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Lauren and I headed back to Roanoke Virginia, to see Mommy and Daddy Dogan for the Easter holiday.  Saturday was a beautiful day, so we headed downtown and made a stop by the O Winston Link museum.  Winston Link was a famous American photographer, most known for his absolutely incredible black and white railroad photography.  In particular, he is famous for “The Norfolk & Western Project”, where he chronicled the N&W as the last major class I railroad in the United States to make the move from steam to diesel.  As a little nod to some of Mr. Link’s B&W RR photography, here is a picture of the RR tracks which actually run just behind the museum and right through downtown Roanoke.  If you are interested in either photography, or Railroading, I highly suggest checking out some of his work.  You can start your search at the link above, or repeated here to his museum. In recent years, Roanoke has shed its image as a “railroad town” as others have surpassed the railroad as the major employer. However, without the N&W, Roanoke might not have existed.

After the museum, the four of us headed around the old market area and went for a little walk.  We grabbed a “dog” at the “world famous” Roanoke Weiner Stand, which has been in business in the same building since 1910.  My dad actually worked across the street at the florist shop as a kid.  I enjoyed the hot dog… I’m not sure Lauren shared my enthusiasm.  We walked through the Roanoke Market building (pictured above right) before heading back to the house for dinner.

It’s nice to be home.

- Michael Dogan

Friday, our last full day in Italy, and of course, I have to work.  Lauren spent several hours wandering through the

old city and happened across this hidden treat.  As you can see, she’s getting to be quite the photographer too!

Before leaving Brescia and heading to Genoa, the site of my next meetings, Lauren and I took a small side trip to Lake Garda. WOW. What a beautiful place. We only spent a couple of hours in the town, and I was on the phone working for about half of the time, but we really enjoyed it. The lake is surrounded by beautiful snow capped mountains, and quaint little towns. We grabbed a nice lunch, and then made our way to Genoa.

Mountains, sailing, Italy…. what could be better?

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

Lauren and I spent most of the day near the Duomo in Milan. Just before sitting down for a nice lunch, we happened across a huge group of people gathered around and watching a clown entertain all of the kids. Armed with his roller skates, and without saying a word, he played a game of “Simon Says” with a group of kids, and then afterwards gathered them all around. At this point, I’m sure he said something, because all of their faces changed. Nervous excitement. Then suddenly he took off after one of them.

Like a lion singling a sole target from the herd, he skated after the screaming kid, the others scattering out of his way. As he caught each of the kids, he’d pick them up, and skate them back over to their parents. One kid, after witnessing his brother capture and upside-down skate back to his parents gave up and ran back to the safety of his family. The others didn’t give up so easily and put up quite the fight. One kid, perhaps trained by the Iraqi media, took off his shoe and threw it at the clown as he approached.

Looking at photos of this guy, my Mom commented that he looked like a former high powered business executive who finally had enough of the rat race, and now spends his days skating around with his red nose entertaining children.  I like to believe her little theory.  Maybe there’s a carefree future out there for all of us.  In the meantime… it’s back to work tomorrow, but it’s good to have Lauren here, and I’m sure she will enjoy exploring Milan until I’m finished working.

- Michael Dogan

I found myself in Naples on the day of the Scottish League Cup Final, and not a proper Irish or Scottish pub to be found. After scouring the internet, and interrogating a few locals, I determined that all neighborhood televisions would be tuned to the Napoli Reggina game and I’d be more likely to find a proper American cheeseburger than a pub tuned to Scottish football. I didn’t like the odds.

A quick visit to The North American Federation of Celtic Supporters Clubs website, which also has links to other supporters clubs worldwide, led me to Finnegan Irish Pub in Rome, home of the Celtic Supporters Club (CSC) known as “The Italian Bhoys”. Determined to watch the game, and even more determined to watch it surrounded by over zealous Scots dawning the infamous green hoops, I found my way to the train station in Naples, and headed off to Rome. Once there my trusty Blackberry Storm with built in maps guided me through the streets of Rome to the unassuming little Irish pub, tucked away in the center of the city.

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Well I spoke too soon.  So much for yesterday’s “beautiful day in the burgh”, as you can see from the photo, it’s raining like crazy here today.  We hopped in the car and just started driving. We ended up in Beaver County and enjoyed checking out the small towns along the way. We happened upon a park, and decided to take a gander. Less than a mile into the park, we found the bridge in the picture. I’ve seen too many videos of people trying to cross water like this, only to find themselves swept away by the current to try to cross it. We did get out of the car to take a look, snapped a few quick photos, and then got back to the car, and headed back to civilization. Not the most exciting of adventures, or road trips, but quite relaxing and enjoyable none the less. A day well spent.

Cheers,

- Michael Dogan

With the same blissful disorientation that David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel suffered while searching for the stage and enthusiastically proclaiming “Hello Cleveland!”, Lauren and I explored the streets of Cleveland to determine if in fact, as Drew Carey insists, “Cleveland Rocks”.  What better place to make this determination than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.  While the crew from Spinal Tap was nowhere to be found, we did find Continue reading

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