just john

The main picture from my trip to Copenhagen. Finally stopped itching.

Posted by justjohn at 16:18 | Permalink | Comments (2)

I decide to take some time from not posting by posting. I've been sick, in theory, since about Tuesday night. On the officially recorded record, Wednesday and Friday. I may have gone over this before, but missing more than two consecutive days of work in Germany requires a doctor's note that usually bars you from returning for at least a week. If you go to the doctor on the first day, show the note on the second, and feel okay for work by day three, too bad. The doctor's note takes precedence and you are not allowed to return to work. I thought I was going to be okay Thursday and worked most of the day. Now my throat feels like I swallowed a potato peeler.

No better time than to catch up on some picture uploading. Here's checkpoint Charlie. Rather unremarkable in appearance and the capitalist pigs have now built on both sides so all we have is the reminder.

Posted by justjohn at 16:02 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harley-Davidson faces stiff competition from Johnson Marine who introduces a new line of motorcycles Winimac, WI.

At a press conference late Monday, the CEO of Johnson Marine, makers of Johnson outboard marine engines and other recreational equipment, following the apparent success of Polaris with their line of Victory motorcycles,

unveiled a new line of heavyweight cruiser style motorcycles designed to compete head to head with industry leader Harley-Davidson.

In fact, the two companies have a heritage as William Harley designed the first successful marine carburetor for Johnson/Evinrude some 100 years ago. Peter Long, Johnson brands marketing manager said, 'We have studied the market and determined that Harley, while highly successful, has narrowly missed the mark when targeting motorcycle buyers.'

Long added, 'We at Johnson are convinced that our product hits the target dead center and promises to draw sales away from Harley-Davidson in a way no other motorcycle has been able to accomplish.'

The new line of bikes, marketed under the name Big Johnson Motorcycles, will, according to Long, deliver what Harley has only promised.

'Our research shows that this, a Big Johnson, is what Harley buyers are really after.' At the unveiling of the new line Monday, several current Harley owners agreed. 'When I bought my Harley, what I really needed was a Big Johnson,' said one Harley owner. 'But I see now that riding a Harley is no replacement for having a Big Johnson.'

Manager Long also said that his company would follow the lead of Harley-Davidson and cash in on a huge market for non-motorcycle related products.

'We realize that not every guy can have a Big Johnson,' said Long, 'But image is very important to people. If they don't have a Big Johnson, they at least want to project the image of having one.'

Asked if he anticipated Big Johnsons showing up in the hands of Harley owners, Long said it was unlikely. 'I just don't see the need to have a Harley if you have a Big Johnson,' he said. 'And I can't imagine someone who spends all their resources to acquire a Harley having a Big Johnson. I think it boils down to this - You either have a Harley, or you have a Big Johnson, but you are not likely to have both.' 'Given the choice,' said Long, 'I think most guys will opt for the Big Johnson.'

Another force driving sales for the company will come from women. A survey of the wives and girlfriends of nearly 1,000 potential motorcycle buyers indicates less than 5% would approve of their partner spending $15,000 on a Harley-Davidson. But, when asked if they would be willing to pay the same amount of money to get their partner a Big Johnson, nearly 4 out 5 thought that would be money well spent. One female present at the product unveiling was quoted as saying, 'There is no way I will let Lonnie drop 15 grand on another one of those Harleys, but 15 grand to get him a Big Johnson? Well, that's something we could both enjoy, and it's something he really needs.'

Carla Roundheel, manager of the dealership network now being established, said her motto is simple. 'I service what we sell.'

Posted by justjohn at 20:03 | Permalink | Comments (2)

Trying to maintain the once-per-week minimum here.

I dropped Bill off at the airport this morning. Always a little bit sad later in the day because it is so long between visits. Two months until I fly into the US and nine months left in Germany. The time is flying by and not moving at the same time. In the end, I don't think there'll be any regrets one way or the other about places or things I didn't see while I was here.

Berlin, with the exception of being ass-cold, was an awesome city. We could easily have spent another week there just taking in the historical sites. As it was, we were only able to cover 3 museums and the major landmarks during the day. The old Wall is essentially gone and it was rare to actually see a section of it standing in the original spot. It's division is remembered by a double stripe of cobblestones where ever it passed through the city. The musuem at Checkpoint Charlie was a reminder of the history of what happened, how bad it was, and a chronicle of the escape efforts made by thousands of people before it was finally taken down. We tried to get a feel for the old east Berlin but there wasn't much that hadn't been rebuilt in the sections we walked through. Aside from three museums, the last of which was too short, we took a city bus tour of the major landmark and got off to walk the ones we wanted. Three days just couldn't cover it.

The night life was equally impressive. Since we were travelling light, we couldn't get in to a lot of bars due to wardrobe restrictions, but we found some pretty good ones anyway. Afraid we're missing Easter weekend which will be an event to attend in Berlin. Maybe some other year.

Posted by justjohn at 13:06 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Bill made it to Germany yesterday. Good to have him in the same time zone for a change even though I had to drop him back at the airport this morning so he could work in France a couple of days. I pick him up again on Thursday and it's off to Berlin from Friday to Monday with much to see there.

I can now do a general release of the new ink pictures, except that I don't have one handy, maybe in the next couple of days. Bill wondered out loud about my mother's reaction but I think it will be insignificant since she'll be seeing my brother and his self-described "huge new tattoo." Could be worse for a parent, I guess. At least we're not in jail.

Aside from that I fear my life has again settled into the mundane and I have to get my excitement vicariously through others. I just heard my friend JC bought himself a nice little aluminum johnboat, although I never pictured him as the straw-hat-wearing, can pole fishing type.

Spring is making some feeble efforts here. Daffodills are already old news and some early tulips are coming up. Little bushes are budding but nothing on the trees yet. I've mentally prepped for another 6 weeks of cold weather just to be on the safe side and crossed my fingers for a real summer this year.

Posted by justjohn at 08:44 | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the AP:

"WASHINGTON - President Bush is poised to veto legislation that would bar the CIA from using waterboarding — a technique that simulates drowning — and other harsh interrogation methods on terror suspects."

Firstly, this is reprehensible. So much for America rising above and leading by example. This is the same attitude that led various and sundry terrorists organizations to the actions they're currently taking. How long, I wonder, before we "proactively" punish potential terrorists by taking action first. Oh wait...

Secondly, Bush is poised? He is waiting, gracefully standing on one tiptoe with the other leg arched out behind, pen hand raised to the sky, eyes blazing with the controlled insanity of Joan Crawford in "Mommy Dearest," in waiting to dramatically sweep down and sign this document? I'm calling bullshit on this one.

Posted by justjohn at 11:41 | Permalink | Comments (1)

I forgot to put something here about my business trip last Wednesday. It was supposed to be a supplier visit with me and two of my colleagues. One had to cancel and the other got sick the day before leaving yours truly to go alone. No problem except it was a two hour drive to a new part of Germany for me and the meeting would probably have to be conducted entirely in German with people I had never met before.

The first part was an easy fix. Navigation system to the rescue although I did have to call when I got there because the building numbers weren't so clear. German is hard enough without having to do it over the phone. Fortunately, I was sitting right in front of the "yellow building." As I expected, the suppliers, like me, were accustomed to a certain amount of English but they usually wrote it in emails so their was time to translate. "Fine, we'll do this in German." I say and off we go. Two and a half hours later and several cups of coffee, I think we got it covered.

On the way there, I got caught by a radar camera in the department car. No idea how they handle that but it shouldn't be a huge problem. Just a normal €20 ticket that I'll have to pay. I just hope they don't send the picture to verify. It's the shot I'm sure they get a lot of and while it probably never ceases to be funny nobody really wants it to be them. The big bright camera flash happened just as I was picking my nose.

Posted by justjohn at 10:57 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes, I have pictures. I decided to wait on posting until after Bill gets here on the 9th.

I went to a place called Kunsten pa Kroppen (Art of the Body). Taking a moment to look at the linguistic connections we get a few kissing cousins between English and German. "Kunst" is German for art and "Korper" is German for "body," but also has roots in our English "corpulent." No idea how to jump from "pa" meaning "of the" to the German dative case "des" but there you go, a dime-store language moment. Their web site is here:  http://www.tattoo.dk/english.htm.

I went because I found them online searching for something entirely (sort of) unrelated. I was looking for Nordic images as a possible paint job and they showed up. I liked what I saw Colin Dale doing and decide to give him a call. Two to three months waiting for an appointment was part of the conversation and I decided this was probably a good thing. I thought another couple of weeks, made an appointment, and booked a ticket. This would be the European souvenir I can't break or lose, though if either happens, I have other pressing issues. On my second day I took a morning walk around the city and then found the shop. No external advertising whatsoever. It was the second floor of a commercial building in town. Completely anonymous from the outside and still booked solid for two months or more out; never a sign of bad things. The shop itself was almost intimate. Just a work space for two people, aggregated artwork from all disciplines and periods, eclectic music, and Colin. His work partner was not there that day.

Colin was unassuming and soft spoken. We had a talk about what I wanted which was basically a theme, please put it approximately here, and you have artistic license. Then he started sketching free-hand on my shoulder for a while, with several corrections, erasures, and complete re-starts. When he was satisfied, I looked it over in a mirror and said ok. He took a tracing and then went back to a separate area to clean up his sketch and add final details while I looked through photos of his work and discovered that he does have a bit of an affinity for dragons. When he was done, he brought out an amazing design that was exactly what I wanted even though I really wasn't sure what I was asking for in the first place. After about five attempts to get the position right, he was ready to start the painful part. All together, it was about five hours of sitting still while Colin transferred his artwork directly onto me starting out with the familiar electric needle, and later switching over to some manual hand-work which I had never seen in person before. Looking at it now, I can see a distinct difference and I think I will recognize it on other people from now on.

The pain was worse than I had remembered, sometimes a sharp stab, alternating to a constant, stinging throb. I dozed a little at one point but it was probably more from fatigue that getting used to the needle. It never occurred to me to quit, though I did wonder about it out loud. After all, who'd be willing to stop with a half-finished smiley face? There were a few times when I was ready to be done, but I'd look down and see Colin had finished a section, started shading, or had switched techniques. That broke up the agony enough for me to tell myself it would be done when the artist was satisfied.

We had only a few people drop in during the day, one guy getting disappointed that he couldn't get something "today"  but did manage to get squeezed into a spot in March (the alternative being June), and a couple more onlookers. When we were done, Colin took a picture for his catalog and took a picture with my camera so I'd have an immediately after shot for my blog.

At the end of the afternoon, I was rather drained but I felt like I had spent my time with a real artist who was immersed in his work and that was the entire point from the beginning. I'd like to put up a picture now, but as I said earlier, I'm waiting for Bill to see it plus it will be healed by then. I guess if I can wait three months, another week won't kill you guys.

I wonder if my mother still reads this?

Posted by justjohn at 23:49 | Permalink | Comments (1)

Where was I? Oh yeah, Copenhagen. I took off Thursday and Friday to go see what Copenhagen was about.

It was mostly about cold. I know 5 degrees C seems almost balmy to most of you but for some reason it seemed especially cold up there. About an hour of exposure seemed to be my limit. The locals didn't seem to mind it so much, most of them weren't even wearing hats and I picked up that that gives you some idea of how cold the natives really think it is. Either that or the Danes have a serious aversion to hats. Lots of fair-skinned, blue-eyed people there. For some reason, I never really felt out of place in the crowd. Also home of the most bestesist, fluentist English I've heard so far in Europe. Small wonder, as I could pick out a lot of German in their language, see some of the Latin roots, and make almost no sense of what came out of their mouths otherwise.

I was out and about in the city during two heavy traffic periods; four in the afternoon and eight in the morning. For a large  city, what struck me was the lack of cars available to do such a thing. Traffic was beyond light. I never saw a traffic signal interrupt a line of cars through an intersection. There just weren't enough cars on the road. What I did have trouble getting through during the rush were the bike lanes. About 5 feet wide, between the road and sidewalk, and covering the entire city. More bike traffic than car. The air was pretty clean so I guess they decided to compensate by continuing to smoke inside. That was the first impression.

I basically just did the walking tour of Copenhagen to see the sites and that was accomplished on a three hour round of the main city. We should be envious of their cycling ethic. They manage year round including freezing weather while we Americans start the car to check the mail at the end of the driveway. I felt like I was in a much more modern city than most others I've visited in Europe. Lots of plazas, wide open streets, and modern mixed with classic architecture. Now that I think about it, Copenhagen really is more like a city I would choose to live in rather than visit, except for the cold weather.

Oh, I also spent about five hours getting a new tattoo...

Posted by justjohn at 23:33 | Permalink | Comments (1)