Around The Tarns

Yep, summer is still here, yay!
So another bike-tour was due. Ingo is a genius and finds the coolest places and finest routes!
And really... this is the best bike I ever had, it´s so easy and so much fun! Why did no one tell me earlier how fun a good bike is?! (With good I talk of a 100€-bike from the hardware store!)

Anyhows, the route lead us to the tarns. I knew these info-boards from Australia for ages - slowly they become quite popular here as well, how nice!



For these little fellas



we looked without success.



And yes, I´m cheating on you - Ingo stands at the dragonfly-place here.

Nice to see: More and more bikers wear helmets. It takes longer in Europe, it seems. At least in Germany...

Tomorrow is predicted hot again - keep your fingers crossed the technician who has to look at our sink heater yet again is quick!!! (we still have to turn the radiator on to get warm water, gah!)

Summer... best, best time ever!

Plastic Joy Award

Barbara gave me this Award... ummm, well, thanks, Barbara ;-)

I take the explanation directly from her:
The idea behind this "award" is to name five people you'd like to "be with".

So, here they are:











Freddie Mercury (yes, I know!...)
David James Elliott
Joshua Kadison
Well, if it´s not for my boyfriend...
Ingo Appelt .. or... rather not? (his program now is "Men need to be beaten" (German)) - bet he is a funny guy.

Oh, this is difficult! Maybe I´m just too happy with how my life is?

Jensen Ackles (oh my! He´s younger than my little Bro!)

I don´t give this "award" on to anyone particular, but please feel free to join anyways :-)
Oh, and let me know who your hot guys are, ok?

First BBQ This Year

Yips, we went to the park on the weekend - it´s more fun there, without the landlord getting all theatrical about the smell or smoke of a BBQ (really, doesn´t it rise up in the air, huh?).



The park was packed, seems like half the town had the same idea as us. It´s such a nice atmosphere there...

My name is (translated) Emperor, but with these it was yummy as well:



(it says "savor like a King")



Yum... 2 boring and to Chili-ones:



Since there are always 4 sausages per package, guess where we go today? :-)

My new friend will join us again:



Ingo used my old or rather unused speedometer so that I can take Froggy up in the apartment. He wouldn´t last long unsupervised with all the kids at the cultural Center...

It was a lucky day, even the sky thought so, doesn´t it look like the luckdragon from The Neverending Story?



Oh, great, now I have that dumb title-song in my ear. And Limahl before my eyes... bu-huuu.

After Darkness Comes Light

... AND... The Sun (pic taken around 5:30 am)

It´s always good to have friends you can be honest with.
Bro keeps the real tough things about our Mum to himself (and me - not even his Wife knows the lot - I think that´s wrong), I don´t and my friend helped me a great deal today.

I am less concerned about Ex now, learned that other families are as crazy/weird/sick at times as mine and that it´s good to be open to others. I got help - ideas and some wisdom, like ...
Life is floating like a river and the years between 30 and 40 are the most exhausting ones cause you make so many decisions, job-wise and private - and it´s hard to keep all those balls in the air.

I feel reassured and stronger. Decided the next step and asked Bro to arrange it - he agreed! Thanked me, asked me for advice - with also Ingo´s help, I could do it all - and hopefully I/we were right.

Amongst other, Bro and me will have an appointment with our Mum´s Doc, tell her all and ask for help. Mum doesn´t do it. We have to, even if it feels like cheating on her (pride).

Guess maybe I even could help Bro himself, thanks to my friend.

The Pic above???
My way to work! - Summer is sooooo beautiful! In real it´s a huuuuge orange ball, but, well, be the driver and take a pic... difficult (and dangerous, I know).

Thursday Ingo made my life/mind a bit easier with a bike-tour, isn´t this beautiful? The yellow?



Today we "only" went for a walk, but I´m glad about it, cause I saw a Bro of our.. umm... carpet:



It´s really tragic, he lost his original Bro, who drowned in the flood - here you can see both of them.
;-)
(Am I glad the flood happened!!! Never ever a Weekend-Relationship, never again!)



Maybe I am, after all, as theatrical as my Bro when trouble comes along... I panic, see the worst-case-scenario.

(Btw.. we had visitors who really hopscotched :-)
I speak of adults - totally worth the money, that carpet!)

Missing

And just now I got a very long E-Mail from my Bro, beginning with "Dear Sister, I was missing...".
(Free pic: That´s where "Cast Away" was filmed)

Problems are getting worse and worse with our Mum, she refuses any help, also from me and she doesn´t talk to my Bro anymore.
She still hasn´t started packing, goes from one sickness to the next - we all, doctor included, think it´s psychic - she has never taken professional help to really grieve for our Dad.
She refuses any help. Gets weaker, doesn´t eat - and probably doesn´t drink enough either.
She is so lethargic.

Bro said he needs a break he cannot take any more of all her accusations.
He says he needs to learn to say no (I agree).
I don´t know what to do anymore either. There is so much stubbornness, so much anger in her - she doesn´t even look forward to her first Grandchild.
Power comes back only when she goes against Bro.

Who is in fight with his wife.

I offered to meet and reassured him, there isn´t much more I can do.

I feel very bad because he trusts me and I cannot say, I know of your Ex (see last post).

Oh, great, next E-Mail. Reveals that she started smoking again. Wonderful. After just having had removed lung-cancer!!!
Now what do I do???? Do I know these "great news"?
And personal hygiene is an issue, too, he says.

Anyone any idea how to help someone who doesn´t want help but obviously needs it badly?
See her doc?

How dumb can one be, to start smoking again. I´m really mad at her.

Addendum...
I wanna keep track of what is happening...
Next mail says, "if - just as an example, I´d seperate from my wife, now, or in a year, I´d be the bad one for Mum" - just an example???? Still no word about meeting the Ex, still nothing to my offers of meeting.
Have the feeling my family is falling apart.
And they use me to do it.

I am so afraid they both ruin their lifes for good - and I just don´t know what to do...

The Ex

...or Vodoo - I´d Like To Do Just That!
... or I´m Really Worried

I just called my Mum to say hi, see where she follows the Big Game - there are Public Screens also in my little hometown (did you know btw that this is called Public Viewing (German) in Germany??? Hello??? How morbid - or rather dumb is that?)

Anyhows.

She told me that my Bro´s Ex was there again today.

I really do worry a lot.

In about two months my Bro will become a Dad - my Mum isn´t too sure - will he throw his life away for the Ex?

I´m not supposed to talk to him about the matter - he will eventually break up contact with our Mum for telling. He never reads in here - I hope he doesn´t start suddenly... if you do - read to the end, man....
I once said something against Ex - in her face. He didn´t talk to me for a year.

On one hand I think... or thought - he married his wife out of love, true love.
But just the other day he accused our Mum (yet again and I think rightfully) she helped a great deal destroying the relationship to the Ex.
(Frankly not even his friends liked her.)

Ex came back to town, obviously, lives there again.
Maybe is working and is on holiday or she doesn´t do anything and stays with her parents.

Fact is, this was the second time my Mum found out that Ex saw, my Mum´s car is gone and hence she went into the shop and sat gloriously down to chat with my Bro.

Seems like he is very blind - instead of repairing the jewlery on time for the date he himself gave for a customer who comes from another town (!), he prefered sitting there chatting with her.
The salesgirls reported they said Good-Bye with a hug, kiss left cheek, right cheek.

That´s great - if he didn´t tell his wife beforehand, some customer might have seen that and bring the news to her. I don´t think a wife, especially not one highly pregnant, would be amused.

Really. I am worried.
This woman brought so much worries to us all already, and she won´t let go.
15 years she tried to make him marry her - many assume so she can be the female boss of the shop. She might really be that naive to think she can stride the shop with a glass of sparkling wine at hand.
Ok, that was mean, but really, being your own boss usually/often means working longer and harder than the regular staff.

I sososo hope my Mum interprets it all wrong - on the other hand... Bro used to tell me when she went to see him - last two times he didn´t.

(Last time she broke up just yet again, he came to me. Later he said if I hadn´t been there for him the following months, he might have ended his life (or returned to her) - so I kinda feel very involved, no? She plays with him. Plus, Bro himself said "once an addict, always an addict" - he was a co-addict for years, does he really want to go back??? And his Daughter?)

And I can´t just go and ask, hey, Dude, what are you up to?!!
Just wait and see :-(

Isn´t It Just Heartbreaking

It´s still too cold, grey and rather sad weather...
I didn´t feel like going anywhere today after work. Weather really can bring one down, me at least.

So I try something funny now. Hope it does get funny... it´s a meme. On books.

Wanna join? These are the rules:

1. Find the nearest bookshelf of your favorite reads, cookbooks, tech books, magazines. It doesn't matter. This will work for all print media. If you don't have seven books lined up on a shelf, grab the first seven you see around the house.
2. Book #1: Turn to page 21. Read the 21st sentence (you may have to turn the page).
Write it down.
3. Do the same with the first six books or articles you see. The sentences will make a paragraph. You must write them down in the order you found them.
4. When you are finished, read over your "story" and title it.
5. Show us your bibliography at the end of this meme.

The sisters would canoe over to the pavilion in the evenings and hang around with our crowd.
The routine with which I was to become so familiar ran something like this: I would arrive at the venue with the band for their sound check.
You and your Mother!
And then, amidst the constant crying and illness, my mother discovered she was pregnant.
I said I understood, and told Tefu that he could not be around when I was dealing with the warder.
I tell you something about Bessie.
They won the National League pennant in 1945 and I became a fan the next year, going with a winner, so much so that I can still name the starting lineup for the 1946 team, and still suffer the annual heartbreak of watching the Cubs fold, because they haven´t won a pennant since.


- Grinding It Out - The Making of Mc Donald´s by Ray Kroc (have to finish it still!)
- Freddie Mercury by Peter Freestone
- The Half-Open Door - Sixteen modern Australian women look at professional life and achivement - edited by Patricia Grimshaw and Lynne Strahan (look very much forward to this)
- Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
- Long Walk To Freedom - Nelson Mandela
- Having our Say - The Delany Sisters´ First 100 Years by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (can´t wait to read this!)
- The Last Man On The Moon by Eugene Cernan and Don Davis (Ingo loved it, I havent started yet)


I didn´t cheat, really - somehow the "story" fits to my mood, weird, huh?

Please let me know if you joined...

Meet Mr Mosquito

Ingo predicts they won´t last long, my new carnivorous plants, but I couldn´t resist to give them a go:





Good ole Aldi... back then they just had food!

Last not least... Grass on grass, stupid me, huh? :-)

Love MacGyver?

Yips, this year we knew beforehand it´s TU-Day (Technical University-Day) - very often - this must be a local thing, too - we read afterwards what has been going on in town.

Like a huge article on how they opened a new part of our research-airport, gah, Ingo so´d loved to be there.

But, well, this time we knew in time - and, well, I found it too funny to see this:



Didn´t you love that show back then, too, MacGyver? There is an episode - as you know, I guess - where Marge´s Sisters kidnap MacGyver, yeah The Simpsons just know about everything, huh?

So do we :-)



So, this is what it was all about: 1 challenge, 2 weeks, 20 €, 200 and + solutions - from grade 10 on.

Certainly we just found it by chance and only were to see the last two participants.

Challenge was to maneuver water over a distance without touching the ground - these guys rocked!



They even had two "surprises" - a little water jet and some confetti - and whilst the water was flowing, a bell was ringing and (despite of the last lost game) the German Flag was swung by their construction. Very cool.

Sadly we had something to eat before we left, so... no Pizza, aww...

At one of the stalls I gathered this:



Yips, a pen, cool, huh?



On the way home we saw this bike -



seems we´re not the only ones who love the country which "we bet 4:0 that is so very beautiful.
Btw... Zoo Hannover has a new section, I read in the newspapers today: Australia - guess we go there rather soon :-)

The rest of today´s adventures, including my new flatmates - who are both true carnivores - will follow.

Ahhh... weekend! :-)
Hope you have a good one, too!

Too Good To Go

Summer decided to come for a visit, so certainly the weather was too good to go to the gym, instead Ingo quickly planned a little bike-tour.

The joys of starting work early - you´re home around 3 and have the full afternoon.

After paying a visit to the Richmond Palace´s pavilion we went to the South-Lake and all the way back, stopping at Okercabana (German) for a refreshing drink:



I had Berliner Kindl, a mix from a Beer from Berlin with woodruff-syrup, Ingo had a nonalcoholic wheat beer.

Greece was playing against Nigeria, there are screens everywhere:



Very sad, host SA hasn´t more luck!

People were lazing on the "beach", watching:



The big Octopus was gone, they have a headless diver now...



Always something new, which makes one Happy Man :-)



In case you wonder about the name - since a few years the city brings real sand to this place by the River Oker, hence Okercabana.

On the way back we found this new sculpture, how cool is that, it´s floating on the water...



The last treat was another sub from Subway - the third time this week!

No worries, we always share one (seriously, who eats such a huge thing alone?!)

Fingers crossed tomorrow is another day for the bikes - prediction for the weekend is:
Rainy, max 16C!!!!

But, ya know... since 3 years I don´t care too much about it anymore. That´s how long we finally live together every day :-)

Wanna Win? Or Rather Not?

So, in our B2E-Portal we certainly have a dpa-Live-sportsticker for the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Along with this we let the users guess who wins each game and there are prizes for the best ones, Soccer-Pools you call it?

But we also had some other prizes that made no sense after the games - some stuff to decorate your car/yourself in the German colors and retro-soccer-T-Shirts.

The guys were really after the T-Shirts!!!

Now the rules for the raffle:

- Decide what you want: T-Shirt or accessoire - I put two mailto-links on the page and gave the subject for each. Since not everybody has a mail-client, here is rule #2
- give the correct subject
- if T-Shirt, let us know which size you want - we have S, M, L. And last, (cause it´s not possible to send the stuff via e-mail, right? Huh?)
- give us the address where we should send it to

Now, you think that´s easy?

Nope.

- people used the subject for the accessoire and said, size L please
- they want XXL (or XXXL)
- no subject
- empty mail
- no address

And these were combined, too!!!

We said, ok, if they don´t manage, they don´t get a chance! Minimum standards should be fulfilled at last!!! We didn´t even ask a difficult question or something!!!

Some even wrote, "I soooo wish I win!!!" and set the importance on high.
Yeah, bugger, then read what we need to know, you´re out!

Heck, why do poeple do that???
If I want something, I follow the rules! If I want something bad, I doublecheck!!!

Here is what we got:

On both, the accessoire and the T-Shirts, about half didn´t get it.

Please, anyone... can you explain this to me???

I Didn´t Drown

... or: Our Boss doesn´t like water that much

Am I happy I did go to the Company Meeting, really!
This wasn´t a Boat-Tour like all the others, oh-no!
We were not all in one sun-shaded boat this time. We had a choice of a big rubberboat, paddleboats,






which nearly all the chickens (98% being men, btw!) used, or the one I went in...



I decided to join two colleagues who asked me to come on a 3-man-canoe.
We were the only ones and we even made some kiddos happy by saving their soccer-ball...
I sat in front (with glasses on! I´m always afraid of loosing them in water and had no spare in the car!). The other two (both men) were paddeling whilst I piched on the "reeling", trying to get hold of my hat (darn sun-allergy!) - my, these things are likely to tipping - one colleague had his iPhone with him, man did he panic (we all were first-time-goers) - hehe, still happy we made it safely back.
And we really had some fun! One colleague started to sing a sailor´s song and then we chased the big rubberboat and screamed "Pirates, Pirates, hand your Goodies over!!" - men, just like kids, no? :-)

Our Boss was over an hour late - I think he didn´t want to go on a boat in a Tuxedo...

I didn´t expect to be exposed to the sun so long, so a colleague gave me her Towel against the sun. Partially it was so windy, I really had trouble not to loose it!
My two colleagues said, yep, we had a native on board :-)

We were so darn lucky with the weather! Sunny, 28C - Sat was cloudy, 18C!!!


Sad thing was... Apart from the Boss and (only) one of the Directors only 15 people came! We´re a company of around 50!!
For the BBQ afterwards 5 more turned up, but that still is hardly a quarter!

I wonder... especially in hard times like these, how many Bosses do something like this for their Employees, huh?

Our House Street

Sorry, get those songs in my head all the time!
Yeah, right, wouldn´t you want something like this near your home, too?

I sent yet another complaint to the City.
Heck, it looks like this always!
When the darn Containers are emptied, you see people like Zombies bringing their plastic-stuff they had put on the balkony in the meantime in - us included.

There are two cantainers for glass (never ever full), 2 for paper (never ever...) and 2 for plastic.

Meet My Colleagues

... or Different Concepts, Different Ways To Care For Your Employees

I had a doctor´s appointment today (routine check-up) and since she starts so late, I took the day off.
Anyhows I have to jump in the car this arvo and head to lake Tankumsee (German) - it´s another quarter-meeting.

Obviously our Boss likes the water - it´s already the 4th or even 5th time that we do a Boat-Tour.
But, well, I have made no suggestions, hence I cannot say anything against it.
From my team only two will show up, that´s me included already - actually I think that´s rather sad.
After all our Boss tries to show he cares for us, no?
He stated it as "leisure time", maybe he shouldn´t have...

So, whilst my Boss arranges a Boat-Tour with a BBQ afterwards, Ingo´s Boss tells him to work on Saturday - for not even extra-cash!




I´m really no fan of temporary employment!
They treat their "workers" like "products". There is heaps of work? Work also on Saturday! There isn´t much to do? Stay home - use your time account or it´s a leave day paid or you simply get no money for that day.

Once Ingo came home with some... uh, gotta ask him, but if I remember right some 700€ only.
Ok, I´m working, too, and we have no kids - but imagine it was another life we lead - we´d be forced to ask the state for money.
If we hadn´t booked Cuba already, Ingo would´ve been forced to work - what kind of a work-life is that?

As I know it, holiday is at least one week in a piece, so you can relax. Enjoy life and return to work refreshed and with power.
In temporary employment not so.
Where is life-quality, huh?

Ok, it´s a bit tricky to complain after I read Rodney´s post on Privilege and Responsibility - though it´s another topic altogether, I sure do know how privileged we actualy are, compared to many countries.
But in comparison with people like me and in Germany, Ingo is off not as good.

My SIL btw sits on the other end of this concept and defends it heavily, admitting though that it has a bad reputation...

What do you think of the concept "temporary employment"? Do you work in one?

I Dig Through It

This morning we woke a bit earlier due to a big BANG!!!!, followed by a very flashy FLASH!!!. Boy!

It was hot, humid and all the way to work (30km) I had the joy of watching the show!

Luckily it faded away, cause I don´t wanna have another loss of power at work (like last week). Other parts of Germany weren´t as lucky, I saw in the news... more little tornadoes and floods did heaps of damage...

It was HOT again (actually yay). 5 1/2th floor, that´s where the heat goes :-)

With the developing day thunder went away, but it stayed looking like rain, so, no bike-tour here.
But a walk!
Ingo said, hey, today are the markets near the park!

So, we went. A walk combined with the chance of something fresh and yummy for dinner!

The colors, awww... very late, but finally there!!!



Then the markets:



People all in summer-clothes, yay! Kinda proof: summer is here! :-)

Aren´t these cute?!



Ingo pointed me to those dogs, digging their way even through bitumen. I gleefully took the pic and then Ingo remarked, "and this one is for real" - MY! Did I mention I´m afraid of dogs? Right beside was a real one, a big one, peeking out underneath the market stall!!!
I didn´t jump, though, doggy looked friendly :-)

Btw friendly... since it was such a cloudy day, I could finally take a pic of the Smiling House (that´s what I call it, you need to click to enlarge)):



Yes, I know, it´s just an emblem... but it makes ME smile :-)
And nope, we didn´t find anything yummy at the markets...
Just roast chicken, but since Ingo never had it since falling ill and since he has to work on Sat (argh!), we didn´t give it a go...