just john

Is it ironic that Dilbert is a reflection of typical office situations, or just sad?

Ist es ironisch dass Dilbert typisch Bürolage erhalten, oder nur traurig?

Posted by justjohn at 11:42 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

It's a bit late for me, around 11:00pm. Getting up early for work tomorrow so I can leave early and meet J.C. in Frankfurt. His hotel is on Hamburger Alley. Really.

Found out the German translation of pinot noir from my German teacher today and I'm happy to report I'm enjoying the fruits of that labor, pun mildly intended. She's looking up zinfandel for our next class. All useful words. Stargate SG1 is playing in the back ground, naturally in German, and mom's arrival is Sunday. Can't really complain.

Es ist ein bischen spaet fuer mich, ungefaehr 11:00pm. Morgen, stehe ich fruh auf dafuer Arbeit auch fruh lassen und treffe ich sich in Franfurt mit J.C. Seiner Hotel liegt auf dem Hamburger Allee. Stimmt.

Ich habe von meine Deutch Lehrer was "Pinot Noir" auf Deutsch bedeutet. Ich bin glücklich zu berichten, dass ich die Erfindung genieße. Naechstes mal, wird sie 'Zinfandel" nachschlagen. Alle nützlichen Wörter. Stagate SG1 spielt in dem Vodergrund, naturlich auf Deutsch. Meine Mutter kommt am Sonntag. Ich kann mich nicht beklagen.

Fuer die Deutschen dass dieses gelesen, bitte korregieren meine Fehler.

Posted by justjohn at 22:36 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by justjohn at 19:04 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think I have finally achieved a new level of elegant living that I just couldn't resist the opportunity to share. I normally don't like to boast but I feel so fortunate these days that I just can't help but have a minor session of self congratulation. As a dilettante of many fields, I have finally made the supreme effort to combine my many interests into producing a living environment that is unparalleled in 2007 and will perhaps require several decades for others to catch up.

Behold:

European residential air conditioning. The unit itself, a Zibro P122, will heat, cool, or de-humidify as needed in  a space of up to 75 cubic meters and has a combination room thermometer/remote control and can set as low as sixteen degrees Celsius. All with an "A" efficiency rating. The technical innovation of the AC unit is matched only by the high level of design and engineering put into its installation. Though the unit instructions state that merely hanging the exhaust hose out a minimally open wind is sufficient, a higher degree of performance and appearance was desired. Notice the apparent addition of a high-luster, blue and white accent, designer window trim that draws the eye back to the complementary comforter colors. It was constructed from the AC unit packaging to minimize visual intrusion into the sleeping area as serve as a draft barrier from unwanted outside air. Further enhancing the insulation and design integration is the over-trim, an out of service bath mat, again chosen for it's aesthetic appeal and design utility. Also used with the installation were the two pieces of insulating foam included with the hose kit, trimmed to fit. Differentiating this from previous efforts is a visible lack of exposed duct tape.

I have to go now, I feel dirty.

Posted by justjohn at 14:58 | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

It's a local, and also famous, racetrack. Coincidentally, I just found out I can drive my own car on it. Any takers on riding along?

http://www.nuerburgring.de/1_nuerburgring/touristenfahrten/index.html?L=1#top

Posted by justjohn at 22:27 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Exactly the day after people came over.

Yesterday we barbecued, or rather, oven grilled. Cleanup continued today after work. OMFG, the oven looked like several small animals had crawled in, died, and then gotten heated to a couple hundred degrees. This is not what cooking is about.  It did make me think back to my grandmother, who broiled everything because of diabetes. Her oven was always clean enough to eat off of. I think broiling more than once a year might come close to qualifying for sainthood. The oven is clean again and I bought a regulator for the grill today. It was hanging, conveniently enough, right by the grills. Already hooked up and ready to go.

Germany is hot. Germany is also humid. The place has definitelly been getting warmer the last few years and last night was stifling. I'm giving myself the weekend to sleep on it, but odds are very good I'm doing something very un-European next week.

I found the room-size AC units while I was at Obi getting my regulator.

My apartment was hot, work was hot, my car was hot (for 5 minutes until the AC spooled up), and I'm pretty sre France is hot as well. I may have to deal with some garage-style engineering for the exhaust and exorcise some deep seated guilt over tackiness but I think cool air for sleeping is starting to look good. As I thought on it, I remembered several account from other people who visited Europe and woke up with a hangover in a hot room. "Prison" stands out as one of the environmental desccriptors. I have decided I do not wish to wake up with prison-like conditions. Also, maybe I will qualify for a hangover at some point.

Posted by justjohn at 18:23 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A spent the last couple hours thinking about rocket science and what a terrible sham it is. Sure, it spawned a great expression, though inaccurate, and provides a useful way of demonstrating how grossly simple some things in life can be. You see, rocket science isn't really a science at all. It's a field of engineering. Scientists do not build things, nor should they. I'm patiently waiting for Steve Hawking to decide whether or not time travel is possible because he's bright enough in his area to maybe figure it out. Would I let him change my brakes? No. Would I let a rocket scientist change my brakes? It"s a trick question. The guys who design and build rockets are engineers using applied science. They would aptly be called rocket engineers. Them, I'd let fix my brakes. Said car would stop even if the primary and secondary brakes failed and the car was hit by a meteor small enough not to demolish the car. The brake job would also cost three million dollars and require a ground-based crew to monitor it.

So what"s the scam then? Rocket engineering really isn't that hard, just an applied science like any other that uses things a lot  of us supposedly learned in school. Very, very telling is that a lot of those NASA folks don't get paid any more than the rest of us who use rocket science for mundane things like keeping yhe house cool, your hand from getting burned by a pan, or reverse catalyzing oxygen ions to produce a voltage rather than oyxgen. That last is my personal favorite because it's my job. Not too terribly many of them use more than newtonian physics, which is regarded by most as a dead science. nothing new to discover there. Einstein's work has yet to be applied and high energy physics, the real action, has one application I'm aware of (ion drive). So, I was on this particular train of thought because I bought a new barbecue grill. I needed an excuse to get one and so I invited Frank and Kara over for that very reason.

I went to school for a number of reasons. Better myself, learn, spend time reading and get to call it higher education, blah and blah and blah. Mainly, I went to study literature and a acquire a piece of paper that would allow me to work in another interesting, yet non-literary, field that would support my hobbies. (No, not filing for divorces). Where am I going with this...some things are not my hobbies and they aren't for good reason, I don't enjoy them.

Here's a mystery picture to ponder:

Random junk I picked up on yellow sack day? No. A new RC car? No, putting one of those together as divorce therapy was interesting. Leftover parts from the V12 I rebuilt? Again no, I didn't have any leftovers and actually enjoyed that as well. This, dear friends, is my new grill and a defining moment in explaining why I went to school. Anywhere but 18 months left in Germany and I would have bought one more fully assembled. After a dinner consisting of sauteed mushrooms, red peppers, turkey, a big salad, and a couple of glasses of wine later I ended up with what I had originally intended.

Complete with oddly shaped propane tank. See the dangling hose? For some inexplicable happenstance of life, it turns out I have never actually bought an entire grill from scratch before. You might think, while I was standing in the store with my grill and propane tank, the day before a national holiday when everything but restaurants and a couple of gas stations are closed, the salesperson might have the foresight to suggest I perhaps need a regulator as it does not come with the grill. Alas, I did not pick the salesperson with foresight. We will be oven grilling tomorrow.

Also tonight, I cut into my avacado too early and it was not soft and delicious as planned. now I have to start over with another one.

Finally, I seem to be missing a beer bottle. I paid for it and there's one more spot in the plastic tote for it but it does not want to be found. I bought a new case of Hefeweisen Kristall for tomorrow and the old case was regular. There were only kristall bottles in the refrigerator. Realistically, I can weather the financial loss of the deposit on one beer bottle but I really have to wonder....

I ran out of wine with dinner and resorted to one of the new beers. It is delicious as planned.

Posted by justjohn at 22:17 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I spent Thursday night flyinh back to Germany. Arrived at 9:00am where it was grey, raining, and 55 degrees (F). I had shorts on. I essentially just took the train home and went to sleep for most of the day, thereby losing all of it. Saturday was similar weather except for the hail storm.

I spent a big chunk of Saturday formatting my hard drive and reinstalling software because I suspected I'd picked up a screen shot virus somewhere. No other accounting for the occassional, unintended browser flash showing up.

Coming back was a little strange, sort of like returning from a 2 week break of living your normal life back to a working vacation. It actually took a little while for it to sink in that I have a car here. I did manage to drive it to the grocery store because I know it will be closed on Sunday.

Been putting off posting this because I wasn't terribly motivated to write but I think I've gotten back into things over here. Pensacola was it's usual blast - no pictures for you here as they're too risque for a family web site. Got to see Bill and most, though not all, of my friends and go car shopping (Bill). BTW, there's a $4000 rebate on 2007 Nissan Amadas, that should cover your first month's gas.

Posted by justjohn at 07:40 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)