Thought out loud

After a Business trip I got back up to speed on my feedreader. On Cindy’s always-refreshing Blogwiese I stumbled over this:

While browsing through the comments including a discussion if this is cool or just disgusting (I’m for cool ) I also found this:

This again brought a bright spot in a standard office-day. Thanks to both

(Nose-dispenser found on Blogwiese)

(Boob-dispenser found on PeepCulture via Blogwiese)

Its now almost a week since i’m back from the Open Air Gampel. I think, my recovery phase is now slowly over.

This year, as always, the program was packed with 1st choice acts. If I only had seen 2 of them, it would have been worth the money already. My personal headliners of this year were Die Fantastischen Vier, Fettes Brot, Stereo MC’s and of course Nightwish.

Apart from the Concerts, the framing program was as always… HUGE!. You had one bar after the other, and every one of them was crammed. The food was again very good and helped me avoid some headaches.

Lodging-wise I think we opened a new era. An era where you don’t have to change your clothes sitting. An era where you don’t breathe in the others neck or wake up looking in your (male) colleague’s face. This year, we had two tents capable of accommodating 6 people each and one pavillion. I have to say that we had just about enough space for the five of us.

Also, coming home on Monday had a lot of advantages. Not only that we didnt have to rush home after the last concert (Mando Diao by the way), we managed to get ourselves absolutely wrecked by 9.30pm. After another good nights sleep we slowly packed up and drove our car almost next to our tent. No more carrying around the bags, no more Shuttle-buses, just easy going. Also on the way home, we didn’t have a single traffic jam.

Like I already mentioned, partying on full throttle for 4 days won’t just go past you without leaving traces. I still feel that there is a lot in my body that isn’t exactly good for me and that should get out. Flashbacks when waking up in the middle of the night are just as common as being drunk after the first beer.

All in all I can say, it was a top-notch weekend, and you guys that came with me were great. Seeya next year.

Today I’ll get the last things for this years visit to the Open Air Gampel. Although we’re only three people going this year, I bet we’ll find some Friends soon

If you are interested to go there too, I have one 4-Day-Pass up for sale. One colleague had to cancel at the last minute. Now i’m stuck with one left-over ticket. So if you’re looking for one, just drop me a line.

We will leave tomorrow around lunch-time. After a short stop in Berne to pick up the “Kitchen”, we should arrive at Gampel around 5ish. Then we’ll build our tents and start calibrating for the weekend

Maybe i’ll see some of you there, would be nice meeting you. And if you are looking for a Ticket to the Open Air, just drop me a line.

This is my 100th Post. YAY

Matching video to the german saying “Wie sag ich’s meinem Kinde?” (how should I explain this to my child?)

Very funny, but I wish more dads would be so open to their sons….

Found on Schweizer Ansichten

Here is my conclusion about the TomTom GO 930 T as far as I can judge now.

In-Car performance

I’m still very impressed on how fast the nav gets a loc. Entering a destination address is easy as always. you can choose from the following destination types:

• Home
• Favourite
• Address
• Last destination
• Point of Interest (from the internal POI-Database)
• My Location (navigate to my current position? me is confused)
• Location on map (point where you want to go)
• Latitude / Longitude
• TomTom Buddy
• Last stop (cool to find your car again )

When you approach an intersection or exit on the motorway, the nav shows you a schematic drawing of the road(s) ahead and which exit to use, if data is available.

the TMC Feature is veeery nice. You just have to interpret correctly what the nav is telling you. Short example to show you what i mean:

Few days ago, the nav told me that there was a traffic jam before the Gubrist Tunnel and a wait of about 15 mins. In its generosity it asked me if it should re-calculate the route to minimise wait times. Of course I accepted the offer thankfully and followed the directions blindly. It lead my straight trhough Zurich City at 7:30 on a work-day. In the end i’ve lost more time than I whould have through the jam before the Gubrist.

You see, you have to see the information of the nav in context. Motor-way jams are either there or they arent. The usual downtown-Traffic-light-mayhem is usually not reflected in TMC. For more details on how it works, check the Wikipedia-article.

Bluetooth headset

Another very nice feature is the bluetooth headset functionality. After pairing your phone using the wizard on the nav, you can make and receive calls direcly from the nav. You can pair multiple phones, which is very useful if you have one for business and a private one, like me.

If you like, you can even copy your phonebook to the nav. This happens in the background and doesn’t disturb you while using it otherwise. downside to that is, that you don’t see when its finished. However, you can only have one phonebook on the nav, so if you have different directories on your phones, you will have to copy it every time you switch phones. For my 400-something contacts it takes about 3-5 minutes to copy.

The nav even tells you when you received a new SMS text message. If you install the appropriate Language-pack, it even reads the SMS aloud. It’s not so comfortable with foreign languages, but thats usually good for a laugh

Writing SMS or dialling numbers over the nav is possible, but a bit fumbly. I wouldn’t do it while driving along the motorway with 120Km/h.

In the Next part, I’ll get into the features when connected to a PC.

I always was a photo affected person. When I went on holiday, I usually brought home loads of pictures. Also, when being at home or out and about, I usually take snapshots of everyday-items that catch my eye.

We go away on long weekends quite often, due to the fact that we both are interested in other cities and can get accommodation to a fair price. When visiting other cities, I tend to make lots of photos of parks, historical (or just nice) buildings, streetviews, skylines, etc… Why not, if you’re able? You got your cam in your pocket. and with the development of technology, a pocket-cam gives you decent pictures even in sub-optimal lighting situations.

A few weeks ago, we were in Vienna visiting some friends. It was my first time there and I must say, the city took my breath away. You have parks, nice little alleys, and gorgeous buildings. Also, the life in the city center offers many snapshots. But I brought home only about 20 pictures. And the majority of them were taken by my girlfriend. I just wasn’t motivated to take pictures, and I didn’t know why. This bugged me and I kept on wondering why my motivation to take pictures just vanished.

While looking through the pictures, I noticed that many of the buildings were cut off. Meaning, they didn’t fit on one Picture. I got the same feeling again that I got back in Vienna. Why should I take pictures of something I can’t fit on one anyway?

Maybe I need something that can cover a wider angle. Maybe I’ve reached the point where I must break out of the boundries of pocket-cameras. Maybe what I need is a SLR. This would broaden the spectrum of possible pictures by use of multiple lenses. Wide-angle of 18mm. *sigh*

I was pleasantly surprised that the prices of DSLR-Cameras have dropped quite a bit. Maybe they are now in a Price-Range where someone like me can afford them. I’ve already been to a photo-store to hold some of them in my hand and get a feel for them. In the entry-level segment the technical differences between the brands are so small, that every camera makes good pictures. So its down to the non-measurable feel-good factor.

This Friday I can borrow my colleagues Nikon D40 to test-drive it for the weekend. I hope that will give me some insight if I can (and want) handle such a camera. After-all, you can’t just slip in in your pocket. You will have to carry around some weight when on holidays. And, its different to hold a Camera which weighs about 1kilo, compared to a 150g pocket-cam.

I’m really not sure. It’s still quite an investment. Am I willing to use it enough to justify such an investment? Has anybody of you experience in that field? Maybe some advice? I’ve checked some forums already. But all I get there is the Brand brainwash. Canon-Fans say only buy Canon, Sony fans say only buy Sony, Olympus fans…. you get the message.

I’m confused…