Story time!

Yes! Another post! That's the fourth day I'm keeping it up. And even more amazing, there's still people around who read it. Thanks to you, guys!

So, still no comments, which is kind of sad... seriously, it'll be more fun for me writing stuff according to your preferences than just having to think myself ;)

You won't even have to use complete sentences, just utter something and one or two days later there'll be a text here which miraculously relates to what you have written! Sounds boring? Well, eat my shorts, then. For those of you who find the idea interesting, here's an example how it could look like:

As (yet fictional) user comment, I've just taken a random comment to a random youtube video. As I write this, I'm now opening youtube, open the first clickable video, and copy-paste the first (not most-liked) comment. Attention.... it says: "50 people ate too much fresh fruit."

This is, apparently, a random user comment to a Monty Python sketch. Now, for the sake of authenticity, we will pretend that this very commentor had not posted on youtube, but on this blog, in order for me to create an intriguing story out of his nonsensical rambling.

...

Oh, look, someone posted a comment that shall be the basis for a story. Let's write the story to it!

We are in the calm small town of Lakeville in northern South Nebrahoma, where 11-year-old Jimmy and his family have been living an average American life far from the liberal coasts. Jimmy's dad, let's call him Walter, works for the security of the largest local employer, the candy manufacturer "Sugarland" (I sincerely hope that there is no real company with that name...if there is: please let me know before sueing me, I'll remove the name at once) who has been supplying the market with delicous products made of corn syrup and food coloring. Jimmy's mom is a homemaker and cares for him and his older, 15 year old sister Catherine as good as she can, which is not much to be honest.

One day, Jimmy is extremely bored after school, and decides to venture out into the lovely surroundings of Lakeville - doing so on his own, as his mother is busy doing the laundry or so she says and his sister doesn't like him much, anyways. So he takes his bike and starts to ride it out of the town limits, along the old route 467. After a while, he notices a change in the landscape, from residential to a more natural, random form...

Well, tell you the truth, I'm out of ideas right now how Jimmy's adventure will proceed, but tomorrow there'll be more to read. See you then, and don't forget to click the ads! (I'm already at the point where I have to work for money...)

Adding the ads and odding the odds!

Good morning!

Originally I had planned to post the third part of my pre-written "back-again" text, but seeing to the heavy decline in popularity of this blog (traffic down about 40% during the last two days), something more entertaining than the original rant about how bad other people drive is in order. I'm making this up as I write, so please be forgiving if the text is crappy.
Also, before you continue reading, please bear in mind that I write this blog not only to have a platform where I can post the disorganized stuff floating through my brain, but primarily to get filthily rich. At the current rate - below two dollars a year in ad revenue - this would take approximately 500,000 years, and result in only average richness. It is also not satisfactory due to practical reasons - although I can't be sure as to how it will be for myself, experience has shown that only an extremely limited number of humans (about zero) reach an age like that. So, one remedy to that is in your hands, dear reader: click on the ads around, it's like a donation for me that doesn't cost you anything. Awesome, eh? Plus, it might actually lead you to a site that may be of interest to you.
Now, as I can't really come up with a way to inform you about past years' events, I'll simply start by giving you a little introduction what the book I've written is about:
The working title is Epsilon Eridani, much like the popular star system you've heard so much about, and it's set in - you might have already guessed - the Epsilon Eridani star system. Humanity has ventured into space, ever curious and ever conquering, as it has done like millenia. Join Commander Stevenson as he and his crew set out to explore a new star system, only to discover secrets and surprises no one of them expected!
Currently, the cover is being designed, and there's only some formatting and stuff to be done. Once I'm through with that, it'll be published as ebook for a very modest price. Regardless of its success, I've already started outlining a second novella, set in the same universe, and to be finished and released within this year as well.
If you found all this to be interesting, please tell your friends, or post the link to this blog around the web. I'm also happy to write whatever you want me to, from short essays to short stories or my analysis of some major stuff going on in the world. Comment, and spread the word!

Thanks!

New places...

Good morning again!

Yes, I'll hope to post more frequent in the future, which is why you're seeing a daily influx of stuff for the time being (until I grow tired of it ;-)) Today, I'd like to tell you a bit about the city I work in now:
Jena is, essentially, the figurehead of the economic success a few parts of former socialist germany achieved in the past two decades. It's got two world class corporations in the optical sector, Zeiss and Jenoptik, an advanced ceramics company, Schott, two universities, all the cultural, research and supplier facilities associated with that... it's amazing, it's got only 100,000 inhabitants, half of them students, a quarter highly qualified workforce, and the remainder normal people.
Problem is, it's in a valley. Mountains to the left, mountains to the right, with the city itself shaped like some kind of bean, with a long north-south axis. Rents are ridiculous, being in the same league as Berlin or Munich in some areas. A thousand euros per month would get you a 3-room apartment with maybe 90 or 100 m² in an average location, or a 60 m² two-room apartment in a somewhat upmarket district (still nothing fancy).
This has resulted, naturally, in considerable suburban sprawl and, further, to the outlying villages and towns. Owing to the valley location, there's a total of two roads entering the main city, also providing the main road traffic capacity within city limits. This is very few for a place of that size.
I drive to work every day. Out of being used to it, I guess - the previous two years, also in a rural setting, were dominated by cars, and the road network was good. Diesel was paid for by the company, and I used my private car only for the long-distance trips home. Driving was fun, the transportation aspect of life was good. And now, as I said, I have moved to this small town. The license plate abbreviation for the area is "SHK". If you ever happen to come across a vehicle which license plate is bearing this three letters, be weary. Not only have they been taught to drive by drunk cavemen, if at all, but in addition they are not aware of their extremely developed incompetence.
Be sure to catch on in a later post where I continue my whining about them!

A long time later....

Good morning everyone,

it's been a while (pretty exactly one year) that I have
written something into this blog... that's because a lot
of things have happened. Among them being minor things
like the hardest work season of my life in late 2011,
followed by writing a science fiction novella (not
published...yet), returning to my home province and
finally moving from a small city apartment to a huge house
in the rural backwater. Oh, I've changed jobs, too, of
course.
From my warehouse company to a small, ambitious start-up
developing a really cool electric microcar. The team is
awesome, as are the work conditions. Content-wise, it's a
dramatic shift from the rather dull daily operations stuff
as department head to the creative tasks you get as
product manager for an innovative product.
But that's not the main reason for today's entry... as I
mentioned before, I moved from the province capital to a
small town - which is a lovely change when you look solely
at the place of living itself.
At some 18 years of age, the building isn't even a fifth
of the age of our previous home. It's got floor heating, a
garden, a balcony, a big basement, all the bells and
whistles you would expect for a huge amount of money.
Well, not so huge when looking at the size you get, and
even smaller when compared to the rents in the closest
city, Jena, where I also work.
But more on that later...

First day in Koblenz

It's Monday now, but a very unusual one: I'm currently in Koblenz on a one-week training, together with a colleague. Yesterday the weekend ended even earlier than usual, when I had to leave a 5 pm, heading for my beloved Hesse company.
There we met, and continued to Koblenz, which took us another three hours, thanks to the great "German Engineering" in our Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit in the US) - the gps sent us on the highway right into a traffic jam!
Now today was the first day of training, and it was a hell of a lot of stuff. Quite theoretic, but thanks to a very charismatic and entertaining trainer the day passed quickly. The hotel is ok-ish, in the center of Koblenz near the "German Corner", where the Mosel and Rhine rivers meet. Hopefully a lovely place, but it's still some minutes until we head off to see more of the area.
The weekend was really nice, too, as we visited the school where my wife works since this month. A private school (still somewhat uncommon in Germany), multilingual (German, English, French), and absolutely lovely compared to the barracks my generation used to learn stuff in. She's also very happy with it, although it means driving some 50 kms one-way to get there (it's in the city of Jena).
Well, we'll see what the week brings...

Thank god it's Friday!

Thank god it's Friday, but this time just for the sake of it. The week was really lazy compared to the usual 55 to 60 hours of (dis-)organized mayhem. Things went relatively smooth, and it finally becomes apparent (after over a year) that my main function at work is being a proxy. We have a branch manager I'm sitting in the same office with, we a truck dispatcher (what I did before) and a foreman. I'm scheduled as replacement for all three of them, in case of vacation or sickness.
Besides that, tasks unique to me are quite simple and are a mixture between clerk and assistant. But, if any of those aforementioned people is away, I have to replace them. Soon, the branch manager is away, as is the dispatcher. My responsibilities will skyrocket from those of a clerk to almost dictatorial command over some 40 people and three full-size trailer trucks...
But first things first, now it's weekend, and next week I'm on full-time training at Koblenz, at the Rhine River. Gonna be great!

Old memories brought up again

This day was really boring at work, but made up for it by a nice encounter in the evening: seeing Julian again, a former colleague (he quit two months ago) whom I really like a lot, and his sister. She's going to Australia soon, with the work and travel program - one of the things I'd really like to do myself, but I guess I'm too old now. She's really brave, however, saying that her English is not that good. But it'll improve with more practice. We spent the evening chatting about her trip first, when the conversation slowly went down the usual path and it was all about my work again. Maybe I'll head back to Canada one day...

Also, I found a great used car on the web which I intend to buy. It's basically just my car again (even the same build month), but with a few more miles, manual gear and the large engine. Especially the later two parts got my attention - if I trade in my current ride, it'll be just a few hundred bucks for a nice 193 hp. Maybe I'll head over to Hannover soon to take a look at it.