:: Life on Planet Dan-E ::

:: More Prague ::

Four weeks in, I've pretty much settled into the routine. I don't know if I'll ever feel completely at home here the way I did when I moved to Miami but it's been nice. While life has been good the internship - the main reason I'm here in the first place - is kinda off to a rocky start.

As much as I've learned over the last year and a half, for whatever reason, it's been difficult to apply that to a real life situation. I've been grinding it out as much as I can: I always show up early and I rarely leave before 6:00. But creatively, I feel stuck. Maybe I'm putting too much pressure on myself? It's not just for my benefit that I'm here; I also have the school's reputation to uphold. Or maybe I'm still hanging on a little too much to the school mentality; if I screw up one project for class, I have a few weeks to improve it. If I screw up a project here, the agency loses that business.

I've been squeaking by, barely, thanks to my partner and I've done my part in getting our ideas down on paper and to the creative directors but the bulk of the ideas - the part where we're supposed to come up with the Good Ideas - have been him. It hasn't sat well with him and it's certainly not sitting well with me.

Our teacher told us a couple of times to "have fun with this. This is advertising." It's hard for me to have fun when my current level of performance is similar to those days when I'm a soccer goalie and getting scored on repeatedly. I've done better. I know I can even do better than that. I'm just not sure on how to get there right now.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 3:08 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: So we have a New Pope ::

So now that there's a new Pope (although at the time of this writing, we still don't know who it is) I'm guessing there's going to be an onslaught of Catholic humor and "is the (new) Pope Catholic" jokes so I'm gonna hurl the first volley. (And keep in mind, I've been working all day so I'm really tired.)

The new Pope is SO Catholic...
- ...he's already feeling guilty about the appointment.
- ...he was in the confession booth when they found him... confessing his sins.
- ...that during his introductory speech, he said "well, I'm not a religious man..."
- ...when some Cardinal jokingly asked him "how many Popes does it take to change a lightbulb," he replied "we use candles, dumbass"
- ...he declared disassociation with all Protestants.
- ...that when he approached a man about to jump off the building he yells "don't jump! Think of your family!" Man replies "my family is dead." The Pope then goes through a list of people; parents, siblings, friends, etc. Each time the man says they're dead. Desperate the Pope yells "Don't jump! Think of the Virgin Mary!" Man replies "Who?" Pope yells "You're causing a scene Protestant! Jump already!"

You wanna hear a good Catholic joke? Wanna hear it again?

Oddly enough, the thing that finally got the new Pope elected were the returns from the Ohio polls.

Out of habit, John Kerry gave a concession speech.

The new pope is 78. He's so old...
- ... Anna Nicole Smith just announced she's turning Catholic.
- ... he's eligible to pre-board the Popemobile
- ... that he was there when Jesus was Crucifed
- ... that he was the co-author of the Dead Sea Scrolls
- ... that he babysat Yoda. (Oh wait, that's your Star Wars-fanatic dad is so old...)
- ... he doesn't fart dust but he pees Holy Water. Twice a night.

Priests in America are so happy about the announcement that they celebrated with hi-fives as well as patting each other on the butt. As opposed to their normal habit of patting the altar boys...

Ok I've been at this for half an hour and my brain is tired. I'm going to hell.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 12:38 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: More Photos ::

So on Saturday, since I had some time and nothing was on TV, I went on a rather epic walkabout of Prague and took a crapload of photos. I even snapped a few of my dinner. Enjoy!

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 1:05 PM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: This is Odd ::

When I found out I'd be heading to Prague for three months, I knew there would be a slew of adjustments I'd have to make. Things like language, weather, the food, living with a roommate for the first time, not being a student to (almost) being an employee, etc. For the most part, it's been fairly easy.

One thing that I wasn't expecting to happen is me suddenly becoming a morning person. I'm completely serious. It's not to say that I'm incapable of waking up early. It's just that I'm not someone you wanna see or hear the first half hour I wake up.

But lately, my wake-up times have been averaging around 7:15 or so depending on when I go to sleep. Here's the crazy part, In the two weeks I've been here, I've only needed the alarm to get up four or five times. They've gone off inadvertently at times, much to the chagrin of my roomie but even when I do need the alarm, I'm up and out. And here's an even weirder thing; I haven't been drinking much coffee either. I go through a bag or two of tea everyday and the occasional Diet Coke... er... Coca Cola Light but that's about it. It's not like I'm falling asleep at ten either. I'm usually up till midnight or so.

Usually when it comes to work I gave myself a self-imposed 9:00am arrival schedule, but I've been early every day. What scares me is that I caught myself thinking "I could get used to this." AAGGHH.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 10:38 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: First week in Praha ::

It's been fun so far. Prague is an amazingly beautiful city to walk around even if it's just the neighborhood I'm living in. Outside of the agency, Jason (my creative partner) and I spent most of our time is Venceslas Square. One of the main tourist traps, there's an abundance of restaurants that caters to both locals and visitors, some of them being McDonald's, KFC, and TGI Fridays. But there's a bookstore with a decent selection of English language books and magazines, a small musical instrument store (I'm dying not having my guitar with me), and quite a few very cheap hot dog stands. You can get a good-sized Polish sausage or bratwurst for 30 krowns, or about $1.30. The aforementioned "cheeseburger" is only 25 Kr.

There hasn't been too much of a language problem so far. Everyone at the agency speaks English and most of the people I've run into either at restaurants or stores speaks just enough rudimentary English to be able to understand. Culturally, I haven't committed any major gaffs just yet. Fortunately, the influx of tourists in the last five years or so have made the locals a bit more tolerant of other friendly foreigners who can't speak or completely trash the Czech language. I do get the occasional stares when I ride the subway but the people of Prague have otherwise been cordial. Try as I might to blend in, it just isn't happening. Must be the hair.

One of the nice things about the culture is that these people really love their beer. It's not uncommon for workers to down a couple during lunch, nor is it odd to have one with your breakfast. I haven't quite reached that level yet but so far, the beers I have had is quite good. The Czechs invented the Pilsner type beer and it results in something with a lot more flavor and bite than any of the American big three beers. Even the Czech version of Budwesier - called "Budvar" - is better than what we get in the U.S.

As far as stuff to do, I've done a lot of walking around and sightseeing. I haven't been able to take any more photos since the battery died and I forgot to pack my charger.

The people at work are all very friendly. It almost seems like any other ad agency in the United States; casual dress, artsy personalities, posters and photos plastered over everyone's workstations, an endless supply of tea and coffee, and a couple of dogs roaming around trying to sniff out food. The people are all very laid back and the guys have an affinity for foosball. I never really got into foosball and while I've seen a few intense games, these guys seem to take it to whole different level. Jason and I played against a couple of the guys once and got thoroughly whooped. However, our record against each other is 4-3 with him having the slight edge. Considering I haven't played in over a year before coming here, I'm doing ok.

One thing around Prague is that there are a lot of hills. It's good in that every walk back and forth from work is almost a form of exercise but the two times I went running, I was left gasping for breath after just a few minutes. Jogging through hills is way different than running around a track and it sucks. Of course I'm gonna keep at it since I seem to thrive off doing things I hate.

Which is good since Czech cuisine is more hearty than fancy. Let me put it this way: it's very meat and potatoes, greasy, artery clogging, bad-for-the-body-but-good-for-the-soul yummy-ness that almost seems like food from a bygone era if you spent too much time in L.A. or Miami. And it’s cheap! A couple of lunches I had at pubs near the agency were essentially chunks of pork and a side of potatoes. My favorite: this one "BBQ" restaurant had a pork steak covered with slices of sausage and smothered with cheese accompanied by a side of garlic potatoes. I told my partner about it and his response: "dude, your arteries are sore." One thing I have to get used to is pacing myself when I get my Diet Coke (ironic, I know) is to pace myself since we get only a bottle and there are no refills. And I tend to drink a lot. You don't get free glass of ice water either.

If the following weeks are anything like the last, I'm gonna enjoy my stay.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:34 AM [+] :: | 1 comments
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:: Photos of Europe P.I ::

I finally posted some photos at my Yahoo site. My Blogger template is an older one that doesn't allow me to post pictures on the webpage itself but you can see my photos of Londen here and a few photos of Prague here.

When walking from the office to the subway, there's a quick route and a scenic route and those photos of Prague were taken from the scenic route. Pretty cool commute, huh?

ADDITIONAL NOTE: I added two evening shots in the Prague gallery. Check it out.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 5:43 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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:: Prague! ::

So how you guys all doing? I had an interesting weekend.

I flew into Prague, met my writer at the airport and took a cab to our home for the next three months. Our place is on the third floor of a building that looks like a tall house from the outside but actually holds three separate units. It's a very cozy two-bed/one bath unit but the layout is a little odd. The bathroom (or "water closet") has a shower and sink but also a washer/dryer unit where the toilet should be. The toilet is in a closet where the washer/dryer should be and for that matter, the kitchen and the bathroom should be switched around. But it's clean, there's a great view out my bedroom window, and just enough space for the both of us.

Prague itself, at least the parts that I've seen, is beautiful. The first thing you notice is the architecture, most of which is older than America. One main tourist stop is Vaclavské Square. Looming over it is a palatial structure that I think is a museum of some sort. The Square itself is rather garish mix of old and new. Old buildings that once housed factory workers are now hotels and storefronts decorated by neon lighting. There are sausage stands about every 50 meters or so and they were the source of almost half of our meals so far. Most interesting item: their "cheeseburger" consists of a large cheese patty that's breaded and then deep fried, garnished with mayo and ketchup and placed in a bun. Good eatin'.

The agency I'm interning at, Mark/BBDO, is pretty cool. We get there via subway ("Metro") and from our stop we walk past a bunch of old churches. After which, we walk through a cemetery which is the resting place of many of the Czech Republic's famous artists. The building itself seems to be old church of some sort. It's quite cool actually. The environment certainly seems more conducive to creativity than my last place of employment.

Language hasn't been a huge problem so far. Everyone at the agency speaks English, and when ordering food, all you have to do is either point at the item or say, "number 7 proseem (please)." My partner Jason brought a Czech phrase book with him and I've been reading through the basics all weekend and I'm still kinda fuzzy on some words but give me week and I should at least have memorized all the ways to say "excuse me."

Anyway, further updates will follow, as will photographs.

:: Miscellaneous Ramblings by Dan-E at 4:09 AM [+] :: | 0 comments
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