Vienna Calling

Bin wieder mal dem Falco verfallen, und wohlmerklich auch der Deutschen Sprache. Die Tage in der Ferne sind gezaehlt, so ist es mir sogar erlaubt zu sagen, naechste Woche bin ich schon derheim. Hach, ich freu mich schon... Heute ist Sinterklaas feest, ja schon am 5ten, in Belgien kommt er aber erst am 6ten. Auch kommt der Nikolaus hier nicht aus dem Wald, sondern mit dem Schiff aus Spanien und jedes Jahr kommt er in einer anderen Stadt an. Diese Jahr wird er in Middelburg ankommen, in Amsterdam war er schon seit 1963 nicht mehr :( Sein finsterer Gehilfe heisst Zwarte Piet, was hier glegentlich ein wenig umstritten wird, da es manchmal als diskriminierend angsehen wird.

Fuer die Kinder gibts natuerlich massig Geschenke und Suessigkeiten. Weihnachten wird hier nicht so ausgiebig gefeiert, desswegen gibt es alles schon heute :) Find ich sehr sympatisch. An suessem haben die Niederlaender Strooigoed (sprich: Stroichud) zu bieten, was nichts anderes als eine bunte Mischung von Lebkuchen (Pepernoten) , Schokolade und Marzipan ist. Als Geschenke gibts wie ueberall, Playstations, Xboxes und natuerlich den Nintendo Wii!!!

Das positive an der ganzen Sache ist auf jeden Fall, dass der ganze Weichnachtseinkaufstress in ein paar Tagen komplett vorbei ist, nachdem morgen und uebermorgen alle ihr Zeugs umgetauscht haben und ich in Ruhe und Frieden fuer euch, liebe Leser, massig Weihnachtsgeschenke einkaufen kann ohne mich, so wie Ihr, durch gesteckt volle Einkaufszentren quetschen muss... HAHA!

And better late than never, a small bonus...

I succeed never will!!!

First part of CPE testing tomorrow is. The more nearer testing is come, me Englisch goes away from me soo quick. I succeed never will!!! Please give help me!!!

Also:

"I heard vagina have teeth and if you do not give the proper password in time they snap shut.
Confirm/Deny?

Yes yes, the password is 'Diamonds'."

Draw YOU!

There is this cool site where you can draw yourself, as a South Park figure.... Proude as I am, I present you my wonderfull creation. Below is how I felt when I woke up Sunday morning.

So go ahead, draw YOU!

[Via SP-Studio]

Back Home

Well, question is, where is home? Is it here? Or there? Or even where one still has to go?

I'll go for the last option.

Anyway, ticket has been bought. Whoever feels like it can pick me up at the airport on the 15th of December, around 19:40 or so. Guess I can buy my train ticket right away... Time in Vienna is limited though, precise plans have to be made on who to spend time with, for how long, while talking about which topic. Guaranteed however it is that around ten on the 15th, my ass will be stuck at Johnnys Pub while pints of lager are poured into my throat. Ehh, maybe a Guinness or two as well.

See ya all in Vienna! Or not?

Bawling Austrians...

...invaded Amsterdam today. Austria Wien battled AJAX Amsterdam in this stupid game, where a couple of guys kick a white round thingy around and try to achieve something called offside. Am I getting that right?

Anyway, shouting "RAPID WIEN" in the streets of Amsterdam would get your butt kicked today whereas any other day of the year strange looks would be ones only yield. Funny enough my dear uncle tried his luck... Hope he gets well soon!

Someone told me the outcome was 3:0 whatever that means... Guess who won!

And for all those German speaking bastards visiting my blog, laugh at those sport reporters at Der Standard whose German is even worse than me English ;)

"Die Veilchen müssen sich in der Arena zu Amsterdam nach passabler Leistung mit 3:0 - derStandard.at berichtete live"

Amsterdam Marathon

The first runners just finished this years Amsterdam Marathon. While I should be out there sight seeing the city with my friends, I "preferred" to be sick at home. While lying in bed most of the time I took the chance to make a few snapshots out of the window for your fellow viewing pleasure. So have fun!

The two guys who came in first and second together with their escorts and my lovely street light

A slightly tilted number three
Bad ass helicpoter waking me from my precious sleep
Two average joe runners... At least better than the loosers running by my house rigth now

Mystery of the Urinal Deuce

New South Park Episode comming up... Again!

"The world’s biggest conspiracy of all time will finally be uncovered when Eric Cartman exposes the true culprit behind the September 11th attacks."

[Via Mr. Twig]

Ay last.

The big fairly important conference week is over. At last. Not one day without great great food, way too many pre-paid (not by me though) drinks and hardly a day when bed called for me before 3 o' clock in the morning. A presentation was held by me, which as planned, made the feedback rolling in. Interest was comming from SurfNet, University of Vienna, the BBC (yes BBC!!!) and many many others. All in all a near perfect week.

"The document RIPE-104
Goes on longer than ever before
If you want an address
And your network's a mess
Then Daniel will get very sore"

And better late than never, I bring you a picturous update.

Make Love, Not Warcraft

At last. The tenth season of South Park is going to continue on Wednesday this week.

"The Massively Multiplayer Online game, World of Warcraft comes to South Park and the boys dedicate their lives to defeating an insane gamer and saving the World of Warcraft."

[Via Mr. Twig]

Good Evening Lady and Gentelman

I have never been to a concert where there were more people on stage than in the audience. Well, until yesterday... More or less by accident I stumbled upon this band from swizerland called Open Season. Turned out they were scheduled to play at the Winston, so I hoped on my bike and cycled through the city to hear some crazy ska rocksteady and reggae tunes.

Though they started to play with like only two or three people listening to their music, they made quiet a good effort on stage. In fact I haven't seen such an enjoyable show in, well probably years... A sophisticated ska band, joined with a good portion of fun, incredible suits and an awful lot of experience from tours with King Django or The Toasters. The singer really knows his stuff, the bass is close walking almost incoming, and Open Season also comes up with the very most sexiest saxophone in the world (from a musical point of view, of course). In the end the crowd got joined by a few metal heads and a few girls which even made the event rather dancable.

Check out their website, go see them when they are around and excuse me for my terrible hung over writing. On the 4th of October they will play at the Arena in Vienna, check it out!

Election Massacre

Elections are coming up in Austria, which means fellow me has to vote. I applied for my "Wahlkarte" (the thingy you need to vote outside your hometown) about two weeks ago. Guess when it arrived... Today. Well, what would one expect from good ol' snail mail? But that's not enough. Now I'm left with 3 days finding me someone with an Austrian passport. Alternatively I could go to the embassy. Conveniently the Amsterdam embassy is closed these days, and the nearest one is in Den Haag, about an hour and half away from here. Well, at least their opening hours are rather generous (7-12 am). And since it would all be way to easy for me anyway, I have to return the goddamn thing by 9th of October, which might be quiet tricky concerning the two weeks it took to get everything over here in the first place.

And everything just to choose between a douche and a turd...

Still no treasuer

Again I'm here to tell you that I haven't found the treasure yet; Whatever it might be. Dutch is improving a lot, though I won't bother you with that for now. Rather fed up with work, can't tell you much about it, since it's all top secret (no, it's not, but I'm lazy). Will go to a big conference some time next week, which will keep me rather busy. So I'll try to do my treasure hunting during the weekend and will keep you all updated eventually. Hope I'm not disappointing you again.

To someone: Didn't really mean to be that rude, somehow got left with hardly any other choice. Maybe it's better that way.

To someone else: Lost in frustration, however feeling like good things will happen soon.

To someone completely different: Girls suck? Tell me something I didn't know already.

Good night!

Dumdidum

Another week almost over and still no news on the promised treasure hunt. Weather was bad last sunday and me pretty lazy these days. Lots of work to catch up with while not even being sure weather to look forward to the weekend or not. Dutch course started... Ik ben Franz en ik woon in Amsterdam. Pretig met u kennis te maken. But that's about it, will change soon however. Soon nobody will notice that I haven't lived here since the day I was born. Also my Backgammon skills are getting better. If you see some guys hanging out at a corner in the Brouwersgracht playing Backgammon one of them is probably me. Still have to beat the master of Backgammon called Damien. But soon... Soon revenge will come. Ah, well. Probably boared you enough already. Work is hunting me down. Have a nice weekend everybody!

Lobster Pron

At last, some new photos from wednesday. The inital party interntion did not quiet work out as planned. Which meant more lobster for us. Us speaking as Dorian, Damien and my humble self. Enjoy (pictures of) the feast.


Appart from that I give you another cool psycho test right here. Let's see if you should start a band or rather practice your skills along with Led Zepplin's Stairway to Heaven.

Some outlook on upcoming things. There might be a quiet interesting treasure hunt going on for you guys to follow. But more on that topic early next week.

Sheep

A good good friend of mine who has been visiting me for the last week is on his way back to Vienna.

Reason: He has to do his radio show this very night.

The show is called sheep, as the title suggest, and features the finest ska music one could imagine.

If you live in Vienna tune your radio to 94.0 at midnight. Otherwise check out sheeps website and listen to the live stream here.

A few starting times converted to other (non CET) timezones:

• 11:00:00 p.m. Thursday September 14, 2006 in London
  
• 06:00:00 p.m. Thursday September 14, 2006 in New York
• 03:00:00 p.m. Thursday September 14, 2006 in Los Angeles
• 07:00:00 a.m. Friday September 15, 2006 in Tokyo
• 08:00:00 a.m. Friday September 15, 2006 in Sydney
• 02:00:00 a.m. Friday September 15, 2006 in Moscow

Happy skankin'

Holiday over

It was a good week. Very relaxing, however also not much to tell. Sitting in cafes most of the time playing backgammon. No photos at all, as usual, but maybe some other day.

Something unrelated, take this fun personality test here. My results will not be published.

Holiday

Today is my last day of work for this week. Which means a veeeeerrrry long weekend to come. And hopefully I can supply you with some nice pictures before your weekend turns in.

People did quiet well with the voting thingy. So far we have 28 correct votes. Glad you seemed to like it. 50 votes was more then I expected. I'll probably find some new fun stuff to put up within the next days, so stay tuned!

Animal Assassin - Shark vs. Octopus

To keep you fellow visitors entertained I decided to introduce a new thingy to my blog... First pick who will win, then watch to see, easy as that. Have fun.

VOTE FIRST

Vote for Shark
Vote for Octopus

VOTE FIRST




View Poll Results
Poll powered by poll-vault.com

Fiat 500 Collection

Finally, after lots and lots of nonsense, I present you a new actually Amsterdam related post. Though it has not much to do with me as a person, you still might enjoy the whole thingy. I bring you a couple of Fiat 500s found in Amsterdam by Damien. So here we go...

Yet another post about not me

I just stumbled across this page and figured it might be worth sharing with you. That guy does amazing thing out of plain A4 paper. Such as the one on the right... Check it out!

Also on my side, nothing new in the north. Rain most of the time not too much of an outgoing time. However that will change sooner or later and you will be boared with photos and stories again. Until then, have a good time. As always.

Oh My God, We Lost a Planet

Just some ten minutes ago the Internationa Astronomical Union (IAU) decided the Plut is reclassified as a dwarf planet. Our solar system now has officially 8 planets, instead of the 9 always tought to us by our high school teachers. According to this article "the decision by the prestigious international group spells out the basic tests that celestial objects will have to meet before they can be considered for admission to the elite cosmic club."

Fare well Plut, we will all miss you!

The Entry to Heaven is only 17 Euros

Yesterday a turkish bath had to be visited. Hot saunas, steamy steam rooms, cold showers and pools, lying around, relaxing... And everything within a really plesant enviornment. I've been told that they bought the decoration from an old 1920ish Hotel in Paris and brought everything to Amsterdam as interior for this turkish bath/sauna thingy, whatever you'd like to call it. After all a great experience which I will definetly enjoy again some time.
Oh, and... As more or less usual, click here for a map of the aproximate location.

I’ve sailed the seven seas, and you’re the sleekest schooner I’ve ever sighted.

So get off your arse matey and vote for t'Pirate Party, ayyyy! Either in Austria or in T'Netherlands, you choose.

Well, me hearties, let's see what crawles out of the bunge hole...

Ahoi!




[Via Donniesrabbit]

Another Fiat 500

This is just the beginning of a great collection. Enjoy!

Another Weekend

I finally managed to get me a new bike. It is a little bit smaller then the last one but looks quiet similar. I'm sure there will be some photos sooner or later.

The weekend turned out to be pretty good, we found a nice restaurant hidden in a small street in the city center. They severed steak with strawberry sauce and cheese tart. Delicious! Saturday was more of a club night. Stayed at some bars near the Melkweg until past midnight and then decided to go for some dancing. The club was called Sugarfactory. 70s 80s Disco Hits all over the place. Very nice evening. And for some reason, I won't elaborate too much in this context, I got towards liking the English a lot more than I maybe used to :)

Ohh, and... Today it's raining cats and dogs.

Bilateral Theft

I just got up this morning, ready to hop on my bike, cycling to work, when... It was gone. My bike, stolen. Away. GONE FOREVER! I'm pretty sure I locked it yesterday, though I might be wrong about that, who knows. The only thing for sure is, I have to take the tram from now on. This is really depressing, since the tram takes about twice as long as a healty ride by bike.

Also my hair got stolen... Finally a new haircut. Photos will come sooner or later.

Stil I'm looking for someone to buy me a new bike... Pleeeeeaaaase :)

Where is the Dance?

If anyone thought Melkweg would be the place to go on a Saturday night in Amsterdam, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but you were wrong. For a 10 euro entry fee you get overpriced beer, a shitty art gallery with photographs, my 3 year old cousin could have made, and a DJ that doesn't even deserve to be called a DJ. Some of the worst music I have heared in a long time. Even the girls sucked.

Thank good this is not the usual business in Amsterdam. A few blocks away from Melkweg a rather good night club called The Last Waterhole was to be found. On entrance the Beasty Boys made the crowd dance when soon after a funky rocking jazz combo took over the stage. The drummer went nuts over one song and the singer managed to push the already excited crowd to it's limits.

All in all a good weekend. Nevertheless an overwhelmingly appealing dance club still has to be found.

Addicted to Soup

We just got these wonderful soup automates in my company...

...which means free soup everyday from 9 to 5. With three different tastes let's see how long it takes me to hate all of them!

Amsterdam Gay Pride 2006

Since this blog seems to get moreand more international visitors I'll go back to writing in English. Please excuse me bad skills in this language. Also this is quiet some work, so please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or two. Cheers!

On to the main topic, the Amsterdam Gay Pride 2006...

As there are hardly any big streets in the center of Amsterdam where a parade could be held, people use hundrets of boats and party in the canals. The parade began at Westerdok, moved down Pinsengracht, through the Amstel river back to a place near the Centraal Station called Oosterdok.

After the big parade partys were all over the city. The most prominent places were probably Reguliersdwarsstraat, the Homomonument and the Leidseplein.

And now on to a few more photos...

Damien ...

... and I ...
... on top of one of Amsterdams skyscrapers right next to Oosterdok.

A red Fiat 500 found by us in Noord Amsterdem

Later in the evening at Leidseplein ...Girls definitely look better when drunk.

And to round everything up, a short video with a few impressions.

Eine Wochenende in Ostfriesland

Seit einigen Stunden hat mich Amsterdam wieder. Das Wochenende und noch ein drangehaengter Montag wurden im Herzen von Ostfriesland, bei Enno in Aurich verbracht. Nach 3 Stunden und einer halber gemuetlicher Zugfahrt durch unendlich scheinenden Ebenen, zwischen Windmuehlen und Tulpenfeldern, in den Mangeln der deutschen Grenzpolizei, erreichete ich nun das schoene Leer, wo ich von meinen drei lieben Tunten, aehhh, Gastgebern empfangen wurde.

von links nach rechts: Gert, Enno, Dominik und Effi (Ennos suesser Hund)

Nach einem gemuetlichen Spaziergang ueber die Uferpromenade, einem guten deutschen Bier und einem leckeren Hering ging es weiter in die wunderhuebsche Altstadt von Leer.

Fuer so eine kleine Stadt gab es erstaunlich viele Kirchen (Lutheraner, Reformierte, Katoliken, verschiedenste Sekten,..). Enno, konnte die Gruende dafuer natuerlich bis ins kleinste Detail genau erklaeren. Man verzeihe mir wohl an dieser Stelle meine Vergesslichkeit. Gegen 18 Uhr ging es dann weiter nach Aurich, wo Enno ein riesengrosses altes Haus hat. Ich bekam ein, wie das ganze Haus, sehr altmodisches aber unglaublich gemuetliches Zimmer. In dem Zimmer stand das Gramophon von seinem Vater, eine alte Schreibmaschine und ich fand sogar eine doppelseitige Mundharmonkia in C und G, eine Hohner von 1926.

Nachdem ich mir ein paar Schelack Platten angehoert hab, die Mundharmonika, welche immer noch einen wunderschoenen Klang hatte, ausprobiert habe und von Enno in die ostfriesische Teekultur eingefuehrt wurde, ging es weiter zu einer unglaublich suessen, komplett schwulen, ostfriesischen Geburtstagsfete. Es gab tolles Essen, viel zu viel zu trinken und die witzigsten Leute die ich je erlebt habe habe. Da gab es eine Lesbe aus Wien inklusive Freundin bei der deutschen Bundeswehr, einen schwulen Tuerken mit einer so schrillen Stimme das man Angst hatte die Fenster wuerden zerspringen und Dingen von denen ich hier wohl nicht jedes Detail berichten moechte. Alles im allen eine hinreissende Party und ein sehr interessanter Abend.

Sonntag frueh wurde ich dann singenderweisse von den mir vom Vorabend schon bekanten Gesichetern geweckt. Nach einem ausgiebigen Fruehstueck mit Grabben und Lachs fuhren wir mit Dominik, Ennos Nennneffen aus Bremen, und Gert aus Aurich an die Nordsee, bzw das Wattmeer.

Blick vom Festland nach Norderney

Blick vom Festland nach Norderney mit posierdendem Franz dazwischen

Das Wattmeer wird der Bereich zwischen Festland und den vielen Inseln vor der norddeutschen Kueste genannt. Bei Flut ist das Wattmeer nicht tiefer als der Neusiedlersee und bei Ebbe verschwindet das Meer, bis auf einige kleine Lacken komplett. So kann man Wanderungen durch das Watt auf eine der Inseln machen und bei Flut mit der Faehre wieder zurueck fahren. Als wir dort waren war gerade Flut, was angesichts der Temperaturen sehr angenehm war.

Mit ein paar Algen aus der Nordsee, welche als Gewuerze fuers Abendessen verwendet wurden ausgestattet, ging es wieder zurueck nach Aurich wo wir noch einen netten Abend mit lecker Schnaps und Rotwein genossen.

Heute Mittag verliess ich dann Aurich wieder schwerenherzens. Ja, und morgen heissts dann wohl wieder Arbeiten...

Zum Abschluss noch eine Landkarte von Ostfriesland zur Orientierung

Ps: Bevor sich wer sorgen macht, die Grenzpolizei war natuerliche ein Scherz ;)

Kauf dir einen Charly

Sachen gibts, die gibts gar nicht... Nun denn, solltet ihr ein wenig einsam sein, etwas nette Gesellschaft noetig haben, oder einfach nur einen billigen Sexsklaven brauchen, hier seit ihr richtig!

Einen kleinen Vorgeschmack will ich euch natuerlich nicht vorenthalten.

Mich wird es wohl nun noch weiter noerdlich verschlagen. Am Wochenende gehts nach Aurich, in Ostfriesland, wo ich einen Freund besuchen werde und euch wunderhuebsche Fotos mitbringen werden. Koennte durchaus witzig werden, will aber noch nicht zuviel verraten...

Fahrradtour Teil 2

Eben darf ich meinen ersten Regen in dieser Stadt erleben, eigentlich eh ein Wunder, dass es so lange gedauert hatt bis es einmal so richtig gscheit schuettet...

Aber darum gehts eigentlich gar nicht. Letztens, abends, nach ein paar Bier in der Brouwerij 't IJ (die haben so ein geiles Bier), welche schon fast zu meinem Stammlokal hier geworden ist, hab ich beschlossen ein wenig durch die Stadt zu radeln...
Desswegen nun... NOCH MEHR FOTOS!!

Das National Monument

Irgendein schmales Haus in Amsterdam... (oder doch nicht irgendeines?)

Ein verstohlener Blick in den Red Light District

Und hier wohn ich, nur wo???

Ein viertel Kilo Schoko Mousse, die Hollaender wissen halt was gut ist und ich weiss womit ich mich nach so einer Radtour belohne. Yams :)