Europe, Fall 2007, the first days

We arrived on Saturday around 8am and our rental car was a Citroen C4



After a long nap we went out for a meal



On Sunday morning Amy and my sister Sandra get to know each other



I am earning my keep and assist with shaking the apples from the apple tree in our yard



Amy also helps out by gathering the apples



Posing at the carneval fountain in my home town of Ostrach



My dad enjoys his new hat



A very rare sign in Germany. No bikes allowed here.



Amy enjoys the sights in Ueberlingen, Germany



The very beautiful baroque Basilika Birnau between Meersburg and Ueberlingen overlooks the Lake of Constance



Meersburg, Germany is a very beautiful town too



Amy with my friends Mandy and Eugen inside the Franziskaner bar



Amy and I enjoy the smoke free bar environment in Germany. (Germany went smoke free in most bars and restaurants late this summer)



Eugen shows us a "smoker tent" outside the Franziskaner bar.

Rumor has it that they stink

but they are so cute

Raikkonen wins 2007 F1 crown

It was all but certain that new sensation Lewis Hamilton (GBR) would win the 2007 F1 World Championships, but in the end it was Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) who won the final race and the title. Go Ferrari.

Vacation soon

Amy and I are going on a little vacation soon. Oh boy.

The 2007 ARTpARTy

Friday night Amy and I hosted another ARTpARTy and the turnout was great again despite the fact that some good friends could not attend. We had some very unique pieces of art and at the end of the night everyone went home with someone else's creation.

Here are some of the artists and their work:

Tim and Berry made this metal wine rack



Michelle and Jordan decided to each do a piece of art



Betsy with her work of art



Sharon and Eric with a a nice piece of pottery



Rick and Mary created these sunflower paintings



John and Terry with cool photography from Europe



Janelle and Martin created an artsy Jack-o-Lantern



Emma showed that she has a passion for art and cycling



Peter and Erin created these artworks, but only Peter could come



Karen and David always surprise with a different genre of art



Monty brought this beautiful painting



This was my contribution to the ARTpARTy



Kelly and Justin made these very cool bookends, and Amy and I were lucky enough to get them at the end. :-)

All talk, no go?

Does Yuri featured in this funny Nike spot really represent a good amount of "athletes" out there? All talk, no go?

My younger brother finally off the couch

My younger brother Manfred was a standout soccer player in our region but has not done much recently in terms of workouts. A few weeks back though he truly came off the couch to run in a big half marathon in Karlsruhe, Germany and managed to run it in sub 2 hours. He even had time to wave to the cameras. Nice.

Prosumer camera

I have wanted a digital SLR camera for quite some time now and I think I have found what I am looking for. The new Canon EOS 40D should give me all and more what I as a wannabe photographer / news editor could possibly want.

iPhone Extreme

There are rumors abound about a pending iPhone Extreme and I would hope that is true as I am waiting for the next generation. Please Steve Jobs, help me out here.

Vegas, baby

We are off to Vegas ;-)

Funny stuff

Most people would find it a bit odd how my brother Manfred, his wife Bettina and daughter Sara Nina dress for a night out. But it would make a bit more sense if the fact is known that this pic was taken during carnival.

Ozapft is

"Ozapft is" is bavarian slang for "it is tapped" and this phrase is heard quite frequently during the Oktober Fest in Munich, Germany which started today. Yes I know, it is only September, but the October fest in Munich always starts in September.

Here are a few images of the 2007 Oktober Fest.

Interesting placement

I have seen interesting placement of ads next to certain news stories, but rarely such news stories next to each other. Thanks Emma.

Make some noise

Ads for a concert benefiting Amnesty International

Wine over water

Yesterday I went to the annual "Wine over Water" event in Chattanooga and the weather could not have been nicer. Although I don't drink, I enjoy going there every year as it is a very nice social event. It appeared to me that it is a better event since the ticket fees have gone up. More quality and less quantity. There was actually a very nice crowd there but it was not packed, nor did folks seem really wasted. Plus it seems that in previous years they ran out of wine by 6pm, and last night people were still sampling at 7:45pm when I left.

Treo 680 customer service nightmare

After barely a month with my Treo 680 and despite never having dropped it, I recently found 2 cracks in the top right corner of the "bezel" surrounding the touch screen. I talked to my provider AT&T about it and was told that hardware is not covered. They actually gave me a huge runaround about it and were not very helpful despite me pointing out that it is apparently not an isolated incident with the Treo 680.





I finally talked to the folks at Palm and was very disappointed by their response too. After explaining over and over again that I did not drop it and that it was not the actual screen that has cracked, they initially tried to send me back to AT&T. After endless back and forth of explaining that AT&T told me that they only handle software issues not hardware issues, I got put on hold forever while it was discussed with a supervisor. I was then told that I could send it in and they would fix it for a nominal fee of just under $200. I explained again that I did nothing wrong and that in my opinion they had sold me a faulty product, plus that I did not want the screen replaced, just the bezel. It was all the same to them and it made no difference what needed to be fixed and or who was at fault. I then tried in vain to get a supervisor/manager on the phone but I guess customer service is not in the vocabulary of Palm. Maybe they really have too much business and don't need repeat customers.

A conversation with my buddy Eric

Here is a little collage of images from my recent skype chat with my buddy Eric in Miami.