Winter Wonderland ........... no more

It's been a week in Germany now and Christmas is approaching fast.
But, it probably won't be a white Christmas. Last week, with temperatures
in the teens and a nice coat of white powder covering everything, it was
quite fun to walk the city. But now, everything has turned into slush or
disappeared altogether, so we will probably have a green Christmas
after all. Ah well, I guess we have to get used to climate change.
Other than that, the trip has been quite fun so far. I visited friends and
family and we already had our annual 'Doppelkopf' get together, although
the winner could not be determined, due to alcohol related calculation
errors. Doesn't matter really.
I will spend Christmas here in Warburg, and then head down to
Donaueschingen to visit Thomas, Michaela, and Soeren. It's a long way
down, since Donaueschingen sits at the corner of the Black Forrest.
It'll make for a long train ride for sure.

Travel can be easy at times

Traveling can be easy at times and this trip certainly qualifies.
When I got to my seat in the plane I realized that NWA obviously doesn't
believe in seating families together. Kids were crying, mothers in panic
because the offspring would sit a row away. It all worked out and in the
end I ended up with an empty seat next to me. Alright! The flight was
boring as usual, the food was subpar, but at least they had individual
TV's so I could choose the movie to watch.
We landed in Frankfurt on time and I got lucky to catch a train to
Warburg with only a couple of minutes of wait. I had to switch trains
in Kassel and about 30min before the connecting train. So, I stopped in
a bakery and treated myself to a Mohnstrietzel and a coffee. Ahhhhh good.
All in all, I was at my Mom's just in time for lunch. Overall a pretty
good trip. I still wish they would finally invent 'beaming' technology,
so I wouldn't have to spend a day traveling.
But, I am here now and it is time to relax and enjoy my vacation.

On the road again.

It's just about Christmas time and that usually means that I am
blogging from an airport, on my way to Germany.
I am sitting here at Detroit airport, all checked in and waiting for
my flight. I just noticed, that I really didn't do much traveling this year.
Usually, I would fly at least a 3-4 times a year, but this year, the trip to
Mexico was basically it.
I finished my Japanese lunch, Miso soup and Agadashi Tofu, and there
is nothing else to do than wait........ And write a blog entry of course.
The weather looks travelable, light snow and grey skies. Since it is
a direct flight to Frankfurt, I won't have to worry about catching
a connection. CNN is blasting in the background, mostly stuff that
is not newsworthy. I am still thinking that I have forgotten something
or what to do at work. It will probably take a couple of days and some
German beer to forget all that and go into vacation mode.

Back on track.....

I read that the CERN particle collider is back on-line and ready to
create tiny black holes. I found this cool animation to show what is
going to happen, when the earth is consumed by a black hole.
We'll see what will happen. Maybe we all get transformed into a whole
new universe.

Off again - on again - off again

I just read that GM has decided
to keep Opel. Not a real big
surprise. I thought they were close
to call off the deal with Magna
months ago, but they didn't want
to embarrass the German
government close to the election.
The terms of the sale didn't make much sense
for GM in the first place. They'd give up the brand
that actually has a compact car line and they also
would have transferred technology and market share
to a Russian manufacturer.
But, the way this story is going, GM can change their mind again.
It seems the GM board is picking flowers over this:
"Keep Opel - Sell Opel - Keep Opel - Sell Opel - Keep Opel"
I am interested in the story mostly, because I come from an
'Opel' family and I also work with GM here in the States.

Movie Update:
I saw "Law Abiding Citizen". Typical 'Father-is-on-a-revenge-killing-spree-
because-his family-got-killed". Nothing special, really, and the plot and motive
had a bunch of logical errors, so I'll give it 2.5/5 stars.

Class of '09 - Wear Sunscreen

... Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’09
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be
it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by
scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable
than my own meandering experience…

Anybody remember this little song? I wish I had last Saturday.
We were playing a volleyball tourney starting in the morning and the
weather was great. Sunshine, a bit chilly, but ideal for playing.
We played a bunch of games and the day went by fast. When I left
I could feel the sunburn and when I looked in the mirror at home I
stared at a tomato head. Ouch.
So, PLEASE take the advise: WEAR SUNSCREEN!!


Movie Update:
I saw "The Informant!" last week. I'd give the movie a solid 3.5 stars,
mainly because I liked the story, acting, and dry humor.

It's football time.

That's right. Football is getting close. Finally, a sport I like to watch on
TV. Soccer in Germany started as well, but my team, Bayern Munich,
has an awful start so far, so I am hoping the GB Packers are going to
do better. I also joined a fantasy league at work, so that should be fun
as well. Couple of thoughts on football related issues:
Packers: My favorite team is looking good so far
and I hope they are going to be better than
last year, especially on defense.
Lions: I am surprised the people of Detroit
actually still routing for the team.
It doesn't seem that they have improved greatly.
Bret Favre: I think the Vikings made a
mistake to bring him back, but hopefully the
Packers will profit from that.
So, yeah, let those INTs rolls.
Michael Vick: Let the guy play already. He paid his dues.

So, welcome back NFL. Can't wait for the first kickoff.