Where does the time go...?

First, a bit of humor -- compliments of the Onion....

Iraq Now Longer Than WWII

The war in Iraq has now lasted longer than the U.S.'s involvement in World War II. What do you think?

And now for a quick round of catch-me-up.

First (foremost) -- I'm on my way back to San Diego. After a lot of deliberation, I've decided to head back to Southern California and leave my job, good friends and interesting life here in Hamburg.

It was not an easy decision -- there is so much more to see, so many more places to explore in Europe. But, love will out in the end: with Tj. and Bill living their lives in San Diego, the need to return to SD grew and grew.

I'm still in Hamburg through the holidays. I will spend Christmas with my family in Niedersachsen, then work the three days "zwischen den Tagen" between Christmas and New Years with my last day at work being the 29th.

I get to spend New Years Eve together with my buddies Maik and Andreas here in Hamburg -- I will miss them very much and hope they'll get a chance to visit SD in the near future.

Then I have just over a week before catching a bus to Frankfurt on the evening of the 8th of January. I fly the morning of the 9th from Frankfurt to Dublin, then from Dublin to Chicago, where my sister and nephew will meet me at O'Hare!

Our plans are to spend the evening and night in Gurnee -- home of Gurnee Mills, where I can get a quick overdose of US shopping before heading to Door County, WI on the 10th. I know my parents will be waiting at the door for me -- I can't wait to get to Sturgeon Bay and spend a few weeks catching up and just generally spending time with them. One of my plans for returning to the US is that I get back to see the family much more often. We're tight-knit, even though I am always far away -- I would like us to be able to spend more time together now that I'll be at least on the same continent.

A few weeks later, Tj. will fly in, we'll spend a few more days with the family and then start a roadtrip back to San Diego! This all depends on my getting a car while I'm in Wisconsin.

One of the great dilemmas I've had living in Hamburg has been not having a car. It meant, of course, that I was dependent on the subway, the DB, other people (thanks Dave and Frank!) and on my feet to get around -- but it also meant I didn't have a car payment, insurance, parking hassles, gas prices, etc to deal with. All in all, though, it is next to impossible to live in the US without a car. Unless you are in a few of the great cities with reliable public transportation (SF, Chicago and New York spring to mind), you are more or less 'required' to reach places by car. So, I'm in the market for something reliable AND fun when I get back -- leaning towards a Jeep Wrangler! (Not so great for Wisconsin or the ride back through the US in the middle of the winter, but GREAT for life in SD!)

I've been lucky enough to secure a position with IKEA SD, the store I worked at before leaving California for Hamburg 1 1/2 years ago.... It will be interesting to see how things have changed, who is there, who has left, who has come back (I understand I'm the 3rd or 4th person to do so!)

OK, I also make a New Year's Resolution here, in print: I vow to update my blog at least once a week -- more during exciting periods, such as my first impressions upon returning to the US and the roadtrip back to San Diego. I want friends back here in Germany (and throughout the "Old World"!) to be able to keep up with news and what's happening in my life. So, stay posted -- there will be more to come! Remember, you can also see the latest pictures I've taken at the link above to my Picasa site.

On a very sad note: one of my dear co-workers here in Hamburg has passed away. On Thursday, December 21st, the head of our office came in unexpectedly while on vacation. He called us together to make a brief announcement -- Kathrin Paulsen had been found dead of natural causes in the seaside rental cottage where she was spending the holidays in Denmark.

Kathrin and I had just been talking during our office Christmas party about the plans she had made for the trip. She was looking forward to reading through a stack of books she was bringing with, was stocking up on groceries and a case of wine. She said she didn't care if it was cold or warm, wet or dry -- she was mostly looking forward to getting away from it all and catching up her reading and relaxing. She was eager to get on the road early the following day and get started on her vacation. My heart goes out to her family, who will undoubtedly find it hard to believe, as I do, that someone so caring and intelligent is no longer with us.

And, finally -- to everyone near, far and unknown but reading this post: A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and to those you hold dear. Einen guten Rutsch ins neue Jahr!

- T

Strep (maybe) and Blue States

PART I: The Infection

I've been home sick for a WEEK now -- on and off fever, swollen glands, tonsils the size of ballpark peanuts in the shell, yucky sores that make it next to impossible to swallow.

Last week Monday I had the sniffles. Made some dinner after work, watched some TV and went to bed early. The next two days are a bit of a haze -- up an hour or two, sip some water, sleep another two hours -- basically, a feverish delirium had set in. Watching TV was impossible; my eyes were ultra-sensitive to the light and my mind couldn't really follow the movement on the screen anyway.

By Thursday morning, I actually walked the five or six blocks to my doctor's office. (It took about half an hour. I'm sure, as I shuffled through the park, that I looked like one of the regulars who spend most of their day there. All I was missing was my sailor's hat and a few pint-sized bottles of rotgut. Thanks for not siccing Daphne on me, Dave!

The doctor says it's strep. Penicillin is STILL the preferred remedy -- and it should do the trick in one or two days, although I need to take the full 10-day prescription.

I take all three doses Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I stay home, under the covers, trying my best to let my body recuperate. OK, the fevers do subside, but . . . THE MONSTER IN MY THROAT LIVES!!

I headed back to see doc on Monday morning -- he is shocked and appalled that my throat is not better. He pokes, prods at the tonsils [OUCH!] and then leaves the exam room. He comes back with a new antibiotic, saying THIS will do the trick - - but, just in case it's not strep, come back Tuesday for a full blood test.

The tonsils DO shrink by 50% on Monday night and are almost normal on Tuesday. BUT, the small, painful lesions are still there even today, Wednesday. Swallowing is tough, eating is painful. (I am going to lose my official BEAR card if I don't get back to some REAL eating soon. I actually ate oatmeal and mushed-up bananas a few times this past week. Oh, never mind. I'm cuttin' up the card myself right now....)

What helped me get through, though, was my buddy Dave making a shopping trip for me. Suddenly, I had more juice, veggies, bread, pasta, mini-chicken-cordon-bleus (all the necessities), as well as an hour of much-needed friend-to-friend conversation. Thanks for risking the germs, Dave.

PART II: The Election

Originally, before my throat began its revolution, I'd already planned to take a vacation day Wednesday the 8th. I figured I'd be up late into the night, watching CNN and following the returns on various websites.

Well, thanks to being sick, I was asleep at 10 p.m. last night -- how lame! But, I woke up around 4:00 and watched CNN for about two hours before napping again for a few more hours.

It was no great surprise to see that voters around the country, in both traditionally Democrat and Republican states, had either ousted incumbent Republicans and replaced them with Democrats or had held on to Democrat seats in almost all elections countrywide.

Dems now hold a majority of governorships across the country, have taken the House by a wide margin, and may even take control of the Senate if the final two contested states (Montana and Virginia) show Democrats in the lead after recounts today.

This is seen mainly as a response to Bush's war policies and the many deaths of US service members (almost 3000 to date) and the many more deaths among the Iraqis (by some accounts as high as 60,000), to the corruption between Republicans and lobbyists, to the sex scandals between a male Republican senator and underaged male pages and the multi-year cover-up of his 'escapades' by his Republican senate cohorts -- and to so many other scandals, too numerous to list here....

What I find amazing is NOT that this finally happened and that the US electorate sent a definite sign to the President and his party that they will no longer let them have tyrannical control of the country, BUT that it took so long....

- T

VOTE!

Well, I'm far from the US right now -- but I haven't felt more strongly about an election in a long time. My absentee ballot has already been mailed in.

The US has been heading in a dismal, dangerous direction since the 2000 elections -- and if you feel the same and are in the States, you may want to click on the above link to the MoveOn.org website. They are organizing folks across the US to call eligible Democrat voters and encourage them to get out and vote. If you have the time during the next week and a half -- DO IT!

The US government does not run well if only one party has control of the executive and legislative branches -- and has also appointed much of the judicial branch. With no substantial limits to his powers, you can be sure G W B has begun to act and think less like a president and more like a dictator. And a lying, half-witted one at that. If you doubt this is true, check out some of these quotes from him:

"I think -- tide turning -- see, as I remember -- I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of -- it's easy to see a tide turn -- did I say those words?" --George W. Bush, asked if the tide was turning in Iraq, Washington, D.C., June 14, 2006

"I would say the best moment of all was when I caught a 7.5 pound largemouth bass in my lake." --George W. Bush, on his best moment in office, during an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag, May 7, 2006

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator." -- GWB, December 18, 2000 on CNN

"Wow! Brazil is big." --George W. Bush, after being shown a map of Brazil by Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brasilia, Brazil, Nov. 6, 2005

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda." --George W. Bush, Greece, N.Y., May 24, 2005

"You work three jobs? -- Uniquely American, isn't it? I mean, that is fantastic that you're doing that." --George W. Bush, to a divorced mother of three, Omaha, Nebraska, Feb. 4, 2005

"Too many OB-GYNs aren't able to practice their love with women all across this country." --George W. Bush, Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004

"I'm honored to shake the hand of a brave Iraqi citizen who had his hand cut off by Saddam Hussein." --George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., May 25, 2004

"I know how hard it is for you to put food on your family."—Greater Nashua, N.H., Chamber of Commerce, Jan. 27, 2000

"For a century and a half now, America and Japan have formed one of the great and enduring alliances of modern times."—Tokyo, Japan, Feb. 18, 2002

"I hope you leave here and walk out and say, 'What did he say?'" --George W. Bush, Beaverton, Oregon, Aug. 13, 2004

I could go on. I could mention the war in Iraq, the 3000 dead American soldiers, the tens of thousands of dead Iraqis, the lack of WMDs found in that country -- even though they were the basis of his argument to go to war.

Or I could go on about Katrina, the Gulf Coast, the amazing city of New Orleans. Or the millions of Americans without health insurance, or the minimum-wage-earning adults who are under-employed. Or the loss of rights and freedoms.

And I hope you leave my webpage today and say, "How do I get to my polling place? How do I take some of the power AWAY from this deranged man? And just what AM I going to put on my family for dinner tonight?"

- T

Fehmarn

On Saturday, Dave and I took a day-trip up to Fehmarn -- an island north of Lübeck in the Baltic Sea.

On one side, the island is now connected to the mainland by a bridge, but ferries and ships leave the far side of the island for Denmark all day long.

Here you see Dave taste-testing wine from a wall of wine boxes. We stopped at two stores (one big, one humongous) that cater to the Danish daytrippers. They can purchase apparently nearly unlimited amounts of alcohol at cheaper German prices and then load up their vehicles and drive back to Denmark with it. Although boxed wine is pretty taboo elsewhere in Germany, Dave and I now know the exact store that must sell more than anywhere else in the country! They had hundreds of types from dozens of lands -- all in handy cardboard boxes with convenient carrying handles. Who would fuss with breakable glass and moldy corks again? :-)

The main town on the island, Burg, is a cute little place with cobblestone streets and a distinctly north German/Scandinavian architecture. The rest of the island seems to be pretty rural -- would be nice to see some of the countryside and the coast next time. But, the drive up and back was relaxing (thanks, Dave!) and we did get to walk around the town and have a late lunch/early dinner, too. Also, Daphne seemed to enjoy herself.

Pix on Picasa!

-T

Potsdam and Berlin

Took a few extra days off work last weekend and went back to Berlin for four days. Man, I love that city!

My friend and former co-worker Toni was in the Netherlands all week on business. After her week of work, she planned another week of play and we meet for the weekend in Berlin.

I took her to all the usual spots -- Brandenburg Gate, the Parliament and Reichstag/Bundestag, Unter den Linden, Potsdamer Platz, Friedrichstraße and all the shopping there, KaDeWe, Ku'damm, the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtnis-Kirche -- but my favorite destination this weekend was a new one for me -- Potsdam.

It is a short S-Bahn trip from Berlin to Potsdam -- and worth the trip. The city grew in importance during the 17th and 18th centuries. It was the location of the summer palace of the Prussian royal family and the majority of the great buildings were built during Frederick the Great's reign 1740-1786.

It has been granted UNESCO World Heritage Site status. I was amazed by the architecture and gardens at Sanssouci, but there is great variety of architecture in the city itself. If you are in Berlin, do not miss Potsdam. (Sorry, Bill and Tj. -- I wish we'd gone there this summer when you were here!)

See my new Berlin and Potsdam pics at the Picasa link.

On the Wednesday before my trip to Berlin, Dave made carrot cake for my birthday (my favorite!) and had us over to their place to celebrate. We had a good time -- although, for the life of me, I'm not sure why I brought champagne. Every time I drink it, I remember why I don't like it. Good champagne, rot-gut champagne -- it all gives me a headache that night and the next day. No other liquor has quite the same effect on me. I can drink beer all night and just have a dry mouth the next morning. But a few glasses of champagne and I'm poppin' Advils like they're M&Ms....

-T

Manchester

This is a photo taken inside the Royal Exchange in Manchester.

I had a great time this past weekend visiting the city with Dave. Friends Hormoz and Rob were the best of hosts and getting to know Macha and Trevor from Dublin rounded out the weekend.

Great restaurants, fun bars, very impressive Victorian architecture, a beautiful and modern downtown (rebuilt after a tragic bombing of the city center in 1996) all make Manchester an impressive and friendly destination.

Want to see more pictures? Click the Picasa link on the right.

-T

Still Summer in Hamburg

Taken Friday afternoon -- the 22nd of September. (Happy Birthday, Tj.! It was warm and sunny -- like you.)
-T

Berlin - East Side Gallery and the Reichstag / Bundestag

I recently took a one-day trip to Berlin. The weather was beautiful -- warm, sunny and very untypical for late September.

Due to the fact that I was showing a visitor around town, I was able to get to some new sights, including the Reichstag building with its glass dome or 'Kuppel' and the East Side Gallery. (Click the post title above to view the pictures.)

Thanks, Rafael, for spending the day racing around Berlin with me and giving me an excuse to see some new things in that exciting city!

-T

Goodbye, Marshall Field's

Anyone with any connection to Chicago knows where this clock is and what store it represents. But not for much longer....

I've been away from Chicago for a LONG time. But, in some ways, I'm still connected to that great city. (Heck, even my name is memorialized in that song written by Fred Fisher in 1922 and made famous by Sinatra.)

A trip into the city when I was a kid meant we'd see the lakefront and skyscrapers -- when I was younger it was the Hancock that towered above all others; then, later, the amazing Sears Tower. It was thrilling to me as a kid to know that it was the tallest building in the WORLD!

Later, after returning to the States from my stint in Germany with the Army, I finally had the opportunity to live in the city. I went to school at UIC and lived off Clark on Wrightwood in North Lincoln Park in a 'garden' apartment. Man, did I love that city! I worked at the Midland Hotel on Adams (now the W Chicago City Center) at the front desk, the concierge desk, driving their old London taxi as chauffeur -- basically keeping the place under control from 3 to 11 p.m. If I had some free time before work, I would shop on State Street, which mostly meant stopping in at Marshall Field's.

Yeah, we'd had a branch of Marshall Field's near my childhood home in the 'burbs. It was at one of the few outdoor malls in Chicagoland -- Oakbrook Center. But, for anyone from Chicago, there was always only one REAL Marshall Field's location.

And now -- in the era of buyouts, sellouts, bigger = better -- Marshall Field's is gone. In just a few days, the last of the awnings, signs, shopping bags and name tags will be changed from the dark forest green with white 1940s-looking script to the garish bright-red Macy*s logo.

I know, it seems silly to get sentimental about a store -- especially one in a city I haven't lived in for many years. But, there are some things you think will always be around -- the Sears Tower, the Art Institute, Marshall Field's....

They say they'll still sell Frango Mints -- I'd better get my hands on some quick before those are a thing of the past, too!

-T

The clock image is licensed via the Creative Commons through Wikipedia

My New Favorite Bus Company

Apparently, this fine transportation company is owned by the Fücker family of Grevenbroich (southwest of Düsseldorf), and has been in operations since 1962.

Hey, you -- stop snickering! Don't THINK I can't hear you!

:-)

-T

Stolpersteine (Stumble Stones)

Here lived Isidor Rothfels
born 1896
deported 1941
to Minsk
? ? ?

The website Geschichtwerkstatt St. Georg (the St. Georg History Workshop) gives a bit more detail:

Lange Reihe 108
Isidor Rothfels
geb. 5.2.1896 in Bebra [a small city south of Kassel, Germany]
am 8.11.1941 deportiert nach Minsk
verschollen [missing]

This is apparently all that's known about Isidor Rothfels: he was born in Bebra, lived on Lange Reihe in a building where the 1000 Töpfe store now stands -- and he was deported to a concentration camp by the Nazis in 1941.

This Stolperstein is one that I've passed dozens of times -- they're all around the city. If you walk at all here in Hamburg, you can't help but 'stumble' over a few of them.

Take a closer look at the next one you pass. Take a picture of it, post it on your blog, find out what you can about the person named on the stone. And remember -- this was a person, just like you and me. He woke up in the morning, had a bite to eat, went to school or work, talked to friends.... Except the person on your Stolperstein was eventually deemed unfit for 1940s German society -- and was shipped off to a concentration camp somewhere in central or eastern Europe, either to be killed or to go 'missing', like Isidor Rothfels.


The BBC has an article in English about the brass plaques, if you'd like to read more about them.

-T

Black Dog-Women

"A new MTV cartoon depicting black women squatting on all fours tethered to leashes and defecating on the floor is drawing fire from several prominent African Americans who call the episode degrading."

What on earth?! Have I been away from the States so long that this type of TV is now acceptable? Well, I guess it IS cable....

I think anyone would be hard-pressed to describe me as a prude. Really, though -- NO ONE should be depicted as a dog-woman, collared and leashed, on all fours, DEFECATING! Especially not a black woman. (Maybe a hot guy in a collar. That could work.... But definitely not a black woman....)

And another thing -- shouldn't the show be called "Where Are My Dogs?" and not "Where My Dogs At?".

For a country that was all up-in-arms about a little shielded nipple being displayed on TV, I'm highly surprised poopin' dog-women was considered a good programming choice. (OK, after looking at that nipple again, I guess I can't call it little!) Again, though -- it IS cable. And you don't need to subscribe to cable if you don't want to. I really don't think the FCC should have much say about what is shown on cable -- but the viewers, who are paying good money for that programming, should let MTV know that this is really too much.

-T

Mid-Trip!!

[sent by phone on 5 June, but never seemed to make it to the website . . .]

We're right in the middle of our Germany/BeNeLux tour. So far, we've spent a week in Hamburg, four days in Berlin (what a great time!), a day cruising up the Rhine and a night of dinner and wine in Rüdesheim.

We're now in Munich - the picture above is of Tj. and Bill.

The weather has been less than cooperative, but we have dealt with the cold and rain and have been seeing as much as we can.

More later!

-T

"I don't want to hug the tar baby..." - Tony Snow, May 2006

It seems the White House has made a colorful choice in Tony Snow. He peppers his speech with very interesting turns of phrase.

For example, check out a review of his first appearance in his new position on May 16th.

Hey, Tony.... A public speaking suggestion: Engage brain before putting mouth into gear!

-T