Happy Birthday: To My Blog

I was looking back at the past posts on my blog this past week, taking a virtual stroll down memory lane if you will. Quite quickly I noticed that I was coming up on the 'Birthday' of the start of this blog.

I can't believe it, but my blog turns 2 today. I am surprised I have lasted this long to be honest. I never thought of myself as a 'writer' but I admit, I do enjoy sitting down for a few minutes every couple of days adn banging out a couple of paragraphs on my thoughts.

I wonder what I might be able to do if I really applied myself to my writing skills. That would be interesting. I don't really know what I would write about, other than myself. I seem to have a lot of knowledge on the topic of Me. So I guess that is one reason this entire blog thing has worked out.

So happy birthday to my blog, here is a link to my first post. Oh, and by the way, happy birthday to my most devoted fan, my Mother-In-Law (who I hear checks my blog no fewer than 2 times a day).

The Perfrect London Photo: Almost

To some degree you can set yourself up for success when taking travel photos. You know where the classic icons are. You know which side will be best illuminated by the sun and when. The weather is one potential cause for mishap. But, there can always be that something.

When I saw this image as a thumbnail I thought I had hit the jackpot on the postcard shot. Big Ben, A double decker bus, and the London Eye in the background. Perfect!

Ahh, but not quite. A closer look reveals a soft spot on the face of Big Ben. A rain drop hit my lens and blurred a small portion of the tower. Not meant to be I guess. Unfortunately the entire series from this spot was ruined by this drop of rain on the lens. I just didn't notice it. I still like the picture though, so for what its worth I'll still enjoy it.

Lesson learned, next time I am shooting in light rain, check the lens every once in a while.

Black Snot

I spent a week in London in 2004 I believe it was. We visited a friend there that was working as a teacher on a US/UK exchange program. We also went for my wife's work. She had an event in London so at the time it was a good excuse to go for a long trip across the pond.

This time around I had a few events that reminded me of that last trip. Mainly blowing my nose. Now how could blowing ones nose remind you of a past trip to a place? One simple answer. Black snot.

Yes it is gross, and it is not the typical memory that one wants to take away from a place but it explains quite a bit about British culture. Do you question that the world is polluted? Just blow your nose for proof. The British governments stance on global warming and reducing carbon emmissions now make sense. If the government officials 'see' the tangible affects of pollution every time they reach for their kleenex they obviously have a personal interest in cleaning things up.

Maybe we need to send a few US goverment officials to London for a day or two and let them see what happens. That might give them a little more reason to make some changes in their own policies.

English Breakfast

I woke up to a English breakfast this morning. Scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, sausage and coffee. Considering I am in central London I guess that is not a surprise. I am here for 3 days of training.

I have expereinced a lot of sausage across Europe, but I have to say, the breakfast sausage in England is probably the most palatable. It tastes very similar to the breakfast sausages we have in the US. Thinking about this I wonder how much of the taste of American breakfast sausage is related to its potential direct decendant the English breakfast sausage. If there is a close historical tie that would explain my taste predisposition.

I am staying in central London not far from a University. Yesterday evening I noticed a bunch of Indian resturants on the campus as I was walking around so tonight I decided to head back in that direction to see what I could find. I found a small resturant next to a few residence halls and had a decent meal. On the way home I was walking past a few of the dorms looking in the windows. The sight of the cinder block walls and the heavy wooden doors brought back memories of my own college experience.

The cheap tacky posters, the three quarters drunk bottle of vodka on the window sill as a trophy of some kind of 'personal record' from last weekend. The greenish hue of the florecent lights. It was strange to be on a campus again. Part of me wanted to go back and enjoy that carefree lifestyle. The sensible part of me said 'What the heck are you thinking?!, how can living in a 10 X 10 foot prison cell be any fun.'

Alas I have tasted the fruits of the materialistic society and I have to admit I do enjoy having a paycheck.

CNN is Terrible: How 'Godzilla' led to 'Cloverfield'

I opened my RSS feeds today to read the headline 'Godzilla inspired Cloverfield'. Within 10 minutes the headline had changed to something else just as bad. Did the editors realize this was the crappiest, most non-newsworthy story I have seen in weeks?

This is not news, this is an obvious statement about how past pop culture is affecting the pop culture of today. The 'news' article, and I use the term loosely goes on to quote the producer J.J. Abrams that he went to Japan, saw lots of Godzilla stuff, and figured he should make a similar monster movie.

Is it coincidence that the Cloverfield DVD release is this week. I think not. Looking again it seems that the story was just dropped from the home page after a little over 3 hours and 40 minutes. What does this say about our obvious need for a constant news feed of the latest and greatest 'news'.

Let see, other recent CNN stories that really stink.

• Martha Stewart'ss dog dies
• Woman Stuck to toilet (Stupid, but I have to admin entertaining)
• Johnny Depp: US is like a stupid puppy

Who cares about Martha's dog? Why do I care about any quote other than a movie line that comes out of Johnny Depps mouth?

I clearly need to get over my CNN addiction and need to find a better sources of 'news'

Power Nap

Heard of Cows Near Erhindigen

Today I tested the new hill I had been looking at on the topographical maps to add a bit of additional climb to my training work out.

I attached the new climb to the end of a 20 km loop that usually takes me about and hour and 15 minutes to complete. Three hours later, I was totally decimated. What I didn't realize is that from the direction I chose to climb the hill there was a lot of up and down on the way to the top. I would bet I rode more than double the ascent that I was planning.

At one point in the climb I came into a small valley filled with Swiss cows munching away. They all of course had their trademarked bells around their necks. There is something really erie about the sound of 100 bells clanging away in a Swiss valley. It is really something neat to hear and I was surprised to find it so close to where I am living. Until now I had only heard that sound when I was closer to the alps. I was glad I had thrown a camera in my bag. I managed to grab a few pictures on the way up the hill while I was taking a much needed rest.

All in all the ride was good and I made it to the top in once piece. I had a great ride down the hill, I am pretty sure I was probably coasting around 35 mph at some points.

I got home, had a wonderful lunch thanks to my wifes cooking and then took a 45 minute power nap. I was totally out, my wife woke me up asking me if I wanted to plan our next trip. I don't think she realize how hard I was sleeping. Even thought it was only about a 45 minute nap I was dreaming about something. I can't remember what exactly it was, but I had a feeling of disappointment when my wife woke me. Not that I was disappointed in the dream per say, but just that I wanted to get to the end of whatever I was dreaming about.

So after that we starting looking into our travel details for the trip to Norway for the race. It looks like we will get in a lot of outdoors stuff. Including a ferry trip through the Fjords which is something I've always wanted to see. We have a couple of cities planned for the tour and I am trying to finalize a few dates to meet a friend. Once we have those dates we'll be able to start getting the tickets I suppose.

Swiss Don't Know How To Use the Web

I have complained about how the Swiss use websites and I'll do it again today because it drives me crazy. It is that time of the year when we have to reapply for or working and living permit. As a guest of the country we have to submit paperwork with the city once a year. There is usually no reason to be rejected but there is a bit of formality involved in turning in you papers.

The Rathaus, city hall, is open strange hours and not always easily accessible for those of us have day jobs. This means I usually have to take some time off work to make the special trip. This isn't too big of a deal since the city hall is about a 2 minute walk from my apartment.

Since I like to take care of city business in the morning I thought I would check the city website and see if I couldn't find the office hours. No such luck. The website has no information at all about the office hours. I couldn't even find an address for the Rathaus on the website. There are e-mail address for just about every individual that seems to be working there but they can't seem to manage to put something as simple as when the darn office is open on their site.

But you know what, they did post a link to funerary services on the city website. I guess that makes up for lack of posting information that might actually be useful to the living.

Germann World: Nashornkuh, Nashornalk

I recently found a new favorite German word in the newspaper.

Nashornkuh (CH German)

If you break it down, it is actually a composite made of three shorter words

Nase: Nose
Horn: Horn
Kuh: Cow

So what on earth is a 'nose horn cow'? It is a Rhinoceros of course!

High German speakers may be familiar with a slightly different from of the word like Nashornalk.

Training Update

I haven't posted much about my training regime lately so it is time for an update. Despite my travels lately I've kept up the strong work. I just went for another ride this evening. For the past two weeks I've been training on a short ascent. It is about a 250 meter change in elevation over about 3.5 miles. Remember that the distance I will have to climb in the race is 1500 meters (4900 feet).

I am still a long way off but I can tell I am getting stronger. Of the 3 front chain rings I no longer have to use the smallest (Granny Gear) when climbing. I can make it to the top in '2nd' which is a sure sign of progress. I've also shaved about 10 minutes off of my time to complete the training circuit.

This evening I was on Google maps using the terrain feature to try to find the next hill to work with. I wanted something that would add about 100 meters of vertical elevation change. I found a hill across the valley that should do the trick. I think I will plan to try a new climb over the weekend. That should take me to about 350 meters (1148 feet) of ascent.

If that climb works out I'll be at about 20% of the total climb for the race. I think that is a good place to be. My goal is to be comfortable at riding about 70% of the total climb for race day. The last 30% I'll have to use my will power to overcome.

Over the weekend I bought a travel book on Norway. I hope that it will help me start my planning. I am really getting excited about the trip. My friend that is planning to ride the race with me sent me an 'inspirational' video showing clips from the past races. I am not quite sure about the background music choice. lyrics like 'out of my mind' and 'We can cry the pain away' surely don't make me feel like this is exactly a great idea but I need to keep going for a goal.

Another Photo

I was going through more of my photos last night. I really like the composition and color in this one. I think the crossing stems draw the eye nicely through the photograph.

Holy Hyacinth Batman, Thats A Lot Of Tulips!

Bulb fields outside of Amsterdam, Netherlands

This past weekend we made a trip to Amsterdam. The intention of going at this time of year was to see the tulip fields. And wow was it amazing! I can't even begin to put into words what it is like to see soooooo much color at once. I am used to rows and rows of green corn, or brown wheat but seeing vast expanses of amazingly bright color was something that I don't think I had any idea of what it would be like of until I saw it with my own eyes.



We saw the tulips in two different ways. One part of the day we rented two bikes and rode through the fields. At a few points we stopped and took pictures. I wish I could put into words what acres upon acres of hyacinths smell like. But again, I am speechless. You just have to smell it with your own nose.




The other part of the day we spent at the Keukenhof spring garden. Keukenhof bills itself as the most photographed garden in the world. The garden in only open for 2 months of the year and is dominated by bulbs. After the early spring plants fade away I am sure there is nothing left. However, for those two months it seems to me like it is quite possibly the most vibrant, colorful garden I will ever experience in my life.

The pictures do not justify the beauty. Although it is truly am impressive sight, the only downfall are the crowds. It seems like every tourist in the world must descend on this place for the 8 weeks that the garden is open. The crowds were enormous, but it was still worth it.

As soon as we walked into the place I felt like I had died and gone to photographers heaven. The possibilities were endless. Everywhere I turned there was some other 'Photographer' with his professional gear setting up to capture that perfect shot. I felt like a member of the club. It was kind of neat to be surrounded by others that also must hear the constant comments from their significant others, 'Haven't you taken enough pictures of that thing, lets move on already.' In all honestly my wife was super, she let me play all day and take a million photos with a peep.

I can already tell from a quick look through all the images I captured it is going to a a fun couple of weeks organizing my latest treasures. What a great trip!

Whats Burning? Is That A Broiler Or A Microwave?

Although we've been here almost 20 months now it amazes me that I am still learning things about my everyday surroundings. Case it point, the microwave. We had an experience a couple of weeks that raised the hair on the back of my neck for a bit.

The one thing about appliances and there associated manuals is that there are a lot of buttons with strange symbols, and directions that you just don't understand. Our microwave, oven, dishwasher, and washing machine all of buttons that I can't tell you what they do. A Squiggle here, some slanted lines there, I have not idea what these symbols are. The symbols themselves are in the America cultural language.

So back to my microwave. There are a couple of what I'll call 'no brainer' buttons. Pictures of plates of food, fish, chicken etc. I have been using the defrost button for months. It has worked faithfully. Put in the food, enter the weight in grams and let it go.

Well I got experimental a few weeks ago thinking I had a command of the appliance and used one of the buttons I am not used to using. I think it was the potato button actually.

So this boils down to the fact that I have never used buttons 9 through 15 (in the photo) until I was trying to cook some potatoes. If you notice the very thin column to the right of buttons you'll notice a set of upside down triangles and wavey lines. These same symbols are under the time buttons.

I started cooking my potatoes (200 grams of them) and about 3 minutes into the cooking I smelled something. It smelled like something was burning. Not like plastic melting or that kind of microwave burning, but rather kind of like something burning in an oven. I ran to the microwave to stop it and opened the door to the microwave to find the top inside of the microwave was glowing red hot.

What could have happened, did something burn out? After a closer look I realized the glowing hot metal was actually what looked like a broiler element. Then in dawned on me. Those upside down triangle symbols are the same symbols on my oven for switching on the broiler. The wavy lines represent standard microwave cooking.

It only took me a year a half and a close call with a kitchen fire to find out that my microwave doubles as a toaster oven. Go figure. You learn something new everyday.

Stein Am Rhein Day Trip

Flower Shop in the city of Stein am Rhein

On Saturday we took a day trip with a friend to Stein am Rhein. The small Swiss town is on the Rhein about 1.5 hours from Baden by train. My wife had heard a lot of pleasant things about the city and since we had a guest it seemed like a good option for a day trip.

The city center was similar to other old town centers with the classic row houses with wood and stucco facades (similar to tudor style) architecture. One of the highlights of the city center were the decorative paintings on the facades of the buildings near the city hall.

The old town was littered with small planters with blooming daffodils and other early spring flowers. It is a little early for tourists so we had most of the town to ourselves which was very nice.

We also stopped at a small Kloster Museum to visit an old monastery. It was relatively inexpensive at 4 francs for adults and 2 francs for our student friend. There wasn't much to see inside the museum in terms of exhibits, but they gave you full reign of the buildings. We were free to walk around and see all the rooms. The rooms were well preserved and it was neat to be able to wander the halls. The place almost had a sense that everyone just picked up and left on day, which is usually not the feeling you get in such buildings. The entrance fee was well worth the price and 30 minutes to an hour is all you need.

I think one interesting point of the day was German language. Our visitor is currently working in Germany in a small University town between Frankfurt and Mannheim. She speaks German much better than we do seeing as she has been study it since high school. However, when she visits us we have a clear advantage because we have some understanding of the Swiss German language. Our guest has been constantly asking "what is he saying?"

Some examples (Don't grade me on my spelling)

Good Day

• High German: Gutten Tag
• Swiss German: Grüzie

Enjoy Your Meal

• High German: Gutten Apetit
• Swiss German: En Gute
  

Good Evening

• High German: Gutten Abend
• Swiss German: Gutten Abig
  

ILL - INI inCircle in Action

I just got back from a dinner in Baden with a fellow Alumnus. I had met him via the inCircle site sometime back and we have been communicating back and forth for a couple of months I guess. He had originally got in touch with me via inCircle because he was seeking employment in Europe.

At the time I did some search around my personal network but couldn't really find anything that fit his skills. As I thought he had an interesting resume I advised he keep watching my companies international job postings and maybe something would come up.

Well something must have come up. He contacted me about a week or two ago to let me know he was headed over from the States for an interview.

After his interview today I had a dinner with both he and his wife and I did a brain dump for them. Everything I think they need to know over a course of green salad and Wienersshnitzel.

I hope they found my useless ramblings useful. I was nice to have a conversation with 'Americans,' It's been a while since I've had the chance to do that in person.