Arme Schlampe

Wow. I can read about it in the papers and follow exchange rates, but I didn't really understand how weak the dollar is until today, when I paid $7 for a cup of coffee.

Now don't get me wrong, it was a fancy coffee and probably the best I have had in years (melange) but this is kind of silly.

No, it is completely ridiculous.

However, theater tickets on opening day at the Volkstheater were only $12 yesterday. We went to go see Eine Heikle Sache, Die Seele by Dimitré Dinev. (A Tricky Thing, the Soul) enjoyable, completely macabre, and very funny at the same time. It is a farce about a wake that plays heavy with existentialism and living in exile.

Today is an excellent museum day; it is cold and rainy. I went to see the Paul Klee exhibit at the Albertina, and had to skip a few activities I had planned because I spent three hours on just that part of the HUGE gallery. Raise your hands if you knew that Klee was so fascinating. In fact, I found myself breezing through the Oskar Kokoschka exhibit at the same place because I had had enough culture for one day. At this point I should probably mention that I had gone to the museum because of Kokoschka in the first place. (Kokoschka is Austrian, while Klee is just Swiss.)

I did learn one new word in dialect from a friend who ha drecently been to Bern. Apparently in Switzerland, it is not unusual to see "Mistkratzer" on the menu. This translates to "shit scratcher" Can you figure out what dish this refers to?

Speaking German again has resulted in broken gears in my head. I've forgotten a lot. However, after three days I'm already at the language crisis phase where I also can't remember how to express myself to say in English, either. This is a good sign. After a couple of days of this, I generally speak much more fluently.

I wish I'd thought to bring my camera software. It would be fun to actually post the pictures on the day they were taken rather than two weeks later.

Fat Kid Sucessfully Avoids Ridicule By Swimming

Ok - so check out this video. It is from the onion; it is a made up news story, and I did have a little chuckle at it.

But at the same time, I found it kind of disturbing. But before I ruin the punchline for you why not have a look at it yourself. This will cost you about a minute, and the video is definitely not safe for work.


Fat Kid Successfully Avoids Ridicule By Swimming With Shirt On

All finished?

So this is a real kid - maybe 12-13 years old? And he's overweight for real, and these adults really poked fun at him, and the kid looked like he was going to cry a couple of times, didn't he?

I'm all for teaching kids humility and not covering them in bubble rap so that they never feel the chill of the cruel, cold world outside the womb. But should adults really be ridiculing children for comedic effect?

Check out the fake promo during the last 10 seconds of the clip though. HA!

Salsa, Merengue, Samba!

So it's one thirty in the a.m. and I'm very, very sleepy. Only I can't fall asleep because the people in the house diagonally from me are having a party. It is a huge fiesta of a party. The living room, which is in the front of the house, is full of salsa-dancing couples. The windows are all open in the house, (however, not in mine) and I can hear singing and shouting and laughing. And the band? Well, the band is on the roof. I guess that's why the windows are open.

I've been toying with calling the non-emergency police number for about an hour. But somehow I'd feel like a jerk. The people across the way have one huge party like this every year. Other than that, I don't know if I've ever even seen them.

So I'm awake and reading that ever-riveting Communications World: The Magazine for Communications Management. I found some pretty fun stuff about creative uses of SMS in the "Tech Talk" column. For example, did you know that you can send a text message via your cell phone to 46645 and query Google? You can also order headlines from Reuters and other news agencies.

I am immediately fascinated by the five-digit telephone number. How did we get back to five from ten? Back in the day when the land-line telephone was new, telephone numbers were short like this, with the first two or three digits being letters that specified local areas. Now, somehow, these shorter numbers are national - registered to one entity or another to perform a function.

Also, not being a complete gear head, I have no idea how any of this works or if anyone is doing these things yet- but think of the possible applications:

• Send an SMS to your favorite restaurant on the way home and order dinner
• Send a text to your bank and have them transfer funds
  
• Combine this technology with GPS and query the arrival of the next bus
• Refill a prescription
  
• Order a taxi
• Call the non-emergency police number and report a really awesome but unfortunately loud Mexican combo

I've only been the owner of a cell phone for about a year now, and the model I have is pretty basic. It doesn't have a camera or mp3 player, but it can send and receive email and text messages. It also has a very rudimentary web browser, but I keep that turned off. It is just too hard to read on that tiny screen.

Until very recently, I've thought of this thing as a personal annoyance that I carry around to placate others. I totally get it now though: I am converted. There is so much communicating to get done, and very little of it involves speaking to actual people. It is all about interfacing on the run.

What fun/useful/gravity-defying things are you all doing with your cell phones out there?

Five Things - East Coast Edition

Five things that are just better about the East Coast

1. The time zone - my body clock is just set for Eastern. I never have to look at my watch here.
2. Bagels - need I say more? I sent Lauren a text message when I got my bagel and whitefish to share my joy. She's either jealous or ambivalent, I don't know. She didn't respond.
3. "soda"
4. Kids sitting on the stoops on the street - I had forgotten that kids played there. In Chicago they hang out either on random apartment steps or in parks. Here in NJ it is just like I remember it on Long Island - you sit on the stoop with your feet in the street. And nobody even tries to run you over.
5. The beach. No, I haven't been to the shore and I'm not likely to on this visit, but just knowing that the Atlantic is so close makes me very happy.

Anyone care to add to this?

Awww shucks.

For the first time in a long time I looked at my webstats. Apparently, pictures of Italy are a big hit. I've had visitors from Bulgaria, (Zdrasti!)Italy, and Austria. These are probably all of Romeo's friends and family. Both of my siblings have visited, and a couple of people from work. Plus, I'm getting hits for search items such as "midi clips sounds of spring," and "Mad Magazine" for some reason. I haven't blogged about either of these things.

Why nobody is leaving any comments is beyond me, but I'm not sure what I should do with my 15 minutes of fame. I'm speechless.



So welcome fleeting visitors. Have a great weekend!

Vacation Prep

In a week from tomorrow I'm off on a week-long romp through Italy with an old friend from Sbg. While I'm not sure I'll have much "down time" during this vacation, I will have a nine-hour flight each way, and I'm sure, more than a little jetlag.

I'm going to need something to read.

But looking around at all of the books I've got lying around unread, (and there are so many,)I just don't want to bring any of them with me to Italy, because they are unvacationly.

For example, books on time management or business communication strategy - these are work related, and I just don't want to bring any part of the office with me.

Other books are being left behind because they are in German. Not that I speak Italian or anything, but I don't want to introduce a third language into this. I get headaches when too many languages comingle.

I'm looking for something light and entertaining.Anyone have any suggestions?