I will be going to Croatia this afternoon, it is just a few hours away by train. First I will go to Zagreb and then plan to go by bus to Karlovac where I have family and some friends. I would like to go see my place in Donje Dubrave, but we will have to see what happens.

3 years ago today I posted a video on Youtube called What a Monster, showing a caterpillar I had found on the street crawling on my hand. Well this video just reached 500,000 views. When I first put it up there I think it had 150 views in the first 3 days, on the 4th daz it suddenly started to get around 1000 an hour. It did eventually slow down, but still seems quite popular, especially with kids in their teens and twentys. Who knew!

The keyboards on computers here have all the English letters, but are set up in a different way. The y and z are switched around. As a result when I am typing fast I write strangely and I post without noticing until later.The weather continues to be nice, if somewhat warm. It kind of reminds me of New York without the humidity. Some of my friends in New York have been asking me how things are going and I think that I am finally finding my way around on my own, which I guess is a big step. Mainly I have to get used to the slower pace here.

I went into the Berlitz Language place here in Ljubljana to inquire about Slovenian classes and they said they only have for individuals and they cost €40. The class is 40 minutes long, so €1 per minute.So I loaded a software programme I bought in New York, for $20 into mu laptop and now I am learning.
I quickly learned a couple of phrases and everyone thinks it's great.
The days here are quite hot, but this week the nights have been cool, so good sleeping weather


This was what I looked at while hiking up to Triglav
Will post a view of the mountain later.

On Saturday I took an early , 6 am bus to Bled where some friends are vacationing for about 10 days. The ride is only about 1 hour 20 minutes. It had rained for about 45 minutes but stopped just before I left to walk to the bus. When I got there it was beautiful. I ran around the lake with my friend Pedja and then had kremsnita for breakfast, this is a very tasty sweet desert.In the afternoon we all went to Bohin another lake and actually hiked up to Slap Savica or Waterfall Savica which I visited back in 1996.After dinner I caught the last bus back, which was at 8.30 and was home by just after 10.After a pretty lazy day on Sunday I am ready to start the new week.Oh yeah it seem the guz I want to get my coffee raosting machine from is on vacation, so have to wait a little longer.

I was supposed to be going to Croatia today and then go to my place in the country, but things fell through and I think I will go next week instead. There is a chance that I will go to Bled instead. It is a beautiful lake resort that I have been to before. If it all works out I will visit with some friends there. It turns out that the place where I can sometimes use internet near my place is called GDS and not hte ministry of commerce.I am now near the river in the city and there is a Mariachi band plying for tourists nearby. Ljubljana is really colourful in the summer season

I have discovered that there is free internet at the Ministry of commerce, which is just 5 minutes walk from where I am staying in Ljubljana. You can even use their computers in the lobby if you want. It has been quite hot here the last few days and the Sun is also strong. I have recovered from my trip to Triglav. I have a feeling that my legs will be very strong after this. I found out that the climb was around 7 km and the elevation was around 1700 meters. So yes it was quite a work out. This weekend I am planning to go see my place in Croatia, I will of course take some photo's and try to post some, check back later.

I have been a little out of touch the last few days. I lost my internet connection, but I have found out that there are WIFI areas around the city that are free. So once again I am back on the air, so to speak.
On Saturday I went with some friends to Bohin, which is a lake in Slovenia and on the river that comes from the lake we went mini rafting. It was a lot of fun and also kinda tiring. We got to spend about 2 hours on the river, with all the equiptment for just €10, which was great.
We stayed in a hostel in Kranks Gora that night and woke up at 4:30 to go to Triglav mountain. That was something special. It took us 4 hours, after a few wrong turns. To reach the moountain house at 2500 meters. I was too tired to go to the summit, which is another 300 meters and after a couple of hours and some pancakes and tea, we went down in 2 hours 50 minutes. I was quite tired and sore when I got home. Neddless to say I slept like a baby.

I am going hiking in the mountains this weekend, so yesterday I went to a place called Giga Sports and got myself a nice pair of hiking shoes. I left a pair that would have been suitable in New York, but they are no good to me there. I found a nice comfortable pair and they cost me €35, they were on sale. It is that time of the year. I will be walking around in them for the next few days so that hopefully I will not have problems with them while walking up mountains.

Last Sunday I was in Split Croatia and ran 1 1/2 hours. During the week I was in Maribor and had runs of 1 hour and 45 minutes. Then I gave a workshop on Meditation in Ptuj, Friday night and Saturday morning, a small group, but it went well. Made it back to Ljubljana tired and happy and slept long.
The weather is so nice and I went out with my friend Milan and we ran through some country trails and by the river Sava. Finding some nice wild plums on the way back, I added them to my muesli.

Raining when I got up this morning, but stopped just before my run. I go to Ptuj this afternoon to do a Meditation workshop. I was supposed to do a telephone interview this morning, but they did not call, so it did not happen. They asked me if they could interview me and set the time. That's just the way it is. I like it here in Maribor, maybe it's the river that makes the difference,

It's raining again now, by the way.

I have moved to the not=rth of Slovenia for the rest of the week. Spending about 3 1/2 days in Maribor and 2 1/2 in Ptuj. It has rained a lot so far but I am making the best of it.
There is a music festival going on here and each night there are many acts performing around the city and mostly near the river side. For me it is a mix of work and recreation.

This is my 1301 st post.

For some years I have wanted to visit Split in Croatia. Well this weekend I finally made it.
Some friends picked me up at around 3 am on Saturday and we were swimming in the Adriatic at 9:30. Then we spent the day sightseeing. It was hot, 33C, but we had a great time. It has also been quite a few years since I got a chance to swim in the Adriatic and I was able to do this both Saturday and Sunday. I really enjoyed my time there and have been invited by a new friend to go visit again. Which I will of course do.
Oh by the way! I did get to run for about 1 1/2 hours in a nice park, with some trails.

On Friday I went to Zagreb. It was kind of a last minute thing. We had rain on and off all the way there. It was not raining when I got there, but just as I walked to my friends car near the train station, it started. Very quickly there was a torrential downpour, it kind of reminded me of New York. When it finally stopped it was quite nice and a few of us went to a place in the city to eat cake.

On Saturday I ran to Jarun from where I am staying and there was a Triathlon about to happen, it was the Zagreb Open. I watched the swimming part and the first loop of the cycling, then ran back home.

I was supposed to run a 14k race this morning near Zagreb, but there was a problem with my ride. So I ran for 45 minutes in Jarun. Then I watched my friend swim in a 1500 meter race. Then Ice cream in the city before I caught my train back to Ljubljana.

Woke up to another rainy day, which it seems may continue for another 5 days. There are momentary pauses and a few seconds of sunshine.
Went to the bank here in Ljubljana and opened an account, which is quite easy now that I have a tax number. Then I went to work for a few hours. On the way home I pass by quite a few galleries and I noticed that there is a Robert Maplethorpe exhibit at the National Gallery, maybe if I get a chance I will go and check it out.

Well things are finally starting to move along. After a few false starts I have finally got a tax number here in Slovenia. This is required for me to open a bank account and such. It was a rainy day and did not seem too promising in the beginning, but as the day went on, things started to sort themselves out. In the afternoon I got a call from my potential coffee supplier and he is going to send me a sample to check out, which is great news. He is actually an Englishman I knew and lost contact with a few years ago and is now living in Colombia.
Despite the rain I got a nice run in this afternoon and I am now relaxing before having dinner and watching some U21 European Championship football. I watched England draw 1-1 with Germany last night and hope to watch Serbia play Sweden tonight.

I ran for almost 1 hour this morning in Ljubljana and it was a mix of outskirts of the city and almost countryside.. I feel like I am running at a comfortable pace and my form feels good. I have a slight problem with an old back injury, but I can live with that. Where is your friendly neighbourhood Chiropractor when you need him. Anyway I will sort that out.

Yesterday I met with Zvonko and Zrdavko Jakovic, they are 2 guys who share my last name and live about 30 minutes drive from here. We had a nice chat over coffee and it seems that our history may go all the way back to a village in Bosnia, more to follow.

Over the last couple of winters I have run in Flushing Meadow Park and out to Shea Stadium and the new Citi field Stadium. I would take photo's of the progression of the new stadium and the end of the old stadium. Well one of my photo's of the new stadium has been selected to be included in the 7th and latest edition of the Schmap city guide. It can be see at the following link;

http://www.schmap.com/newyork/activities_activities/#r=none&mapview=Map&tab=Places&p=356459&topleft=40.82303,-74.0250

Pretty cool uh!

On Friday I went to Croatia, to try and do the final paperwork for my farm. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. My cousin told me it would not be easy. There was a lot of going from one department to another and after 3 hours it seemed we were almost finished. I must mention that a friend from Zagreb came with me and acted as translator and explain-er. Then we found a problem and I was advised to talk to a local lawyer. The initial problem was to do with the plan of the land, it was not clear and it needed to be made clear, or there may be problems in the future. When it looked like that was sorted, the lawyer found a mistake in the contract which could cause it to be rejected by the county office. She said that and amendment could be drawn up that would correct this and I would have to come back today and sign it and have it notarized.This was done this morning and now it is being sent to my Aunt to sign and get notarized.
My lawyer will then submit all the papers and the county will tell me how much I have to pay them in taxes. All of this cost me around 400 Euro, which is more than I would have liked, but that's the bureaucratic system for you.

For the last 2 weeks or so the skin on the bottom of my feet has been peeling of . This is normal for me after a multi day race. It is like the old skin of the race is changing into a new one.
On Monday I did my longest run for a few weeks and the next day was shorter, but then I started running longer each day and also running with more pace. I am feeling as though my form is good again, actually I thought my from was good on the Harmony run, but it's hard to tell when you are carrying a torch. Anyway I am happy with my running.