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Continuing our tradition of finding romantic getaways, sans our wonderful and understanding ladies, Ron and I stumbled across the lovely Gaeta Italy, on our scenic drive from Rome to Naples. Gaeta is located about 80 km from Naples and similar to other Italian towns along the coast that we’ve visited, affords views of the sea and the mountains. Interestingly, we saw an American naval ship in the harbor, and it turns out, that there is a NATO base located in Gaeta. Continue reading

What could be more romantic than strolling the streets of Rome heading to a quaint dinner on Valentines Day? We’ll, doing so with a DATE would be a great start. Unfortunately, and no offense to my friend and colleague Ron, however, we once again found ourselves working far from home on yet another day where we may have preferred to be home with our loved ones.

But, always looking to make the best of it, Ron and I found our way to a nice Scottish pub, and a wonderful Argentinean restaurant. The food was great, and the pints were better. Despite being condemned to being each others Valentines day dates, we had an enjoyable evening, and took in the sites, including catching the Colosseum just as the sun slipped past the horizon. This made for an incredibly deep blue sky, as in the photo above.

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

I love my job. Sometimes, I love it even more. Today, I spent a good part of my day , as the title suggests, under Rome. As the Project Manager for Ansaldo STS USA on the Roma Line C project, I got the opportunity to do a site inspection today, which included a visit to the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). Without getting into too many technical details, the TBM is a huge machine that, as the name suggests, digs through the planned metro tunnel, removing the debris and placing the concrete reinforcements into the tunnel as it goes. It’s quite a feat of engineering, and was truly an interesting experience. Like I said, I love my job, sometimes, I love it even more.

I took the picture above after we exited the service vehicle, and walked along the catwalk towards the TBM.

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

Sixburgh! The venerable Pittsburgh Steelers win their Sixth Super Bowl! I, along with Lauren, Tom, and my Italian friend and colleague Angelo watched the game from the Panther Hollow Inn (see photo), which is strategically located in Pittsburgh between the campuses of the University of Pittsburgh, and Carnegie Mellon University. As some of you may know, I used to work at the PHI as the “door guy”, and even for a while as the world’s worst bartender… (Rum and Coke you say… what’s in that?).

As you might imagine, after the game the streets were flooded with festive fans, most of whom were celebrating in a responsible manner. Unfortunately, some were not. On the drive home, several routes were blocked due to couches and the like which had been drug out into the middle of the street and set ablaze.

While not a Pittsburgh native, I do enjoy the passion and enthusiasm that the people of Pittsburgh demonstrate in support of their teams… well, short of couch burning anyway.

Go Steelers!

- Michael Dogan