Hey MTV - Pimp My Ride

Hey MTV – Pimp My Ride!

This is my ride.

Old and tired – yes both the bike and me.

Our company moved to the other side of the airport (as you well know from other blogs) and that has now meant that I have to ride my bike even further to get to work. It’s only 10 minutes longer but it’s a very hard 10 minutes because of the wind. The airport landing strip is right at the edge of the coastline and it’s extremely windy there. So 10 minutes in a head wind can become 15 to 20 minutes on top of the normal 20 minute ride. I’m exhausted and sweaty even before clocking in. I’m getting freaked out because it’s not even winter yet and already I’m struggling against the wind in 1^st gear. My bike is a clunker so I invested 2,000 kroner to get my bike into shape. It turned out that I had to bring my bike back to the shop to get even more work done as the gear cable broke. I paid 2,200 kroner altogether and on the way home from the bike shop, a bus with a huge ad on the side of it passed me. The ad read, “sale on bikes – only 3;000 kroner. For less than a third of the price more, I could have had a brand new bike. But at least now I was ready for the winter.

Last week while riding my bike to work I had hat, tee-shirt and sweat shirt with hood on. Insulated liner, jacket and gloves. One hand on the handle bar and one hand actually covering my face cuz the damn wind was blowing so hard, it was causing me to breath in more air than I cared too.

I’m ready to cry cuz it’s not even winter yet. I start out my ride freezing and just after half way, my fingers are like Popsicle but my back is sweaty and clammy. I’m holding on for dear life praying that the wind doesn’t blow me out into the street. And I am worried because if this is how it is in early autumn, what’s going to happen to me in winter and then in a winter storm?

One day as a jumbo jet was screaming in my ears as it was landing and I was riding my bike under it – able to cover only one ear while hanging on with the other hand, I shouted out, “MTV – PIMP MY RIDE!!!”

The gods must have heard me because the following day, out of the blue, Jens said, “Let’s go buy a car.”

Unfortunately I had to take these pix with my cell phone but isn't it amazing what the MTV guys did to my bike!!?

Here is the host of the MTV show and his team. The guys did an amazing job pimping my ride - wouldn't you say? Unfortunately my camera has died so I am not yet able to show you the haute interior. It has door to door shag carpet and Danish designer Arne Jacobson created the seats.  The windshield and side windows were specially made at Holmegaard glass factory and there is even a real wood burning fireplace just behind the drivers seat. Push one button and logs for the fire place appear. Press the button again and the logs spin out of sight and in place appears a wet bar and a small fridge with snacks that are served on Royal Porcelain.

It’s birthday time. My birthday is October 14 and Jens’s birthday is November 7. My big Five-O was last year and Jens’s big Six-O is in just a few days from now. For over a year I’ve been pushing Jens to pick a holiday destination where we could celebrate his special day. We were this close to going on an International Policeman Association group tour to the Virgin Island. Old Danish territory – you know. But this big birthday bang for Jens will be taking place at the hospital. Lots of testing is going to be taking place and some sort of adjustment too. All went pretty well in the Canary Island but shortly after we came back it started to go down hill. At the moment, it’s going a bit rough for him.

Though my birthday included many exotic destinations, I only got as far as pushing packages to and from the planes. My feet never left the ground as I waved good-bye to all the passengers going to warm, windless places. I do, however, have the following 4 days off.

So instead of traveling to the Caribbean , Jens bought himself a different kind of travel for his birthday – A car! For my birthday he bought me a chauffeur uniform.

Just as a friendly reminder…..It’s never too late or too early to send birthday greetings in monetary form to either me and/or Jens to help pay for our new wheels or at least a tank of petrol. All major credit cards accepted as well as non-major credit cards, personal checks, third party checks, pension checks, tax return checks, food stamps, blue-chip stamps, your grandmother's jewelery and of course my all time favorite – wads of hard cold cash. Send to:

Pimp My Ride Foundation,

Gladiolusvej 4,

2300 Copenhagen – S,

Denmark

Attention: bicycle looser.

Bicycle Fun Fact: Jens counted the amount of work days in a year, multiplied it by the number of years that I work at the airport and my earlier post office job near the airport. He excluded the 4 winter months I took the bus when living on Vesterbrogade. Over the last 14 years, the amount of miles I rode add up to the length of the equator PLUS the distance from Copenhagen to Brussels. It’s no wonder I have sore knees and butt.

OK…. also this week is Halloween festival in Tivoli. I snapped a few pictures that I was able to squeeze out of my broken camera. And now I have to absolutely buy a new one.

The first 4 pix are all taken from the main entrance to Tivoli.
















































Just beyond the entrance is a small music stage that has been turned into a little shop. The 1950's circle design has been cleverly turned into a spider web.









Next is the make shift pumpkin patch and then just beyond that on the lawn in front of restaurant Nimb are the results from a pumpkin contest.



































Here are the 7 biggies.








And the winner is this huge pumpkin, weighing in at 275 kilos which is equal to 607 pounds.













This year Tivoli put on a big Halloween show on the main stage.


















Here in Tivoli they set up a lot of booths selling everything from Halloween spooky spiders to lunch and cocktails, hats and sweaters. The booths are all decorated very special and individually.















I think this one was my favorite.










A haunted windmill.






Bats and pumpkin-men in the beautiful golden autumn trees.








































I don't know where they keep it during the rest of the year but this ride is brought out only for Halloween and Christmas. It is standing where there is normally a beautiful water fountain.





















Here are a few shots from the stage show. It was really cute and sweet. Geared for children but fun for everyone.















Here is a video clip of the stage performance. The witches are for the Halloween event. Columbine and Harlequin are main stays of Tivoli who perform a special technique type of pantomime dance.







Tivoli has a real magical feel to it. The next pix has nothing to do with Halloween. I just had to add in this shot of the lakeside lamp.



Keep an eye on the lamp.
It's the small things that makes Tivoli special.



One of the sweet and charming restaurants framed in by the autumn leafs and the town hall tower. And another swirling lamp in the foreground.







Here again is a swirling lamp and the new wild Vertigo ride that opened this season.

God bless sweet Andy. He was hiding in the kitchen, whipping up a triple layer chocolate cream cake with crushed walnuts. Jens told Andy the story about a guy at work telling another guy at work that I was turning 54 years old and the guy believed him. That bummed me out so Andy decided to give me back a few years. I took these pix with my cell phone so they are not so clear but look what Andy did with the Five and the One.






Rich and creamy and I couldn't say no to a 3rd serving.








Friday after picking up the car we were supposed to go out to have my birthday dinner but I ended up feeling rather sick and put it off until the following day. Jens and Bounty have now already been on several park trips but our first big outing in our new "Pimp-mobile" was to this countryside inn on the banks of the Roskilde Fjorde. It's the building with the blue awnings. The site is in Danish but you can click onto the menu - it's in English too. I had number 17 and 2o and it was fannnnnntastic.

Fuufii and the IOC

What an exciting week this has turned out to be. It all started out last week when I was sent out to pick up a package from Lufthansa. I left my office just as the plane was about to land. Our office has moved to the other side of the airport so that means that we now drive under the runway every time we need to go to and from the airplanes and cargo office. It’s always exciting and amazing to see the planes land and take off. Anyway, here comes Lufthansa and I am thinking to myself – man! It’s a big plane today! As it gets closer and closer to the landing strip, I can see that it not a Lufthansa flight at all. It’s big, black and ugly, Oh my gosh! It’s an American Air Force flight.

That was last week. It popped in and then just a few hours later it took off again. I managed to snap a pix of it with my cell phone. It was parked just a few hundred feet from our office. I drove up to the plane and snapped the pix immediately and just 2 seconds after I clicked the pix, the airport security guard drove up and waved his finger at me– no pictures! I put the pedal to the metal and drove off. Here’s the pix:







That was late last week. Then I had to work the weekend. I kept reminding myself to remember to bring my real camera. And naturally I kept forgetting. So as it got closer to the day that Michelle Obama was to arrive, I had to make absolutely sure to pack my fancy camera in my backpack Tuesday night so that on a groggy Wednesday morning, I wouldn’t forget it. But first I had to re-charge the battery to make sure my camera wouldn’t poop out.

Wednesday morning I was all ready to go. Now all I needed was for the plane to park just meters from our office. That’s where Air Force One parked last time it was here when George Bush was in town. (see my Up Up and Away blog) I kept waiting for Michelle Obama’s flight to arrive. How was she even getting here, I was wondering. I waited and waited and waited and there was no sign of her. At 11ish I had to go pick up and deliver some packages. One of the packages was this.

It was the cutest dog I ever saw. And I have never seen a box like this where you could open the top and put your hand inside. This hole was just barely big enough for my hand to fit inside of it – that’s how small this dog was. It was so cute I ended up talking baby talk to it the entire way from airplane to cargo hall. I named it Fuufii.


On the way back from Gate B7, Fuufii and I noticed that Delta Airlines was pulling into gate C28. Delta arrives from DC and I thought – No, Michelle is not on a standard Delta flight – is she? Huh? Noooooooo. OK she wont be in Air Force One because Barack will be on it on Friday when he comes to the IOC meeting. Could it be that Michelle will be on AF1, dropped off and then AF1 will fly back to DC to pick up the prez? I just couldn’t believe that she would be on Delta. I didn’t know for sure and it didn’t matter now cuz Fuufii and I were getting hungry so back to the Cargo hall we went.

It was now 11:30 and time for lunch so back into the car and off to the canteen. On the way to the canteen I kept an eye out for AF1 or another big ugly Hercules flight. I’m ready to click and my finger is just itch’en to snap a photo but Michelle is nowhere to be seen. I get to the canteen and spoon up some all-you-can-eat slop. I decided to go up to the roof top patio and eat there.

Depending on the wind, you can sometimes see the flights land if you look to the right. You can see out over Oresound and over to Sweden if you look straight ahead. If you look to the left you look out over city streets, the motor way, the metro station, gas station, stupidmarket and McDonald’s as you look towards the city.

Click the photo to see the larger size. In the background you can see the bridge over the sound to Sweden. Our house is exactly half way between the church tower and the bridge. At the end of the bridge is the airport.

It was windy and I decided to sit on the side that had the least wind and also so that I could hopefully see Michelle land and snap a pix. Turns out I couldn’t see any flights at all. As I’m chowing down my lunch I hear yet another police siren. All week long there have been soooooo many sirens screaming this way and that. As I’m eating I’m thinking: oh great, just what the airport needs – another stupid siren. I pay no never mind and continue eating the regretful canteen food. But the siren keeps shirking so I do my best ET impersonation and rubber neck my attention towards the city. It’s only one siren so I know it’s not the first lady. But what do I see? All traffic is stopped. Well this can mean only one thing. So I stand up to get a better look and there goes several motorcycle cops and then a few black cars. Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god!!!!! I say to myself in an absolute panic. I’m up on the roof top eating lunch and there’s Michelle Obama driving by at almost arms length away from me. I grab my camera and frantically fumble with it trying to get the damn camera case open in a hurry before the motorcade zooms by. Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry up dod gammit!!! I’m pressing and I’m pressing and I’m pressing, pressing, pressing, pressing. Damn, son-of-a-bit………. What the hell is wrong with this camera!!!!!!!!!. And there goes Michelle….. without a single click from my 10.1 mega pixel Casio, zoom-lens camera. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!
Just writing this makes me want to cry. I was so close, I could almost reach out and touch her afro sheen hair. I grab my tray and pout all the way back down stairs with only a half eaten meal. I drive back to the cargo hall hoping that Fuufii will comfort me in my time of pain.

Michelle Obama arrived in this private presidential plane and it was parked in the middle of the airport. It would have taken a very special camera to get a good shot.




Little by little planes and cars of presidents, kings and queens, emperors and IOC delegates arrive over the next 2 days and I am trying to out run airport security to cell-phone-snap a picture of something that will hopefully sort of show up on this blog.


This plane belongs to IOC member Prince Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar.







I thought this plane belonged to someone special but it's just a charter plane. I had to snap it when I could and therefore I could not get the front half which is white. It was a pretty plane.







The following night there was a special performance for the IOC guest and honorary guest at the new opera house. Here you can see Michelle and Oprah.

Click here to see Michelle arrive to the opera house.
In the upper right hand corner you can click away the commercial film by clicking on the "AnnonceX" button.
Opera has this to say about Denmark and the weather.



OK - so any pictures of Air Force One landing is going to be out of the question unless I do it with my super old, falling apart cell phone. And so I did from Gate C42. Here under the control tower you can see AF1 landing.

as long as it's on-line, you can click here to see AF1 landing at CPH airport.
























This is as close as AF1 gets to C finger. It does come a bit closer to A finger but with my cheap-o camera, why bother?

I don't know how long these clips will be on-line but click here to see a brief chat between President Obama and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen.

Here, the Obama's meet the Danish royal family.


Today, the Obama's meet the royal family. They also make their brief appearance and strong push, doing their best to sell Chicago as the next hot spot to host the Olympics in 2016. But Chicago was surprisingly eliminated in the first preliminary round.
















Michelle was here for just 2½ days and Barack for just 5 hours.
The Obama's say good-bye.

On this plane King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia arrive from Spain. They lost their bid for hosting the games in Madrid- for the 3rd consecutive time.



On this plane, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama of Japan made his plea for Tokyo. With tons of money in the bank and just about everything already built - infrastructure and stadiums/sports centers - Japan freaked when they were dropped in the second round of voting.


Why so many people were surprised as to who was elected to host the games in 2016 was not at all a surprise to me as this was the chance to bring the games to a part of the world that has never experienced the Olympic movement and what the Olympic experience is all about.

Cry baby President Lula da Silva of Brasil was a mess when IOC president, Jacques Rogge flashed the card that read Rio de Janerio. He arrived on this plane.






Congratulations Rio!