Summer Holidays

This past week Kathi and I booked our summer vacation. What appeared to at first not work out was turned around and put on the fast track after we found a company in China with flexible dates and destinations. So for a few weeks this summer we will be traveling around China, living out our most current "dream vacation". Our destinations include:

• Beijing (The Great Wall, Tiananmen Square...)
  
• A cross country train journey to Tibet
  
• Lhasa (Polata Palace, Tibetan monasteries...)
  
• Mount Everest (just base camp)
• Xian (Terracotta Warriors...)
  
• Guilin (Li River cruise...)
  
• Shanghai (The Bund...)
  

Groissböck

Gerd kindly reminded me earlier this week that it was the end of Fasching (Carnival) and therefore time to eat krapfen in Austria. Luckily Kathi and I live in Vienna's 10th district, home to Groissböck which is the bakery that makes the best krapfen I've ever eaten. We bought a few after work the other night to make sure we properly participated in the season but I must say that the krapfen are at their best just after opening in the morning. I think I'm going to have to go back over there and buy another one (or two) this weekend.

Frankenstein Dogs

Tonight was my first attempt at making homemade corn dogs, unfortunately we ended up with Frankenstein dogs instead. The good news is that the taste was correct so the meal wasn't a complete failure. And when considering that it took a few days just to get all of the ingredients together, including a few substitutions, we didn't do too bad (it's not like I can just go to Walmart and buy a box of 20 that are pre-made). For my next attempt I will make sure the batter isn't so thick and hopefully I will end up with something that looks more like this:

Bowling

Yesterday we went bowling with Stefan, Sona and Mario (€1 games at Millennium City from 10:00 - 17:00). I'm not sure if Mario had ever bowled before but he caught on very quick. Everyone else did well too scoring at least 100 points. I learned that I should call it a day after two games though because my skills rapidly diminish from there, but it was worth staying a bit longer because the warm-up allowed everyone else time to improve and start kicking my butt. All-in-all it was an excellent afternoon that we will have to relive sometime because it was a cheap and efficient way to burn off some energy on a cold and snowy Sunday.

Frost/Nixon

Last night Kathi and I watched the movie Frost/Nixon. We obviously weren't alive during the Watergate era so we are not experts on the matter but we found the movie to be excellent. It made you feel as if you were present at the actual filming and from what clips I've seen of the real interviews everything seemed to follow script. Also I love movies that make history come alive because so often it is easy to read an historical text and view everything in a storybook setting. Therefore I highly recommend Frost/Nixon to anyone who enjoys mixing in a political or historical movie once in awhile.

Stay Awake!

There should be no sleeping on the subway. If you are a passenger you risk having your bag stolen or missing your station, if you are the driver you risk causing €1 million plus worth of damage or hurting somebody. Luckily when this happened today in Vienna there were no passengers on the train so there were no injuries. Still, have fun finding a new job Mr. U-Bahn Driver.

Vienna Opera Ball

Tonight is the annual Vienna Opera Ball. It's not exactly my sort of "thing" but it's always interesting to watch a few minutes of the action on TV. If you are interested in finding out more then click here.

Snow Days

It's been snowing for a few days and Vienna has been transformed into a winter wonderland. This has given the snowplow trams a reason to come out of hibernation so I have to be on the lookout at all times because I get all excited whenever I see one (which is unfortunately not very often). I even had to snag the picture I have up top off of a Google image search because I have not captured an elusive Schneepflug der Wiener Straßenbahn on film yet. The bottom picture is looking out of my window at work. It doesn't seem like much but I enjoy the view of snow falling and trains going by. When the weather is clear I can see the hills that surround the city and nice accompanying sunsets.

Bullseye

Yesterday was Valentine's Day so we went out for a steak dinner followed by a movie. Since a chick flick is in order at this time of year we watched He's Just Not That Into You which I found very entertaining for a movie belonging to one of my least favorite genres. Kathi got something shiny to wear and some chocolate and in return I received an electronic dartboard and a beating... in the dart games played. Who knew Kathi was a hustler at darts?

Painfully Good

Kathi has several shows that she watches every week but I also have one of my own, The Office (American edition). Some episodes make me laugh for 30 minutes straight (possibly to the annoyance of those around me) while others explore situations that can be extremely painful to watch, yet somehow impossible to turn away from. I am sure many of you in the states are also fans and know exactly what I'm talking about. In it's own weird way The Office has become a Thursday night addiction.

Can anyone provide a review of the show's German counterpart?

Breakfast

Kathi and I were in the routine of only eating breakfast on the weekend but then about six months ago we started grabbing a coffee at Starbucks about one day every other week before work. Yesterday I came up with the excellent idea that we should set the alarm clock 30 minutes early every Wednesday to make time for breakfast at home as a sort of midweek recharge. Our Starbucks outings are too good to cut out but there is nothing wrong with adding one more morning of hanging out to the regimen and including "the most important meal" to our diets on at least one workday.

Jessie's Girl

We're taking a trip back to the 80s today via music video. I've loved this song ever since one of my baseball coaches would sing it all the time at practice when I was sixteen. A teammate was named Jessie and the coach would always sing the lyrics to him as "I wish I was Jessie's girl". So thanks Polen for getting a song stuck in my head for ten straight years.

Old Coins

As most of you know I am interested in history which has fueled some of our trips and dominates my book selections at times (when Harry Potter's not in the mix). Until recently I didn't know that you could simply go on eBay or to different stores to buy original ancient coins because I thought such things were only in museums. It turns out that is an American train of thought because hordes of coins are still found over here all the time and with the museums already having a copy a lot of them end up on the open market. Yesterday I bought this Roman coin from the age of Constantine I to start off my collection (Actually it was added to my already existing collection of coins from around the world. The collection's name has just changed to coins from around the world and throughout history). Maybe in the future I will add to it with something from the Holy Roman Empire.

City Grilling

I finally picked up and put together my birthday grill last night so we were able to partake in a little bit of city grilling for dinner. In our building (and on our balcony) we are only allowed to use electric grills but I find this to be an acceptable option that enables me to enjoy a taste of America's grilling culture while in Austria (for full blown enjoyment I can go over to Maria and Gerald's, down to Carinthia, or in extreme cases hop a plane to the U.S.). During the winter I can even use the grill inside so I predict there will be lots of sausages and hamburgers in my stomach's future.

Curiously Wonderful

Last night we met some friends at Haydn to watch The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. The film is two and a half hours long and is obviously a bit strange but I found it to be wonderful. Not everyone in our group shared the same opinion though so you can take that into consideration before you turn off your computer and run straight to the cinema. I thought the movie presented an interesting perspective on life and added in some lighthearted fun in its down to earth writing. Anyways that's my opinion. Did I ever tell you I was struck by lightning seven times?

ESPN America

Today NASN becomes ESPN America just in time for Super Bowl Sunday. I'm not sure if this will bring any change in broadcasting or if it's simply ESPN trying to get their name out to a worldwide audience but I know seeing the ESPN logo on my TV will make it feel like old times in America. Now let's just hope they bring SportsCenter over to this side of the ocean.