Lickin' some maps

And now for something completely different... For the past couple of days I've been working on a new little project called maplick. It's a fun little browser game, an awesome time-waster and actually rather good for your brains!
It's really rather simple. You are presented with a blank map of Europe and asked to find a country. If you get the country right you get a point, otherwise a point will be deducted from your score and the actual name of that country is shown. If you get bored with Europe you can even switch to the USA and try to find all the states.

It's still a very early beta version and currently only works in the Firefox and Safari browsers. Nevertheless many new features such as highscores, a timer and more maps to explore are under development.

You can also follow maplick on twitter or become a fan on facebook and be informed about the latest updates.

Have fun licking those maps!

Tripping!

Away! Next Week! Away!

Only a few more days left before I'll go on my biggest trip ever.

I'll be starting at Amsterdam (Schiphol) Airport, traveling to Bahrain via Frankfurt. I'm already encountering the first difficulties before I even leave. In order to enter Bahrain one needs to buy a Visa at the airport (~5 euros) which can only be paid in the local currency. The difficulty there is that, since Bahrain is such a tiny little country, it's basically impossible to find any Bahrain Dinar anywhere in Amsterdam.

After some days in Bahrain I'll be jetting to Dubai for a relaxing evening and then onwards to the Philippines. One of the things I can't wait to see are those "one-day chicks" (no, nothing sexual) that I've been reading about... Apparently people over there take a chicken that is just one day old, put it in batter and then deep-fry it. It's eaten with pecker, bones, innards, everything. I'm curious if I can get myself to try one of these...

I'll cut this off here. Otherwise I won't have any stories to tell when I come back. Also, I've got way too much work to do :(

There will be more to follow. Stay tuned!

Ages...

Ufff, haven't posted here in ages. I'm so lazy.

Recently my camera has gone missing :( Rest in peace, oh dear friend, you served me well! Here, some of my favorites....

Reaching for the Sky!

My favorite Irish Man o.O

A Russian Wedding

Being Christmasy Silly

Jet-Lagged As Fuck (grrrr)

Not much more for now, hope the laziness passes a bit....

Was in Moscow

So there we go, a quick proof of travel. More pictures coming soon, as I sort through them.

Moscow and the Russian Federation

So there, I know I've been lazy with writing around here, maybe I'll change that (probably not though).

Yesterday I arrived in the glorious Federation of Russia, a truly different world I tell you. Moscow is fucking huge and bloody expensive.

What looked like a mid-range restaurant turned out to be one of the most expensive meals I've ever had. 60 Euros for a main course that was just a few pieces of meat and some fried vegetables!?! WTF? It was amazingly good though, I have to admit. And at least I know now why our per diem is so high around here.

Walking/Traveling around the city is a bit intimidating. Everything is amazingly huge, nobody speaks anything but Russian and the signs are strange and unreadable. Tomorrow I'll be visiting the Red Square and hopefully get to see the Kremlin and a few other sights. I promise I will post some photos once I'm back in Amsterdam, but I won't promise any further ;)

Tonight there is a big party going on. Traditional Russian dinner, I hear that is 90% Vodka and 10% meat, yumm!

Oh, and finally for those Viennese missing me a bit, I'll be back for a few days beginning/mid October...

New York (Extensively)

So, finally, two months late I manage to finish this blog post. Franz = Way Too Busy :( So have fun...

First off, that huge 767 that talk me all over the Atlantic Ocean.
After arrival and spending way too much time filling out forms, answering questions and giving my fingerprints, I was driven to the Chelsea part of Manhattan...

Well, to be honest, my cab looked a bit crappier than that one, but you get the idea ;)

I staid in a very cosy Bed and Breakfast around boarder between Down Town and Mid Town Manhattan...
Just two minutes walk away from that place to get anything from cheesburgers to pancakes, lovely pizzas, Chinese food, basically anything you would like 24/7. And all that while looking at the Empire State Building rising above the city. Lovely, especially after a few beers...


Of course all this was not just for the pure fun of it. A presentation had to be held and a conference attended, all at the (huge/impressive/lovely/...) Columbia University. However only one picture taken on campus shall be revealed to you...
Nevertheless there was some time for sightseeing. So there was Time Square...
And Broadway....
And a trip with the infamous Staten Island Ferry which revealed some nice views of the Manhattan skyline...
Like the Dutch the Americans also have a big dick and...
...apparently are all in all much less conservative than expected.
And after long days of walking around, there is nothing better than having one of the best burgers in the world at the Corner Bistro.
Good Bye New York, I'll be back....

New York (Briefly)

It is absolutely fantastic. Couldn't be much better. More will come when I won't be wasting the time that I could spend with much cooler things than typing blog posts around here. Just a quick picture.... (Double Standard, anyone?)