A few words...

It's been awhile since I've publically given an update on my happenings, so here's one...

As you can see from above, I've recently uploaded some images of my workplace on my personal website. I've not been updating this site frequently enough, but I hope to make some headway this weekend.

In general, the weather over the past few months has been quite hot (87-102F) and it's a major change for Austrians. Records continue to be broken throughout Europe and the weather has been a bit extreme over the last few years. Probably globalwarming, but...that's an old story.

So, I've been employed for about 3 months now, and I've begun to really settled into my role. Unfortunately, the role I set out to obtain it's exactly the role I possess today. In fact, the role itself isn't all that interesting, but I try to stay positive because in reality it's a job that allows me to be here with my girl and live internationally. Two very important things in my life. However, I'm not sure how long this justification will hold out, because I'm starting to get alittle weary with my particular role in my department, but overall the company is really cool and the people are awesome! Thinking positive, maybe things will change in the future, as there's going to be some changes happening over the next few months. My fingers are crossed.

As far as my language learning goes, my German has basically been on Summer vacation because I've not been enrolled in classes. As you may or may not have known, I took one class in the Spring and it was successful. I learned more in those few months (4 hours/week) than I had learnt over the last 2 years. Unfortunately, I must wait until the Fall before I enroll in the follow up class. I should also point out the plain truth, which is that I'm quite lazy when it comes to learning (in general) and so it's a chore to sit down and review a German article with a dictionary each evening I arrive home from a day's work. However, I anticipate that whenFall arrives, I will become more active. The cool thing is that this company is holding internal German classes, which I've already signed up for, and it begins in September. This will force me to take time out of my day/week to focus on the German language, which is good for me.

Other than that, I am working out at the gym about 4X a week, and have been doing so for the past 3+ months. I find that I'm back on par now, and from now on I can take it to the next level and really start to build some muscle. My motivation was the fact that pant sizes here in Europe aren't like they are in the States. It's rare to find a size 38 inch waist on pants, and considering that I arrived here in Austria with a 40 inch waist, that didn't bode well for my retail therapy. So now, I'm happy to say that I'm at a 38 inch waist and just in time for the Summer sales. :)

My girl (Lili) and I are planning to take a late Summer vacation, probably to Tuscanny or to Paris. This will be good, considering that I haven't been out of Austrian's two main cities since arriving. Although that may sound fun, it's tough when you don't have a car to travel alittle. Arriving to Austria, the best thing about being here is that it's centrally located and you can travel to many (if not all) the major European cities within 90 minutes by plane. So, this late Summer holiday will be the fulfillment of that opportunity, and I hope to make many more once my 25 days of vacation kicks in after 6 months of employment. That's another advantage of working in Europe, the holiday vacation days that they give you almost doubles to that in the States.

So, that's it for now. Other than that, I continue to miss my family, of course, as well as my friends....and Mexican food. I hope to have some visitors next year...such as my Cousin, my Mom, and possibly my Brother and Dad. We'll see though. Also, I will probably be making my way back to the States next year to do some traveling and enjoy California once again. When living there last Fall/Winter (2006), both myself and my girl didn't have much time to travel outside of San Francisco. I would really like for her to experience Santa Cruz and the other great cities up-and-down the coast. Also, it would be great to visit some of my best friends down there in So.Cal.

Until next time...hope all is well.