Ingrid, Cyberbabe extraordinaire

This is a Harvard Business Review-esque story about a very gifted woman in the world of computer science who just so happens to be my girlfriend. Less than 8 months ago, Ingrid decided she wanted a computer. At the time, I thought it was a rather expensive paperweight and expected that AT MOST she would use it to chat and write emails to her friends abroad. Little did I know, I had a budding IT tech just waiting to blossom.

Sure, she started off with just the basic computer skills, but quickly learned about the benefits of Wi-Fi; setting up a network in her house and occasionally using the Hotspots around Berlin.

Ingrid’s next big step towards computer wisdom was developing a bit of an online personality. She is caught up in the blogging fad and maintains an online photo archive to compete with any. She is VERY proud that her blogger posts are up a good day or two before mine.

I appreciate Ingrid’s natural flare for computers the most when it applies to LAN games, the most noteworthy being Starcraft. It is a rather difficult game master, but after only a few days playing the campaigns she was ready to network with the big boys and hold her own against as many 5 other players! I don’t know if I will ever be a prouder boyfriend than the day she compared terrorism to the zerg. (that only narrowly beat out the day she could eat more Wasabi Beans than me :)

The epitome of Ingrid’s computer aptitude happened just a week ago. Ingrid, Marcelo and myself got together for dinner and for some reason the topic turned to online storage (a topic that would have put the Ingrid of yesteryear asleep, but now she was VERY engaged). Marcelo enlightened everyone with the fact that all yahoo accounts are automatically registered with a free website from geocities.com. Ingrid could hardly wait to finish dinner before she ran home to try her hand at web developing … something she knew virtually nothing about, nor did she want any help with. She wanted to prove to her dorky engineering friends (and to herself) that she could develop a web page as good as the rest. See the results for your self here and then compare it to mine. The consequence of out dorking the dorks means Ingrid truly desires the title of Cyberbabe extraordinaire.

Not knowing you don’t know aka is England a country?

A long while ago I was trying to tally up exactly how many countries I have visited when I ran into a few problems … namely, is England more like a country or more like a state? Let me clarify.

Reasons why England, Scotland, Wales, North Ireland are countries.

• Because we all call them countries.
• Because they each have their own forms of government.

Reasons why I don’t think they are countries.

• Because I have never heard of the English Embassy or Scottish Embassy … only a British Embassy.
• Because on my girlfriend's Map of the World, it has each countries flag below. The English/Scottish/etc flags are not there, only the Union Jack (aka the UK Flag).
• Because they all have the same passport.

Conclusion? I guess one could consider the UK a country made of four countries, but I’m not happy with that. I’m happier with the international community viewing the UK a country while on the INSIDE of that country, they view themselves as countries.

Wikipedia.org defines both England and the UK as a country.

While Dictionary.com refers to England as a mere division of the UK, avoiding the word country at all times.

Read other peoples take on the situation at LonelyPlanet.com

Amsterdam with Rodney

For the past … ohh … 10 years, I’ve had this great tradition of meeting up with a good friend of mine, somewhere in the world, sometime in early July. It’s allowed us to keep in touch, and to get out and explore the world together. Last year we spent a week in Prague, this it was a long weekend in Amsterdam.

Highlights:

• Got a job! I was FINALLY extended the job from Jamba just a couple hours before I had to catch my train to A’dam. It was nice to know I’d have a job to return to when I get back to Berlin on Monday.
• Just Chillin' Taking it easy with a very old friend, in one of the worlds greatest places to hang out.
  

Lowlights:

• Hide and Seek. My train was late arriving into Centraal Station, making it difficult for Rod and I to connect. I went to his hotel, sent an email telling him my whereabouts, then went to sleep. He arrived sometime later, waking me up staying something to the effect of “I’ve been looking for you for over four hours”. My response was “I thought I’d sleep in your bed while I waited for you!”
• Loosing the aforementioned job. It looks like I dont have a job after all. Due to slight schedule conflicts, I have to wait til AFTER my Southeast Asia trip before I start work.

U2 Vertigo Tour

After missing the chance to see U2 live with a couple other friends, my girlfriend was determined to find something on eBay. After a couple hours of searching she found General Admission tickets for only 35 euro each! (Face value was 55 euro, that’s my girl !!!)

The concert was great. We spotted our friends Marcelo and Kerstin up in the seated section. Opening band Kaiser Chiefs really rocked. The huge screen made of little lights, behind the stage was absolutely amazing. They flashed everything from words, designs, and pictures to real time video of Bono and the band.

Afterwards Ingrid and I went to Nollendorf Platz to eat at an American Diner. I had a salmon filled baked potato because, you know, that’s what all the Americans eat :) On the way home I found 30 euro. Yeah, it was a good night.

Young, Sexy and Unemployed

Found it, waited for it, lost it, redirected it, got it, then lost it again. The cycle is finally complete. So goes my job search in Germany. The longer version goes something like … I found a sexy lil internship. The company was as interested in me as I was in it. The one snag (and a 15 week stag at that) was I didn’t have a work permit. In the middle of the wait the company said they couldn’t hold off any longer and looked for other candidates. The Unemployment Office (simply translated into German as ‘Landesamt für Bürger und Ordnungsangelegenheiten’ … I think I’ll stick to 'Unemployment Office') FINALLY gave me the work permit last Tuesday YIPPY HOORAY HUURAHH. I approached the company again, and once again they showed enthusiasm about me coming aboard. Alas, I failed in negotiating a final condition of my employment and I haven't heard from them since. On the bright side, if I actually did find a job I’d have simply nothing to blog about.

Live 8

Last weekend, my friends and I went to a concert with a million or so other people while a billion or so watched from their living rooms. This grandiose event could be none other than Live 8, a concert demanding debt forgiveness, trade concessions and $25 billion in aid for Africa. For more pictures on the event, click to the left. For a much more vivid stories of our experience, check out my good friend Marcelo’s blog and my beautiful girlfriend Ingrid's Blog.

Movin' On Out ...

Ingrid finally did it! She escaped from the clutches of a host mom who was several falafels short of a Teller. Nine big suitcases later, she was moved into apartment with THE nice couple (who time and time again prove they deserve that title). Here is a picture of Ingrid and I carrying the first load, waiting at the bus stop the BVG hid around the corner from where it normally is.