As a preparation I decided to take a private "Finest Sushi" for 3.49 and a Diet Coke Lime for 0,84 pence. I was happy that I could pay with some coins I always used to have with me. Maybe it was also a bit of relief, that I still could mantain the illusion that I had some notes in my pocket. The Lime Coke would be my Caipirinha substitute, and knowing that in Rio they would give me a whole bottle of the real stuff for that price didn´t make it taste much better. But I was not in Rio, I was in the city. And I had a job to do.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
The Champagne
The Champagne was great but it was still too early to even think of getting a bottle. I made a mental note and decided to come back to consider it after my local problems had been clarified.
A walk in the park
The wind was cold and although it had been a very warm winter up until now in Frankfurt and London I sensed that thinks began to change. And it was happening quicker than I thought. Here no one would give me answers. But to settle away from my day time activities and focus on my tasks it was pretty good.
Folk music
The man was playing his music and distracted me for a while. I was thinking that maybe I should have put my coat on but then maybe it was better to get accustomed to it. Maybe he had seen something but I wanted not to disturb him....more.
This approach wasn´t really working to well. It was time to get some Sushi and visit a Bar.
Afternoon, the next day
Too early for dinner and already too late for espresso. The cappuccino was good; the shortbread was suspicious. Eating too much makes me tired.
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
In the evening.
It was late and I was hungry. It was too late for Falafel but it tasted great. The idea of having choosen the wrong box irritated me. The day had been long and it was time to go to bed.
"Custom" order
Later in the office I looked at the manual and noted a slighty changed option. Tomorrow maybe some more milk would be good. I never have been a friend of the syrups but it´s never too late to try some new tastes.
The bitter taste of espresso..
The bitter taste of espresso..
The sugar looked strange and the taste wasn´t typical either. Maybe the espresso was too strong for me today. I hope so..
In the Lasagne?
The food looked great but I could not really relax. Too much had been going on and my thoughts were spinning through my head.
Hidden in the dessert?
The first desert that day was difficult to chose. The idea of making the wrong decision paralised me. I considered taking the fruit but settled for the cake.
Missing service?
After landing I noticed immediately that there was a possibility to declare the Polonium but no one would have been there to attend the guest. Was it a problem of bad customer service?
The breakfast had been gone and I was thinking were I could get some juice to satisfy my quench.
Usability issue?
In the morning I noticed how the way the rules on the backside of the ticket were described were not really user friendly. The sentence was too long and the picture more an invitation than a statement which forbides something. Maybe the word "not" should have been written in capital letters or the whole phrase should have said "Don´t even think about it". It was before breakfast and I knew it was going to be a long day.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
"Transnationaler sozialer Raum"
Einen Artikel den ich in Telepolis über einen lesenswerter Aufsatz entdeckt habe, handelt über Transnationalisierung (Transnationalisierung von unten). Der Begriff war mir neu; es geht um die Individualvernetzung über Landesgrenzen hinweg.
Die Primärliteratur schliest mit dem Fazit:
"In kosmopolitischer Perspektive geht es auch
darum, eine ironische Distanz zur eigenen
Kultur zu entwickeln und anderen Kulturen
und Menschen mit Respekt und Toleranz
zu begegnen. Ein weltbürgerliches Bewusstsein
überwindet die nationale Grammatik,
die sich an der Leitunterscheidung zwischen
nationaler Zugehörigkeit und Nicht-Zugehörigkeit
ausrichtet, und orientiert sich trotz
Verschiedenheit an den Prinzipien der Gleichbehandlung."
Die kursive Hervorhebung stammt von mir.
Einen schönen Zweiten Advent.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Reading too much.
On my journey through interesting books and those already in my appartment which want to be read I came across and interesting author some time ago, Heinrich Popitz, whose books unfortunately seem to be available only in german (librarything list expanded). He was an sociologist publishing on phenomena of society. I don´t have much knowledge in this area so there are no links to other blogs. His texts are very compact and also a pleasure to read from the way he uses language.
Blogentries which called my atention this weekend:
Spirale des Todes (german only).
The world worst disease.
Both focus on the dilemma of zero sum thinking and their misrepresentation of reality.
This saturday Christmas shopping has begun (to avoid any surprise on my side on the 24th of december about still missing presents)
Best phrase heart on Saturday:
"Ich habe einen Job für dich; du gehst jetzt in den O2 Shop und nervst dort die Leute." (nerven = annoy)
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Conbrai is finished
Yesterday the Conbrai event (meeting of internal auditors from all over Brazil) I was visiting here in Rio finished. I will post some photos next week with a funny anecdote .)
#update 18.12.2006: Final day picture of Tom Wargas and me; two professionals @work)
Today I came back from São Paulo and there are just two days left to finish my business here and come back to Frankfurt. There is an airlift between the two cities so that you can go to the airport whenever you want and pretty fast have a flight to the other city. Flying time between both cities is approx. 45 minutes.
Tomorrow a short Trip to Niteroi is planned, let´s see if the plan does fit my schedule.
Cu
Today I came back from São Paulo and there are just two days left to finish my business here and come back to Frankfurt. There is an airlift between the two cities so that you can go to the airport whenever you want and pretty fast have a flight to the other city. Flying time between both cities is approx. 45 minutes.
Tomorrow a short Trip to Niteroi is planned, let´s see if the plan does fit my schedule.
Cu
Saturday, November 04, 2006
Friday, November 03, 2006
Arrival
For all those who care:
I have arrived at my destination the weather is not so hot as expected and pictures can be posted after my return.
On tenacity
Via Cem Basmans blog I found a nice to read article on ´What it takes to be great´. A theme that has also been covered in some magazines stating that approximate a timeframe of 10 years of practice was found to be relevant to show outstanding results in an area. It is interesting that talent itself could maybe be overrated when measured against pure will power and some kind of stubbornness.
The main question here is not ´What have you done in the last 10 years´ rather than ´What do you want to do in the next 10 years?´
Since my perspective seems to be for outsiders always a strange mixture of nostalgia and (maybe) absurd forward thinking for me this question is extremely attractive, since it gives me the chance to answer the question myself.
So ... where do we want to be in 2016? :)
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Are Your Lights On?
A book I recently read and can recommend is "Are Your Lights On?" from Gerald M. Weinberg.
It is divided into six parts which are:
1.What is the problem?
2.What is the problem?
3.What is the problem, really?
4.Whose problem is it?
5.Where does it come from?
6.Do we really want to solve it?
It´s easy to read, contains some interesting (but not necessarily new) concepts and can maybe be part of your consultant tool box when trying to get things accomplished.
Weinberg has published various books which emphasizes, that problem solving is not a technical issue but has to do with how you think and which point of view you take into consideration.
Monday, September 11, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
Monday, September 04, 2006
Club Location Award
DSC00529
Originally uploaded by aquarius72.
We here in Dietzenbach do not have many places to have a drink. One of those places is the "Club 33".
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Friday, August 18, 2006
„Who dares wins“ and „Ghostbusters“
„Who dares wins“ is the name of a jump and run computer game which was released in the 80s.One of the reasons I remember the game is because it´s one of those I finished, I played it through, every level of the game without a cheat and without modifiying a lousy savegame.It think it took me two weeks to do this and the day I accomplished the last level was in the morning of a regular school day.
In those days school did not have the priority it maybe should have had.
My mother went to her half-day job and I was expected to go to school with the other kids when they were ringing at the door to take me with them.What happened is that since I already was sitting in front of the computer I told them just to wait a few minutes until I showed up. Pretty soon they realised that if they would wait until that moment we all would arrive too late at school and they decided to go without me.So I was playing that game every day in the morning before going to school and soon I mastered one level after the other.
As far as I remember the last two levels were pretty hard. From todays point of view it was a simple shooting game where a soldier had to fight his way through a playingfield upwards by shooting other soldiers or throwing granates near where they were standing or hiding.So finally one day I mastered to reach the last level and you can imagine my nervousness after having played it again and again to finally reach that last stage. I knew it was the last because they were numbered and somehow it was obvious how many levels the game would have.The only problem was, that the last level did not display the playingfield right. There were ugly pixel everywhere and the „sprites“ (the technical term for those user defined graphical objects which in this case were supposed to be soldiers) were displayed as boxes and everything was awkward and barely identifiable. I suppose it was an error that happened when cracking the game or just an error in the copy.
So there I was sitting and playing that last level that took me so much time to reach. And to make a long story short; I did it.It was overhelming; there I was alone in my room having played through the whole game; smiling and happy.
That day I also arrived late at school and I think I can remember saying to the others that „I did it!“ when entering the class room.
I sure can´t remember what we learned at school that weeks or even that year, but I can remember the game and that it was an successful effort.
I learned more by playing that game through than I learned in some school class.
„Ghostbusters“ is the name of the game of the computer game corresponding to the movie.It was also a game I used to play but I never finished it. The aim of the game was to hunt ghosts. The game was not organised in levels but the speed in which the ghosts appeared on the screen was becoming faster and when the player could not hunt them down one by one fast enough the remaining ones would accumulate in a house in the center of the city were finally they would sum up to a really big ghost.
So that last task consisted in somehow trick that last big ghost, or to be fast enough to run by its side and to not be caught, I can´t really remember it to well. One day I stopped playing it. I did not look for cheats or how-to´s on how to make it. I just stopped playing it. It was not longer important for me to play that game for whatever reason.
Currently I am reading „Weinberg on Writing“ and since he states that writing about something one cares about is a preliminary for writing itself I write about those two games.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Ergonomics
Mobile devices empower their users to adapt their global working style to nearly every circumstance. Nevertheless those technical tools still could be improved to take into consideration "user posture" and "limited bandwith after thunderstorms".
Monday, August 14, 2006
Arrival
Originally uploaded by aquarius72.
As you can see on the upper left the passengers for the next flight are already waiting to enter the plane. We call it here "ir con el pito al culo" :-)
Ok, the flight was already 40 minutes late..
Sunday, August 06, 2006
"luisfolchspeaking"
Looks like a new toy for the blog. Voice recording is indeed nothing new; the nice feature of Evoca is that it provides also a german telephone number which you can call to record your postings(030 Berlin). It recognizes the user by the registered phone number you call from (caller id) so that no further pin is required and you can start recording imediately after the tone.
Perfect to call from a mobile phone. Posting requires an additional publishing step on their site.
The free account offers a 60 minute hosting service.
Try it for yourself at Evoca.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Sunday, July 09, 2006
"test test test"
Just a small test post from the Apple store in New York (and bothering Michis girlfriend with the obvious benefits of owning an Ipod)... :)
Sunday, July 02, 2006
Flying back to Frankfurt
Sometimes the best you can do in a plane is
just to sit there and watch out of the window.
Saturday, July 01, 2006
Presenting yourself @work
Person A: "Hello, I am the Sox man."
Person B (making a move like pulling of his shirt to reveal a fancy t-shirt with a cool logo on it): "Sounds like a kind of super hero!"
Person A: "No, it´s not."
The best sense of humor still is found in IT departments.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Sunday@Hyde Park
Guess who is going to see Depeche Mode and Thomas "She blinded me with science" Dolby tomorrow :)
Event: O2 Wireless Festival
Here are some pictures.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Pics of the weekend
Two picture sets coming up for the weekend.
One with a few impressions on the Rose and Light Festival at the Frankfurt Palmengarten which was pretty full at Saturday. Usually being a more empty place it had three stages and the visitors laid pictures from tea lights.
Sunday I saw the Brasil - Australia game at the MainArena. Pretty good idea to put a gigantic screen on the Main! (Wait for the pictures..)
##Update:
Only one pictureset: "Guckst Du hier"
Nevertheless I am in London right now and the next set is going to have some city impressions. Nothing big like pictures from buildings which all know from the tourists guide but from my daily walk to work which surprisingly to me is nearly different every day. Not that it has something to do with my fab sense of orientation but maybe with my taste of risky adventures like crossing the street on red.
If someone has a recomendation for Saturday night: walkingaround(at)luisfolch.com
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Tuna Fish Sandwich
Tuna Fish Sandwich
Originally uploaded by aquarius72.
Hey Hobbes, maybe it´s time to learn to cook by yourself ;)
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Monday, June 05, 2006
Skyarena
Skyarena was the name of the show that could be seen in Frankfurt this weekend and today. Upond the skyscrapers scenes and pictures standing for the "11 EMOTIONS OF SOCCER" are being displayed and you can listen to comments from former comentators. Does not sound spectacular, but is better than it sounds.
Nicer pictures can be found on the official site(or later here :) ).
Monday, May 01, 2006
Nacht der Museen
At the "Nacht der Museen" here in Frankfurt on Saturday friends and me at random found CARICATURA a museum for comical art which is somehow hidden beside the historical museum at the Römer.
Actually there is an exposition of drawings from Gerhard Glück which caused laughter.
The drawings show a lot of details which enhance the humoristical effect. If you have the possibility and like to laugh give it a visit.
"Instead of tickets the 7 little dwarfs again carried only gooey candy paper."
"With minimal expedient Mr. F. explained to Miss K. how chaotic his previous life had been."
Museum für Komische Kunst -
Caricatura im Historischen Museum (Steinsaal)
Saalgasse 19 (Römerberg)
Monday, April 24, 2006
Ebbelwoi Express
On a sunny Sunday a funny activity to perform with friends is to view the city out of the local "Ebbelwoi Express". It is a tram cruising in the city and playing kind of traditional music while you can taste some Apfelwein inside. On some locations (like the zoo) passengers can exit and take some photos. The most interesting part of such a tour is mainly that while automatically participating in such a touristic activities when away, seldomly they are made at home.
Note to self: Next weekend is the Museumsuferfest:) Nacht der Museen.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Modern times: Podding out
On one side we are podding out to gain some kind of space for ourselves and on the other side we are chatting and blogging.
Communicatve issues do not seem to become much more easy these days, isn´t it?
Happy Easter to the readers.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Ring ring 2005
FA 2005
Originally uploaded by aquarius72.
Somebody in Langen is going to receive a letter from me :)
The german word for tax declaration: Steuererklärung
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Education
I always had a somewhat aggressive attitude for education in the meaning that I see myself as the only person preventing me from going further in what I want to be and want to achieve. But that is nothing special since I have a more technical background due to my IT jobs and me and my colleagues usually had the "obligation" to be up to date with current technologies and trends.
http://www.joshkaufman.net/personalmba/
The most interesting part is the idea that if Mintzberg states that by reading the relevant books you could gain relevant information:
- What would happen if more persons would purposefully invest time and money in their own progress, and in expanding their personal network?
- And in which areas like own life-planning skills, financial planning skills and people skill in general could a more deeper insight be gained which lead to changes or new ideas?
Friday, April 07, 2006
Since U been gone B-)
Browsing I found two performed versions of the same song.
This seems to be a favorite out there. You can vote for this crew called "The Baylor Studs" at Googleidol.com. They have also more videos to see.
Also funny is this version. A night out with friends:
You can also find more home made videos on www.youtube.com
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Bonn - Frankfurt - Madrid - Alcalá de Henares (and way back)
The last 3 days I have been in Madrid where I spend some days with friends. The above mentioned cities describe the tour Sandra did since she joined from Bonn:
"Respekt, mein lieber Herr Gesangsverein!".
Highlight this time was an excursion to Alcalá de Henares, the hometown of Miguel de Cervantes (author of Don Quixote) where we spend some nice hours enjoing the sun and the city.
In Madrid itself we had the opportunity to join see a demonstration against the positioning of parking meters, which was a little bit suprising since I had not seen a big demonstration for years. First it seemed even strange to see such a big crowd on the street for such an issue but it´s maybe a difference in how political issues are connected to everyday life or just perceived as abstract or non-alterable.
Visiting Madrid has this time again been a pleasent trip which I can recommend to everyone.
Puhh...I can´t remember when I have been offline 3 days in a row the last 10 years.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
"Google Pages": Online Web Site creation
Today I received an email to test the "Google Pages".
It is a complete online Web Site creation solution which offers the user the possibiliy to use up to 100MB of space to create a web presence without having to install anything.
In the "Page Manager" you see all your pages with their current status and when they where last modified. You can start there by creating pages you will need or with the start page and then add another page by just creating a new page with the "Create new page" link or by clicking on the link button and select to which object you want to link. You can link to your already available pages, your files, a web address or email address. You select by clicking on a radio button one of these four items presented to you in a selection.
Adding a picture via a Flickr static link seems a little bit tricky due to the complete preview of the picture and therefore the user can not reach the save button but hey..save it and upload it :) By the way the upload is starting automatically after having selected the file.
Starting is easy, you have 4 layouts to use and 41 skins that can be used out of the box however I did not see any possibility to change those by modifying those templates like e.g. in Blogger. In the page manager, layout and look section you can see your space usage in Gmail style.
Context sensitive menus appear e.g. after uploading a picture with resize options and some formatting options can be selected from the left menu. Links can be tested when entered by selecting this option from the then appearing context menu.
100MB is plenty of space and the possibility to edit your site without installing any software is interesting. So all those who do not want to commit to a regular blogging lifestyle have a tool out of the Google repertoire to handle their publishing needs.
Just take a look at my first steps with the tool:
http://luis.folch.googlepages.com/home
Sunday, March 19, 2006
World Cup coming nearer...
...and no entry cards available.
Join me in the virtual stadium!
http://www.largestonlinestadium.com/fan/LuiZ
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Groove: News update
Although it is known some time that there is going to be a close bundling between the MS Office suite, Sharepoint Sites and Groove here is a quick update.
- The name will change to "Office Groove 2007".
- It will be the official Sharepoint Site client to perform offline availability and it is also planned to support check-in and check-out functionality.
- Integration with Infopath.
- Office Groove Server 2007 will bundle the now available different server editions (maybe then on a MSDN account available :) )
In my opinion Groove is still rocking.
Information source:
Groove FAQ
http://www.groove.net/
Blog:
http://blogs.msdn.com/marco/
German site Computerwoche.
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Motivational 2006
Experimenting with Flickr it looks like even the pics designed to be hidden from public can be employed for something useful :)
How to relax on Monday:
Surfing on Flickr while listening to Trance music.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Pedro Bial: Filtro solar
Senhoras e Senhores da Turma de 2003, filtro solar. Nunca deixem de usar filtro solar.
Se eu pudesse dar só uma dica sobre o futuro, seria esta: use filtro solar.
Os benefícios a longo prazo do uso de filtro solar estão provados e comprovados pela ciência. Já o resto de meus conselhos não tem outra base confiável além de minha própria experiência errante. Mas agora eu vou compartilhar esses conselhos com vocês.
Aproveite bem, o máximo que puder, o poder e a beleza da juventude.
Ou então esquece. Você nunca vai entender mesmo o poder e a beleza da juventude até que tenham se apagado.
Mas pode crer, daqui a 20 anos você vai evocar as suas fotos e perceber, de um jeito que você nem desconfia hoje em dia, quantas, tantas alternativas escancaravam a sua frente e como você realmente tava com tudo em cima. Você não tá gordo ou gorda.
Não se preocupe com o futuro.
Ou então preocupe-se, se quiser, mas saiba que pré-ocupação é tão eficaz quanto mascar chiclete para tentar resolver uma equação de álgebra.
As encrencas de verdade em sua vida tendem a vir de coisas que nunca passaram
pela sua cabeça preocupada e te pegam no ponto fraco às 4 da tarde de uma terça feira muito horrenda.
Todo dia, enfrente pelo menos uma coisa que te meta medo de verdade.
Cante.
Não seja leviano com o coração dos outros.
Não ature gente de coração leviano. Use fio dental.
Não perca tempo com a inveja. Às vezes se está por cima, às vezes por baixo. A peleja é longa. E no fim, é você contra você mesmo.
Não esqueça os elogios que receber. Esqueça as ofensas. Se conseguir isso, me ensine.
Guarde as antigas cartas de amor. Jogue fora os extratos bancários velhos.
Estique-se.
Não se sinta culpado por não saber o que fazer da vida. As pessoas mais interessantes que eu conheço, não sabiam, aos 22, o que queriam fazer da vida. Alguns dos quarentões mais interessantes que conheço, ainda não sabem.
Tome bastante cálcio. Seja cuidadoso com os joelhos, você vai sentir falta deles.
Talvez você case, talvez não. Talvez tenha filhos, talvez não. Talvez se divorcie aos quarenta, talvez dance ciranda em suas Bodas de Diamante.
Faça o que quiser, não se auto congratule demais e nem seja severo demais com você. As suas escolhas têm sempre metade das chances de dar certo, é assim pra todo mundo. Desfrute de seu corpo, use-o de toda maneira que puder. Não tenha medo de seu corpo, ou com o que as outras pessoas possam achar dele. É o mais incrível instrumento que você jamais vai construir.
Dance, mesmo que não tenha onde além de seu próprio quarto. Leia as instruções,
mesmo que não vá segui-las depois. Não leia revistas de beleza, elas só vão fazer você se achar feio.
Dedique-se a conhecer seus pais. É impossível prever quando eles terão ido embora de vez.
Seja legal com seus irmãos. Eles são a melhor ponte com o seu passado e, possivelmente, quem vai sempre mesmo te apoiar no futuro.
Entenda que amigos vão e vêm, mas nunca abra mão de uns poucos e bons.
Esforce-se de verdade pra diminuir as distâncias geográficas e de estilos de vida, porque quanto mais velho você ficar, mais você vai precisar das pessoas que conheceu quando jovem.
More uma vez em Nova York, mas vá embora antes de endurecer. More uma vez no Havaí, mas se mande antes de amolecer.
Viaje.
Aceite certas verdades inescapáveis: os preços vão subir, os políticos vão saracotear, você também vai envelhecer. E quando isso acontecer, você vai fantasiar que quando era jovem, os preços eram razoáveis, os políticos eram descentes e as crianças respeitavam os mais velhos. Respeite os mais velhos
e não espere que ninguém segure a sua barra. Talvez você arrume uma boa aposentadoria privada, talvez case com um bom partido, mas não esqueça que um dos dois pode de repente acabar.
Não mexa demais nos cabelos, senão quando você chegar aos 40, vai aparentar 85.
Cuidado com os conselhos que comprar. Mas seja paciente com aqueles que os oferecem. Conselho é uma forma de nostalgia. Compartilhar conselhos é um jeito de pescar o passado do lixo, esfregá-lo, repintar as partes feias e reciclar tudo por mais do que vale.
Mas no filtro solar, acredite.
Refrain:
Dance.
Brother and sister, together, will make it through, oh oh
Someday, a spirit will take you and guide you there
I know, you´ve been hurting, but I´ve been waiting to be there for you
And I´ll be there, just helping you out whenever I can
Dance!
(música: Everybody´s Free (To Feel Good))
Sunday, March 05, 2006
"Spring"
In Germany currently heavy snowfalls are covering the country.
Although it was not possible for me to drive around with my car because I had some trouble to reach the street even after shoveling around my garage some time, on an average sunday it is nice to walk around and hear some birds sing and to casualy meet known people on the street on the way to the park.
Definitively the song of the day: "Where the streets have no name"
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