Monthly Archives: January 2008

Coming to an end

We have been in Laax now for 10 days, working really hard on an article. I had brought my Skis, but we never got round to skiing, the only distractions we had was half an hour of walk and a restaurant visit each day. I do know all the cool places in Laax now (although we did miss the “Western Night”). We’ll head down tomorrow again and things are slowly coming to an end. Everyone is busy now doing administrative stuff (like compiling the SMI annual report) and motivation is generally decreasing as our concentration lapses. It’s time to go back, I think, before collective insanity starts spreading even more. It was certainly a fun event though, and a productive one too. I think we will repreat this type of retreat more often.

I do look forward to my upcoming holiday though. Spending some quiet quality time with Almut (this will probably be the last quiet time for the next 18 years or so), is something I sorely need now. Reading a book, have some kites flying, walking along (the cold and windy) beaches is exactly what I need now.

You’ve got mail

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Damn, had I just known this earlier

A lazy sunday

Got up at 8. Muesli. Work. One hour of break for lunch and walk. Work until 6pm.
Bah, exhausting. But also fun. Still, I look forward to my relaxing two weeks of holiday which I will have after the paper writing retreat.

The quality of food improves from day to day and we have lots of new research ideas that all involve travelling and eating out somewhere. We wonder if “Betriebsmittel” pays for this…

If you ever happen to be in Laax, the Hotel Posta Veglia can be recommended for Lunch. And if you feel very fancy, walk up the ski pista to the Restaurant Tegia Larnags. Expensive, but delicious!!!

Starving to death (and insanity)

Stefan is cruel. He denies us the nutrition we need in order to function well. No coffee, No Wine, No Cheese!!! Cruel, Cruel, Cruel.

On a different note, the landscape here must be faked. It looks photoshopped, it’s just too romantic to be real.

I fixed a wireless access point this weekend, where should I send the bill to?

I better finish my paragraph on kinship amity or I will never get something to it.

By the way, you will need to come in tomorrow into the office as well. This will be great!

P.S. Had Cheese & Cracker, Wine and Bread. Life is good

Laax

Greetings from Laax!!!

We (three PostDocs) have a good time here. No, not what you probably suspect: we don’t Ski, we are actually working hard. When we come down the mountains, we will have a new article draft in our pockets. Pictures might follow when I come home, but it’s very nice up here. It has actually been snowing, so everything is looking bright-white.

Thanks to Gauri Baumann (and her parents of course) for letting us stay here and thanks to Stefan for organizing and standing us during these days.

P.S. If you ever happen to need lunch in Laax, the Hotel Posta Veglia can ertainly be recommended. AAA+

Alles mögliche

  • Heute hat meine Oma Dora ihren 85. Geburtstag. Alles Gute Dora!
  • Da wir Weihnachten das erste Mal als Minifamilie in Zürich verbracht haben (was sehr schön war), haben wir meine Schwiegereltern schon länger nicht gesehen. Das holen wir dieses Wochenende nach: Wir fahren nach Nordhessen und werden das Wochenende dort verbringen.
  • Mein Vater Erik hatte diese Woche eine Operation, ich werde versuchen ihn dieses Wochenende auch zu besuchen. Hoffentlich wird alles gut!
  • Am Montag nachmittag fahre ich mit Stefan und Martin nach Laax. Wenn wir 10 Tage später wiederkommen haben wir einen Artikel fertig. Warum glaubt uns bloss keiner, dass wir dort oben wirklich arbeitebn wollen? Natürlich werde ich in der Mittagspause etwas Ski fahren (wenn Schnee liegt).

Mein Privatleben

Hallo zusammen,
in letzter Zeit habe ich weniger über mein Privatleben, als über Themen gebloggt, die ich für meine Arbeit spannend finde. Auf der anderen Seite sind es aber gerade die privateren Sachen die alle meine zwei Blogleser spannend finden (hallo!).

Ich werde mich also bemühen in 2008 wieder etwas mehr aus meinem Leben zu berichten.

Sony abolishes DRM’ed music tracks

As the last of the four big music companies, Sony BMG finally got rid of DRM’ed tracks. Instead they came up with a good new method to avoid music sales.

Found the following amusing description of their new method (which is real!):

We’re pleased to announce we are the final major music corporation to release electronic tracks without that pesky DRM! All you have to do is leave your house, go to a selected retail outlet, buy a special card there, go back to your house, scratch off the back of the card to find a code, go to our special MusicPass Web site, enter said code, and download one the 37 titles we have available, from Celine Dion to the Backstreet Boys!