Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all.
May this year bring joy, love and luck to you.

Slow Earth

As I heard on radio, we all will be having some extra time for New Years Change. Since the earth for some reasons is turning more slowly than our atom-controlled watches, there will be kind of a Leap-time given to us next night. It wil be one second! A leap second! One whole second!!
Couldn't they announce that earlier this year? I mean, if I would have known about that extra time, I would have planned my whole year totally different!!

Besides that, this leap second will be given exactly at midnight. So, if you will be wishing a Happy New Year to your beloved at midnight, remember to take an extra breath to be right in time!!

Stuck

It was getting cold recently in Germland. Over here in the north it was about -7°C this morning at 6.00 a.m.. Not the best weather for a cyclist you may think, but I am not a fair-weather biker. So I took my gloves and my warm boots and was ready to lose some fingers or other extremities. But when I arrived at my office after 30 minutes, I even felt like...warm! How come that? Because it is a dry cold with no wind? Or was it simply because the gearshift of my bike was frozen and I was stuck in third gear all the time and had to pedal at very high frequency??
Yes..that was it..and it must have looked really funny!!!

Eyes

Some more fun note. This time about the colour of your eyes. And I must admit that I am satisfied with my brown eyes....

Black eyes

People with black eyes spend the shortest time in relationships except for the one with their current addiction. They always fall in love with anything that has two legs, a pulse.
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Blue Eyes

People with blue eyes last the longest in relationships. They are kind, pretty or handsome, very good kissers and are really hot. They always fall in love with their closest friends and never
understand why. They are very funny, outgoing and don't care what people think or say. They love to party.They are very satisfying and love to please. Are straight up WARRIORS((aka wolves)) when they need to be.They are bad to the bone.
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Green eyes

People with green eyes have the most passion put into relationships, honest and trust worthy, they have long lasting relationships. People with green eyes are also the most beautiful, are fun and outgoing, love to make people laugh, and random as ever. They long for the touch of another. They are very laid back. People with green eyes are very VERY sexy and very attracted
towards other people. LOVES to have fun. They are always up for a challenge. As a fire ball this person will always have you guessing. Yet they draw you in with their amazing personality. THE
BEST KISSER YOU WILL EVER MEET. You never want to let go of this person. Tend to cover up true feelings, get scared over relationships.
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Hazel Eyes

People with hazel eyes are very lovable. They are really hot and are awesome to be around. They enjoy 'pet names'. They don't care what people think or say. They are lovers not fighters. But if you mess around, they'll knock you out.They are real partiers.They are also the hottest of all. Very sexy people,and awesome kissers. They are very satisfying and they love to please. They can exceed your pleasure standards. They are very laid back, chilled and love to
just be around.
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BROWN EYES

Either sexy as hell or are adorable. Loves to make new friends. Their relationship tends to be very honest because if they aren't truly in love, then the relationship won't work. They fall easily
for their best friends. Will do anything for that special person. Kind and polite. Enjoys being with their guy/girl. LOVES to party. Can make ANYONE laugh or cheer them up. Loves to please the one they care for or love. The BEST ones at sex . Amazing Kisser.

Almost Famous

Finally again I found a film to watch, that leaves a good feeling in the end. It transports the spirit of the 70s in a charming way. Highly recommended for those born around 1960-1965.

The story:
San Diego, 1973: The 15-year-old William dreams to be a big rock critics one day - despite or perhaps because his mother scents only drugs and unrestrained sex behind this music . Then the shy teen gets an unexpected offer from the famous Rolling Stone magazine: He should be guiding the emerging band Stillwater on their "Almost Famous" tour. On that tour he experiences not only the life in the fast lane, but also the "Band Aid" Penny Lane, who, however, only has eyes for the charismatic guitarist Russell ...

The fourth, highly autobiographical film by "Jerry Maguire" director Cameron Crowe from the year 2000 is a tribute to his own youth and the beloved rock'n'roll. With a lot of heart, wit and detail, he draws an accurate portrait of the 70s and sets a dignified memorial to this big rock era.

The film is really charming, but for my taste a bit too long with nearly 2 hours. It is giving a look behind the scenes of the rock business of the 70s, about truth, loyalty, friendship and pretence. But in the end, the triple Happy-End was a bit too much ánd implausible for me.
However, I felt myself very well entertained and loved that trip back in time, back to the Rock-era. A consistent nostalgia trip not only for "flower children".

Deutsche Städte: Bochum

Kommt man von Norden angereist,
dann ist's zum Haareraufen:
Die Häuser grad wie hingescheißt
versammeln sich zum Haufen.

Noch teuflischer von Süden her.
Am Ortseingang zwei Straßen,
die sieht man an und kann nicht mehr.
Es ist schlicht nicht zu fassen.

Doch allseits macht dies Schreckensnest
den Reisenden beklommen:
Man darf ja auch von Ost und West
niemals nach Bochum kommen.

Thomas Gsella

MERRY CHRISTMAS

The Four Stages of Life

1. You believe in Santa Claus.

2. You don't believe in Santa Claus.

3. You are Santa Claus.

4. You look like Santa Claus.

Transsiberian

Well done Brad Anderson! Here is my recommendation for a movie that you should go and watch in a cinema.

Transsiberian is different to other movies. It takes a long time for the viewer to find out what this film could be all about. Watching th efirst third, you may think you are watching a romance drama. Then it turns into a classical railroad-psycho-thriller and in the end you are watching kind of an action movie with horror elements. The story is about Roy (Woody Harrelson) and Jessie (Emily Mortimer). They did some charity church work in China and now decided to take the Transsiberian Train from Bejing to Moscow. More than 9000 kilometres and 7 days on a train! They meet different people on the train and a young couple that obviously carries some secrets with them. The whole train seems to be full of secrets and mysterious characters and
besides wondering where the action of this film will be leading to, I was really fascinated by the way how nicely the actors draw those characters. Especially Emily Mortimer acted pretty well!! Another, oviously dark, charactere is the police-agent Ilya (Ben Kingsley). Until the last minute I was not able to find out on which side he stands...

This movie really took my attention from the first until the last minute. High tension and best entertainment without a lot of action and blood. It took until the last minute to get behind the mysteries of the story and its protagonists.

Watch it!!

What Your Birthday Says About You

I received the following and even though I had a good laugh at it, I was wondering when the birthday of some of my readers may be....heheee...brave enough to drop it in the comments??

What your Birthday month says about you?

JANUARY = SLUT. Fun to be with. Loves to try new things.

FEBRUARY = ATTITUDE. Abstract thoughts. Outgoing.

MARCH = FLIRTATIOUS. You've got the best personality and are an absolute pleasure to be around. You love to make new friends and be outgoing.

APRIL=PIMP. means that your really good looking. Stubborn and hard-hearted.

MAY = PORNSTAR. Suave and compromising. Funny and humorous.

JUNE = SEXY. Loves to chat. Loves those who love them.

JULY = HOTTIE. Outgoing personality. Takes risks. Feeds on attention. Hates studying. In need of that someone'.

AUGUST = THUG. You a straight up 'Gangsta'! Attractive personality. Very sexy!

SEPTEMBER = LOVER.Active and dynamic. Decisive and haste but tends to regret.

OCTOBER =PERFECT. Trustworthy and loyal. Very passionate and dangerous

NOVEMBER = FINE. Loyal and generous. Absolutely beautiful.

DECEMBER = FREAK IN BED

Things You Don't Want To Hear From Technical Support

Things You Don't Want To Hear From Technical Support:

• "Do you have a sledgehammer or a brick handy?"

• "That's right, not even McGyver could fix it."

• "So -- what are you wearing?"

• "We can fix this, but you're gonna need a butter knife, a roll of duct tape, and a car battery."

• "In layman's terms, we call that the Hindenburg Effect."

• "Hold on a second... Mom! Timmy's hitting me!"

• "Okay, turn to page 523 in your copy of Dianetics."

• "Please hold for Mr. Gates' attorney."

Deutsche Städte: Bielefeld

Vor vielen hundert Jahren schon,
da sprach ein Mann zu seinem Sohn:
"Ich hab das Leben, ach! so satt;
wohlan, wir gründen eine Stadt!"

Der Sohn war wie der Vater toll
vor Menschenhass und Lebensgroll
und sprach: "Sie soll auf Erden
ganz einzigartig werden!"

So bauten sie. Bald war vollbracht,
was Ekel, Zorn und Wut erdacht.
Und also kam auf diese Welt
der Teufel namens Bielefeld.

Thomas Gsella

Christmas market Bremen

Yesterday we went to the Christmas market in Bremen. It is said to be one of the nicest christmas markets in germany and it is attracting lots of toursits. And yes, I have heard so many different languages around that I felt as if abroad. The market is situated right in the heart of the centre of Bremen on the historical market square with the old town-hall and the cathedral around. Very scenic spot.
I was surprised to see not only the usual food and drink booths there but a lot of arts and crafts being sold as well. And those crafts were mostly handmade and not some imported "made by diligent childrens hands" bulk-ware. Means for me: nice to look at those crafts but unaffordable to buy.

Christmas markets don't seem to be very common in other countries and I wonder if you have something similar in your country?? Drop me a line, I am curious.
If you wann look at some (not too well taken...) photos, check out the few I have taken last night.

No Smoking - Update

4 weeks without smoking now and I noticed 4 things:

• My stomach pain did not appear anymore since 3 weeks.

• No coughing anymore.

• My appetite has increased and I added 3 pounds of weight.

• I never had any moment of weakness, means, during the last 4 weeks I never wanted to smoke a cigarette again.

I am really surprised that it is so easy to quit smoking and I wonder if it will remain like this. I still have a new and sealed package of tobacco here (that none of you wanted!) and I am curious if I will still have it here in 1 year.

Morrissey - Tour of Refusal

Some of you may know how much I like Morrisseys music. In the 80s it has been the music of the Smiths which was important to me and Morrissey does it even better on his own since many years. He has got such a powerfull presence and his music and lyrics can be whatever you want them to be for yourself.

The last concert I joined was in Hamburg in December 2006. Now he is back!!! There will be a new album release in February/Match 2009 followed by a world-tour "Tour of Refusal 2009" kicking off in Ireland in April.

And now for more good news for me: He will be playing 4 concerts in Germany too and one of them will be in ...tataaaaaaa....BREMEN on June 14th! Isn't that cool?? I am really happy. I received the announcement by e-mail yesterday and 5 minutes later I held the ticket in my hands!!
Only 6 months to go now....

The Day The Earth Stood Still

Beware of this movie. It wants to be a Drama, Science Fiction and Action movie in one. Good intention but it did not work out too well. The story however sounds interesting and I did not know that this movie was only a remake of the famous original from 1951.

Klaatu (Keanu Reeves) as the representative of an extraterrestrial race came to earth to find out if the human race could still find a way to avoid the increasing climate change on earth. When he saw that there was no hope left, he decided to save the earth as a very valueable planet and that nessesarily meant to destroy the human race. A female scientist (Jennifer Connelly) and her son are trying to convince him that the human race is not that bad and stupid as he may think.

As I said, the story sounds interesting but in this movie it is all going without any special tension. Keanu Reeves in his suit acted cool as if he was still caught in his "Matrix" role but this time could not give his role any credibility. The whole film is being directed as if the director had a good story book but did not have any idea of how to put it in scene. The action scenes however are pretty cool, but thats not enough for saving the film. In the end there is only the neat
advice to, please, be a little more thoughtful and nice to each other in the future.

I watched the first half with interest and the second half in boredom.

Bad Signs??

What is a bad sign for you? A black cat crossing your way (happens to me a several times each day), walking under a ladder, a broken mirror??? Or maybe something totally different? Or maybe you don't believe in all this stuff at all??

If so, you are like me. I generally don't believe in any superstitious things but I know that I have some friends out there who are superstitious in some ways. I have a person, very close to me, that is constantly talking like " don't do this, don't do that...it will bring bad luck to you".

So, why don't you tell me about your country and its typically superstitious stuff?? Or maybe you have some special experiences? Don't be shy, mail it to me...I am really curious about it!! I wanna know what superstition is all about and how serious you take it.
You don't need to publish it here as a comment but I would love to receive your emails to that topic. Thank you very much!!

Lost In Translation

Once again: Lost In Translation
I don't know how often I have watched this movie already. Tonight it was time again on TV and again "Lost In Translation" was fascinating me. Scarlett Johansson in her one and only good role and Bill Murray in one of his first movies beyond simple jokes and funny comedy movies.

A melancholic film about human beings being captured in the isolation of a foreign culture and language. Camera and actors both seemed to have the same idea of how this should be expressed. It all fits together very well.

To me this film is getting more and more interesting the more often I watch it. It makes me think about how you can feel lonely even if in a huge crowd. How you can feel lonely even if with so called friends. And that sometimes.....sometimes you just want to have some kind of a soul companion near you. Very near. To give warmth and harmony to each other. Not neccesarily more.
And that is what I like so much in this movie: Two people getting closer by and by, feeling well again and being like accomplices. Without the need of any physical attraction.

This time in the end I was sad: I did not want them to part and to get back to their normal life. I wanted them to continue that impossible dream.

Deutsche Städte: Bremen

Als hätt er meine einleitenden Worte über seinen München Text gelesen, legt der Herr Gsella gleich eine, höchstwahrscheinlich bayrische, Antwort nach:

Die Menschen sehen ängstlich aus.
Sie reden nicht, sie munkeln.
Sie gehen ungern aus dem Haus
und keinesfalls im Dunkeln.

Die Straßen wie bewegungslos,
die Luft wie aus Behältern.
Die Kinder sitzen regungslos
am Rande stummer Eltern.

Sie alle können Liebe nicht:
nicht geben und nicht nehmen.
Wär' Fortgang möglich, bliebe nicht
ein Bremerer in Bremen.

Thomas Gsella

Geocaching - Creativity

Today, I solved the last stage of a Multi-cache consisting of 6 stations + final. It was located in a wilderness that I did not expect there and I liked it especially because I was able to search for the waypoints without others passing by and watching me. The stations were all quite hard to reach. It had been raining hard over here during the past days and so the whole walk was a muddy and slippery adventure. Exactly what I like :-)

It was such a very idyllic place...I was able to watch ducks and swans and I heard them making noises that I have never heard before from ducks and swans. But that was not the only reason why I am posting this. The main reason was waypoint No. 6. In the cache listing it was written that I would meet Erwin here and if he wouldn't hide at that very moment, he would probably tell me where his treasure (cache+logbook) was hidden. When I reached that waypoint, I watched out for any box or container or toy...but all I saw was a duck, obviously made of plastic, swimming some 4-5 metres away from the shore on a lake. Could it be Erwin?? Yes..of course. All I had to find out now was how to get him towards the shore. I was sure that he was wearing the coordinates for the cache on him somewhere. And so it was. After 10-15 minutes of searching, I found a very thin but strong little piece of yarn which seemed to disappear somewhere in the water. I pulled and pulled it...and all over sudden Erwin began to swim towards me. The rest was simple: he had the coordinates for the cache box around his neck and it was only some more 150 metre until I found the large cache container and could sign the logbook.

With this post I just wanna point out one of the many creative caches. Not only a plastic box hidden somewhere. But here, the owner had some good ideas, found the perfect location for it and gave me some 2 hours of fun with solving this riddle.

Below you can see how I discovered Erwin. Can you spot him??? Doesn't he look like real???

Deutsche Städte: München

Also...mal ein Frage: kann man als Norddeutscher an folgenden, zugegeben extrem polemischen Zeilen vorbei lesen ohne auch nur ein wenig zu lächeln, ein Kopfnicken anzudeuten oder laut "so isses!!" zu rufen? Nein? Kann man nicht? Oh, dann bin ich ja beruhigt!!

Das fängt bereits im Bahnhof an
und fährt dir in die Knochen.
Kaum dass man es beschreiben kann:
Es riecht, nein: nicht erbrochen,

es riecht nach faulem Hering nicht
und nicht nach grünem Schinken,
es stinkt einfach. Es herrscht ganz schlicht
das pure, reine Stinken.

Die Menschen atmen durch den Mund,
und dürften sie sich lynchen:
Sie täten es, so schrecklich und
unfassbar stinkt's in München.

Thomas Gsella

Cookies

"Yes, yes...we can bake some cookies next week. I know how it works!" That's what I said to Jale one week ago. It was a bit of a lie. I know how to bake a cake but never prepared any cookies by myself. Ha-no big deal you may think, ask your wife! Funny but she knows even less about such things. Good that I have my mother nearby to ask her for some recipe and to get a slight idea of what this cookie-baking-thing is about...approximately!
To say it short: it ended without any heavy injuries, and the mess in our kitchen was not too bad. We are still all alive! The cookies were delicious but in the end looked not half as nice as the ones that you see in the cookery books. That is why I won't post any photo of the results but only of the beginning of our cookie experience!!
Wanna try one??? Drop me your address.....

RAW!!!

someone seems to enjoy...

another one a bit suspicious???

Gmail Space

Did anyone ever wonder where Google gets all that memory space from? I mean, Gmail provides more than 7 GB of storage space for every mailbox, Picasa, Blogger, docs + spreadsheets, Reader...and not to forget YouTube with unlimited (?) storage.
I have read an article today about how the huge storage space that Google provides for its users and now I know exactly where all that memory space comes from:
There must be a built-in HDD....somewhere....

Kündigung

Sehr geehrter Herr....

die derzeitige wirtschaftliche Lage veranlasst uns...blabla...blabla...blablabla....blaundblaundblupp.
Wir kündigen Ihnen daher betriebsbedingt das bestehende Arbeitsverhältnis fristgerecht zum 30.06.209.

Ohje, ohje...am 27.11.2008 war es dann soweit das ich dieses Schreiben bekam. Naja, so ähnlich zumindest. Natürlich haben wir es tausendmal vorher besprochen und es war ja keine Überraschung, deshalb fühlte ich mich nach der Entgegennhame dieses Schriebs recht entspannt, und sogar ein wenig frei und in Aufbruchstimmung.
Ob der Aufbruch denn stattfinden wird und, wenn ja, wie und wohin er führen wird, das bleibt natürlich äußerst fragwürdig.
Aber aller Trauer zum Trotz: Dieser Tag war geil!

Three Men on a Hike

Seems as if you all like those discriminatory jokes on men!! So, attention women, here comes another one! But hey, why do I never receive those kinda jokes about women???


Three Men on a Hike

Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, violent river. Needing to get to the other side, the first man prayed : 'God, please give me the strength to cross the river.'
Poof! ... God gave him big arms and strong legs and he was able to swim across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice.

After witnessing that, the second man prayed : 'God, please give me strength and the tools to cross the river.'
Poof! .... God gave him a rowboat and strong arms and strong legs and he was able to row across in about an hour after almost capsizing once.

Seeing what happened to the first two men, the third man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength, the tools and the intelligence to cross the river.'
Poof! .... He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, hiked one hundred yards up stream and walked across the bridge

I will miss those views

On my way to work this morning by bike, I had another chance to watch a breathtaking sunrise. Today it looked as if the skinny branches of the tress have just been burned. I cannot get enough of those views, they always make me stop for a while and stare in awe at this outstanding performance of nature.
In about half a year my work will change and I will not go this way anymore. I hope that I won't have to go by public transportation then, cause I will miss those views over here.

No smoking - update

One week now since I had the idea to quit smoking. And I did it. Very unspectatcular so far. No substitue drugs such as candy or chocolate, no nervousness, did not add weight so far...I must admit that I did not even think about smoking at all. Looks as if it is quite easy to quit smoking for me.
I still have a closed and sealed package of tobacco in my bag. So, if anyone needs it, drop me your address and I will send it to you!

Snow

When I got up this morning, I could hardly believe what I saw: 15 cm of snow!! Wow!
It was said to be snowing but usually over here it all melts away again pretty fast. It is a long time since we had that much snow and we really enjoyed it. I hope that it will last this time for at least a week or so!
Took some photos, if you are interested, you can find them here.

No Smoking

Lately Jale has drawn a little picture for me, cuz she is afraid that I may get seriously ill from smoking:

This morning on bike I had a similar idea. So, should I really stop smoking?? Hmmm...
I will keep you informed...

More fun with Windows OS

Firefox Popup

Some of you still don't use Mozillas Firefox browser? I do! But I am using a pop-up blocker....

Happy Men??

This day really isn't my day! In the morning when I drove to work by bike, it was still dark. I don't really care for darkness, I even like it for some reason. But these days it is not just dark, it is raining a bit and there is a strong wind. Usually that should wake me up, but it does not. The whole day is like wrapped into a fluffy grey piece of cotton...I feel as if I am sleeping the whole day.
Since I know that there are some female readers here (one of them forwarded this little piece to me -THANKS), all I can offer today is a little fun about men in general:

WHY MEN ARE NEVER DEPRESSED:

Men Are Just Happier People-- What do you expect from such simple creatures? Your last name stays put. The garage is all yours. Wedding plans take care of themselves. Chocolate is just another snack. You can be President. You can never be pregnant. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park. You can wear NO shirt to a water park. Car mechanics tell you the truth. The world is your urinal. You never have to drive to another gas station restroom because this one is just too icky. You don't have to stop and thin k of which way to turn a nut on a bolt. Same work, more pay. Wrinkles add character. Wedding dress $5000. Tux rental-$100. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. New shoes don't cut, blister, or mangle your feet. One mood all the time.

Phone conversations are over in 30 seconds flat. You know stuff about tanks. A five-day vacation requires only one suitcase. You can open all your own jars. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness. If someone forgets to invite you, he or she can still be your friend.

Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack. Three pairs of shoes are more than enough. You almost never have strap problems in public. You are unable to see wrinkles in your clothes. Everything on your face stays its original color. The same hairstyle lasts for years, maybe decades. You only have to shave your face and neck.

You can play with toys all your life. One wallet and one pair of shoes -- one color for all seasons. You can wear shorts no matter how your legs look. You can 'do' your nails with a pocket knife. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.

You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.

No wonder men are happier.

Jale at school

It is 12 weeks now since Jales school enrolment and yesterday was our first date for a talk with Jales teachers at school.
Some of you may remember our doubts in summer if we should really send Jale to school already. We were in doubt especially because all the experts (kindergarten, therapists) advised us not to send her to school but to kind of a pre-school kindergarten for a year.
In the year Julia and me made our decision against all the experts advises and sent Jale to school.

Yesterday we talked to Jales maths teacher, to her class teacher and to an educationalist. They all were surprised of how good, motivated and dilligent Jale is at school. From her cognitive abilities there is nearly no difference between her and other pupils her age. She still has some lacks...many kids that age still have that. And she is getting additional support lessons at school.

But generally, Julia and me have been very proud to have made our decision and did not listen to others. The educationalist even gave in that she also was wrong with her first judgement about Jale in August 2008. YYYYYYYEESSSSSS!!!

Gorbi and Obi

In Germany we have the BRAVO which is the leading magazine for teenagers, juveniles and those who believe that they belong to the very young generation still.

Now, BRAVO dedicated and published a poster of Barack Obama and I think he is the first politician who now has the official status of a popstar. Oh no...there has been another political popstar earlier on. It was the former soviet president Michail Gorbatschov. People inside Russia hated him, but western countries admired him and even gave him the cute nickname "Gorbi".
Which leads me to the question: Will OBAMA soon be called OBI??

(As an explanation to anyone from outside germany: If so, we would finally show the german sense of humour. OBI in germany simply is a hardware store/building center with shops all over germany...and they have an orange beaver in their emblem for corporate identity!)

Proclamation

In recognition to the election results last week, I am removing the United States of America for an indefinite period from the list of rogue states.
With this step I am paying my respect to the U.S. which have signaled their goodwill towards the international community.

Mugs and Money, reloaded

Maybe some of you will remember a post on this blog where I was writing about my collection of mugs and how I am using foreign money.
I know that it is nothing special if someone collects mugs and I know that there are people who collect money (yes, yes...Dagobert Duck is only one of them)!
I had visitors here in my home who brought me a mug as a present and I was soooo happy about that.
But I never ever expected someone to be so smart and bring those both of my hobbies together in a very charming way. Today I received a package...a lovely package, well packed and stuffed with love, and candy and chocolate and mugs!!!! It was absolutely lovely and would be enough for the next 3 christmas celebrations.

But top of all was a mug with a 100 estonian crown (EEK) on it! Perfect combination...you are the best, Triina...thanks a milion!!!
For all those who have never heard of the currency of estonian crown (EEK), here is an information about my cool mug and especially about the 100 EEK banknote:

On top of the 100 EEK is a portrait of the Estonian poet Lydia Koidula (born as: Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen, 1843-1886). Lydia Koidula wrote patriotic lyrics as well as poems about the beauty of nature.
100 EEK = 100 Krooni = about € 6,60 today
The 100 EEK banknote is said to be even more safe and uncopyable than the Euro!!! So, if you wanna own this safe currency, hurry up! Estonia will probably switch over to the Euro soon...but not before 2010

Deutsche Bahn

Wenn ich schonmal wieder anfange hier was zu schreiben, dann auch gleich weiter mit etwas was mir gehörig aufstösst:

Was ist denn nur mit unserer Deutschen Bahn los?? Da werden laufend irgendwelche Kinder aus Zügen geworfen, weil sie keine gültigigen Ticket dabei haben. 12,13 und 14 jährige die dann irgendwie sehen müssen wie sie nach Hause kommen. Kann doch wohl nicht wahr sein!!! Was sind das für stumpfsinnige Kontrolleure die scheinbar überhaupt kein eigenes Denken mehr entwickeln??
Tja, wenn man das Geld für die Ausbildung der Zugbegleiter lieber in den Börsengang steckt kommt sowas wahrscheinlich zwangsläufig.

Das erinnert mich unter anderem auch an den Lokführer Streik 2006. Als die Lokführer endlich ihren Tarifabschluß hatten, hat Mehdorn gleich nachgelegt, das die Kunden diesen Tarifabschluß in Zukunft teuer bezahlen müsste. Das ist sowas von absurd...Mehdorn legt die Eier, wir müssen sie ausbrüten und er gackert dazu.
Schlimm!

Lazyness??

Lately I have been pretty lazy with my postings here. Not that I stopped thinking and/or living. Not that there isn't anything to mention about my life. Lots of things, good and bad, are going on and taking a lot of my attention.

I should mention that I will be unemployed by June 30th, 2009. I should write about the overwhelming friendlyness that I received from my far away friends during the last weeks. Maybe someone would even be interested in my review of the new James Bond film or the latest audio books I listened to. The daily weather report could also be of interest.
Maybe at least I should drop an excuse for being lazy?

Yes, yes...I could write about all that. But this photo says it all.

neuer Computer

Also, nach Allem was ich so gehört hab, sollte ich mich vielleicht doch von meinem alten Rechner trennen:


es soll da ja schon was Besseres geben. Nur, wo krieg ich soviel D-Mark her???

Geocaching - Unnötige Caches??

In verschiedenen Podcasts wurde darüber gesprochen und in Blogs und Foren wird darüber diskutiert: Caches die sinnlos sind.

Ich selbst habe am Sonntag 3 solcher vermeintlich sinnlosen Caches gemacht und ich fand nichts Anrüchiges dabei. Wir waren am Sonntag nämlich zu einem ausgedehnten Spaziergang in einem schönen Waldgebiet. Die Anfahrt dahin sind etwa 10 Kilometer. Auf dem Weg dahin und auf dem Rückweg haben wir jeweils einen Autobahn-Parkplatz-Cache gemacht. Der dritte Cache - die Filmdose als Tradi im Wald wird wohl ewig polarisieren, aber ich zumindest wurde nicht gezwungen diese Dose zu machen. Ich hätte sie auch einfach ignorieren können und denen überlassen, die daran Spaß haben. In diesem Waldgebiet liegen übrigens schon tolle Multis und Mysteries, es ist dort also für alles Mögliche Platz. Anders würde es sich natürlich verhalten wenn eine lieblos in den Wald geworfene Tradi-Filmdose das Legen eines schönen Multis verhindern würde. Trotzdem - jeder soll seine Meinung kundtun aber generell finde ich eine Vorverurteilung von 1/1ern nicht gut.

Direkt vor meiner Haustür (350m Luftlinie) zum Beispiel liegt ein 1/1 Filmdose auf dem Gelände eines Baumarktes. Den werde ich wohl nicht machen weil ich persönlich darin keinen Sinn sehe. Auswärtige auf Cachetour werden sich aber vielleicht über diese Dose freuen, zumal sie zumindest eine ausreichende Parkmöglichkeit vorhält.
Jeder soll sich einfach das raussuchen was er machen möchte, und nicht den Oberlehrer geben der meint das nur seine Ansprüche die einzig richtigen sind.

Welcome to China

The Firefox browser is a nice toy. Right now I found a funny add-on called "China-Channel". Once you activate it, it will connect you to the internet via a chinese proxy-server. Means that you are surfing the web like someone from China, with all its blocked and censored sites.

Interesting for me because I have read so much about the censorship in China but could hardly believe that something like that nowadays can still exist. My chinese friends though told me that it is true and now I made the experience myself:

My blogsite - not displaying any embedded Gadgets and YouTube videos!
Google Maps - not working at all
Flickr/Picasa - sites are loading but not displaying any images (haha...very smart for image hosting sites!!)
spiegel online (german newschannel) - not loading
and... and... and... and...

Funny for me cause I can leave this mess with a click at a button.
Sad for those who have to get along with this censorship every day!

Moses Technik

Schaut mal hier:

ist es nicht erstaunlich das eine Firma im Badischen endlich Moses' Techniken umgesetzt hat??

Nutella Boys

Ich geb es ja zu: so ganz viel Ahnung vom Fussball hab ich nicht. Besonders unsere Nationalmannschaft ist mir ziemlich wurscht und ich stehe immer noch dazu das ich diese Jungs mal verglichen habe mit einer Gruppe Staubsaugervertreter auf Urlaub.

Aber was haben denn die Ballackse und die Fringse auf einmal?? Fühlen sich ungerecht behandelt? Warum denn?? Weiß scheinbar keiner...außer den überall verbreiteten Statements der Balltreter konnte bisher jedenfalls niemand mit Details aushelfen. Vielleicht sind die Herren ja einfach nur ein wenig sensibel. Wäre ja auch verständlich, viele Künstler sind ja hypersensibel.

Trainer Löw verteidigt sein jetziges "Leistungsprinzip" und ich frage mich, welches Prinzip denn wohl vorher gegolten hat??
Ballack würde ich empfehlen schnell zurückzurudern und klein beizugeben, denn er will ja bestimmt noch öfter im Rampenlicht stehen und den Dicken markieren. Glaubwürdigkeit kann er eh nicht mehr verlieren, denn mal ehrlich: so richtig ernst hat den Michi doch nie einer genommen, oder?

Frings hab ich immer als eine ehrliche Haut, einen "Fussball Arbeiter" gesehen. Deshalb gibt's für ihn selbstverständlich nur eins: Scheiß auf die Nationalmannschaft! Häng Dich bei Werder richtig rein und genieße den Erfolg und die dann möglichen hämischen Blicke auf die unsensiblen Jasager der Nationalmannschaft!

Kollegen Löw wäre auch ein wenig mehr Intuition und Genialität zu wünschen. Für mich sieht es immer so aus als wenn er ein Spiel nicht "lesen" sondern nur verwalten kann. Und dann muss er natürlich noch höllisch aufpassen das er seinen Stars genügend Aufmerksamkeit zukommen lässt, damit den Sensibelchen nicht vielleicht vor Schreck der Ball verspringt - aber wie gesagt: von Fussball hab ich nicht wirklich Ahnung!

Freimarktsumzug Bremen

Here is a recording from our visit at the parade for the Bremen Freimarkt. There were more than 130 participating groups, bands and parade floats and approximately 200.000 spectators watching this huge parade in the streets of Bremen.

My video is of pretty poor quality after the Youtube converter did its work. If you wanna look at it in good quality, you should go here and chose "best quality" for the player.

Autumn....everyone's favourite

Wow...so many of you like autumn really?
Good...I love it too still and yesterday has been one of the sunny and friendly days...as if taken from a picture book. Took some pics on my way to and from work.
Enjoy your day wherever you are!

Freimarkt Bremen 2008

Ischa Freimaak...that`s how the people in Bremen usually welcome their "5th season" the Bremer "Freimarkt"

And as usually, we took an evening off to enjoy this huge fun fair.
Not much to tell about it. A lot of eating, laughing, looking around and trying some roundabouts.
This year Jale refused to ride a "kids roundabout". She is old enough now to try something more "dangerous", some caroussels for adults! We decided that a "chairoplane" (very fast and pretty high!!) and the big wheel should do for this year. Next year we will have a try at some even more dangerous things ;-)

Der (vermeintliche) Links Ruck

Ich weiss nicht mehr genau wer es war, aber irgendein schlauer Kopf hat mal sinngemäß gesagt: "der Kapitalismus wird sich irgendwann selbst richten und zum Kommunismus konvertieren"...bzw. die verschiedenen Gesellschaftsformen werden sich immer mehr vermischen.

Zugegeben, klingt ein wenig reißerisch und auch naiv, aber irgendwie reizvoll. Aktuell ist es lustig anzusehen wie im Zuge der Bankenkrise die Banker (und somit wohl auch ein Grossteil der Wirtschaft) erneutgespannt darauf warten einen Antrag auf das Geld des Volkes stellen zu können, was dann ja auch im Zuge eines "Rettungsprogrammes" der Regierung großzügig fließen wird. Sowas nennt man dann doch wohl zumindest teilweise Verstaatlichung.

Das die Deutsche Bank Vorstände auf Ihre diesjährigen Boni i.H.v. etwa € 35-40 Millionen verzichten ist bei dem Hintergrund sicher nicht als übermäßig sozial zu sehen. Da ist es wohl eher die Angst das die Politik zuviel Einfluss auf die Geschäfte der Bank (v)erlangen könnte. Das ist gut so und nichts anderes sollte man von einem Laden wie "Deutsche Bank" erwarten.

Lustig ist auch, das diese Art der schleichenden Verstaatlichung ausgerechnet von einer CDU geführten Regierung initiiert wird. Mal sehen, wie weit sich diese Einflussnahme des Staates (Volkes) noch auf andere Branchen übertragen wird...

Meyer Werft

Am Samstag haben wir die Meyer-Werft in Papenburg besichtigt und es war, wie erwartet, beeindruckend. Durch die mittlerweile verlängerte "große" Halle hat Meyer nun das größte überdachte Trockendock Europas. Mit Superlativen wurde hier nicht gegeizt und mit jedem Meter den wir hier im Besucherzentrum (übrigens nagelneu, 2007 eingeweiht) zurücklegten wird einem die Größenordnung mit der hier gebaut wird bewusst. Die "Aida" Kreuzfahrtschiffe die Meyer mittlerweile im Jahrestakt raushaut sind da schon eher die kleineren Schiffe die in der kleinen Halle gebaut werden.

Möglich ist der Bau solcher Pötte in Papenburg natürlich nur weil es das Emssperrwerk in Gandersum gibt. Gäbe es nicht die Möglichkeit die Ems zu den Schiffsüberführungen aufzustauen, würde selbst bei Springtide kein Schiff dieser Größenordnungen genug Wasser unter den Kiel bekommen um die Ems bis zum Dollart passieren zu können.

Und das ist genau der Beigeschmack der bleibt bei aller Faszination "Schiffbau". Sind solche massiven Eingrife in die Natur wirklich gerechtfertigt? Müssen Schiffe dieser Größenordnung wirklich im Binnenland gebaut werden? Mir fehlen die Kenntnisse um so etwas beurteilen zu können. Meyer beschäftigt selbst 2500 Mitarbeitern aus der Region und spätestens bei solchen Zahlen wird selbst mir der Stellenwert der Werft für diese ansonsten recht schwache Region bewusst.

Wir hatten vor der Werftbesichtigung einen Spaziergang entlang der alten Seeschleuse gemacht. Letztlich fand ich den Blick auf die grünen Wiesen, auf die vielen ungestört lebenden Tiere und den langsam sich dahinschlängelnden Fluss schöner als den Blick auf die massigen Hallen der Meyer-Werft. Vielleicht geht ja alles gut....

Classes for Men

got this one from Carla...and had a good laugh! Thanks Carla!

CLASSES FOR MEN

Note: Due to the complexity and difficulty level of their contents, each course will accept a maximum of 8 participants each.

Topic 1 - How to fill up the ice cube trays. Step by step, with slide presentation.

Topic 2 - The toilet paper roll: Do they grow on the holders? Roundtable discussion.

Topic 3 - How to fight cerebral atrophy: Remembering birthdays, anniversaries, other important dates and calling when you're going to be late. Cerebral shock therapy sessions and full lobotomies offered.

Topic 4 - Fundamental differences between the laundry hamper and the floor. Pictures and explanatory graphics.

Topic 5 - The after-dinner dishes and silverware: Can they levitate and fly into the kitchen sink? Examples on video.

Topic 6 - Loss of identity: Losing the remote to your significant other. Helpline support and support groups.

Topic 7 - Learning how to find things, starting with looking in the right place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming. Open forum.

Topic 8 - Health watch: Bringing her flowers is not harmful to your health. Graphics and audio tape.

Topic 9 - Real men ask for directions when lost. Real life estimonials.

Topic 10 - Is it genetically impossible to sit quietly as she parallel parks? Driving simulation.

Topic 11 - Learning to live: Basic differences between your mother and your wife. Online class and role playing.

Topic 12 - How to be the ideal shopping companion. Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques.

Upon completion of the course, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

Drachenläufer

Das Buch Drachenläufer von Khaled Hosseini habe ich schon lange auf meiner Liste der dringend zu lesenden Bücher. Da unsere Bücherei nach einem Brand wohl noch einige Monate geschlossen sein wird, und ich mir das Buch nicht kaufen möchte, habe ich mir gestern den Film angesehen der ja sehr eng an den Roman von Khaled Hosseini angelegt sein soll.

Zur Geschichte:

Im afghanischen Kabul, 1975, lebt der 12 jährige Amir, dessen Mutter bei seiner Geburt starb, mit seinem Vater, Baba. Sie genießen großes Ansehen und leben zusammen mit ihrem Hausdiener Ali und dessen Sohn Hassan. Obwohl Standesunterschiede in Afghanistan groß sind und auch gezeigt werden sind die beiden Väter Freunde. Ali wiederum hat einen Sohn, Hassan, und der ist der beste Freund Amirs.

Irgendwann beim spektakulären Drachenfest verspricht Hassan Amir den letzten noch verbleibenden Drachen zu holen um ihm somit den Sieg zu holen. Hassan ist Amirs Drachenläufer. Doch er kehrt nicht zurück, auch nach langem Warten nicht. Schliesslich macht sich Amir auf und findet Hassan der von anderen geschlagen und misshandelt wird. Amir sieht dem zu und bringt nicht den Mut auf seinem Freund zu helfen.

Hassan und Amir Freundschaft hat einen Knacks bekommen doch keiner erwähnt es dirtekt. Die Situation wird immer unerträglicher, bis Amir sich keinen anderen Weg weiß als seinen Freund Hassan zu verraten um ihn loszuwerden. Er bezichtigt ihn des Diebstahls und Ali und Hassan ziehen fort.

Fast 30 Jahre später erhält Amir, mittlerweile in Amerika lebend, einen Brief eines alten Freundes seines Vaters. Darin findet er ein Foto von Hassan und er wird aufgefordert endlich in die Heimat Afghanistan zurück zu kehren...es gibt etwas zu klären...

Ich will nicht zuviel vorweg nehmen, aber es wird sogar im Film eindrücklich gezeigt wie sehr man ein schlechtes Gewissen, ein Schuldgefühl ein Leben lang mit sich schleppen kann. Und das es wohl nie zu spät ist einen Fehler wieder gut zu machen oder es zumindest mit aller Kraft zu versuchen.
Werte wie Freundschaft, Vertrauen und der Mut dazu zu stehen sind die Botschaft des Filmes, der mit über 2 Stunden Laufzeit recht lang geraten ist aber keineswegs langweilig.

Da ich bereits verschiedene Kritiken zu dem Buch gelesen habe, würde ich auf jeden Fall empfehlen erst das Buch zu lesen, da mir in dem Film doch einige Fragen und Gedanken zu sehr vernachlässigt werden bzw. unbeantwortet bleiben.

The Old Testament

During the last week, Jale discovered her curiousity about God, church and especially The Old Testament...the beginning of it all. She has a special childrens bible and a childrens DVD telling different stories from the Old Testament. Jale is really fascinated, she loves it, surprises us with things of the OT that we did not even know. I read some chapters with her and not Jale but Julia asked me a question afterwards that I could not answer.

The kids bible describes the beginning. How God created the world, how he created Adam + Eve and the Garden of Eden. In the second chapter the story of Kain + Abel is being told like this: Kain + Abel were the only kids of Adam + Eve
If those 2 boys were the only kids, how could they keep the population up and rising? The kids bible is not telling everything and not chronological...so I guess there must be some chapter(s) in between explaining our question.

I know that there are some smart followers of my blog who will now have a good laugh about my ignorance, but hey, stop laughing, and tell me what happened...please!!

The satellites are back!

Lately I found my 300th geocache, you probably read about it here.
After that cache, my GPS unit broke down! As if it was made to find not more than 300 caches!
Actually, I was able to switch it on but it did not find any satellite...not even after 30 minutes on bike. That was really sad because autumn and winter are high times for me to go geocaching (vegetation is downward and not so many people out in nature anymore due to lower temperatures) and right now I could not afford to buy a new GPS unit.

I wasn't even sure if the GPS was broken or damaged or if maybe every satellite around our earth has given up working ;-)
My smart sister said that it happened to her GPS before and I should not worry. After a while without batteries, the GPS will happily play with me again. And, as usual, she was right. Today I tried again and switched it on and...tataaaaaaaa....it detected some satellites. Slowly first but then it was back to an exactness of about 6 metres.

Was Someone Watching Me??

Dark, dark, dark...that`s how the sky has been the last days. It was the same this morning but funny enough, I had one hole in the clouds accompanying me for half an hour. Those holes are nothing special...clouds use to change with every second of course. But this one did not. It remained like that and did not change for half an hour...it even made me stop and take a pic of it.
Funny, as if someone was watching me...

Caught In The Right Moment

Today I want to share some more Optical Illusions with you. They are again from the very great Mighty Optical Illusions website and you should definately check that site out.

For those of you who don't want to visit MOI, here are some example illustrations of the "Caught In The Right Moment" series.

Summer? Autumn?

I am always fascinated by the change of seasons. Especially the change from summer to autumn. We still don't want to accept that the bright and warm days are over, but autumn is making its way and it is coming colourfull. Chestnuts and the first leaves are covering the ground while the leaves on the trees are changing their colours. Not like in decay but colourfull. If you keep your eyes open, going by bicycle now is like watching a cheerful theatre play.

This is how it looks in our local park now...
to be continued...

Der Baader-Meinhof Komplex

Schwer, sehr schwer zu diesem Film zu sagen das er mir gefallen hat. Nicht weil er schwach produziert wurde - die Visualisierung ist in diesem Film eher zweitrangig. Nicht weil ich gewisse Sympathien für grundlegende Gedanken habe - political correctness ist mir scheissegal. Aber diese Menschenverachtung die diese Spinner der RAF da an den Tag legten ist wirklich kaputt.

Der Film bringt das Ganze in seiner Entwicklung allerdings ganz gut. Angefangen mit den Studenten Protesten zum Schah Besuch in Deutschland über die Ermordung von Benno Ohnesorge und die Agit Szene um Rudi Dutschke. Irgendwie schien die studentische Szene damals einfach intellektuell viel weiter gewesen zu sein als die vergreisten Politiker.
Für mich nachzuvollziehen ist ein daraus entstehender Anarchismus. Ein Abdriften in einen extremen Terrorismus, ohne Maß, der sich auch gegen die richtet die doch eigentlich die Begünstigten einer Revolution sein sollten, ist ein Terror der wohl kaum noch zielgerichtet war sondern vielmehr ein übergroßes Ego selbstbefriedigen wollte.

Ich habe Anfang der 1990er die Dokumentation von Stefan Aust gesehen und fand sie hervorragend. Dasselbe Material wurde sicherlich hier verwendet (wie auch im Abspann erwähnt) um das Ganze als Spielfilm auszupeppen. Glaubwürdiger, genauso intensiv und, logo, authentischer fand ich die Doku auf jeden Fall.

Trotz aller Kritik muss ich aber zugeben das der Film hier nichts verherrlicht. Hier werden Terroristen nicht als brutale aber doch irgendwie menschen- und freiheitsliebende Zeitgenossen verklärt. Eine Verbrüderung im Geiste findet nicht statt. Dafür muss man dem Regisseur Bernd Eichinger gratulieren...er hat kaum etwas hinein interpretiert und das ist bei dieser Gratwanderung zwischen Massenproduktion und kritischem Umgang mit dem heiklen Thema sicher nicht leicht gewesen.

Manu Chao + Radio Bemba Soundsystem - Babylonia En Guagua

Internationally renowned singer Manu Chao follows up his best-selling live album Radio Bemba Soundsystem with this release of a live 2002 performance originally staged at the Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris.
I have always loved Manu Chaos music, because of the combination of all different kind of styles, preferably Reggae, Ska, Salsa, Rumba and even Polka(!!!). This groovy mixture goes perfectly together with lyrics that are really ambitioned and go deep. They are his own, subjective thoughts and views about the world of today. Global warming, racism, independence, freedom... The quote "politic kills" is a fine statement, and by and by I believe myself that it is oh so true! Besides that quote, another quote "Welcome to Tijuana - Tequilla, Sex & Marihuana" may also be true and shows you how good all this interests can go together.

The concert is the most intense, positive and party-alike concert I have ever seen. Manu Chao at his best, full of spontaneity and craziness, with passion and ingenuity, musically improvising instead of a perfectly rehearsed show. And he is accompanied by an even more crazy band. This positive insanity infects the audience in a wild and powerful way
And even if Manu Chao is an ambitious singer, he never acts like a teacher who wants to tell us the one and only truth about alternative living. At his concerts, it is pure party.
His band "Radio Bembo Soundsystem" is pure energy and sometimes I wondered where they get all the power from. There are 3 percussionists, 2 guitars, keyboards, bass, accordion, trombone, trumpet and 2 more performers on stage and it seems as if they are having the time of their life while performing. Besides the fun they are spreading, the are performing pretty good. Especially the trumpet player blows his trumpet as if there won't be a tomorrow.

So, if you are interested in latin, speed-up, party music and if you wanna know about one of my favorite performers since years, listen to Manu Chao Live...if you don't, you will be missing an important concert in life. Not too many like this to be found.

Matthew Reilly - Ice Station

Oh no...it began so entertaining but after 4 CDs I already lost interest and now at CD6 I cannot stand it anymore and deleted it from my iPod. I was listening to this audiobook and I must say that it was pure entertainment first. Some would call it trash or trivial literature and maybe it is.
Reilly writes in a good style, in short sentences, and he is constantly producing speed with his style. You could compare it with a film director who wants to produce speed and tension by cutting a film into a lot of fast and short cuts.

The story of the "Ice Station" however is fascinating, playing in a research station in the Antarctic Ice. Something has been discovered there. Looks like a spaceship and while trying to find out about it, a lot of scientists and divers die. All over sudden, not only US Marines but also french scientists and special forces as well as british forces appear at "Ice Station"....that is where the fast and furious adventure begins.
As a book you could surely read through it in 2-3 evenings. The audiobook is about 11 CDs and that is far too long for me in this case. Especially because the german reader talks so very monotonously and does not put any accents in his reading.
To me, personally, there was too much of killing soldiers in their trivial battles. Nothing believable left after CD 4 anymore and it was too much of american nationalism for a german listener like me. Too easy for the US Marines to find a way out of any unbelievable threat.

I quit listening to it even though I would have liked to know about the end of the story, but it became too boring. It may be because of the german reader but i think it is even more boring because of its extreme triviality. By listening to only the beginning of a chapter, you know how every little action will turn out.
Recommended for those who don't owe any imagination at all. I hope that the book is a lot better to read....on amazon.de reviews it got 3,5 to 4 stars. But I have no idea why and what for.

Knochendichtemessung

Gestern war es mal wieder Zeit für die jährliche Knochendichtemessung.
Letztes Jahr fiel sie aus wegen extremer Unlust des Patienten (!), aber da ich nun bereits seit 8 Monaten ein neues Medikament nehme, habe ich mich gestern doch entschlossen mich mal wieder scannen zu lassen. Die Messung an sich ist natürlich vollkommen unspektakulär und berührungslos. Aber die Verkündung des Ergebnisses hat mich in den letzten Jahren immer ziemlich "runtergezogen". Für die Experten unter Euch: mein letzter gemessener T-Score lag bei -3,9. Und gestern? Tataaaa....eine Verbesserung von durchschnittlich 8%. Das ist doch mal was! Der Doc meinte zwar das er mehr erwartet hätte weil er mich noch mindestens bis zum Alter von 90 Jahren durch die Tür gehen sehen will (das wird aber wohl eher an ihm als an mir scheitern, denn er ist sicherlich noch älter als ich...hab ich ihm aber so nicht gesagt) Da ich aber in den letzten 7 Jahren überhaupt keine Verbesserung zu verzeichnen hatte, war dieses Ergebnis für mich persönlich fast ein "Quantensprung"!
Zumindest mal ein deutliches Zeichen das die Richtung stimmt und das ein wenig Sicherheit im Umgang mit diesem Gammelkörper gibt.

B M D

BMD ain't no new pop group or a new fashion style.
If I am right it is short for Bone Mineral Density, the english word for "Knochendichte". Some of you may know that I am suffering from low BMD. Yesterday I went for my yearly check (well, it should be yearly but last year I missed it for some reason...) and tataaaa...the BMD has improved for nearly 8% over all!! For the experts among you: the T-Score has risen from -3,9 to -3,58. Since this is still a BMD of a 100 year old man, it won't lower my painfull days but I am somewhat happy that all my efforts during the last 7 years now finally are showing some positive result.

Jale at school

Yesterday was Jales big day at school.
Julia went to catch her at school as usual at 11:50h a.m....but Jale did not come out of the school building. What happened? Julia went in towards the classroom when 2 of Jales classmates came along, shouting: "Jale still has to do an additional exercise". The thing was that Jale and 3 of her classmates were joking and playing around even when their teacher wanted to start the lesson.

So, all 4 of them were kept in after school to make a drawing, showing some silent, silent pupil.
Seems as if she really enjoys school.

Geocaching, der 300. Cache

Für meinen 300. Cache hatte ich mir einen der "Dakota Smith" Caches vorgenommen. Einfach weil ich die Story und die Gestaltung so originell und liebevoll fand. Als ich dann den Start von Dakota Smith und der Schatz der Inka gefunden hatte, wurde mein erster Eindruck aus der Cachebeschreibung bestätigt. Hier hat sich jemand eine tolle Abenteuergeschichte ausgedacht und konsequent im Erzählstil durchgeplant und realisiert. Ohne spoilern zu wollen kann ich sagen das jeder WP seine Besonderheit hat. Entweder in der Art der Aufgaben und ganz besonders in der handwerklichen Umsetzung der Behälter und der Beschreibungen. Sogar eine Schatzkarte musste gedeutet werden.
An den einzelnen WP kann man ungestört und unbeobachtet suchen und am Final wartet sogar eine richtig große Dose auf den Finder.
Alles in allem ein tolles Vergnügen das ich sehr genossen habe.

Back at work

While re-reading my last post, I noticed that I maybe have written my "update" a bit too dramatically...

Anyway, today I experienced/noticed something that I have not been aware of before.
I was ill last week and off of work. This morning I was back at my desk. None of my "colleagues" asked me what kinda disease I was suffering from or if I am feeling better. None.
And on the other side, I received some e-mails from friends who I don't even know personally. They were wishing me well and asking about my situation.

Just a thought...

Update

What has happened during the last 1-2 weeks?
The company I am working for, offered me another job in the company. To work as a dispatcher for our trucks. I never wanted this, I still don't want it, I will refuse to do it and my boss knew and knows about all this. So, I will be fired sooner or later...
I took a week off now, to get my head and thoughts clear and find myself a way.I was working for that company for more then 16 years now and I have to think of my future job and responisbilities. I could find a job in another forwarding company but I am asking myself if that is really what I want.

During the last week I did a lot of sports and a lot of geocaching. I tried to shake off the bad and negative thoughts and look forward.
After all, now, I find that this change in my life seems to be neccesary. I like the thought of a change and I am willing to finally break out of daily routine, to begin something new. I am already having a slight guess of what my future job could look like. No idea if it is possible to make it real though.
For sure, me and my family will have to face some material regression. I myself am not afraid of that but I must think for 3 persons...responsibilities!

So, wish me luck in finding the right way for all of us.

Mugs and Money

Did anyone of you know that I am collecting stuff?? No?? Ha..here is my coming out. I am a collector of 2 really odd things. I am collecting mugs and money. Usually I bring a coffee mug with me from every foreign place I have visited.

As for mugs, I am using those mugs daily and they always bring some memories of my trips back into my mind. It is great for me to have my morning coffee from a special mug and all over sudden find myself back on the North Pole or on a spanish beach.

With foreign money it is similar: I find foreign money to be interesting for some reason. I am not out for a high amount, the value is unimportant, and I am only collecting banknotes. I usually laminate them and then use them daily. Take 'em with me in my wallet, using them as a bookmark. They have often been given to me by friends and by having those banknotes with me, I always remind them and their friendship.

Here is a deal: If you could imagine to send me any of those items (mugs or banknotes of your country - only of low value please), drop me an e-mail and I will send you my postal adress in germany. As a reward I will send you back anything you like.

Rogue

Yesterday I saw the film "Rogue"...here are some words about it:
The arrogant Journalist Pete McKell joins a boat safari in the Outbacks of Australia. The film begins with beautiful photos of the breathtaking nature there and it could also be the beginning of a nature-documentary.

The characteres in this film are being described and there is the attractive captain of the boat, "Kate", as well as some very special and wacky persons as the tourists on this boat safari. They all want to see crocodiles and it does not take long until they see the first big ones. For some reason they run ashore of a small island in the middle of the big river, the boat is wrecked, and now they are searching for a way to leave the island before high tide comes in. Unfortunately this river seems to be the district of a monstrous crocodile and it does not take long until croco has caught its first victims from the stranded tourist group.

Even if the plot sounds somehow silly, it is entertaining. There are a several reasons for that. It is not a long film, just under 90 minutes and the producing director did not make the big mistake to oversize the crocodile. His crocodile is big, but not gigantic, intelligent, but still an animal. And most of all, which is extremely important, the computer animated crocodile looks like real!

There are some scenes that made me smile though: After the first 2 people have been caught by the crocodile, there does not seem to be any real mourning amongst the rest of the grup, not even the relatives seem to be really shocked.
Building up a suspense curve or rising the tension slowly did not really work here. No wonder, anyone who looks at this film can imagine what will happen. The story of a monstrous animal threatening human beings is so old and in any new movie of this kind it is only interesting HOW the story has been converted in to a movie.
The final fight scene between the main actors and the croco is silly, implausible and unbelievable...fortunately it takes not too much of the film, and hey, this ain't a documentary.

Watching this film was not a waste of time for me. This is an unpretentious, technically solid produced animal-horror movie about a group of tourists being threatened by a crocodile. It is holding back too many violent and/or splatter scenes and presents some really atmospheric views of nature.
If you make it to the end-credits, you will even listen to the funny song of "Never Smile At A Crocodile"

Google is watching you

Na toll, nun gibt es also den Google Browser! Chrome ist da und alles jubelt (außer Microsoft). Der Google Browser soll einfach und übersichtlich sein und außerdem darauf ausgerichtet sein, Web Applikationen (und dabei natürlich die eigenen wie Documents, Spreadhseets, Calendar etc)besonders komfortabel einzubetten und ausführen zu können. Google möchte, das irgendwann lokal installierte Standard Programme unnötig werden.

Zur gleichen Zeit wird eine neue Version der Google Foto Software Picasa released und die soll nun auch mit Gesichtserkennung arbeiten. Geb deinen Fotos Namen und die Software scanned deinen Rechner um andere Fotos mit demselben Gesicht zu finden. Die kannst Du dann natürlich mit 1-Click in dein Web Album hochladen.
Auch Picasaweb hat ein neues Layout bekommen und ebenfalls dieses Gesichtserkennungs Feature.
Google Maps Streetview Autos wurden in vielen großen deutschen Städten gesichtet.

Ich selbst bin ein Nutzer ziemlich vieler Google Features, aber, hallo, ich hab Bedenken! Zuviele Daten "können" hier gesammelt werden von denen niemand weiß wofür sie verwendet werden. Für nichts? Für Nutzerprofile? Um Konsumverhalten (natürlich anonym) dokumentieren zu können? Ich kann kaum glauben das es Google nur darum geht Microsoft Produkte zu verdrängen oder dem User völlig uneigennützig schöne neue Produkte zur kostenlosen Nutzung zur Verfügung zu stellen. Es sieht so aus als wenn die Nutzerprofile für die Industrie/Werbung einfach perfektioniert werden sollen um die "relevanten Anzeigen" noch relevanter erscheinen zu lassen.

Ist das Panikmache? Miesepeterei? Oder bin ich nicht alleine mit diesem (noch unbegründeten) Unwohlsein was das Vorpreschen Googles betrifft? Ohne irgendjemand irgendetwas unterstellen zu wollen: eine internationale Kontrollinstanz für die Einhaltung von Datenschutzbestimmungen gibt es noch nicht.
1984 gab es in Deutschland mal einen größeren Protest gegen eine geplante Volksbefragung "Lass' Dich nicht erfassen". 24 Jahre später ein Lacher, oder??!!

Sven Regener - Der Kleine Bruder

Ein relativ dünnes Büchlein ist dieser Mittelteil der "Frank Lehmann" Trilogie geworden. Diese mageren 280 Seiten sollten Anfang September veröffentlicht werden, amazon konnte aber schon 1 Woche früher liefern.

In diesem Buch passiert eigentlich nicht viel. Handlung ist fast Fehlanzeige, Dialoge sind Trumpf. Die ersten 3 Tage im Leben des Frank Lehmann werden hier erzählt. Die Tage nach seinem Aufbruch aus Bremen und der anschließenden Suche nach seinem Bruder in Berlin.
Was das Buch ausmacht sind die Beobachtungen des Zeitgeistes der 80er, die kauzigen, verschwommenen Dialoge der Punks, der Hausbesetzerszene und der Leute die so gerne Künstler wären. (Karl: "Kunst ist, wenn einer sagt "das ist Kunst", und wenigstens einer ihm zustimmt.")
Mich hat das Buch gefesselt weil es so herrlich die damalige Zeit und deren Szene beschreibt und dabei auch sehr subtil selbstironisch ist. Es gab tatsächlich Stellen an denen ich laut gelacht habe und innerhalb von 2 Abenden waren die 280 Seiten durchgelesen. (Wolli:"Berlin ist wie Tuba spielen, Hauptsache immer ordentlich rumhupen")
Schwach finde ich den Schluß des Buches. Als wenn dem Autor hier beim besten Willen nichts mehr einfallen wollte wird das Buch hier zum Ende "gemurkst".

Wer diese Art "Schreibe" mag, dieses genaue beobachten und auf die Spitze treiben der sogenannten Szene Dialoge der 80er, den wird dieses Buch bestens unterhalten. Und ich, ja ich freu mich jetzt auf das audiobook...denn wenn Sven Regener das selbst liest, und das tut er, dann hört es sich an als wenn der Autor das alles selbst so oder so ähnlich erlebt hat. Hat er nicht, aber es erreicht bei ihm eine ungeheuere Authentizität. Viel Spaß dabei!

Knoops Park (repost)

I blogged a post about this beautiful park in the northwest of Bremen in 2007 already. This sunday our way lead us there again. We enjoyed it so much and found it so very special again, that I decided to repost some words and new photos about this park again.

"Knoops Park" situated in the north of Bremen near the river "Lesum" was one of the nicest parks that we have seen around Bremen. It is not only the tidyness and the old, old trees (some of them more then 100 years old) that make this park special to me. But because it was founded and by an old Bremen merchant who also had kind of a castle in this park, it still has something like an aristocratic touch...a very special charactere. Hard to describe...come here and find out yourself ;-)

So, the park is about 65 hectare large, named after the founder "Baron Ludwig Knoop" (1821-1894). In 1870 the Baron gave order to the garden-architect "Wilhelm Benque" to build a park along the banks of the river "Lesum". The result was a huge park with lots of narrow, winding ways and many resting places. The area itself is a bit hilly and gives the viewer a good look over the whole scenery including the river.
Only 16 years later the castle "Schloss Muehlental" was built in the centre of the park. The castle was not really in use and none lived in there for a longer time, so, in 1933 the shabby castle was totally demolished and today there are only some rocks left that give an idea of where the castle once stood.