Happy Faces, Including Mine

I am glad, they are having the last word on this. 

And not those, who are soon to lose their voices, due to permanent shouting. Those of you who are clueless right now, please read on here.(in German)

"Court vindicates, affirms Presidential and congressional power in an important issue like health care." CNN.com June 28 2012


"We ensured health care would be a right for all, not a privilege for the few. Today, the Supreme Court affirmed our progress and protected that right, securing a future of health and economic security for the middle class and for every American.”
(Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi after the Supreme Court ruled the Affordable Care Act constitutional)

Flight of the Conchords

When, oh when will they come and play in Europe?

My apologies to all those out there, who were offended by those tears running down my face on the train and at the beach, while listening to "Hurt Feelings". I can't help but laugh, no matter how often I listend to those words. Laughing until I cry. Genious band: Flight of the Conchords.

Some people say that rappers don't have feelings
We have feelings (we have feelings)
Some people say that we are not rappers
We're rappers (that hurts our feelings)
It hurts our feelings when you say we're not rappers

... 

(Jermaine)
Binary solo!

(Bret)
0000001, 00000011
000000111, 00001111
0000001, 00000011
000000111, 00001111

Rietveld DIY

 Funny, how violett the paper seems in bright sunlight.

The right wing was open over night and got wet during yesterday's rainshowers. (the wings open outwards), that's why the paper to the right is rippled.


In case you don't get it: this is our attempt to keep the office as cool as it can be. Not easy, with windows facing south-west and tmeperatures as high as 35°C during the day and no lower than 26°C over night.

As the  incurable optimist, I say at least my boss does not forbid me to do this. It could be worse than 30°C inside temperature, no?

Endorphines

On days like these, when the river Elbe is not available to flush my blood with endorpines, when temperatures are way too high to allow a self-induced runner's-high, on days like these, David Gray provides me with joy:

Fast, aber nur fast ...

... hätte ich vergessen, wie unerträglich heiß sich die Luft neben einer heißen Phaeton-Motorhaube anfühlt, während du am Fahrrad an der roten Ampel darauf wartest, dass es grün wird, damit du der Phaeton-Hälle entkommst. Eben wurde ich wieder daran erinnert. Es ist die Hölle.

Favourite Images - Bruno & Marie Curie

Marie-Curie and Bruno à Saisies, Savoie –  face au Mont Blanc

Those two bears have been smiling at me at my desk for some years and I never get tired of them. The photo was taken with my Yashica camera, Fuki 100ASA film. 

I used to take photos with films until 2010.

Catching Up With Element of Crime

15, maybe 20 years ago, I loved to listen to Element of Crime's music and their lyrics. Last week I started going through my CD-collection, with the aim to shrink my collection. I don't think it's right to speak of a collection when it comes to CDs, since CDs are nothing one has to keep only because one has bought the CD in the past There is no aura, nothing special about the tiny disc in the plastic cover. It is a whole different story with vinly, but you knew that.

But back to the process: So every morning I pull one CD from the shelf and play it Sheryl Crow: Gone. Bobby Brown including his signature on the cover (must have won the CD at the local radio station): Gone.

Element of Crime's "Weißes Papier" : A Keeper

Sven Regener is from Berlin, but he obviously knows the sea by heart.
You probably don't understand the lyrics, but you will hear the ship crossing the atlantic, the machines, the yearning, the comfort.



"Weißes Papier" is not only a keeper, I also contacted my co-workers, on the quest for more music from EOC.
2012 the band is pausing, I do hope they return 2013. Until then I have time to catch up with them and listen to their other 10 albums. Element of Crime would be nothing without the band, true musicians.

I know Sven Regener loathes YouTube, sorry Sven. I buy your recordings, promised! One is not enough.

Save the Date: VDW 2012

No vacation for me September 28 - October 72 2012. You know where to find me!
In case you plan a trip to Vienna, this week would be a good week for paying Vienna a visit. You don't need to be a designer to enjoy the myriads of events the Vienna Design Week offers.

If I had to create a list of my favourite states of Paula, the Vienna Design Week would come second, right after Hamburg. It has to do a lot with the adorable team which hosts and organizes the week. And I am not referring to Mr Paula here. ;-)

Favourite Images - Cake

I love cake.

This is probably not the best photo one could take, but it shows one of the best cakes: the lemon tarte from Kurkonditorei Oberlaa. The lemon tarte is one of the many cakes I had at my birthday party and many friends doubted lemon will be a hit. Isn't it too exotic? To un-chocolately? Of course it was a hit! Because it is refreshing, soft and sweet. And in case I feel this hunger for chocolate, I can always order a piece of chocolate. That's one reason why I prefer Oberlaa over Landtmann: they serve tiny portions if you wish at Oberlaa whereas Landtmann only comes with huge portions, always too much after a lunch.

Friend B and I often meet at Oberlaa. We look at the elderly ladies there, who meet their elderly girlfriends and we use to say "We are going to be just like them once we reached their age". Only we don't want to wait that long and started yesterday. But be aware they close at 7.30 and at 6pm most of the cakes are sold out.

Favourite Images - Cabin

This is on the plane from Vienna to Hamburg.

I happened to "find" this sight on my way back from the toilet to my seat. I liked it so much, I went to my seat to grab my camera and went back to the end of the aisle where I shot this photo. I am glad I did, because this is one of my favourite photos taken during the trip to Hamburg. Hamburg is known as "the" German city for publishers, newspapers and magzines. It touches me, when I see how everyone is busy reading. Not looking at photos in glossy magazines but reading lots of words on huge pages. Culture at its best.

In the end this blog is about photos. Oh yes, and the title is in plural, since this is the first image-focused posting, more are to come.

New C25k app launched!

Last year I have struggled a bit with my programmed Mp3 player - short breaks during the songs meant "stop running and walk" or "start running again", following the Couch 2 5 k programme.

It turned out that I interpreted some pauses in the music as breaks and I ended up with a red head - I simply ran too much and walked too little.

This year (I pause over the winter months and start the programme again the following year) I decided to look at my watch instead of listening to breaks. Not such a good idea when you run in the dark plus adding those numbers: 90 secs plus 90 plus 3mins plus 2 mins turns out to be a challange for the brain at a time where most of the blood is busy keeping you running, not solving math problems.

So I came up with my most recent solution, the handy app! 

The left column was the beta-version (the plain durations), the right column is the launched version 1.0

This new handy app tells me exactly when I have to run and when to walk (R-run, G=gehen), all I need to to is take a look at my watch: at 9.30 it's time to run, at 14.30 it's time to walk.

Having tried various non-iPhone-features, I definitely like this one the best.

A friend inspired me: he wrote the hotel-room-number down in his hand because he feared he might forget his room number (you know those new cards that won't tell the number of the room). We always used to use our hands as notebook. At some age we stop. I started using it again and highly recommend it.

Those not familiar with Couch 2 5 K: it is a programme that gets you to run 5km in 9 weeks, using interval training.

How My Sister Sees Me

 

Hamburg, June 1-2 2012

Happy Namesday, Paula!

Paula Wessely © Burgtheater

Very much to my surprise, "Paula" did become fashionable, again. Over the past few years more and more mothers named their babies "Paula". Some names are meant to last. Others not so much.

Hamburg, die Zweite

No 24 hours after my return from Hamburg and I already booked a hotel room for beginning of July.
Sorry, it seems Hamburg is going to go on in German. I am running out of time (sure one has to catch up with work after being away). That's why I installed a translator and above all I hope you enjoy the photos. Maybe you get what I mean.

If I had to choose only one photo to picture what that it is, that caught me, it would be this one:

Mir war schon bewusst, dass 2012 ein außergewöhnliches Jahr ist. Kaum, dass ich meinen Pass erneuert hatte, packte mich das Reisefieber.

Was soll ich sagen, keine 24 Stunden, die ich zurück bin habe ich schon eine neue Reservierung für das Hotel, in dem ich die letzten 2 Nächte verbracht habe und 2 Plätze im Liegewagen nach Hamburg.

Ich habe so was noch nie gemacht.Sofort wieder dorthin zurückwollen wo man eben herkam. Ich bin auch noch nie mit meiner Nichte verreist. Wir werden es lustig haben. Die Fahrt mit dem Zug an sich ist schon ein Abenteuer. Ich kann es kaum erwarten, wieder auf die Fähre Nr 62 Richtung Finkenwerder zu steigen.

Beide - meine Schwester und ihr Mann – mein Schwager – haben mir ihr OK gegeben, dass ich ihre Tochter für 3 Tage entführe.

Genau, meine Schwester – da war doch was. Unsere erste gemeinsame Reise nach über 30 Jahren! Schön war es mit ihr.

Eskalationsstufen zwischen uns verliefen so:

Sie zu mir:  schrecklich, du bist schon wie die Mami, die ist auch so heikel (wir saßen in der Zugluft)
1 Stunde später, ich zu ihr: du bist aber auch wie Mami, du redest führst genauso Selbstgespräche wie sie!

Meine Schwester musste sich sehr in Toleranz üben, als ich am letzten Abend in deiner Bar unseren Hotelschlüssel am Sofa liegen ließ und ich erst im Bus Richtung Hotel draufkam. 00:30. Nicht so toll! Ich bin ein wenig überrascht, dass sie mir ihre Tochter anvertraut. Aber sie weiß auch, dass ich wenig Alkohol vertrage und mit der Kleinen gibts nur Apfelschorle :-)

Kolleginnen meinten heute, ich würde mit meinem Naturell wirklich gut hinpassen: kontrolliert, korrekt, verlässlich, wertebewusst. Angeblich soll Hamburg auch günstiger als Wien sein. Na denn!

Und nicht, dass ihr glaubt, die Stadt hat uns verzaubert, weil es so schön dort war. Nein! Es hat geschüttet und das Wasser rann mir den Nacken hinunter.

Bis dann endlich wieder kurz die Sonne rauskam.

 Das Hotel, das mich bald wiedersehen wird. Wer mich kennt, weiß, warum mir das so gut gefällt.

Auf der Fähre 62 am Weg zurück Richtung Hafen.

Wenn ich nachdenke, was mich am meisten erfeut hat, dann sind es wohl die Fähren, die dort am Wasser an- und ablegen so wie bei uns die U-Bahn in die Station einfahren. Dabei legen sie schneller an, als bei uns eine U-Bahn. Toll! Man kann einfach so mit einem Schiff von A nach B fahren. Ich weiß schon, in Venedig gibt es das auch. Aber Venedig hält ja kein Mensch aus! Außerdem gibts dann noch die gigantischen Frachtschiffe, die mit hunderten Autos Richtung China aufbrechen und aussehen wie ein Raumschiff vom Todesstern/Star Wars.

Hier ein paar Bilder, die euch vielleicht nahebringen, warum ich da wieder hin muss. Ich kann nich nicht erinnern, wann ich Wien zuletzt so trostlos empfunden habe. Und ich meine nicht den Regen heute, sondern auch das sonnige milde warme Wien von gestern.

 

 

 

 

Das Gebäude stellt das Rendering in den Schatten. Auf dem Rendering fehlen die Reflexionen des Wolkenhimmels und des Wassers und einen Wolkenhimmel sieht Hamburg verhältnismäßig oft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ahoi!

Ich sage jetzt schon mal das Label "Hamburg" wird hier noch ordentlich anwachsen. (rechts im Menü).

Der Kurzmantel von Armor Lux leistet mir treue Dienste, wann immer ich das Meer oder Hafenstädte besuche. History so far: Côte Sauvage - Rotterdam - Hamburg. Ihr seht  – ich bin keine Anhängerin des Mittelmeers.

Wo Meer ist, ist der Mantel dabei.

Weiß als Mantelfarbe, unmöglich, das wird doch schmutzig? Hängt vermutlich vom Material ab, der Mantel ist nach 6 Jahren noch immer strahlend elfenbeinweiß, und wohl auch von den Destinationen: am Meer ist die Luft einfach reiner als in der Großstadt im Binnenland. Vor allem, wenn man in einer Stadt ist, wo es so viel regnet wie in Hamburg.

PS:die Kommentare werden jetzt wieder direkt live geschaltet (ich schalte die Moderation immer nur dann ein, wenn ich verreise=offline bin)