Sonntag, September 09, 2007

Tapetenwechsel


Nachdem nun mitterweile wieder etwas Alltag eingekehrt ist, die Probezeit sicch schon langsam dem Ende zu neigt und auch die letzten Arbeiten an unsrer neuen Wohnung in Düsseldorf erledigt sind ist es nun auch Zeit für einen virtuellen Tapetenwechsel.

Die Königskinder haben eine neue Adresse und sind jetzt unter
zu finden.

Sonntag, August 19, 2007

Der König

23.09.1950 - 08.07.2007




Dienstag, Juli 03, 2007

Temporarly Closed

Momentan ist die Welt sehr düster und in meinem Kopf keine Platz zum bloggen. Ich werde mir daher eine Auszeit nehmen. So lange Danke ich für die Wärme und Anteilnahme.

Freitag, Juni 29, 2007

Fresken

Unser Betriebsausflug hatte mich diese Woche nach Kaiserswerth geführt. Dies liegt ca. 15km nördlich von Düsseldorf und ist ein kleines Nest, in welchem früher Kaiser Friedrich I (Aka Barbarossa) residierte. Es ist zudem der Ort, von welchem aus sich die evangelische Diakonie in Deutschland ausgebreitet hat (so wurde uns zumindest erzählt).

Der ganze Ort ist voll mit Zeichen und Symbolik des Christentums und atmet Alter. Und wo ein Christ, da ein Kritiker. Die Fresken auf dem Bild entstammen einem Reliefgemälde, welches die Grausamkeiten des Christentums zur Zeit der Hexenverbrennung thematisiert. Verknöcherten Pfaffen, Bischöfe und hohen Herren die über ein grausames Schicksal von Minderheiten bestimmen um ihrer eigenen Interessen Willens. Und das Volk sieht tatenlos wie eine Herde Schafe zu.

Wenn ich mir unsere Welt heute ansehe denke ich manchmal, wir haben das Zeitalter der Hexenverbrennung immer noch nicht hinter uns gelassen. Nur das die Hexen heute Andere sind.

Mittwoch, Juni 27, 2007


Gestern Abend hatte ich das Glück. Ich war noch spät in der Stadt unterwegs, hatte etwas Zeit und auch noch meine Kamera dabei. Vielleicht war ich auch etwas angetrunken. Auf jeden Fall war die Stimmung schön: das warme Licht des Düsseldorfer Rathauses, der vereinsamten Vorplatz und die Luft hatte diese melancholische Kälte, die den Duft von Herbst trägt.

Auf jeden Fall kam ich in Ermangelung eines Statives auf die Idee, einfach die nächst gelegene Mauer zu verwenden und habe ein wenig an den Belichtungszeiten gespielt. Keine schlechte Beschäftigung einen Abend zu beenden.

Sonntag, Juni 24, 2007

LEBE INTENSIV




Das ist nicht nur ein Posting. Keine Bitte oder Empfehlung. Das ist eine Aufforderung. An Dich.




Lebe intensiv!

Freitag, Juni 22, 2007

Kleine Fluchten


Ich bin gerne im Waschsalon. Ich fahre auch gerne Zug. Da bleibt die Zeit einfach mal stehen und gibt Raum, den eigenen Gedanken nachzuhängen. Die Welt draussen verschwindet für eine kurze Zeit, wird unwichtig. Vielleicht liegt es an den gleichen momotonen Geräuschen die alles andere schlucken.

Und dann tritt man heraus und das Leben bricht wieder über einen herein.

ENLIGHTMENT


Ich muss heute etwas zugeben: Ich war ein schlechter Schüler. Ich bin weder gerne, noch oft in die Schule gegangen noch war ich in irgendeinem Fach gut. Auch weiss ich heute nicht mehr viel davon. Von den wenigen Dingen die jedoch geblieben sind nimmt das Konzept der Aufklärungen einen wesentlichen Teil ein.

Aufklärung, wie erinnern uns düster, war der Ausgang des Menschen aus seiner selbst verschuldeten Unmündigkeit.
Selbstverschuldet? Ja, Selbstverschuldet ist diese Unmündigkeit dann, wenn die Ursache derselben nicht am Mangel des Verstandes, sondern der Entschließung und des Mutes liegt. In neuen Worten: Wir es uns bequem machen und nicht die Verantwortung für unser Handeln übernehmen.

Auch hat sich Kant mit den Fragen befasst, was der Mensch wissen kann, was er tun soll und was er hoffen darf.
Aktueller den je, oder nicht?

Donnerstag, Juni 21, 2007

WORKSHOP

There are a few misteries in our daily life. Like, why is grand ma's cake always the best, girls always in groups at the restroom and the weather always bad on weekends. And there are also a few things, you can't use google for. Like cooking jam. I always considered home made jam as an difficult issue. Something I relaay love but would never do myself. But as knowledge has to be passed by from one generation to the other my grandma introduced me in the art of jelly cooking.

And it was easy. It neither hurted nor was it difficult. I burnt a finger by accident as the fruits are really hit, but that was the only bad thing that happend. Therefore I want to share this experience.

I. Mix fruit with sugar (the special one for jelly) and boil mixture for 4 minute. Be creative in adding flavour (here rhuabard with cinnamon and gloves)

II. Collect heaps and heaps of glasses to save your money. Yogurt glases, the one from cucumbr and so on. And don't trow the lid a way!
III. Fill mixture in glass. Don't burn your fingern. And.....TATA... first home made jam is ready. Well done!

Dienstag, Juni 19, 2007

watching music


Today I've done something interesting for the first time: I spend my evening watching music. Not that MTV kind of music. I went to an concert of classical music at the concert hall (Tonhalle). They played Mahlers 6th symphony. I have no idea about the life of Mahler, not even know his surname. And I have absolutely no idea what his music is about. But I like it, and that's important isn't it?
I was always wondering why people go to a classical concert. Can't they just buy a CD? Isn't it boring to sit for over an hour in a room and do nothing else than listening music? No, absolutely not. Neither is it boring nor is it just listening. More over it is challenging: Which instrument is playing at the moment, what is the guy on the frontdesk doing, how many artists are there and so on. There are so many things happens on stage that it is far from boring. I really enjoyed it.

Sonntag, Juni 17, 2007

HOPE

Thank you very much for all your sympathy. It helps a lot! For the moment we can`t do nothing else than hope the best.

Donnerstag, Juni 14, 2007

Signs


Some signs are really stupid don`t you think? They really negate common sense: Like those coffee mugs where it is stated: Caution! The content your`re about to enjoy is hot! What surprise. Or that scribblings on the wall. Yes it is electricity-don`t touch it! Why do they treat me like a moron?
Why don`t we carry such sign with us? Like "Bad hair day: Don`t talk to me!" or "Caution agressive person ahead: please follow the detour" or "Negative Radiation Room: Don`t enter without a smile"...
and so on... Perhaps I should start to put my (truely invisble) warnings on my desk everyday. At least they would make me smile!

JP Morgan Chase Run

Hihi, that was fun! I really love doing sports and so I signed in for the JP Morgan Run in Frankfurt yesterday evening. As the headquarter of the holding I'm working for is based in FFM it was a matter of honour for my company to take part. SO we drove down from Mönchnegladbach to Frankfurt for an 30minutes run. With approx. 80.000 runners it was more a battle about space than a nice running event. But it was great for teambuilding. As there were 2 business units competing against each other (finance vs. sales) I was forced to do the winning job for my team. Well, I did it :) But for know my legr are really sore! Guess who are the finance guys....

Montag, Juni 11, 2007

bulky waste

This weekend was bulky waste collection. The whole town was crowded by old and unused furniture. Is`s interetsting what peoples throw away. Lot of old couches, coffe machines on every corner, damaged bikes and old kitchen interiour. But, hey, it`s Düsseldorf - one of the whealtiest towns - or at least a place with a good quote of millionaires per habitant. On our way back yesterday late at night we bumbed into an very kind old gentleman. White hair, sports blazer, that kind of gentleman. He was bringing down his old stuff for collection. To make it short: we are now proud owners of a pretty cool (and good) set of golf clubs including bag. Rubbish obviously belongs also to the eyes of the beholder.

By the way: I have totaly forgotten my anniversary. One year blogging is already over! And one of my first postings was also about golf.... how time changes.

Sonntag, Juni 10, 2007

Festival de Petanque


Yesterday we rushed into the festival of petanque - some kind of boule trophy. You know, those small silver heavy balls you can buy in the DIY shop. Hum, not really. Those boules are real expensive. Did you know that there are even competition boules? And a international league? The rules are easy: a team consist of 3 players with 2 identically coded boules each. The Pointer attemps to position his boules as close as possible to the coche (piglet). The counterpart falls upon the shooter who aims to shoot opposing boules. Well, sounds like a match of chess doesn`t it?

We watched the finals late at night and actually it was pretty cool. They had closed the complete Rhein bank and created a huge area of competition fields - like a beach ball area with gravel instead of sand. People hung around everywhere and there were heaps of french guys. It had a flair of late summer evenings somewhere in rural France. Much better than chess....

Freitag, Juni 08, 2007

Captain Jack is back!

Hey guys have you seen it yet? No? So I'm not telling anything about the story but that it is great! Like the other tweo parts we saw it in english. I dont like the german voiceover. There are a few things I have to admit.

First, I have a new femal hero. Captain Swan. Oh sorry, didt I say to much. However, she is great. Tough women, nice haircut and I'm really considering taking martial arts lessons. She's so cool.

Second, I love to collect quotes. As I use to watch great movies a few times it very likely that I can repeat parts of the movie fluently. So, there's a short quiz. From which of my 3 favourite movie are those quotes.

1. That's a very nice bolder
2. Oh, no good
3. I think he has to compensate for something
4. Raise the colours
5. Booh
6. Snowcorns? Oh it's lemon

A short hint: 2 of them are animate movies...

Dienstag, Juni 05, 2007

Meals on wheels


Living and working in Germany seems to be a little bit like a rat race. I try and try and try but there is not enough time to squeeze everything into those very short days. An hour seems to be much shorter than in New Zealand . So I decided to outsource a few time consuming things. Like doing the groceries. Not that I stopped my weekly visit at the supermarket – they are open till 10 pm what is great. I just skipped from the local ethnic food shops (the Indian guys, the Chinese “we sell everything shops”, the Japanese specialities) to an online food shop. It would have taken ages to get this variety in town. The first shippment arrived today - I had ordered yesterday! Isn't it great? It’s like Christmas! I already love it.

Morgens und abends zu lesen


Der, den ich liebe,
Hat mir gesagt,
daß er mich braucht.
Darum gebe ich auf mich acht.
Sehe auf meinen Weg
Und fürchte von jedemRegentropfen
Daß er mich erschlagenkönnte.
(Bertolt Brecht)


Auszug aus der Traurede vom Wochenende. Wish you all the best!

Donnerstag, Mai 31, 2007

Up and Down

At the moment everything goes up and down. The operation was postponed yesterday - so we have to wait another 2 weeks. Up or down? Well, something in between. There is this common saying that you have to travel trough dark valleys to climb the summit. It is very kitchy but true. Without amptitudes in one direction there wouldn't be the other direction. Or easier - no down's, no up's.

I'll be on the wedding of my best friend this weekend -definitely an Up. So please stay tuned until Monday.

Mittwoch, Mai 30, 2007

GLAUBE


I’m not a religious person. Absolutely not. I neither believe in God nor do I attend any service although I’m baptised and still a (paying) member of the Catholic Church. My view on the world is a more or less rational one. The human body exist of molecules and atoms and a lot of water. When we die it just happens that our metabolism will stop and we’re going to rot somewhere in a beautiful graveyard. Our values and moral system were built on socialisation and education. That’s what drives our behaviour. The only thing I believe in is me. I’m the one who is responsible for my life, my luck and happiness. There’s no God who guides me. And I would never accept such an external interference in my live anyway.

So far, so good.

But, there is one point, one little weakness in my rational view on the world. It’s hope. When I’m not longer able to determine what will happen. Not longer able to control those things. When it concerns my beloved ones. When the reality hurts so much that the only thing I can do is to hope and believe that everything will be good – even if rationality tells me not to do so.

And that’s what we all are going to do for the next days: Believe and trust in the surgeon abilities. And to make waiting easier pray to someone or something: ‘Please let him wake up tomorrow evening’


Sorry, there will be no postings untill monday.

Dienstag, Mai 29, 2007

balanced

Sometimes it's hard to believe what we see. Like those sculptures we saw in Sausalito. The artist just put one bolder on another and -tata- it worked just by balancing them perfectly. No glue, no magic, just physisics and patience. I guess, none of us could do it. Life somehow is similar. It follows some kind of structure that is often unknown. And like those sculptures balance is hard to find. Those stone cairn remeber me on one thing: if everything breaks down - and that can happens easily - you just need patience to rebuild it though it will be different.



Freitag, Mai 25, 2007

making faces

Yesterday evening it has started. Perhaps you know it also. Probably you do so. If you have worked a little bit to much, slept a little bit too little, danced on to many parties at one time than you probably know the moment when it starts: this goofy madness. In my case it started under the shower. There, I found out that you can make gorgeous faces in the shower head. And that’s what I did – I made faces to myself. It was funny and silly and even got better as I tried to picture this. Time for a long weekend, don’t you think?

Donnerstag, Mai 24, 2007

LOCKERS

Sometimes I have the impression that I have to lock everything I am, I’m feeling and thinking deep down into myself. Sometimes to protect myself. But unfortunately it’s not so easy to put everything in a nice box, wrap it, lock it and put it in a corner somewhere in your mind.

Montag, Mai 21, 2007

Update

1. No picture today because I'm in a hurry (see 2.)

2. No more postings before Thursday as I'm on my way to another business trip to Amsterdam. That's great since it is the first time that I will see that beautiful city. But boring as I travel to a privat lable trade show....

3. Still no telefon or internet at home. Telecom is on strike. That's annoying.

Freitag, Mai 18, 2007

Can’t buy me love?


There have been a few postings about love recently from my blogging friends. And yesterday I found my love posting. Not that we had another cross-blogger serie like the freezer week (what was pretty cool by the way). It just poped into my mind when I saw this bag. We strolled around a pretty ccol area in Düsseldorf called Unter-Bilk. I like the special flair of “working class meets creative people” thou I wouldn’t like to life there. There was one lovely café in an old soap shop what was cosy and very alternative (what I loved!) and heaps of small local fashion shops. One was called “Romantiklabor”. They have a lot af girlish stuff, not really mine. But they’re selling a bag full of love. And it is so easy: You just have to ask very kindly!!!!

Mittwoch, Mai 16, 2007

PRINZIPIEN

I do have a few things I do not really like to do but I don’t really care about. And I have principles. Things I would never do. Not for rational reasons, just in principle. As drinking things I’m forced to drink. In principle everything somebody wants me to do where I do not see any rational reason for. I have to agree, I’m a little bit stubborn from time to time.

So, what happens? On my business trip to Poland last week I was forced to drink a Mad Dog – some kind of vodka with Tabasco. A very unpleasant experience everybody in our company has to face. Just because it hurts (or better burns like hell) and because everybody did it. Well, not me. I refused to do it. My boss was a little bit offended but he could accept it as I’m a girl. He really told me, than if I would be male he had to insist on it! Okay! Okay?

And I sunk in my very own discussion about how far would I go for my career? Would I abandon my principles? And If I do so, which would remain untouched and which would I give up? And what would happen if I really would start to weaken my principles?

Dienstag, Mai 15, 2007

Rund um die Kö

Last weekend we rushed into an cycling race by accident. It was held around the famous shopping mile in Düsseldorf called KÖ (Königsallee). It was fun for us to watch it and fortunately we had our cameras with us. It was the first time for me that I try to picture fast moving objects. I guess, I took a few hundreds photos. And a lot of them showed nothing else than concrete as the cyclists were too fast. Than I start to move myself as the guys past my camera. It was fun - I really felt like a semi professional photographer. I love those pictures that capture the movement, the speed and the competitive spirit.

Montag, Mai 14, 2007

A Taxi Ride To Poland

Wow, I'm back. Finally! And how was it? Chaotic! First, we missed our flight. Or better, it was postponed. So we had to re book. Instead of flying direct from Dortmund to Worclaw we could only fly to Berlin. Well, better than nothing we thought. Our faces fainted the moment we saw the aircraft. It was not really an aircraft, more a can with propellers. Hm, we survived it and arrived in Berlin safely. And then the real journey started. We had to convince a Taxi driver to bring us from Berlin to Worclaw (Breslau) - that's a 300km taxi ride. As my boss is a former retail buyer and a sales person by heart we did it - for 250 Euro. It took us 9h instead of 4h but it is a good story.

Mittwoch, Mai 09, 2007

benchmark

Everybody knows that common saying, that the glass is either half full or half empty. How you will see the glass depends on your very own point of view.

Right know I'm facing a few problems with my point of view, especially regarding benchmarking. Am I good? A good athlete, a good colleague, a good person? Compared to all those lazy coach potatoes or boring office jerks I am definitely better than them. But, is better then somebody automatically good? No, not really I guess. Compared to all those super social guys and those "I work 50h a week and train for an ironman successfully" super athletes I regard myself a pretty average. Should I be frustrated now? No, not really. Probably I just have to face it like it is, do as good as I can, always try to do it a little bit better and accept that life can't be perfect.

Perhaps you remember this picture. I took it more than 6 month ago for another posting. Incredible how time passes by. However: I will be on my first business trip for the next days. So, no postings until Monday.

Dienstag, Mai 08, 2007

Hairy Beast

From time to time it's difficult to say who is the hairy beast, and who not. Before I took this picture I could state very clear that generally spoken all instects are hairy beasts. If you take a close look on the structure, shell, antennea and mouth - that's ominous! I also sat this beetle on my arm and I really didn't like that feeling. And I planned to write something about how beautiful Germany can be - especially during spring. But after downloading the picture I was very surprised. I shoot it while the June bug was sitting on Joerns arm. And now I have to ask you: Could you tell me who is the hairy beast - instect or man?
Did you know that May beetles are also known as June bugs? Funny isn't it.

Montag, Mai 07, 2007

location check

As some of you might know, I'm training for an half ironman this summer. This weekend we had a little bit time and decided to spend a day near the event location. As the Allgäu Triathlon is know as one of the hardest and toughest event I thought it might be cool to see what 'hilly course' means. And frankly: I'm horrified! I can't do that. No way! That's hard but I learned to evaluate my abilities very critically and I'm not able to do this course. So, I canceled those plans. And, am I disappointed now? Kind of. But not really. I found another event, just 2 weeks later, flat course, nice location and I will do that. And guess where: ERLANGEN! So guys: We will be around Nürnberg the first weekend in August!

Freitag, Mai 04, 2007

Fortune cookie

As the weekend getting closer and closer, it's time to send you best wishes and chinese knowlege for the days off from work: 'Remember to share good fortune as well as bad with your friends'. I took this picture in the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco. It is a lovely spot with traditional japanese architecture, lot of japanese guys doing some kind of Tai Chi, a huge Budha statue and a charming garden cafe. Here we enjoy a cup of tee and (that was the only touristical thing) got this fortune cookie.

Donnerstag, Mai 03, 2007

nice ride!

There is one thing you need to have in Düsseldorf: an appropriate ride. Not one of those super sleek, carbon fiber road racers or those cheap & crapy bikes form the grocery store. Something that is comfortable and stylish at one time. Something that's more a lifestyle than a vehicle. Something where speed doesn't matter. Something like an holland bike. The first lesson I learned was, that there's a huge variety of holland bikes (old and news, cheap and expensive....). But just one original: the Gazelle! Old fashioned elegance, slow motion cruise mode. Well, what should I say. We bought one and it's really cool!

Mittwoch, Mai 02, 2007

CLIMB HIGH

A few weeks ago we went on our first semi professional photo shooting. A friend of us had needed new pictures for their rock climbing school. And so we spent few hours near Bad Urach trying to capture rock climbing lessons. It was great fun. The best thing was me in the rocks! To gain a better view and a more interesting perspective they gave me those 'climber pampers' (you know what I mean) and I could crawl around the cliffs pretty save. What a party! I will put up more pictures during the next days on our flickr.com page.

Perhaps you mention the shift from German to English. Well, I don't want to get that rusty in English so I decided to change to English occasionally. Hope that will be fine with you. The other thing is that at the moment I'm just able to post during working days since I still have no internet access at home. German Telecom still need a few days.