Running in Mexico

This running clip from our visit to Mexico shows well how beautiful that part of the Mayan Coast is and more specifically out Hotel Esencia and the beach right in front of it. I actually did a longer run prior but did not have GoPro ready,so I went out again for a short jog to film part of the run.

Mexico 2011

Amy and I spent a few days in Mexico to relax in the sun and we had a wonderful time here. We are about 20km South of Playa de Carmen at a beautiful hotel called Esencia and everything was magnificent. We are leaving from here early tomorrow but wanted to share a few images from the trip. We'll add more images soon.

Our unit was very nice and clean.



A bit of reading time for Amy in our plunge pool



Huevas Rancheras done right



Amy's breakfast was delicious too



On the first day the skies were a bit overcast



But the beach was awesome anyway



It almost felt like a private beach



A bit of reading time by the pool



The space to relax at the beach



Oh what a view



What ever we needed was right there



As we said, very quiet and peaceful here even on super sunny days



Amy had this lobster wrap for lunch. Yummy.



I enjoyed pasta pomodoro



The unique outdoor yoga studio at Hotel Esencia



Beautiful sunset on the Mayan Coast



My wife is always stunning and here ready for dinner



A self portrait before dinner



A delicious Fritata Esencia with goat cheese, turkey ham and asparagus



Chilaquiles



Another beautiful beach day



The view from the Mayan ruins in Tulum



We only were touristy on Friday. Here we are in Tulum



Authentic fish tacos

Le Mans fun

2 out of 3 factory Audi race cars fell victim to terrible crashes at the 2011 24 Hours of Le Mans but the remaining #2 car came back to win the race. Now that is a story. I wonder if Audi makes one of these fast Turbo Diesels with enough room for Amy and I and the 2 babies.



BAM

Time to part

Yup, it is time to part with my trusted BMW MCoupe. I have loved it for almost 12 years but it gets driven less and less and soon we just will need a bigger car. The babies just would not fit in there.

Doppelfreude

Amy and I are so happy to announce that Amy is pregnant and in November we will double our family with twins. We are so thrilled and excited.

Here is Baby A and it is amazing what you can see at 12 weeks



Baby B did not want to pose for the picture

Manfred

During my recent trip to Germany I managed to see my brother Manfred and his family for a few hours. They invited me to a yummy dinner and we got to chat about this and that.

The happy family



It is great to get them started early

Germany April 2011

Usually I gripe about the weather in Germany, but this time is certainly nice. A few impressions from the first days here.


Unusually nice weather this time of year brought hordes of folks to the Lake of Constance.



This isn't a movie star, this is my mom with overwhelming choices of ice cream.



My mom decided on the Schwarzwald Becher



My Spaghetti ice cream seconds before it got inhaled. (It is vanilla ice cream squeezed through a press with raspberry sauce and white chocolate sprinkles)



Yup, we are in Germany.



After we returned from the lake I bumped into Zita Schaedler on the soccer field in Ostrach. This stunning 84-year old lives in our house and she is an icon in this town.

Oh yes, spring has sprung

The plants in our front yard seem super happy with the current weather and it just looks beautiful. The scent of spring is also in the air and of course what is not to like about a stunning blue sky.

Cranky

I was cranky for a while because my beloved Crank t-shirt endured a million washes just like Seinfeld's Golden Boy and it eventually had to be taken out of the rotation. Now it is finally available again and you'll soon see me wearing one virtually every day. :-)

Bert

Bert isn't short for Herbert, I snapped this image on my iPhone from an old wall advertisement that was recently uncovered. The ad is actually for a business on Liberty street and I just grabbed a small detail of LiBERTy.

Help Japan

Many creative folks have stepped up with powerful art to help the earthquake / tsunami victims in Japan and bring attention to that region. There has been quite a response and many of these posters have already sold out, but you can go straight to the Red Cross and donate your money there.

I have already donated, but have you?

My United Airlines Blues 2

So my bag finally arrived after my United Airlines Blues and while the broken/missing zipper tabs are annoying, I am mostly mad that my Oakley glasses and my spare Canon lens has gone missing in action. My whole suitcase actually looked riffled through, so someone had a bit of fun with this.

Called United and they blamed the TSA, then called TSA and they pointed out that it had to go through customs. More finger pointing will come for sure but action seem to come most likely not.

Baggage folks actually offered me a $50 voucher for the general baggage "inconvenience" but I didn't accept it. I basically am missing expensive gear and they want to "sell" me another United ticket?

My United Airlines Blues

On Tuesday March 8th I was supposed to fly from GSO, with United Airlines via Washington, Dulles and JFK airport in NY to Abu Dhabi in the United Emirates (well the flight from NYC to Abu Dhabi would have been with Etihad Airlines.) On Tuesday my flight from GSO to IAD was delayed so much that I could not have made my connections, and I ended up not going, but wasted a lot of time in the airport. We rebooked and tried the same route again on Wednesday March 9th. After pushing flight UA7679 away from the gate in Greensboro at 2:45pm we sat for 2 hours on the tarmac seemingly because of thunderstorms in DC. I managed to get to Washington Dulles around 5:20pm, but despite on board promises that we all would make our connections I ended up missing flight UA5693 to JFK.

The typical finger pointing game started when I went to customer service. After waiting in line for more than an hour I was told that I should not have booked my flight on 2 different airlines, that thus United could only help me get to NYC, but not to Abu Dhabi. I would have to call Etihad Airlines myself to get assistance to go to Abu Dhabi. When I called Etihad, they told me that their flight is not late and that they can't see the problem, plus it should be United's job to get me there

Once it became clear that I would not make any of my connections to Abu Dhabi, I knew I now would arrive too late for the Abu Dhabi Triathlon there, and decided to return to GSO before I would end up getting stuck overnight in Washington. Around 7pm the Customer Service desk at Washington-Dulles (C terminal) assisted me with the matter and got me on a flight back to GSO and promised to work on getting my checked bag (at that time in Washington,DC seemingly) back with me to Greensboro. I checked again with customer service in the A terminal before my flight UA5761 was departing at 10:12pm and I was told that my checked bag is indeed going with me.

When I arrived at GSO just after 11pm, my bag did not get there and I filed a delayed baggage claim UA816781 with a very unprofessional baggage handler there and listed my home address 1311 Clover Street, Winston-Salem, NC 27101 as the final destination.

As advised I called the 1800-221-6903 number the next morning around 9am (March 10th) and was told that my bag is in Buffalo, NY and would be back with me within 24 hours and I would get a call later. When I had not heard a thing by 7pm I called again and was told that my bag is at JFK airport in NYC and soon would be coming coming back via Greensboro.

When I still had not received any update on March 11th by 10am I called again and asked for a supervisor. The supervisor then advised me that my bag first needed to go to Abu Dhabi, UAE my original final destination before it could get routed elsewhere. This certainly made no sense to me, as that could not happen if I planned to do something along those lines. After some back and forth the supervisor told me he would put in a note to make sure the bag comes back to GSO instead and would not go to Abu Dhabi. And he promised to expect a call.

Today is March 12th and at 1pm I made another call and was first "helped" by one person who gave me no information other than asking me for my information that is clearly in my file complaint. Most annoying thing at that baggage center is that the service folks seem to be otherwise occupied as they are talking to me. While they asked me questions like "So is your backup phone number 336-776 ....?" and "So you noted you want your bag shipped to Winston-Salem?" I could hear feverish typing at that desk. Are they sending emails to friends or handling customer service for other brands while they appease the annoying customer with non info? Eventually I was connected to a different supervisor who at first had no info other than telling that they are waiting to hear back from JFK and to expect a call soon, before noting "I just go a message that bag left JFK on March 11th with Etihad flight 100 to Abu Dhabi.

Are you kidding me?

I missed a major event because of the messed up flights and now this baggage nightmare? I am sure the FAA will find this story quite interesting.

I need my bag back here in North Carolina asap and I am owed a major apology at the very least.

Hu Hu Hu Hu

Missed out this year to take part at the Rottweiler Fasnet, but there is always next year. The tradition is actually so old that the United States as a country is quite youthful in comparison. Hu Hu Hu Hu

Spring has arrived

It has been quite a bit warmer recently and it is much appreciated of course. The plants seem to really enjoy the sun and warmer temps too and we are now seeing signs of the spring, plus the scent outside is great.