What Makes the Average German Tick?

Since there seem to be some foreigners reading this blog, I thought it would be funny for them to read the ultimate report about people living in "germland"...after that report you will know about all the mysteries of german people and their habits....sigh...

From spiegel.de:
What do Germans earn? How much do they drink? How loyal are they? How
often do they lie? What do they believe in? What are they afraid of?
How often do they have sex? How do they die? A new SPIEGEL report gives
a unique picture of the average German and how they think, live and
love.
read more...

Arnaldur Indridason - The Draining Lake

Another detective story and this time a fine one.

In a lake in Iceland the water level of drops suddenly, revealing the skeleton of a man half-buried in its sandy bed. Clear to see that this man must have been murdered cause he has a huge hole in his skull and he was tied to a communication unit.

The book is divided into 2 stories being told parallel. First there is the crime and the things happening with the investigations of commissioner Erlendur, and the second are the thoughts, obviously of the murderer, back from the 1950s while studying in Leipzig, Germany.

During the first half of the book, nothing really spectacular happens. The crime itself has been put in the background and the main thing is the description of the protagonists, the mental state they are in now and even some steps back in time.

To me it was a fascinating book not only because of the interesting story, but also because of the authors fine writing style with very close and intense observations on human nature and of how people can possibly react if they get betrayed by people or society.

Thanks to Schwester Keia for this recommendation :-)

Geocaching

Gestern sind mir beim cachen 2 schöne Ideen untergekommen. Zum einen eine wirklich hübsche Cachebeschreibung bei GCHN2J die zeigt das auch ein ganz einfacher Multi durch eine pfiffige und trotzdem nicht zu schwere Beschreibung aufgewertet werden kann.

Die andere Idee bei GC1B9YC ist nicht wirklich neu aber für Musikliebhaber immer wieder interessant. Aber wie ist das eigentlich mit irgendwelchen "Sicherungskopien" oder aber der selbst zusammengestellten Favoriten CD?? Bei selbst zusammengestellten Medien ist es doch wohl so, das die nicht kommerzielle Weitergabe an z.B. einen Freund nicht strafbar ist, oder???
Was aber, wenn jemand irgendwelche selbstgebrannten sog. Sicherungskopien in den Cache legt, es aber im Log nicht angibt? Und wie steht es um den Owner? Ist der hier verpflichtet ständig seine Cachebox auf "Legalität" zu überprüfen?

Eastern Promises

"Eastern Promises" (german: Toedliche Versprechen) is a calm, somehow mystic and stylish produced "Mafia-Epic", this time playing in the russian scene in London, England. A very intense film playing with morality, crime, intrigue, prejudices and brutality. It gives the viewer enough time to make up his own mind about what is going on and what could be right or wrong, but in between there are scenes crashing the stylish production with (for my oppinion) an extremely detailed brutality.

Not a film for people with weak nerves but a fine drawing of a scene that everyone can imagine to be exactly like this...even if it may be totally different in reality.

The actors in this film (Viggo Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl and oh so wonderfull Naomi Watts) really do well in giving their characters something special, authentic. The story itself is nicely constructed even though it is a bit unbelievable...but hey-this ain't no documentary!! The intriges and criminal intentions make it a film somewhere between thriller and action.
Recommended film with an end that contains sadness as well as happiness.

Jaderpark

A visit at my doc to get a new inhalation unit and a visit at a pediatric neurology to apply for a prescription for a somatic movement education (is that an understandable translation for the german word "Motopädie? I have no idea...) made our day start with a lot of unpleasant tasks.

To get the balance of the day back, we decided to drive to an amusement park in the afternoon. Not too far away, not too big and not too crowded. That seemed to be just perfect and in fact it was. The park itself is more for kids up to ~10 years or so, but it also has a fairly large Zoo even with some exotic animals. The whole complex was quite old but it must have been recently renovated. It was tidy and everything was working fine.
For children however, the age of the playgrounds and rundabouts isn't important at all. Sometimes I am relieved to see how less kids need to be happy: A giant slide, a big trampoline and some old trees and branches...that`s sometimes enough to make a little child happy and keep her busy for hours.
Some more photos of the Jaderpark here

Geocaching

Am Montag war es dann mal wieder soweit. Nach Feierabend zur Entspannung einen einfachen Cache machen. Das war der Plan. So ganz viele Dosen an denen ich interessiert bin gibt es aber nicht mehr, noch schlechter sieht es mit denen aus die auch per Fahrrad nach Feierabend bequem zu erreichen sind. Hab dann doch noch eine gefunden...D1/T1...ja genau richtig, das schaff ich.

Hat auch alles geklappt. Aber dadurch das ich am Start fast 20 Minuten rumgesucht hab (wie peinlich...bei einem D1/T1) bevor mir die Erleuchtung kam und dadurch das ich mir vorher keine Karte angesehen bzw. ausgedruckt hatte, war ich doch geschlagene 90 Minuten zu Fuss unterwegs bis ich die Dose bergen konnte.

sunday fun

Yesterdays sunday was said to be a sunny and friendly day, but the whole morning remained grey and cloudy. Because we are not too fond of running around in warm winter jackets anmore, we played some simple board games all together. That was fun and I noticed that we do that far too less together. Only in the afternoon the sun came out and made us (and all the rest of the germans) go outside and enjoy the sunshine. We went by bicycle to a playground and stood there for nearly 2 hours. One of us played and climbed there, one read a book and one only sat there enjoying the sunshine. You may have a guess who did what...

To finish fun sunday, in the evenings I played with the ship simulator on the computer and again wrecked not only the ship but also the terminal and the quay. Nice gaming...

Into the Wild - Motion Soundtrack

Not too long time ago I wrote about the movie "Into the wild" and how much I love it. I was not only fascinated by the film and the story but I also love the music on it. For that reason I cut the sound track out of the movie and put it on my iPod...that was not a perfect solution because there also is some speaking in between.
Last night I found out that the motion soundtrack is available and I was really surprised to read that this CD is by Eddie Vedder. I never liked Pearl Jam and so I never liked Eddie Vedder, but with this CD he is doing really well. 11 fairly short songs performed only on accoustic instruments. I listened to the whole CD last night and to me it is a very intense CD, unspectacular, but it can make you calm down, relax and dream.
In the song "Guaranteed" (my favorite), I feel as if I was walking through Alaska on my way to "magic bus"....

On thing should be mentioned: It is not really the "Motion Soundtrack". It is an Eddie Vedder CD containing also tracks from the movie. But there are not all the nice songs from the film on this CD. Some songs from other artists are missing

Motopädie

Heute wird es sich entscheiden ob Jale von verschiedenen Seiten die Empfehlung und Unterstützung zur Beantragung von Motopädie Therapie erhält. Es sieht ganz danach aus, denn uns wurde schon der weitere Weg erläutert: Krankenkasse übernimmt die Kosten für Motopädie nicht und wir brauchen die Ablehnung schriftlich. Ein Experte des Sprachheilkindergartens, die Erzieherin des Kindergartens, der Leiter der Bewegungstherapie, der untersuchende Arzt der Neuropädiatrie...alle alle dürfen dann eine Bewertung schreiben und natürlich ordentlich ins Negative flunkern damit dann eventuell das Jugendamt die Kosten für solch eine Motopädie übernimmt.

Wenn man sich die bisherigen Bewertungen durchliest kommt man schon ins Grübeln. Einerseits toll das die Leute es so unterstützen das wir die Therapie genehmigt bekommen, andererseits ists doch irgendwie bedenklich das man so auf den Zeiger hauen muss um überhaupt irgendwie weiter zu kommen.
Muss dass so sein???

Jumper

David is a Jumper. Means he has the ability of "beaming" (teleporting) himself to any place he wants. He discovered his ability when he was 15 years old and he uses it: into the safe of a bank, with the stolen money off to a luxurious flat in New York, breakfast on top of the pyramids, surfin the ocean and and and....all that a teenager dreams of.
There are also the bad ones in this movie...the "Paladins" wanting to catch every jumper and kill him cause their ability should only be used by God himself.

Funny story produced with a lot of fine special effect. Producer Liman has given this film lots of speedy scenes cut together to a pretty fast movie. Like in the "Bourne" thrillers, he is rushing his actors all around the globe, but this time he misses to put some life into the good and fun story. Don't expect any explanations on anything! Even the pretty actors remain pale and lifeless in this movie.
All in all, the first half of the film is recommended, the second half is only light entertainment. The movie is short with appr 80 minutes only and it should not be longer.

Early Morning / Get Well Soon

What a night and what a morning. Too much activity did not let me sleep last night and when I finally was ready to fall asleep, there was our little girl that was coughing badly and again kept me from sleeping.

So I got up at 4.50 this morning, took a shower, had breakfast and went to work. And I must say that it was somehow fascinating to see the day awake. Lights changing with every minute during sunrise...still dawning when I left home and nearly daylight when I arrived at work. Nice...some snapshots here.

In addition to that, I listened to music from Get Well Soon. Wondferful album and it fitted perfect to the mood this morning. Beautifully arranged music, very similar to Bright Eyes, basically with a melancholic, sentimental touch.

Dead End

It's not easy keeping the streets clean in the desert. This man is walking in the Sahara on the oasis town of Timimoun, about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) south of Algiers.

Found on spiegel.de

Vantage Point (8 Blickwinkel)

The two Secret Service Agents Barnes and Taylor (Matthew Fox and Dennis Quaid) have to protect the US President Ashton (William Hurt) during an important summit for the war against terrorism held in Salamanca, Spain. As soons as the President starts his speech, he is being shot in front of TV cameras and a huge crowd.

So far, not a spectacular plot. But the way how this story is being visualized is really good. The whole scenery and story is being told again and again...but always from the angle of another person that took part in this event. A tourist, a camera team, the president, the bodyguards,terrorists and other protagonists. A fascinating idea even though it is not being fully realized in this film. The movie is beginning with the very intense visualization from the vantage points of a camera team and the bodyguard. After this, the film is getting a bit flat. If they would have thought a bit more about the plausibility of the story, it could have been a five star movie really. I found it to be good, breathless entertainment.

This film was over far too early. I thought it was running hardly 70 minutes but it had 90 minutes. It is a very speedy and intense film and the fact that it is being split into a several short films and put together again makes time go by very fast.

Geocaching, the 250th cache

After a long absence I finally went out for a geocaching tour after work. It was a warm and sunny afternoon and I left work at 4.00 p.m. already. I had prepared an easy route in an area situated about 40 km west of my homeI saw spots with a nice view, "Galloway" cattles, old plastic cars, and I found my 250th cache on/under a bridge. It was hidden in a way that most cachers may not think about. Usually you have to crawl under the bridge, tryin not to fall in to the water, and find the box hidden somewhere in the dark. Here it was different...the GPS showed me that I was standing right on it, but it was not to be seen. So, I looked around and and and...yes....a hole in one of the planks, and there it was. A nice spot with an easy and found...perfect for my 250th cache. I won't publish the link to that cache here, my writing would be too much of a spoiler.I also was positively surprised by the amount of small/regular caches and the low number of micro caches. I am not really a friend of micro-caches (film-kanister) but they are just perfect as waypoints or to show interesting places that have no space for a small or regular box.

A thousand splendid suns

posted by Richa....thanks for that review

A THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS

Yet another masterpiece by Khaled Hosseini after ' The kite runner'. A Thousand splendid suns is the story of Mariam and Laila belonging to two different generations in Afghanistan. Fate brings them together as wives of old and ill tempered Rasheed.

Mariam has never known love while Laila is forced to part from her loved ones due to political turmoil in Afghanistan.In the unhappy household of Rasheed there develops a bond between two women which ultimately gives them what they were yearning through out thier lives!

This book again celebrates Khaled hosseini's simple style of writing.Characters are so well itched that they stay in your mind for longer time and the narration is so clear that you feel as if everything is happening around you.While reading the book,sometimes I felt sad and sometimes depressed but after I had finished the book there was a kind of numbness that caught hold of me. Maybe as a woman i couldn't help feeling what it is to be like a woman in some parts of the world!

All in All a must read if you are looking for some serious reading.

He's running again

Usually my training sessions begin with a 45 minutes cardio training on kind of an ergometer/ crosstrainer. Yesterday I changed it to 30 minutes crosstrainer followed by 30 minutes running. And I noticed that I feel much better with running instead of using the crosstrainer or ergometer. I remember that about 3 years ago I ran the 10.000 metres in 70 minutes and did that 2 times a week at least.

Now I have set myself an ambitious aim: To get back to running and do the 10.000 metres in less than 70 minutes. Is it possible?? Hmmm...today I did not even finish the 30 minutes...I am not fit for it and managed to run only 25 minutes.

erledigbare Hausfrauen

Ein Wochenende mit ohne irgendwas richtig Produktivem..das war nett. Hab es endlich fertig gebracht und meinen Schleppi zuende konfiguriert. Außerdem war ich einigermaßen aktiv und habe einige Stunden mit Fitness Training verbracht....*schulterklopf*

Ein Satz noch über den wir uns wieder einmal köstlich amüsiert haben. Wir haben uns heute morgen über die lustige deutsche Aussprache des Schriftstellers Wladimir Kaminer amüsiert - als Julia sich an etwas erinnerte: Vor Jahren hatte Julia in ihrem Deutschkurs einen Mitschüler der sich ein wenig...ähem...schwer mit der deutschen Sprache tat (keine Schande, geht mir heute noch so...). Folgenden Satz hatte er konstruiert: "Die Hausfrau ist durch die Hausarbeit erledigbar"! Jaaaa....da kann man ja nun viele Dinge hinein interpretieren.

Ich liebe diesen Satz....

iPod wireless-remote, Monster iEZClick, Part II

So, here are the results from my 2 months testing of the iPod remote. Sometimes it is really working properly...some other times it doesn't and I have no idea why. The volume control is always working and the "Off" switch too. But changing between tracks and playlists is like a lottery. The "next track" is working fairly reliable, the "prev. track" is working...sometimes. The good thing is: I have heard songs on my iPod now that I did not even know they existed at all...
So, for operating comfort the remote is not recommended. But if you need a switch to turn off volume or iPod in between, without getting it out of your pocket, it is a good piece. I use it daily and I used it in snow storms, heavy rain and wind on my bike and it is absolutely water and temperature resistant.

Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei

Das war ja mal ein Film ganz nach meinem Geschmack. Endlich mal wieder ein Hauch von Revolution und Anarchie (?) im deutschen Kino. Da fühlt man sich doch gleich wieder zurück versetzt in die 70er. Jaja, auch ich kann mich daran erinnern das es zu der Zeit noch Werte gab für die man (zumindest theoretisch) eintreten konnte und wollte. Sich über andere Gesellschaftsformen Gedanken zu machen und Bestehende kritisch zu sehen ist gut und richtig. Schade das es sich dabei scheinbar um ein Vorrecht der Jugend handelt.
Der Film ist erfrischend. Keine zu schwere Kost, unterhält er ohne flach zu sein. In keiner Weise werden die Protagonisten und ihre Absichten ins Lächerliche gezogen und mit seinen mehr als 120 Minuten gibt's im Film jede Menge Denkanstösse die nicht antiquarisch sondern berechtigt sind.
Anschaubefehl!!!

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6000

6000 kilometres on my bike-computer this morning. 6000 km in 14 months mean appr. 400 hours in the saddle, but an average of "only" 107 km per week. Looks as if I am beginning to get lazy....

5 white points

Just arrived here at my office. On my way to work I saw 5 strange white points between bushes in the woods. I stopped, was very quiet and discovered those 5 points being the backs of some deers having breakfast. I tried to take a pic but they were too far and turned around already. But...that was such a peacefull scenery, I am happy that I took the long way by bike this morning.