Still alive.

Sorry I haven’t updated in a while. My grandmother died last Tuesday, and the funeral is going to be next Tuesday (the day after easter). I’m staying with my parents until then and probably won’t update before I’m back in Bonn next Wednesday.

A happy easter to all of you, and see you in a couple of days!

News Update

André came home last night at about 1:30 a.m.!

And in case it wasn’t clear: when I wrote great news earlier, I was being ironic.

Birthday Boy!

A very happy birthday to you, John! Sorry I’m a day late… I should have remebered that you entered a new decade a year ago.

Weblog Community

What a sad story. I can understand that Patti is upset.

News

I heard great news from Plymouth this morning: André’s flight from Plymouth to London-Gatwick has been canceled because of fog. Instead of flying, everybody is now riding a coach to London. But of course that takes much longer than the flight, so André will miss his flight from Gatwick to Frankfurt as well. He’s been transferred to a later flight but will arrive in Frankfurt at 9:30 p.m. instead of 4:30 p.m. I hope he’ll be able to catch a train to Bonn at 10 p.m. That way, he’ll arrive at home before midnight.

Suddenly, I feel very lucky that my flights were on time last Wednesday.

Dies und das aus der Zeit

Leben: Zu Hause in der Schule.. “Ganztagsschulen waren lange verpönt. Nun wollen sie alle: Gestresste Eltern, Bildungspolitiker und Wirtschaftsverbände. Doch gute Konzepte sind teuer.”

Mord am Ufer des Turkanasees “John le Carré kritisiert die Pharmakonzerne und versucht sich als Chronist.” – Eine Kritik von le Carrés letztem Roman, Der ewige Gärtner. (Der englische Titel des Buches ist The Constant Gardener, und eine lesenswerte Kritik sowie passende Links gab es vor kurzem bei Craig. Das Buch steht schon auf meiner Liste von Büchern, die ich demnächst lesen möchte…)

Stimmt’s? Und zum Schluß noch in der Kategorie Fragen, die die Welt bewegen: Wenn man Wasser erhitzen möchte, um darin zum Beispiel Nudeln zu kochen, dann soll man das Salz erst hinterher hineintun, weil das Wasser dann schneller kocht. Stimmt das?

Weblogs

A couple of days old, but still a good article from the Seattle Times: Been ‘blogging’? Web discourse hits higher level, by Glenn Fleishman.

Link via MetaFilter.

Foreigners

For your amusement, The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Germans, and The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Americans. Xenophobe’s Motto: Forewarned is forearmed.

By the way, there’s a whole series of Xenophobe’s Guides, but these two are the only ones I could find online.

Bushism

Comment of an SWR3 dj last afternoon on the news about the US spy plane that is stuck in China: “The story has one positve aspect: George Bush now knows there’s at least one other country on this planet besides Texas and Mexico. And if it takes long enough before the Chinese release the crew and the plane, he will have a chance to memorize the capital, too.” [my translation]

And while I’m at it, here’s the world: a primer, “a brief guide to the world beyond America’s borders”.

Link via MetaFilter.

Community

Gute Besserung for your back, Al!

Weblogs

I just found this weblog in my referrers: RoyalTS – without cheese. From the email address of the author I gather that his name is Tobias Schmidt, and he writes in English and German.

April Weather

We truly have a day of real April weather. All that’s missing is some heavy snow, but it’s not even 3 p.m., so maybe we’ll get that later…

The day started bright enough. A bit of sun, a few clouds, a light breeze. Although it is much colder than it was during the weekend (which felt like summer with temperatures up to 20°C), still a nice day. I even convinced my lazy self to go jogging.

Now, a few hours later, the sky is overcast, and just a few minutes ago it was suddenly very stormy, and it started to rain, to pour. I think there even was a bit of hail.

I’m going out to meet a few friends from the university tonight, and yesterday I talked with one of them on the phone. We agreed that I would pick him up and we would go to the pub by bike. I think I might change my mind about that… but then, maybe it will be sunny again later today?!

Lazy Days

I’ve spent most of the last two days reading Otherland – Sea of Silver Light, and I’m about a quarter through now. The story just gets weirder and weirder…

If you’re interested, here’s a quick introduction to the characters , and you can read the foreword (sort of chapter zero) and the first chapter of the fourth and last book online. (More excerpts.)

Reisen um die Welt

Heinz Schulz, alias Rox, geboren 1921, ist ein Globetrotter im Wortsinn. Seine Kurzbiographie findet man auf der Site des Abenteuermuseums Saarbrücken, in dem seine Mitbringsel aus aller Welt ausgestellt sind. Ausführliche Informationen über Rox findet man auch hier beim Archiv zur Geschichte des Individuellen Reisens.

Gefunden in der Zeit in Der letzte Weltwanderer.

Diese Woche in der Zeit

Gesundheitspolitik: Wer nicht zahlen kann, stirbt. “Pharmariesen verklagen Südafrika. Dessen Oberstes Gericht muss entscheiden: Darf die Regierung internationales Patentrecht brechen, um Aids-Kranke mit billigen Arzneien zu versorgen?”

Reden: Tatort Spielkonsole. “Schulschwänzer vertreiben sich die Zeit gern in Kaufhäusern. Dort macht die Nürnberger Polizei jetzt Jagd auf sie – mit einer Eingreiftruppe in Zivil.”

Entscheiden: Verbotenes Land. “Jede Farm ist Sperrgebiet, Spaziergänge sind nicht erlaubt. Seit den Massenschlachtungen wirkt Schottland wie ausgestorben. Ein Besuch bei Bauern, die alles verloren haben.”

Sunset!

Beautiful pictures, Garret! I just love sunset photos…

It looks like it was high time you got that digital camera. I miss mine, by the way. But I’ll have it back on Friday, along with André (whom I miss as well, in case you were wondering ).

Community

After a short hiatus, Book of Days is back. And redesigned! I like the new layout, Mollie, and nice that you’re back!