Lyon and Munich

I woke up this morning pleased to see the Reds are getting on a roll before heading back home for an important series with the Cardinals this weekend. Watch out Cardinal fans, Cueto is back from the disabled list and will be throwing more than punches this series.

Today I am in Munich, Germany. The reason of the location is the Transport Logistic International Exhibition. Its a very large event, nearly 2000 exhibitors in attendance. It will be a nice time here in Munich, largely because I can make my own schedule. Thats an ability I vastly under appreciated before I left the office in Paducah in April. Freedom, like in society, is very important to a productive work place as well.

On Monday and Tuesday I was in Lyon, France. There was an INE meeting there. The meeting was fine, very unlike what we do in the United States, this one would have been more conference call material at home. However, its nice to meet face to face and our counterparts in this part of the world seem to travel often to be able to meet together. In the US, when you meet face to face, you leave the room with decisions made and know which direction your next step should be, when I left the meeting yesterday I felt that the discussion was in the same place it began on Monday. Interesting from an American prospective, but I am sure necessary from a European prospective.

Dessert at Domo. Chocolate with gelato. 

Lyon is quite the culinary center in France. It prides itself in French food. On Monday night I enjoyed a meal at Domo with the work group. The restaurant was not in city center, but rather in a new development where our meetings were being held. It had a very trendy style, similar to Cabana in Nashville, but a lot more formal. (Pause: Blink 182 just came on the lobby radio here in Munich, caused me to stop for a few minutes to relive the 90's in the US, "surprises let me know she cares...").  Anyway, the food at Domo was good. A multiple course French meal. In English terms, it started with a sip of cold tomato soup, was followed with a rather large filet of salmon seared rare with tomato, onion, spice covering, main course was lamb, followed by dessert. All in all it was good and I enjoyed it very much. However, considering I am not on a mission to capture romantic dining experiences, I think I was happier last night in Munich with a wurst and liter of bier.

The Hofbrauhaus and the other places I checked out last night were very welcoming and more southern Indiana style. Of course, in Indiana we dont really compare, but the concept is the same. Long tables, lots of meat and potatoes, and plenty of beer to go around. It was far from sipping champagne while warming up your palate for the next course. It was here it is, get after it. I did feel guilty as I found 50 euro beneath my table. I would have given it back had someone come to claim it, but with cash, how could you hand it to the waiter to put in the "lost and found". Its karma, as in Prague I was extremely pissed that I was taken by conversion shop. At least I am all square now, but I am sorry for the fellow that let the wadded up fifty fall to the ground. Perhaps he was over served.

Well, I am off to the fair now. Its a very nice day in Munich. I hope to see some of the history in the city later this evening or afternoon. One cannot expect to find much history here, understandably the locals are not proud of the regions role in WWII. But its interesting from my perspective to see where the history was made. History is history, good or bad, I'm inclined to explore.  My feeling is that one cannot hold the individuals that live here now accountable for things that transpired seventy years ago. Their generation had nothing to do with it. For some reason I dont think its always seen that way over here...and thats unfortunate, most here are very nice.

Have a great day friends!

Mothers Day

Alright, I have to wait another 364 days until the next Kentucky Derby. But the good thing is that today is Mother's Day. Unfortunately I am unable to spend the day with my Mom. She is in Birmingham with Andy and his entire host of creatures, some yet to crawl and some that prance on four legs. Time to give credit where credit is due! Mothers are the reason we all have entered this world, they have given us comfort during tough times, and sometimes even gave us tough times when all we wanted was comfort. But, cheers to my Mom, she's the best and I love her very much. Happy Mothers Day!

Derby Day

Derby Day, without question my favorite day and month of the year if its okay to have such things. Fourth of July is pretty high on my list, but Derby Day is unique so I side with the underdog and am proud of the first Saturday in May.

Typical Brussels Street

I finally am back in Vienna after a whirlwind of an agenda in Germany and Belgium. It was a good trip. I was rough on Brussels earlier in the week, maybe I was wrong. Its not like Vienna or Prague at all, but it had its unique flare and was enjoyable. I am glad to be back in Vienna though. My work assignments are not necessarily difficult, but its the schedule and maintenance it requires. Every morning up early, new subway systems, food guessing, random train stations, and ever changing airports and languages,  it wears on you. It would be one thing if I were going to be home on the weekends where I could get in the car, take care of the things I ignored all week, but I dont have that luxury. I have found out its a little difficult taking care of the simple things when on the road for this long of time. In order for me to enjoy the Derby later tonight, I had to go on a full attack this morning. Meaning, up early, go to the office to get the rest of my life (main piece of luggage), wash clothes from Prague and this past week, wait, dry, wash, dry, fold, then to the store for basics, allergies necessitated a pharmacy visit, haircut anyone?, back to the office with computer to complete reports and start on next weeks agenda. All of this by noon, without a car, and nothing more than a google map. The haircut turned out good, but I got the American special of $32 euro, this will be without doubt the most expensive trim I will ever endure. Thats close to $46.

Enough complaining, I am done with my work related reports for the day its time to enjoy. I am still bunkered up in the office. Its the best place i can find for a solid enough internet connection to stream the feed from Churchill, play music, and also surf the web. Also, beer is common place here, so I dont think they will mind if I have one or two in a quiet office on a perfectly sunny 72 degree saturday in Vienna. The office is mine today, and I am fine with it.


So the races have begun, I am 2 for 5 in the exacta's for today. Pretty good percentage, but its been pretty chalky. One of my favorite Hoosiers just hit the last for a nice price though. As the day (or night) grows longer, the races become more spaced out and the stakes become higher. I wish I were in Evansville at the Seib house like I have been for the past few years. Those parties are always instant classics. So as far as the race, my heart cheers for ArchArchArch and Jon Court. However, you dont bet with your heart, you bet with your mind and money, therefore I still am uncertain about my Derby wager, but if i had to go to the window right now, here is what my ticket would look like: $5 Exacta on Midnight Interlude, Soldat, Dialed In with $10 WPS on Master of Hounds. All subject to change of course. Good Luck!

This photo makes me laugh. A picture of me and derby party host,
Curt, going strong at the the Arlington Million a few years ago.

Eureka!!

I blog from my iPhone at Fat Boys Bar and Grill in Brussels. This establishment it right across the street from the European Parliament in Luxembourg Square. It's full of our equivalent of capitol hill staffers. The reason this is important is because this is the first American bar that made a serious attempt at being American. The menu is strictly burgers, wings, and Tex Mex. And they have the real ESPN2 as broadcasted in the states. Right now I am watching sportscenter, wonderful. Should I kindly ask for a Busch Light?
Man U plays their last game of the Champions League semi tonight, this place will fill for that and ESPN will be gone. I'll stick around and see what happens, but getting live updates in the present of the Reds Stros game is a very welcoming sight. If ESPN still held the rights to the Derby, I could watch the Derby draw. Good thing they don't, because that coincidence would not have helped my appointments tomorrow. Take care.

Countdown to the Derby

Hello from Brussels tonight and for the rest of the week. Not much fun in Brussels, I mean I am sure there is fun to be had, but my work schedule has me somewhat busy so I cant wait until the local hooligans come out to play around midnight. Dinner at a nearly empty restaurant, right next to several other "parties of one" has become the norm on this trip. You can tell the foreigners, 7PM, steak, vegetable, glass of wine or beer, dead give away. So anyway, Brussels seems a little undeserving of being the seat of the EU, there are so many beautiful stately places in Europe, its interesting this is her flagship. Perhaps I am quick to judge, but it just hasnt impressed me like the other places have. I did do three countries today, Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium. Thanks to my new friends at the BDB who were kind enough to let me ride a long. They really made the last two days very nice, for that I am most grateful.

So Derby week, time to get serious. Most of you following this blog know I am a pretty avid thoroughbred enthusiast. We'll you can throw it all out the window come Derby time, what skill may gain, luck exceeds ten fold. So I encourage you to pick by number, color, name, form, or whatever suits your fancy, it all can work Derby Day! Not since 2002-2003 have I had legitimate back to back Derby winners with War Emblem and Funny Cide respectively. When I say legitimate, that means I didnt have wagers covering half the entries where I could say "Yeah, I had it" while i threw 15 losing tickets on the ground. In the derby dont hedge a large amount of bets, just put a few dollars on the nose of your choice and a couple more on the odd ball, its cheaper, just as fun, and has the same or better opportunity of cashing. Its the hardest race in the world to handicap. You dont need the thrill of betting a couple hundred in the Derby, if hearing My Old Kentucky Home and seeing 20 horses break from the gate isnt thrilling enough, I am sure there is ice skating or Emeril on another channel.

So Ill preface with I wont have my selections until the morning of the Derby. But lets try to learn from my successes, even though its hard to calculate my rationale considering I picked War Emblem and Funny Cide in the heart of my college romp. But then again, at that time i had the time and creative thought to come up with the little less logical contender. Two dollar win bets on each combined for over $70 and it certainly gave me the extra funds necessary for my post finals celebrations. So lets put some things together, I am sure we could all use a little extra gas money. 

The least meaningful photo
of Bob Baffert's career.

Midnight Interlude - Some colts that can get on the lead sometimes stay there. Thats what I thought about War Emblem. Not always the best play, but it worked 2002, and you just never know. Being in front at least makes the other horses come after you. One has to like how Interlude won the SA Derby on the dirt, and he can go straight forward or can come from just off the pace. Not to mention the combo of Bob Baffert and Victor Espinosa, who you may or may not know was the same tandem that got War Emblem to the winners circle. When its all said and done, I say this contender will be over bet considering Baffert and he's exiting a career best in a Grade I prep, but I couldnt blame the logic of a live Bob Baffert front runner. Also worth mentioning that Soldat has major ability to pull off a War Emblem win and is actually faster than Midnight Interlude.

#3 is not what we are going for...

Shackleford - Sometimes its not fun to bet the favorite. So I had to pass on Empire Maker in 2003 despite loving everything about the colt. Still, Empire Maker is one of my favorite colts of all time. Juddmonte, Frankel, Jerry D Bailey, Unbridled, what a dream!! Well thats what everyone else thought too, I cant bet a 3 year old horse at 5/2 in a field of 20 unless I own it. So you must look elsewhere, but where? Look no further than than the second best horse in the favorites last prep race. Thats the mindset I had that year. In 2003 Funny Cide ran a very game second to Empire Maker in the Wood Memorial. Well unless you skipped to this line of the blog, you know who showed up on the first Saturday on May. Any gambler will tell you only one horse wins a race, but no seasoned gambler will tell you the best bet is always on the best horse. So despite no Empire Maker presence this year, Dialed In will be a soft favorite and should be. Zito and Julien, not too shabby. However, he just barely nipped Shackleford in the Florida Derby. If you can ignore Uncle Mo and think Dialed In is dominate, which the writer strongly advises against, then I say Shackleford fits the Funny Cide billing. At the very least, this is a colt that will give you a big price with a potential Kentucky Derby winning punch.

Well, this was pretty random. But hey, it was a good conversation to have the past 10 minutes with myself. It may be gibberish to most of you, but hey if you can translate any of it, you may impress the casual pony fan at a Derby party. Regardless, good luck with your selections, everyone needs it...

Duisburg

Little tribute in Duisburg.

Greetings from Duisburg!! This will be a rather quick post today, all I did was river things. It was actually very interesting. Duisburg is the hub of Europe's inland systems. Sorry Mayor Paxton, you are going to need a new punch line if you go abroad, Paducah doesnt compare to Duisburg. Duisburg serves Antwerp, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam. Its a blue collar type town, think of Huntington, WV without the hills. River town with a few industries that have struggled recently.

The German's really appreciate innovation and education. Of course, I am not on the forefront of marine engineering and physics in the States, but the ideas they showed me today were pretty intriguing. Also, they have a great FREE educational program specifically for professional inland mariners. Very different than home, but with all the different things we have put together in Paducah, we can somewhat compete.

So, I guess now you know why I dont post about work days. No one would come back for seconds. Tonight I wasnt planning on doing anything other than preparing for my trip to Brussels tomorrow and getting serious about narrowing down my Derby contenders. Those are still the plans with only one addition. I heard from the homeland that the beer maybe extra cold and tasty tonight, so you can bet your bottom dollar I am going to have one. U-S-A!

Prague

Hi! Hope everyone is having a good Sunday morning back it home. Its around supper time here in Vienna and I fly this evening to Duisburg. I believe all my travel information is updated on my accommodations map on the right if you are interested.

Prague in my common dress this trip.

This weekend was a very nice one. Mike and Lacey Lynch visited from New York, they were on vacation in Paris and came over to see me. We went to Prague on Friday afternoon via car. We actually covered both Slovakia and Czech Republic on our car ride. Prague was so neat, as I was walking around I was looking for things from the Mission Impossible series. Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia was cool, but it was a pretty rough place. Communist didnt make cleanliness or environment high priorities, it was very obvious. Good enough for lunch and a check off the world capitals bucket list. Prague was very clean and safe.

All day on Saturday, Mike, Lacey, and I walked around Prague taking photos and enjoying the scenery. We also ate dinner at an awesome place too. Five stars! Words really can describe Prague, I have some photos posted on here, but will show any interested all of the photos when I return. It was an excellent weekend that I wish we all could have shared together.

I thought this was pretty neat as well.

Sorry I am in a rush writing this I am walking out the door and didnt even proofread this. I really dont know what I am going to encounter tonight while traveling. I have an address and plane ticket. I will have to negotiate a train ticket somewhere in there. If it all goes to plan, i should be at my hotel before midnight. If it doesnt go as planned, well, I will learn for the next time. Hope all is well, take care.