Do you know what tomorrow holds?… We have plans for tomorrow, we have certain schedules, meetings to attend, people to see, vacations to enjoy, places to visit. And finally tomorrow is here…

I was going to Atlanta International Airport to take the next flight to New York’s Kennedy International Airport and then to fly to Budapest, Hungary in order to get home. My ride left me at the departures gate so there I was, with my ticket in my hand, ready to go home… And that was about to change, dramatically. The first flight to JFK was overbooked so I didn’t make it. I got on the second one knowing that I could still catch the flight to Budapest. But when I arrived at JFK, all flights were cancelled. The volcano in Iceland froze down the entire Europe, and it was just the beginning. Have you ever been stranded in an airport with no money left, no cell phone, no watch, nothing but you and your carry-on? Then you know how I felt. I knew no one in New York, no person to contact. My luggage was still in Atlanta.  But there was a ray of hope. I got hold of a pay phone and started to try call collect. Eventually I got one number that said “no answer” instead of “sorry, this person does not accept call collect”. In a few minutes, the pay phone rang bak and I jumped to pick it up. I was so glad to talk to my friend in MI! He made some calls for me, and in just a matter of minutes, I got a phone call from a total stranger saying he was on his way to pick me up from the airport. He was so kind as to let me stay with him and his family during all the time the flights were cancelled. He drove me to meet with my brother, who I was happy to see after a long time. I stayed with my brother and his family over the weekend. On Tuesday, Budapest reopened its air space. So I came back to my new friend and he drove me to JFK. I tried to get on the first flight that was leaving America after 5 days. But the flight was, again, overbooked. I can’t describe how it feels to be left behind… to see the door closing in front of your eyes… to hear the dreadful words “I’m sorry sir, there’s nothing I can do”. So here I am again, at my new friend’s house, hoping for a miracle. I’m going to try again today. It is Thursday. I can’t wait to be with my wife, at home.

But I’m thankful for what I have, for what I was given. I didn’t spend the week sleeping on the floor in the baggage claim area, I didn’t have to shower in the tents provided by the authorities, I didn’t eat on meal vouchers. I had someone to take very good care of me. Someone who does not believe in the word “coincidence”. Someone who would go wherever it takes, and do whatever it takes, to help his brother, his neighbor. You know, sometimes the days after tomorrow don’t look like you’ve planned, but there is always something good in every circumstance in our lives. At this point in my life, this is not just easy-cheesy talk. If you know me, you know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, read Romans 8:28 in the Bible. The days after tomorrow are days when God takes you by the hand and leads you where He wants you to be. God’s will is the best place to be in, all the time.

LENOVO IdeaPad Y550

I am going to describe my favorite laptop. My favorite PC laptop, more precisely.

In my opinion, it has to be first of all about the brand. I know that most of the time, the rule is: you have a certain laptop and it’s given you headaches, conclusion: the BRAND is bad, and you tell everybody, DON’T buy it; you have a certain laptop and it has served you well and you didn’t even have to reinstall Windows every other month, conclusion: the BRAND is good, and you tell everyone that it’s the best brand ever. In other words, a very subjective point of view, which is quite normal. So it depends who you ask. Well I know you didn’t ask me, but I’ll tell you my very own subjective point of view. For me, for many years, there were just two brands worth considering buying: Toshiba and Dell. Sony’s were (and still are) way too expensive for what they offer. Plus they only had their own MemoryStick/Pro card readers for many years. HP’s were famous for their magical ability to find their way to the repair shops. Fancy but fragile. IBM’s were probably the best, no doubt about it, but they had that archaic look and that scary price. Plus I hated the trackpoint. Then there were ASUS laptops, powerful but again, pricey. Fujitsu was another brand to consider, but they were not too common. Last but not least, ACER/Gateway were known not to last long due to the cheap plastics they were made of. Anyway, I had 2 Toshiba A-series laptops so far and according to the rule I stated in the beginning, I can definitely recommend them. No problems whatsoever, decent price, pretty powerful. Then I had a Dell Studio 15 which I loved, and it was quite amazing. To tell you the truth, I bought the Dell Studio because it had so many things in common with the LENOVO Y510/Y530 – the unique screen hinges, the touch-sensitive controls, the non-slide non-glossy cover, the elegant looks. A friend of mine had a Lenovo Y510 and I must tell you I wanted one too!! It had the best sound I’ve ever heard from a laptop, so crisp, so loud, so… Dolby-Surround! Plus it had the most solid feel ever. No cheap plastics, no flying keyboard, no fragile screen hinges. It also had the VeriFace recognition software, all you needed to do was to sit in front of your laptop and you were logged in. If you went away from the laptop, it would log you out immediately. Talk about security! So now I have a new favorite, not because I owned it, but because of what I read about it, because of the pictures and videos I saw so far. It is a LENOVO / IBM and it doesn’t look archaic, it doesn’t have a scary price and it’s extremely powerful! It’s more powerful than an i3 processor and mildly less powerful than an i5! Check this out!!

Processor	Intel® Core™2 Duo P8600 (Centrino 2, 2.40GHz, 3MB L2, 1066MHz FSB)
Operating System	Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium
Display	15.6” HD Wide (1366 X 768) LED, W/ Camera
Total Memory	3GB PC3-8500 DDR3 SDRAM 1067MHz SODIMM Memory
Hard Drive	250GB, 5400RPM Serial ATA 2.5″ Drive
Graphics	Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD
Optical Device	DVD Recordable 8x Max Dual Layer
Wireless	Intel WiFi Link 5100 AGN
Battery	6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Limited Warranty	1 Year Warranty
Color	Black
Bluetooth	No
Integrated Camera	Yes, 1.3 MP
Fingerprint Reader	No
Keyboard/Pointing Device	Multi-touch Touchpad

The model in the video below features a less powerful processor, more ram and a larger hard drive. Just get a feel of it.

So what do you think? Do you want one too? Just let me know I have one for you, with the configuration written above. Ask about details.

I am a tea person, most people who know me are aware of that and of the fact I don’t like coffee. Every day in the office at work the coffee machine is used for a better purpose, which is to make tea. One day, on the table in front of me I saw what you can also see in the picture below.

Two coffee jars, the same label, the same color, perfectly identical exterior. Yet, so different on the inside. One of them had coffee in it, as it was intended by the manufacturer. The other one had sugar in it, which for me was exactly what I was looking for. But this image reminded me of how people are so many times. Looking from the outside, you may read a label that says, “Christian.” Or “Friend.” Or “Reliable.” And then you may wonder why your tea tastes like coffee or why your bitter black coffee tastes like sweetened water. It’s just not what you expected! What is wrong then? Is the label wrong? Or is the content wrong? I think what happens is that so many times, what’s inside is no longer what the “Manufacturer” intended. We are made by God for a purpose, according to a master plan, but some people think they have better plans, better purposes. They change the inside but they keep the label on the outside. And it is very misleading. How can you tell if someone has the wrong label, or the wrong content?

Well, in terms of the coffee jars, sometimes you just need to take a better look inside. Sometimes you need to taste and realize it’s not the taste you wanted. But always, remember to ask the “Manufacturer” to let you know if someone messed up the content. In real life it is not always so visible and evident like in the pictures above. So beware of counterfeits!

About a couple of months ago I became acquainted with NORC. A friend of mine showed me these great quality pictures of my city. I immediately embarked on a virtual tour of my entire city, checking out my favorite spots. I saw my home, my workplace, my church, the elementary school I attended, and many more.

NORC is a great site launched in December 2008. It’s an alternative to Google Maps and it’s “made in Romania”. It provides street-level panoramic images of many cities in Romania and also Central and Eastern Europe. You can “take a walk” on the streets of Budapest, Vienna, Prague or even Moscow. Here are more places you can visit with NORC. If you don’t have time or money to go to all these places, now you have the chance to visit them for free. You’ll still need the time to do it, though.

Discover your favorite places! Discover Romania! Vivat NORC!

There is something about the word “JOY”. I just like it! In different contexts and combinations it has always been very special to me. It started in the shape of “Rejoice!” and then it turned into “adi4joy” and lately into “BH-04-JOY”. I just hope it will continue to change into something like the tag line of the following great commercial.

N-JOY!