08.35 L S in San Donato Milanese (1st smoke. Light traffic this morning)

12.35 Marlboro Red in San Donato Milanese (2nd smoke. All out of L S. Too lazy to walk 50 meters)

15.35 Silk Cut in San Donato Milanese (3rd smoke. Can't complain, it was free)

I wrote this 3 years ago during my 2 year engagement with a client here in Italy. At the time, I had not yet met Emanuela (my wife) nor Ciccio (that big tubby cat that you see on my blog page).

I'm waiting for Support Help from Houston, TX so I thought it was a good time to update my journal. Inevitably, I end up reading what I wrote in the past-

There is an 12-hour hole in my life from Monday to Friday and it is called 'S' [my client]-

The hole can be filled up by (a) downloading porn on the Internet. Unfortunately, 2.20 GB of free space on my ‘C’ drive fills too damn quick (b) browsing the net for relationship / dating tips…

Nothing has changed from the time I was with my mother and unemployed for 5 months in California. Well- maybe my initial conversation howitzer of:

Unemployed – “Hi. My name is Nelson Labrador. I am unemployed and I live with my mother. Can you buy me a drink as I can only stretch my allowance so much?”

To a more acceptable,

Employed – “Hi. My name is Nelson Labrador. Can I buy you a drink? Bartender! Can I have a receipt with this [expensed]…”

But I digress…

Latest article from msn.com, “Sex on a first date. Does it doom your relationship?”

I’ll dispense with the usual drivel since I’m a Dude and sex on the first date, the second date, the day you break-up, drunk sex- Whatever…It’s all good.

In my experience, sex on a first date is not a harbinger of good or ill-

However, the following things are:

Weird religious / new age philosophy

-Bay Area girl. On a first date. “Do you believe in reincarnation?”

I bit. “Sure I do. Energy is neither created nor destroyed…” [don’t ask me what the hell this means]

“In a previous life, I think I was a bird.”

I thought to myself, [Sweet... Kind’a out there. I’ll mention Redfern,  Castaneda, African Shamanism and see where this leads].

The comment, lead to a 3-year, on-and-off, dysfunctional relationship that still haunts me to this day.

Prozac

-New Orleans girl. On a first date. After breakfast [no Rick, she did not cook me breakfast. I had to drive her at ? to get Pecan Waffles; OH MY GOD. If nothing else go to New Orleans just to have this slice of heaven] “I’m on medication at the moment…”

Big Daddy, “You got some on you J”

“I’ve been depressed. I’m on Prozac.”

[BIG ASS alarm bells went off in my head. But, since she had a nice face and an incredible body, the alarm bells were drowned out]

Big Daddy, “Oooh…”

[If anyone has a snappy retort, please let me know. One of the few times in my life that I was at a lost for words]

The only thing that saved me from continuing this death spiral was a new job in Houston.

Bringing a girl friend to the first date

-Houston girl. On a first date. “Hi, this is my friend Cindy.”

I thought to myself, [Damn, this is NOT good. My A-material is good for only a single girl]

“Hi, Cindy…”

[Highpoint of the date]

2 good things came out of this date: (a) for the next 2 years, I would always preface each date request with, “You are not going to bring a family member or a close friend are you?” (b) Cindy did not bring a cooler so she could not order something to go- Thank God for small favors…

Too much information too soon

-Albanian girl. On a first date. Prior to dinner. “When do you think you will be ready to settle down?”

[Dang. I had not ordered my vodka yet and this cannon is shot]

“When I meet a nice girl!” Wink- [slick Coyote]

“Do you want children. If so, how many?”

“Ragazzo!!! Puoi farmi un doppio! Senza ghiaccio-“ The English translation is, [Waiter! Make that a double. Without the ice-]

Nervous sip, “2. Girls. Average size and weight. Dark hair. Brown eyes. Oldest one will be named Carmen. Her sister will be named Alexandra. Or Alex for short]”. If nothing else, the truth will always save you-

So all you married stiffs, count yourselves lucky. You are not missing out at all-

09.10 L S in San Donato Milanese (1st smoke)

13.23 L S in San Donato Milanese (2nd smoke with a Twix chaser)

Note attached link for the latest 'no limit' hold-em games now being spread in Las Vegas.

If you have a limited bank-roll, Las Vegas casinos now allow you to buy-in and play 'no limit' for a maximum buy-in ranging from $100 to $200.

This is great because, unlike a tournament, you can get up and leave any time. Plus, you are protected from a massive downside loss since all you are exposing is from $100 to $200.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14266

With the strength of the Euro, this means that all you have to do is to save 5 days worth of per diem in order to play the game (5 days * EUR 41).

On another article (also attached). You must have some huge cajones to play in the $100,000 to $200,000 limit hold-em (Dallas and Las Vegas). Basically, each pot is around $1,000,000.

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker_magazine/archives/showarticle.php?a_id=14268

08.59 L S in San Donato Milanese (1st smoke)

I'm a die hard conservative. In fact, so far to the right that the current Republican Party is really of know interest to me. The Republican Party that I grew-up and respected are the Republican Party of Lincoln and Goldwater. Men with deep held beliefs in small government, fiscal responsibility, individual liberty and protecting the Bill of Rights.

This is why I love and respect the work done by the ACLU. For my European friends who do not know the ACLU, their sole mission is to 'protect the basic civil liberties of all Americans, and extending them to groups that have traditionally been denied their basic civil rights.' 

The ACLU fights in protecting the Bill of Rights.

That is why I find it hard to support any of the Republicans who make a habit of bashing the ACLU whenever they have a chance.

Case in point. One of the biggest idiots in the USA, is Rush Limbaugh. He has a national audience of 'slack jawed pecker woods' who follow his every word and opinion.

Rush has been in court for the last week over the unfettered rights of the government to have a 'fishing expedition' concerning his illegal prescription use. Who is in Limbaugh's corner during this fight? You guessed it, the ACLU.

Note link:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=796&e=2&u=/eo/20041022/en_celeb_eo/15193 

09.15 - L S in San Donato Milanese (1st smoke. A little late due to the traffic)

14.18 - L S in San Donato Milanese (2nd smoke. No lunch. Kills the craving for food)

The more I hear about Enrico Mattei, the more intrigued I am of the man. It's a pity that most of the web sites are in Italian and it's just too damn tough to read. Some history on Enrico-

He was Born in Acqualagna; Pesaro (where my wife is from and where we are thinking of buying a 'casale' for agro-tourism). He never finished high school. He migrated to Milano in his 20s to work for a German chemicals firm.

He eventually quit the German chemicals firm and opened his own. He made a success of the venture even though he opened his shop during the 1930s depression.

At the end of WWII, he was appointed as a special commissary for AGIP, the Italian Petroleum Agency. He was charged by the Italian government in liquidating the assetts and selling them off to private companies. However, since he was a staunch nationalist, he secretely began to expand AGIPs activities. Luckily, he found reserves of gas in Northern Italy and with it, he started to build the network. This in turn revived the Italian Steel industry.

The US Government and on the behalf of the Seven Sisters: (1) Standard Oil of New Jersey, which later became Exxon and ExxonMobil (2) Royal Dutch Shell Anglo Dutch (3) British Anglo-Persian Oil Company which later became British Pertroleum, then BPAmoco (4) Standard Oil of New York, which later became Mobil (5) Texaco America, which later became Texaco (6) Standard Oil of California, which later became Chevron, then ChevronTexaco (7) Gulf Oil, which was bough out by Chevron. brought tremendous pressure on the Italian government to rein in Enrico.

The Italian government bowed from the pressure and eventually removed Enrico from AGIP. However, by this time, it was too late. Enrico had built up his contacts in AGIP, and eventhough he was removed by the government, he worked secretely with other AGIP personnel. By the time AGIP hit oil on the Po Valley, the government backed off Enrico and in 1953, ENI was born.

ENI was created as an agency, and its function was to incorporate all government operations in energy. Enrico took charge, and within 10 years, ENI expanded to challenge the seven sisters in areas like: exploration, refining, oil and gas pipes, distribution networks, oil drilling equipment, and petrochemicals. As a side note, Enrico also expanded into motels, textiles and even newspapers.

To piss off the US government and the seven sisters, he also began to expand in Africa and the Middle East. More diplomatic pressure from the US was to no avail at this point. The ENI umbrella was responsible for too many Italian workers, and the Italian government began to fear the political repercussions of butting heads with Enrico.

Sadly, in 1962, at the young age of 56, he died in a plane crash.

Why Oliver Stone has not made a film about this man and his death, is beyond me.

09.00 - L S in San Donato Milanese (1st smoke)

09.30 - L S in San Donato Milanese (2nd smoke. The 1st one did not take)

10.00 - L S in San Donato Milanese  (3rd smoke. Nothing, not even a slight buzz)

13.50- L S in San Donato Milanes (4th smoke. After lunch)

An interesting fact about San Donato Milanese, most of the businesses here were started by Eni (almost equivalent to Chevron prior to the Texaco buy-out).

When I started working here in 2000, the Crowne Plaza was named Hotel Agip. Most of the restaurants, as well as the houses, were owned by Eni. In the last several years, a lot of the housing have been sold off to Eni employees. They made a killing since San Donato Milanese is only 1 kilometer from Milan and it is close to an airport (Linate). Plus, the employees received steep discounts from buying the homes.

The buildings that are still under construction here is incredible. Give it 10 more years, and San Donato will get close to Torino in terms of business.

The founder of Eni is Enrico Mattei. After setting up Eni, he also worked on starting lots and lots of school.

His influence was so widespread, that there are pre-schools in the Bay Area (San Francisco area) that bear his name (they also charge a ton of money). Another effort that he started was having company universities. There are 2 here in San Donato (Eni Universities) that are available to all Eni employees to broaden their skill sets and personal growth.