Cervicobrachial Syndrome

Since last week I was suffering from heavy pain coming from somewhere near my neck. So I decided to have a talk with my doctor and he told me that I have a "Cervicobrachial" Syndrome. Sounds terrible?? Hmm..it is not as bad as it sounds. Friday I will go to the surgeon's practise and he will find out if I am only a pretender....haha!!
The good thing of this painfull experience: I am off of work this week ;-)

iPod wireless-remote, Monster iEZClick

After 2 weeks of waiting I received my Monster iEZClick wireless-remote for my iPod and I must say: I love that item. Now, while on my bike or at my training, I can leave my iPod inside of my jacket/trousers and only have the very leight weighted remote on my belt or jacket or somewhere else. I can control volume and change tracks and playlists.
The prize of this item was fairly high but I will use it daily for 1-2 hours and it will make handling my iPod a lot easier and more fun. Cool item...highly recommended!!!

Samba Carnival Bremen 2008

Samba Carnival in Bremen is one of the top events for us to enjoy. As every year, the city was crowded with some 20.000 spectators who wanted to enjoy Europe's biggest Samba Carnival. There were Samba Groups from everywhere in Europe, drumming and dancing their way through the streets of Bremen. The main topic of this event was called "Delicatessen" this year and so we saw lots of perfect costumes...spicy, fresh and funny ones!!
We stood there, danced and watched the groups for 3 hours...but that was only the beginning. The party went on in clubs and dancehalls all night long...
Have a look at the photos of this event here.

Rockpalast

Woohooo...finally I was succesfull with searching for old recordings of the famous "Rockpalast" Nights. From 1974 on there were 2 yearly events taking place in the Grugahalle, Eseen/Germany. Rockbands playing live on stage until early morning.
I followed those events at the age of 13-20 years and of course they left a sentimental impression on me.

And as every old-aged, I am now trying to get back some memories of my youth. Yesterday I was succesfull again. By chance I found the concert of "Dexy's Midnight Runners". Wow..that was one of the few concerts that I was still searching for. That music wasn't maybe performed in highest quality, but we are talking about sentimental memories...so-who cares about quality??

I was happy to find it....and now there are only a few concert recordings still missing. I already have the Rockpalast recordings of Rory Gallagher, Big Country, Rodgau Monotones, Kid Creole, Johnny Winter, The Who and Grateful Dead ! Now I am looking for the concerts of Mothers Finest and ZZ Top. Can anyone help me finding them?

Let's build an Ark

On sunday our 5 y.o. daughter said: "We need to find 2 animals of each kind"....so, here is a short note about the weather situation in Germany at the moment.
When I got up 2 days ago on Sunday at 6.00h a.m., it was raining "cats and dogs". We needed to drive to Hanover Airport and back that day. On our way to Hanover (appr. 125 kilometres) we saw feedlands and range drowning in rain. We discovered lakes where we have never seen some before...it did not stop raining all day.
On monday it was similar. Thank god, I went by car and not by bike cause the rain was even heavier than the day before. The weather forecast already gave out a storm warning with the danger of high tides at the coast and overflowing rivers.
Today it is tuesday and it is still rainy and stormy. All those days we had a dark grey sky with mild temperatures of about +12°C!!! Crazy...we all would prefer it 10 degrees less but more friendly.
Nature is crazy...but who drove it crazy?? I have an idea of who it was.......

faster faster

After 8 days of waiting, finally the german telecom managed to switch my DSL internet connection to the speed of 6000 kbit/s instead of 2000 kbit/s.
Now it should be no problem anymore to have a video call somewhere or to use both computers for downloads or Video chat at the same time. So, if you are also using a fst internet connection, lets have a video chat from time to time if you like. Drop me a line.

Der 230. Cache, Geocaching Hannover

Today we brought Julias Mom to Hanover Airport. On our way back we decided to try and discover some caches that appeared on our GPS unit. After all we had 4 founds...unexpected and unprepared. Nice...seems as if luck is coming back...slowly.
Our founds today:
Bubi´s Flughafen - TB Motel
Das Ü-Ei
Bordenauer Kugelschreiberdepot
Neue B6

And we saw a fascinating steam-engine near one of the parking areas of a cache. Built in 1922, it was standing there in front of 3 wagons which have been rebuilt and nowadays used as a restaurant.

Geocaching

Finally I made a short geocaching tour again. Saturday morning at 7.00h a.m. I started and wanted to find 3 easy traditional caches before returning in time for the second coffee of the day at 10.00h.
I made it in time, but found only 2 of the caches. Why?? Because I did not think and was not prepared. I approached the first cache at 7.00h, still in the dark...and forgot my torch and my gloves at home. So, I had to put my bare hands in every hole under that bridge, not seeing anything. I was succesfull with the 3rd try.
The second cache I did not find. Another bridge in the dark but this time with a creek and white, roaring water under it. No risk, no fun?? Naaaaah...it was still too early for so much risk :-)
The third one was an easy one again and I found it in 5 minutes only.

All in all, it was nice to go caching on my own again.

5500 kilometres

Now it is one year since I bought my new bicycle and since then I drove 5500 kilometres over all. That's an average distance of 15 km per day, or 105 km per week. If you calculate an average speed of 15 km/h, it means that I have spent more than 365 hours in the saddle!!I was so very surprised myself when I noticed that very impressive distance that I drove and I am a bit proud of myself!!!

I hate snail mail

Today it is nearly 6 weeks since I sent my christmas wishes to my friends abroad. This time I decided to do it the old fashioned way by snail mail. I even sent a few parcels with some goodies to some friends. Now...seems as if not even a single package has reached its recipient. Unbelievable! Not only exotic overseas destination but also some to european recipients did not arrive!!!

Next year I will go and deliver my christmas wishes and gifts myelf and personally. So, you all better be prepared ;-)

low dollar makes me save

Haha....here's how we germans participate from the bad american economics and the low dollar:
I want an outdoor remote for my iPod. There is only one available from Monster cables, very expensive, about € 80,-- + postage and packing.
Since I also bought my iPod microphone in the US, I did the same with this remote. In germany it was not available at ebay but in the US it was. The prize: US Dollar 45,-- + USD 20,-- pp.
65 US Dollar are appr. € 45,---....so after all I bought the remote for half of the german prize!!!

Too much positive energy???

Last night, 10:15 p.m.: After all those bad things happening to me, I thought it would be a good idea to open a bottle of red wine...just to have something positive.
Even that pretty good (in my eyes..) intention did not work out as it was planned. I managed to drink not even half of the bottle, read a lot of RSS Newsfeeds and went to bed only at 1.00 a.m.
Woke up at 5.30 already (I have no idea WHY) and went to work. 45 Minutes against strong wind and in pouring rain. Now it is 9.00 a.m. and I should be tired...shouldn't I?? But I feel fresh and positive...I cannot even manage to feel angry and bad anymore....huhuuu....what a day - and it has only just begun!!

Development

Yes, 2008 is developing...it is battling it's way into my life. But it is not like a nice guest...it behaves like a gate crasher.

Today I had a date at the garage with my car. In Germany you have to show up with your car at the Technical Inspection Authority. They have a very close look at your car and they decide if it is in good enough shape to drive on for 2 more years. Before that, I usually bring the car to the garage/repair shop and let them have a look if maybe something is wrong with the car.
And really...3 serious repairs have to be done, otherwise my car will not get the permission for 2 more years.
That will cost me some € 650,--...omg...I wonder if there will be anything good waiting for me soon. I am angry, disappointed, sad.

New iPod

What can you do to overcome sadness about a stolen iPod? Buy a new one!
So did I. Two days after my iPod was stolen and I realized that none will ever give it back, I decided to buy a new one. And here it is!! Nearly the same one but now called iPod classic 80GB. I am checking it out still but I already noticed that all my games will not work on this new generation iPod :-( Also the output level seems to be quite low. This morning on my bike I was listening to a podcast and even if I turned on the maximum volume, I hardly could understand anything.
Seems as if not everything new is always better....Anyone needs an iPod 6th Generation?? If you have a good iPod 5 for me, we can change pods ;-)

Stolen iPod

Since one year I was the happy owner of an iPod Video 80 GB and I carried that cool piece with me every day. I used it daily for many hours. Listening to music, podcasts, audio books...I even did a lot of recordings with it on different events. And now...I left it in the locker room after sports for maybe 5 minutes. When I was at my car I realized that I did not have my iPod with me, so I went back but it was gone of course.

So, my old companion is gone....another sad sad experience.
Maybe not too bad if all the sad things happen in the beginning of the year. The rest of 2008 can only get better ;-)

Lost friend

The new year did not really begin very uplifting for me. In fact I was waiting for about 10 days for a message of a friend. A friend that was so close to me that I used to think of that special person every day. That friend lives far away...on another continent...but...no sign. During all those celebration days I did not hear anything.

Things like that happen. I know. But I still don't know how to handle this....sad sad beginning of 2008.