Deutsche Städte: Cottbus

Es braucht nicht immer Wein zum Fisch.
Man darbt auch ohne Schinken.
Man kann auch ohne Stuhl und Tisch
aus Regenpfützen trinken.

Es braucht nicht immer Glück statt Frust.
Man kann auch schluchzend leben.
Man kann auch ohne Lebenslust
nach Gram und Trübsal streben.

Es braucht nicht immer's große Los.
Man kann's auch hintertreiben.
Man kann auch aller Hoffnung bloß
in Cottbus wohnen bleiben.

Thomas Gsella

Geocaching Mega Event Bremen

Lytha remembered me with her comment that I did not post a word so far about the Geocaching Event "Project *G*A*M*E*" taking place in Bremen, May 31st. It is a huge meeting of geocachers and as I heard from Andreas (one of the organizers of the event) they were expecting it to be a Mega Event already after the first week when this event was listed. The funny thing is that groundspeak did not believe that this event could reach the "mega" status of at least 500 participants. Today it is January 30th, so still 4 months to go until the event, but there are already 527 geocachers who wrote their "will attend" log. That's gonna be a real huge event!!

Of course I will take place in this event. I am curious to meet a lot of geocachers (hello "Donaucachers"...) there and besides that, there is one particular reason why I should be at least close to that event: I have a geocache situated right in front of the entrance of the event place. It used to be a regular box, but since it was muggeed 2 times, I temporarily changed it to a mikro cache. When I look at the many geocachers who will attend the mega event, I am afraid that I will have to make it a regular or large box again, even if only to hold an amount of logbooks!

Los Linkos:
Geocaching Mega Event Bremen 2009 GC1JZ92
Mega Event Project *G*A*M*E*
My geocache GC10881

The Race Goes On

My last job applications are some 3 weeks ago and I even was to an interview but since I haven't heard from any of those companies again, it was clear to me that I should not count on them anymore. But last night I received a phone call from one of those companies saying that they still did not make a decision and they will need another week to decide. Not bad to know that I am still competing, but, to be honest...I already was happy to not compete anymore, cuz that job would take me a lot of energy, time and responsibility. On the other hand, it would be fairly well paid and I should try it.
If it would be too bad, I could always quit it again.
I will keep you informed...

Das Lazarus Projekt

Na, der Inhalt hört sich doch interessant an:
Kleinganove wird beim Bruch erwischt, zum Tode verurteilt und hingerichtet. Nach der Hinrichtung erwacht er jedoch in einem neuen Leben und hat scheinbar ein neues Leben, eine zweite Chance bekommen.
Schöne Story, ich mag sowas. Es darf gerätselt werden, ob es sich wirklich um eine "himmlische Gabe" handelt, ob der Engel echt ist, oder ob das Ganze doch am Ende nur eine fiese, menschenverachtende Aktion ist. Na, der Titel lässt da eigentlich kaum Zweifel aufkommen. Der Film ist recht düster und eintönig verfilmt. Die Schockmomente sind rar, die Schauspieler bis auf 2 Ausnahmen blass und der sympathische Hauptdarsteller kommt eine Stunde lang mit einem einzigen Gesichtsausdruck aus.
Auch der Überrschungseffekt am Ende bleibt aus, denn nach etwa 70 Minuten wird einem schon in etwa klar was hier los ist.
Trotzdem ist es ein netter Film. Nicht mehr und nicht weniger. Jedenfalls keine Zeitverschwendung.

Deutsche Städte: Leipzig

Sie war wie eine Kirchenmaus
so arm und abgerissen.
Jetzt heißt sie Boomtown und sieht aus,
als hätt' wer Gold geschissen.

Die Shopping-Malls sind aus Saphir
und menschenleer zum Gähnen.
In hippen Bars tropft dummes Bier
aus diamantnen Hähnen.

So hat sie Stil und ihren Preis,
die dickste aller Maden:
Pro Tag frisst Leipzig ohne Scheiß
zehn West-Fantastilliarden.

Thomas Gsella

Office II

My new office is ready...but very unspectacular. I won't keep in a better memory only because of some white walls and a new grey carpet! Not even worth taking photos.

The good thing however is that I have my office for myself now. My colleague had to move to another room. What I refused to do,- he had to do now! For me it is good. I can work much faster and more correct when alone. So, it looks as if my last weeks or months in this company won't be too challenging....no big deal. The bad thing with that is that I will probably get used to this slow working days and it could
probably get hard for me to get back into any challenging job.

Office

Today, my boss threw me out. Well...it wasn't really what you may be thinking about now. He just told me to pack all my things and put the folders, phones and everything else away from my desk. On an early friday afternoon. Why? Simple - the room will be renovated. New paint on the walls and a new carpet.

I wonder why he is doing that right now?? Does he want me to keep my workplace in good memory? Or is it just to leave a good first impression on any possible job applicant??

Hope I won't find a terrible mess on monday and I hope to be able to take some pics of it!

Female Dictionary

Must I say anything to the following?? Why do esp. females send me such stuff???

Female Dictionary

Argument (ar*gyou*ment) n. A discussion that occurs when you're right, but he just hasn't realized it yet.

Bar-be-que (bar*bi*q) n. You bought the groceries, washed the lettuce, chopped the tomatoes, diced the onions, marinated the meat and cleaned everything up, but he "made the dinner."

Blonde jokes (blond joks) n. Jokes that are short so men can understand them.

Eternity (e*ter*ni*tee) n. The last two minutes of a football game.

Grocery List (grow*ser*ee list) n. What you spend half an hour writing, then forget to take with you to the store.

Hair Dresser (hare dres*er) n. Someone who is able to create a style you will never be able to duplicate again. See "Magician."

Hardware Store (hard*war stor) n. Similar to a black hole in space-if he goes in, he isn't coming out anytime soon.

Childbirth (child*brth) n. You get to go through 36 hours of contractions; he gets to hold your hand and say "focus ... breathe... push..."

Patience (pa*shens) n. The most important ingredient for dating, marriage and children. See also "tranquilizers."

Waterproof Mascara (wah*tr*pruf mas*kar*ah) n. Comes off if you cry, shower, or swim, but will not come off if you try to remove it.

Valentine's Day (val*en*tinez dae) n. A day when you have dreams of a candlelight dinner, diamonds, and romance, but consider yourself lucky to get a card

Deutsche Städte: Berlin

Sie reden viel und fehlerhaft
dank deformierter Kehle.
Sie vegetiern im eignen Saft
und halten das für Seele.

Sie können nichts und wissen nichts
und sind zu dumm zum Siezen.
Sie hoffen nichts und missen nichts
und schimmeln in den Kiezen

und sind, dem Herrgott sei's geklagt,
zu blöd zum Brötchenholen.
Wer Hauptstadt der Versager sagt,
der meint Berlin (bei Polen).

Thomas Gsella

Memorial Diamonds

Would you like to carry a beloved person with you even after that person has died? A strange question, I know, but I have heard of something that sounded unbelievable to me first. Then I visited the website (links below) and it looks somehow serious and believeable to me.

Algordanza is a company that offers a very polarizing service/product: They will produce a diamond from the ashes of a deceased person. Depending on how much ashes there is, you may decide if you wanna have a few small or one big diamond. It is said that those diamonds may have a very very light glimpse of pink or blue in it because there are micro elements in the ashes that cannot be filtered out.

What do you think of such a diamond and such a way of remembering your beloved?? Julia said: disgusting...the body or its ashes belong to the earth after someone died. As usual, I don't have an oppinion about such things. Sounds a bit weird to me and I would never do it even if I had the money...but if someone likes it, why not?! But the general question goes deeper I guess. Is it right if we manipulate the creation of human beings like that?? Or do you agree with the quote of Algordanza : »Every tradition has once started as innovation«

links:
Algordanza (english)
Algordanza (deutsch)

Righteous Kill - Kurzer Prozess

A movie starring Al Pacino AND Robert deNiro? Could it go wrong at all?? When I read about Righteous Kill I was fascinated because I like both actors very much. Yesterday finally I was able to watch that movie. Here is the story in brief:

The film begins with a scene in which the police investigator Turk seems to confess that he has killed fourteen people. In a flashback those acts are fractionally shown.
Turk and his colleague Rooster are working as police officers in New York City. They investigate a murder case and find out that there are similarities to a previous case on which they were working some years before. At that time the killer was arrested. Turk and Rooster now are suspicious if the arrested person at that time really was the killer or if it was a serial killer who is now active again.

During the new investigations it is getting more and more clear that the killer must have been a policeman. Finally Turk gets the logical target of the investigation, because he was involved in the investigations of nearly every murder case.

So much for the story. To make it short: Good actors - poor story book. There is a real surprise at the end of the film...none of us expected it to end like this. But generally there are too many stereotypes for me: the black drug dealer (50 Cent) the stupid blonde, the Macho-Latino...it is all in here!
With this setup and the good idea, it could have been a perfect movie. But all that is left in the end is the pleasure to see really cool and professional actors like Pacino and DeNiro playing theie roles with a 100%.
Nice movie to watch but nothing spectacular.

Chinese

Just saw a very entertaining movie about a young man who travelled through China for a week on his own. The film was called "Chinese for beginners" and he quoted some amusing prejudices. I have no idea if he meant it in a funny way or if there is some truth in it. Any chinese reader here?? Anyone??

What Chinese are said to do:

• they love taking a nap everywhere

• they like playing games in public

• they take over every kind of work

• they eat strange things (insects, scorpions, donkeys meat)

• they love all kinds of sweets and candy

Low low motivation

Yesterday I went to an interview for a job. It was an interesting interview in a relaxed atmosphere and I could imagine that I could have a chance to get the job. They will decide by Jan 23rd. That job would take a lot of energy and time, a lot more than my current job does. And I have to ask myself if I really want to work more hard??? I am still searching for an answer...

But since that interview went very positive for me, my motivation in my current job is even lower now than before. I have so many things to do today but I just cannot concentrate on work and feel as if everything I do, every phone call, every document is senseless and stupid.
Is that because I see that there are better jobs available? Or is it because the end of this job is in sight? Or is it simply the midlife-crisis??? This is todays second question that I cannot answer...

Good Intentions

Here it is - 2009. In Germany it is a habit for many people to make plans for the new year. Plans for changing habits in any way. To quit smoking, to do more sports, to lose weight and to generally life more healthier etc etc etc.

In my gym it will be interesting to see the (more or less) progress people will be making. There are a lot of new members now and they all will constantly and frequently do their exercises in January. In February the frequency will be lower and latest from March on you won't see most of them again.
I bet, the same goes for all the other good intentions. Prove me I am wrong!!!

I have some plans and intentions for 2009 but I cannot tell them to anyone. My wife says it won't become reality if I speak about it...
But you...you may have other habits. Tell me about it. Any good intentions for this year???

Neujahrsschlidderei

Wann war es das letzte Mal das die überfluteten Wiesen zu Neujahr so zugefroren waren?
Gestern war es wieder soweit. Auf dem Weg zum traditionellen Neujahrs-Spaziergang im Bremer Bürgerpark haben wir die zugefrorenen Brokhuchtinger Wiesen entdeckt sind umgekehrt und mit Schlittschuhen zurückgekehrt.
1,5 Stunden haben Julia und JJ gelaufen und JJ konnte zum Schluß ganz alleine laufen! Das war ein würdiger Neujahrsanfang, auch ohne Rundgang im Bürgerpark. Hat Spaß gemacht!

Noch mehr Fotos hier

Deutsche Städte: Minden

Vor mir sah'n Fremde sie noch nie.
Ich sag: Es würd' sich lohnen!
Zwar treffen sie oft nicht mal die,
die Jahre in ihr wohnen -

Sie finden morgens halbwegs raus
und abends nicht zurück
und bauen sich ein neues Haus
im nahen Osnabrück -

Doch gibt es einen Weg hinein!
Am Ortseingang zwei Linden,
und auf der zweiten, winzig klein,
ein Schild: "Ortsausgang Minden".

Thomas Gsella

Logic and the English Language

Have you ever wondered why foreigners have trouble with the English Language? Have you ever wondered why I am having so much trouble with writing my posts in English? My friend Carla (thank you!!!) found out why:

Let's face it,
English is a stupid language.
There is no egg in the eggplant
No ham in the hamburger
And neither pine nor apple in the pineapple.

English muffins were not invented in England.
French fries were not invented in France.
We sometimes take English for granted
But if we examine its paradoxes we find that
Quicksand takes you down slowly
Boxing rings are square
And a guinea pig is neither from
Guinea nor is it a pig.

If writers write, how come fingers don't fing.
If the plural of tooth is teeth
Shouldn't the plural of phone booth be phone beeth
If the teacher taught,
Why didn't the preacher praught.
If a vegetarian eats vegetables
What the heck does a humanitarian eat!?

Why do people recite at a play
Yet play at a recital?
Park on driveways and
Drive on parkways
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy
Of a language where a house can burn up as
It burns down
And in which you fill in a form
By filling it out
And a bell is only heard once it goes!

English was invented by people, not computers
And it reflects the creativity of the human race
(Which of course isn't a race at all)
That is why
When the stars are out they are visible
But when the lights are out they are invisible
And why it is that when I wind up my watch
It starts
But when I wind up this observation
It ends.