After that first trip to Fichtelgebirge I really needed some quality snowboarding... The first trip with the Frankfurt Ski, Sports and Socials Club turned out to be just that! :) We went to Hochgurgl, at 2150m, in Austria.
The people were great - John the Trip Captain, Victoria the beautiful English (!) with her off-pist friends, Mike my silent cool roomy and all the others (me and names...).
The hotel Angerer Alm made this trip to the most luxurious I have ever been to with its relax, its five course dinner and beautiful view over the valley.
The snow was great, but the sight non-existent, due to low clouds. Off-pist was good, after all we couldn't go far from the pistes. The skiing stretches up to 3080m so there was good powder. The place wouldn't do for a longer trip, though, the variety of slopes wasn't that great. You could take the cabin (or bus) to Obergurgl but that place is much lower and windier and more crowded, so don't.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Fichtelgebirge - Finally the winter started! :)
I rented a car at www.billiger-mietwagen.de (only 66 Euro with free mileage for a weekend with a 1,6l Astra) and left Frankfurt heading east.
First lesson: The Traffic is a bitch in Germany! I spent hours on the A3 and even though I cruised at 180 the rest of the way I wasn't in Oberwarmensteinach until 9! But the Hempelsberg lift is open 'til 10, so I got roughly an hour to work out that first-time-of-the-season energy. :)
I then slept at the Backerei Schmidt, by the church, where I got excellent service from the lovely old couple running the Gasthaus. For only 25 Euro!
It included a brilliant breakfast, so the next day I was set for a good day of snowboarding! The southern lift of Ochsenkopf was closed due to some repairs, so I headed for the Ochsenkopf Nord lift - 2220m long, taking you 358m higher. A very nice start of the season - a long, easy run with few people. But then again it rained and the slope was very soft... So I rode until I got tired (didn't take long), went home for a shower and then visited Nurnberg where there was a "Weinachtsmarkt". Of course.
On Sunday I was in pain, I was bored and it started to rain again. So after like 4 rides in Ochsenkopf I headed back to Frankfurt again. No queues. And a nice end to a great season opening.
First lesson: The Traffic is a bitch in Germany! I spent hours on the A3 and even though I cruised at 180 the rest of the way I wasn't in Oberwarmensteinach until 9! But the Hempelsberg lift is open 'til 10, so I got roughly an hour to work out that first-time-of-the-season energy. :)
I then slept at the Backerei Schmidt, by the church, where I got excellent service from the lovely old couple running the Gasthaus. For only 25 Euro!
It included a brilliant breakfast, so the next day I was set for a good day of snowboarding! The southern lift of Ochsenkopf was closed due to some repairs, so I headed for the Ochsenkopf Nord lift - 2220m long, taking you 358m higher. A very nice start of the season - a long, easy run with few people. But then again it rained and the slope was very soft... So I rode until I got tired (didn't take long), went home for a shower and then visited Nurnberg where there was a "Weinachtsmarkt". Of course.
On Sunday I was in pain, I was bored and it started to rain again. So after like 4 rides in Ochsenkopf I headed back to Frankfurt again. No queues. And a nice end to a great season opening.
Friday, November 09, 2007
Meat is bad shit
The proof has been there a long time, but some things are just too radical for society to grasp. However, finally there are definitive proof that red meat is bad for you. The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) has publiched a report and there is no doubt anymore.
They don't say you should not eat red meat at all, that would be too radical, even with the proof before your eyes. After all, our society is build around eating meat. Telling people not to eat meat, is like telling don't go to church 100 years ago. But just like most people don't go to church anymore (thank God) we should not eat red meat.
The protein we gain from red meat is not only tough on your body, but on the world as well. In early days when cows walked around peacefully eating grass it was all ok. But it is no longer the case. Food is no longer produced in idyllic farms - food is an industry. An industry that consumes vast amounts of energy, antibiotics, drugs, fertilizers and so forth. The animals are often fed soya protein that has been shipped eg from South America to Europe. We could eat that soya protein ourselves and save 10 times the volume!
WCRF say lack of iron is a reason for women to eat meat. That is an old-fashined viewpoint I'd say. You can eat eg green vegs and fish to keep up your iron levels and if that wouldn't help you can take iron pills. In all, that is much better than eating red meat!
So, be pro-active, stop eating that shit.
They don't say you should not eat red meat at all, that would be too radical, even with the proof before your eyes. After all, our society is build around eating meat. Telling people not to eat meat, is like telling don't go to church 100 years ago. But just like most people don't go to church anymore (thank God) we should not eat red meat.
The protein we gain from red meat is not only tough on your body, but on the world as well. In early days when cows walked around peacefully eating grass it was all ok. But it is no longer the case. Food is no longer produced in idyllic farms - food is an industry. An industry that consumes vast amounts of energy, antibiotics, drugs, fertilizers and so forth. The animals are often fed soya protein that has been shipped eg from South America to Europe. We could eat that soya protein ourselves and save 10 times the volume!
WCRF say lack of iron is a reason for women to eat meat. That is an old-fashined viewpoint I'd say. You can eat eg green vegs and fish to keep up your iron levels and if that wouldn't help you can take iron pills. In all, that is much better than eating red meat!
So, be pro-active, stop eating that shit.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Down, down, down - in the ring of fire
I'm sure Johnny Cash didn't think about his own country when writing that tune, but it sure looks like "The Greatest Nation on Earth" is going down. I wrote about it last year, but now the signs are so obvious even highly respected magazines like Affärsvärlden blow it up on their cover (#42 -07) and journalists tell signs about it all over.
The dollar is falling. People are loosing the respect they used to have. After all, we're talking about a nation where
- 18.000 people die every year, because there is no public health care.
- The richest 1% owns as much as the poorest 46% (2004, 27% in 1979).
- Only 10% of the students at the best universities come from the poorest 50% of the population.
- China will pass the US as the biggest economy within 20 years (Goldman Sachs).
- History talks against this unipolar world order. Eg Asia used to be much mightier than today.
- More and more countries drop their currency's dependency on the dollar.
- The trade deficiency is 5% of GNP while the export is 10%. It will take a long time of a weak dollar to come to terms with this unbalance. At the same time they save only 2% of GNP.
- The infrastrucure is falling apart. I was myself driving on lousy roads last week. In a lousy car, made in the US... which brings me to the next subject:
- Many jobs are lost when they are moved overseas. They can't keep up with the competition.
- They don't care about minimum wage legislation, so of course they plummet in this environment. It is now so low there is no way to survive on it. Working at Wal-Mart you earn $7 an hour. And that's the biggest company of them all!
- Which is another problem - they don't know how to do things properly. No wonder no US cars are sold in Europe!
- Communication: They are falling behind hard when it comes to cellular phones or bandwidth (average speed 1,9 Mb/s, 7 in Canada, 61 in Japan).
- The stoack market of the US used to be 50% of the world's. It's down to 36% 2007.
- They waste their money on arms and war - tools of the past. 46% of the world's war money come from the US.
- Due to the never-ending need of cheap labour the stream of people from abroud (mostly Spanish-speaking) will not halt. It is estimated that Spanish might be the biggest language at the end of this century.
Still people are thinking "don't count them out, things go fast in the US". Yeah, it used to be like that. But with a nation that becomes more and more divided, I'm not sure that's still a fact...
The dollar is falling. People are loosing the respect they used to have. After all, we're talking about a nation where
- 18.000 people die every year, because there is no public health care.
- The richest 1% owns as much as the poorest 46% (2004, 27% in 1979).
- Only 10% of the students at the best universities come from the poorest 50% of the population.
- China will pass the US as the biggest economy within 20 years (Goldman Sachs).
- History talks against this unipolar world order. Eg Asia used to be much mightier than today.
- More and more countries drop their currency's dependency on the dollar.
- The trade deficiency is 5% of GNP while the export is 10%. It will take a long time of a weak dollar to come to terms with this unbalance. At the same time they save only 2% of GNP.
- The infrastrucure is falling apart. I was myself driving on lousy roads last week. In a lousy car, made in the US... which brings me to the next subject:
- Many jobs are lost when they are moved overseas. They can't keep up with the competition.
- They don't care about minimum wage legislation, so of course they plummet in this environment. It is now so low there is no way to survive on it. Working at Wal-Mart you earn $7 an hour. And that's the biggest company of them all!
- Which is another problem - they don't know how to do things properly. No wonder no US cars are sold in Europe!
- Communication: They are falling behind hard when it comes to cellular phones or bandwidth (average speed 1,9 Mb/s, 7 in Canada, 61 in Japan).
- The stoack market of the US used to be 50% of the world's. It's down to 36% 2007.
- They waste their money on arms and war - tools of the past. 46% of the world's war money come from the US.
- Due to the never-ending need of cheap labour the stream of people from abroud (mostly Spanish-speaking) will not halt. It is estimated that Spanish might be the biggest language at the end of this century.
Still people are thinking "don't count them out, things go fast in the US". Yeah, it used to be like that. But with a nation that becomes more and more divided, I'm not sure that's still a fact...
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Knowing your history - step 1
Step 1 is to become aware of the fact that you need to know your history. Next step is to get to know it. Here's one first sample: Varangians
That's what we usually call vikings. I had no idea there was such a word!
That's what we usually call vikings. I had no idea there was such a word!
I'm not a blogger after all, am I?
Blogging wasn't all that easy after all. Well, sure, it serves its original purpose being a place for me to write down my thoughts and reflections. But going from there to create a blog that actually would interest other people is tough. Friends come here every now and then, or others that have met me. But in order for it to become a true blog I would need to write more regularly, probably every day, and maybe also keep some kind of focus on what I write about.
All that doesn't interest me. I don't have time to write every day - I have a life to live! I have to take care of my mental and physical health, my relations with other people, make sure I earn money to survive... Blogging just doesn't give me enough to motivate me to write more often.
Good to know. Lesson learned.
All that doesn't interest me. I don't have time to write every day - I have a life to live! I have to take care of my mental and physical health, my relations with other people, make sure I earn money to survive... Blogging just doesn't give me enough to motivate me to write more often.
Good to know. Lesson learned.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Cheese cake a la Carina
Carefully blend
1 pkg Philadelfia
3 egg yolks (aggula)
2 dl sugar
together.
Whip 3 egg whites hard.
Whip
3 dl whipping creem
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
together.
Fill the bottom of a form with Digestive crumbles. Blend the 3 mixtures above and put it on the crumbles. Put this in the freezer over night and then add chocolate crumbles (riven choklad).
Enjoy!
Shit, writing recepies in English wasn't all that easy... Please let me know how to write it!
PS Carina, if you ever read this, thanks a lot.
1 pkg Philadelfia
3 egg yolks (aggula)
2 dl sugar
together.
Whip 3 egg whites hard.
Whip
3 dl whipping creem
1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
together.
Fill the bottom of a form with Digestive crumbles. Blend the 3 mixtures above and put it on the crumbles. Put this in the freezer over night and then add chocolate crumbles (riven choklad).
Enjoy!
Shit, writing recepies in English wasn't all that easy... Please let me know how to write it!
PS Carina, if you ever read this, thanks a lot.
When will we learn?
We like to think so much has happened in the past 100 years. I don't think so.
100 years ago a car was more fuel efficient than today.
100 years ago people died of KOL due to particles in the air. As today (the difference is we now have a name for it).
100 years ago people were slaved under a capitalistic, anti-democratic regime, whose only aim was to make the rich richer. As today (but now the tyranny has moved from a national level to an international level).
100 years ago international conflicts were solved using weapons. As today.
100 years ago the landscape was changed by man, ruining functional eco-systems and replacing them with industrial farms. As today (but now it has spread from Europe/USA to the whole world).
The worst thing of all: We learned so much the last time, about how it should have been done, but non of this knowledge is used today. But now it's not only about a part of the world anymore - it's about the whole world and the very existence of mankind.
100 years ago a car was more fuel efficient than today.
100 years ago people died of KOL due to particles in the air. As today (the difference is we now have a name for it).
100 years ago people were slaved under a capitalistic, anti-democratic regime, whose only aim was to make the rich richer. As today (but now the tyranny has moved from a national level to an international level).
100 years ago international conflicts were solved using weapons. As today.
100 years ago the landscape was changed by man, ruining functional eco-systems and replacing them with industrial farms. As today (but now it has spread from Europe/USA to the whole world).
The worst thing of all: We learned so much the last time, about how it should have been done, but non of this knowledge is used today. But now it's not only about a part of the world anymore - it's about the whole world and the very existence of mankind.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Being a man
I've always been the little brother (even though I'm actually the big brother). People have always believed I'm younger than I really am and at the same time I have often worked with older people. So I have always been a little boy, in a sense, and liked that. When people have asked how old I am, I have always responded with "What do you think?" and got a guess 5 years younger!
Well, fuck that. I am a man, and I'm proud of it.
Yeah, I'm a man. I have gray hairs in increasing amounts. I have to epilate my back not to look like a gorilla. I have a bass tone competing with Elvis'. I love women. I did my military service. I was in the Swedish Sauna Masters' Final. I can kick your ass. I know how to please a woman. I know how to work. I look really good in a suit. There's nothing I couldn't build. I want to drive a Ferrari at 300 km/h. I want to rule the world.
But all that is just superficial bullshit, it doesn't make me a man.
No, what differs a man from a boy is that a man takes responsibility. He stands for his actions and views and he protects what he believes in and cares for. He doesn't hide, he doesn't wear a mask, he doesn't run away. He stands proud. Taking the consequences of his actions.
Amen
Well, fuck that. I am a man, and I'm proud of it.
Yeah, I'm a man. I have gray hairs in increasing amounts. I have to epilate my back not to look like a gorilla. I have a bass tone competing with Elvis'. I love women. I did my military service. I was in the Swedish Sauna Masters' Final. I can kick your ass. I know how to please a woman. I know how to work. I look really good in a suit. There's nothing I couldn't build. I want to drive a Ferrari at 300 km/h. I want to rule the world.
But all that is just superficial bullshit, it doesn't make me a man.
No, what differs a man from a boy is that a man takes responsibility. He stands for his actions and views and he protects what he believes in and cares for. He doesn't hide, he doesn't wear a mask, he doesn't run away. He stands proud. Taking the consequences of his actions.
Amen
Monday, September 03, 2007
German efficiency
German efficiency is fuckin' myth! I've worked here almost 2 months and I still don't have a phone of my own. Two weeks ago I replied to a mail asking me to fill in a form. Today I called the guy and it turns out he hasn't done shit since! No, you see, he needs some other paper, he'll send a mail about that. In a truly efficient (or average Swedish) organisation he would have sent that mail like two weeks ago, wouldn't he? But no, he likes to see his paper piles growing, making him look really busy. He just sits there scratsching his fat arse until someone asks for something he should have already done. Then he'll pull out a lame excuse for his non-action and blame it all on that someone.
Exactly the same fuckin' scheme was pulled on me with the entrance card. I need to call the IT guy who said he needs 6 (six) (working) days (!!!) to fix my laptop and make him actually do something to meet his deadline (tomorrow).
Un-fuckin-believable
Exactly the same fuckin' scheme was pulled on me with the entrance card. I need to call the IT guy who said he needs 6 (six) (working) days (!!!) to fix my laptop and make him actually do something to meet his deadline (tomorrow).
Un-fuckin-believable
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