Link to Profile Semperoper, Dresden Sieg (auf dem Siegesäule), Berlin Brandenburg Tor, Berlin Skyline, Frankfurt am Main

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Winter Wonderland

This is a shot down the Elbe ... it almost looks like a Bob Ross painting, what with all those 'happy little trees' on the waterfront covered in ice.













What was really intriguing was the way the trees were covered in the frost while the surrounding ground in a lot of places retained its brown or green hues.


And here close up is what was going on ... the ice crystals look almost like pine needles. Didn't matter what the tree or plant was, it looked like a pine bough when seen up close. Truly a winter wonderland.









Happy Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate, to you and yours.

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

The Song Remains the Same

An unpopular Republican President is waging an unpopular and seemingly un-ending war. The dollar keeps hitting new lows as the world places less confidence in the US economy. Oil hovers at new highs, a further drain on the US economy. And Led Zepplin has just just had a hit concert, with the prospect of a further tour to follow.

It's 1973 all over again ....

Saturday, December 08, 2007

A Funny Thing Happened to Me On the Way to ....

The Partnerin keeps asking what my blog is doing, and I keep telling her I don't know because I've been doing a million other things because of my recent job change.

I was supposed to be unemployed and flying around the world by now, but life has a funny way of throwing curves at you.

I was so burned out from the job that I had just quit that I planned on not working perhaps for the rest of my life. Finding a new job in Germany is not the easiest thing for even the most skilled of Auslanders, even worse when you are a bit older, and worse still when you had the nerve to simply quit your last job without having a new one in hand since it is assumed you are insane.

So then a guy that I occasionally went to lunch with asked me what I was going to do with myself, I said "I'm going to buy an airplane and fly around the world."

Clearly I must be insane, so he asks, "No, seriously, what are you going to do?"

Me in total seriousness: "I'm going to buy a plane and fly around the world."

Him: "How are you going to pay for the gas?"

Me: "I have a few euros in the bank. [Company X] was good to me when I left them a couple years back."

He had been restructured out of Company X during a market downturn a few years before, so he knows I'm not going to starve. He also knows I am a pilot. So, he can't rule out the possibility that I am serious and not insane.

Him: "And what do you do after that?"

Me: "I've got the British visa in place and I'll probably find my way to London to get back into the financial world."

Him: "Well, why didn't you ask me if I had something?"

Me: "I've been out of that world for a few years, so I didn't think you would be interested."

Turns out he was.

So, new job found, and I'm still in Germany. Not the worst place to be ... it seems to grow on a person after nearly a decade.

The photo is just a teaser ... After seeing Mausi's Santa Suit and her Christmas-season cookies and cakes, I thought this blog could use a little spicing up.