From that point of view

I nearly overran one the other day.

Today I had another experience with one of those phantoms.

I was in the gym today, at the multi-station, 4 tools in a 90 degree square.

I was looking down to control the weights with my eyes also, when suddenly some big shoes appeared beside me around the corner. Real big ones. In them... no teeny-bony-legs, oh-no.

From my angle I looked up. And up, and seemingly endlessly up.

The New Yorker Phantoms (german) are new guests in my gym, so it seems.



Are they taller than football-players? Seems so!

From another place in the gym, me sitting on another machine "high up", he looked like only maybe 2,10 m.

Boy. Weird. Weird I nearly ran into one, huh? But they´re like a human wall appearing suddenly someplace!

And I had power again today, it was just great!!!

Not great at all - Ingo. In bad, bad pain. Medication not suitable for him, bad like the first day.
I feel mean, being fit and healthy and on the run all the time. But what can I do except buying stuff and talking a bit?
Darn nothing.
IF he is right, there is no medication suitable available.
Or not the right doctors and "mine" is just not good (which I doubt).

Long weekend ahead, first footy-game in town.

Thanks to the long weekend no one here, so if Ingo isn´t fit, I have to let expire one of our cards. It´s all electronically done and I just can´t take the risk.

Keep your fingers crossed, please. Not only for the lost value of money, but to the big value of fun for him going down the drain - it´s only six regular home-games a season and he missed out twice already due to being sick the last seasons.

I´m a woman

I bought shoes!



Some tiny shop - and I found red sneekers, YAY! 10 euro! The brown ones 20 euro!

Ok, now you can ask, why would such a small person buy shoes that are flat?

Well. I´m an adult now. I don´t care anymore that I´m that small. Sure I love to wear shoes with big soles.
My beloved sneakers I bought back in 1993 broke down!!! Awww...



I still have my black ones, but they´re really heavy...



You think I´m too old for them anyway? Ha! I don´t care (yet)!
With spring around, it´s time for my clocs, too - don´t worry, I don´t wear them to work...



Shoes... I love them! :-)

Not a warning...

I saw Free Rice on Barbara´s blog and think it´s a great idea.

"WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance... " - and with every word you get right, 20 grains of rice are donated to people who have to live in poverty and hunger.

Join in!

Aging

Guess I´m getting old....
The series Eureka started over here - and I think Marshal Jack Carter is sexy.

Yes, I do.

And I wonder since when are kids allowed to exercise in a gym - do the parents pay?

Boy, think about it... It´s ME!, not them!


Ingo. Felt good on Saturday - was best on Sunday. Took some 45 minutes to get his car going and then we cruised around for about an hour - Ingo driving (needed a new battery none the less - Ingo parked the car wisely in front of the next garage...).

Today... bad. Very bad, back in great pain. Is it normal? He has an appointment with the doc tomorrow.
And said in a sad voice, if he feels like this in two weeks, I need to find someone else to join the footy-game. Would be the third one he misses.


EEEEEEWWWW!
Jack Carter is supposed to be just one year older than I am??????

Boy, does Ingo look YOUNG!!!! :-)

Boy. Do I look old?

And... I do like the intro of Eureka, very well done, I think!

Gameday!!!!

The German Bowl Defender against the Vice Master in the Vice Master´s place - the first game of the season!

1:59 to go, 4-5 minutes maybe. Interception for Braunschweig.

So far, Braunschweig always went home as a winner from Stuttgart.

24:9.

That´s it, right? YAY for Braunschweig!!! 10th time in a row they won against Stuttgart - good job, boys!

Thanks internet live-stream radio!

03.05. is the first game in Braunschweig - I DO look forward to it!

Steffen Doelger is on his way - another field goal-try, over 51 yards! And...?

27 : 9!!! YAY!

The power of love

Looks like our cars love each other :-) Hopefully mine has the power to revive Ingo´s!
We gonna try that tomorrow.
(see the tree in the background? It blossoms! - You can click to enlarge - horray, spring is on the way!!!)

Power.... just what is it?
I went to the gym and I had so much power! I increased the weights and/or the repetitions and it was all easy! Usually I spend some 2, 2 1/2 hours - today over three! And, if you also count the way to and from the gym by push-bike, I spent some 4 hours doing sports!

What did I do this morning? I swept and and wiped our part of the public corridor and the cellar, swept the pavement in front of the house, swept and mopped kitchen, corridor and bathroom, cleaned toilet and stuff, ran errands.

How come I have so much power whilst the poeple around me suffer from spring tiredness?

And how come other times I feel weak and flabby?

Today I feel just great and believe it or not, I still have so much power left.

Ahhhh. Add some 40 years and see my face while I read this - I´ll gonna be jealous of myself! :-)

Ingo: Had taken no medication whatsoever today. Just after "dinner" (a slice of bread for him, and a carrot) he felt a bit bad, but after running errands again (ok, just tomatoes) I found him back in front of TV - seated! - and calling over, hey, Huey's on TV!

You know, Australian cook Iain Hewitson who suggests you take what you want for the recipe. Was good to hear the Aussie-slang again :-) - though, certainly only a wee bit, cause... it´s all translated to german and you hear Huey only in the background...

Nothing on TV tonight, but we have a DVD with Nicolas Cage (DVD = we can choose the language :-)...).

Happy Saturday! :-)

Rollercoaster ride

So Ingo went to see my doc yesterday. She is an internist, plus a very good doctor and person. She gave him some medicine against the great pain and yesterday night Ingo was able to sleep right through for the first time since this weird thing started. On my old futon with the backrest high up. The only way he can sleep at the moment.
Today he was better. Had some Coke and ate the rind of his bread, too. And went shortly outside and BANG! It hurts to see him suffer and I can´t do a thing apart from handing things over and stuff. For a while he is calm now – maybe asleep?
His face is thin, too, he looks awful. And certainly can´t get productive, work-searching-wise.

Yesterday I went to the discounter round the corner and when I came back I thought WOAH? What´s going on here? Heaps and heaps and heaps of people surged out of the cultural center opposite our apartment – and none was under 60!
Today I read there was an event „retirees go active“, now it all makes sense! At first glance I really doubted my eyes ; -) The initiative is only three weeks old and they expected some 500 people, which would have been a lot – 700 came, well came in! 1000 were there altogether! Well. They all wanna fight against the very low old-age pensions. Wonder if I ever get one at all when the time is there. It´s a huge, huge problem, world-wide...

Well apart from this not much is happening. My brother and Mom were quite happy with my design-suggestion for their site and so I start implement it now. I want to make the code easiest possible, so my brother can make changes himself, at least the monthly offerings and such.
And when Ingo is better we gonna work on his application. Sounds all so not like fun.
But well. Life is a rollercoaster, right?
And, no. Nothing in the world – without a very, very good reason – could make me get into such a thing like a real rollercoaster!

Back home

Ingo is back home.

We had a .. kinda fight yesterday in hospital, maybe "just" a misunderstanding about how he gets home, being weak as he is.

He called me this morning at around ten totally breathless that he´s home.
Had had taken bus/streetcar/walked. Great idea.
He could have waited til he calmed down a bit, right? Sounded somehow like an accusation, like - why didn´t you take the day off to take me home?!
(He couldn´t say at what time he is being released - 9 or 2?)

I have to ask for a holiday at least a week in advance. And a taxi or simply waiting for me would have been options. Or asking his dad who offered to take him home! He would have enjoyed doing that!
Ingo´s parents broke up their holidays in Spain cause Grandma is in hospital as well! Last time I talked to her she had a flu - now she came down with pneumonia - life-threatening at that age!

Anyhows.

Ingo is VERY grumpy and in bed.

Ack. He drives an estate car. In the rather tiny three-car-lot was another estate car. And he expected me to park my car inbetween in the wrong direction, too (need to give initial aid ,his car´s electronic dropped dead) - I did not - I just started parking the car again, remember??? In the "right" direction! And have to pay for every scratch, too! The parking space was free for quite a while - guess why?! Two big ones, that´s a challenge!

So he claims I don´t want to help him. I said I stop the car in position ON THE STREET if necessary on Sunday when there is not much traffic - people will understand I am there to help and get around!

Gosh, really!

You can get a ticket for parking in the wrong direction, too.

Well, dunno. Am mad at him, too.

Good thing about it, we spent the evening separated and I started working on my brother´s website.

The shop is just renovated and comes in colors of the Tuscany region.

I tried to pick this up - this is a very first attempt! And I had to combine the fact that it´s optometrist as well as jeweler/goldsmith.

(The pic is from 2006 - Germany was playing against "someone" in the world-championship in soccer - its a substitute for a real good pic of the salesroom!!!).

Looks like nothing, but took some time and is a start:



I do know others go through much more stress and much more serious sickness-stuff.

Still I am exhausted. All the time Ingo was in hospital I worked 10 hours to get rid of the negative time-account at work. Then ran errands for him, went to the hospital, plus, driving so late in the afternoon, traffic is quite high. Getting a place to park the car... and remember where you did park it...

Okok, I am a poooooooooooooor little thing - no. But was stressy.

I´ll sleep here on the couch tonight. So he has a quiet night with no interruptions. Bet he will get it wrong.

Benno, welcome!

Meet the new "mate" from the IKEA-family, Benno:



The birthday-present from my Mom - well, she paid it, it was my brother´s idea.
Yes, the "nap-bear" is asleep - eyes are closed. He likes to sleep in this position, I suppose...

Fits perfectly to Lack, huh?



OK, like Java said, I´m color-addicted - and obviously people know it, ahhhhh!... or... YAY! :-)

Since Lack holds only the lamp I grew up with (and the heart-formed rock saying "love is the only thing that grows when you share it"), I needed something 70´s-like for Benno as well.
This ashtray is a product of today, in 70´s style. The Kim-cigarette -



I asked my Mom to buy a package when we were in cologne attending my bro´s graduation. She used to smoke them when I was a kid and I kept the empty package and one single cigarette to fit the ashtray.
Yes, also this can be childhood memories...

The package is colorful, is it? ;-)

Was good to have a one-to-one meet-up again with my brother. We gathered some ideas for his new website AND HAD A YUMMY PIZZA!

Note to self

Next Perth-visit - make sure to go to local legend Raffaele!!!!

I gotta visit one of his three Delizioso Cafe outlets and try the 2008 Gourmet Pizza of the Year!

Amongst about 50 chefs from all over the world he got the first price in Las Vegas.

Raffaele Brotzu is also the winner of last year's Dairy Farmers Best of the Best Pizza Challenge in Australia. Read the full story here.
And if you have been there already or go there - please give me your opinion on that slice of life, please?

The roundest sphere

Finally, the roundest sphere in the whole wide world finally comes to Braunschweig, to the PTB tomorrow!
They are so in love with her, they call her "Diva" :-)

The guys from the PTB (national metrology institute providing scientific and technical services) are known for working exact.
Like their atomic clock that won´t go observably wrong even after some 100 000 years.

For some time now they are after the formula for the new kilogramme - with nano-technics around this seems very necessary. The ur-kilogramme in Paris might rub off with time, as well as the duplicate in Braunschweig might.

So, scientists search for a better solution using atoms.

The ball consists of silica and has a defined number of atoms.

It´s way started 2003 in Russia, St. Petersburg! Where they used the atomic institution in the cold war to develop something destructive they now go science. They produce silica in it´s purest form - gas. 1 1/2 years their centrifuges were spinning with it.
The material then in 2005 went to Nischniy Nowgorod for further research, an even more intensive cleaning and finally the crystallization.

In autumn 2006 the sphere came to Germany, Berlin to the institute of crystal growing.
The mass was melted there and the atoms rearranged consistent in the process of solidifying. At that time it´s a cylinder actually.

In Australian Sydney it is divided in two pieces and a German specialist modeled and polished two spheres there - one for Japan, one for Germany (Braunschweig).

The sphere has a weight of exactly one kilogramme and a diameter of 93,7 mm. You might find meanderings of only very few nanometers - millionths of a mm!
They gonna need about another 6 months for the "massage" of the atoms and then...
Then their "Diva" or "Sex Bomb of Physics" shall be ready!

I know I have nothing to do with this. Makes me proud none the less that my town is involved. And please don´t ask me what the material did in Sydney.
I hope I could translate ok - I found no free article in english from this place - here is the German article.



Well. That was what I brought Ingo yesterday - he wasn´t much into talking about it - a sign he is still sick!

The doctors cut all medication today. He was in big pain after having dinner. But just half an hour later, when I was home, he called to tell me he is better - must have been the digestion process.
They want to send him home on Friday. Today I thought, not a good idea. Let´s see how he is tomorrow.

Health-update

Ingo was bad today. His day started at 04:00 am - the (demented?) old bed neighbor got up to get shaved. He is deaf, too, so makes a lot o noise.
He and the other old man were dismissed so it was noisy all morning and Ingo couldn´t sleep. Afternoon two new ones and after that visiting family for the other deaf one. When I arrived, Ingo was all dizzy.

Hope it´s just due to the lack of sleep. He said tomorrow they leave another medication behind and I guess it makes him a bit afraid.
I was there some 45 minutes only. But, well. I have not much to tell.
From hospital I go home, sit at the computer, go to bed, go to work, back to hospital.

In my lunch break I try to find something more interesting to talk about than today. Though I think in better condition Ingo would have loved it - I come to it later.

Well. Guess it was just fatigue today and he´ll be better tomorrow :-)

And - no more apples - was a bad idea.

Fittin`

My glasses fit not only to my keyboard but also to my blog - fun, isn´t it? Hehe :-)
Please note the blue of the binder of the red glasses (you can click to enlarge) copies the blue light to the right of the keyboard!

Oh, yes. I´m wearing my orange-grey glasses at the moment. Old ones my bro didn´t want anymore. Ah. Good to have an optometrist as a bro, huh? :-)

Strange(rs)

Strange - no sore muscles today!

So I went to the gym again, first time on a Sunday, I expected it being quite empty. I was fast - hence too early, they open up at 11 on the weekends. Some 10 other people were already waiting outside.

It was weird.
We all have the same goal - do something for our health. And no one said a thing. We stood there, waiting in silence. Ok, we are strangers. But... I expected a conversation would start somehow - we stood there over five long minutes!
And no I could not make the first move. Not with all strangers around...

More and more people came, the gym was quite full.
I thought only lonely singles go to the gym on Sundays. Was obviously wrong in this one!

On my way home hail was coming from the sky! Boy, that did hurt!
Hello, please... I want spring, seriously!

I was home, had something to eat - and Ingo called! He was awake, a good sign. So I went to the hospital. After five his brother really came to visit. He had a child on his arm. Ingo said, ahhh, hi Leo! And Martin said, this is Aaron....

Boy, time runs!
What a cute little face! Kinda shy and kinda not - he said nothing but looked into our faces straight. He sat still - all the time, and, as mentioned before - Martin really does take his time!
He had changed so much! First he asked Ingo how he´s doin´ and then a concerned look over to me, asking the same.
Caring!
Later on he went to fetch the rest of the family. Implied Leo - guess he goes to school soon! A "big boy" who went to shake hands with Ingo. He was so excited to meet his only uncle again, he forgot all about me ;-)
And the baby girl. Alert and friendly. As if she tried to understand what we´re talking about. Sweet.

And they took their time. I´m a bit jealous. Ingo brings so much hectic into life. They seem to enjoy more. They don´t care they will be home earliest 11. It´s a long way and they wanted to stop over at Mc Donald´s.

Well. Maybe despite the distance they get in contact more again and we won´t be strangers anymore...

Finally

Ingo felt a little better today! Yay! Time didn´t crawl endlessly and we chatted! We did!

Yesterday one of his bed neighbors needed some privacy so we went out. I would have walked out alone but Ingo wanted to join me.
It´s just a few meters to the lounge. But Ingo was breathless. Didn´t look at me. Today he told me he got tunnel vision from getting up.

But today was better, really, I am so glad.

His brother, Martin, e-mailed. He had talked to the doctor yet again. The pancreas still functions, will produce hormones and enzymes in the future, too. I am so glad.

He wants to come for a visit, I guess tomorrow. Maybe we meet in hospital. Will be odd somehow. I really thought he was very selfish (well, he WAS!!!). It is clear to me he does not like to write. He didn´t have my phone number so he e-mailed me nonetheless to keep me up to date with the news from the doc here - not selfish at all! - And he has my phone number now since he asked for it.

Bad news he got as well. Last time I talked to the Grandmother she had a cold. She is in hospital now - pneumonia. Martin took care.

Bad news II: Ingo´s car´s electronic was dead when I had a look at it. I can see the car from the bedroom window but it´s always better to have a closer look. It was in inspection last month only! But the guy from the garage told me it might be the cold temperatures.
Luckily my new colleague has a jumper cable and I hope we gonna manage to get the car running again without further help. Boy. If it comes it comes all at once!

I am used to being alone again. Just like all the years we saw each other only on the weekends.



Went to the gym today... ahhh, so few people, it was great!
I don´t go inbetween the week at the moment. When I come back from hospital, it´s too late. It´s so darn full of people, it´s no fun.
Hopefully my muscles aren´t too sore tomorrow - I bet on Sundays it´s even emptier!

Nothing on TV tonight. Well. Despite the awful voice, I´ll watch Jag, I guess. I could go in German. But. It´s a challenge, really! Not too easy to understand for me in the original. And well. He looks cute.

So, just to keep you updated - I guess we´re on the way back to normal. Slowly, but we go!

And on Thursday, if everything stays as planned, I will see my brother, yay. More yay, I´ll get my last birthday-present! Na. Not "more" yay, also yay! :-)

DARN IT. Fergie - "Finally". I have it in my ear now. Argh! Do native people have the same problem or are those just normal words for ya? HMPHGH...
And no... I didn´t chose the piano-pic due to music. I put "happy" in the search engine of stock.xchng!

Helping hands

The big #### Ingo´s „ex-boss“ is, I suppose nonetheless he´ll let Ingo write his job reference/testimonial himself and just sign it – lazy as he is... good for us this time.

I have a friend who is a miracle worker with words and who has written job references in a trainee job before – and she offered us her help – am I glad!

Her sister is working in an employment centre. Not our town, but she can give some tipps as well.
I have made contact to the employment centre in town and it seems I bumped into someone who is really competent. At least I got two answers from the same person!!!!

Ingo had more or less worked for that darn company that threw him out now all his working life. He started right after school with his apprenticeship, then worked, then went to city college and then to the college of higher education to become a graduated engineer in electro-technics and went back to this darn company. He believed in the freedom he had in doing his job. He believed in friendship as well and helped them financially through bad times.

Long story short – he has NO practice whatsoever in how to go through a job interview successfully (not that I have, really). What traps can you stumble in, how to react to certain test-questions and stuff. It´s a hard market. Plus he is a very hectic man, which does not help.

So I asked if they have skill enhancement/trainings on the topic. Certainly I said that Ingo himself cannot do this at the moment due to being under medication and in hospital. I don´t want to make them think, gosh, can´t he do that alone?!

I hope I can cheer him up with results soon. I do have the feeling I am surrounded by helpful hands, and this is good.

Good, because.
When I came to the hospital, Ingo´s room was full again, all elderlies.

One was especially weak. When the nurse came with supper, she made him sit up at the side of the bed and Ingo said, so she can hear, „if this goes well?!“.

It did. Later on he read the hospital´s brochure and part of the stuff fell down. I got up and gave it back to him – to look into a very, very friendly, bit thankful , whimsical old face. He said , thank you!

Ingo whispered, „you don´t wanna know what he is suffering of. It went beyond my imagination, so bad it is!“

Boy.
Made me so sad. So... I admire that he can give me such a whimsical look nonetheless.

Sometimes it seems, life is just so unfair.
I do not know what he is suffering of. Ingo cannot get out of bed and I didn´t want the others to hear him telling me.

And... Do I want to know?

I know I admire this man already. For giving a friendly face no matter of how being sick, weak and what else.
A hero to me.
Hope he is still there tomorrow.

Genes

I called Ingo´s brother last night.
They are sure now, the pancreas is inflamed, they have not found any gallstones yet, but, good thing, the inflammation is already declining.

There are three different sorts of pancreatitis and the doctor had told Ingo´s brother, Ingo has the necrotic one, but Martin said actually they need more tests to clarify it. They will control the progress and may need to puncture, maybe even lay a drainage channel.

The good thing is Ingo has no diabetic sugar; that would have been dangerous.

Since the doctors now know Ingo has a doctor in the family, they will be more careful and he told me not to worry if I come to visit and find him in intensive care. That is a good thing and usually not really anything to worry now.

Maybe at Martin´s hospital there will be a strike - in that case he probably will come here. Otherwise maybe the weekend.
Now... does that mean it is that serious after all?

Boy are those two guys different, you would never believe they are brothers!
For thirteen years we said no more than Hi and Bye to each other and now I was sitting there talking to him like to a friend.

Whilst Ingo is the pass-information-and-end-phone-call-type of guy, his brother takes his time.

He did care to make sure I understand what it´s all about being really sick. That it´s normal that the skin is so white. That you´re interested in nothing, not even in the details of your status.

I could tell myself when Ingo replied to my "I miss you" with "I do not miss you. I don´t even miss myself".

We talked about how difficult it will be for Ingo to find a new job. He worked for that darn company more or less his whole working life.
They know Ingo is good in his job and took all the "bad behaviour" like being loud, falling into your word, being hectic, commanding around. In a new job he has to learn to oppress that.
Martin said Ingo cannot stand criticism. Well, I had a slight idea of this one!

Next moment he came up with all the positive things like being very imaginative, talented, disciplined, can bring his job to a successful end nearly always and that quick.

I was astonished. They have nearly no contact at all for all the last years. Actually he cannot know much about Ingo in his working life.

We talked about the years Ingo broke contact to his family due to the mother and Martin said "we" have to talk about that in detail sometime.

Weird.
Guess having three kids changed him a lot.
He criticized Ingo didn´t get to him - with his back and now with this. I said, well, guess Ingo didn´t want to go on your nerves. He exclaimed, "he is my BROTHER! What I am there for if not for him?!"
Well I wonder why he never calls or e-mails then.
He also said if I ever have to go to hospital I should make sure to let him know so he can call them and introduce himself.
Must be a world of it´s own, that "doctor-country"!

That ever loud bed-neighbour is gone, finally! Ingo said he could sleep all night and even dreamed. Was too complicated to tell, though.

He called me via mobile today - if I had not seen it´s him - I could not recognize his voice! It was frightening! Weak. Like Kermit, the Frog.

Martin thinks it will be at least 1-2 weeks in hospital. Great - time Ingo can do nothing to find a new job!

But most important is he gets better soon. Thank you for your e-mails and comments!

I´m working overtime at the moment but try my best to stay in contact.

My job was great today! Amongst other I am a consulter. And my customer makes it so easy to convince her that my point of view is the right/better one.
I am thankful that I have all that freedom at work most of the time!