Blogging around the Christmas Tree…

Hi there folks!

I hope you all survived Christmas. I did, and I’m very looking forward to New Years Eve. I’m currently working on a few articels but nothing is fleshed out yet.

But I’m going to share a funny joke with you that made me smile this morning:

Items For Prison

Three convicts were on the way to prison. They were each allowed to take one item with them to help them occupy their time while incarcerated.

On the bus, one turned to another and said, “So, what did you bring?”

The second convict pulled out a box of paints and stated that he intended to paint anything he could. He wanted to become the “Grandma Moses of Jail.”

Then he asked the first, “What did you bring?”

The first convict pulled out a deck of cards, grinned and said, “I brought cards. I can play poker, solitaire and gin, and any number of games.”

The third convict was sitting quietly aside, grinning to himself. The other two took notice and asked, “Why are you so smug? What did you bring?”

The guy pulled out a box of tampons, smiled and said, “I brought these.”

The other two were puzzled and asked, “What can you do with those?”

He grinned, pointed to the box and said, “Well according to the box, I can go horseback riding, swimming, roller skating…”

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a very peaceful Christmas with your family and friends! Like usual, everything was covered with snow at the beginning of this week, but right now it is raining, and once more, its going to be a green Christmas for me. But there are many other things to enjoy, like the smell of the Christmas tree, or the taste of the delicious cookies my mom makes every year, or when all the people start singing “Silent Night” tomorrow night at church. It’s those little things that make Christmas so special for me.

Hitchhiking through the Galaxy

The number 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything according to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, one of my favorite books. I like that very much. Just 42, nothing else, its so simple! When I returned from a trip to Mexico earlier this year; there where 42 Dollars left in my pocket. I took it as a sign and decided to not change them back to Euro. They are still in my purse and I intend to keep them. I got the answer to all questions in my pocket!

There is also another reason for keeping those 42 bucks. I’ve heard a couple of stories of people who immigrated to the USA, who had only five Dollars in their pocked when they arrived, and today they are Billionaires. Imagine what happens if I immigrate to the USA with 42 Dollars! I’m going to be a Zillionaire! Not that I would want to immigrate to the States, but hey, never say never!

And for those of you who currently wonder if I’m completely out of my mind… Smile and don’t worry, I’m going to take a long vacation soon and everything will be fine after that :-)!

Let’s celebrate!

Its been a very busy week for me, but just this morning I saw something that made me smile and I want to thank you all! For what you might ask: For visiting my Blog! Just last night I reached 2000 visitors. Most of the visitors come from the States, about 40 %, almost 12 % come from Germany, followed by Austria, United Kingdom… So far I count visitors from more then 70 countries!

Well, I’m going to celebrate visitor Nr. 2000 – with a cappuccino!

Have a nice day and enjoy the last week before Christmas!

Nice…

We all learn something important every now and then. One of the “big” mistakes that I made in my life was to describe a woman as “very nice” when she asked me what I think of her. Just nice? Wrong answer… I was in BIG trouble! While I meant it in a very kind way, she felt like she was downgraded. Well, we actually dated for about two years and during that time she would mention it every now and then, not in a very angry way, but still, reminding me just how much it had bothered her.

Nice is just the wrong way to describe a woman! If I describe a girl as very nice, it actually means something like “alright”, not very exciting etc. Nice is almost an insult. A woman needs to be more then “nice”. Incredible, Fantastic, Amazing, Fabulous! And not just that, at least something in addition, like absolutely, totally, or completly.

I’ve learned that lesson now. So when I recently was asked by a woman what I think of her, I just smiled, took an extra second and said “Absolutely gorgeous…” And thank God, gorgeous is still a word that means something to a woman! No complaints, just a very big smile on her face! And what did she said when I asked her what she thinks of me… (You are going to like this)

“Very nice”

So – do I feel insulted? Am I’m “just” a very nice guy? Hell no! It doesn’t really matter to me what word was used to describe me, it is much more important how something is said. And in my case, “very nice” meant just as much as “Absolutly fantastic”.

Smile…

I was going trough my outlook calendar today. It has a cool feature for things that need to be done. Today I realized that I haven’t checked the reminder to “smile” for almost an entire week. Yep – that’s right, usually I remind myself every morning to smile every now and then. I try to enjoy the simple things of life. Not to stare at my screen the entire day and forget about the beauty of each day.

Smiling makes me feel so much better, even on a day like this, when its cold and fogy.

London, priceless…

Yesterday I got my credit card bill, which painfully reminded me how much fun I had in London. In fact, those five days rank as the most expensive vacation ever – calculated on what I spent per day. But it was so much fun that I don’t mind that I did spend a bit more money then usual.

I’ve met way to many people hanging around in hostels, arguing that they can’t go anywhere because they don’t have the money. What’s the point in going to Costa Rica and staying at a hostel in Monteverde when you are to greedy to pay the taxi to get to the rainforest? The hostel-experience and the chances to get laid are much better in Thailand, at only a fifth of the price compared to Costa Rica. When I travel, I always make sure that I have enough money to do and see whatever I want.

Well, but back to London… I did not visit a lot of expensive sights this time, just the London Eye. But this time I did enjoy going out at night and spend a little fortune to get into a club and drink a couple of Smirnoff Ice… I enjoyed taking a girl out for dinner in Soho in an Indian restaurant and a concert of a band called Gomez, a band that I did not even know about before I bought the tickets. Christmas shopping on Oxford Street – Sure why not?

And then there are those things in London that are free of charge, like Speakers corner on Sunday, something I never miss, or the Tate Modern, my favorite art gallery, or just walking along the river Thamse with a beautiful girl – Priceless! I don’t mind a Euro that I spent in London. Lots of wonderful memories. And isn’t that what traveling is all about?

Austria, Germany and the miracle of Pisa

About three years ago something called the PISA study caused uproar in my big neighbour country, called Germany. Pupils from forty countries where tested and it turned out that Germany ranked very low. Dumb Germans? This can’t be! A nation was in shock, everyone was to blame, the government, the teachers, the lazy pupils and students. Politicians promised to reform the system and take steps to improve, more money, copy the Finnish system (which had the best results of all the PISA countries) etc.

Well, Austria was on the sunny side… We did better then the Germans. Only a little, but that’s all we needed. While the Germans where complaining that “even” Austria was doing better, the Austrians where very proud to be MUCH (but in truth very little) better then the Germans. So Austria took a nap for three more years, thinking that, as long as we do better than the Germans (but much worse then the Finns, for example), we don’t have to change anything, that our system was doing alright. But now, 2004, Austrians got the wake up call. The new study shows that Austria got worse, while Germany had a little improvement. Just a little, but enough to beat the lazy Austrians!

So, the Austrian nation was in shock, everyone was to blame, the government, the teachers, the lazy pupils and students. Politicians promised to reform the system and take steps to improve… Bla Bla Bla… Deja-vu anyone? Well, Austria is among the countries that spend the most money on education, but still, pupils don’t seem to know much about Geography, Biology and Maths.

Just a couple of days ago, I was listening to a German radio station, the announcer said “Well, Germany isn’t among the best, but at least the Austrians are doing MUCH worse. Hopefully Germany doesn’t decide to take a nap this time.

I’m looking forward to the PISA results of 2007. Will Austria improve? Will Germany improve? Will the Finns still be Number one? It is a pity that Finland isn’t one of my neighbour countries…

The Ages Of Woman & Man, Geographically

This is such a funny joke, that I actually decided to share it with you! So today, now blogging, just loughing! Hope you enjoy it!

Between the ages of 15 to 18, a woman is like China or Iran. Developing at a sizzling rate with a lot of potential, but as yet still not free or open.

Between the ages of 19 to 21, a woman is like Africa or Australia. She is half-discovered, half-wild and naturally beautiful, with bush land around the fertile deltas.

Between the ages of 22 to 30, a woman is like America or Japan. Completely discovered, very well-developed and open to trade, especially with countries with cash or cars.

Between the ages of 31 to 35, a woman is like India or Spain. Very hot, relaxed and convinced of its own beauty. Between the ages of 36 to 40, a woman is like France or Argentina. She may have been half-destroyed during the war but can still be a warm and desirable place to visit.

Between the ages of 41 to 50, a woman is like Yugoslavia or Iraq. She lost the war and is haunted by past mistakes. Massive reconstruction is now necessary.

Between the ages of 51 to 60, a woman is like Russia or Canada. Very wide, quiet and the borders are practically un-patrolled, but the frigid climate keeps people away.

Between the ages of 61 to 70, a woman is like England or Mongolia. With a glorious and all-conquering past, but alas, no future.

After 71, they become Albania or Afghanistan. Everyone knows where it is, but no one wants to go there.

The Geography Of A Man: Between the ages of 15 to 70, a man is like Germany. A strange landscape but filled with beer and thoughts of dodgy porno movies.