in the suburbia, but common, the amount of homeless on the street is enormous. What happen to the tax payers money that are suppose to go into shelters and social programs for the poor.

And there is two kinds of crazy here, the aggressive homeless asking for something and almost grabbing you and the friendly crazy aggressiveness of liberal activists marching down the streets protesting for something and forcing you to take their flyers. They would not leave us alone. Do I look liberal to anyone?

We can’t wait to leave to be quite frank with you and I am hoping that the rest of California is not homeless!

Love to everyone home.

Pictures are here San Francisco - Day 2 - http://picasaweb.google.com/MukBan/SanFranciscoDay2

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Vacation in California - San Francisco day 1

Ok so we set on our trip to California, and our first destination San Francisco.

You have to understand that we are both very BIG New Yorkers. We LOVE our city and of course extremely critical of everything around us.

I Left my heart at San Francisco - I don’t think so, my heart belongs to one and only city of New York.

After being here for a day San Francisco scored a B- in my grade book.

Fisherman Wharf was pretty good - B+, it reminded me a lot of Ostenze a small city in Belgium, with its colorful and rich sea food market and enormous selection of eateries.
The food is great and the spirit around the pier 39 is cheery .

Ripleys Believe it or Not museum was so so, we had fun though, but we are on vacation, we will have fun anywhere and with anything. :)

The 3D ride at the pier was great, I think I was the only one screaming during the ride.

Overall, the city impressed us with its architecture and cosy little streets and of course the numerous shops. But the homeless problem is huge. Trust me coming from New York, we know a thing or two about homeless, but here it seems that they are everywhere and some of them are really aggressive.

I left my heart in San Francisco, well instead of my heart I left 5 dollars to support AIDS organization because the person collecting the money would not leave us alone.

And my personal favorite today - Our guide on the hop-on hop-off bus said - “There are a lot of money our government spends on the City Hall, we have an office for Arnold Schwarzenegger being that he is the Governor and all. He was here once then he told us “I will be back” and never returned to the site”. :)

I loved the joke!!!!

If you are interested in seeing pictures please follow the link and enjoy! http://web.mac.com/lenafeygin

Monday, July 30, 2007

Psychological Training!

If you are interested in a non traditional approach to knowing oneself, you should definitely check out a seminar group here in New York. I am currently gathering information if there are interested parties all over the states to see if this training will be conducted over the net on an eLearning platform. Generally speaking this applied psychological theory was invented by a Professor in St.Petersbourgh, Russia and brought here. It all started out as a seminar/dialogue group gathering in New York and was only conducted in Russian. Considering that this particular theory is applied and can actually be used in real life, not only by professionals who are involved with psychotherapy and such, but by everyone in general.

I will try to place some samples of this theory to demonstrate how it is applied on a day to day basis.