I have now fully recovered myself from the illness and took same as an excuse to get involved in some playing of Neverwinter Nights ;-) Today has been a day of work, although it has been hampered somewhat by problems of my system harddisk which made booting the machine not work anymore. I did not want to fiddle around with the file system because the install that I am currently running is not at all fresh (I think I just updated incrementally from OS X 10.1 to 10.3.2 – which surprisingly worked without problems). So I took this as an ocassion to reformat the disk, and reinstall the system plus all needed apps. Myth would have that everything should now be Snappier™, only I don’t perceive any special snappiness. Well, whatever. At least I got rid of some really old apps and files and not-used-anymore settings. Feels good too. (And leaves me with an additional 12 GB of harddisk space.)
Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Back on track.
Tuesday, January 13th, 2004Some summarizing.
Thursday, January 8th, 2004The last month has been excellent. The trips to Paris, Milano and Finland were all really intriguing.
I was so much fun to be in Paris for the first time and it left me wondering why it took me so long to visit Paris in the first place (expecially since I have been to France at least once a year for over ten years now… ) It is a great city, with a much better and warmer atmosphere then I expected. It also was a lot of fun to venture there with all the nice people from my post-graduate college. Soon I will have a bunch of photos taken during this trip posted to the web.
Milano has some great food to offer, Florian’s and Rita’s place is very nice and the intermingling of Italian and German people at their party was really nice. If you haven’t been to Milano, don’t expect to much of the Scala’s architecture, one could say it is quite modest. However, it is currently being renovated and it is famous for what is happening inside and for its acoustics. The glass-roofed Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. and the Duomo are stunning sights and I thouroughly enjoyed walking around on the roof of the duomo. Look out for pictures and perhaps a movie clip of this trip too!
Though it was not at all cold when we arrived with the ferry in Turku, Finland, the temperatures soon declined to between -12 and -20 degrees Celsius. We had just a little snow which was perfect for our nordic skiing excursions on the lake right in front of the mökki that we stayed in. Timo’s parents also have a seperate sauna mökki which we used quite often. We worked a hole into the ice on the lake and took (pretty short) dives into it to “freshen up” after leaving the sauna. Yes, that was quite cold, but then again, the air in the sauna is quite hot and it is refreshing. Timo also build excellent ice lamps around the hole, so the whole thing was an aeshtetic pleasure too. Kerstin took some neat pictures which she should be able to convert with iPhoto to a nice enough web page for your pleasure too. Finally, let me tell you again that boat trips can be quite exciting! Definitely the best way to travel.
Sick.
Thursday, January 8th, 2004Hello, hello. The day after I came back from our new year’s trip to Finland the flu got me. Therefore I have spent yesterday and today in bed, and I am looking forward to changing my diet from “Zwieback” (dried bread for small children) to something more exciting in the near future. Today at least I am able to look at a screen for more then a few minutes without being exhausted – which enables me to pick up blogging again! Look out for more entries in the nearest future.
Traveling. More traveling.
Sunday, December 21st, 2003Dear readers, I have been abroad much this month, and I will continue on this track with a visit to Finland from the 27th until the 5th of January. Before that I probably won’t have much time either, being occupied with pre-christmas tasks…
I hope to post some pictures of my trips to Paris and Milano before Christmas, but I can’t promise anything in this regard.
Le premier fois.
Thursday, December 4th, 2003This weekend I will be in Paris for the first time! I have driven along the highway around Paris (never have I been so concentrated as in these 40 minutes driving through Paris rush hour traffic) but I have never ever set foot on the city’s grounds. La terre française. The trip is sponsored by the post-graduate college and we will make exkursions to two sites: Le Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers et La Vilette.
Well, we might also visit one or two cafés on the way…
Finally, a day for NWN again.
Saturday, November 29th, 2003It has been about two weeks since I had time to play a bit online, and I am quite excited to meet my online gaming friends again. Yay! Hagen Elsternhorst is back!
Sorting screws.
Sunday, October 26th, 2003The last days I made some slow progress in the sorting-of-screws-project. Sorting-of-screws-project? Kerstin and I are currently tidying up our small storage room and a multitude of screws showed up during this tidying up. I think I have now about 20 different categories of screws lying at the table besides the keyboard I am typing on right now. Some of these categories should be merged, I think. Especially those with less than five specimen total. At the end of this process, the world will be a much better place.
Still in the mountains.
Tuesday, October 14th, 2003If you wonder why there is another posting gap – I have been on a conference in Darmstadt from at the end of last week and until tomorrow I am in the Harz Mountains in Germany. Yesterday we walked up the Brocken – with 1142m the highest mountain of northern Germany. It was my first time on the Brocken and the view over the northern plains in all directions was staggering.
Nerve wracking and exhausting.
Wednesday, September 24th, 2003I have to tell you that even if you’re only the friend not the person affected, job interviews can be really exhausting. I’m almost down and out from the last days. Wouldn’t want to be in Kerstin’s shoes…
Neverwinternightabsorbiert
Wednesday, September 10th, 2003Liebe Leserinnen und Leser,
ich wollte nur kurz mitteilen, dass Lars hier anscheinend nichts mehr Neues schreibt, weil er ununterbrochen seit Tagen schon vollkommen in der virtuellen Realität gefangen ist und dort neue Freundinnen und Freunde gefunden zu haben scheint, mit denen er spricht, Geschenke austauscht und sich verabredet. Also los, wer von Euch vermag ihn zu befreien?
Exploring the online realm.
Monday, September 8th, 2003Yesterday I played Neverwinter Nights for the first time on an online, guild hosted server. It has been a very good and interesting experience. People there (there are usually about 3-10 people online in the setting I am playing in) are quite eloquent, funny and charming. Of course they are, because they are all Mac users! The guild (the Avengers of Coramir) recruits itself from the Mac Neverwinter Nights forum, where I have lurked for the last year or so.
If anything virtually interesting happens, I’ll inform you through the virtual hyperspace. Allez les Internautes!
I like it.
Thursday, September 4th, 2003The worst part of the declining temperatures is the growing anxiety which I feel before turning on the cold water in the shower. *brrr* But otherwise it’s great: I can wear my favorite jacket again, we had some gorgeous rainbows over the last few days and sleeping is even more attractive.
On Vacation.
Saturday, August 16th, 2003Just a short explanation and reminder for those who don’t know: I am still on vacation in France. I’ll get back to updating my blog when I come back. Right now I am surprisingly happy with being offline and without mobile phone reception in the French countryside.
Ever got involved in the car-rental-price-comparison business?
Wednesday, July 30th, 2003Don’t. It is a morass that could easily swallow your sanity.
Vacation and physical exercise? We play croquet.
Friday, July 11th, 2003Plans for our collective trip to France are ripening. They are inspired by this beautiful page. You should really take a look at this page.
If you are interested in the rules of croquet, it’s history and such, check out this page. It is maintained by Dr. Ian Plummer, Oxford, UK. That should be enough of a recommendation.
The biggest questions for this year’s trip to France and the beautiful village of Pomy are: Will we have an adequate lawn? Will we have authentic equipment and, most important: Who will serve the Raffaelo?
Getting out, getting to a lake.
Saturday, June 28th, 2003This is the motto for this weekend. After today’s wedding party in the Manzini’s, we’ll need a break from urban space – a break from reflective thinking and discussing dissertation blah. A trip to one of the farther lakes in the Mecklenburgische Seenplate is in order. Some of these lakes are quite deep. Hopefully the water is still somewhat cool and refreshing, even after all these weeks of warm weather. Bathing in lake should of course be combined with nurturing yourself with food from the same, a nice fresh fish! Yum. Yum Yum. And then some relaxation. Cool evening air and a light breeze.
Well, know you know why you shouldn’t be surprised if I won’t blog anything this weekend. It for the weather to decide about this.
Dämlich.
Thursday, June 26th, 2003Mist. Es ist schon wieder passiert. Der wohl häufigste und nervigste Fehler beim Verschicken von Mails: ich habe vergessen, das Attachment anzuhängen…
Übrigens: wenn Ihr diese Seite Bookmarken wollt, müsst Ihr ganz einfach Strg+D (bei Windows) oder Apfel+D (beim Mac OS) drücken. (Linuxer wissen wie’s geht.)
Neue Abi-Adressen – unverhofft kommt…
Monday, June 23rd, 2003Na, dass war ja mal ne Überraschung. Bei meinen gelegentlichen Checks der AEG-Alumni Homepage bin ich doch glatt auf einen neuen Eintrag gestoßen. Wunderbar – das Projekt 10-jähriges Abijubiläum ist wieder etwas nähergerückt.
In trockenen Tüchern.
Saturday, June 21st, 2003So, zur Abwechslung mal in deutsch. Und zwar weil ich den Ausdruck in trockenen Tüchern so gerne mag. Stellt sich bloss die Frage, was nun eigentlich in trockenen Tüchern ist. Es ist: Der Sommerurlaub. Warum? Weil das alte Mietkautionskonto endlich freigegeben worden ist. Jo.
Und sonst? Hier ist’s Wetter netter als daheim, was mich ja schon mal erfreut; desweiteren werd ich heute Abend wohl zum ersten mal seit vielen Monaten wieder eine Runde Neverwinter Nights mit Timo dädeldaddeln. Sozusagen in Vorbereitung auf das (hoffentlich baldige) Erscheinen der NWN Mac Version. Die hätte ja eigentlich schon vor einem Jahr fertig sein sollen, aber manchmal ist der Mac dann doch eine exklusivere Plattform als ich es mir wünschen würde.
Bis Timo so weit ist, werde ich vielleicht noch mal ein paar Buffy Folgen aus der finalen Staffel rekapitulieren, auf dem Schlossplatz wandeln, mir einen kleinen Snack besorgen und ein bisschen das Treiben anschauen. Und vielleicht auch noch ein bisschen mit meinen Liebsten chatten.
Cambridge, my balcony, and Sunnydale.
Friday, June 20th, 2003This is a selection of the spaces over which yesterday evening’s most relevant events were distributed. After finishing the asparagus season with a fine meal, shared between Florian, Chr, Sofie and myself, Florian left to catch his plane back to Cambridge. I hope that there’ll soon be some time and money for a trip to Cambridge. Haven’t punted through the Cam yet. After Florian left, the rest of the crowd gathered on the balcony, enjoying the vegetation and the mild air. More interesting stories relating to intestinal activities were told ;-) and some more white wine was consumed. As time passed and the sun went down Chr got himself involved in old-school telecommunication while Sofie and I started to visit Sunnydale as it was presented in the last two Buffy episodes (7×07 and 7×08 – to say it again, 7×07 was really scary and definitely one of the best episodes I’ve seen yet. Then finally Kerstin and Olli trickled in too and we saw this week’s episode: 7×09 – Never Leave Me. It’s still not clear what will happen to Giles, and, quite a surprise, it looks like some old fiends from the first season come back into play. So the circle closes itself. It fits just perfectly that Olli bought the First Season DVD – thanks Olli!
Now, what about the space issue? Analysis of this peculiar socio-ficitonal-space is up to you. Any spaces more relevant than others? Why? Fun being back to school, isn’t it?