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Saturday, July 25, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Ibiza Pics
Try this website for Ibiza Pictures from Day One
http://picasaweb.google.com/andrew.roszak/IbizaDay1?feat=directlink
Ibiza Pictures Day One
Ibiza Day TWO
Day 2 – slept in longer than we wanted – and it turned out that the scooter rental place was closed, hours are from 8am – Noon and then again from 5-9pm.
Headed out to the beach and in search of wi-fi. Spent a good amount of time on Punta de Baix and Platja de ses Figueretes. Lunch was good – we had a spanish omelette, some cheesy nachos, and a cheese pizza. Not bad – but their wifi would not work.
Around 7pm we headed back to the hotel area, we decided to rent a scooter for 24 hours – for 40 Euros. The guy renting the scooter did not speak English, and he was taken a bit aback by my Illinois ID Card (I left my drivers license at home for safe keeping). Eventually he gave in and we were on our way. Immediately we jumped on and headed to Cafe del Mar over in Sant Antoni to catch the sunset. The sunsets here at about 9:30. The scooter ride was quick, about 35 minutes – and we never went above 50mph. So basically, we drove from the East side of the island to the West side in 35 minutes. Cafe del Mar sunsets were made famous by Jose Padilla.
Unfortunately our sunset was a little bit cloudy – but it was still an amazing experience. We even got an amazing cabana / lounge thing – that had a great view.
Today we had a great day and visited a ton of beaches – will post more info tomorrow when we get back to Barcelona (and hopefully some internet).
Today we jumped on the scooter and had a full day of exploring!
We first headed off towards the Hippy Market – which is located in Es Canar. On the way we passed through a town called Jesus and got a little turned around. About an hour after we departed, we ended up pulling into Santa Eulalia des Riu. What a wonderful town – and an amazing beach – beautiful sand, great atmosphere, and cheap! We had lunch at a cafe owned by some British folks – they were very nice and gave us a bunch of pointers about where to check out. The search for wifi continued – but no luck.
Next stop was the 'Hippy Market' an Ibiza tradition that occurs every Wednesday in Punta Arabi. It is a huge outdoor flea market – and they sell everything ranging from clothing to crafts to music cds. It was very very hot outside today and walking through the market became quite the task. After making a few purchases, we got out of there and were on the search for our next beach.
We headed for San Carlos – for Cala Boix beach. This beach was a long hike down a mountain but was worth it. Boix is known to have the island's best waves – and they were great today. es and then to Cala de Sant Viceno. MORE TO BE CONTINUED... SORRY INTERNET IS ACTING UP
Hello from IBIZA, SPAIN
Hello from Ibiza! This was written on Monday the 20th of July
We made it! Internet is spotty – so stay tuned for future updates.
Got in on Monday around noon – hopped a cab at the airport and headed for the hotel. 20 Euros later, here we are! The hotel has two pools and is located in between two beaches – BEACH NAMES
Today we went south – to the BEACH NAME. Beautiful day today – high in the 80s. We ate lunch at a little boardwalk right on the beach. 2 Barcardi Breezers and 2 'Kermit the Frog' drinks – as well as a Chicken Kabob, mozz and tomatoes, and a chicken sandwich. Not bad for 32 Euro.
We then continued to head south. We went to the famous Bora Bora beach club. It was not hopping like we thought it would be. Later we found out that noise ordinances prohibit the beach bars from playing music until 4:30pm – so that explains it.
One interesting fact, many of the places here do not take credit card – most of Ibiza, especially on the beach is a cash-only operation. That made things a little difficult today – so we spent the afternoon tracking down an ATM – which are not as common as you would think they would be. Eventually, after 3 attempts, we were able to secure some Euros! We then went and purchased some beach towels – 2 for 12 Euro – what a bargain.
After grabbing some money, we headed back to the hotel. We hit up a supermarket on the way, and grabbed some diet coke, water, beer – the necessities. I still have the Makers Mark from Duty Free – so I will probably tap into that sometime in the near future.
Back at the hotel, we hung out around the pool and caught the last few rays of the day. Then we headed up for a quick nap. It is now 9:30 pm local time and we are getting ready to head out to PRIVILEGE, the biggest club in the WORLD! Tonights DJ is Tiesto – so I am really looking forward to that.
Tomorrow we will be off exploring – perhaps maybe renting a motor scooter and touring around the island a bit.
Privilege was a great club, HUGE – over 12,000 people jam packed inside. Unfortunately, they do not allow cameras inside the club – although plenty of people snuck them in. That was bogus – and is mentioned no where until you show up at the door and they pat you down. Then, if they find your camera, you have to go to their gift shop and pay 4 Euro to 'rent a locker'. Such a scam!
Privilege had a big pool in the center of the club, with the DJ booth suspended above it. Very cool. We ended up heading down to Ibiza and drinking a little bit at a bar before heading out - they had a free shuttle so it worked out great. The funny thing is that the club is quite a bit of a walk from the bus drop off point – down a long windy and dark road – that does not have much of a sidewalk. Cars and taxis are constantly buzzing passed – it was kind of scary. The girls in their going out clothes and shoes also did not seem to enjoy that experience.
Got to the club about 1am and stayed until 5am. Tiesto came on around 2 or so. Amazing – all of a sudden a new DJ booth appeared out of no where – the entire back wall opened up and there he was, complete with his own lights – in fact he never used the 'house lights' at all – it was all his own amazing light show.
The pool provided water for this amazing waterfall – basically it would start pouring rain above the pool, and then a laser light show would be projected onto the water fall. Unfortunately many of the clubbers also took the opportunity to shower themselves off – they would jump on the rain and stick their head or arm or whatever body part would reach and get SOAKED. Since we were standing on the rail, every time the waterfall would go on we would get soaked from 'friendly fire'.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
First Day in Barcelona
As stated previously, we slept in today until about 4pm - The time change so far has been hard to get used to. In fact, I am writing this blog post at 5am local time.
Today was a great day. We got to see a lot. We hopped on the hotel's shuttle and headed downtown. They dropped us off at a place with some wonderful fountains - and, of course, a Mc Donalds. 
We then ran into a city worker who was hauling trash. He spoke English fairly well, and was excited to tell us all about his city. He recommended that we go on a short walk down to the boardwalk area - by the ocean. So we did just that. On the way, we happened to pass this store - not sure what it was all about, but I thought it made for a good photo op. Unfortunately, it was closed, so I was not able to get my happy pills for the day. A lot of the stores were closed today. 
The area around the ocean was really neat - lots of boats and little huts selling jewelry and other touristy stuff. We continued to follow the ocean and eventually found the beach.
We discovered a lot today, from a Casino, to the Zoo, to a lot of awesome 'green spaces'. This is the first city I have ever been in that really integrates nature into the city. Numerous times we would be walking and then, out of the blue, there would be a beautiful park - additionally this town has a TON of awesome water features - it seems like everywhere you look there is a fountain, creek, or waterfall. Very cool and very easy to forget that you are in a city that is home to 1.5 million people.
The area by the Zoo was extra nice. Very well kept up. - See previous posting about that.
Interesting things - the people seem to be in love with crepes with chocolate sauce on top of them - they sell these things EVERYWHERE. We have not tried one yet, but it is on our list for tomorrow. Also, the native Spanish people are kind of hard to identify - they really just blend in with everyone. Often times it is very difficult to determine if someone is American, British or Spanish.
We ate dinner at a nice outdoor seafood place on the ocean. Beautiful view. The food was okay - I had Spanish rice mixed with assorted seafood. Abby chose rice with assorted veggies. Hopefully tomorrow we will score some good food. Lots of KFC, McDonalds and Dominoes pizzas here.
On our way back to the hotel, our taxi passed by the Palau Nacional - which is located on top of a magnificent hill called Montjuïc, the views from the Palau Nacional are unmatched anywhere else in the city, and the museum is surrounded by a handful of other museums. Barcelona’s Palau Nacional appears, at first glance, to be a very grand, old building. Looks can be deceiving! This sprawling structure that houses the National Art Museum of Catalonia was actually built in 1929 for the International Exhibition. This thing was lit up like a Christmas tree. It was truly amazing - and this picture does not do it justice. Will visit and photograph upon our return to Barcelona in a few days. There were water fountains galore as you approached the building - and then this amazing sunburst of light behind it. Really something.
Alright, well it is 6am here now, I am going off to lay down for a bit and hopefully catch an hour of sleep. The shuttle bus leaves for the airport at 9am then off to Ibiza on the 11am flight.
Day One: DCA to JFK and JFK to BCN
Well, it is official, the trip to Spain is up and running! Things started out great - we got to the DC airport about 1.5 hours ahead of time, which was unnecessary - but we wanted to play it safe.
After checking in, we enjoyed some mozz sticks and wings from TGI Fridays. Security was a breeze, they actually opened a second line right as we arrived so we flew through. The flight to NYC JFK was amazingly short - a mere 38 minutes. However, once we landed we drove around the airport forever - it took nearly 20 minutes to get to our gate!
The flight was supposed to take off from JFK to Barcelona at 6:45pm - due to a late arriving plane, we did not end up leaving until around 715 or so. There were a ton of people from Spain on the flight, far out numbering the Americans. One Spanish high school class was returning home - thankfully we did not have to sit by them.
Before boarding we stopped at the duty free and picked up a bottle of Makers Mark and a bottle of Captain Morgan. We decided to crack open the Captain once we were about 2 hours into our flight - we ended up finishing the entire bottle! Stupidly, I gave the empty bottle to the flight attendant when they were going through the plane and asking for garbage. Once we landed in Barcelona, one of the male flight attendants told us that "just for future reference, you can not serve yourself alcohol on the plane, only we are allowed to do that"... lol opps..
The movies on the plane were lame! They were showing a bunch of kids movies, like Ice Age - which is very odd considering the flight was an overnight flight. So we chilled out and caught up on some reading. The flight was nice and quiet - a big plane with 7 seats across. Luckily, we got to sit in an extra row - man the extra leg room was NICE!
We watched the sun come up as we were descending into the Barcelona airport. It was quite beautiful. Customs presented no problem - we quickly flew through and grabbed a cab (although we found out later that the hotel offered a free shuttle) 25 Euro later we were at the hotel. Btw, the exchange rate is about 100 US Dollars for 63 Euro.
The hotel is amazing - 5 star all the way. Luckily, we were able to get checked in right away and head up to our room. It was about 10:00 am Barcelona time - around 3am Chicago time. We went up and crashed until about 4 in the afternoon.
Barcelona, Spain - Picture Gallery Now Online
I have uploaded some of the pictures from Barcelona on Sunday - you can view them by CLICKING HERE
Arc de Triomf - Barcelona, Spain
The Arc de Triomf (English: Triumphal Arch) is an archway structure in Barcelona, Spain. It was built for the 1888 Universal exhibition, as its main access gate by architect Josep Vilaseca i Casanovas.
The arch is built in reddish brickwork in the Moorish Revival style. The front frieze contains the stone sculpture "Barcelona rep les nacions" (Catalan for "Barcelona welcomes the nations") by Josep Reynés. The opposite frieze contains a stone carving named "Recompense", a work from the earliest period of Josep Llimona.
The top of the arch is decorated with the Barcelona coat of arms as well as a representation of all 49 other Spanish provinces, work of Torquat Tassó and Antoni Vilanova.
The arch is located between Passeig de Lluís Companys and Passeig de Sant Joan, at the end of a wide promenade connecting with the Park of the Ciutadella.
Here is a video I shot of the Arc de Triomf
Parc de la Ciutadella - Barcelona's Beautiful Park!
View of the lobby of the Hesperia 5 Star Hotel in Barcelona
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Leaving New York - JFK bound for Barcelona Spain
overnight flight - total distance of 3,878 miles!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Cubs Win But Santo is Missed!
in the hospital the few weeks suffering from a kidney infection. Abby
and I wanted to express our affection for Santo and wish him a speedy
recovery - we have really missed him in the broadcast booth the last
few weeks. Fortunately th camera man for Comcast Chicago spotted us
and put us on TV during the DC Nationals v Cubs Game - Hopefully Ron
saw it!!! Get well soon Santo!!!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Poland Sues 50 Cent over Cancelled Concert
American rapper 50 Cent is being taken to court in Gorzow, western Poland, for cancelling a concert that the city spent 100,000 zloty promoting.
Legal teams from Gorzow and 50 Cent met Wednesday to discuss the case.
50 Cent was supposed to play in Gorzow in August 2008 as part of a promotional concert series for the city. After cancelling the concert, 50 Cent’s handlers did not refund the city the money spent, or set up alternative arrangements.
“We signed a contract for 200,000 zloty [47,000 euro]. The city logo appeared on posters. In every advertisement for the rapper, the city’s name appeared. We were convinced it was a good idea,” says Jolanta Ciesla, spokesperson for the city’s legal team.
The concert was to take place in the sports stadium in Gorzow with a capacity to hold 10,000 of the rapper’s Polish fans. Initially, when the city realized that the event was not turning out as planned, they attempted to push the concert back a month. Still, no tickets were sold.
The city had paid out 100,000 zloty in sponsorship, with plans to pay the second 100,000 zloty after the event. “Organizers expected to fulfill the contract and gain publicity for the city. We are of the opinion that this was not an advertisement for us at all but the opposite: an ‘anti-advertisement,’” adds Ciesla.
The concert organizers have not publicly disclosed why the event was cancelled. “Our legal department is handling the case,” says Michal Torz, from the Gdansk Shipyard Centre, the organizers of the concert.
From thenews.pl
Red Light Cameras and Speeding Cameras Generate Tickets, Controversy, and News Stories
Personally, I believe that all of these devices should be banned. The goal of law enforcement is to protect the citizens, not be a revenue raising device. The tickets issued by these machines are bogus, especially because you are considered guilty - leaving you with the burden of proof proving your innocence.
First up, CHEERS TO Schaumburg, Illinois:
This week, Schaumburg called their contract with RedSpeed, citing no improvements in safety and a flood of angry-motorist grief. This decision was made after red-light cameras at the village's lone picture-snapping intersection netted more than $1 million in tickets.
Chicago Tribune
Second - Jeers to Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson
While defending the camera ticket program he stated, "I guess you can say that's true with every ticket that's issued,I guess all tickets should be disbanded because all tickets are moneymakers."
Johnson said when police first started using radar guns to nab speeders, it didn't cause a public uproar like red-light cameras generate now. Well no doubt, Mr. Johnson - that is because police officers, HUMAN BEINGS, have judgment and do not issue citations that are arbitrary.
So the cameras are not moneymakers? Well consider this fact dug up by the Daily Herald - As of June 30, 2009, Elk Grove Village's seven red-light cameras generated $928,749 in their first year of operation. By comparison, the village received roughly $600,000 in revenue from other traffic tickets during that time. That, sir, I would call revenue generating / money making.
Next, Jeers to the Montgomery County (Rockville, Md.) Judge Who threw out camera speeding tickets issued to on duty police officers.
A Montgomery County judge has thrown out speeding tickets issued to four county police officers.
Automated cameras snapped pictures of the officers' cruisers exceeding the speed limit while the officers were on duty. The violations are as follows: 50 in a 25mph zone, 51 in a 25 mph zone, 36 in a 25 mph zone, and 46 in a 35mph zone.
Circuit Court Judge Ronald Rubin ruled Monday that the officers' right to due process had been violated because the police department doesn't have a written policy outlining when on-duty officers are exempt from speed camera tickets.
This decision has outraged some citizens, especially those who feel that law enforcement officers should be held to the same standard as ordinary citizens. "They are afforded more due process than the average citizen," said Assistant State's Attorney Teresa Casafranca.
From the Examiner
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Send Your Name to Mars!
NASA is offering you the ability to send your name to MARS!
Simply fill in your name and it will be included on a microchip on the Mars Science Laboratory rover heading to Mars in 2011!
Click Here for NASA
Introducing BingTweets
Microsoft's new search engine, BING, has now launched a second site - Bingtweets.com
Basically, Bingtweets combines Bing search with Twitter search and trending topics.
For example, search "Harry Potter" and you will receive Bing search results on one side of the page and, on the other side, recent tweets containing the same term. BingTweets also has a “Trending Topics” box that extends beyond Twitter’s top ten to include currently popular topics, places, people, and products.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
ABC's Virtual View - Reenacts The Old Baby Through a Security XRay Machine Trick @abc
While security at Federal buildings is no laughing matter, this report by ABC World News did make me chuckle, especially at the use of the "ABC Virtual View", which is used to reenact different events.
This time, virtual view provided us with an inside look into what happened when an officer shot a mirror in the bathroom while playing 'quick draw'.
And in my personal favorite - Virtual view also showed us how it looked when a security officer at a federal building allowed an infant in a baby carrier to go through the xray machine. 
The virtual view begins around the - 9:15 mark.
Federal Protective Service Busted
Monday, July 13, 2009
Real World - Washington, DC #DC #MTV #RWDC
Apparently MTV's REAL WORLD is filming here in DC. Filming began on July 2, and it will be the 23rd season
To follow the news on the Real World DC Crew check out Twitter:RealworldDCNEWZ
or check them out on
Facebook
Bring em on! Southern Illinois Mayor Acts like a Buffoon on Fox Chicago Tv
Marion Mayor:Detainees
Love Sand, Camels
Updated: Monday, 06 Jul 2009, 12:42 PM CDT
Published : Monday, 06 Jul 2009, 12:42 PM CDT
A downstate mayor says “go ahead, bring on the Gitmo detainees.” Robert Butler is the mayor of Marion. He says the town's medium security prison could be upgraded to host the unwanted prisoners. He talks to Mike and Jan over the phone.
In the interview, Jan asks Butler if he’s worried that the detainees will be living in his city if they get out of jail.
Butler responds by saying, “I cannot imagine that they would care to stay here. We don’t have any camels and there isn’t any sand. So, I’m sure that if they were released they wouldn’t be coming here to this community. They’d be going some place else.”
Later in the interview, Butler explains more about why Marion should hold the prisoners.
He says, “We’ve got our American thugs there. Let’s put the terrorist thugs there. Our American thugs are going to take care of them and so we go from there.”
From Fox Chicago
Obama to throw out first pitch...
Barack Obama will be adding baseball broadcaster to his résumé. SI.com learned Sunday that the President will join Fox Sports announcers Joe Buck and Tim McCarver during Tuesday's All-Star Game. Obama is expected to be in the booth sometime between the third and fifth inning. SI.com reported earlier that the White House was considering Fox Sports' request to interview the President during the game.
Obama is scheduled to throw out the first pitch Tuesday in St. Louis at Busch Stadium. He will be joined by former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter in a seven-minute video address to be aired during the pregame ceremony. The video will honor 30 Americans whom MLB and People magazine have recognized for service to their communities.
Major League Baseball says the video will mark the first time all of the living U.S. presidents will participate in a ceremony at a sporting event. Following the video, Obama will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.From CNN / SI.Com
http://tinyurl.com/nzocfl
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Filming of Police Raid for TV Show Outrages DC Residents
Montgomery County police officers staged a fake raid in Northwest D.C., complete with guns drawn and police lights blazing, sparking outrage from local residents who were not warned that the cops were acting for a TV show.
About a half dozen off-duty officers, who wore county uniforms and drove county police cars, were hired by a local production company to stage a police raid on 315 Aspen St. NW, which is about a quarter of a mile from the Montgomery-D.C. border.
"If the D.C. police had been in Montgomery County, that's all [anyone] would have talked about," said an irate Kelly Craven, who lives a few houses down from the raided house.
The filming was for a show called "Prison Wives," which is about women who fall in love with and marry prisoners, according to neighbors. The show is in development for the cable channel Investigation Discovery, according to its Web site.
Julie Schor, who lives next door, and other neighbors said they were angry when they found out that the police were there to be filmed and the community had not been notified.
"I wasn't told nothing," Hall said, adding that the police "took their time" when he asked them to move their cars out of his driveway.
The police also tied up traffic by speeding up and down the two-lane residential street with their flashing lights on, neighbors said.
Police spokeswoman Lucille Baur said the blame for the "very unfortunate" incident lies with the production company for not alerting residents before filming.She said the department allowed officers to participate because it was told that filming would occur inside the county's borders.
The Silver Spring production company, Sirens Media, issued a statement apologizing to the residents for not following the "correct protocol" to notify the District before filming.
Had they cleared the film shoot with the city first, Sirens would have been required to get a permit and paid to have traffic diverted, according a spokesman for the District's film office, who added that the city would have "over-communicated" to the neighborhood about any planned filming involving guns.
Story from the Examiner
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