The Pac-10 is now the Pac-12

In the USA, collegiate sports are a big deal.  Many people go from collegiate athletics to professional athletics.  Collegiate sports is not something that exists in Europe.

The governing body for American collegiate sports is the NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic Association.  Schools are broken down in to different divisions and based on skills and geography.  Division I is the highest level.

Having grown up in California we had the Pac-10 Conference which was made up of the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, University of California - Berkeley, University of California - Los Angeles, University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Southern California, Stanford University, University of Washington, and Washington State University.

I've been living in Czechland so long that I didn't know that the Pac-10 is now the Pac-12.  In 2011, the University of Utah and the University of Colorado - Boulder joined the conference.  Pretty bad for a California boy to not know that the conference expanded.

Then again, I moved to Atlanta and lived there for 13 years before moving here.  So while I grew up in California, I would say that the South was home.  Well that is prior to moving here.  But that requires explaining my permanent address which is a story for another time.

In the South, we have the SEC which is the Southeastern Conference.  The SEC is a powerhouse for collegiate athletics.  The schools making up the SEC are the University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, University of Missouri, University of South Carolina, University of Tennessee, Vanderbilt University, University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, Auburn University, Louisiana State University, University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University, and Texas A&M University.

In the South you cheer for an SEC school and the rivalries between the various schools is quite fierce.  I graduated from Georgia State University which is well known for academics and less so for athletics.  GSU belongs to the Sun Belt Conference which also includes Appalachian State University, Arkansas State University, Coastal Carolina University, Georgia Southern University, University of Arkansas - Little Rock, University of Louisiana - Lafayette, University of Louisiana - Monroe, University of South Alabama, Texas State University, University of Texas - Arlington, and Troy University. 

Nostrification

Some labor laws changed in the Czech Republic which took effect this year.  I think that politicians are trying to be proactive about protecting Czech workers (and voters) in light of the current global financial situation.

The first change is that non-EU citizens, which includes Americans, Canadians, Australians, Russians, Ukrainians, etc., can no longer be employed by companies as a subcontractor.  You can only hire non-EU citizens as regular employees.  I think that this was meant to protect Czech jobs from foreign workers.  In my humble opinion this change will actually produce the opposite of the intended effect.  What this tells companies is that the work around is to give non-EU citizens the regular employment contracts and give the subcontractor contracts to EU citizens.  Fortunately, this one doesn't effect me at all.

The second change is that in order to issue a new, or renew an existing, work permit an applicant's educational history must be validated.  So even though I gave the Czech government a copy of my master's diploma three years ago I now need to go through nostrification.

Nostrification is the process of granting recognition to a degree from a foreign university.  Basically, I must find a public Czech university to certify that my degree is equivalent to a course of study offered by their university.  Here's where I get annoyed...

I have an MBA and public universities in ČR don't offer MBAs, only private institutions do.  Secondly, my degree is AACSB accredited which is the highest level of accreditation that can be achieved by a business school.  Less than 5% of the world's 13,000 business programs have this.  No institution in the ČR has this level of accreditation but I need to have a Czech university authenticate that my degree is equivalent to what it offers.

I'm hoping that Masaryk University, here in Brno, will validate that my MBA is equivalent to their Master's program in Economics and Management.  Here's what I have to do to make all of this happen.

1. I have to get notarized copies of my diploma and transcripts from Georgia State University.
2. I need to get an apostille for each notarized copy.
3. Most institutions required government approved Czech translations.  Fortunately, Masaryk allows for the documents to be in either Czech or English.
4. Submit an application to the university for nostrification.  The whole evaluation process should last 30 to 60 days.

So what's an apostille?  I sure as hell had never heard of it before but it does make a lot of sense.  It is basically a "super notary" that is valid between countries that authenticates the validity of public documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses and educational records. 

The USA has delegated this responsibility to each state where the document was originally issued.  A public document issued in Georgia can only receive an apostille from the State of Georgia.  A document issued in California can only receive an apostille from the State of California.

I made a copy of my diploma and had a Georgia notary stamp and notarize it.  I took it to the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority in Atlanta which is the only place authorized to grant an apostille.  They gave me the necessary validation within 10 minutes and it only cost $3.

However, the transcripts were a different story.  For some reason, they will only issue an apostille on student transcripts if the university issues the official notary.

So after multiple trips back and forth between the court office and GSU, I finally got what I needed.  Again, in and out in less than 10 minutes and only another $3 fee.

Dealing with all of this bureaucracy is not exactly what I wanted to do while on vacation.  My work permit is good until April 2013 so I'm ahead of the game in getting together what I need.  Thank goodness that I just happened to already have this trip home planned.  This would have been a royal pain in the arse if I had needed to try to coordinate this from Brno.  Once I get the nostrification completed then I won't have to ever deal with this again.

Atlanta, Georgia

Even though I was born and raised in Southern California, and that I now live in ČR, I still consider Atlanta home.  Back in 1996, right before the Centennial Olympic Games, I went to Atlanta for a two-week vacation and never left.  I stayed there for 13 years before moving to Euroland.  

 
Atlanta is the capital and largest city in Georgia.  Georgia was the 4th of the original 13 colonies.  The metro Atlanta is the 9th most populated in the USA, with around 5.4 million people.  Over 5 million people - that's more than than half the population of ČR and more than the entire population of Slovakia.  Atlanta is also the unofficial capital of the South.

The Peach State

Before European settlers arrived in north Georgia, the area was inhabited by Creek and Cherokee Indians.  Atlanta was founded in 1847.  It was originally called Terminus because it was at the intersection of two railroad lines.  It was later renamed Marthasville in honor of the daughter of a former governor.

During the Civil War, Georgia fought for the Confederacy.  In 1864, the Union Army, under the command of General Sherman, laid a 4-month siege of the city known as the Battle of Atlanta.  After Atlanta surrendered, Sherman ordered the civilian population to evacuate and then burned the city to the ground.  Only churches and hospitals were spared.

The city rose from the ashes in a big way.  Today, the Atlanta economy is diverse and is the 6th largest in the country, as well as, the 15th largest in the world.


If you're not used to Atlanta then getting around can be interesting.  Peachtree Street is the city's main street.  People joke that half of the streets are named "Peachtree something or other".  There are 71 streets in Atlanta that have "Peachtree" in the name including: Peachtree Road, Peachtree Lane, Peachtree Circle, Peachtree Plaza, Peachtree Memorial Drive, North Peachtree Road, Peachtree Dunwoody Road, Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, and the list goes on and on. 

I love Atlanta!  I've always thought that it is a great place to live but never really thought of it as a tourist destination.  Even though it is home to the world's busiest airport. 


For people who have never been to Atlanta there really is a lot to see such as the Georgia Aquarium (the largest in the world), Stone Mountain, the Cyclorama, the Atlanta History Center, World of Coca-Cola, the Fernbank Museum, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center, the High Museum of Art, the Fabulous Fox Theater, the Woodruff Arts Center, CNN, the Margaret Mitchell House, Piedmont Park, the Atlanta Botanical Garden, Centennial Olympic Park, Six Flags Over Georgia, Turner Field, Oakland Cemetery, Kennesaw Mountain, and the list goes on and on.  So maybe, it's more of a tourist city then I thought.

Steven is trying to be the perfect host and tour guide like he was when Claudia and Norbert visited Atlanta earlier this year.  The difference being that I don't need to go visit the Governor's Mansion or check out Phipps Plaza.  I'm all about just relaxing and hanging out with my best friend.  So far we've took a tour of the Oakland Cemetery which I had never done before and we've got a bit of shopping planned for later.  The only thing that I absolutely have to do is visit Georgia State University to pick up a notarized copy of my transcripts and then take them to the courthouse for an apostille in order to renew my Czech work permit next year.

Here's a short video I found out on YouTube that talks about a few of the Atlanta highlights.

Atlanta Reunion in Paris

It's been about a year since I saw Steven & Michael. They decided to celebrate Michael's birthday with a European cruise. We planned to meet up in Paris after their cruise for a few days. I have been counting down the days to spend some time with my boys.

I haven't seen Marcus since his going away party in Bratsville. He is back in Atlanta now and is now in the same MBA program at Georgia State that Steven and I went to. Well as it turns out, by coincidence, Marcus planned to be in Paris at the same time. He went to Europe with his brother, mom and aunt. So we ended up with a whole lot of Atlanta folks in the city of lights. It was so great to see everyone.

Steven, Michael and I rented an apartment in Montmarte. It was about a 5 minute walk to Sacré-Cœur. Steven and Michael hadn't been to Paris in about 20 years so we just did the normal touristy stuff. We walked the entire city...through the Latin Quarter, down the Champs-Élysées, past the Arc de Triomphe, and visited all of the usual sites such as Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and the Seine. We all went with Marcus' family to see Versailles which was simply incredible. We managed to eat our way through Paris as well. You just can't beat French food. It was a good thing that we did a lot of walking.

Another perk about seeing everyone was that they brought me supplies. With what Steven and Michael brought me, plus what Marcus brought, I was pushing my baggage allowance. I managed to get back with only a ½ kilo (1 pound) to spare. I don't know how they did it but I ended up with lots of loot. The best was that Steven managed to bring me some aluminum turkey pans so that it will be easier for me to cook the Thanksgiving turkey this year. The last two years I've cooked the turkeys in a pan that is only about an inch deep because I can not find a roasting pan over here large enough to hold a 20 pound bird. But now I'm set with 3 of them. Is it bad that it is only May and I'm already trying to figure out what I'll need for Thanksgiving in November?

New Year Provisions

I swear that I have the best friends ever. Steven & Michael sent me a Christmas/New Year's box of provisions. Thanks boys!!! They mailed it Friday, January 7th and it arrived today on the 14th. It must have just made it out of Atlanta before the snow hit. Atlanta has had a record amount of snow so I figured that my box would be stuck out somewhere at the ATL airport. This is the fastest that I've received something from the USA.

Quite the contrast to the holiday cards I mailed home. I mailed cards out December 11th. Mail between the ČR and the USA normally takes 7 - 10 days. With the holidays I figured people would get their cards sometime between Christmas and New Year's. Oh but no. People got their cards around January 8th, some even later. But at least they got them. I guess this year I need to mail cards out by November 1st.

Anyway...Steven has gotten really good at boxing things up. I could not believe just how much stuff he was able to pack. I received some fuses, a few guide books, cologne, an assortment of face wash, Jif Extra Crunchy peanut butter, hazelnut coffee creamer, Degree deodorant/anti-perspirant, black beans, a blank GSU journal, Splenda sugar packets and a new Coach leather passport cover. They even sent me over a pound of jelly beans for me to take in to work. I swear these Czechs at IBM have gotten addicted to jelly beans. I may have to ration these out in order to make them last. Just saying...they do take up a lot of room in a small box.

First Guests

Last weekend I had my first American visitors in Brno. But they only had to travel 1.5 hours from Bratislava, Slovakia. Both are fellow expat IBMers.

So here's the background...
When I first arrived in Brno I received a message on Facebook from Marcus. He is also from Atlanta and we both had the same finance professor at Georgia State. But we never met before. Dr. Ruff gave him my name and we hit it off. Such is the power of Facebook and networking. But leave it to Craig Ruff to know two different people in Atlanta who moved to Eastern Europe for IBM.

Janelle had mentioned to him that she was thinking about coming to see Brno for the weekend. He mentioned that he knew someone who lived here and the next thing you know I have guests. Janelle lived in New York for the last 10 years so like any good Yankee, she likes Atlanta, so we all had that in common.

On Friday night we stumbled across a great Chinese restaurant by old town hall. Asian food isn't that great here. But this was awesome. We followed that up with beer, shots of slivovice (plum brandy) & hruškovica (pear brandy), and dancing. We had a blast!!

Saturday was a lot more mellow as we all recovered. We walked around the city center for a bit and had some lunch. Saturday night we went to the Greek restaurant on my street and came back for movies in the flat.

On Sunday, Janelle went to church with me. Everyone there wants to know when she is coming back and Father Josef was disappointed that she won't be able to see the Pope next weekend because she is visiting New York.

We all had so much fun this weekend. I can't remember the last time I laughed so much. My voice was scratchy until Tuesday. And now I've got a European Atlanta crew for some random adventures.