Nesebar Pictures

After our lovely little trip to Nesebar last week, I thought I’d put up a few of the shots we got. I took a couple hundred pictures (not all of them good), but there were a few that I really liked out of the mixture. Enjoy!

This first shot is looking out of our hotel room into old-town (which is on an island). The northern bay is to the left (you are facing east through this view), and the southern bay is to the right, with new-town west across the bridge. The water is about 100 feet to the left, but the shots I got aren’t very flattering.

That boat above? This giant wine barrel is the same restaurant, and I’m basically standing just at the tip of the boat, hunkered down to get this shot of the grapevines twining overhead into the eaves of the half-timbered house that is the restaurant.

Same restaurant, different angle, viewed through this giant, rusted old anchor.

Random shot through old-town. I love Nesebar…everything is ancient, cobbled streets, with lots of old ruins dotting the island and dozens of half-timbered and ivy-covered structures.

The elusive writer, contemplating philosophy and wine. Mostly wine. Especially wine.

Random shot from one of the restaurants on the south-eastern end of the island.

Shot of the south-western portion of the island viewed from the mainland here.

A park on the mainland, with a shot into the hillside going down, with someone tucked away in that little boat taking a nice shot of the sea.

Same park…tip of boat to the bottom left. Beach is up there to the right, along the coast of the mainland.

Same park, random shot.

The best part about Nesebar is the age of the island. And for someone who loves the aesthetic of crawling ivy covering stone structures and buildings, and grape vines twining overhead at every outdoor restaurant that you sit at, and the cool sea breeze in the evening washing over you…this is absolutely a great place to take a vacation.

I recommend old town, however. Our hotel was relatively inexpensive, and was small…only 2 apartments and 4 rooms, and it was right on the northern coast of the old town island. If you stay on the mainland you are going to run into the “party animal” tourists, or the people who only come there for the brew, the beach, and the babes. We much prefer old town for its quiet simplicity and elegant beauty.

America. Land of the Free?

What do you think about this new proposal for FORCED health insurance?

I can appreciate people who are a little leery of Nationalized Health Care. After all, I can appreciate the view that people like Dr. Steve put forth when talking about how you wouldn't want the government telling you when/where/how to build your house, nor would you want the government telling you what kind of car you are "allowed" to drive, or where you are "allowed" to buy gas, or what brand of cell phone you are "allowed" to purchase.

I'm sorry. Penalizing people for not having health care is beyond ridiculous. It's flat-out stupid. I'm going to throw out a generalization here and suggest that perhaps 9 out of 10 people who don't have health care don't do it because they don't want to have insurance/health care. They do it because they can't afford it. It's frigging expensive. And now there are a group of politicians who want to tell you that, well, since you can't afford health insurance in the first place, now we are going to fine you for not doing your civic duty and paying thousands per year to the insurance companies.


Or how about the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009? Nothing like the government telling you that you can't grow your own vegetable garden anymore because you, the lowly American citizen, are too stupid to know how to safely grow produce. In fact, if you try and grow your own food your property could be seized and a 1 million dollar fine imposed upon you for daring to grow food to feed yourself rather than relying on FDA-Approved (see injected with chemicals) produce.

Or how about the IRS using Facebook and MySpace to track you down? There's no such thing as privacy anymore...only piracy and devilry. No one is innocent until proven guilty. You are guilty until proven innocent. Big Brother, We Greet You.

Or how about (my personal favorite) America being the only country on the planet which requires its citizens to pay federal and state taxes even if they aren't living in the country. This one really chaps my ass. More so because I'm having to deal with it as an American citizen living abroad. What makes it even worse is that America is currently trying to force the European Union to allow the IRS access to their tax records to eliminate tax havens. Needless to say, the EU isn't really happy about it, and so far the talks I've been watching have been falling through.

Every other country on this planet says that when you work in another country you pay taxes to that country. Period. You aren't living at home, so you don't need to pay taxes at home. You aren't a burden on your homeland's taxpayers, you are a burden to the other country's tax payers. You are eating their food, riding their trams, taking their taxis, driving their roads, participating in their programs, watching their TV, and etc. Naturally you should be paying taxes to them.

Not America. Nope. The greedy IRS wants every penny they can get their hands on to perpetuate those "freedoms" that Americans think they have.

Don't get me wrong. I love America. I'm an American citizen. The country has afforded me a lot of luxuries and a lot of opportunities over the years that I wouldn't have had elsewhere. But I honestly feel like Johnny Depp does when it comes to the US.

In any case, that's my ranting for the month. I actually have to schedule an appointment later this month with an accountant I found through the Embassy in order to start dealing with the chaos that is filing my taxes from overseas.

So to all you vegetable lovers and people who can't afford health insurance...hope you enjoy starving and being fined to your death-bed! It's all downhill from here.

Nothing personal, it's just business

While I regretted having to do so, today marked the day that I sent out my first Cease and Desist letter against a client.

I have been extremely blessed in my clients to-date, and I would like to think that I can attribute that to the fact I spent many years prior to becoming a freelancer working in the business world, so it's not necessarily my first rodeo when it comes to contracts, guidelines, and expectations between client and clientele. With that being said, I've been fairly confident on nearly every project I've walked into that my arse was covered by contracts and guidelines.

I issued a demand for payment on September 1st, giving them until September 4th to make payment in full. They did not. I gave them a few more days of leniency, just to give them the benefit of the doubt, but still...no dice. So, regretfully, I just sent off a Cease and Desist letter.

Nothing personal. It's just business.

That's what contracts are for. They protect both parties in the case of something going wrong. And no matter how professional you are, no matter how professional your clients are, at some point down the road you will come across situations where all that paperwork comes in handy. In my previous line of work I was proud to give people a warranty, because I knew I wouldn't have to go back and fix anything as a result of my labor, because I always do a good job. It's not arrogance, it's simply fact. I don't half-ass anything. If I enter into an agreement with someone then I will work to my utmost to insure that the quality of my work is above and beyond anything they could get from the competition. Why? Because I want repeat work, and I want word of mouth work, and that only happens by doing a good job.

However, sometimes things come up. One time I had spent a couple of weeks working on an outdoor kitchen patio and deck area for a restaurant owner in Greeley and two or three days after the installation the weather had turned nasty and it had rained heavy for two days and the temperature dropped below freezing. As a result a couple of pieces of slate along the edges of the balcony hadn't had a chance to dry properly and the water had penetrated through to the thinset and they had fallen off. It was a simple fix, and while technically it wasn't covered under my warranty (it wasn't a labor flaw or manufacturer's flaw...it was simply bad timing with the weather), I still went and spent the 15 minutes necessary to fix the problem, because I value my reputation as a business owner.

It's unfortunate to have to write such a letter, but that's just business. It's a multi-million dollar company with plenty of financial backing, so there is no excuse as to why they haven't paid me. As of this point in time they have 48 hours to make payment or pull my content off of their website before I move to stage 3, which is when things start getting fairly ugly.

Ahhhhh

Nothing like a vacation to sooth the weary soul and enjoy some much-needed and well-earned respite from the duties of work and real-world responsibilities.

One word for our trip: Amazing. We went significantly over our budget (cough twice over cough) but it was well worth the money spent. The food was simply divine. Evy swears that the dinner we had on Sunday night was the best she has eaten in her life, and to top it all off the restaurant offered us a 150 dollar bottle of Argentinean Chardonnay at a significantly discounted price, due to their closing for the season in a few days. Evy is not a wine person. She could not stop oohing and aahing over the wine. The fish was scrumptious, the setting was perfect, and the weather was splendid, except for the last day, which was our travel day, and poured down rain with horrid coastal winds.

We are already planning the same trip next year, to the same hotel, only next time we are going to rent an apartment rather than simply a room, and we will stay for 7 days instead of only 5. We scouted the beaches, know where to go, which restaurants are the best, and we know what to realistically expect for the budget next time around, because there were a few things we didn't plan for this time around (although going twice over was because we had a few dinners where we absolutely splurged. After all, we busted our butts this year so far and if we can't spend our hard-earned money from time to time, what's the point of earning it?)

Train ride there was fun, although Bulgarian trains need a significant upgrade. We had a cabin all to ourselves, although first-class isn't really anything more than coach. Ride back was a little more adventuresome. We shared a cabin with a Bulgarian guy on vacation from London, and two German chaps who spent two hours educating us on the intricacies of German beers, as well as which types are the best, which places are the best to go, and etc. They were older chaps (older than us) in their 40s, a pair of brothers out on an adventure while the wives stayed at home. One of them has been married to a Thai woman for 17 years, so we got some up-close-and-personal tips on traveling to Thailand, which was great. We ended up helping them get situated into a hotel in Sofia when we arrived, as they had to stay overnight for a flight the next day, so we pointed them in the right direction and gave them tips on where to find some good restaurants for dinner and such.

Also met a friendly Scottish gent on the bus ride back from Nesebar to Burgas. He was out scouting locations for him and his wife to take a seaside holiday.

I think one of the things I like the most about traveling is meeting adventurous souls like Evy and myself who enjoy getting out and seeing the true heart of the countries they are in, rather than just sticking to the cities. You don't really get to experience the hospitality of the country until you strike out into the interior. Bulgaria, for example, is a country where the difference between the city folk and the country folk is night and day. The people in Sofia are snobbish, rude, crude, and boorish (generalization here) in the way that most city folk are...only focused on the almighty buck, and getting from day to day through the normal grind. Out in the countryside, however, people are far more hospitable, and they would gladly offer you the shirt off their backs without asking for anything in return. Cities are the haven for the fast-paced and self-centered, while the countryside is languid and relaxed, and the people don't always need money in exchange for common decency and hospitality.

We had fun. We've already planned out 3 trips for next year, although it looks like our China trip might be put on hold. Another thing we plan on doing next year is multiple weekend-getaways to Bulgarian interior destinations, to see the monasteries, the wineries, and the little cultural towns that you don't' find on the map. On top of that, however, we are absolutely going back to Nesebar next summer, and we are talking about Montenegro and Croatia for our two non-Bulgarian holidays next year, plus a week in Rome (which we were going to do this month but decided to do seaside instead at the last minute).

In any case...back to the grindstone! I've got work booked out to the end of October, Evy's got a load of clients lined up, and we are heading into a great latter-half of 2009.

Back from vacation!

Back from Nesebar :)

Will have a new profile picture uploaded tomorrow, as well as all of the pictures on Facebook. Literally just walked in from t he train about 10 minutes ago, so we've got to unpack and such, but damn...what a good little 5 day adventure. Absolute blast, and had the best food we've ever had in our lifetime. Went x2 over our budget, but every penny was worth it.

More details tomorrow when I've got some spare time after work :)

First time for everything, part II

Well, I've officially stumbled upon my first "client who hasn't paid by the deadline".

The editor has given me several excuses, but he at least has been prompt in reply to my queries over the last week. He said a new CFO took over, there were issues setting up their corporate account with PayPal, and otherwise. He also gave me the e-mail of the CFO, who I e-mailed last Friday morning regarding the issue. Deadline for payment was August 31st, which was yesterday.

As of this morning, I still have no payment for the articles, nor did their CFO ever reply to me. I got to write my first "pay up or face legal action" e-mail this morning, out of 19 months of Freelancing. Not bad, I suppose, for a year and a half of work. Still, there's a first time for everything.

I've given them until midnight of September 4th to make payment.

Fun times, right before vacation.

Update for the end of August/first of September

Busy.

Another open-ended project landed in my lap last week, so I have three projects spanning September and October.

I'm reading again. Nothing heavy. Reading Eragon, and while I agree it's somewhat of a rip-off of several older fantasy series (Pern, for the most part), I have to admit it's a pretty damn good read for coming from a 15 year old kid. With that being said...the writing is fairly atrocious, and he makes mention of the fact that the book underwent heavy restructuring at the hands of his mother and then again with a professional editor, but the story itself is entertaining.

So entertaining that I caught myself the other day 30 minutes past my break, still engrossed in the story. It's true what they say...if there's a diamond in the rough, a good editor will be able to polish that sucker up until it shines.

With that being said...we are ordering some books this month. I'm going to be ordering Brandon Sanderson's trilogy, as well as the Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. Amazingly enough I've never read anything by the man, despite him being considered one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. I've been doing a lot of research in the past few weeks on refinement of my style as I continue to evolve, and I figure this man is well worth my time, given the credentials he has and the amount of respect he has earned among his peers, despite lacking best-seller status.

Short story revisions are on the order for September. I have one that's been sitting for 8 weeks. I have two other short stories I started last year that I want to finish up. I had a long talk with Evy and...you guessed it...I'm probably pushing back my personal deadline on the novel from Christmas to an undecided time. Why?

Firstly, my writing career is doing great. I've got more work than I can shake a stick at. I'm happy to be doing what it is that I always wanted to be doing. Even though it's not fiction, which is my primary desire, I have to admit that I'm making great money doing what I do, which is mostly content work with a little bit of journalism thrown in for fun. I've got several short stories in circulation. I have outlines for 4 novels for this series, and I'm 11 chapters into the first book, or around 75k words, including the prologue. I'm not in a rush. I'm not a starving artist desperate for a sale. I've sold a couple of short stories, I have more in circulation, and I'm sure they will sell eventually. In the meantime I'd rather focus on further refinement of my style so I can make this first book as good as it can possibly be.

It would be stupid of me to focus more on fiction and less on the paying work right now, especially given the fact that the entire world is a recession, yet I'm blessed with an over-abundance of work. And it's not like I don't enjoy what it is I'm doing...I've been blessed to have clients that are wonderful to work for. I'm getting to write about food, wine, travel, games, and other things which are hobbies for me, so it's really not work at all...it's simply getting paid to write about the things I enjoy in life in the first place.

So while there's no doubt that fiction--specifically fantasy and science-fiction--is my long-term goal, I see no reason to rush. I'm successful at what I do, there's no doubt about that, and I'm extremely grateful for the opportunities I've been awarded. I've had close to half a dozen talks with Evy about the subject and I've come to the conclusion that while I'm going to keep working on the novel in my spare time, it would be better for me to further refine my style with another year's worth of short stories or so while continuing to build my resume through content and journalism writing.

At the end of the day I'm still a writer, regardless of the genre I happen to working in.