Wednesday, May 27, 2009
M visit in Hamburg
M is in Germany now on a book tour. Last night he was in Hamburg so I went down there after work and saw his reading and later we went for supper and walked around Hamburg.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Back from Vacation
Last week I went for a long train trip. Here if you buy tickets ahead of time they can be very cheap (29 euros) plus buying them with a bahn-card can get an additional 25% off. With V and the kids off to the US and with a huge multi-year project with my previous job finally finished, I booked a round trip through Prague and Munich. One of my motivations for this was to see some mountains. I grew up in the mountains, but for over a year now I have been in the plains around the Baltic with brief visits to other areas that don't have any mountains. It is strange, but I can feel missing seeing at least some kind of mountain for so long. Also, I have heard a lot about Prague (Praha, Czech Republic) and have never been to the Czech Republic (it is still hard for me not to accidentally call it Czechoslovakia) so I booked a route through there.
As it happens, on the way out there was a brief stop for a change of trains in Berlin. I have also never been to Berlin, but there wasn't time to really see anything. Nonetheless, I ran outside of the train station quickly and snapped photos of two landmarks from a distance.
The Berlin station is very large, with train platforms on multiple levels.
Here is the iconic Fernsehturm, taken with a zoom from just outside the station.
And here is the dome of the Reichstag building, also with a zoom from outside the station.
After Berlin the train route went south and crossed the Czech-German border just past Desden. The region around the border is called Saxon Switzerland or Czech Switzerland, depending which side you are on, and has some cliffs near the Elbe river.
(...will add more...)
As it happens, on the way out there was a brief stop for a change of trains in Berlin. I have also never been to Berlin, but there wasn't time to really see anything. Nonetheless, I ran outside of the train station quickly and snapped photos of two landmarks from a distance.
The Berlin station is very large, with train platforms on multiple levels.
Here is the iconic Fernsehturm, taken with a zoom from just outside the station.
And here is the dome of the Reichstag building, also with a zoom from outside the station.
After Berlin the train route went south and crossed the Czech-German border just past Desden. The region around the border is called Saxon Switzerland or Czech Switzerland, depending which side you are on, and has some cliffs near the Elbe river.
(...will add more...)
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Challenge to human gene patents
The ACLU and PUBPAT filed a lawsuit yesterday (PUBPAT link, ACLU link) to overturn patenting human genes and alleles. This is something I am completely in support of. It is ludicrous to patent something that is naturally occurring and to be able to prevent health care and research on something that is naturally occurring.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Road Test
I went to Eutin today (by train) to test drive a car that we might buy. It is the first time I have driven a car in well over a year, the first time driving a stick shift in many, many years, and the first time driving in the Old World in my entire life. Fortunately I didn't wreck or run over anyone, I practiced for a while outside of town, then drove around some in town to get used to the signs and right of ways, and I ended up driving all the way back to Ploen! I think I can do this! Along the way there were some beautiful yellow rape seed fields which are blooming at this time of year here.
The Car
Me driving
A Field (drive-by shot out the window)
A German in their natural habitat (she actually owns the car).
The Car
Me driving
A Field (drive-by shot out the window)
A German in their natural habitat (she actually owns the car).
More Destruction
Actually there is another place in town that was damaged by the storm. It is also by the lake. I saw it this morning while biking and went back to snap some photos.
I'm glad I wasn't sitting in that bench.
I'm glad I wasn't sitting in that bench.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Obdachlos
Obdachlos is my German word for the day. It is used to mean "homeless", but literally it means something like "without a roof." "The roof" ist "das Dach" auf Deutsch. After a brief storm yesterday many of my neighbors are now obdachlos.
I was back at the apartment Friday night eating some soup and bread in the living/dining room. Clouds had come in and quickly made the sky darker. At one point it started raining heavily and got very windy. I glanced outside and the lake was white from the wind blowing over it. Whiter than I had ever seen it. I realized I had left the door to the balcony open and went to go close it so the rain wouldn't blow in. As I walked down the hallway I could hear the wind, which was already very strong, suddenly increase blowing around the building and whistling very loudly. It seemed like every edge, pipe and corner in the building was making noise. I got to the balcony door and had to push it closed against the wind with rain blowing in all over me; I got soaked in seconds. As soon as the door was closed I saw the roof of the building opposite me lift up into the air, like someone opening the lid on a box, it was a huge black shape through the rain and seemed impossibly tall on its side like it had doubled the height of the building, then it suddenly dropped straight down into the street in front of me. It looked just like one of the commercials for the weather channel except this was real and right in front of me. Being from the US, the first thing that entered my mind was "tornado" and that my apartment, which is the top floor and built in the roof of our building, was next. I ran down the stairwell into the basement of the building only slowing to grab my keys and the phone on the way out. I didn't even have shoes or a coat on. I waited in the basement and called V in the US. She happened to be at her mother's house when I called and I must have sounded nuts telling her the roof had just come off the building next to us. The wind quickly died down and I went outside to see if anyone was hurt. Some other people were looking out as well and I got some stares in my soaking wet, barefoot, t-shirt ensemble holding a phone and keys in my hands. (I was careful not to step on nails sticking up from debris.) Fortunately there were no yells for help or anything obvious, but the roof spanned the entire road, a car was under it, but it didn't look like any people were. I looked down the road and a tree had fallen across the road a few blocks down in the other direction. I went back up into the apartment and a pool of water was in the floor in front of the balcony. Then the sirens came and police and firemen were working their way down the road clearing the trees and got to the roof. They set up a lift and work lights and cut the pieces of the roof off that were still hanging, and started working through the street with chainsaws clearing sections of the roof out of the way. They used a different chainsaw for cutting though the roof and had a hard time getting it started. It looked like the chain was covered except for the very end. Sparks kept flying up as they hit nails and metal while cutting. The lights and chainsaws were going late into the night.
The next morning the road was clear, but everything smelled like roofing tar. They put a tarp up over the building's missing roof section. I walked to town and couldn't see any other areas that were affected. It seemed to be just localized to our road. People were walking by and acted surprised when they got to the destruction. Craning their heads and looking around to try to see what had happened. The land-line phone for the apartment wasn't working today, the line might have been disrupted by the clearing work, but the power was still on.
I grabbed my camera to snap some photos. The card was full so I had to delete some spring wildflower pictures to make room (I'll catch them again next spring.)
First Photo
The mailbox survived! It punched a hole through the roof.
It's a good thing we don't have a car yet, or it would have been parked out here.
I was back at the apartment Friday night eating some soup and bread in the living/dining room. Clouds had come in and quickly made the sky darker. At one point it started raining heavily and got very windy. I glanced outside and the lake was white from the wind blowing over it. Whiter than I had ever seen it. I realized I had left the door to the balcony open and went to go close it so the rain wouldn't blow in. As I walked down the hallway I could hear the wind, which was already very strong, suddenly increase blowing around the building and whistling very loudly. It seemed like every edge, pipe and corner in the building was making noise. I got to the balcony door and had to push it closed against the wind with rain blowing in all over me; I got soaked in seconds. As soon as the door was closed I saw the roof of the building opposite me lift up into the air, like someone opening the lid on a box, it was a huge black shape through the rain and seemed impossibly tall on its side like it had doubled the height of the building, then it suddenly dropped straight down into the street in front of me. It looked just like one of the commercials for the weather channel except this was real and right in front of me. Being from the US, the first thing that entered my mind was "tornado" and that my apartment, which is the top floor and built in the roof of our building, was next. I ran down the stairwell into the basement of the building only slowing to grab my keys and the phone on the way out. I didn't even have shoes or a coat on. I waited in the basement and called V in the US. She happened to be at her mother's house when I called and I must have sounded nuts telling her the roof had just come off the building next to us. The wind quickly died down and I went outside to see if anyone was hurt. Some other people were looking out as well and I got some stares in my soaking wet, barefoot, t-shirt ensemble holding a phone and keys in my hands. (I was careful not to step on nails sticking up from debris.) Fortunately there were no yells for help or anything obvious, but the roof spanned the entire road, a car was under it, but it didn't look like any people were. I looked down the road and a tree had fallen across the road a few blocks down in the other direction. I went back up into the apartment and a pool of water was in the floor in front of the balcony. Then the sirens came and police and firemen were working their way down the road clearing the trees and got to the roof. They set up a lift and work lights and cut the pieces of the roof off that were still hanging, and started working through the street with chainsaws clearing sections of the roof out of the way. They used a different chainsaw for cutting though the roof and had a hard time getting it started. It looked like the chain was covered except for the very end. Sparks kept flying up as they hit nails and metal while cutting. The lights and chainsaws were going late into the night.
The next morning the road was clear, but everything smelled like roofing tar. They put a tarp up over the building's missing roof section. I walked to town and couldn't see any other areas that were affected. It seemed to be just localized to our road. People were walking by and acted surprised when they got to the destruction. Craning their heads and looking around to try to see what had happened. The land-line phone for the apartment wasn't working today, the line might have been disrupted by the clearing work, but the power was still on.
I grabbed my camera to snap some photos. The card was full so I had to delete some spring wildflower pictures to make room (I'll catch them again next spring.)
First Photo
The mailbox survived! It punched a hole through the roof.
It's a good thing we don't have a car yet, or it would have been parked out here.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Off to the US
I just got back from dropping V and the kids off at the airport. Their first time back to the US in over a year...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Balloon Mail
Now that spring is back I've been biking more in the mornings before work. (Although so far this week it's turned cold, windy and rainy again.) Last Tuesday I was biking around the edge of the large lake (Grosser Ploener See) and noticed some "trash" caught in some bushes. I stopped to grab it and throw it away when I got to the next trash can but noticed it was a postcard tied to two heart shaped balloons. Apparently a couple had just been married in Luebeck and they released these balloons for people to mail back to them. For fun, I've hung onto it for a week and am sending it with V and the kids tomorrow (they are flying to the US). I've put it into a larger mailing envelope for V to mail it to the couple from the US--to make them wonder.
Published!
A friend of ours has finally published a book he's been working on for a long time. I remember back in college, many years ago, him saying that his dream was to write a novel. Now he is published and his book is everywhere! V happened to see it in our local bookstore the other day and snapped these pictures.
The Bookstore
The Book
The Bookstore
The Book
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Swine Flu Update
At this point we are still planning for V and the kids to travel to the US next week, but this may still be canceled in the next few days as the news develops. We have learned a lot since the last post about swine flu. A lot of the latest news comes from this BBC article. Importantly, it does not seem to be as deadly as it first appeared; it is more equivalent to the regular seasonal flu outside Mexico. The kids are at a perfect age to survive the flu, even in past pandemics like the 1918 Spanish flu the mortality at their age is virtually zero, the bigger risk is for V and I. Also, the EU decided this week not to suspend flights to Mexico, suggesting there will not be travel problems to and from the US in the coming weeks. One of our worst fears was if they became stranded in an airport if the borders closed, perhaps with the flu. We have added travel insurance in the US to our regular EU-wide insurance, so they should have access to medical care in each country (we planned to do this anyway, even before the news about the flu last weekend). There has been person to person transmission here in Germany, and a case of the flu in nearby Hamburg, but WHO is now reporting that it does not appear to be sustained transmission in Europe. We are hopeful that the warmer weather in the next month will cut the transmission rate, but this is speculation on our part (for a new flu virus). I am not happy about them being in an airplane or in airports, but this is always an issue with travel and disease one way or the other. We may also delay their trip back depending on how things develop.
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