For the past 3-4 days a cold front arrived in the Dells. No, it’s not overcast. The weather is splendid, but at 8 o clock in the morning a t-shirt is not enough anymore. I had to put my sweatshirt on yesterday … in the middle of freaking August! with a clear blue sky over my head.

Today, on a puffy-clouds day, I have passed my server interview. I’m in the big league now. I’m now OFFICIALY underpaid and overworked. But it’s fine by me ‘cause I will hopefully recover everything from tips. As a trainee I had ~6$/h and now I’m at 2.40$/h and, of course, there’s tax on that so maybe I’ll get 2$/h … but wait, there’s more! I have to declare my tips or at least 10% of the sales so there’s also tax on the declared tips. To sum up, out of a 100$ by-weekly paycheck , I’ll probably have 20$ left. Of course … plus tips.

We have 6 more weeks of payable working days, but only 2 of them are really prosperous because in September everything enters a dormant state, until the first snow.

Homesick starts to embrace all of us.

For the past few days I have been working two jobs, and this is the main reason for my absence.

The first one at Wilderness Resort is something of a routine. I work between 10-17, five days every week. The schedule changes every week but Dave (our food and beverage manager) does everything possible to maintain my schedule for the mornings and Ioana’s for the afternoons. Basically the only things that differ from week to week are the day-offs. And if Dave has a good week we might get to have one day-off (out of two) at the same time (the three of us). Usually we get our days-off in pairs (me and Jo, me and Ioana, Ioana and Jo).

When we all have a day-off we go to the movies or maybe at a water-park. The other-day we saw Dinner for Smocks and then Inception and after that we went to Despicable Me.

But I digress…

The other job is at Buffalo Phil’s Grille. (the biggest restaurant in the Dells)

For the past 10 days I have been in training (and I’ll have this statute for another 3 days). I have taken and passed 2/3 exams already. On Tuesday I have my last exam and hopefully become a server.

The first exam was a table test. I had to remember the table numbers in the whole restaurant and then write them on a blank map of the floors. I passed that flawlessly.

The next test was a written 110 questions test from the menu and procedures manual. (a 90 pages book) That one wasn’t as easy to pass mostly because they have to give a fancy name to every little menu item.

Example:

- Romania – the menu says “grilled beef with fries”- that’s what you get!

- USA – the menu says “Bronco Busters” – and you get 4 jalapeno peppers stuffed with shrimp and Monterey Jack cheese then wrapped in hickory smoked bacon. Skewered atop a grilled flour tortilla with sour cream and mango salsa on the side.

And in the procedures part I felt a sudden deja –vu at the time of my first read. You have to have 4 things in your mind:

1. Guests step in.

2. You sell allot of stuff, the more expensive, the better.

3. Guests step out. Table gets cleaned.

4. Repeat

(Musi and Oana will notice a pattern immediately – Pizza Hut). The time should be read “max 2 min …. max 5 min etc)

2 min – Greet the guests (welcome to *****, my name is Vlad, I’ll be your server, can I start you with a drink, we have Pepsi products, gourmet sodas, signature Margaritas and microbreweries. Are you in the mood for an appetizer?)

3 min – Drinks are served

10 min – Appetizers are served.

5 min – Soups and salads served

20 min – Entrees are served (this is the moment I suggest that they should save some room for deserts or a after dinner drink)

2 min – Check back to see if they need anything or if the food is cooked to they liking.

5 min – Deserts are served (or coffee or special drinks)

2 min – Check presentation

2 min – Process payments

2 min – Return Processed payments

max 50-60min and NEEEEXT!

And the thing that bothered me the most before is now the thing that brings me money. I’m talking about the suggestive selling and the up-selling. Suggestive selling is the main thing. I’m not allowed to ask “may I interest you in some of our deserts”, I HAVE TO BE SPECIFIC. “have you saved room for some FRIED ICE CREAM or our famous BURBON PEACON PIE or maybe A TEXAX MUDSLIDE or a COFFEE or probably a MANGO DAIQUIRI or one of our MARGARITAS” because everything I add to the bill will make my tip go higher. I get 2$/h as a server but if it’s a good day I’ll walk out with 200$ in tips after a 5h shift. The UP-SELLING is the same thing but I’m basically trying to sell the more expensive stuff. If a customer wants a vodka, the bar will sell the cheap stuff. I’m there to inform that we ALSO have  GRAY GOOSE and ABSOLUT … etc You get the point.

And I explained all this because on Tuesday I have to serve a manager just like a regular customer following all those steps and all those suggestive sells and the up sells and everything.

Whish me luck!

For the past few days (5 to be precise) we have been training at the 2nd job. I am training as a server and Jo as a hostess. Word of advice: Never start as a server at the biggest restaurant in town!

Just some numbers to crunch on:

- Restaurant Name: Buffalo Phil’s Grille

- Number of people that  can be seated and served at a time: more than 1000.

- Floors: 3

- Floors permanently open : 2

- Number of people served on a regular evening: +1600

- Staff: Managers / Servers / Runners / Bussers / Hostesses / Bartenders / Expediters / Cooks / Dishwashers

I was hired to be a server but I have to train at least 3-4 shifts and to take 2 written tests and 1 serving test to a manager.

The fist test was the table test. I had to remember the numbers for all the tables in the restaurant. That knowledge would come in handy.

Then I had two shifts as a runner. This is probably the hardest thing in a restaurant. The expediter is permanently watching the screen making sure the orders go out as planed, and also he’s the one that takes all the plates and groups them on trays. He’s the first one to blame if the order is not right. And he calls the runner who has to take the plates to the right table. Most of the time there are more than 10 people at one table or more than 20 at 2-3 tables, and that complicates things even more. The plates are hot as hell, the trays are full and some of the other servers won’t help you ‘cause “it’s not they’r job”.

A big tray can hold up to 6 platters and then some small cups with side-dishes and sauce. For such a tray you must always use a tray-jack. The worst part is you have to hold the tray with just one and and the tray-jack with the other. It must be the most complicated “balance” act in my life. Lucky for me, I have to do that once a week once I become a server. But for now, running is very good because I get to see the food and that should help on my written menu test.

In a restaurant like this everyone works 100% for the whole shift.

In the future I will keep you posted with info on servers competitions and other chores that we have to do.

In the last few days we realized how cheap can the life get here in the US.

Let me tell you a short story:

Out of 100+ channels we have on TV one of them has a show about “Cleaning Homes”. Long story short they (the producers) search for cluttered homes and clean them out selling just about everything at a yard sale. The money they get from what they sell go to redesigning the interior of the house and then to a charity of choice.

I saw one episode about a family that had piles of stuff 2m high throughout the house. The head of the family was a flight attendant and was gone 20 days / month. His wife was a manager of some sort. And the two kids were one in college and one in high-school.

He was getting them stuff from allover the world in guilt of not being home 20 days / week. She was addicted of teleshopping. She actually bought things for 8 years and they were never 0pened. The kids had unopened Christmas presents dating 4-5 years back, and they were not rich … they were just stupid / lazy / filthy.

The basement of the house was like a big deposit room for the past 8 years, and the worst part is they had black mold. And that shit is deadly!

So this show hosts had to throw away half of all the goods, unfortunately for the charity houses. But in the end they had 4 big trucks (lorries) full of stuff to sell and 5 trucks of stuff to throw away (and the house was not that big). They even found actual money throughout the house in a total of over 4000$ in bills and coins.

The story was not that short but I got carried away. The reason I decided to tell you this story is very simple:

Today we had to buy jeans for the second job and Ioana bought a very nice pair of blue-jeans, at discount, with just 3.20$. That’s little over 12 RON in Romania. FFS any McDonald’s menu is more than that … anywhere in the world!

Hy mom, hi dad, hello other daily 251 unique visitors,

As I have previously stated, I’ll try to update the blog with our faces (some said to hold up today’s paper in one of the pictures just to be sure).

We’re alright, unharmed and unbruised. We bought bikes on our first day but we hardly use them. The job is within 5 minutes walking distance. I guess they will get some more wear starting next week because we got ourselves second jobs … just to fill the time. If we watch to much TV here we get retarded. I’m sorry but that’s the way I feel about this 20th century invention now.

I got myself a beret and I wear it from time to time just to get used to it.

The girls are doing fine… might you ask.

And the pictures are taken yesterday in front of the laundry while we were waiting for the washing cycles to end.

And just to see how a laundry looks like … here it is. (on the left there are the dryers and on the right the new heavy-duty washing machines.

The next 3-4 days are kinda busy so I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up with the blog. So you can check back tomorrow, but don’t be surprised if you won’t find anything. That means I’m way to busy to write.

See yah!

After three years I can safely say I have found the most versatile backpack of them all. Maybe not the best but for sure the most usefull.

It’s the LowePro Compuday Pack.

It has:
- a laptop compartment that can accommodate two (2) x 15.6″ laptops, or allot of clothes, or 12 books, or 14 x 330ml cans of beer.
- a miscellaneous compartment big enough for 6 x SB-800 flashes + triggers + 2 water bottles, or my entire wardrobe, or 7 cans of beer and some Ramen noodles.
- a photo compartment well suited for a D700+17-35/2.8 on camera and 2 small lenses, or a body and 4 lenses and 10 pairs of socks, or 9 cans of beer and 3 Snickers bars.
- and some other small hidden compartments that I hardly use…

This backpack has been my trusty companion wherever I went for past three years and it looks brand new. I went for a whole week in Lisbon with just this backpack and it was more than enough.

Don’t get your hopes up, I’m not trying to sell it. This one will stay with me for a long time. But the hardest part is to find a smaller backpack that can complement this one.

And I have my eye on a Kata Sensitivity V because it looks cool and I like the form-factor. And I allso like the Think Tank ShapeShifter for it’s versatile design. I find the Crumpler Messenger Full Boy just a hint to big, and I find the Crumpler Messenger Half Boy’s lack of laptop compartment a deal-breaker.

If anyone knows a good backpack that:
- is smaller than the Compuday Pack;
- has a laptop compartment for a 12-13″ portable / iPad
- has a photo compartment for a D700+17-35 and a second small lens.
- has a miscellaneous compartment that can accommodate 4 beers.

Please let me know because I’m looking for one.

Because nothing has changed in the last few days.
Because I haven’t had time to take new pictures.
Because the old ones are not even close to blog material.
Because it’s my day off.
Because I intend to keep it that way.
Because watching Futurama is more entertaining than writing a blog.
Because the internet connection is slow. (but thank God we have it)
Because fcuk!

True story!

Yesterday was the World Wide Photo Walk. (if you don’t know what that means you should google it) (but to cut it short) It’s an annual event started by Scott Kelby and his friends a few years ago just to make whiny photographers get off their asses and go take some pictures. The first year was slow, the second was a blast and in no time everybody got hooked on this shoot-drink-compete-have a good time day. It’s like crack … but you can only get high once a year so that makes it legal.

The first year I was in Croatia and I took some picures just to mark the day. The second year I joined the Bucharest group and it was a mess. 50 photographers taking the same damn picture and if you wanted to do something special they were just behind you! I used only a Leica M6 and a 35/1.4 that day, and half a Tri-X.

This year the WWPW found me in the middle of Wisconsin in a town without a photo-walk group. Lucky this was my day off but still I took pictures just for 2h during a bike stroll around one of the lakes. It was the middle of the day so no Pulitzers here! Mostly shots taken with the iphone. Hey, every year a different camera. Next year it may be the Ipad or some other nifty ghizmo the society shoves in our asses saying it’s the greatest thing in the world … or just magical.

Oh, and as long as we’re talking about gear: Nikon 17-35/2.8 not worth the money. Seriously don’t buy it! It’s so damn sharp, now I work twice as much to take out all the pimples and wrinkles. And it focuses so fast that I’m triggering the shutter before I compose. And the colors … don’t get me started on the colors! Bright and vivid like I’ve never seen before! Now I have to change all my workflow just because of one lens. And the worst thing: it made me want a 35/1.4 and I don’t have that kind of cash!

But getting back on topic I think this photowalk is a great idea as long as it’s done right. I’m post my pictures not because they are not very but because If you see the weather, the clouds and the sunset we had my Inbox will be full of hate mail in no time…

Later edit: Momma needs some e-mail traffic!

The only thing not working in our room is the remote control for the TV. But that’s no problem for us. Every night we take turns on the chair just in front of the TV and zoom through 100+ available channels just to find the right thing to watch.

Three years ago ALL the commercials were about food, now they are about insurance policies and cars. I can now safely say I know every american and Nippon production car of 2010-2011.

Now they have 6+ channels about food and it’s not a good idea to watch those when all that fits in your fridge is a 12 pack of Miller Brew.

4+ channels are about home design and home makeovers. We only had one three years ago -> HGTV. Now every couch potato is a designer or a 5* carpenter.

They have an overwhelming number of channels about celebrities and the shit they do all day. For the past 4 days every news was about Lindsay Lohan and her imprisonment. Please! Neeeext!

I’m very happy we get Comedy Central and that covers the alone time. When we all three get together we watch the above mentioned channels.

We got to Wisconsin Dells at midnight and luckally for us we had a room waiting. The next day we realised that this time is going to be much better than 3 years ago. We can use the pool whenever we want, we have wireless internet in our room and we have a big lawn just for us (last time all we had was asphalt and a dog craving for home cooked food just outside our door). We are better situated than before and we have better jobs.

• #1 – A view from the street.

But enough about that cause I’m sure you’re here for the pictures.

The first thing Ioana (Marica) said in the morning was „The sky is so big here!” and she’s not too far from the truth. After the skyscrapers of Chicago and the Bucharest 4 stories + buildings, Wisconsin Dells feels like a village. The tallest building in the area has 2 stories and the distance between constructions starts at 20 x h. Everithing is so spread that the buildings seem even smaller.

The most interesting thing around here is the weather. Is changing so rapidly that a forecast is just useless, and every afternoon the sunset is different.

• #2 – Just outside our motel room looking towards the pool.

• #3 – Parkway view (this is the main street around here and it’s just outside our motel)

(I made a crop for those who use 3x1920px screens. I know I’ll use it soon enough so I might as well share it)

• #4 – The pool and the motel’s lawn.

• #5 – A blurry view of the Parkway.

• #6 / #7 / #8 – The same view at a sunset.

• #9 / #10 / #11– A storm front covering the Dells in less than 10min. The speed of the storm was somethig I have never experienced before.

• #12 / #13 – Views of the passing storm after the rain. Pictures taken 1min apart in opposite directions.

• #14 – The pool view next morning.