always look on the bright side of life

So Iwan and Joost called me shortly after 8pm and told me they were at LaGuardia and going to take the 9:15pm to Pittsburgh. ETA is 10:47pm but I'm obviously checking the LaGuardia flight info website to see if this flight actually departs on time.

Hopefully it does and they'll finally arrive here. They didn't sound too exhausted when I talked to them on the phone but I'm sure they'll crash down once they get to my house and sit down.

trouble arrived loud and clear

So it's official now that I called American Airlines, Joost and Iwan were listed as "no show" on their connecting flight from JFK to PIT. So they missed it.
Hoping they will call eventually. Can't do much else besides waiting. Sucks but that's life.

I see a black moon rising, I see trouble's on its way

I've been checking flight info the entire day and things are getting progressively worse.
Though I assume Iwan and Joost were aware of the changed departure times, the change was much higher than I've ever experienced.
Their AMS-JFK flight was originally scheduled at 9:10am but I found out last night that its new departure time was changed to 12:40pm! That's 3.5 hours!!!
They were scheduled to arrive at JFK at 2:55pm. Their JFK-PIT flight's departure time was also changed from 5:10pm to 3:55pm. So that would have left them with just one hour of a lay over.

Would, because I just checked the JFK flight info website which informs me that their new ETA is now 3:41pm.
That would leave them with 14 minutes to get through customs, collect and re-check in their luggage and run to the gate to catch their connecting flight.
Mission im-fucken-possible!!!

I hope they'll have time to give me a call once they finally do land at JFK.
I feel sorry for them already...

Just been doing some house cleaning crap. Always fun and taxing on my back. Let's hope I didn't overdo it.
Still got some arranging to do but I'll manage.

Just sent off some last work which I'll have to follow up early next week but no biggie.
I'm hoping I'll get the CogSci conference fees reimbursement check before we leave for Baltimore. That's another $490 plus both Joost and Paul still owe me money for the hotel.
We changed our reservation to save some money but it required prepayment so I cashed out for that. Iwan already sent me his share through PayPal.

Also curious when I'll receive the Hail Of Bullets package Ed is supposed to send me. If I get it before Thursday I'll prolly take the HOB shirt with me to MDF.

Time for some late breakfast. Groceries at Trader Joe's afterwards.

Three more days before Joost and Iwan arrive and the house is still in disarray. I guess I'll have them clean the place haha.
The painters are a bunch of liars since they told me a week ago that they were finished painting. Possibly it's a different bunch of painters now since the work on the window sills seems done but now they're working on the porch.
That won't dry easily in the current rainy weather.

Can't wait to have 1.5 week off from work, my Christmas break was 'wisely' spent on the deviated septum surgery and its aftermath.
The weather is not as good as it was the last 2 years during May but nothing to do about that. Besides, it's reminiscent of the Netherlands so Joost and Iwan won't get homesick.

Will invade Trader Joe's on Saturday to get some goodies and decent groceries. Should make lecsó and pancakes next week for sure.
We'll what things we'll do, also depends on the weather I suppose.

People are getting excited about MDF too. I paid a decent amount of money get an ad for Vampire Magazine to be shown on a projection screen mixed in with the other ads.
Should give VM some more exposure.
Hoping that Baltimore will be less hot and humid this year. We should definitely check out the inner harbor area this year. Especially since we arrive on Thursday evening we should have time to embark on a little fish and bar crawl.

But first go see Opeth tonight and have 1 more working day before my break begins!

WOW!

Out of the blue I received a letter from the IRS about my economic stimulus payment yesterday. I was unaware that I was qualified to receive the $600 but hey, it's a very nice surprise!
Perhaps my changed tax status from non-resident alien to resident alien was the qualifying criteria.

But as if that wasn't enough, someone must REALLY love since I just received an e-mail from the CogSci 2008 conference informing me that our paper has won the "Cognition and Student Learning Prize" award which comes with $1000 prize money!!!

Just wow man, today fucken rules! haha

During the last Hungarian dinner Vincent's wife Steffi said I looked like Ansel Adams. Since I had no idea who the hell this guy was I checked up on him on Wikipedia.
So according to Steffi I look like THIS.

Not entirely sure that's a compliment; besides, Ansel Adams is dead for 24 years now. I don't think I look like a walking corpse haha.

In exactly 2 weeks from now (May 18) Joost and Iwan will be visiting me. We'll spend a few days in Pittsburgh, drive up to Baltimore on Thursday to attend the Maryland DeathFest (MDF), drive back on Memorial Day and on the following Wednesday I'll drop them off at the airport so that they can run around in NYC until Sunday June 1.
Gonna be great times!

social events

Some pics of the last two Hungarian dinners can be found HERE.

Yesterday we had a Queen's Day party in Pittsburgh, pics HERE.