Croatia---Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik was fun. We stayed inside the walled city. It was neat, kind of a medieval feel to it. We swam in the azure waters of the Adriatic, saw a small child catch a pigeon, and heard a story of an Australian woman who got peed on by a stray cat.

Back in the USA

Hey kids, it's been a while since my last post. Michelle and I made it back to the US on Sunday, after a great time in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt, and Dubrovnik(Dubrovnik post to arrive later, with pics). I must say, even though I had a great time in Germany, it is great to be back in the US of A. Our flight back from Frankfurt was about 9.5 hours. I don't know why it takes longer on the way back, I guess the pilot flies slower or something. So, I am back to work now. Baseball playoffs are going on. Football is in full swing. Atlanta weather is great.

Oktoberfest Part II

For those that didn't know our itinerary, we left Berlin on Sunday and traveled by train to Munich, ditching Joe's big bag of cloths in Frankfurt on the way. Today/Monday we went to the official Munich Oktoberfest celebration. Oktoberfest runs the last two weeks of September (I guest to celebrate the coming of October), and we are catching it on the last two days. Today (and maybe tomorrow) was a holiday in Germany, celebrating the Reunification of the country in 1990. The holiday meant there were a ton of locals and other germans who didn't have to skive work to hang out in the tents. We also saw that they start them young on Oktoberfest- there were kids with their families and even some school field trips (ok, maybe they were there for the rollercoasters and other rides, but we did see one school field trip peeking into the Lowenbrau tent). Of course, we also saw what everyone thinks of when they think Oktoberfest- incredibly strong women carrying too many large steins of bier! Note there is NOT a tray under all that beer our waitress above has in one hand!


Joe also made friends with the table of teens behind us- they really liked sharing their snuff with him. Every hour or so they would appear demanding that Joe snort some of the eucalyptus-smelling stuff up a nostril. His first attempt mostly landed on his face and lip, which made one passerby laugh and call Joe Hitler (it was really dark stuff, on his upper lip in a think clump). The American would've never said that, but it was apt. Joe finally learned to say "later, later" on future demands of nose abuse (though he said it in German- he really has learned a lot of German in his time living here).

Even with all the liters of beer and the stuff up Joe's schnoz, I promise we didn't look like these guys at the end of the day (Joe waited to sack out until he was near his own bed!).

Oktoberfest!

We were advised that we should get to Oktoberfest early- so we were wandering the fairgrounds-like fest by 9:30 a.m. We checked out various tents, and Joe humored me by doubling back for a seat in the prettiest beer "tent." We maybe should've been on the hunt for a seat earlier, b/c it was a bit hard to find a spot, even for just the two of us, at 10:15 a.m.! Luckily a table of very nice Germans adopted us- see Joe and our new friends (and very large beers). I have tent in quotes above as these structures were more like beer barns, complete with wood fronts, walls, floors and huge chandeliers. Our new friends told us these mammouth things get taken down after each fest, and then put back up the next year. You can also see that the yellow ribbon banners on the ceiling were very attractive:) Joe's blog is getting girly because he is now semi-conscious on the bed after imbibing too many liters (literally) of beer.

One thing we hadn't realized is how many locals dress up in the traditional Bavarian folk outfits, it was pretty cool. I also didn't realize that leiderhosen are usually suede- I'm going to kick butt on that trivia question some day (and now dear reader so can you!). The guys also sometimes wear these things like legwarmers- short sweaters for the calves. And it was really all ages that were wearing the outfits. The big structure behind all these people above was our beer "tent." We were in the Pschorr-BrauRosl tent- very tasty and smooth beer.

While the beer was flowing at 10, the music didn't get going until noon. When the real German band cranked up, so did the singing and dancing on the table benches (I'm trying to hold onto my new friends so I don't fall off the table). The german band brought back some high school memories... Joe got more of the lyrics than I did- but I did manage to yell out "Oy Oy Oy" at the right times. There was also a puzzling rendition of Glory - for a second I thought I was at a UGA football game. I really wish I knew what the lyrics to that one translated into.

Sightseeing In Berlin

We took a beautiful and very informative (if you know German) river cruise on the Spree. Gorgeous weather, a beer in hand, an incredible mix of new and old (and I mean old) architecture made this hour on the water fantastic. Joe's right, we need to find a way to re-route the Chatahoochee through downtown Atlanta!

Joe at Brandenburg Tor (gate).

One of the many beach bars on the Spree River, as taken from our cool river cruise.

Joe and Beavis at the Berlin Wall (East Gallery, not that far from where Joe has been living).

Michelle Vanna White's the last time she was at the Berlin Wall-

could it have been that long ago? Nein!

Michelle and Ludacris both arrived from Atlanta in Berlin on the same day!

(check that date on the sticker across from Cappucino's in F-shain!)

German State Fair

I (Michelle) have stolen Joe's blog for the night- any "I" below is coming from Michelle's perspective.

Dawn and Yoon weren't the only ones to go to a state fair this weekend- Joe and I went to the Berlin State Fair today too. Ok, not a state fair, but some kind of fair with lots of bad but good food and of course for here in Germany, lots of beer. We had a 1/2 meter long brat, I got my chocolate covered banana, and we were tempted by the crepes, waffles and currywurst. We also went on a very tall ferris wheel where Joe demonstrated his love of heights (Adam, think Cedar Point roller coaster face) and his new hair look (a la Wolverine).

German Verification Tour

Michelle here, with Joe in Berlin! I have spent the last 24 hours verifying that yes, indeed Joe has been living here in Berlin and not making up all the prior postings. I have witnessed the F-shain grafitti, the dogs pooping in the street, the wonderful tortellini alla panna at Cappucino's, met Joe's friend Nero (2x, he just treated us to a drink for Joe's last night in Berlin), saw his Reuters building, looked for the parakeet (but no luck), saw the laundromat & its control panel, walked along the East Gallery (remaing portion of Berlin Wall), hung out at a beach bar, and was impressed that Joe got us all around Berlin knowing where he was going (even where to find a bathroom in downtown/Mitte). Berlin is a great city, full of cool neighborhoods (F-shain is one of the neatest I saw) with tons of sidewalk seating for all the cafes, bars and restaurants, lots of trees, and the best public transport. Weather has been perfect, making my (M's) short stay even more perfect. It has been great to see where Joe has called home for the past two months.

Thanks

Hey Guys, thanks for the postcards. It's been fun to get them and read the funny messages. Good to hear from you and nice to look at to remember what Atlanta looks like. Mostly, thanks to Michelle for making everybody send them, but also thanks to everyone who took the time to write me a line. It made my stay here nice. I made a little collage of them on my door.

Laundry This Week

I did laundry again this week. It's nice to have clean clothes. This is my last laundry day in Berlin. I'll miss lugging a big duffel bag of clothes up and down four flights of stairs every week. I'll miss the control board at the laundry where you put in the money, and press the buttons that correspond to your washing machine or dryer. I'll miss the bill changer that keeps spitting my bill back to me, and the two hours and 13 Euro that it took each week to do it. Those were good times at the Ecowash Waschsalon. I saw a guy wearing a shirt that said "You never run out of things that can go wrong". I think that is very true, but what does it mean? Maybe it means that you should be careful...or maybe it means that since there is a neverending supply of things that can go wrong, you should just do whatever it is that you want to do...or maybe there was something on the back of the shirt that I didn't see that would wrap the message up nicely, I don't know. What I do know is that this fortune cookie-like message contains a lot of wisdom, for those who can solve its riddle.

Later that night...

...as I was walking to the tram stop, I went over to an Imbiss to get something to eat, and joined a group of about eight or nine spanish-speaking guys in a rousing rendition of Guantanamera. This was the extended version, jam-band length. There was one guy playing the guitar, one guy with a couple pieces of wood that he clacked together, another with little shakers that made a rattling noise, another guy was drumming with his hand and the bottom edge of a coke can, and everybody was smiling and singing. It was really cool, and I just joined in for the song, then went and ordered my food, hung around a little while listening to the next song, and then caught the tram home. It´s neat to stumble onto these little adventures in the city.

8mm

Went to 8mm last night, this dope place in P-Berg, and had a good time. Props to my boy Sean, who told me about the place, and to his buddy Louis, who runs the place. Cool, international, musical crowd there. I met and argued politics and drank and laughed with a Swiss guy and a German guy, and some Irish blokes out on a stag party, and some Americans. Very chill on Sunday, but also kind of lively, if that makes sense. Prior to hitting 8mm, I caught some NFL at the Ceili House, saw a great Cincinnati-Pittsburgh game, and blah, blah, blah. Back at 8mm, my newfound German friend Connor got kicked out for spraying his beer at everyone within an eight-foot radius. That was pretty funny. It´s pretty obvious to people wherever I go that I´m American, by the way that I dress--Angels cap, Babe Ruth T-shirt, etc., which is fine by me, I´m proud to be an American, and I don´t mind that people can recognize that. But I think that some people think that it would be better if I tried to blend in more. To me, though, that is kind of disengenuous. I mean, a lot of Americans stop by the second hand store when they get here and get the olive-drab army fatigue jacket, and a european hat, and it´s almost like a uniform for them. Now, I respect the culture, and I have tried, with admittedly mixed results, to speak the language, but I don´t think that hiding who I am with regard to my fashion sense(or lack thereof) helps anybody. What happens though, sometimes, is that you are pre-judged based on your dress, and you can become a kind of target for anti-American sentiment. In a way, though, I think it is kind of a nice icebreaker, because it allows you to get into socio-political and cultural arguments with others, which is fun, and through that, reach a certain common ground, or just agree to disagree. It´s interesting to talk to people who have a different viewpoint, and the Europeans with whom I´ve spoken have been very open to these kinds of discussions. I think maybe they are used to the Ugly American, or the American Apologist, so it´s probably refreshing for them to get into a debate with an American who is neither of those things, and who doesn´t see Germany or America through rose-colored glasses.

Hello

Went down to the East Side Gallery today, which is a stretch of the Berlin Wall that has art and graffiti on it, I think it may be the longest stretch of the wall remaining in town. That was cool to see. The wall is pretty high, it would've been hard to get over. Behind the wall, there is now a beach bar on the river. It's funny, Berlin has a lot of sand and beach bars all around. I stopped in and had a corona with a lime(a good German beer), sat on a comfortable chair, and listened to the music blaring from the speakers, I think it was counting crows. The weather was perfect. After that, I wandered in to Metro, which is like a big Sam's Club, and this was the grand opening weekend, which was great for me, because they had a bunch of food samples that they were giving away. I got some coke, some curry-flavored potato chips called Riffles, which were like Ruffles in the States, and a bunch of other stuff, so it was a nice score.
In other news, the LA Angels are seven games back with nine to go, so they are really up against it. The good news is that six of those nine games are against the first place Oakland A's. The bad news is that they will probably need to go 9-0 in order to have a chance at the postseason.
After the Metro trip, I met up with Rob and Sara at the Unsicht-Bar in Mitte, which is a blind bar and restaurant, meaning that you eat in complete darkness and the waitstaff is made up of blind people. Really cool idea and a way neat experience. This would be a neat idea for a restaurant in Atlanta. It is a multi-course meal in total darkness--I mean, you can't even see your hand in front of your face. The food was really good, probably the best food I've had here, and our waitress was very good also. I ordered the surprise menu, but I made out pretty well. It's kind of scary walking into a completely dark room, kinda makes you realize how much you depend on sight. I sort of got used to the darkness, but then later, my eyes were a little light-sensitive. But it's kind of cool trying to navigate in the dark, pouring drinks and finding the bread or your fork. Unlike any dining experience I've ever had.

Funny story from Reuters.com

Man bites panda after panda bites manThu Sep 21, 2006 10:22 AM BST

BEIJING (Reuters) - An intoxicated Chinese man who tried to give a panda a hug at Beijing Zoo found himself biting it in self defence after his clumsy attempt at affection was savagely rejected, local media reported on Thursday.
Zhang Xinyan, a building worker on holiday from China's central Henan province, climbed into an enclosure that held Gu Gu, a seven-year-old panda, at Beijing Zoo after the man had drunk four pints of beer during lunch at a nearby restaurant, the Yanzhao Metropolis Daily said.
Zhang, who couldn't remember the incident clearly, had wanted to hug the panda and shake its hand after having watched similar scenes on television.
"When I was in there, the panda was eating bamboo. Then, it seemed some people shouted, which startled the panda. He rushed over to bite my leg," Zhang said.
Zhang, who tried in vain to push the panda away, was bitten twice and forced to the ground, the paper said.
"I took the opportunity to bite the panda's back, but its fur was too thick," Zhang said.
Eventually, a zoo worker sprayed water from a hose to rescue Zhang from the panda's clutches, the paper said.
Both were worse for wear after the tussle. Zhang was rushed to hospital and given tetanus and rabies shots, while Gu Gu lost her appetite, Xinhua news agency reported.
"It was scared by the intruder and refused to eat for one and a half days," a zoo spokeswoman, surnamed Ye, told Xinhua.
But Gu Gu had recovered and was back on display on Thursday.
Zhang, however, faces at least a half-month convalescence, due to the "deep wounds", Xinhua said, citing Zhang's doctor.
His pride had also been injured, after reading stories of his exploits in newspapers.
"I wouldn't have jumped in if I knew what would happen," Zhang said.
The zoo, which plans to install cameras to monitor the enclosure, would not prosecute, Xinhua said.
But Zhang had already been tried and found guilty by Chinese Internet surfers.
"The man should be fined for the trouble he made," an anonymous commentator said in a posting on 163.com.
"He deserved to be bitten."

Interesting

Check out this article.

Live Chat Today at 5p Eastern Time

Hit me up on the google chat, I'm at joemattern@gmail.com, and I'll post the transcript of the chat.

Wolfsburg--VW factory

I went to Wolfsburg today and toured the VW plant. It was neat to see the robots assembling the cars. It is a big facility, and they have museums on the campus also. The campus is about 6.5 square kilometers, so it is really huge. The factory was being used for the war machine until it was bombed, but now they're back to making cars. I'll put a few pics up, and maybe expand a little about the trip in a later post.

Laundry This Week

I did laundry again this week.

With the Dolphins, each week is better than the next

I went back to the Ceili House on Pariser Str. to watch some NFL. Luckily, the first game on was the Dolphins. Unfortunately, they were terrible and got beat by a mediocre Buffalo team. This game made me realize three things: 1) The Dolphins are not a very good team, because 2) Daunte Culpepper is not a very good QB and 3) Nick Saban is not a very good coach. Now, I realize that we are only in week two, but it is already getting ridiculous. The Dolphins were terrible today. I don't know why everyone was picking them to do well this year.

Great Business Idea

Hey, I found this great business idea in Business 2.0 magazine that I think I might do. Let me know if you have any ideas or would like to invest in this (this is a chance to get in on the ground floor).

Jan Delay--Klar

Hey, check out this video. I saw it several times on the TV at my hotel in Poland. Watch it four or five times, and if you're not humming it for the next two weeks, I'll give you double your money back.

Really hard job? Come on.

Check out this article.

Poznan Pics

Three-story arcaded loggia on the huge facade of the town hall...all those arcades and no video games, that is a huge facade.

This is the front of the town hall. Every day when the clock strikes twelve, two doors open to reveal two metal billy goats.

Here is the Town Hall, built in the mid-sixteenth century. It looks brand new, almost fake, but really cool-looking.


Marching band in the square.

This is the Old Marych Monument, a statue by Robert Sobocinski based on the fictitious character by Juliusz Kubel. I didn't see many bikers here, though.

Here's a nice view of Poznan with The Cathedral in the distance. It is a Gothic Basilica built in 968.

Here's an old church in Poznan.

Poland, NFL, and other stuff

Busy weekend. I went to a scenic little town in Poland called Poznan. It has an Old City center with a neat square and a really cool-looking town hall. I´ll try and post some pictures later. Poznan is about two and half to three hours by train from Berlin, and is perfect for a trip of a day or two. I have a crick(sp) in my neck and am getting slightly nauseous from a coworker prattling on and on in a thick British accent...normally I like the British accent, but something about this one is too sugary or something...a similar thing happens with the southern accent--really great up to a point, but when poured on too much, it can grate. But I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes, Poland. I rolled into town on Saturday, and had dinner in the Old City square at western steakhouse/disco called Sioux City. The food was ok, steak was tougher than a Waffle House steak though. The disco was packed, as was the entire square. Seemed like a good mix of locals and Polish and German tourists. On the train ride over, I sat next to a couple of Polish doctors who did not like the Polish healthcare system, mainly because it didn´t pay enough. That´s how I feel about the American journalism system. I´m kidding about that. I think most "journalists", even at meager wages, are probably overpaid. It seems like rich people never think they are rich. This is not just an American phenomenon. No matter who you are(Bill Gates notwithstanding), you can always look around and find someone with more than you. Hey, that´s life, brother. Might as well get used to it, and don´t let´s be bitter about it, especially when there are a lot of people with less than you that you could look at in an effort to feel better about your station in life. Anyway, Poland was neat, and on Sunday afternoon in the square there was a marching band, and singers, and handsome cabs lapping the square, and bored teens slowly pedaling bikes pulling plywood billboards for cell phone companies, and old women selling balloons to excited kids, and on Saturday night there were fire twirlers, and groups of teens and couples on dates, and tourists, etc. Very festive atmosphere. I´m reading a James Bond book now, and in Poland, I felt a little like Jason Bourne. It is fun to travel alone to a strange place, but I felt myself at first more on guard than normal. Pretty soon I grew more comfortable, and I was happy that I didn´t have to bring out the nunchuks. Another thing about the train--there´s nothing like the rythm of the rails to soothe and relax, esp. if you´re in a quiet car and the seat next to you and across from you is empty, so you can stretch out. Poland reminds me for some reason of the summer I spent helping my uncle restore an old Tuscan Villa. Which is weird, because Poland and Tuscany are nothing alike. Oh, those were good times. Bella Toscana! Anyway, I got back Sunday afternoon, and then it was time to go to the Ceili House, an Irish/English pub where they show NFL football. This was great because I was really happy to finally see some real football. The place is pretty cool, and they had free wings and ribs and chips, so that was cool. I met up with a couple of Burns peeps, and watched the Falcons beat the Panthers, and the Jaguars beat the Cowboys, and got to see the US Open final to boot, so it was a good time. I met this bloke from England who is a big 49ers fan, so much so that he has the dvd´s of the games sent to him in England. The only thing is I think he thought he knew more about football than I do. Now, that´s just silly. It seemed like he was trying to prove his knowledge by naming players and deconstructing the Cover 3, like he recently read ``Football For Dummies´´ or something. Nice guy, but a little cocky in his knowledge, like if I tried to tell him about English soccer. There were some nice folks there, but it was a little depressing because of some of the expats who have a kind of conceit about living abroad. Berlin is a very cool town, but I think some Americans move here because they can´t hack it in the States. Most of the people there were pretty cool, though. Anyway, the football was great to watch, even though my starting fantasy QB, Trent Green, got drilled and went out of the game. I´m down a point, but I have three players yet to play this week. I feel like I´m leaving out a lot, but I´ve gone on pretty long here and so will wrap it up. I´ll try to get some pics up tonight, and I´ll post again if I think of anything.

IJP Par-Tay

Went to the IJP party at Einstein's Cafe, which sounds like a coffee shop, but is actually a fancy big house that also has a big outdoor area. The place really reminded me of my boyhood home in Mallorca. They put out a pretty nice spread, including some good meatballs that look like little hamburgers. Rob and I switched identities for the party, so that was fun, but mostly I just sat around with the other Burns fellows from this year and they were talking about different things, I wasn't really paying much attention, but the party was very nice, and kind of swank actually. Then later, the group kind of broke up, everyone promising that tomorrow would be the night that we would stay out late and have fun. I've heard that tune before...anyway, a few of us hung around for awhile, then I danced to Ice Ice Baby, and then we went to this place called the Clairechen Ballhaus, which is like a bar/dance place, kind of funky, it was cool, and I danced a little and then they closed and then it was back to the flat. Good times.

Laundry This Week

I did laundry again at the EcoWash Waschsalon. I loaded up the big machine, then I went to the video rental place to return Syriana, which is a good movie, and then I stopped at Burger King on the way back and had the chicken sandwich, which they call the Long Chicken here. Then I went back to the laundromat and put the clothes in the dryer. I finished Freakonomics also, which I recommend. My beautiful and wonderful girlfriend called and that brightened my day a lot. Then after the call I took my clothes out of the dryer and folded them, and went back to the flat. I had to get ready for the IJP partay.

Blah, blah, blah

Went into video store today and saw a Smurfs DVD called Die Schlumpfe, with an umlaut over the u....when you get fries at a fast food place here, they scoop the fries into the fry bag, and then they put a napkin over the top where the fries stick out, I guess so they don't actually touch the fries--that's a nice touch, I think...my fantasy football draft is tonight at 2:30 am local time, I plan on crushing the league this year, although I haven't done much preparation...How about an extra dollar tax on crappy pop music? This way, every time someone goes platinum, that's another million bucks for schools or roads or whatever...the NFL season kicks off tomorrow as the Dolphins begin their quest to become the first Super Bowl team with home-field advantage...my prediction, Dolphins 35- Steelers 7...here's a clip for Raiders fans to get you in the football spirit...

To Fix Social Security

I was eating the Schwarma Plate over at Meyman tonight, and I started scribbling in this little notebook I got at a bookstore in Hackescher Markt, and I got an idea. Not an original idea, exactly, but a good one. Also, I've been reading Freakonomics, which is very good, so that may have influenced my thinking also. This is the gist of the idea: instead of focusing on the old-timers with regard to social security, why not take the long view and focus on youngsters--that is, why not give people the money on the front-end and take advantage of compound interest, instead of forcing elderly people to subsist on a below-poverty-level budget. Here's how I was thinking it would work: the day you're born, $5,000 goes into your retirement fund, and that's it. The five grand goes into a stock index fund, maybe the S & P 500, and just sits there, compounding, until you turn 65. At 9% interest, that $5,000 turns into 1.3 million, which, in 2071 won't be a ton, but it will be better than the alternative. Also, the money you receive at birth could be indexed to inflation, which would increase the numbers. Right now, there are about 80 million people under 20 in the US. So that is about $400,000,000,000. That is about 400 billion dollars, not chump change, but not an unheard of amount of money. I think that's about 4% of GDP, so I think we could find the money. My guess is that Washington is wasting a lot of money now anyway, so I'm sure we could clean up some of the superfluous spending and find some loose change under the couch cushions. Anyway, I don't have all the details worked out yet, but let me know what you think so far, and if you have any ideas to improve on this.

Space Race Update

Europe has made it to the moon.

Poverty. What is it good for?

Here´s an interesting article.

German vs. American Work Ethic

German road crews seem to be a lot like their American counterparts: one guy working, and three guys standing around. The only difference I´ve noticed so far is that in Germany I haven´t seen the guy holding the STOP/SLOW sign. Actually, now that I think about it, the same could be said for German and American newsrooms too.

Starbury

Check out this article from Slate.

Bad To The Bone With A Microphone

I'm not internationally known, but I'm known to rock a microphone. Actually, I think big Flo IS known internationally...this looks like a spot-on rendition of "My Way" by the Chairman Of The Board. This is an interesting photo also, I don't know who took this, but look at the contrast of dark and light. Florian facing the darkness represents a fearless inward look at the darkness of the human soul, while still illuminating the mostly good inner nature of man with the light beaming. The duck standing on one foot in the picture in the background represents the precarious balance of nature and man's place in it. Notice the dark cloud in the painting, and that Florian and the duck are both facing the same direction...This picture within a picture is fascinating, both in the immediate aesthetic, and in the deep religious and moral symbolism. And I'm drunk.
Here's Jessie on the mic. She did an outstanding version of "Bobby McGhee", really channeling Janis...interesting note: this song was written by Kris Kristofferson, who, somewhat less interestingly, was a Rhodes Scholar.

Here I am wrecking "The Devil went down to Georgia", or maybe "Sweet Home Alabama".
Here is Rob and Matt "Pee Papa" Hermann--I think they are doing something from Michael Bolton.

Here is Rob, Steffen, and Brian--not singing.

Here are some cool pics of when we were doing karaoke at Airlie in late July. Jessie Seyfer just posted these to the Burns thing, so I thought I'd steal some of them for the blog. It's weird, these shots were from about a month ago, but it seems like it was a lot longer than that. One day, I'll look back at these pics and think about how much fun I was having back in the day, even though I probably won't have kept in touch with anyone else in the photos. That's no reflection on the others, but more a realistic view of my inability to stay in touch with people with whom I have karaokeed. Anyway, this is only my second karaoke participation, and I think it showed.

I Guess Not

Agassi cries more than Dick Vermeil.


I guess tennis is not fixed since Agassi is out. I stand corrected. By the way, though, why aren't these pain-killing injections like the ones that Agassi got(and the ones that athletes from all sports get) considered performance-enhancing drugs? Without them, they couldn't perform, so clearly they enhance the performance. Seems like kind of a blurry line to me.

Is Tennis Fixed?

We will know soon...I predict another 5-set victory or two for Agassi before he ``wins´´ another US Open. This seems to be scripted perfectly for Agassi to go out on top, and a nice story for the tennis tour, sure to get huge ratings if Agassi reaches the final.

Laundry This Week

It's that time again. Today it was imperative that I do my laundry, as I had no clean clothes. So I went down to the Eco-Wash Waschsalon on Warschauer and luckily, the big machine was available. I loaded the washer(actually, overloaded it) and purchased the soap powder and put in the money and punched the buttons on the control panel. Then the wash started. There were a few other people in the place, and I thought I heard English, but then I thought about something else. I read a little bit of a book that I bought at St. George's on Tuesday, How to Have a Perfect Memory, or something like that. I can't remember the exact title, but the gist of the book, even though I've only read the introduction and part of the first chapter, seems to be that you can improve your memory greatly by using your imagination and image association, blah, blah, blah. It sounds interesting, and quasi-legit, so I'm thinking I might give it a try. Anyway, it was hot in the laundromat, I guess from the dryers, so I stepped outside where it was cooler. Later, I dried the clothes and folded them.

Hamburg Pics

Some old church...if you think the south has a lot of churches, check out Hamburg some time. Europe is the original bible belt, I think.


Serenity now!


Rob and Sara enjoying the beautiful Hamburg weather.


Bicycle anti-theft device.


Enjoying a hamburg in Hamburg.


Me at the Hamburg Port, looking a little portly. They say the camera adds 65 lbs.

Hoop Dreams revisited

My boy AG sent me a link to a great article, especially if you've seen the movie.

I went up to P-Berg tonight and caught the second movie at St. George’s bookstore, Reservoir Dogs. Good flick, and I was just talking about it the other day, although I still like Pulp Fiction more. Michael Madsen looks like a fat Luke Perry as Mr. Blonde. Something I hadn’t noticed before is that Mr. Blonde’s real name is Vic Vega, and John Travolta’s character in Pulp Fiction is named Vincent Vega…I wonder if these two fake people are related. Before the movie, I stopped in at the Havana Club and had some mediocre nachos, and listened to more house music; it’s everywhere in this town. Also, they had some volleyball movie playing on mtv with the sound muted, so I watched a little of that…earlier, I was strolling along and saw a man and a woman fighting. I don’t mean arguing, either, I mean fisticuffs…the woman was whaling away on this guy with lefts and rights, but the guy didn’t seem to be trying very hard, he was kinda grabbing her hands and arms. It was close, but I think I’ve gotta give it to the lady on points. She was the busier fighter.

Hamburg

Sometimes the fast train turns out to be the slow train. Stuck on the ICE train on the way back to Berlin from Hamburg. Some kind of bomb scare at one of the stations along the route. So the trip that was supposed to take an hour and a half is turning into a four hour trip. That’s how it goes sometimes I guess, but the train is nice, the seat is comfortable, so I can’t complain too much. Plus, it gives me a chance to write a little about my time in Hamburg.
I arrived in Hamburg on Sunday afternoon on the regular train which took about 3 hours or so, checked into this crazy mod Hotel Side, where I managed to catch the end of a Miami Vice episode dubbed into German. It was the one with Bruce Willis playing an arms dealer. The funny thing is, I saw this same episode in the States a couple months ago on Nick at Nite or TVLand. Good episode, and you don’t really have to understand the language to follow along, which is nice. Then I met up with some of the Burns peeps for a little Bundesliga action featuring Berlin’s own Hertha BSC against a tough Hamburg HSV side. The match ended 1-1, fun to see but the outcome of a tie is unsatisfying to my American preference of a clear winner and loser.
It rained pretty much the whole time I was in Hamburg, and it has been raining a lot in Berlin, too. After the soccer match, we had to hustle back to the hotel, and get ready for dinner in the hotel restaurant. My head was hurting a little, and after the train, the rain, and the cold, it was nice to be warm and dry and indoors.
After dinner, a few of us went out to a bar, had a couple of drinks, then left and wandered over to this other bar with a geodesic dome at the entrance. The bartender, Tan, really went all out to make sure we had a good time, and I can’t speak for the others, but I had a great time. Tan made us several rounds of shots and drinks, manned the dj station, and gave us peanuts and fruit to snack on. It was very cool, and the kind of thing that I think makes for the best nights out, especially in a new town, where you just kind of wander into a place, and it turns out to be a great time. You can’t really plan these things I think, they just happen. The only thing is that the whole time we were there, there was this couple making out—and we were there for quite a while. PDA is really out of control in this country. Everybody making out all the time is kind of sickening, really. Take that back to the privacy of your own home or get a hotel room or something. I don’t know how a society can run like this…also, while I’m railing, lots of young people have some part of their face pierced…this I don’t really care about except that it makes absolutely no sense.
The next morning, I was hurting from the drinking and the lack of sleep, but I managed to make it to brunch. It was built up beforehand as “the best brunch in Hamburg”, and it may well be, but I couldn’t say for sure because it is the only brunch I had while I was there…anyway, I thought it was ok.
By the way, I have a little titillating info regarding some Burns on Burns hookup action…I live by the law of Omerta, though, so I’m not naming names. You know who you are though, you crazy kids, maybe be a little more discreet next time.
After brunch, we toured the Airbus factory, so that was pretty cool…I dig the factory tours. Apparently, the only two players in the commercial flight game are Airbus and Boeing…I didn’t even know Airbus was a company, I thought it was a type of plane. Anyway the tour was pretty cool, I got to touch some airplane fuselage and other parts in various stages of production.
After that, I had a hamburg in Hamburg, then toured around town with Rob and Sara(h). We saw some old churches and went to the port, and into a cool little bar. That was fun. It rained the whole time, though.

Back to the present, I left Hamburg two hours ago, and now I am heading back toward Hamburg, so this is turning out to be quite a long trip. They did offer a free drink to everyone when the delay was announced, but I went up there too late. Apparently there is some kind of time limit on that which I exceeded. On my way out after being rejected for the free drink, another passenger said to me, “That’s German service for you.” Also, they offered some kind of discount on your next train trip that I somehow don’t qualify for, so I’ve come up empty twice with Deutsche Bahn so far. On the plus side though, we just started moving back in the right direction. I’m sure we’ll be in Berlin in no time. Wait, it feels like we’re going the wrong way again…I’m disoriented from the motion of the train.
There is something cool about train travel, something kind of old-school, and I wish there was more of it in the States…saw a guy wearing an old hat this weekend, the old-school fedora look should make a comeback I think…the kids here can’t get enough of this electronica house club music, it’s horrible…it’s kind of hard to believe that it’s already the midway point of the fellowship…I need to find a place around here that shows American football…

Today I went on the second part of the Chris Owens shoot at the Olympic Stadium. Very cool, and I got to go down to the track and even stepped on the pitch briefly until a security guard told me not to stand on the grass. I think that's what he said anyway, I couldn't understand it bc it was in German, but sometimes you can just sense what people mean without speaking the language.

Chris Owens Interview, and other stuff

This is the court where Alba Berlin plays their home games.

Today I got to interview Jesse Owens' great-nephew Chris, who will play for the Berlin pro basketball team this year. Nice guy. I also spoke with the coach, and with William Avery, who, even though he went to Duke, is also a nice guy. I always wondered what happened to Duke players after college. Anyway, it was really cool bc when I arrived, another Burnsie was getting there at the same time, and then we went in, and there was another, and then, a little later, another, so we were well represented. Also, it was cool bc it seemed natural to see them there, and the whole thing was really chill. It made me feel like a real journalist, or at least like a reporter. Anyway, it was cool to see the newspaper guys do their interviews, and afterwards, some of us went for drinks at Prater Biergarten, where we talked and debated various things and I tried to defend the progressive individuals in the south, although I don't think I did a very good job...but I thoroughly enjoyed the lively debate and the opportunity to play devil's advocate. Good folks, and it was a very comfortable and enjoyable evening. It's nice to get to know people, but can you ever really know another person? I think you can, to a degree, but the life of the mind, etc. I think prevents a lot, in terms of knowledge of others. Also, I think people come in with prejudices (myself included) and make judgements sometimes based on who you think someone is, that differ from reality...it's hard not to do this on some level, maybe impossible to be a blank slate...but as you get to know people, little pieces of your perception of that person come together, or are destroyed and replaced with the new perceptions, which also may or may not be accurate, but that is probably the best we can do. It's a nice surprise when someone turns out to be different and better than you originally thought. That's why I always try to act like a jerk when I first meet someone, so then later on, they will have a pleasant surprise, and if there is no later on, at least I had some fun with it. Oh, while I'm thinking about it, let me mention the great news! I have grown a few inches since I've been in town. When I left Atlanta, I was nearly 6'1", but after comparing myself to pro basketball players--Owens is listed at 6'7" and Avery at 6'2"--I realized that I must have grown to about 6'3" or 6'4" over the past few weeks. That is an amazing growth spurt in a very short amount of time, especially at my age!!! If only I were 6'6", then I would be happy. At this rate, I should reach that by about next Wednesday.

This ant has mad hops!!

Hey, check out this story, and this clip. I haven't seen ups like this since the 2000 Olympics.

Games Convention and Checkpoint Charlie

Checkpoint Charlie

Games convention in Leipzig.

Today I went on a shoot to a video game convention in Leipzig, which is about two hours away. It was my first trip on the autobahn, and I must say I highly recommend it. It is fun to go fast, although you get used to it quickly and after a while you get velocitized, so it doesn't really feel like you're going fast anymore. Also, a couple of misconceptions that I should clear up. First, going fast on the autobahn saves time--it does, but not as much as you'd think--maybe 15 minutes on a 2 hour trip. And second...well, I guess I just had the one thing to clear up. Anyway, the Games Convention was pretty cool. They had the newest games and systems from Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, EA, etc. and they had stations set up where people can play...very cool. Then, after work, I went to this place in Friedrichstrasse Ubahn station called fish and chips, which is a place where you can get these little boxes of fish or chicken nuggets and a little wooden fork to pick them up...it was ok, nothing great though...Then I went to Dussman bookstore on Friedrichstrasse, and looked at some books in the English section...after that it was on to Checkpoint Charlie, which is a pretty good museum, but a bit smaller than I thought it would be.