Blog
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Hello everyone!It's been a whole year since my last update. Well, as you know, we are all busy these days. As you can see in my previous post, I have lived in Vancouver, BC for a while. Back in March of this year, I moved back to Ashland, Oregon for a few months. Now since June I have been back in Germany, not really vacationing, but working a lot. Soon though I will do some vacationing and visit family. I will go back to Ashland again this summer to finally visit more friends, vacation and do a big road trip before I fully move back to the EU. So much for now, more updates and new photos will follow. Take care everyone, Michael PS: Don't forget to checkout some new songs I wrote on my music site pianomike.net
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Hello Friends,
Meanwhile I have settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. I have closed the big travel circle that started at the end of January 2006, when I left Ashland, OR and drove all the way to Montreal, Québec. Then at the end of October 2006, I drove all the way back to the West Coast, to Vancouver, BC, this time through Canada. It was a very interesting trip, took 9 days. Then over the New Year holidays, I closed the "North American Circle" by driving to Ashland, Oregon, to visit.
I still do web design, and in my current day job I do online research, translation and publication design. Vancouver is a very nice place. On a good clear day, you can see the breathtaking mountains north of Vancouver and you can even see Mt. Baker in Washington. If I chose to stay in Canada, British Columbia would definitely be the place. However I am not sure if I will stay here and where I will go next. On top of my list is Ashland, OR or the Bay Area, however that depends on whether I can get another 6-year work visa or green card. Most companies don't want to hire people who need a work visa, apparently it is a hassle for them. In 2005, Google already hired me, when later they found out they could not sponsor me for a work visa or even green card. They only employ US citizens or green card holders. Too bad people get their careers cut because of immigration laws.
Anyway, maybe the wind of fate will blow me back to EU, who knows.
Here you can find some pictures and maps of my Trans-US and Canada trips:
Photos Trans-Canada Trip 2006: prikryl.com/mike/photos10
- Map: prikryl.com/mike/photos10/3.jpg
Photos Canada/USA 2007: prikryl.com/mike/photos11
Trans USA Trip 2006 Map: prikryl.com/blog/tripmap.jpg
What is new in your Neck of the woods?
Take care,
Ciao,
Michael
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Hello music fans, I found some fun Karaoke sites, where you can record your own favorite songs and post them on that site. So I recorded a few songs. Here they are: www.singshot.com/pianomikewww.ksolo.com/pianomikewww.ksolo.com/ocean73I also recorded better productions of other cover versions on my site http://pianomike.net/musicUnfortunately at Ksolo, the songs are in Mono only after you record them. At Singshot, some of the recorded songs end up out of sync. But try it anyway, it's fun. Also don't forget to check out some of my new songs. You can also purchase them as mp3s as well as all my albums. Ciao ciao, Michael
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Hi all, check out this funny Mac commercial.You need QuickTime to view this video. I'm not advocating to buy Macs. Some say they run better than PC's, that may be true for some users. Everyone is different and has their preferences. However from experience, Macs are even more proprietary than PCs. Take the whole iLife for example. Once you get it you are stuck with it. Can you connect a Nomad mp3 player to iTunes? No. So you have to buy and iPod, it's all marketing, don't let them fool you. While this commercial is funny, it puts PCs down quite a bit, unjustly. So my recommendation is, if you are a PC user, stick with it, because you already know your PC, but you don't know Macs. PCs with Windows XP SP2 don't crash anymore, you can get a virus on Macs too, and Windows seems to make work more efficient than Mac, e.g. Macs don't have right-click (Why?). Michael
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Hi all, here is a really good article: 15 Ways the Auto Industry Would Change if it Operated Like Drug CompaniesHope you are all convinced how bad meds are and hope you stop taking them for ailments that are not directly life threatening. Rather listen to your body, because it always tells you what is wrong with it, provided it is not polluted much. Also our bodies are self healing, we just need to let them. To top it of, please read this article. It is shocking, but true. If you have an ailment, why not try a natural method that costs $0 and has NO side effects? ---> prikryl.com/eftI live a virtually pain free and healthy life, because I don't touch meds and I perform EFT if I have an issue. Also I don't worry about disease, and therefore I am not manifesting it. I eat a healthy balanced diet with everything in it that's needed: fats, proteins, carbs, vitamins, minerals. I have ideal weight (and that with quite a bit of saturated fat intake), and am full of energy. I sleep well, I can fall asleep within 2-5 min. Now please don't be jealous, because you can do this also, but you have to live by the laws of your body and the universe and not by the laws of the FDA and drug and food industry. Any questions? Michael PS: Important: if you are on any meds that can cause withdrawal symptoms, you need to slowly wean them off!!!
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Hello to all who want to be healthy: I keep telling people all along: Eat in moderation with roughly equal amount of fats, proteins, carbs, depending on your metabolic type, but low or no intake of sugars. I'm telling you again: you absolutely need saturated fats. Here is another article I found that supports that: mercola.com/2004/sep/8/saturated_fat.htmTake me as an example, I eat only full-fat food, i.e. food that naturally comes with saturated fat, e.g. whole milk. I avoid anything that says low fat or fat free. Result: I have ideal weight and I am very healthy. Now, many people I know that are not healthy or overweight avoid fats, and that's why they have disease and are overweight. So read this article and listen to your intuition and don't listen to some propaganda machine of the food industry. They don't want you to be healthy, otherwise they'd lose money. Michael
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Hello everyone, this is a good article: service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,421130,00.htmlBut at the same time the fact that the bad tasting beer Anheuser Budweiser is the official sponsor of the World Cup in Germany is a disgrace to great German and Czech beer. Please everybody go buy "Czechvar", the original Budweiser from Ceske Budejovice (in 2 years, it will be sold as Budweiser also in the US and Anheuser Budweiser will have to be sold as Bud). It tastes so much better and is healthier for you. Some links of interest: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budweiser_Budvarwww.budweiser.cz/Cheers, prost, na zdraví! Michael
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Hi all,
I have some new pictures here:
Prikryl.com/mike/photos9
pianomike.net/photos.htm
Now it's your turn to send pictures.
Michael
Friday, April 21, 2006
Hello music lovers,check out my online store with CDs and MP3s of my originals.My second solo album came out last Christmas and is available in MP3 format to download here:Pianomike Online StoreLet me know how you like my music.Michael
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Friday, April 14, 2006
Hi everyone,
in the meantime I got settled here and accustomed to many things, but still not too much to the Quebecois accent. Meanwhile I think the people from Quebec are not French. I don't see much resemblance with the French culture, other than the food maybe. They don't seem to like any other cultures than Quebecois, so not even French. It probably has to do with their pride and the fact that they want to separate from Canada.
Quebec seems to be a mix of American and European culture in general, but the American is more prevalent. Quebec is more American than the rest of Canada. In fact it seems that this is like a US state in the Midwest, the only difference is they speak French, oops, I mean Quebecois.
So all in all, this province and culture is quite interesting to see. While many things are a little strange here, there are of course some good things here, especially the food.Michael
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Hello everyone:
A bit of a rough start here in Quebec: tough to find a place, -25 C most of the time since I arrived here on Feb.1, car troubles, no phone for 2 days, no Internet for 1 month, phone and cable companies very difficult to deal with (+ they have a monopoly here), but I'm slowly settling. Now finally got Internet this week! Yahoo!Work seems fun and versatile.My trip was good. I drove 3800 Miles (6080 km). It was actually 3500 Miles, but somehow 300 extra Miles accumulated. Ashland, OR - Seattle - Leavenworth, WA - Spokane, WA - Idaho - Montana - North Dakota - Minnesota - Wisconsin - Illinois - Michigan - Ontario - Sainte Adèle, QC Leavenworth is really worth seeing. Washington, Idaho and Western Montana are of course very beautiful, with the Cascades and Rockies. Montana is very long and pretty boring after Livingston (the turnoff to Yellowstone and the end of the Rockies). North Dakota was interesting. I stopped there at Jefferson National Park, saw some Buffaloes and great rock formations. I drove through Bismarck and Fargo. It was actually pretty mild, about -5 C and only some snow around Fargo, which is unusual there for January. St. Paul, MN seemed really interesting architecturally. In Wisconsin, I stopped at The Dells, a famous place with dozens of water parks. I stopped there to find a car wash, but didn't fine one :). Think they would have let me drive down a water slide? Illinois is pretty boring and driving south of Chicago on I-80, which is a major road traffic hub in the US, was a little tough, with all the construction going on. Can't really say much about Michigan and Ontario. Very nice roads in Ontario, and then as soon as you enter Quebec, you can say goodbye to your shocks in your car.Quebec seems expensive ($CAN 5-6 for a beer at a bar), lots of snow, which is nice when it's fresh, but less nice when it's slush, worse roads than in Eastern Europe 20 years ago. Many people only speak French, their accent is different, more Americanized. I'm struggling a bit with that, since my French is more Parisienne, but I'll get used to it, I guess. Many people don't understand English here, so I have to speak to them slowly.My mobile: 450-675-0452I am 6 hours behind MEZ and 3 hours ahead of PST now!!!I'm in Sainte Adèle, in the province of Quebec, about 40 miles north of Montréal - same latitude as Portland, Oregon or Milano, Italy.So far I haven't had time to do any music or skiing. Tennis is out of question anyway until spring. I did go ice skating on the lake a few times. Hope to do some x-country skiing, but first have to buy skis.What's new in your neck of the woods?Ciao,Michael
Wednesday, March 01, 2006
WELCOME
Hi Everyone,
welcome to my blog.
Here you can find updates, pictures, links, and other interesting stuff.
Check back often!
Michael
Archives
March 2006 April 2006 June 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 May 2007 June 2008
|
|
|
