My turn to cry . . .

I have the best family in the world. They got me this time thanks to modern technology. Thanks to my cousin Michele for coming up with this fantastic birthday surprise. Once again, before you sit down and watch this, grab the box of tissues. I love all of you guys . . . see you in a few weeks!

Beauties and Beer Tents

The Warsaw Open, a stop on the ATP Tour for some of the world's great female tennis players, commenced this week. The tennis gods smiled down upon tour organizers and this reporter when former world #1 ranked player, and Russian uber-babe, Maria Sharapova decided to use the tournament to launch her comeback from a shoulder injury that has sidelined her for over 9 months.

A couple friends and I hustled out of work in order to catch the end of her match against an Italian, Tathiana Garbin, and were lucky enough to see Sharapova blow three match points in the second set. This allowed us to actually find our seats and enjoy the third set which she ended up winning 6-3. The reigning queen of grunts did not disappoint:

She has been measured at over 100 decibels on the grunt-o-meter, the equivalent of standing near a police car with its blaring siren. The evolution of grunting in tennis is chronicled in great detail here by the BBC. Sharapova owes a great deal to the pioneer of the grunt in women's tennis, Monica Seles.

Also, last week, on a sun-drenched Friday afternoon, the hard-working folks at AS-dub convened for a faculty social at the nearest oasis, just off the bike-trail leading to school. We at the Chronicle would never condone drinking and cycling, and Polish law is quite strict in this regard, but there's great comfort to be found in enjoying good beer, good food, and good company after only pedaling a couple short kilometers from school. Patio culture is certainly one area where this country is leaps and bounds ahead of my former homeland.

Happy Mother's Day!

The toughest part about working overseas is missing all of those special moments that happen in a family. It's a huge sacrifice and makes you appreciate the time you are able to spend with them even more. I've been living far away from the ones that I love for many years now and it never gets any easier hearing "You missed it!" after every birthday, graduation party, 4th of July, Thanksgiving, or wedding. Especially weddings.

You see my mom has four siblings, and as luck would have it, or what some might call a tragedy of epic proportion, the five of them gave their mother and father twelve beautiful grandchildren, eleven of them boys. As we all enter into our 30's, most of us, despite repeated warning, have sealed our fate by walking down the aisle. The byproduct of these ceremonies has been some legendary parties, which lead to some great family pictures, since these are the rare occasions when all of us are together.

Last weekend, my cousin Todd was the next in line to get hitched to his fiancee, Jill, and for months, much to my sorrow, I had been slated to miss this huge celebration because it just wasn't possible to get enough time off of work. I was resigned to the fact that AGAIN I would be hearing firsthand accounts of another reception that would go down in history. My brother Paul, however, had other ideas, and made a last minute plea for me to find some way to make the trip. After listening to his cajoling, guilt-inspiring phone call, I relented and made a quick search of the airfare sites. Well, somehow, the planets aligned and I was able to fly into Minneapolis on a Thursday evening, and hop the redeye back to Warsaw on Sunday night. For me, it was more like the "closed eye" since I spent the whole flight to Amsterdam (my first stop) in a deep slumber, reeling from jet lag, family fun time, and exhaustion.

The best part was keeping this a covert operation. My brother and his wife Jennifer were the only ones who knew about this last minute change of plans. Everybody, including my parents, who I had just spent Spring Break with in New York a couple weeks earlier, were sure I was destined to miss yet another special occasion. Needless to say, it was something I will never forget, and one of the best decisions I ever made. I'm so glad that we were able to capture the look of both my grandma's and mom's faces when they realized I had made it home. Just make sure you have your box of tissues handy when you watch this video . . . and make sure you take your mom out for brunch today. Of course, don't forget about Grandma!