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Several weeks ago we moved our office. Don't worry, we
only moved about 5 meters, no change to the address.
We needed more space so renovated the office space
next door. Have you ever seen anyone move an entire
server room? Wow, what an enterprise. It took days for
us to get reconnected. Of course the priority was for
the servers that had space rented on them by other
companies then the rest of us. It was an entertaining
Friday afternoon when the movers showed up over 2
hours late (they were on Tico time). We had already
moved all our equipment (computers, printers, books,
phones, etc). I guess they came back on Saturday and
had to work on the weekend. Of course they were still
working up to a week later installing the glass wall
for the new server room. It was so noisy I had to
resort to listening to music on my headphones, it was
less distracting (but only slightly).
Well, we have ignition. We began the beta testing of Victoria's Poker (http://www.victoriaspoker.com for info) a month ago. The plan is to finish testing by the end of the December then go "live" with free play games. It has been a bit frustrating what with moving the office during the final stages but we made it. The site is intended to make poker more friendly for women (the boss tells me that 50% of online gamblers are women, I don't know whether to believe it or not, but hey, I got a job). I'm told that at live casinos many women are intimidated by the atmosphere and machismo of poker. Of course we expect that a fair number of the players will be men trying to "beat the women". It's all in the marketing. :) There have been a few luxuries I have given up moving here. The toughest one was giving up my computers. Fortunately I have access to the computers at the office, as well as Internet access. I can go to an Internet cafe anywhere in the city, although it could get a little pricey given the amount of time I want spend surfing. I have plans to get myself a laptop so should be able to start playing with a new toy soon. I missed last month's Consulate party so no news there. I was quite tired that day and completely forgot it was party day. Ah well, another office party with people I don't know. I don't know if there will be one this month (Dec.) as it falls on Dec. 26, a traditional shopping holiday in Canada (Boxing Day). Yes, I say that tongue in cheek, like shopping is a traditional event, although it does apply to the a & b sound sales on that day. Despite many plans I have yet to make it out to another museum. I know that has nothing to do with Colonel Mustard, an office or poker, but I thought I might mention it in case you thought I was neglecting the cultural side of Costa Rica. There are so many places to choose from, but I must admit, I have been distracted many weekends with extra karate practices, iado practice, buying Xmas gifts so they get mailed in time to get home, sleeping in, relaxing, and going out to the bars with my young friends. Now I am in the midst of preparing for a trip to the sunny shores of Hawaii. Yes, Hawaii. You would think I would want to go somewhere like Cuba or Panama, or Nicaragua since it is so close. But no. Actually I am going to a good friend's wedding. I will be there Jan. 1st to 9th, so if anyone has plans to visit me then you are out of luck. I am quite looking forward to seeing some of my friends and having a good time on the beach there. I starting to get used to all this beach stuff, I go more now than when I was in Vancouver and the beach was closer. :) It's not mustard, but cheese that I have recently discovered. Not the usual cheddar or Monterray (both fine cheeses) but palmito cheese. Ticos eat a lot of heart of palm, in salads, cooked, etc. I tried it and it was quite good. However recently I have discovered that they make cheese with it (no, I don't know how). It's very tasty. There was a cheese guy that came around to the office last week, I was a little apprehensive about buying cheese from a door to door salesman. One of the guys here had bought some and convinced me to try it. When he came back this week bought my own. The cheese is sold in a ball in which the cheese is wrapped around and around like a strip of cloth. I have heard it mentioned that it is very good in lasagna, although the stuff I bought this week is not likely to last long enough to try it like that. I have seen this stuff at the grocery store and occasioanlly wondered what it was, I'm glad I found out. It's interesting to note that there is not a 'no solicitors' policy in the offices here. We often get people coming in to sell bread (the bread lady), cheese, paintings, pastries, etc. I guess it's an extension of the street vendors, but these ones 'deliver'. Xmas has invaded our office, Tico style. They have a tradition similar to the 'secret santa' here. The difference is that you buy your 'amigo invisible' a small gift each week (under 1,000 colones), wrap it in newspaper and put the name on it. It goes in a box in the morning then in the afternoon you pick up your gift. Then at the Xmas party you get a big gift (around 5,000 colones) and do a big exchange, this is where you reveal your identity to your invisible friend. Some of the gifts were quite funny and many had a theme running through them. What else goes well with mustard, pretzels of course. We spent a highly entertaining evening at a German pub a couple weekends ago, okay there weren't any pretzels, but they do go well with beer. They brew white German beer roght on the premises, there was even a menu in English. More cheese sticks, yummmmy. The band that was playing had Lynnethe's English teacher as the drummer and they played 80's music. I mean name an 80's pop tune and I'm sure they played it, Duran Duran, Dead Or Alive, Kiss, etc. I was going to feel old until I realized that the young people there knew most of the words too, so I didn't feel quite so bad. Hope you all have a great holiday season. |
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