Changes and changes

Instead of going to bed early I made the mistake of messing about with this blog site. Well, now I have some cool feeds going and also added a link to my picture gallery. This is all just temporary and depending how things go I'll decide whether to keep it this way or not. Feedback is always welcome :)
Night ya'll!

Finally!!!

Yes, they announced it....and its for real! A blackberry with wifi! Wooooooot!!! I can't wait for it to come out...I'm getting this one for sure!

Here a picture I found on gizmodo!

October 2006

So another month is over and we're seeing fall creep up. Not much has changed here...I still owe Isaac an email, I still work at Dyneon (i.e. 3M), and I still go biking, running, and swimming. Just that I did less of the sports last week. I got a bit sick thanks to the temperature drop but this weekend came in handy - the temps were way higher and I'm back to being myself. Next week I'm hoping to get on a early morning schedule that I was on last winter. I get up early, go workout and then go to work. Hope I get on it...

Otherwise nothing much new...well, there are some toys I want to get.

1) Nintendo Wii - how could you not want it. Its fairly cheap, has Zelda, and looks awesome!

2) Microsoft Zune - knowing Microsoft I wouldn't be surprised if they're selling it at a loss. Gotta take advantage of that!

3) The third and most anticipated toy: The chumby! Holy smacks!! A bedside clock that does mp3s, shows the time, has wifi and with it AIM/MSNmessenger/ICQ, email, blog update (RSS), weather, and bunch more and more!! I need one! Somebody get me a prototype..please!!

If you want to read some on it go to:

Engadget.com
or
Chumby


Here is a pic of it I found on www.engadget.com:

New blogspot?

I'm confused. They say that blogspot has changed, but I really don't see any real improvements. I wonder if there's something I'm doing wrong....

I'll post an update sometime soon. I've been pretty busy lately and really can't say that I've had the time and motivation to post anything...oh, and Isaac, I still owe you that email. Give me some time. I do have some stuff to say, but it may not be all that much news to you.

Lets see if posting pics is different...

Hmm, no change...

news? well not really...

I wish I could start blogging about a bunch of things but there really isn't all that much I can say. I could talk of things happening in life (romance? haha, me? naw) but then there really isn't much to report and if there was....well, its a bit too public :P Plus isn't this how things work? When bad things happen you want to communicate, but when you're happy you're just happy :)

So all I can say that I've been having a great summer. Been biking a lot and not only is it a great workout, but I enjoy being around my training buddy :) Just a few minutes ago I got back from a bike ride and it was great! I'm looking forward to the next ride! Looks as though I'll be in pretty good shape by next year this time - in time to kick some serious butt at the lifetime triathlon! On that note there is something to report: people around me have been pushing me to quit smoking. So much that I've gotten down to 4~5 smokes a day (compared to 12 or 13). It shouldn't take more than 2 weeks and I think that I'm just gonna quit. I'm noticing the annoying sides to it and I also want that fitness boost you're supposed to get when quitting (and the fat would be good for some muscle building :D)
So yeah, all in all I'm happy as can be and am looking forward to many things both in the near future and years ahead! Also: work has been going well and I couldn't be more happy about that...its just sad that happiness comes in a big package and I'm bound to face hard times sooner or later. Wish it could come steadily...both the good and the bad. But I guess that just how things work :) Better enjoy it as its here and get ready for the hard times!
Well, thats about it for now! Take care y'all!

- Thomas

PS: Isaac, I want to go further into my job details but it wouldn't be a good idea to post too much of it here. I'll send you an email sometime soon and let ya know what the chem major offers you in terms of jobs!

I'm going on a long bike ride tomorrow...and that after playing either 9 or 18 holes of golf..uff. Wish me luck! 

Camp Chippewa

Yeah, strange but true. I'm up in Cass Lake, MN at my camp. After a boring 5hrs drive and a dinner consisting of doritos and water I finally arrived here last night at 9:30pm. It was past their bed-time so I didn't see too many people, but I talked to some of my old friends and then slept on a shorter than comfortable couch. During the night there was supposedly a storm with lots of wind, lightning and rain - I don't trust this statement because I didn't hear jack all night. All the branches and uprooted trees that were lying around the whole camp, I say, were caused by some evil camper!


Anyways, this morning I was, as usual, amazed by how the kids have changed. Some of them are almost as high as I am (and I'm talking about hight and not how blazed) - scary when I think of how small they were last year. Another thing I noticed was that there are more counselors now that used to be my campers...and I turning into an old fart?? Ugh. But yeah, thats the new update for right now. I'll be here till Sunday around 3pm and then head back to Woodbury. I love being at camp, but somehow I'm glad that I'm not stuck there for 9 weeks this year - plus I love my job at Dyneon :)

I got this as an email...pretty sad if it comes true

Dear friends who value our earth and its indigenous people,

Please judge for yourself if you want to take action here.

In the Valley de San Felix, the purest water in Chile runs from two
rivers, fed by two glaciers. Water is a most precious resource.
Indigenous farmers use this water, there is no unemployment, and the
rivers provide the second largest source of income for the area. Under
the glaciers has been found a huge deposit of gold, silver and other
minerals. To get at these, it would be necessary to break, to destroy
the glaciers - something never conceived of in the history of the world.
And to make two huge holes, each as big as a whole mountain, one for
extraction and one for the mine's rubbish dump.

The project is called PASCUA LAMA. The company is called BarrickGold.
The operation is planned by a multi-national company, one of whose
members is George Bush Senior. The Chilean Government has approved the
project to start this year, 2006. The only reason it hasn't started
yet is because the farmers have got a temporary stay of execution. If
they destroy theglaciers, they will not just destroy the source of
specially pure water, but they will permanently contaminate the 2 rivers
so they will never again be fit for human or animal consumption because
of the use of cyanide and sulphuric acid in the extraction process. Every
last gram of gold will go abroad to the multinational company and not
one will be left with the people whose land it is. They will only be
left with the poisoned water and the resulting illnesses. The farmers
have been fighting a long time for their land, but have been prevented
from making a TV appeal by the Chilean Ministry of the Interior. Their
only hope now of putting brakes on this project is to get help from
international justice. The world must know what is happening in Chile.
The only place to start changing the world is from here.

We ask you to circulate this message amongst your friends in the
following way.
Please copy this text, paste it into a new email, adding your
signature and address. Please send it to everyone in your address book.

Rain

View from my bedroom window
After a long period of dryness and multiple sunburns its finally raining here in the cities. I'm way excited - not only will this cool down the ambient temp, but also provide the plants with the needed water to become nice and green again!

Otherwise thing are well, Brent and Anna are moving to the cities, I saw the lifetime triathlon yesterday, and I also visited my friend Zuzanna. Life is well....except for the lack in training lately. I gotta get back into it soon. Esp. since I want to kick butt next year :D

Hope y'all are doing well! Enjoy the weekend!

Tschermany?

Man, I have no clue how to add multiple number of pictures to this blog. I'm trying to make things look good, but in case it looks crappy...well, too bad. You'll have to live with it. You may not see many pictures on the top, but trust me...there are a lot of them!

So now to the long awaited (or not?) recap of my trip to Germany. But before I really get into the Germany part hear this: I had to move out of my old apartment the day before I left for Germany. Due to some family issues Sarah's parents were hoping to quicken my departure. Having things set up already (new apartment and whatnot) I didn't see why not - so I took half a day off from work, packed all my stuff (holy crap, how come do we accumulate so much crap in such sort time??) and got 'er done! Thanks to the help of Brian we got all my stuff over to Woodbury in one trip and carried everything up to my place. Then I had to pack, and go to my friend's house in Maplewood to stay over for the night - no way I'm sleeping on the floor before flying. I got to my friend's house at 9pm tired and ready to crash.

The next day I went to work like any other day and after work met up with Jeff to hand him over the laptop gps system he wanted for his trip. Everything was executed in a hassle, but in the end I got on the plane safe and sound and off I flew back home to ol' Germany.

After about 20h of sitting, waiting, futher sitting, and a 3h nap I got to Germany and was picked up by my Uncle and Cousin to be driven to my parents' place. I dropped off my baggage quick and after a couple of strawberries drove up to the restaurant for my mother's 60th birthday.

The birthday took place in a section of one of my favorite restaurants called "Jagtschloss". You have to drive through the woods for a while to get there. The restaurant itself is frequently the destination of many mountain bikers, hikers, and lazy car drivers like me :), and sometimes people use the side room (As we did) to celebrate some occasion.



On the way up I knew that I was about to see many of my German relatives, but when I got there I was surprised by the number of people - I hadn't seen them for years and years! Wowo! Even my aunt was there!! And I'm not speaking of the German aunts - no, my mother's sister from Japan was there. I was kind of worried about seeing her thanks to some things that took place, but she was a different person than I had expected. It sure shows that you see out of different glasses when you're a little kid.The Asian lady in the green kimono is my aunt.

And speaking of kimonos, my mother was wearing this really sweet kimono, too!! I can't believe you can buy a car with the money spent on the thing. Looks cool though! Anyways, the food was great, the people fun to talk to, and I was DEAD tired!! I sticked around for most the night, but then at around 10pm I started fading in and out and chose to go back than to dip my face in one of the 5 or 6 cakes that we had there.


The next day was my class reunion. I met up with my friends Michael and Andy in the center of Wiesbaden at a cafe. We had some tea, coffee, beer (or whatever...don't remember) and then walked over to the Hauptbahnhof (the main trainstation in Wiesbaden). From there its another 2 to 3 min to the meeting place - the place is called Schlachthof (which translates to slaughter house, cool huh?). We got there fairly early. There was only one table of people there and maybe a couple others grilling. Hmm what to do? We got ourselves some beer and then walked around saying hi to the people we knew or knew from seeing. By the time we got through the group the number of people increased to the point that the place was getting full. From then on it was just all about walking around and talking to anyone and everybody. Man, so many people looked the same!! And some of the girls....sorry, women were lookin' real good! Too bad I'm not that superficial, otherwise I would have....right! Anyways, it was a great night, and we ended that chapter with a large turkish Doener Kebab (the best sandwich in the world!!!) and a couple round of pool!

The next two days I met up with some more friends (the ones that were still in Wiesbaden) then made up my mind to take the train to Heidelberg. My friend Rick was there doing some research at the Max-Plankt Institute (He's going to be a lawyer soon!!).

Alright, so its been a while since I was working on this post...and boy, there is just soo much more to write. But considering that I like having a life I'm gonna keep it short. After the visits and all my fam and I went to Aachen, Waals (In the Netherlands) and attended my cousin's wedding. Then I flew back to the US :)
The Aachener dom from inside.





The following pictures are from the above. Enjoy ;)
My mother, aunt, cousin and her husband.






My cousin and her husband in a goose costume.






The reception at the wedding








The food in Netherlands - white asparagus...I would totally recommend it to anyone. Great seasonal dish!






People breaking plates so that my cousin and her husband could clean it all up in front of everybody.







Awwww....









Them cleaning it all up.









K, so thats about it. Sorry that I cut it short, but otherwise it would have never seen the face of earth again...and with it all the other posts I would have written. If you want more details let me know, but for now this should suffice.