Last night 3 of my friends from Macedonia stopped by on their way to Austria and stayed the night. It was around 10:30pm, but of of them wanted to go walking around the city.So I went out and we got back around 1:30am. Anyway we were up pretty early and they were on their way. Later the guy came to install the cable modem for the internet and now we have high speed internet in the apartment. Next week we will have digital phone. Life is good.

Today one of my partners in my soon to be business told me of 2 options we have to register the business in Slovenia. So with the prospect of getting a roasting machine also soon, things are moving forward. I think it will be in the new year that we will see the fruition of our ideas coming into reality.

Yesterday was the Ljubljana Marathon. I had originally planned to run it, but got sick and thought it better not too. A friend of mine from the Ukraine, Nataliya came to run and it was nice to see her doing well. In fact she finished 10th in the woman's race. It was my first time experiencing this marathon and was quite impressed. It is the 14th edition and I think for the first time they had quite a few African runners. Both the Mans and woman's races were won by Kenyans and both set new course records. Nataliya also set a new personal record of 2:48.

I am back in Ljubljana after almost 3 weeks and the weather is much different than it was when I left. I went out for a run this morning with a full track suite and a warm hat. I noticed right away that I could see my breath and though bright and sunny it was quite fresh. After just a few minutes I realized that my hands were cold and I had not thought to bring gloves. My right calf is bothering me a little, which has been on and off for the last 2 weeks and I was still sore from playing football for an hour on Sunday. All in all I feel quite strong though.

I got a ride yesterday from Belgrade to Zagreb, with some friends. Stayed the night there and caught the early train to Ljubljana. The Croatian border police questioned me about my passport, saying they were concerned about whether the Slovenia border police would give me a hard time.Of course the Slovenians did not bat an eyelid.Maybe the Croatians think England let Ukraine beat them so that they would take second place in the World Cup qualifying group.
It was raining when I got to Ljubljana, but stopped long enough for me to get home. It's quite cold and when I went out for my run this afternoon, I could see that there was snow on the mountains nearby.

I just found out that John Lennon would have been 69 today, if he was still around.
It was a beautiful day in Sarajevo, 25C and I got in a nice run this afternoon. I leave tomorrow morning for Belgrade, where I will be for the weekend.

I am currently in Sarajevo, Bosnia, arriving by bus from Nish, Serbia yesterday. It is quite warm here and I had a nice run from the place where I am staying to the Holiday Inn, which became famous during the war here.
Oh by the way! When I was in Macedonia I accidentally put my Passport in the washing machine. It survived and has got me through 3 borders, but looks a little strange. Fortunately it expires soon, so I will get a new one.

So I have been on the World Harmony Run for the last 2 weeks. It took me into Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. The team changed a few times, but we had good members all the way through.After the first few days we had a break in Belgrade. Where I participated in a 6 hour race and ran the last leg of a 12 hour relay, so I got in some good training.
I am now in Nish Serbia, where I had a meeting with the guy who will make a coffee roasting machine for me. I also got to look at an old machine to see what it will look like. Finally things are moving forward.

The 2 days we were in Sarajevo were quite busy. They included a Radio interview, visits to 2 schools and a newspaper interview in the lobby of the tallest building in Bosnia. I also got to go to the observation deck on the 35th floor, from where you can see the whole city.
This morning we left around 6 am to drive back to Belgrade, where we had meetings at 3 schools. I am spending the night in a floating hostel on the river Danube, just as I did on Tuesday. If you are ever in Belgrade check it out, it's called Arkabarka.

I have a few last minute things to take care of, but basically I am ready to go. The train leaves in 3 hours time, well it is supposed to,and we will leave for the station in 2 hours. Will should arrive in Belgrade before midnight and someone will meet us and take us to the hotel where the team is staying. Then there will be an early start on Wednesday morning for the trip to Sarajevo, where we will be for 2 days.

Tomorrow afternoon I will take a train to Belgrade with my friend Milan. We are going to join the World Harmony run. He will be with them for about 5 days, but I will be there for almost 2 weeks.In May I was on the run in Slovenia and Italy. This time I will be going to Bosnia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. You can check out the website worldharmonyrun.org and get some information on it and see daily reports. If I get a connection and the time I will post something during my trip.

The weekly 2 mile race in Ljubljana is on a 400 meter track. This morning the weather was overcast and quite mild. There were the usual 3 runners and believe it or not, this week I was 2nd. I was working herd to go under 15 minutes, but as I crossed the line the clock rolled over to 15 minutes. Of course this is an improvement and I am happy with it.

Last night there was a basket ball game between Slovenia and Croatia and I could tell from the apartment building across from mine how things were going. Slovenia won by 2 points.

The day was pretty uneventful as it goes.I did go out for a run this afternoon in a light rain and it was very nice.I have noticed that the last couple of days I have had a few minor aches and pains. Not sure if this is because of old age or the change in the weather.

My day started early. Up at 5am than helped making some deliveries. My back was kind of sore, an old problem that bothers me from time to time. It somehow got better as the day went on and I had good energy when I got home this afternoon. I took advantage of the good weather that followed the rain last night and got a nice run in this afternoon.

Had a nice weekend in Maribor, but got back late last night.
It was overcast all day. I went into the city this morning and on the way in I saw someone walking, what looked like a small dog. As I got closer I could see that it was a small black pig. I guess it was a pygmy pig because it was less then 12 inches high. It looked very happy walking along on it's red leash.
When I went out for my run this afternoon I actually put on warm ups, though it is not too cold it was cold enough.

Around this time 8 years ago I was sitting in the departure lounge in Vienna waiting for my flight to New York. Just a routine return home after another trip to Europe. Of course I did not know at the time that this flight would take me 5 days. We were about 3 hours away from New York when we were informed that there had been an attack on the financial district in NY and the airspace over NYC had been closed and there was no space left for us to land in Canada. So we would be returning to Vienna. I will not go into the details of the extraordinary job the airline ( Austrian ) did in taking care of us until my return to New York on September 15, but it was amazing. We flew into an empty JFK airport that afternoon and as I sat in my window seat I could see the plume of smoke rising from lower Manhattan, a very sobering sight. However there was a comfort in being back. Of course we now know that the events of September 11, 2001 have changed the world forever.

I was not able to watch the game, but it seems that England showed just how good they have become under Fabio Capello, when they beat Croatia 5-1 to qualify for the World cup finals in South Africa.Maybe now the fans realize that sometimes we need a foreign coach to bring the best out the English players.

Today is my niece's birthday so of course I want to say Happy Birthday to Shell.
The weather here is becoming quite mixed these days and I notice that when I go out for my run in the evening I am not sweating as much as I did.It has been more than 3 weeks now since I missed a day so I am quite happy that I think I am getting some consistency and it feels like I have good form.
In about 2 weeks time I will be going on the World Harmony Run, which is a relay run to promoted World Harmony. I will be in Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia and Bulgaria. So my current training will help me a lot I think.
Oh! And England can qualify for the 2010 World Cup if they beat Croatia at Wembley tonight.

Yesterday I saw 2 different T shirts that kind of had the same message. One said Good boys go to Heaven, Bad boys go to Amsterdam. The other said Good girls go to Heaven, Bad girls go to London.
This morning it actually felt cold and one can feel the change in seasons coming.
I also went to the British Embassy yesterday here in Ljubljana to ask them some questions I have about getting National insurance number. It was suggested that maybe my Social security number from the US may be Ok to use. I have to check at the ESS office to be sure. We will see.

It's funny how you go away for a couple of weeks at this time of the year and when you get back, you start to notice that the days are getting shorter. This is mainly noticeable in the mornings when I wake up. The Sun is no longer coming in through my window while I sit and meditate.
Yesterday it was inventory time at the store where I help out sometimes. It was actually a fun time.
I came home to watch the England v Slovenia friendly football game, which England won 2-1. Though England controlled the game, they had trouble scoring. Slovenia only had one shot on goal, from which they scored late in the game.
My friend Abichal ran a 6 day race in Sweden, which finished yesterday. He placed 9th with a total of 501 km Another friend Sarah Barnett won the women's race with 713.9 km.