Sofia is a lot like Seattle, in terms of winter weather - just a little colder.  Cloudy, steady drizzle, chilly. Ugh, but I’ve been told that summers are amazing.

Some things to get used to - trying to recognize Cyrillic (it’s not that easy!) and the fact that smoking is everywhere! … literally.  Could not find a smoke-free environment except in certain parts of the hotel.  Even if a restaurant has a non-smoking section, it’s usually next to the smoking section.

The Radisson where I stayed at has an Irish sports bar called Flanagan’s - watched the Super Bowl live here, which is a huge plus in my books, just take the elevator down and voila!  Ate here a few times.  Breakfast is served here every morning. Had the chicken wings and shepherd’s pie for dinner.  It was alright, typical bar food, a little salty.  Tried the Guinness beef stew for lunch as well, the mashed potatoes were too soft and watery.

Generally speaking, I found the dining experience to be decent for the price you pay.  Even in a nice upscale place, entrees were anywhere from $10 - $25.

Aside from room service, other places I went to during this extended business trip:

Tambuktu Fish Restaurant - Surprised that there is a seafood restaurant in the city since Sofia is quite a distance from the sea.  Food was average and forgettable, I think my opinion is tempered by being extremely irritated and congested by the smoking around me.  In any case, I wouldn’t go back again … ever.

Maraia Fusion Bar - Was walking around the city center and stumbled upon this place, right next to Tambuktu.  Modern decor always catches my eye and they advertised sushi.  Not bad, I thought, had a spicy tuna roll and regretted it.  The spicy tuna was not stuffed into the roll, it was lathered over the top of the sliced roll pieces.  Ok, maybe it’s a little unique, fine.  Ate a bite and wondered what I was eating.  It sure as hell was not spicy tuna.  Ah well, next was the duck breast entree.  It came sliced up in a blueberry sauce.  Quite good actually, sweet sauce goes well with the grilled breast.  The duck could have been a bit more tender.  That’s 2 out of 2 for me, won’t order duck again in this town.

Krim - recommended by the hotel concierge, I found this place in the daytime and went back for dinner.  The atmosphere and decor is well suited.  An upscale restaurant with European cuisine.  The nice thing about ordering from menus here is that every dish is shown the measurement of the portion (in grams). Gives you a good idea of how large the serving is.  I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that a 200g entree is enough for anyone, if you are going for the full multi-course meal.  Started off with a seafood fish and tomato based soup.  Quite tasty, if a little salty.  Had the whole range of sea critters - prawn, fish, mussels, clams and more.   I picked a lamb and pork skillet type traditional Bulgarian entree.  It was quite good but I could only put half the plate away.  The dessert sealed the deal.  Recommended by the waiter, it was authentic Italian tiramisu.  Extremely good, you can’t taste the alcohol.  Came in large dollops on the plate instead of  the usual slice.

I took the opportunity to grab a city tour over Super Bowl weekend.  Interesting to have a middle-aged guide show me the area - I guess he’s about mid 50s, gave me a lot of background and perspective on the transition from communism to democracy (Bulgaria changed in 1989, joined the EU in 2006, Euro adoption to follow soon).  Interesting architecture, a few buildings were rebuilt over the years.  My hotel room has a fantastic view of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (the domes are gold-plated) and legislative assembly building.  For a former communist country, there’s a fair number of churches (and synagogues and mosques) in the city - people seem to be quite devout and pray often.  One thing I noticed in all the churches was that the interior walls were covered in paintings from floor to ceiling.

Having spent over a week here, I’ve come to the conclusion that the constant smoking is a huge negative.  Especially in the evenings (after work hours) in almost every establishment (restaurants, shops, offices, outside).  After a fresh shower, head out for a bite to eat, come back smelling like an ashtray.  The stink permeates every pore of your skin and every inch of clothing.  My hotel room has a lingering odor due to what I’ve picked up by going out.  For someone who doesn’t smoke, I don’t see how I can survive in this city for long.  As it is, I prefer to get room service instead of heading out to eat, simply because I don’t want to ooze tobacco when I get back.

My sister arrived in town over the weekend.  She brought this nifty little notebook for me.  Thanks! I love it!

Have always liked this keyboard design (raised keys) - the only nagging point is that the Page Up/Down keys are not separate (requires holding down Fn).

In any case, here’s the scoop - Core 2 Duo, 3GB RAM, 250GB hard drive and the rest of the standard notebook stuff.  The main selling points is the amazing 13″ LED-backlit screen and the small, light form factor.  It remains to be seen if the battery life sucks as expected for Sony notebook products.

There’s some other features that I’m unaware of.  The front row of buttons (Mode, Setting etc) - not sure what they are for yet, will find out eventually.

The SR26 comes with Vista Business preloaded.  Obviously the first order of the day was to wipe it completely clean and start fresh.  Funnily enough, it was only then that I noticed there were no driver or recovery disks provided.  Only a Vista serial number stuck on the bottom of the unit.  Way to go, Sony Asia Pacific!  You guys are complete idiots.  What was the decision process to omit recovery or driver disks in the packaging?  Even worse, why are there no Vista drivers for the notebook on the SR26 support website?  This alone would be reason enough to never recommend this notebook. Unfortunately, I did not have a choice in picking a notebook and had to find another solution.

After searching  with much trial and error, I found compatible drivers on the Sony US model VGN-SR290 support website.

Back on track, I loaded everything I needed on the little unit.  The Sony software utilities might not have been a good call to put in.  It installs this docking bar application that can thankfully be configured to auto-disappear after a few seconds.  Also adds power profiles, presentation settings etc.

Aside from the lack of support (driver download, recovery cd), my initial impression is that this notebook is solidly built, has a lot of potential.  Default hardware configuration is decent (3GB RAM, 250GB hard drive) running Vista Business 32-bit.  This blog post is being written from it.  I really like the keyboard, pretty easy to type on.

Will check out gaming potential with Warhammer Online soon after I figure out the other features of the SR26.

Wow, I haven’t seen this much snow on the Eastside before, since I moved here in ‘99.

It’s been snowing non-stop since 4am this morning.  I can practically snowboard or ski on the roads. About 8 inches in my driveway alone!!!

Everyone is walking, it’s pretty fun actually. Bundle up in full snowboarding gear - jacket, scarf, gloves, boots, pants.

It’s about time to upgrade to a new computer.  The 4-5 year new PC cycle.  My antiquated Athlon-64 was on its last legs.  Tried everything to squeeze another year out of it - upgraded video card, replaced broken hard drive.  It couldn’t handle the demands of today’s software.

Read the reviews of the Core i7 and was amazed.  Even more, I was shocked at the pricing of a Core i7 system, relatively cheap.

Dell kicked off the introduction of the Studio XPS with freebie LCD deals.  Couldn’t hold back any longer, it was a far better deal to buy the Dell combo than to build my own.  Added an extra $50 to upgrade from 20in to 24in LCD.

For a top of the line CPU (by today’s standards), it was a great deal (~$1200).  An X58 motherboard with Core i7 920, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, ATI 3450, DVD-RW, media card reader and the 24in LCD S2409W.  I couldn’t even come close to that price range putting it together without factoring in the LCD.

I never knew how fast Vista was supposed to be until now, heh.  Having 8 CPU cores listed in Task Manager is a treat as well. So far, I’ve not been able to peg the CPU higher than 20-25% briefly.

Ran the usual decrapifier to remove the unwanted junk.  Installed the basic applications and Warhammer Online.  With the puny ATI 3450, the game runs surprisingly well (on lowest settings, of course) with 30-40 fps.

First thing I did was rip out the 360W power supply and replaced it with my existing 600W unit from the old desktop.  That gives me a great excuse to upgrade the video card to a ATI 4870HD 1GB, add another 2GB of RAM (to make the system tri-channel) and fill out the remaining drive bay with a lightscribe burner.  For good measure, there’s a WD Velociraptor 10k rpm 300GB drive as well.  These goodies are coming shortly.

Vista Experience Rating is maxed out at 5.9 for all sections with the 4870 video card.

The plan is to run Vista Ultimate (have a spare copy lying in the house) when all the components arrive. All in, for about $1700, I will have one of the fastest desktops available.

The Studio XPS case is somewhat cramped but well designed. With all the stuff I’m adding to it, especially the large video card, I won’t have room for a 2nd hard drive. The heatsink size of the 4870 is actually touching some of the cables in the motherboard. Will have to keep a close eye on how that will work out in the long run. I won’t be overclocking the card at all and hope the default settings won’t be hot enough to melt cables.

Flying in western Europe is comfortable. You are never in the plane long enough to get uncomfortable. 2 hours later, from Arlanda, I’m in Heathrow. The airport is bigger than I last remembered. Took a good while to walk to the baggage claim.

London cabs suck. Need to catch up with the modern world. The one I took to the hotel did not accept credit cards. Naturally, he left the meter running while I went to the reception desk to change some bills … twice … cause the meter moves that quickly. Pretty expensive short hop from the airport to the airport hotel.

The Heathrow Marriott. For a hotel that looks to be staffed predominantly by Indians, you would think that the room service Chicken Tikka Masala item would be pretty darn good. I was sorely disappointed. Even the frozen indian chicken curry from Marks & Spencer is much better than the flavorless crap they served.

Standard Marriott, showing signs of age, lots of wear and tear. The fitness center is a public gym as well, severely under-equipped with very old equipment. Only stay here if you must - and I had to.

The one saving grace was the Tuscan restaurant in the hotel. Wow! simply amazing. Great food, the chefs really know how to work it. The seafood risotto is excellent. The king prawn appetizer was quite well done. A pleasant surprise that I only discovered on my last night there.

Heathrow is nowhere close to the city center. An hour ride, even with the Heathrow Express to get you to Paddington. Ugh. I did go in to catch Quantum of Solace. Review coming up soon. Oh yeah, the Underground pretty much stops around midnight, not good for late long movies.

Flew back to Seattle via Copenhagen on SAS in business class. I must say, it is a comfy ride, reclining seats. Am not entirely sure why I couldn’t pick a warm dinner entree on the later breakfast meal (not a fan of cold meats). Some excuse about the food going bad. Heh, it’s only been 6-7 hours between meals, I’m sure it’s fine.

Arrived in Stockholm on a Sunday afternoon - snow flurries. Hmmmm, didn’t expect that. Rode a Prius taxi to the hotel. First time in a Prius, didn’t think much of it, a car that evokes a “bleh”.

The Hilton in Slussen is located well, the downside is the lack of space. My hotel room made me claustrophobic, approx 8×8. The bathroom is in the shape of a quarter circle. The good points is that there’s a full-service gym that is also open to public membership. The hotel also has a decent restaurant called Eken Matsal. Running an Argentinian theme for the month, I did have dinner there one night. Picked the veal and it was excellent. I was preoccupied with the damn Blackberry to notice much else.

After a decent workout that first night, I felt like having some Thai and hit up Koh Phangan. From the reviews I read, it’s supposed to be good. I dunno, it came off as fairly average. The restaurant is decorated like tiki huts, with funky music. Interesting but I was there for the supposedly authentic food. Perhaps Blue Elephant raised my standards. Ordered a bowl of soup and the stir-fried beef with lime something something. Having it spicy does not mean it’s authentic thai. The soup tasted like the instant noodle thai flavor sachets. The beef, while sufficiently spicy, lacked anything else other than the tangy lime. After that, it was a brisk walk back to the hotel in freezing, windy temperatures (according to the cab driver, it would be quicker than getting another taxi back).

A couple days later, had dinner at Mårten Trotzig with a colleague. Wonderful restaurant in the old part of the city. Holding up well and service was excellent. Picked a french riesling (I think, could be german), turned out to be better than I expected.  Started out with this reindeer mousse appetizer that was a little on the salty side. Had an elk steak, cooked medium. I could get used to this, elk is very tasty. Ended the night with a fruity pannocotta. I’d need to come back to this restaurant again!

Stockholm Arlanda airport seems to be in a state of renovation. And the roads were salted and graveled as well. Didn’t make for a pleasant entry/exit experience. The full-service restaurant in the terminal was nice, gave me a place to sit and relax for a few hours. Had ostrich cutlets for lunch. Again, it was far better than the usual chicken/pork/beef fare.

Next stop … London.

Arrived in Copenhagen for a week long business trip.

It rained, drizzled, showered in Copenhagen during the entire week I was there, except the last couple days. Miserable. Naturally, it was colder too, I didn’t pack a decent jacket. So… spent an hour at the local mall to find a winter jacket. These things are way more pricey here than back in Seattle. Did find a pretty good jacket for about $100 after a 40% discount. Came with a 2 year store warranty - great, I’ll have to get back to Copenhagen if I have any issues with the jacket in the future.

The flight over with SAS was aromatically interesting. Took the empty row behind me, more space, great! yes! … and no … the guy sitting across the aisle, turned out to be a non-shaving non-bathing of scandinavian descent (he’s taller than me). I quickly discovered that if he doesn’t move much, the offending wafts of body odor are minimized. However, I was not this lucky, big-smelly-man has small bladder syndrome.

I like Europe. Immigration / Passport control is a breeze, they don’t even bat an eyelid.

Apparently there’s only 1 Marriott hotel in Copenhagen, according to my cab driver. BTW, most taxis in Copenhagen are Benz’s (more variety in Stockholm, a large portion are Volvos). It’s great! plus taxis in Scandinavia accept credit cards as the norm.

The Marriott is right next to the water, a very large canal. 10 mins walk away from a large shopping mall (Fisketorvet). Once I could see the area during the daytime, the location is quite central to the city center. I kept taking taxis everywhere as I couldn’t see where I was in the evenings (sunset @ 4.15pm).

The hotel was quite decent - service and food-wise. Great morning breakfast buffet. They know how to cook a steak.

Taxis here are fantastic. Mostly current-model Mercedes Benz cars and they all accept credit cards! The downside? After lodging, my next highest expense was cab fare. It’s astronomical.

Found lists of recommended restaurants in Copenhagen. There’s nothing cheap here, just affordably expensive or more expensive.

Had dinner at the RiceMarket. Small corner asian (mainly thai influences) restaurant. Cozy. Places here put a lot of value into presentation (decor, atmosphere etc). Rather than pick an entree, I went with a sampling of 4 appetizers (chicken wings, tom yam soup and others). I had a side order called fried egg with chilli. Sounds deceptively simple and piqued my interest. Lo and behold! It really was a fried egg with the thai-style chili sauce over it. I got robbed of $3 for that dish!

Another time, I went to Saa Hvidt and they were closed for a private function. Grrr… then I remembered that there’s a Blue Elephant Thai restaurant here. It was an amazing meal in Brussels, figured it would be worth a shot. I wasn’t disappointed. What an incredible meal - they seriously know how to cook Thai food. I picked a duck curry with a helping of their fried rice. It was rich, creamy, spicy and filling. My mouth is drooling just thinking back about it. Ended with a mange sticky rice dessert. Mmmm authentic! This meal was the most expensive of my entire stay, however.

Randomly walking about the Tivoli Gardens area, I had a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. What a forgettable experience. Never will I go for “American” food in foreign places again. People ate burgers with a knife and fork. The horror!

In the same area, I chanced upon a restaurant called Flora at Copenhagen Plaza, a hotel.  Another small, corner, cozy place. Looked a bit too mature for my tastes (I was the youngest there) but I was hungry and tired of walking - Hard Rock Cafe across the street was not an option again. Interesting restaurant, small kitchen, limited menu and only 1 wine selection. BUT! it was all excellent. Wasn’t too fond of the foie gras cold appetizer. The rack of lamb entree made up for it. Great serving portions, not too much. Capped it off with a chocolate dessert mix.

Managed to get everything done work-wise by the end of Friday. Absolutely amazing, I had given up hope. Woke up in time on Sat, my only free day in Copenhagen, to take a short bus tour of the city. Watched the changing of the palace guards. Saw parts of town, finally understood where everything is and how they are connected - I walked back from the middle of town where the tour ended. But not before I stopped at a Indonesian restaurant called Bali, for lunch. I’d give it an average, not bad but not great either, expected better. Large servings however, I picked the Mee Goreng combo. Good thing I decided to walk back, needed the hike.

Not sure if I like traveling so far away, end up working days and nights. It’s hectic and the only time to somewhat relax is during dinner, after that, back to the hotel and the daily grind.

In light of the ever-plunging stock markets lately, here’s some funnies:

CEO –Chief Embezzlement Officer.

CFO — Corporate Fraud Officer.

BULL MARKET — A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

BEAR MARKET — A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.

VALUE INVESTING — The art of buying low and selling lower.

P/E RATIO — The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.

BROKER — What my financial advisor has made me.

STANDARD & POOR — Your life in a nutshell.

STOCK ANALYST — Idiot who just downgraded your stock.

STOCK SPLIT — When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets
Equally between themselves.

FINANCIAL PLANNER — A guy whose phone has been disconnected.

MARKET CORRECTION — The day after you buy stocks.

CASH FLOW– The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.

YAHOO — What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.

WINDOWS — What you jump out of when you’re the sucker who bought Yahoo @$240 per share.

INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR — Former investor who’s now locked up in a nuthouse.

PROFIT — An archaic word no longer used.

Was in south-central Kentucky recently, flew into Nashville and drove up to Bowling Green, en route to Jamestown. Lots of flat road, nice 70mph speed limit. Small towns. Boring. My 1.5 hour commute each way to Jamestown probably contributed a lot to my lack of sensitivity.

Not sure what’s in Bowling Green (where I stayed, closest Marriott hotel to Jamestown) - aside from being the Corvette factory. Took a peek at the privately-run National Corvette Museum. Ho-hum, nice if you like Corvettes… a lot. Bowling Green has a lot of corvettes, no surprise here but it was kinda cool to see a corvette on practically every corner.

Food selection - the usual selection of average chain restaurants. Skipped the handful of fancier restaurants in town - wasn’t in the mood. So far, Chili’s is tops, Applebees and TGIF vying for the We-Serve-Crap award. Decent hot-wings place called Buffalo Wild Wings.

Well, aside from the usual weekly doses of Bleach and Naruto, I’ve started to follow Soul Eater and Blade of the Immortal as well. Good stuff, adds different variety and seems to be faster paced while Naruto and Bleach just drags on and on lately. Soul Eater is a little wacky and funny, I like the different twist it adds to the Death God beliefs. And how can anyone not like Blade of the Immortal? He has too many weapons stashed away!