Beer Fas, lets have a kegger!

We are starting to gear up for the big party tomorrow. I had to stop at the alcoholmarkt today to pick up the 20 liter keg I reserved. I must have looked kind of funny walking down the street with it I assume.

We don't have a car so I had to find the next best way to get the keg home. Since the store was about 4 blocks I figured I might somehow use the small shopping cart that we use for grocery shopping.

Sure enough the shopping cart and a bungee cord seemed to do the trick. The guy at the store gave me a funny look as I started the strap the small keg to my cart. But, whatever, it worked, I made it home, and now it is in my basement sitting in a cool place on ice.

Speaking of cool places I also bought some ice. I can't believe the price of ice. I paid 8.24 USD for a 11 pound bag of ice ( 5 kg). I seem to remember a 10 pound bag in the US costing under 2 dollars. if my memory is correct I really feel ripped-off. Unfortunately I had no choice but to buy ice since my freezer is about the size of a shoe box, and there is no way I could make, or store enough ice in my freezer for a party. The worst part is I had to buy 3 bags to keep the beer cool until tomorrow. Ugghhhhh!

X Files and MacGyver

I've been on a TV kick lately. The last couple of nights I've been getting my fill of MacGyver and the X files. I just realized I'm on the last disc of MacGyver season 2, I think it is time to put in an order at Amazon.

Speaking of MacGyver, I had a MacGyver moment this weekend. As I mentioned we hit the sales at Ikea and one of the things I had bought were some speaker stands for my surround sound stereo. The stands were 1 swiss franc each so I couldn't resist getting a set of four.

The only problem was, when I got them home I didn't have a way to connect the speakers to the top of the speaker stands. I thought I might be able to use Velcro but I couldn't find what I was looking for at the Manor department store so I had to revert to plan B.

At about the same time I was changing out the inner tubes on an old bike tire and I thought that I might be able to cut the tub into sections to secure the speakers on the stand. A few minutes later I had all four speakers securely fastened to the speaker stands.

My wife said it looked like I attached the speakers with dirty socks. I can't really disagree with her, but when did MacGyver's fixes ever look good? It isn't about the aesthetics, its about the functionality. (At least that is what I am telling myself for now).

Gearing up For 1 August

We are preparing for a party on 1 August. The national holiday in Switzerland. We tried to have a party last year but it didn't quite work out. We had all the food, and drinks but no friends.

This year will be much different. We have over 20 people confirmed to attend and it should be a great time. Because we have so many people I actually ordered a keg from the local brewery. Some of my friends are already making fun of me. Some Americans mentioned they are headed to the local hardware store to build a beer bong for the event. Yeah, back to college I guess, but with so many people I just thought it would be easier to lug one keg of beer instead of 5 cases of beer.

Fireworks are scheduled to start over the castle around 10:00 pm. As we have to work the next day I don't expect too many people to stay much past the end of the show, but we'll see you never know.

Swimming to Better Sleep

A little over a week ago someone challenged me to join them to participate in a short triathlon. The guy that challenged me did it only because his intention was to participate in the triathlon as a team and he was trying to recruit 2 others to join him to complete his squad.

After talking to him, he declared that he was doing the bike, and needed a swimmer and a runner. Of the three sports biking is definitely my strong point, running is second. When it comes to swimming I think I am about as graceful as a whale.

Knowing full well that it would be easier to recruit a swimmer than a runner I think I might take the offer to join the team as the 'swimmer'.

I have another week or two to decide because the guy is currently on vacation and we agreed we would discuss registration when he gets back. The race is Sept 2nd.

I have actually started training a bit just in case we do sign up. I noticed that I do much more exercising if I have a goal to reach like a race. This potential event has already done wonders for my exercising.

In the past week I have been to the pool four times, every other day. I have read a couple of articles on swimming technique and training since I know absolutely nothing about it. Believe it or not I can actually see some progress with only four sessions at the pool.

One added benefit that I didn't even think about is improved sleep. Between the new curtains be got over the weekend that really darken the bedroom and the exercise, I have really seen an improvement in my sleep pattern the last week. I even accidentally overslept by an hour on Monday and got to work a little later than I would have liked too. From me, that is a very rare but welcomed problem to have.

Construction Zone

For the past two hours I have been working on putting up some hardware from Ikea. We have been contemplating what to hang in a long hall way we have that goes from the living room to the bedrooms and finally made a decision. We decided to hang up two Dignetets from Ikea.

In the store they displayed these two wires with photos hanging from them. We decided to do the same thing to create a sort of gallery where I can hang some of my photographs in 8x10 or 8x12 format. Both wires run 8 feet along the wall, one at 79 inches high and the other at 59 inches high. This should allow me to hang my 8x12 formated pictures in either a landscape or portrait orientation with about a 1 to 2 inch black mat around them.

I just put in a big order of 8x10 prints from MPIX, my favorite online photo printing service. As soon as I get them I'll have to start experimenting with matting. I like to cut my own mats, but I haven't yet found a place that sells them here is Switzerland. I guess that will be my adventure this weekend.

Suits & Ties in a Dorm Lounge

When I was traveling on business last week, I was traveling with a co-worker that had done a fair bit of flying in his earlier years. As a result he still maintained his status as a gold, or platinum or some other metallic status in the airport lounge.

With his status he was able to invite others in with him. To my benefit we visited the VIP lounge. I didn't quite know what to expect, but needless to say I wasn't that impressed.

Inside, the highlight was that all the food and drinks were free. Coke, chips, candy, all free. There was also a bar style rack of upside down whiskey bottles for you to select your poison, again for free.

The room was filled with worn, heavily used leather chairs with small end tables and TVs. There were newspapers and candy wrappers, and peanuts ground into the carpets. Furniture was moved around into little groups where people were chatting and it was not always 'in its place.'

To me, it resembled a college dorm lounge. The only difference was everybody was wearing suits and ties. Maybe, in essence the VIP lounge at the airport is really a secluded island frat house. No wives, not friends, no responsibility. Do what you want, make a mess, and leave.

Zuri Fest

A week ago Zürich celebrated with its Züri-Fest. A weekend long street fest that is highlighted by two nights of fireworks. Although we had heard that it would be wall-to-wall people on the lake front for the fireworks we decided to head down just to see what we could, and we decided that if we got close enough to the water front we might stick around for the 10:30 pm fireworks.

The city was packed. But, we managed to find a nice spot along the Limmat river about 9:30 so we decided we would stick around for the show.

As it got darker and darker we noticed that something strange was going on with Grossmunster church. It was changing colors. As it got darker and darker saw that somehow someone was projecting advertising and art of the church. It was pretty interesting however I don't know how I felt about reading adds for a newspaper on Grossmunster, that was kind of bizzare.

The fireworks were nice. They were timed to a musical score that consisted of about 80% English language music, most of it American of course. Par for the course when you talk about Swiss music selection.

Declan's German Flashcards for Berliner Platz A1 Course

I have posted before about a software package called Declan's German Flashcards that I use for practicing my German. You can create you own flashcard lists and export them from the software. I have used this package regularly to practice my German.

Since I have been created my own vocabulary lists associated wtih the Berliner Platz A1 learning program by Langenscheidt I figured I might post some of my files for others to benefit from.

Berliner Platz A1 Duetsch im Alltag für Erwachsene Teil 2

Chapter8.xfl
Chapter9.xfl
Chapter15.xfl

I have files through Chapter 15 I will post more if I see that anyone finds these useful.

Bowling in the Motherland

I just returned from a business trip this evening and boy and I tired. Business travel can be exhausting at times. I'm glad I don't have to do it too often.

I was actually in Warsaw for a few days to visit some co-workers of mine. One evening we did a team event at the local bowling alley. I'm happy to report that the bowling in Poland is no different than anywhere else except with the exception that I was able to order a nice portion of mushroom pierogi to go with my beer.

I didn't bowl too bad. I started off bowling a 147 and then it was a little downhill after a few beers and a few mojitos. One of the guys had never bowled before. He did much better than I thought he would. By the end of the night he was evening rolling and occasional spare.

At one point I was talking with a cab driver who spoke very good English and we were talking about housing prices. I had wrongly assumed that the price of housing in the suburbs of Poland would be cheap. He was telling us that a 150 square meter (1600 sq ft) home about 12 km outside of the city would sell for about 1,000,000 Euro (1.3 M USD). I was shocked. That is incredible.

Schwingen in Adult Diapers

Women's Schwingen Match

This weekend we got a special treat when we visited the alps. There just happened to be a womens schwingen festival at the ski area we had chosen to hike. Schwingen is the Swiss version of wrestling. It is something I had heard about many times but had not actually seen in person.



The match is conducted in a saw dust ring and participants wear what look like burlap shorts over their clothes. You are allowed to lift and throw your opponent only by grabbing the funny looking shorts.

A fight is won when the winner holds the opponent's pants with at least one hand and both the opponent's shoulders touch the ground. By tradition the winner brushes the saw dust off the loser's back after the fight. (more here)

It was really a great spectator sport. Everyone was gathered around the ring at picnic tables drinking beer while the PA system was blaring traditional Swiss music.

In June there is a schwingen meet not far from Baden in Baldegg. We missed it this year because we were in Hungary. Next year I'll be sure to be in town.

Haus Fraus

Last night I came home from work to a big surprise. My wife and her aunt had made a huge raclette dinner. I was expecting raclette but noy to the shear magnitude of this spread.

I joked that I enjoyed having two Haus Fraus instead of one.

Usually when it is just my wife and I were are very indecisive about picking out a dinner meal. It is always last minute and rushed, but usually good. Planning is an after thought. It tends to be, look in the fridge, find a couple of vegetables and maybe some meat, and try to think what we can make with the often bizarre combination.

We did try something new on the raclette grill. Plum tomatoes topped with some raclette cheese, then on top of that a slice or two of hot red peppers garnished with a few fresh herbs from our garden. It was very good, although I didn't expected to the hot peppers to have the kick they did.

The Wet Woods

Mushrooms on a Decaying Log

It has been a very wet two weeks here in Switzerland. Yesterday was my first opportunity in a while to get out and enjoy normal summer like weather.

We have guest here from the US with staying with us, my wifes aunt. Since she is such an outdoors enthusiast we thought it would be a good idea to go for a hike in the local forest.

As a result of all of the rain and slightly cooler temperatures there seemed to be more mushrooms and than normal. The moss also seemed to have an extra green glow lately.

Today we are off to the Alps to Flumserberg to do some hiking a little higher elevation. It should be fun but I'm sure I'll be tired when we return.

Follow Up on Car Sharing

I wrote a few weeks back about my experience signing up for car sharing but I don't think I really talked much about the actual first drive. From the reservation to getting the car, to returning home, I found my first experience to be generally positive.

The mobility.ch website for reservation was relatively intuitive. I could select classes of vehicles and time ranges and view availability. On problem I had with the reservation process was there there were actually two types of 'comfort' vehicles at our local depot. a Honda civic hybrid and one that looked more like a small mini van. Since I was getting the car to transport some larger items I was hoping to get the small mini van but the website would only allow me to select the type of vehicle and not the specific vehicle. This meant, at the end of the day I was forced to accept the Honda civic and I never knew if the mini van was available.

The day of the reservation I made the short 10 minute walk to the parking lot and waved by RFID card over the windshield and the doors unlocked and In I got. I started the car right up with the keys from the glovebox and away I went.

Most of the driving was uneventful expect when I parked at my friends place to pick up some chairs. I had left the car without locking it with the RFID card. After a 30 minute stop to load the car with the chairs we got back in and I tried to start the car. The on board mobility dashboard computer lit up and told me that I didn't have a reservation. I was in fear that I was stuck in the middle of nowhere with this car with no way to start it.

I took a lesson from IT and decided to 'reboot'. I asked my friend to get out. I locked the car with the RFID card and then started all over and all of a sudden I had my reservation back.

The only other trouble spot I had was getting gas. Technically I was supposed to get gas as the tank was less than a third full. In the vehicle, mobility provides a gas card with an ever changing PIN. When you take the card out of the dashboard computer it displays a new PIN code to use. I thought it would be easy enough to get gas, but this was my first time at a gas station in Europe and the pumps don't appear to be pay-at-the-pump like the US. I didn't feel like hassling with all that so I have to admit I drove the car back to the lot and left it with less than a third of a tank for someone else to worry about.

Towers of Hanoi - Jungend Fest

Climbing the Beer Crates

This week is Jungend Fest in Baden (Children's Celebration). This evening when I came home from work I noticed the fire department was running some kind of event that looked like nothing I had ever seen before so I figured I would stop and watch for a bit.



The fire department setup a crane, and next to the crane children were harnessed in and allowed to build these enormous towers of beer crates. As the tower got taller and taller the fire men would lift additional crates up to the children via a rope and pulley.

As the child would get the next crate delivered to them they would unhook it from the rope, add it to the pile and then take one more step up. If I wasn't quite so old, I think I would have probably liked to have given it a try.

As each crate was added to the pile the child also had to clip the crate to a long rope running from the top of the crane that was tied to a wooden pallet just under the pile. With the crates clipped in to this rope 'pole' the finale was a little more controlled than crates and children flying everywhere.


It was really a neat activity for the kids and it looked like a ton of fun. I can't imagine such an event every being run in the US for safety reasons. And, don't worry all the kids were safe, they were all harnessed in so they didn't fall more than a few inches when the pile of plastic crates would start to fall.

4th of July Tradition

Our Swiss fourth of July tradition has been maintained for the second year in a row. We made the pilgrimage to the MacDonanlds down the street. In a land of all things Swiss the MacDonalds is one of the only vestiges of Americana around.

I order my standard Big Mac meal (Plus sized). Here plus size means they give you a medium fry and medium drink instead of a small. My wife ordered a small hamburger, no drink. Total cost 14.80 CHF ( 12.17 USD).

Unbelievable. I guess for the holiday it was worth it.

It somebodies birthday in the office on the 4th so there was a cake. One of my co-workers had asked if I had a chance to have some 4th of July cake. I had a laugh at that. But at least someone remembered.

I make it a case to try to wish my co workers happy national holidays for their respective home lands. I have found that on Google calendar you can import holidays from various countries. It works quite nicely for that.

Hungarian Communists

Soviet Soldier Statue, Monument Park

During the final days of communism in Hungary someone had the historic sense to ensure that all of the statues and public monuments in the major Budapest public squares were saved. Today you can visit many of these communist era mementos in a small park outside of the city.

The park itself is small but some of the statues are gigantic. The statue of the worker shown here is actually about 10 meters tall (30 feet) We took a few pictures sitting on his front foot and our heads came up to his mid-calf. The size is probably hard to judge from the photo.

There was also the ever present Lenin. Raising his hand toward the surrounding industrial areas. The park itself seems to be in the middle of nowhere which in a sense seems to be fitting for these relics of the past. I was almost underwhelmed by the exhibit. I expected so much more from these communist era monuments, and yet, there were just collecting dust in some field somewhere. It was really surreal.

It is just amazing that someone had the sense to collect all this memorabilia and put it away out of reach for historical purposes. So many of these statues could have been easily destroyed I would have imagined.

I think future generations will have little to worry about though. These relics will be around for generations, thanks to Don, the fearless, Soviet memorial security guy.

Public Baths Rick Steves Style

My wife has become obsessed with Rick Steves. She is currently talking about using some of her saved up Amazon points to buy the entire collection of all 70 Rick Steves European episodes.

Although Rick is a little dorky if you haven't seen his shows, his tips and travel books are good. We happen to currently own Rick's Eastern Europe DVD, and my wife tends to put it on just before we travel to one of the cities on the DVD. This was useful for both Warsaw, Budapest, and Prague.

One of Rick's recommendations for Budapest was the public baths. It is quite amazing the differences between public pools in the US and Europe. As you can see from the picture, the Széchényi bath isn't exactly your typical YMCA.

Although I didn't take any photos on the inside I found a good picture here that will give you and idea of what it looks like.

The various pools have different temperatures. The hotter pools are 40 C (over 100 F). There are also indoor facilities and saunas, so naturally it is open year round.

Although we have been to many spas in Switzerland and know the basic maneuvers to get around every place has its own procedures. This bath was so large that there was no clear way to navigate the dressing rooms. We must of looked like lost tourists because at every turn someone was pointing (and usually speaking in Hungarian) to the direction we should go.

It was a great place to spend an afternoon if you want to change the pace of your travel and really relax a bit.