September 16th, 2007

Today is the day before weigh ins and for the most part has been uneventful. I have been hanging out around the hotel relaxing and waiting for tomorrow and the next day to come. I am glad that I finally got some internet access today. Some of the guys that are here on the trip brought their computers from NMU so I am using one of them now to write this post. The hotel has wireless internet, but when everybody tries to get on the network at the same time things slow down a lot. I am getting ready to head over to the sauna in about a half an hour. My weight is pretty good. Right now I am sitting around three kilos over. I feel good, and I will feel even better tomorrow after weigh ins.
Yesterday was a good day. I had a light workout in the morning and relaxed in the hotel for awhile. Later in the afternoon I went walking around downtown with a couple of the guys to pass some time. We didn’t really see anything new. It was more crowded with it being the weekend. I bought a pair of sunglasses for five bucks. One of the things that I like about these trips is that people that are selling things are willing to wheel and deal a little bit on the price. It is pretty funny to see some of the strategies that work to get the price that you want. You ask how much and they tell you. Then you tell them the price that you want. It goes back and forth for awhile, but they try to sell it to you for more than you want to pay for it. Usually if you act like you aren’t interested anymore and start to walk away from the deal they will usually give you the price that you want. I only wanted to spend five bucks on glasses and that is what I paid. I was happy with that.
On our way back to the hotel from downtown we found a steakhouse that Willie Madison had seen earlier in the week and wanted to eat there. We went there for dinner, and it was very good and reasonably priced as well. Willie was getting a little upset because the waitresses kept staring at him while we were eating. In a lot of these eastern european countries there aren’t many black people. I am sure that it gets uncomfortable after awhile because everyone always stops and stares at them. Willie finally got up and asked this waitress to dance with him in the middle of the restaurant. He got her pretty good because her face turned beet red and she went into the back of the restaurant. It was pretty funny.
I guess I should go get ready for that sauna now. I hope that everyone is doing well. Take care.