Leguan's place

[Mushroom_king]

@mushroom king: Yor mom didn't like it?

 

@horatio: The Kurfürstendamm or also called Ku'damm is a really cool place to live, but also quite expensive I guess.

She said she might not want to go back there.

Did you ask your mother why? I would be curious as to why she would say that. There are not too many cities that I would say that I would not return to.

Not really. I don't know if it's that she likes Paris better (she's French...), or what...I like Germany and England a bit more then France. Oh, and Belgium, that place rules too.

[Horatio]

@mushroom king: Yor mom didn't like it?

 

@horatio: The Kurfürstendamm or also called Ku'damm is a really cool place to live, but also quite expensive I guess.

She said she might not want to go back there.

Did you ask your mother why? I would be curious as to why she would say that. There are not too many cities that I would say that I would not return to.

Not really. I don't know if it's that she likes Paris better (she's French...), or what...I like Germany and England a bit more then France. Oh, and Belgium, that place rules too.

Interesting.

[Leguan]

Today I was at a vet with my rats.

They were already sneezing when I bought them. I thought this would stop after a while like in humans, but it got even worse. One of them stopped eating, sits at the same place all the time and her lungs make horrible noises. The vet said that they probably have mycoplasmosis, a quite common and serious pet rat disease which affects the respiratory tract.

Now they get antibiotics and some mucolytic stuff. They also got something against parasites since there were some nits in the fur, even though they were empty. They probably got something against parasites already in the pet store, but it is better to continue the treatment to be sure.

He was very confident that the situation will improve for the two stronger rats which show less symptoms, but he can't guarantee that the weaker one (the black-headed) will survive.

He also said that it happens very often that pet stores sell ill animals. In many cases the pets are only goods and proper treatment is expensive...

In the future, I'll never buy again an animal in a pet store. Only from breeders or an animal shelter.

[Horatio]

Today I was at a vet with my rats.

They were already sneezing when I bought them. I thought this would stop after a while like in humans, but it got even worse. One of them stopped eating, sits at the same place all the time and her lungs make horrible noises. The vet said that they probably have mycoplasmosis, a quite common and serious pet rat disease which affects the respiratory tract.

Now they get antibiotics and some mucolytic stuff. They also got something against parasites since there were some nits in the fur, even though they were empty. They probably got something against parasites already in the pet store, but it is better to continue the treatment to be sure.

He was very confident that the situation will improve for the two stronger rats which show less symptoms, but he can't guarantee that the weaker one (the black-headed) will survive.

He also said that it happens very often that pet stores sell ill animals. In many cases the pets are only goods and proper treatment is expensive...

In the future, I'll never buy again an animal in a pet store. Only from breeders or an animal shelter.

Your little rats will be in my prayers so a speedy and total recovery.

Hopefully the black hooded one makes it though this illness.

 

In the US, large pet stores are notorious as 'pet mills'. This is when they pump out pets with no regard to health or genetic quality.

Some of the local pet stores which are owned by families, usually do not carry cats and dogs and breed rats, hamsters and gerbils themselves.

I am a hamster breeder for a few pet stores in my local area, but I have some specific standards that are solely my own. For example, I only breed a female once, then she must be a pet. All breeder hamsters must all have the luxuries. Good wheel, ball for exercise, variety of chew toys, cage activities, etc., are some of my priorities. Also, I never breed relatives, even extended ones. Handling the babies is very important so that they get accustomed to human touch. Plus I potty train them all. Cleanliness is very, very important.

[Leguan]

It seems not to get worse.

I bought some baby food. She eats this. I have to give her many small portions since she's eating low amounts and the others, especially the white one, are going crazy when they smell the food. I have to keep them away until the black hooded has enough, otherwise they would eat everything. I think I don't have to worry about these two and I hope that I can help the other one. I'm curious whether she will eat the baby food when I add the antibiotic tomorrow (today they got an injection). The vet said that it has a bitter taste. For the case she doesn't take it I also have some yoghurt.

 

@horatio:

Your hamsters seem to have a really nice life. The customers can be glad to get healthy and tame hamsters and not to have such problems like I have now. The next time (I hope this will not be too soon) I'll also buy my rats from a breeder like you. Perhaps I rescued these three, but others will be "produced" in the pet mills...

[LifesEagle]

SInce you're talking about hamsters, I thought I'd mention that I heard on the radio today that this one guy is giving his girlfriend a hamster for Valentine's Day. How inspired!

[Leguan]

Little Update:

I give them their medicine twice a day. Now for the first time. The husky didn't like it and I had to force her. I did this by feeding her with a syringe. Since she was struggling, I could't get everthing in. So I used a trick which I read somewhere- a quite good idea. I smeared the remaining food in her fur. Rats don't like to be dirty, so she licked it up. In the evening I'll try to mix the antibiotic with yoghurt since she likes the baby food itself not soo much and with this bitter stuff inside...

However, the others ate it. The albino was going crazy. You should have seen how she grabbbed the whole spoon with the stuff on it.

The most important was the black hooded, and she took it. She already looks slightly better, the antibiotic seems to work. She eats some sunflower seeds and some other components of the food which apparently are very delicious.

 

 

Change of subject:

 

It's snowing. Now this was (is) a real winter. Most people in this region abdicate winter tyres. "For these one or two days per year I don't need this". This winter we had snow for two weeks and temperatures below 0 for nearly the whole january.

However, now the snowfall is low. Tomorrow it should snow again, but by day the temperatures are above 0 so it will melt quickly.

[Horatio]

It seems not to get worse.

I bought some baby food. She eats this. I have to give her many small portions since she's eating low amounts and the others, especially the white one, are going crazy when they smell the food. I have to keep them away until the black hooded has enough, otherwise they would eat everything. I think I don't have to worry about these two and I hope that I can help the other one. I'm curious whether she will eat the baby food when I add the antibiotic tomorrow (today they got an injection). The vet said that it has a bitter taste. For the case she doesn't take it I also have some yoghurt.

 

@horatio:

Your hamsters seem to have a really nice life. The customers can be glad to get healthy and tame hamsters and not to have such problems like I have now. The next time (I hope this will not be too soon) I'll also buy my rats from a breeder like you. Perhaps I rescued these three, but others will be "produced" in the pet mills...

Baby food... what a fantastic idea. I had a hamster that I rescued who was paralyzed from just behind the front paws down to the tail and I was cooking vegetables and meat into mush and wish I had thought of baby food.

 

Hopefully your little baby rat will make it. I am crossing my paws.

 

As for my hammies... pampered royalty. There is nothing too good for my little friends. I have a short video of some of the babies, but it won't upload. So, I am going to make a couple more in the future. You will like the pictures.

 

Please keep me posted about the health and condition of your black hooded rat.

[Horatio]

Little Update:

I give them their medicine twice a day. Now for the first time. The husky didn't like it and I had to force her. I did this by feeding her with a syringe. Since she was struggling, I could't get everthing in. So I used a trick which I read somewhere- a quite good idea. I smeared the remaining food in her fur. Rats don't like to be dirty, so she licked it up. In the evening I'll try to mix the antibiotic with yoghurt since she likes the baby food itself not soo much and with this bitter stuff inside...

However, the others ate it. The albino was going crazy. You should have seen how she grabbbed the whole spoon with the stuff on it.

The most important was the black hooded, and she took it. She already looks slightly better, the antibiotic seems to work. She eats some sunflower seeds and some other components of the food which apparently are very delicious.

 

 

Change of subject:

 

It's snowing. Now this was (is) a real winter. Most people in this region abdicate winter tyres. "For these one or two days per year I don't need this". This winter we had snow for two weeks and temperatures below 0 for nearly the whole january.

However, now the snowfall is low. Tomorrow it should snow again, but by day the temperatures are above 0 so it will melt quickly.

What a great trick!!! On the fur. I will keep that in mind.

 

My vet mixes medicine with some of the non-alcoholic pina colada mix and the hamsters seems to really like the coconut taste.

 

Hoping for the best with your rats. Sounds like you are doing the right things.

[Leguan]

Pina colada. Sounds good. Maybe I'll also try this.

 

I just tried cherry yoghurt. The black hooded liked it, but the other two stopped after eating half of it. Now they have to clean themselves.

For tomorrow I still have peach yoghurt, vanilla custard with cream and nougat cream.

All this stuff is not good for rats and they shouldn't get it or just extremely infrequent, but in this case there's no other choice I think. This antibiotic already smells disgusting, even when it is mixed with the yoghurt. Of course they don't like it.

 

I have a short video of some of the babies, but it won't upload. So, I am going to make a couple more in the future. You will like the pictures.

 

Would be great.

[Leguan]

:(

The husky just died.

Yesterday she also started making these horrible breathing noises. From yesterday evening on she suddenly was extremely tame. She came and wanted to be on my arms and shoulders. Today I gave her her morning medicine- she seemed to be quite okay for the circumstances. Not as worse as the black hooded was. One hour later I found her dead in the cage.

I don't know why she died so quick. Well, at least she isn't suffering anymore.

 

The albino is still fit and the black hooded is recovering very well. She is curious and eats a lot which is neccessary since she is very haggard.

[Horatio]

:(

The husky just died.

Yesterday she also started making these horrible breathing noises. From yesterday evening on she suddenly was extremely tame. She came and wanted to be on my arms and shoulders. Today I gave her her morning medicine- she seemed to be quite okay for the circumstances. Not as worse as the black hooded was. One hour later I found her dead in the cage.

I don't know why she died so quick. Well, at least she isn't suffering anymore.

 

The albino is still fit and the black hooded is recovering very well. She is curious and eats a lot which is neccessary since she is very haggard.

*cries*

 

Oh noooooooo.

 

I'm so sorry. That is one death you didn't expect.

 

At least the black hooded one is getting better.

[Leguan]

On monday they got the antibiotic for the last time. And now the black hooded has the symptoms again.

Tomorrow I'll got to the vet.

[Horatio]

On monday they got the antibiotic for the last time. And now the black hooded has the symptoms again.

Tomorrow I'll got to the vet.

Ohhh Nooo!!!!!

Please keep us posted. Hopefully the vet will be able to take care of the problem once and for all.

 

My little Teddy Panda is doing much better and I added another short haired Panda to the group plus three Robo hamsters.

What is this world coming too???

[Leguan]

She died this night.

Well yesterday evening I already had a foreboding. Like the husky did the evening before she was dying, also the little black hooded wanted to climb on my hand. She still was a little bit shy and did this for the first time...

I can't believe it. Why does this happen?

 

In two hours the vet's practice opens. I'll call him and tell him everything. Maybe he can check the dead body for the reason. I don't want that the albino also dies. She is really fine. No symptoms, only a slight sneezing sometimes. She eats a lot, is growing very fast and she is really tame.

Now she is alone and I can't integrate her into another group untill I know why the others died. If it is something infective...

[Horatio]

She died this night.

Well yesterday evening I already had a foreboding. Like the husky did the evening before she was dying, also the little black hooded wanted to climb on my hand. She still was a little bit shy and did this for the first time...

I can't believe it. Why does this happen?

 

In two hours the vet's practice opens. I'll call him and tell him everything. Maybe he can check the dead body for the reason. I don't want that the albino also dies. She is really fine. No symptoms, only a slight sneezing sometimes. She eats a lot, is growing very fast and she is really tame.

Now she is alone and I can't integrate her into another group untill I know why the others died. If it is something infective...

*cries*

[Leguan]

The vet can't do anything. He could send the dead body to a laboratory, but this would be expensive. Also having the result and knowing the exact reason would not help much.

He said that the albino probably survives because she doesn't show the severe symptoms yet- her immune system seems to be stronger. He gave me some more of the antibiotic which I should give her for additional 10 days. It kills bacteria which cause secondary infections. However, the disease is most likely caused by a virus. The immune system needs to deal with this itself.

I hope she makes it and does not feel too alone.

 

Well, I know somebody whose rat got babies last week. 18 little rats.

So if the albino still is fine in one month which is also the timepoint when the babies can be separated from the mother, I'll integrate two or three of them. Then there should be no risk of a new infection.

[Horatio]

The vet can't do anything. He could send the dead body to a laboratory, but this would be expensive. Also having the result and knowing the exact reason would not help much.

He said that the albino probably survives because she doesn't show the severe symptoms yet- her immune system seems to be stronger. He gave me some more of the antibiotic which I should give her for additional 10 days. It kills bacteria which cause secondary infections. However, the disease is most likely caused by a virus. The immune system needs to deal with this itself.

I hope she makes it and does not feel too alone.

 

Well, I know somebody whose rat got babies last week. 18 little rats.

So if the albino still is fine in one month which is also the timepoint when the babies can be separated from the mother, I'll integrate two or three of them. Then there should be no risk of a new infection.

Interesting news. A month alone... I hope she makes it. If you have the time and can interact with her, even if you put her in a ball, then she will feel like she has some social interaction. Just watch the ball if your floor is drafty. This would not be a good idea if she could catch a cold on top of the virus. One-half hour is the most she could stand in the ball, but I'm not so sure I would do that if you have a drafty floor.

 

Baby rats... now this is a really great idea if your albino makes it.

[Mushroom_king]

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

 

Go see how much I may or may not have messed up your character! =D

[Horatio]

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

 

Go see how much I may or may not have messed up your character! =D

You, Mushroom_king, write great stories. I am certain Leguan's character will be fantastic!

[Mushroom_king]

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

 

Go see how much I may or may not have messed up your character! =D

You, Mushroom_king, write great stories. I am certain Leguan's character will be fantastic!

I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just saying I took a LOT of creative license with his character, as well as...Um, everyone else.

 

In real life, Leguan is probably not a vest-wearing steampunk intent on making a steam-powered airship, just as much as in real life Arkcher's father is not a British inventor and Cheesemaster is not a katana-toting Newsboy and Schimmislick is not a Buddhist version of Billy Idol.

 

The only characters who really stay true to the people I based them off of are Kat, Lexx, and Glowurm.

[Mushroom_king]

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

 

Go see how much I may or may not have messed up your character! =D

You, Mushroom_king, write great stories. I am certain Leguan's character will be fantastic!

I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just saying I took a LOT of creative license with his character, as well as...Um, everyone else.

 

In real life, Leguan is probably not a vest-wearing steampunk intent on making a steam-powered airship, just as much as in real life Arkcher's father is not a British inventor and Cheesemaster is not a katana-toting Newsboy and Schimmislick is not a Buddhist version of Billy Idol.

 

The only characters who really stay true to the people I based them off of are Kat, Lexx, and Glowurm.

Oh, and Danna/Blood Queen, based off a girl I know. She's very true to her source material.

 

Even the character based off me is not very much like me, which is probably a good thing.

[Leguan]

Here I am again.

 

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

Cool, I have to check this story.

 

 

Some updates:

 

My albino rat made it. Now the last time she got the antibiotic was 12 days ago and she's still fine.

Next week she'll get some fellows.

 

The last week I spent my holidays in the Netherlands. Me and my brother rented a bungalow close to the sea. We were lucky. The week before the weather was bad, and now it is bad again. It was again snowing a little bit- and of course lots of rain. However, exactly in this week, the sun was shining most of the time.

The house was surrounded by channels at three sides. There were lots of channels and lakes, you can go nearly everwhere by boat. And we did this. A small boat with a 4 hp engine was inclusive. I took some pictures with my mobile.

 

Our house. Photo taken from the boat.

 

 

 

 

This was our little Yamaha.

 

 

 

 

And that's me. As you can see, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

[Mushroom_king]

Here I am again.

 

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

Cool, I have to check this story.

 

 

Some updates:

 

My albino rat made it. Now the last time she got the antibiotic was 12 days ago and she's still fine.

Next week she'll get some fellows.

 

The last week I spent my holidays in the Netherlands. Me and my brother rented a bungalow close to the sea. We were lucky. The week before the weather was bad, and now it is bad again. It was again snowing a little bit- and of course lots of rain. However, exactly in this week, the sun was shining most of the time.

The house was surrounded by channels at three sides. There were lots of channels and lakes, you can go nearly everwhere by boat. And we did this. A small boat with a 4 hp engine was inclusive. I took some pictures with my mobile.

 

Our house. Photo taken from the boat.

 

 

 

 

This was our little Yamaha.

 

 

 

 

And that's me. As you can see, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

I didn't know you wore glasses.

[Horatio]

Here I am again.

 

-ahem- I hate to interrupt, but I wanted to tell Leguan that he as finally made an appearance in that thing I write.

 

Cool, I have to check this story.

 

 

Some updates:

 

My albino rat made it. Now the last time she got the antibiotic was 12 days ago and she's still fine.

Next week she'll get some fellows.

 

The last week I spent my holidays in the Netherlands. Me and my brother rented a bungalow close to the sea. We were lucky. The week before the weather was bad, and now it is bad again. It was again snowing a little bit- and of course lots of rain. However, exactly in this week, the sun was shining most of the time.

The house was surrounded by channels at three sides. There were lots of channels and lakes, you can go nearly everwhere by boat. And we did this. A small boat with a 4 hp engine was inclusive. I took some pictures with my mobile.

 

Our house. Photo taken from the boat.

 

 

 

 

This was our little Yamaha.

 

 

 

 

And that's me. As you can see, I enjoyed it a lot.

 

What an awesome holiday!!! I would love living in that little house all the time!!!

 

You looked like you had a fantastic time.

 

Glad the weather worked out for you.

You will have to let me know how you worked the good weather in your favour.

[Leguan]

I didn't know you wore glasses.

 

 

Now you know. Didn't expect this?

 

 

 

What an awesome holiday!!! I would love living in that little house all the time!!!

 

You looked like you had a fantastic time.

 

Glad the weather worked out for you. biggrin.gif

You will have to let me know how you worked the good weather in your favour.

 

@horatio: If I figure out how it worked, I'll let you know.

[Mushroom_king]

I didn't know you wore glasses.

 

 

Now you know. Didn't expect this?

 

 

Nah, not really. I always get surprised when I see pics of HD people.

[Leguan]

Nah, not really. I always get surprised when I see pics of HD people.

 

I know this. I think it's very interesting to see the people 'behind the avatar'. Since you already were guessing how I would look like, I decided to post it.

On another board (a german motorcycle board) where I am active was a thread in which everbody could post a picture. Most people looked different than I expected. Even more interesting is to meet them in real life. We had a meeting with about 20 people from the board which now takes place every year. This year for the third time.

We rent an accomodation somewhere in the middle of Germany for one weekend. So nobody has more than 600 km to travel. Ok, the few people from Austria and Switzerland have ~700 km. Friday is arrival, a tour and barbecue on saturday and departure on sunday.

[Jesusfreak]

Yeah, Leguan doesn't quite look like how I imagined either, but he *does* look like he could easily pull off the mad scientist look.

[Horatio]

Nah, not really. I always get surprised when I see pics of HD people.

 

I know this. I think it's very interesting to see the people 'behind the avatar'. Since you already were guessing how I would look like, I decided to post it.

On another board (a german motorcycle board) where I am active was a thread in which everbody could post a picture. Most people looked different than I expected. Even more interesting is to meet them in real life. We had a meeting with about 20 people from the board which now takes place every year. This year for the third time.

We rent an accomodation somewhere in the middle of Germany for one weekend. So nobody has more than 600 km to travel. Ok, the few people from Austria and Switzerland have ~700 km. Friday is arrival, a tour and barbecue on saturday and departure on sunday.

Next year I want to go.

[Mushroom_king]

Yeah, Leguan doesn't quite look like how I imagined either, but he *does* look like he could easily pull off the mad scientist look.

I could too. I do, with the right jacket and splattering of red liquid that is ketchup and not Paris Hilton's blood, of course.

 

 

 

 

Of course.

[Mushroom_king]

You know, looking at the picture again...

 

 

 

 

 

 

You look EXACTLY like my friend Forest. EXACTLY. LIKE HIM. The ONLY difference is the hairstyle, and I can see the possibility for Forest's hair in yours.

[Horatio]

Leguan... welcome back. You need to visit your topic more often and keep us informed of what is happening in your neck of the woods.

 

Just to fill you in, we have a Paris domicile that I might be awarded if they could finalize the details. Then I will bring my bike over and we can ride together. How does that sound?

[Leguan]

Hey.

 

Over here everything is fine at the moment. I'm just finishing my last regular module. This means that I'll write my last exam next week friday. Then I have to do two 6-week internships, followed by the masters thesis. The nice weather we have now is not a good motivation for learning. Sunny and hot, but I can't go to a swimming pool anyway. I had a bike (no, not my Honda ) accident about two weeks ago and the wounds still need time to heal. I was overtaking another guy. Full speed. Just at his height, he drew aside in order not to get stuck in the rails of the tram. He hit me and we fell both. Well, I was lucky. The car-driver on the opposite lane wasn't sleeping... I was totally shocked. I can still see this scene like a movie. Slipping over the asphalt, totally defenseless and the car is coming closer and closer. Pure adrenaline. I thought I would put some patches on the wounds and that's it. No hurt at all. Some time later I recognized that patches won't do the job and went to the hospital. I had wounds on the whole body. Most of them already healed, but there are some which still take time. Especially my left ankle got deeply scraped on the asphalt. This still needs two weeks minimum the doctor said. I have to go there twice a week. The most annoying thing is that I don't know the name of the other guy or any witnesses. As I said, totally shocked at this moment. Nobody will pay my damaged clothes and bike or any solatium. And maybe I'll also get some trouble with the insurance since it was on the way to the university and thus an "accident at work". The normal health insurance doesn't pay in such a case. The cusualty insurance of the university is in charge and this may cause some problems...

Well, wait and see.

 

Just to fill you in, we have a Paris domicile that I might be awarded if they could finalize the details. Then I will bring my bike over and we can ride together. How does that sound?

 

Would be great.

Apropos riding the bike. The Honda CB500 board meeting is soon. I can't wait to go there.

[Jesusfreak]

Ouch, that's no fun, though you're super lucky you didn't get hurt worse. I'm glad to hear that you're at least mostly okay though lol.

[Horatio]

Hey.

 

Over here everything is fine at the moment. I'm just finishing my last regular module. This means that I'll write my last exam next week friday. Then I have to do two 6-week internships, followed by the masters thesis. The nice weather we have now is not a good motivation for learning. Sunny and hot, but I can't go to a swimming pool anyway. I had a bike (no, not my Honda <_ accident about two weeks ago and the wounds still need time to heal. i was overtaking another guy. full speed. just at his height he drew aside in order not get stuck rails of tram. hit me we fell both. well lucky. car-driver on opposite lane wasn sleeping... src="%7B___base_url___%7D/uploads/emoticons/default_blink.png" alt=":blink:"> I was totally shocked. I can still see this scene like a movie. Slipping over the asphalt, totally defenseless and the car is coming closer and closer. Pure adrenaline. I thought I would put some patches on the wounds and that's it. No hurt at all. Some time later I recognized that patches won't do the job and went to the hospital. I had wounds on the whole body. Most of them already healed, but there are some which still take time. Especially my left ankle got deeply scraped on the asphalt. This still needs two weeks minimum the doctor said. I have to go there twice a week. The most annoying thing is that I don't know the name of the other guy or any witnesses. As I said, totally shocked at this moment. Nobody will pay my damaged clothes and bike or any solatium. And maybe I'll also get some trouble with the insurance since it was on the way to the university and thus an "accident at work". The normal health insurance doesn't pay in such a case. The cusualty insurance of the university is in charge and this may cause some problems...

Well, wait and see.

 

Just to fill you in, we have a Paris domicile that I might be awarded if they could finalize the details. Then I will bring my bike over and we can ride together. How does that sound?

 

Would be great.

Apropos riding the bike. The Honda CB500 board meeting is soon. I can't wait to go there.

I can definitely feel your pain. Please get well soon. The insurance problem only adds to the stress of the situation. Hopefully the university gets everything straightened out for you. Get well soon!!!!!

 

At least your injuries were caused by someone else. At the moment, I was walking into the house and the contractor put some lumber boards just inside the door. Well, I tripped over the stack and went down. Managed to land my shins on the stack of the boards, my knees hit the slate floor, followed by my hands. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I can't do anything for a week or so.

 

My new bike should arrive in November. Look it up... BMW S1000RR. I'm pretty excited. Yeah, I know, another bike. LOL

It would be great to ride with you. Thank goodness your Honda was not involved in the crash. Have fun at the meeting.

[Leguan]

Today I've been again to see the medic. At least it doesn't hurt anymore. It's just annoying that I can't go to the swimming pool. In total, this wound takes more than one month for healing. Just in the middle of summer...

 

Managed to land my shins on the stack of the boards, my knees hit the slate floor, followed by my hands. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I can't do anything for a week or so.

 

Ouch. This sounds painful... Get well soon!

 

My new bike should arrive in November. Look it up... BMW S1000RR. I'm pretty excited.

 

Cool bike. I've seen it last year on the Intermot (world's largest motorcycle fair- here in Cologne ) where they introduced it. This fair is always a lot of fun with all the stunt shows and so on. Unfortunately, it only takes place every 2 years.

[Horatio]

Today I've been again to see the medic. At least it doesn't hurt anymore. It's just annoying that I can't go to the swimming pool. In total, this wound takes more than one month for healing. Just in the middle of summer...

 

Managed to land my shins on the stack of the boards, my knees hit the slate floor, followed by my hands. Dumb, dumb, dumb. I can't do anything for a week or so.

 

Ouch. This sounds painful... Get well soon!

 

My new bike should arrive in November. Look it up... BMW S1000RR. I'm pretty excited.

 

Cool bike. I've seen it last year on the Intermot (world's largest motorcycle fair- here in Cologne ) where they introduced it. This fair is always a lot of fun with all the stunt shows and so on. Unfortunately, it only takes place every 2 years.

Not being able to go swimming in summer is awful. In Munich, there are some gardens with a stream that everyone goes for a "ride" in. You jump in at one point, get taken for a great ride through the park and hop out somewhere downstream, then return back to the start and do it all over again. The most fun I have when I least expected it. This summer will be brutal for you.

 

Thanks. My knees and shins are so swollen, I look like I have elephant knees. When I do stupid stuff by not paying attention, I get really frustrated.

 

As for the bike, how did it look at the fair??? The green didn't look like a colour I wanted so I stuck with Thunder Grey. Did you get to see the bike up close? Every two years for the fair, oh, much too long. Sachsenring would be where I was headed this weekend. The MotoGP race in your country should be very exciting. My hopes are for a first place finish for Valentino Rossi.

 

Well, the 1st of August will take forever to get here... then is when I will know if I am moving to Paris.

[Leguan]

 

As for the bike, how did it look at the fair??? The green didn't look like a colour I wanted so I stuck with Thunder Grey. Did you get to see the bike up close?

 

Yes, I just stood in front of it. I just checked my photos. I took one with my mobile. You could clearly see that not everthing was finsihed at this time. For example the seat (not visible on the pic).

 

That's the parcours where I tested a trial bike. I really enjoyed this funny little thing. They also had further test parcours: quad, enduro, street bike and electro scooter (Vectrix).

 

 

There were also lots of stunt shows. And the "Goldwing ballett". Over here people call the Goldwing "rolling christmas tree" because of all these lights. The ballett even exceeded this. Unfortunately the image is of poor quality and can't give a real expression of all the blinking lights.

 

[Horatio]

Who needs a seat anyway??? LOL

Nice bike!

 

The course looks like fun. It would be great to try one of those courses.

 

Video will be up soon and then you will have to start carrying the soon to be released, iPod Touch with the video camera installed. LOL

 

The days are getting close to see if I am awarded the Paris bid.

[Leguan]

I wrote my last exam today (or rather yesterday, it is past 1 am now and I finished some beer in the meantime ). Never again learning lectures by heart. This feels sooo good.

However, my studies aren't finished now. I have to do two 6-weeks internships and the 6 months thesis.

[Horatio]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you are on the very last and most difficult step. Good luck!

While you are at it, have a celebratory beer on us!

[Leguan]

Hey,

here I am again.

 

At the moment, I'm doing an intership in the small town Jülich 50 km from Cologne. There is one of Europe's biggest research centers with about 4.400 employees. Their focus is on (nuclear) physics and supercomputing (they have Europe's fastest supercomputer), but also for a biologist there are great opportuninties. I'm working on a ornamental plant breeding project. Only commuting is annoying. I need 1:40 h to get there by tram, express train, rail bus and bus...

 

The last weekend (Friday to Sunday) I was at the meeting of the Honda CB 500 board. It was great. There were about 40 Honda CB 500 and a few other bikes. Here are a few impressions:

 

 

Starting at the gas station in Bonn together with some othe guys for the journey. Of course we did not drive the autobahn, but country roads. Much more fun.

My bike is the green one.

 

 

Refueling and meeting some other people at half of the distance.

 

 

This is how the parking lot looked like after our arrival:

 

 

Saturday: Raid the gas station!!!

 

 

Ready for the tour. This is the picture of our group (we divided into four groups).

 

 

Back: Some bike modifications in the dining area. In this bike, the restrictor was removed, another one got a scottoiler and so on.

 

 

Barbecue, beer, and later a campfire. BTW, brake cleaner burns like ####.

 

Sunday: Ready for departure. This weekend was much too short. Looking forward to 2010.

 

[Horatio]

Hey,

here I am again.

 

At the moment, I'm doing an intership in the small town Jülich 50 km from Cologne. There is one of Europe's biggest research centers with about 4.400 employees. Their focus is on (nuclear) physics and supercomputing (they have Europe's fastest supercomputer), but also for a biologist there are great opportuninties. I'm working on a ornamental plant breeding project. Only commuting is annoying. I need 1:40 h to get there by tram, express train, rail bus and bus...

 

The last weekend (Friday to Sunday) I was at the meeting of the Honda CB 500 board. It was great. There were about 40 Honda CB 500 and a few other bikes. Here are a few impressions:

 

 

Starting at the gas station in Bonn together with some othe guys for the journey. Of course we did not drive the autobahn, but country roads. Much more fun.

My bike is the green one.

 

 

Refueling and meeting some other people at half of the distance.

 

 

This is how the parking lot looked like after our arrival:

 

 

Saturday: Raid the gas station!!!

 

 

Ready for the tour. This is the picture of our group (we divided into four groups).

 

 

Back: Some bike modifications in the dining area. In this bike, the restrictor was removed, another one got a scottoiler and so on.

 

 

Barbecue, beer, and later a campfire. BTW, brake cleaner burns like ####.

 

Sunday: Ready for departure. This weekend was much too short. Looking forward to 2010.

 

SWEEEEEEEEEEETTTT!!!!!!!!

I want to go with you in 2010!!!! It looks like you had such an awesome weekend! Thanks for the terrific pictures. I love seeing ride pictures. Country roads are much more fun and scenic than the autobahn.

 

Your bike is stellar! Looks like it's fantastic to ride. The green is a great colour. When I finally get over there, we will have to go riding together.

 

Congratulations on the new career move. An internship is a great way to explore new opportunities and meet lots of people. The commute is no fun as you are spending an enormous amount of time traveling, but at least you can catch up on your reading. (Sorry... bad joke.) It sounds like life is going well for you. Ornamental plant breeding project... I must say this was one area I think might be quite interesting. Let us know what you think of it after you are there for a bit.

 

Glad to hear from you again. Thanks again for the pictures!

[Leguan]

And back again. ^^

I almost finished the internship at the research center, I just have to give a talk and that's it. Now I have some free time until 19th, then I start my project module followed by the masters thesis. And the best: I'll be paid a little. Then I can afford the 28" screen I want to have for months.

 

Last sunday I've been at the open house day at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne. This was crowded. 100.000 visitors. We had to wait 1.5 hours to get into one of the numerous shuttle buses which brought the visitors from the parking lots and the train station to the entrance. We just managed to arrive seeing the Airbus A380 taking off. Amazing. Such a big plane. And so silent. Then we had a view on the other planes on the static display. The research fleet of the center (inlcuding e.g. A300 Zero-G) and some helicopters and planes of the German Air Force, including Eurocopter Cougar, McDonnell Phantom, Panavia Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon. Also the A310 VIP was displayed. After this, we had a look on the engine test stand and some other stuff in the center like some presentations about the Rosetta spacecraft. However, we did not see everything since it was sooo crowded.

 

Today I went for a blood donation. The 15th now. Finally after my accident, I was allowed to donate. The worst wound took until now to heal and just left a big scar. Now the summer (which was one of the longest and hottest summers I can remember) is over and I've never been swimming.

[Horatio]

And back again. ^^

I almost finished the internship at the research center, I just have to give a talk and that's it. Now I have some free time until 19th, then I start my project module followed by the masters thesis. And the best: I'll be paid a little. Then I can afford the 28" screen I want to have for months.

 

Last sunday I've been at the open house day at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne. This was crowded. 100.000 visitors. We had to wait 1.5 hours to get into one of the numerous shuttle buses which brought the visitors from the parking lots and the train station to the entrance. We just managed to arrive seeing the Airbus A380 taking off. Amazing. Such a big plane. And so silent. Then we had a view on the other planes on the static display. The research fleet of the center (inlcuding e.g. A300 Zero-G) and some helicopters and planes of the German Air Force, including Eurocopter Cougar, McDonnell Phantom, Panavia Tornado and Eurofighter Typhoon. Also the A310 VIP was displayed. After this, we had a look on the engine test stand and some other stuff in the center like some presentations about the Rosetta spacecraft. However, we did not see everything since it was sooo crowded.

 

Today I went for a blood donation. The 15th now. Finally after my accident, I was allowed to donate. The worst wound took until now to heal and just left a big scar. Now the summer (which was one of the longest and hottest summers I can remember) is over and I've never been swimming.

That internship went fast. Yeah for time off! Of course, the 19th will be here faster than you think. Glad to hear that you will be paid to work on your masters thesis.

 

28" screen????? Whoa! That's huge!

 

What a great day you had at the German Aerospace Center. 100.000 people... horrors! We were going to get the A380, but because of delays in delivery, we ended up with the B777. Pretty much the same size. Amazing that something so big is so quiet and has such performance. I fly the A300 and the A310. Not the VIP edition of course, the freighter line. Cargo does not need luxury. LOL

 

Wonderful news that your last wound has healed. Of course, this would be one of the hottest summers... seemed like torture not being able to go swimming. Somewhere I heard that Vitamin A or E, in ointment or cream, helps the scars go away.

 

My new bike is in production in Germany. I just got the news that my bike is on it's way to being born. What exciting news!!!!

 

Enjoy your time off. The hard work will be here in just a couple weeks.

[Leguan]

 

My new bike is in production in Germany. I just got the news that my bike is on it's way to being born. What exciting news!!!!

 

 

 

Cool. You probably can't wait for the news that it is going to be shipped.

 

Today I mounted a stageless controller for the handle heating on my bike. That was necessary. Last week I was still sweating at 25°C, now we had the first frost. The weather changed rapidly.

 

 

On monday I'll start with the last module of my studies and then the thesis. In 8 months it is over.

I already haver a plan what I'll do after this. I'll apply for a working holiday visa for Australia. B)

Finishing studies is a great chance for a time off. Later when I have a job and so on I'll never have this opportunity again. Also the age for the visa is limited to 30.

That will be an experience I'll never forget. I'll go together with my brother. He'll finish his apprenticeship next year. If we like it we stay for up to 1 year. I'll sell most of my stuff before and keep the rest in my parent's house.

In Oz we'll buy a car. I already checked the costs- cars are very expensive there. A car which would just be scrapped (due to age and kilometrage) over here still costs 2000 Dollars and more in Oz. The old Opel Omega (which is similar to the Holden Commodore) which my parents scrapped some months ago to get the "Umweltprämie" (similar to the cash for clunkers program in the US) would cost more than ~3000 Dollars there. But a car is necessary. This will be a cultural shock anyway. Australia has 4 times less inhabitants compared to Germany but is about 20 times larger. Soo long distances to travel.

[Horatio]

 

My new bike is in production in Germany. I just got the news that my bike is on it's way to being born. What exciting news!!!!

 

 

 

Cool. You probably can't wait for the news that it is going to be shipped.

 

Today I mounted a stageless controller for the handle heating on my bike. That was necessary. Last week I was still sweating at 25°C, now we had the first frost. The weather changed rapidly.

 

 

On monday I'll start with the last module of my studies and then the thesis. In 8 months it is over.

I already haver a plan what I'll do after this. I'll apply for a working holiday visa for Australia. B)

Finishing studies is a great chance for a time off. Later when I have a job and so on I'll never have this opportunity again. Also the age for the visa is limited to 30.

That will be an experience I'll never forget. I'll go together with my brother. He'll finish his apprenticeship next year. If we like it we stay for up to 1 year. I'll sell most of my stuff before and keep the rest in my parent's house.

In Oz we'll buy a car. I already checked the costs- cars are very expensive there. A car which would just be scrapped (due to age and kilometrage) over here still costs 2000 Dollars and more in Oz. The old Opel Omega (which is similar to the Holden Commodore) which my parents scrapped some months ago to get the "Umweltprämie" (similar to the cash for clunkers program in the US) would cost more than ~3000 Dollars there. But a car is necessary. This will be a cultural shock anyway. Australia has 4 times less inhabitants compared to Germany but is about 20 times larger. Soo long distances to travel.

The day the bike is shipped is the day for celebration!!!

 

Heated handgrips... so very, very nice and something I would never do without. Glad to hear you have those on your bike.

 

The weather is crazy. One day hot, the next seems like the first day of winter.

 

Australia... unbelieveably phenomenal!!!!!! What a spectacular idea and even better to share this experience with your brother. You will have to look up Vixen (Lee). That would be such an awesome idea for you two to say hello. My thinking is that you both will have the time of your lives AND accomplish your studies. We fly to Sydney.

 

A car... yes, one is most necessary, especially if you want to all parts of the country. The cost of a car was shocking to me as well! Perhaps you will consider a motorcycle. LOL I was thinking you might come to the USA to finish your studies. You and your brother would have a place to stay and you could ride one of my bikes. Of course, you might not get too much studying accomplished this way. But we would have a great time riding together.

[Leguan]

Perhaps you will consider a motorcycle.

 

A motorcycle would be too small for all the stuff we have to carry. We have to carry everything we need with us...

We'll probably buy a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon as station wagon. These cars are big enough to sleep inside. I don't like to sleep in a tent. I'm a little bit afraid of all the animals in Australia. In Germany we have nothing which could be harmful to humans (except for some wolves which are coming back from eastern Europe after they were exterminated a long time ago here), but in Australia you have all these poison snakes, spiders and so on.

 

LOL I was thinking you might come to the USA to finish your studies. You and your brother would have a place to stay and you could ride one of my bikes. Of course, you might not get too much studying accomplished this way. But we would have a great time riding together.

 

What a great offer.

But as for my studies, it is not possible to go somewhere else anymore since I started today in the new lab. I also have a contract there since I get money. Even if I had more time to prepare it would have been hard to study in the USA (legal reasons, money...).

For the working holiday, the USA would also be a nice place. However, this is impossible. Germany has no bilateral agreement for a corresponding visa with the USA. There are agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Of course I could come to the USA as tourist, but this would be too expensive. In Australia I can work to finance the holiday.

Furthermore, there's some rain forest in Australia. I always wanted to see this.

[Horatio]

Perhaps you will consider a motorcycle.

 

A motorcycle would be too small for all the stuff we have to carry. We have to carry everything we need with us...

We'll probably buy a Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon as station wagon. These cars are big enough to sleep inside. I don't like to sleep in a tent. I'm a little bit afraid of all the animals in Australia. In Germany we have nothing which could be harmful to humans (except for some wolves which are coming back from eastern Europe after they were exterminated a long time ago here), but in Australia you have all these poison snakes, spiders and so on.

 

LOL I was thinking you might come to the USA to finish your studies. You and your brother would have a place to stay and you could ride one of my bikes. Of course, you might not get too much studying accomplished this way. But we would have a great time riding together.

 

What a great offer.

But as for my studies, it is not possible to go somewhere else anymore since I started today in the new lab. I also have a contract there since I get money. Even if I had more time to prepare it would have been hard to study in the USA (legal reasons, money...).

For the working holiday, the USA would also be a nice place. However, this is impossible. Germany has no bilateral agreement for a corresponding visa with the USA. There are agreements with Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Of course I could come to the USA as tourist, but this would be too expensive. In Australia I can work to finance the holiday.

Furthermore, there's some rain forest in Australia. I always wanted to see this.

What's the matter with the immigration heads... it would be fantastic to have a bilateral agreement with Germany for studies. Sometimes I wonder about the leaders of this country.

 

Hope the new lab is all you expected it to be and that it works out well for you. I am so very proud of you and all that you are accomplishing. You have and are studying so hard and this takes lots and lots of dedication. Perhaps you will become famous and win the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

My door is always open to you.

[Leguan]

What's the matter with the immigration heads... it would be fantastic to have a bilateral agreement with Germany for studies. Sometimes I wonder about the leaders of this country.

 

With this bilateral agreement I meant the working holiday. I would not be allowed to work (which I need to afford the holiday) in the USA as I can do for example in Australia with this special visa. I just could come as a normal tourist to the USA which is possible even without a visa for up to three months. For a longer time, a normal visa is required. Its the same vice versa.

Studying would be theoretically possible, but it's difficult due to the study regulations. All the stuff needs to be accredited by my home university. For an internship it would be fine. However, normal courses would rather not be accredited. With a thesis there is the problem with the final colloquium. There need to be three professors as examiners. One in whose lab the thesis was done and two from my home university. Would be hard (not to say impossible) to get them together for the colloquium... This problem you even have if you do your thesis somewhere else than your home university (other university, research institution, agency, company...), but within Germany it should be much easier to get the people together in one place. I'm very lucky concerning this issue. The research institution is like the university also located in Cologne (only 8 km distance) and since there's a collaboration, the professors there are also professors at the university.

 

 

Hope the new lab is all you expected it to be and that it works out well for you.

 

Yes, it's fine. The people are very nice. Well, I knew this before. I've been there two years ago for some weeks.: I have been in many different labs at two different universities and two research institutions during my studies. Let me count- it should be 9. Of course I picked the nicest one for the thesis. The lab where I did my bachelor thesis is also very nice and they would have appreciated a lot if I came back to continue the project, but I wanted to do something else. On the one hand I like to see more different aspects and on the other hand I like to work with plants. During my bachelor thesis I worked on molecular biology of bacteria and now I'm studying the molecular details of the interaction between plants and pathogens/ defense mechanisms.

Doing the thesis at the university (they have also groups working with plants, also in which I have already been) would be more convenient since I have to ride 30 min by bike to get to the new lab (not with my Honda, this wouldn't be much faster in the rush hour) whereas I'm living directly at the university (5 min by feet). However, the institute has a much higher reputation on "my" field than the university has, there are many very experienced people, the equipment is good and last but not least, they pay for my work (even though it is not much, but better than nothing).

 

Now I'm working together with a Ph.D. from France. I don't speak French well (even though I had it at school for several years, but that's already years ago) and she speaks little German (but even better than I'm speaking French). We communicate in English. I think during the time I'm there I can improve my language skills a lot. There are other people from the Netherlands, from Russia, from Spain and the professor comes from England.

 

You have and are studying so hard and this takes lots and lots of dedication.

 

It might be some dedication. If the working environment is nice, I really like what I'm doing and some people who know me very well say that I'm born to be a biologist. However, on the other hand, it is simply work for me. Time off is always more important, that's also why I aborted the fast track program. The person organizing it was really surprised when I refused just after being accepted after the probation period. There are other people with much more dedication than me. For those this program is nice. I also don't want to stay in the fundamental research field (which is the "real" science) after being a Ph.D. (Ph.D. is my personal aim that I want to reach within the next lets say 6 years). I rather like to do applied research in a company, have normal labor time and not tons of overtime and get an adequate payment.

 

Perhaps you will become famous and win the Nobel Peace Prize.

 

That's for the people with really really high dedication.

 

My door is always open to you.

 

Thanks. Maybe I'll visit you some day.

[Horatio]

One of my faults is to not communicate thoroughly. My first comment was meant exactly as you explained. Lately our immigration policies have changed immensely. Nothing has been exempt from scrutiny when it comes to revising our immigration policies. University attendance from foreigners has dropped to excessively low numbers.

 

A five minute commute to work is ideal!!! Mine is twenty to thirty minutes depending on the traffic and whether or not I stop for coffee. The lab sounds fantastic. This positive environment will be great for you accomplishing all you desire and your colleagues sound like a terrific group of people.

 

People who have worked for large companies in applied research have won The Nobel Peace Prize. It just may happen to you. In the meantime, when you are ready for the job market, select a company that you desire to work, if you get hired and don't like it, don't be afraid to change. If you are going to be somewhere for 25 plus years, it should be somewhere you are happy.

 

When you go, watch out for that Australian killer spider that gets into swimming pools. It has the ability go underwater and bite unsuspecting swimmers. If you are bitten, you can die in about ten minutes.

[Leguan]

Hey, I just thought it is a good idea to visit this board again.

What's going on?

 

I registered the master's thesis. 6 month from now and then it's done. Wow, can't believe that already 4,5 years passed by. However, I'm really looking forward to finish this period of life and earn a bit more money.

Work in the lab didn't work so well the last time, but I identified step by step all problems and now it is working. It was really a streak of bad luck. First the stuff I was using probably wasn't maintained at -20 °C during shipping so that I just got some weird results. Then there were some other problems which were not expected, but since the stuff I'm using is a bit special also to problems are a bit special... The consumables I'm using now are also a bit more expensive, but I'm lucky since the institute where I'm working is quite 'rich', so it is no problem. I really appreciate this.

 

At the moment, they are restructuring a bit. They want to build some new buildings, but first some old ones need to be demolished. So we have an eartquake all the time. Demolition of a normal building took a few days, but there is also a bunker to be demolished... They had this thing to store radioactive stuff they used in the sixties and seventies. So it is solid. Extremely solid. They have an amazingly large excavator with a concrete crusher larger than a tall man. At the normal building, this machine broke whole walls like nothing. However, at the bunker (which is much smaller than the other building was) it is nibbling since two weeks before christmas. Now the above ground structures are gone, but the even more solid below ground structures are still remaining. This bunker was built for eternity. Really impressive, and I can watch everything through the window where I have my PC. It draws my attention from work...

 

We really have winter now. This is the coldest winter since many years. We had a lot of snow before christmas, melting after one week. A few days later frost and snow (and before freezing rain- not so nice) came back and are still there for more than one week now. And this weekend there should be a lot more snow and storm. The last time we had so much snow was when I was a little child. Last year there was snow for one week, but all the years before there was no snow or snow melting within one or two days. So much for the topic 'global warming'.

I heard in Britain they have a real chaos because they are even less used to snow than we are over here in the warmest region of Germany. There, even the ambulances, police cars and so on don't have winter tires (which are obligatory here).

Well, I like snow, but it is enough now. Riding my bicycle for 7 kilometers to go to the institute at temperatures like -11°C this morning isn't fun. Especially on the hard-packed, icy snow on the bicycle lanes.

[Horatio]

You have accomplished so much since you first came to the boards! We are so excited to hear your master's thesis is so close to being finished. When you are associated to an institution that has lots of money, it always makes things a bit easier. I'm sorry that the first time your work didn't happen, but you have identified the problems and can now do even better the second time around. Next time you will use FedEx for your shipping. Quite often we carry bull semen and the containers which contains the material look like a bulldozer could run over it and it would retain it's shape. The internal temperature of the container is extremely cold.

 

As for the demolition of the buildings... German engineering at it's best. Those bunkers sure did do their job. Too bad they could not have been incorporated into the new building somehow.

 

Memphis has had some global warming as well. For this area, the temperatures ( -9 degrees C) have been unseasonably cold with Memphis getting about an inch of snow. That does not sound like a lot, but when you begin with drivers who can't drive and you add a slippery surface, this makes the roads like one large bumper car lot. There were something near 120 accidents in an eight hour period on a 20 mile stretch of road. FedEx provides the road clearing equipment to help the city and they still were lost.

 

I don't know how you ride your bicycle. Amazing and I applaud you for being able to navigate the snow and ice.

 

Please stay in touch! We love hearing from you.

[Leguan]

Now it is getting warmer. Most of the snow was already gone at saturday when there was heavy snowfall instead of the announced rain snow again. Everthing was white within 10 minutes. However, yesterday it started raining...

 

On Thursday I'll visit the "Body Worlds" exhibition. Should be very interesting, I'm really curious.

[Horatio]

Now it is getting warmer. Most of the snow was already gone at saturday when there was heavy snowfall instead of the announced rain snow again. Everthing was white within 10 minutes. However, yesterday it started raining... <_>

 

On Thursday I'll visit the "Body Worlds" exhibition. Should be very interesting, I'm really curious.

Rain would be my preference. Get rid of the snow. Hopefully it stayed warm enough and didn't turn to ice.

 

Let us know about the exhibition. Sounds really terrific!

[Leguan]

Let us know about the exhibition. Sounds really terrific!

 

The exhibition was ok, but for €17 I expected more. It was really small. Nevertheless, they had some nice plastiniations. My favorite was a man who was 'disassembled' and all body parts were arranged 3D with filaments similar to an exploded view.

[Horatio]

Let us know about the exhibition. Sounds really terrific!

 

The exhibition was ok, but for €17 I expected more. It was really small. Nevertheless, they had some nice plastiniations. My favorite was a man who was 'disassembled' and all body parts were arranged 3D with filaments similar to an exploded view.

I think I would like that exhibit. The €17 is pretty expensive. I can't imagine that many people would want to spend that much and not have a really great exhibit.

 

 

Sooooo... how was your birthday?

[Leguan]

It was a really nice party. I just came back, a bit drunk... On my way, I visited the old biological institutes. Half a year ago, I was working there. Now, almost everything is demolished. The institutes moved. Really scary to go there at night. Half a year ago there were greenhouses and we had BBQ in the botanical garden, now I was walking through ruins. Scary...

[Horatio]

It was a really nice party. I just came back, a bit drunk... On my way, I visited the old biological institutes. Half a year ago, I was working there. Now, almost everything is demolished. The institutes moved. Really scary to go there at night. Half a year ago there were greenhouses and we had BBQ in the botanical garden, now I was walking through ruins. Scary...

I understand how you feel. In Florida, I lived on this great little street. It was one of those quaint little Florida streets with bungalow type houses. Fantastic neighborhood. I went back sometime later and it was piles of concrete trees and junk. Almost heartbreaking. A couple years after that I decided to return. The streets no longer existed. All traces of that neighborhood were non-existent. It was now a mall. The worst part was walking through the ruins. It was an empty feeling not to see any trace of the place.

[Leguan]

Weekend is over. On friday, I celebrated together with my friends in Cologne: a housewarming party, a farewell and my birthday. And I had another party with my old friends in my hometown yesterday. Didn't drink too much yesterday. Good decision. ^^ Anyway, I'm a bit exhausted now.

From my friends at the univerity I got the book "101 things to do before you die". Lets see how much of this I'll achieve.

[Leguan]

And the winter is back again. Again snowfall and decreasing temperatures. In this winter, we have more snow than in the last 5 together...

I want global warming. Now.

[Horatio]

It sounds like you have had a great weekend. Too much fun can definitely wear you out. You almost have to go back to work to get rested. So which of the 101 things will you be starting with? Perhaps you can add a few of your own.

 

I really don't like the cold. There are so many parts of the winter I love, but the negatives outweigh the positives. Scraping ice and snow off your car just to go somewhere is number one on the list. That is why a bicycle is so great in the snow. It gets you where you want to be and no ice removal.

 

Global warming... couldn't we just have global warming in certain sections of the world? For example, let's have the cold remain at the poles with the polar bears. Then for the rest of us... heat things up! Of course, I have some maniac friends who love the winter, ice fishing and other assorted outdoor snow sports. If it gets UP to 20 degrees Fahrenheit, they have shorts and t-shirts on. So for them, we will have a couple states that can remain cold in winter.

[Leguan]

Well, I really like snow and ice. However, I don't like the fact that this stuff needs to be so cold. A few weeks is fine, but now it's really cold for months.

I wonder whether any of the Rose-ringed Parakeets will survive this winter. There was quite a big population of this normally tropical parakeet in Cologne because of the mild winters over here and the fact that cities always have some warm places to hide. In summer, there was a sound like in the jungle under the trees in the parks. The last winter was already very cold with extended periods of severe frost and there were much less parakeets afterwards. This would at least be good for the native bats because they use the same niches for breeding and are outcompeted by the bigger parakeets.

[Leguan]

This morning was nice. Severe frost (-10°C), a little foggy, all the trees and bushes covered with ice like sugar icing, together with a beatiful sunrise bathing everything in a warm light. There is little snow this times, so the roads are in a comparably good condition.

I tried to take some photos with my mobile, but it didn't capture the mood. I like to show them anyway.

My way to the institute begins in a dense terraced area- here all the snow is gone due to the heat from the houses. The institute is at the border of Cologne. On my way, I cross the Stadtwald (a kind of park, but rather a small forest). There are some lakes which are connected as you can see on this photo. Behind the fence, a wildlife park with deers and so on begins.

 

A bit further: a railroad crosses the way. Sometimes you have to wait because diesel locomotives pulling freight trains pass by. This takes some time because they are really slow due to the fact that there are no gates.

 

And here's an avenue where I tried to capture the beatiful sunset. A few hundred metres further I reach the institute after a total distance of 8 kilometres. Even though it was fantastic in the forest, I appreaciate the heated building where I'm working.

 

[Jesusfreak]

Oooh, pretty pictures! I love snow.

[Horatio]

The rose-ringed parakeet is pretty. Hopefully they won't die out this winter.

I love bats! This summer I plan to add three bat houses to my yard. There is a great location across by the river, one in the backyard and one in the side yard that would be perfect for them. No one goes near those three locations.

 

When I lived in Coconut Grove, Florida, we had parrots that flew wild. Every morning and afternoon they would be flying overhead. There were a number of different varieties of parrot, so the colours were spectacular. And the sounds were just like you mentioned, just like you were in the jungle.

 

Thank you for the great pictures. Although it is really cold, what a beautiful way to start the day with a ride though Stadtwald. If I could ride my bicycle to work though such a peaceful area, I would ride every day. Those pictures are terrific!

[Leguan]

I have been a bit sick. Had some fever and so on, so I didn't go to work on Thursday and Friday. Riding the bike through a mixture of snow and rain would not have been good in this condition. Now I'm fine. On Friday there was lots of rain and all the snow melted. And, guess what... Correct. Temperatures decreased again, and now we also have snow again. Actually quite a lot. Today I went sledding a bit.

This winter is really amazing. So far, there was more snow now than in the last 10 winters taken together I guess. At least I can't remember any winter with so much snow. We even had White Christmas this winter, I think we never had this before in my life. I wonder how long this will continue. At least for the next two days, more snow is announced.

Even though I like snow, I think spring can come now. I want to ride my Honda which is waiting in the garage.

[Horatio]

I have been a bit sick. Had some fever and so on, so I didn't go to work on Thursday and Friday. Riding the bike through a mixture of snow and rain would not have been good in this condition. Now I'm fine. On Friday there was lots of rain and all the snow melted. And, guess what... Correct. Temperatures decreased again, and now we also have snow again. Actually quite a lot. Today I went sledding a bit.

This winter is really amazing. So far, there was more snow now than in the last 10 winters taken together I guess. At least I can't remember any winter with so much snow. We even had White Christmas this winter, I think we never had this before in my life. I wonder how long this will continue. At least for the next two days, more snow is announced.

Even though I like snow, I think spring can come now. I want to ride my Honda which is waiting in the garage.

This winter it seems like everyone has been sick. Glad to hear you are better now.

 

More snow?!?!?!? Spring would be outstanding!

 

Your Honda is getting lonely. I would love riding my bike throughout Europe. How exciting that would be. FedEx is talking about the Paris domicile again, so who knows... it just might happen. If I move there, we can go for a ride together when you return from your educational adventure. You are coming back home again, right?

[Leguan]

This indeed was a lot more snow. 20cm more. The last winter with so much snow was in 1978 they said in the radio. 7 years before I was born.

On my ride through Stadtwald I've been a bit too fast. There were masses of fresh wet snow. Quite okay if you are riding slowly, the mountainbike tires find their way. However, I was too fast and what happened was similar to aquaplaning. Just loose snow under the front tire. At least the snow was soft when I fell.

Now everthing is melting again. For tomorrow morning they announced more snow, switching to rain in the afternoon. What a disgusting weather.

 

would love riding my bike throughout Europe. How exciting that would be. FedEx is talking about the Paris domicile again, so who knows... it just might happen.

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

If I move there, we can go for a ride together when you return from your educational adventure. You are coming back home again, right?

 

Of course I'll come back. My plans for the future (starting into work life after the working holiday) are to stay at least in Europe, not necessarily Germany. Flights within Europe are cheap and I could often visit my family + old friends when I have a job.

However, one should never say never. If I really love Australia, find a great job, or girlfriend, or whatever... Who knows? Such an experience can change a personality a lot.

My mother is a bit concered about this... She already didn't like when I was moving to Cologne which is only 30km away from my hometown.

[Horatio]

Ohhhhh, the fall must have been funny. Of course, not for you, but if anyone was watching. I must say that bicyclists in Germany have a tendency to ride very, very fast. There is a mental picture I have and I must admit I am smiling. Glad the snow was soft and you weren't hurt.

 

Perhaps your mother knows something. We do have some layovers in Sydney, but not on the Airbus or B-777. So, I hope you return as soon as your work is complete.

 

As for the weather... snow, rain, snow, rain. I agree, quite disgusting!

[Leguan]

Yes, I guess it was quite funny. There where some people who asked whether I need help, but I was ok and also nothing happened to the bicycle. Just the

chain came off gear and I had dirty hands after fixing it.

 

I must say that bicyclists in Germany have a tendency to ride very, very fast.

 

That's true. And I am one of the faster ones... The faster you go, the earlier you arrive. Most times full power, especially now when it is could and you don't sweat so much. I know, it's a bit risky..

[Jesusfreak]

Sledding! I love hearing that other adults like sledding.

[Mushroom_king]

Hey, speaking of cycling, that's been my mom's latest obsession for like...several months now. She keeps wanting me to get on my bike to ride with her, but I'm a little more content staying inside and studying foreign languages/adding to my funny picture collection.

 

Funny thing is, for years my mom made fun of me because I made friends with people I don't even know via the Internet, but now she's friends with people (cyclers) she doesn't know through the Internet.

 

Anyway, just thought I'd stop by this tawpeek. I'd like to be able to say a sentence in German, but my German teacher at school has failed to teach me anything inherently useful (beyond numbers) this year.

[Leguan]

Sledding! I love hearing that other adults like sledding.

 

It's lots of fun. Actually, the last time I was sledding was when I was a child. This was the first time now that we had sufficient snow for many years (at least 10 I guess).

Depending on the slope it was getting really fast. I was a bit afraid whether the wooden sled would carry my weight which is a bit more than the weight of a child.

 

Hey, speaking of cycling, that's been my mom's latest obsession for like...several months now.

 

Actually, over here many people use it as means of transport for short distances like a few miles- like I do. It is environment-friendly (people are concerned a lot about pollution and so on) and in crowded cities it is fast. There are bicycle lanes almost everywhere, so you are a bit protected from the cars and don't have passengers walking on your way, so you can ride fast.

 

I'd like to be able to say a sentence in German, but my German teacher at school has failed to teach me anything inherently useful (beyond numbers) this year.

 

Numbers are at least something. Just keep on learning and you'll become an excellent German speaker.

[Jesusfreak]

Oh, I am very much the size of a child. I haven't been sledding in awhile either, but I can make a solid argument that skiing is like a more "mature" version of sledding anyways. Same concept at least.

[Horatio]

Florida is not the place to own a sled, but if I was up north, I would go sledding. I went sledding when I was on a trip in Vermont. It was so much fun and I wasn't worried about the weight as much as I was worried if I could remember how to steer properly. LOL There were these visions of running into a tree that kept popping into my head. LOL Luckily I had no such encounters.

 

Also, the Germans who use bicycling as transportation are in great shape. Americans should use more bicycles in the towns that are not really spread out. Urban sprawl has taken over America and there are only a few places remaining where riding a bicycle for transportation would be ideal. In Memphis, I have a friend who is a psychologist and he is an avid bicycler. He uses his bicycle as transportation is all kinds of weather. I really admire him. I do believe he bikes over ten miles each way to work.

[Leguan]

Oh, I am very much the size of a child. I haven't been sledding in awhile either, but I can make a solid argument that skiing is like a more "mature" version of sledding anyways. Same concept at least.

 

I'm 1,86m and my weight is ~80kg. Well, obviously that's still ok for a wooden sled.

Skiing, yes, that's an alternative. However, I never went. Here is not enough snow and there are also no big mountains, so I would have to go for a skiing holiday. Here, people usually go to Austria for this purpose. Or Switzerland. Well, maybe after returning from Australia, I'll go to Austria for some skiing.

 

Also, the Germans who use bicycling as transportation are in great shape.

 

Come on, you do not really need to be in great shape for riding short distances. People are just too lazy.

 

I have a friend who is a psychologist and he is an avid bicycler. He uses his bicycle as transportation is all kinds of weather. I really admire him. I do believe he bikes over ten miles each way to work.

 

That's a lot. I have a distance of 8 km (5 miles) each way to the institute. This takes me 20-30 minutes, depending on the traffic lights and my motivation. Usually it is something between 25 and 30. By the way, this way by car needs approx. 20 min, so it is not much faster.

I also ride at all weather conditions, but I have to admit that sometimes a car would be nice. Public transport on this way is horrible, takes more than 1 hour. So I ride, even though I have a ticket.

[Horatio]

Also, the Germans who use bicycling as transportation are in great shape.

 

Come on, you do not really need to be in great shape for riding short distances. People are just too lazy.

 

I have a friend who is a psychologist and he is an avid bicycler. He uses his bicycle as transportation is all kinds of weather. I really admire him. I do believe he bikes over ten miles each way to work.

 

That's a lot. I have a distance of 8 km (5 miles) each way to the institute. This takes me 20-30 minutes, depending on the traffic lights and my motivation. Usually it is something between 25 and 30. By the way, this way by car needs approx. 20 min, so it is not much faster.

I also ride at all weather conditions, but I have to admit that sometimes a car would be nice. Public transport on this way is horrible, takes more than 1 hour. So I ride, even though I have a ticket.

You are so right. Americans are really lazy. I go to the gym and will watch people sit in their cars to wait for a spot to open up that is very close to the door. What???? You are going to the gym.

 

Public transportation in Memphis is also really bad. Thank goodness I don't have to rely on it.

[Mushroom_king]

Right now my hobby is language study. I heard that humans can only speak seven languages fluently, which I hope isn't true, because I want to learn lots of languages. Like, ten or something. Unfortunately, I'm an American teenager, and for the most part, Americans don't wanna learn other languages, and teenagers don't want to learn anything. So, I have very few GOOD resources for learning new languages. I've also taken French classes and they were terrible, and my school only offers three languages-Spanish, French, and German. Last year they had Italian and this year they cut it, and they're considering adding Sign Language as a class.

 

The only easy language for me to find resources is Japanese. Because of anime's popularity there are a lot of people wanting to learn it, and as a nerd, there are lots of resources for Japanese made specifically for people like me.

[Leguan]

Today I got my international driving license and requested a passport. I just have an identity card until now since I never went out of Europe.

I need the passport number to apply for the working holiday visa. I hope it does not take too long (should be 3 weeks), then I can apply for the visa. When I have it, I'll book a flight. I'll probably fly with Emirates from Düsseldorf to Dubai, stay there for 3 days, and continue the journey to Sydney. I will book an open return ticket. The return trip will then be from Sydney (or maybe somewehere else in Asutralia) via Bangkok with one or two weeks stopover to Düsseldorf. Doesn't this sound good? I can't wait for October. Then the adventure can begin.

[Horatio]

Today I got my international driving license and requested a passport. I just have an identity card until now since I never went out of Europe.

I need the passport number to apply for the working holiday visa. I hope it does not take too long (should be 3 weeks), then I can apply for the visa. When I have it, I'll book a flight. I'll probably fly with Emirates from Düsseldorf to Dubai, stay there for 3 days, and continue the journey to Sydney. I will book an open return ticket. The return trip will then be from Sydney (or maybe somewehere else in Asutralia) via Bangkok with one or two weeks stopover to Düsseldorf. Doesn't this sound good? I can't wait for October. Then the adventure can begin.

Your plan doesn't sound good...

 

 

 

 

 

it sounds GREAT!!!!!!!

 

Please get one of those little Nikon Coolpix. They are inexpensive and take phenomenal pictures. Please keep us updated with pictures! I am really excited for you!

[Leguan]

Yes, I will buy a cam for sure. I wonder whether it is a good idea to do this in Dubai?

 

Tomorrow carnival starts. 11:11 o'clock. There's a party in the institute. I never had carnival with snow. Will be cold at the big parade on monday...

[Horatio]

Yes, I will buy a cam for sure. I wonder whether it is a good idea to do this in Dubai?

 

Tomorrow carnival starts. 11:11 o'clock. There's a party in the institute. I never had carnival with snow. Will be cold at the big parade on monday...

Personally I would just buy one in Germany. Your choices get more limited when you get to Dubai. You might save a couple of dollars, but I don't think it is worth it. Check on the Nikon site and look at all the Coolpix choices and what they offer. These are really inexpensive and I think it would not save all that much money to wait.

 

As for the snow, we escaped with only a couple inches... the east was not so lucky. I wonder how Cheesemaster is doing. Maryland and the surrounding area got hit with a blizzard. Jesusfreak and everyone in New York, TBFOF and Dog Lover, must be snowed in.

 

Enjoy carnival! The gluwein (the spelling is wrong, but I can't remember the correct spelling) will taste especially good with the cold and snow.

[Leguan]

Yes, it is really bad with the snow in parts of the US. I heard it in the news.

 

Enjoy carnival! The gluwein (the spelling is wrong, but I can't remember the correct spelling) will taste especially good with the cold and snow.

 

Glühwein you have around Christmas. For carnival, there's beer.

The party was nice. I'm not such a 'carnivalist' (even though I live in one of Germany's carnival strongholds) and didn't wear a costume. Well, I was the only one. Even all the people from China, India and many other countries where carnival isn't popular had costumes. Well, the members of the other working group on our floor made costumes together. They all were plants. One of them was ill today, so I got her's. I was a sunflower. With spots of mildew. In this lab, they investigate mildew resistance. The other people from my lab then called me a defector.

In the evening I went out with some friends for a beer. Everything was totally crowded. Roads (including tram) were blocked and you even didn't get into a pub because masses of people want to do the same. We were too late...

Tomorrow I have to work, but on monday I have a day off. Normally this day isn't a holiday, but in the carnival strongholds many employers allow the staff to take a day off and enjoy the parades.

[Jesusfreak]

Leguan as a sunflower. I want to see pictures of this.

[Horatio]

Leguan as a sunflower. I want to see pictures of this.

Exactly what I was thinking!!!!!

[Leguan]

I have to disappoint you, I don't have any pictures. There were a few people around taking pictures, but they were from other departments and I don't know them. Well, let's wait, maybe somebody puts something in the intranet.

On Friday we (a fellow student, some of his friends he invited from Bremen to visit Cologne carnival, and me) went out for some pub crawl again since the situation normalized a bit. In one pub, we even got some free beer. It was a really funny evening and later we even met my flatmate and his economics fellow students.

Tomorrow there's the big parade. There are parades every day somewhere in Cologne since thursday (and until tuesday), but this one is the biggest in Germany. However, I don't know whether I'll go there. There will be more than 1.000.000 visitors (that's even a bit more than the population of Cologne) accumulating in the center. It will be really really crowded. Last year I've been there and saw almost nothing of the parade. And this time with all this snow and the coldness...

 

 

 

I am currently checking whether there's a possibility to work in a research laboratory during the time I'll spend in Australia. A friend of my current supervisor is working in a lab down under which would be a good experience. The topic is related to what I'm currently doing and the institute is known for excellent research. She likes to have me there for working together with her, but they probably can't pay. And earning at least as much money as I need for the time living there would be essential. I hope she'll find a possibility.

[Horatio]

I have to disappoint you, I don't have any pictures. There were a few people around taking pictures, but they were from other departments and I don't know them. Well, let's wait, maybe somebody puts something in the intranet.

On Friday we (a fellow student, some of his friends he invited from Bremen to visit Cologne carnival, and me) went out for some pub crawl again since the situation normalized a bit. In one pub, we even got some free beer. It was a really funny evening and later we even met my flatmate and his economics fellow students.

Tomorrow there's the big parade. There are parades every day somewhere in Cologne since thursday (and until tuesday), but this one is the biggest in Germany. However, I don't know whether I'll go there. There will be more than 1.000.000 visitors (that's even a bit more than the population of Cologne) accumulating in the center. It will be really really crowded. Last year I've been there and saw almost nothing of the parade. And this time with all this snow and the coldness...

 

 

 

I am currently checking whether there's a possibility to work in a research laboratory during the time I'll spend in Australia. A friend of my current supervisor is working in a lab down under which would be a good experience. The topic is related to what I'm currently doing and the institute is known for excellent research. She likes to have me there for working together with her, but they probably can't pay. And earning at least as much money as I need for the time living there would be essential. I hope she'll find a possibility.

Keep checking that intranet! I'll pay for just one picture of you in that costume! A million people attempting to watch the parade... not me. I would opt for the footage on the evening news.

 

Good luck with the possibility of working with your supervisor's friend. It would be great news if they could pay you. It is so difficult to try and find something when you are long distance. On top of this is the fact that the world's economy is upside-down. Perhaps you will be lucky and get the position you want with pay.

[Leguan]

I haven't been at the parade. I'm a bit ill again (what's going on, I haven't been ill for more than 5 years...) and today we get snow, snow, and snow. A never ending story.

 

Good luck with the possibility of working with your supervisor's friend. It would be great news if they could pay you. It is so difficult to try and find something when you are long distance. On top of this is the fact that the world's economy is upside-down. Perhaps you will be lucky and get the position you want with pay.

 

Thanks. Well, let's wait and see. Over here I would for sure get a paid internship since I have good marks and did not just stay at the university which would have been more convenient. I also had (and currently have) lab experiences in institutes having very good reputation and therefore also have some very good references. At the moment, I also get some money for my thesis which is just fair I think.

However, Down Under internships in general are much less common as I know now and getting paid is rather extraordinary. If you don't have any connections, it is even difficult to find an unpaid internship according to the information I found in the net. There are agencies you pay for procuring unpaid internships. With this background I should be happy to already have an offer. Quite weird. For simple backpacker jobs like fruitpicking you get money, but not for qualified work?

I would really like to work there because it's an excellent institute. However, without at least free accomodation this is impossible. I would have to spend even more of my travel time for backpacker jobs just to finance the internship. That's not the idea of a working holiday and that's also not what I want...

[Horatio]

I haven't been at the parade. I'm a bit ill again (what's going on, I haven't been ill for more than 5 years...) and today we get snow, snow, and snow. A never ending story.

 

For simple backpacker jobs like fruitpicking you get money, but not for qualified work?

I would really like to work there because it's an excellent institute. However, without at least free accomodation this is impossible. I would have to spend even more of my travel time for backpacker jobs just to finance the internship. That's not the idea of a working holiday and that's also not what I want...

Not feeling well? Oh my! That's not good. It is quite possible that you are not giving yourself time to fully recover. When you start feeling better, you return to full speed and this does not give your body all the chances it needs to totally get well. I hope this goes away soon.

 

You could always pick fruit in Florida. At least you could stay free at our house. Of course, this would not do anything towards your education and internship, but... you would then be a qualified fruit picker! Wouldn't that look good on your resume.

[Leguan]

I'm feeling already a bit better today. Had together with my supervisor an introduction into the confocal laser scanning microscope (which I'll have to use soon) today. 4 hours.

The guy giving the introduction was speaking very slow and explained lots of details. I already knew much of it since I had a lecture about this one year ago and in another lab somebody already demonstrated the possibilities of such an instrument to me. However, this was completely new to my supervisor. She was really amazed about the possibilities you have with this special equipment.

 

You could always pick fruit in Florida. At least you could stay free at our house. Of course, this would not do anything towards your education and internship, but... you would then be a qualified fruit picker! Wouldn't that look good on your resume.

 

I wouldn't be allowed to work in the States. A qualified fruitpicker. Well, doing such jobs doesn't matter to me. If I get money, I just do it. It's nothing for the resume, but it also isn't essential for me to have something nice for the resume during this year, even though it would be nice. The year in Australia is a year off in the first place. Travel and have fun. Be free.

[Horatio]

I wouldn't be allowed to work in the States. A qualified fruitpicker. Well, doing such jobs doesn't matter to me. If I get money, I just do it. It's nothing for the resume, but it also isn't essential for me to have something nice for the resume during this year, even though it would be nice. The year in Australia is a year off in the first place. Travel and have fun. Be free.

 

You wouldn't be alone as far as being an illegal worker. Florida seems to have more than their share of illegal workers. At least you speak Spanish, so when Immigration came, you would understand them when they said run.

 

This happens quite a bit at the airport in Miami. How they get on the airport when everyone has to be background checked back to their great-great-great grandparents, is a mystery. But when Immigration comes checking, you will see all the illegals running like cockroaches when the light comes on.

 

 

There is a great Photonics online website. I read it quite often as they have written about some mind-boggling products. Lasers are incredible and the microscope you will be using sounds terrific!

[Leguan]

At least you speak Spanish,

 

Spanish? No, I don't speak Spanish at all. Seuelement un peu de francais. Just some French, but really not much. I had French at school for six years, but I've never been good in this subject and my last lesson was 7 years (wow, already so long ) ago.

 

Today we had again a farewell party at the institute from a member of the lab I'm also working in. We have a nice bar in the lecture hall building where such things are celebrated. And tomorrow there's another party. In the neighbour lab there's a guy from the Netherlands who is playing in a band. Initially just somebody was kidding and told him to give a concert. Now his friends from the Netherlands are really coming.

BTW, this just reminds me of the sunflower. This guy was a sunflower at carnival, too. No photos in the intranet. I'm sorry.

 

Today I was using the confocal microscope the first time with real samples. The stuff I'm preparing for months now. Finally, I see the results. Well, hit the bull's eye! I found some interesting stuff, so the project is already a success! However, I'm a bit scared of this success. I already have more positives than expected. However, since I also have positive and negative controls which both worked, I obviously don't have any artifacts and the stuff I observed is real. Now I have to analyze the remaining samples (which are quite a lot) and then take the positives to closer investigation. Let's see...

[Horatio]

 

Spanish? No, I don't speak Spanish at all. Seuelement un peu de francais. Just some French, but really not much. I had French at school for six years, but I've never been good in this subject and my last lesson was 7 years (wow, already so long ) ago.

 

Today we had again a farewell party at the institute from a member of the lab I'm also working in. We have a nice bar in the lecture hall building where such things are celebrated. And tomorrow there's another party. In the neighbour lab there's a guy from the Netherlands who is playing in a band. Initially just somebody was kidding and told him to give a concert. Now his friends from the Netherlands are really coming.

BTW, this just reminds me of the sunflower. This guy was a sunflower at carnival, too. No photos in the intranet. I'm sorry.

 

Today I was using the confocal microscope the first time with real samples. The stuff I'm preparing for months now. Finally, I see the results. Well, hit the bull's eye! I found some interesting stuff, so the project is already a success! However, I'm a bit scared of this success. I already have more positives than expected. However, since I also have positive and negative controls which both worked, I obviously don't have any artifacts and the stuff I observed is real. Now I have to analyze the remaining samples (which are quite a lot) and then take the positives to closer investigation. Let's see...

I'll have to remind you to use your phone to take all those pictures. The guy as a sunflower would have been great to see! How fantastic that his friends are coming down from the Netherlands for the concert. I can only think what a fun train ride they are going to have to and from.

 

Exciting news that the use of the confocal microscope allowed you to view your positive results. *applause* You have to be thrilled at your accomplishments! Success can be a little scary, but I am positive you will handle the success well. It must make you feel so good to see the results of your hard work. What a great way to start your career!!! You are phenomenal!!!!!! Keep up the good work!

 

The remaining samples will take time, but I'm certain they will back-up the exact results you have strived to achieve. Good luck with these!

 

Thank you for allowing us to share in your successes. I really am excited for you and appreciate you taking the time to include us.

[Leguan]

What a weekend. On saturday we had perfect spring weather. Sunny and warm. Ideal to take the little Honda for the first ride this year.

 

Ready to go.

 

 

 

Not far from here are some nice areas for biking. Here one of my favorite tracks starts. There's still some remainder of the snow in the elevated areas. The road sign perfectly fits.

 

 

 

The roads were at some places slippery due to the winter gritting, I had to be a bit careful. But also many roads were in excellent condition.

Here's one of the numerous villages you pass in this area. There are still some old-fashioned houses which are several hundreds years old.

 

 

 

And here's one of my absolute favorite roads over here. What you can see in the background is the Altenberg cathedral.

 

 

 

Same position, other direction. Coming through the bend on the previous picture, just open the throttle and enjoy. 100 km/h (62 mph) are allowed there. But careful, more bends like the previous are coming. I had a Porsche Carrera S in front of me. He took the bends with screeching tires. Well, no chance against a motorbike. On this road, acceleration is what you need, especially due to the inclination. And even my little Honda accelerates faster than such a Porsche.

 

 

 

On my way back. The famous German Autobahn. The sign indicates Autobahn 1 to Cologne.

 

 

 

First, there's a speed limit. However, a few kilometers further a sign like this is coming:

 

 

This sign means: complete derestriction. My favorite sign. I also call it the 'full throttle sign'.

It was a really nice trip and I drove back to my parent's home to bring the bike into the garage.

 

On Sunday the weather changed. Maybe you heard about the hurricane over Europe. Especially in France many people died, in Germany there were 5 dead. Lots of trees fell down and so on. I couldn't get home yesterday because rail traffic was completely canceled and many of the highways were closed. Late in the evening the storm stopped and now the weather is quite nice again.

I had to get up very early in the morning not to be late at work since the distance is much longer from my parent's home.

[Jesusfreak]

I'm sort of in a black hole at college when it comes to current events, but, since when does Europe get hurricanes, and since when do they happen in February?

[Horatio]

Wonderful photographs! The day looked beautiful, so I can only imagine what a great ride you had. What a way to start preparing for spring. Thank you for all the terrific pictures.

 

As for the weather... this has been the strangest winter that I can imagine. The hurricane in Europe has hit hard. Sad news to hear about the deaths. My friend is in Normandy and he says that this has been a terrible winter. Too much snow!

[Leguan]

I'm sort of in a black hole at college when it comes to current events, but, since when does Europe get hurricanes, and since when do they happen in February?

 

Hurricanes are not unuasual here, especially when winter ends. There are no twisters like in the US, but also heavy storms breaking trees, lifting roof tiles and so on. They are not that heavy each year. The last of this strength was in 2007. Then even all highways and railways were closed in whole Germany. For the first time since WWII. This time it was not so severe in Germany, but in other parts of Europe. In France many people drowned in storm surge. Here people mostly were killed by falling trees and a child was blown into a river where it drowned.

[Horatio]

I'm sort of in a black hole at college when it comes to current events, but, since when does Europe get hurricanes, and since when do they happen in February?

 

Hurricanes are not unuasual here, especially when winter ends. There are no twisters like in the US, but also heavy storms breaking trees, lifting roof tiles and so on. They are not that heavy each year. The last of this strength was in 2007. Then even all highways and railways were closed in whole Germany. For the first time since WWII. This time it was not so severe in Germany, but in other parts of Europe. In France many people drowned in storm surge. Here people mostly were killed by falling trees and a child was blown into a river where it drowned.

I had heard the news of the storms on BBC and it sounded like some of our really bad hurricanes. How sad for the people who lost their lives. We had one death in Florida where a woman lost her life by a falling tree. Most people wondered what she was doing out in a hurricane with headphones and loud playing music. And some other people who witnessed her death said the tree took a relatively long time to fall over and she had plenty of time to move, so they couldn't figure what she was doing.

[Horatio]

*waves to Leguan*

Hi !!!

[Jesusfreak]

Huh, interesting. I was strongly under the impression that hurricanes don't move that way.

[Leguan]

*waves to Leguan*

Hi !!!

 

Didn't see that. Probably I just had the tab with this board still open.

 

 

 

Today would also be a nice day to go biking. Sun is shining. However, it's getting colder again. For Friday and Saturday, they announced snow. Will this winter never end? Let's hope that the forecast is wrong. I remember last March. I had the first barbecue in the year at +20°C. Much nicer than snow and negative temperatures.

[Horatio]

Huh, interesting. I was strongly under the impression that hurricanes don't move that way.

Hurricanes don't move what way?

*is confused*

[Horatio]

*waves to Leguan*

Hi !!!

 

Didn't see that. Probably I just had the tab with this board still open.

 

 

 

Today would also be a nice day to go biking. Sun is shining. However, it's getting colder again. For Friday and Saturday, they announced snow. <_ will this winter never end let hope that the forecast is wrong. src="%7B___base_url___%7D/uploads/emoticons/default_laugh.png" alt=":lol:"> I remember last March. I had the first barbecue in the year at +20°C. Much nicer than snow and negative temperatures.

Probably so.

 

More snow?!?!?!?!? I certainly hope that the forecasters are wrong and it is sunshine and warm days!

One reason why I left the northeast. Of course, this winter seems the worst I have seen in a long time, but I could be wrong.

[Leguan]

 

More snow?!?!?!?!? I certainly hope that the forecasters are wrong and it is sunshine and warm days!

One reason why I left the northeast. Of course, this winter seems the worst I have seen in a long time, but I could be wrong.

 

The forecast still says snow and one day in advance, it is usually quite accurate...

However it will melt quickly since temperatures will be slightly positive at day. The forecast for next week looks quite nice. Very frosty in the nights, but lots of sunshine letting the temperature rise above freezing point at the days. Well, better than the masses of rain and finally the storm we had the last two weeks. At least I used the only "warm" (warmest this year ) and sunny day for biking.

[Horatio]

If you can lie with a straight face, than you will make a perfect weather-person. They never get anything right over here. It's always a 50% chance of rain, 50% chance of sunshine, 50% chance of cloudy skies... you get the idea. Sometimes I am not sure they can even read a weather map. We have one weather-person who almost always stands in front of the weather map that she is talking about. UGH.

[Leguan]

Well, they were right.

Winter is back. In Cologne we were lucky, just a little bit of snow. And the sun is shining. That's quite nice. I hope it's a last rearing up of the winter and now spring can begin. All the spring flowers are germinating. Snowdrops (they look really beautiful with this thin layer of snow) and crocus are already flowering. Hazel and willow carry their catkins. First signs of spring.

[Horatio]

Well, they were right.

Winter is back. In Cologne we were lucky, just a little bit of snow. And the sun is shining. That's quite nice. I hope it's a last rearing up of the winter and now spring can begin. All the spring flowers are germinating. Snowdrops (they look really beautiful with this thin layer of snow) and crocus are already flowering. Hazel and willow carry their catkins. First signs of spring.

I just love the flowers of spring!!! How amazing that they are so hardy as to pop up through the snow. What a wonderful sign that the warmer weather is on it's way.

[Leguan]

The results I'm getting in my project turn out to be false positives. Now I have to try different approaches. Well, even though it would be nice to have good results for the thesis, I'm not so sad about it. I already learned that science means lots of work which very often turns out to be done for nothing. At some point, you just notice the result. No matter wether it is positive or negative, you just continue with appropriate things. And for a master's thesis, the results themselves are not so important since it is always a big portion of luck whether you get something or not. The important thing is how you approach the problem. Well, now I'm forced (or rather have the opportunity) to learn some more advanced techniques for further analysis. In the remaining time I can't screen the whole stuff I prepared, but for me the important thing is to learn. Especially how to deal with problems. It's just a bit inconvenient then for writing. If your stuff is working it is easy, but if it isn't working you have to read a lot more literature and discuss what could have went wrong, how you could improve it and so on. Well, I'll manage this. I already did during my bachelor's thesis. And now I have at least some nice false positive results to discuss which is better than only negative stuff since it shows that the method itself worked and you didn't make some mistakes. Just the approach isn't suited. And I have some very nice fluorescence microscopy pictures to show.

[Jesusfreak]

And I have some very nice fluorescence microscopy pictures to show.

Ooh I wanna see! *is a nerd*

[Mushroom_king]

And I have some very nice fluorescence microscopy pictures to show.

Ooh I wanna see! *is a nerd*

we all are.

[Horatio]

The results I'm getting in my project turn out to be false positives. Now I have to try different approaches. Well, even though it would be nice to have good results for the thesis, I'm not so sad about it. I already learned that science means lots of work which very often turns out to be done for nothing. At some point, you just notice the result. No matter wether it is positive or negative, you just continue with appropriate things. And for a master's thesis, the results themselves are not so important since it is always a big portion of luck whether you get something or not. The important thing is how you approach the problem. Well, now I'm forced (or rather have the opportunity) to learn some more advanced techniques for further analysis. In the remaining time I can't screen the whole stuff I prepared, but for me the important thing is to learn. Especially how to deal with problems. It's just a bit inconvenient then for writing. If your stuff is working it is easy, but if it isn't working you have to read a lot more literature and discuss what could have went wrong, how you could improve it and so on. Well, I'll manage this. I already did during my bachelor's thesis. And now I have at least some nice false positive results to discuss which is better than only negative stuff since it shows that the method itself worked and you didn't make some mistakes. Just the approach isn't suited. And I have some very nice fluorescence microscopy pictures to show.

Frustrating! But now you know what didn't turn out the way you expected. This is quite similar to teaching someone how to fly. You want them to do some bad landings so they know how to recover. If the student pilot only does very good landings, then you worry how he will react when a bad landing comes along. And a bad landing will come along, it is just a matter of when. It is much better if you can teach him when it is early in his career and he has an instructor with him.

 

I do understand. Good luck!

[Leguan]

 

Ooh I wanna see! *is a nerd*

 

 

Lets see what I have on my USB stick. Well, no really nice one, but maybe this.

You can see a cell from tobacco (just the model plant I'm using for this) leaf epidermis. The picture is an overlay of three individual pictures. All gray stuff comes from the normal microscopy picture, the colored is fluorescence microscopy. The red spots are chloroplasts. The yellow thing is the nucleus. The cell is genetically engineered and produces a yellow marker protein which is a mutant version of a jellyfish green fluorescent protein. I transfer the construct via engineered bacteria. Normally, they infect plant cells and promote cancer. These bacteria here are genetically 'disarmed' and just transfer everything you want into the plant.

 

 

Well, the microscope can do a lot more than this. It can focus the laserbeam exactly on different layers and scan the whole thing. What you get are virtual crosssections without cutting your sample. At the computer you can generate a stack from the single layers. Via interpolation a three-dimensional image is rendered. I did this once (just playing a bit since this isn't relevant for my project), really nice to look at it in 3D. However, I can't show it to you since you need a special software.

[Jesusfreak]

Wow, that's pretty cool! I always thought chloroplasts were very much smaller than the nucleus.

[Leguan]

Wow, that's pretty cool! I always thought chloroplasts were very much smaller than the nucleus.

 

Well, they are much smaller than the nucleus, but not sooo much. Also depends a bit on the plant species. Since you liked it, I extracted some more pictures.

Here's another optical section of the same part of the leaf. In theis layer you can see three nuclei from different cells.

BTW, the cells have this lobed shape to increase the stability of the leaf. In a vertical section, they would look like squares.

 

 

Here's another image of the same stuff. You can see the three single images. The gray image comes from the Helium-Neon laser. The red and yellow come from an Argon laser with the appropriate wavelengths filtered. Each image is detected in a separate channel. You could also stain other structures in the cell with different colors like blue and make an overlay of the images. I also put a scalebar into this image.

 

 

And here's another picture with many cells. Nuclei stained yellow. With the arrow I marked a stomate. This consists of two specialized cells. Through the opening, the plant takes up carbon dioxyde and releases oxygen. When exposed to drought, it can close the opening to prevent water loss by transpiration.

 

 

And here's a big cell which produces the transgenic yellow protein in the cytoplasm. In plant cells, the cytoplasm is restricted to the cell borders because they have a large vacuole filling almost the whole cell.

 

[Horatio]

 

Ooh I wanna see! *is a nerd*

 

 

Lets see what I have on my USB stick. Well, no really nice one, but maybe this.

You can see a cell from tobacco (just the model plant I'm using for this) leaf epidermis. The picture is an overlay of three individual pictures. All gray stuff comes from the normal microscopy picture, the colored is fluorescence microscopy. The red spots are chloroplasts. The yellow thing is the nucleus. The cell is genetically engineered and produces a yellow marker protein which is a mutant version of a jellyfish green fluorescent protein. I transfer the construct via engineered bacteria. Normally, they infect plant cells and promote cancer. These bacteria here are genetically 'disarmed' and just transfer everything you want into the plant.

 

 

Well, the microscope can do a lot more than this. It can focus the laserbeam exactly on different layers and scan the whole thing. What you get are virtual crosssections without cutting your sample. At the computer you can generate a stack from the single layers. Via interpolation a three-dimensional image is rendered. I did this once (just playing a bit since this isn't relevant for my project), really nice to look at it in 3D. However, I can't show it to you since you need a special software.

Phenomenal!!! I love that photograph! Amazing what a microscope can do these days. To give you cross-sections without cutting is absolutely amazing.

[Horatio]

Wow, that's pretty cool! I always thought chloroplasts were very much smaller than the nucleus.

 

Well, they are much smaller than the nucleus, but not sooo much. Also depends a bit on the plant species. Since you liked it, I extracted some more pictures.

Here's another optical section of the same part of the leaf. In theis layer you can see three nuclei from different cells.

BTW, the cells have this lobed shape to increase the stability of the leaf. In a vertical section, they would look like squares.

 

 

Here's another image of the same stuff. You can see the three single images. The gray image comes from the Helium-Neon laser. The red and yellow come from an Argon laser with the appropriate wavelengths filtered. Each image is detected in a separate channel. You could also stain other structures in the cell with different colors like blue and make an overlay of the images. I also put a scalebar into this image.

 

 

And here's another picture with many cells. Nuclei stained yellow. With the arrow I marked a stomate. This consists of two specialized cells. Through the opening, the plant takes up carbon dioxyde and releases oxygen. When exposed to drought, it can close the opening to prevent water loss by transpiration.

 

 

And here's a big cell which produces the transgenic yellow protein in the cytoplasm. In plant cells, the cytoplasm is restricted to the cell borders because they have a large vacuole filling almost the whole cell.

 

Thank you for these fantastic images and the explanation. I appreciate you showing us your work. Especially placing the arrow by the stomate. I probably would have missed it. You must get excited seeing the fruits of your labour, even if they don't work exactly as you had planned.

 

The lasers have incredible results. Your photographs amazing with the different lasers and what they depict. Thank you again for these.

[Leguan]

 

Thank you for these fantastic images and the explanation. I appreciate you showing us your work. Especially placing the arrow by the stomate. I probably would have missed it. You must get excited seeing the fruits of your labour, even if they don't work exactly as you had planned.

 

The lasers have incredible results. Your photographs amazing with the different lasers and what they depict. Thank you again for these.

 

You're welcome. Yes, the beatiful pictures are much better than just seeing nothing, even though they are false positive. Let's see what I can do in the remaining time. I discussed this with my supervisor, First, we try to improve the conditions. If we still have false positives, we switch for some candidates to another system.

And yes, it is really amazing what a microscope can do nowadays. However, it isn't a normal one. I know that just the lasers (there are four different ones) cost around $50.000. The cool thing with this microscope is that it is fully motorized. You move your sample not manually but with a joystick, for changing objectives and filters you just press buttons or click in the software. The microscope is mounted on a pneumatic table to reduce vibration. Always when you touch it there's this noise from the air released or taken up. Around it, various instruments and the cooling systems stand around. Then you have two computers with two screens each. The room has to be quite dark. With all this stuff, the sounds and the blinking lights everywhere it's a quite weird atmosphere in this room. I've never been in one, but you feel like sitting in some NASA lab.

Next month the manufacturer will come to our institute and present us the latest generation of their microscopes. These instruments come with a touchscreen and stuff like this. I'm really looking forward to see this fancy stuff.

 

Another topic:

 

Winter seems to be over and spring is fast approaching. Temperatures are rising and rising. Can't believe that last week there was still frost and the remainders of the snow. Yesterday we had sun and 14°C which was the warmest day this year. Well, this record is already going to be broken today. The sun is shining and 17°C are announced. This feels so warm. Yesterday in the break I went out in the sun with just a T-shirt. What a pity that tomorrow and at the weekend there's rain. Otherwise I would have the first barbecue this year. Last year around this time we already had 20°C and the spring flowers (especially the daffodils) were a bit early. At Easter, they were already withered. This time they are too late.

[Jesusfreak]

It's so cool to see the pictures of actual plant cells and compare them to what I learned in my own biology courses. Our diagrams of plant cells were always squared, and the vacuole, though large, never took up almost the whole cell. Maybe you could write a textbook about what the cells actually look like.

[Leguan]

Today was really nice. Sun and even 18°C. The canteen staff set up the tables outside. Having lunch sitting in the sun, directly at a pond full of fish was quite cool after such a long winter.

On my way back through the big park there are usually very few people. Now since the days are becoming longer and with the nice wheather today it was virtually crowded. Some people already had barbecue.

 

 

It's so cool to see the pictures of actual plant cells and compare them to what I learned in my own biology courses. Our diagrams of plant cells were always squared, and the vacuole, though large, never took up almost the whole cell. Maybe you could write a textbook about what the cells actually look like.

 

Well, these are epidermal cells viewed from the top. If you see them in a vertical section, they indeed look squared. When I've first seen this during the botany course in the second semester I was also quite surprised. There exist a number of different cells with all kinds of shapes and functions.

If you want to have a look at a really nice textbook: Raven, Evert, Eichhorn: Biology of Plants.

[Jesusfreak]

Ah, I see. This is the stuff they should be teaching us in grade school.

[Horatio]

 

You're welcome. Yes, the beatiful pictures are much better than just seeing nothing, even though they are false positive. Let's see what I can do in the remaining time. I discussed this with my supervisor, First, we try to improve the conditions. If we still have false positives, we switch for some candidates to another system.

And yes, it is really amazing what a microscope can do nowadays. However, it isn't a normal one. I know that just the lasers (there are four different ones) cost around $50.000. The cool thing with this microscope is that it is fully motorized. You move your sample not manually but with a joystick, for changing objectives and filters you just press buttons or click in the software. The microscope is mounted on a pneumatic table to reduce vibration. Always when you touch it there's this noise from the air released or taken up. Around it, various instruments and the cooling systems stand around. Then you have two computers with two screens each. The room has to be quite dark. With all this stuff, the sounds and the blinking lights everywhere it's a quite weird atmosphere in this room. I've never been in one, but you feel like sitting in some NASA lab.

Next month the manufacturer will come to our institute and present us the latest generation of their microscopes. These instruments come with a touchscreen and stuff like this. I'm really looking forward to see this fancy stuff.

 

Another topic:

 

Winter seems to be over and spring is fast approaching. Temperatures are rising and rising. Can't believe that last week there was still frost and the remainders of the snow. Yesterday we had sun and 14°C which was the warmest day this year. Well, this record is already going to be broken today. The sun is shining and 17°C are announced. This feels so warm. Yesterday in the break I went out in the sun with just a T-shirt. What a pity that tomorrow and at the weekend there's rain. Otherwise I would have the first barbecue this year. Last year around this time we already had 20°C and the spring flowers (especially the daffodils) were a bit early. At Easter, they were already withered. This time they are too late.

Even though I am not in your field, I am so excited for you. When the manufacturer comes, this should be even more exciting! To be inside that room with all that sensory input, I can only imagine just how you feel. How fortunate you are to be in the right place at this time. Imagine how Einstein would have felt had he had this equipment to work with.

 

Glad the weather is getting nice. Here in Tennessee, the daffodils appeared last week. They are such a happy flower. We don't have daffodils or other cold weather flowers in Florida, so it is nice seeing spring and all the beautiful flowers that spring brings.

 

Easter lilies... hope they appear on time.

[Horatio]

Well, these are epidermal cells viewed from the top. If you see them in a vertical section, they indeed look squared. When I've first seen this during the botany course in the second semester I was also quite surprised. There exist a number of different cells with all kinds of shapes and functions.

If you want to have a look at a really nice textbook: Raven, Evert, Eichhorn: Biology of Plants.

Jesusfreak is right, had they taught us some of this in grade and middle school, then we would have many more biologists. How exciting it would have been to have been able to learn some of this on a more basic level. And I loved Biology, Chemistry and all the sciences. I probably would not be a pilot today.

[Leguan]

Weather is great. The sun is giving the plants a real boost. Everywhere early plants are popping up, shrubs and some trees start to get leaves, and the daffodils made it. The small ones are already flowering and the big ones should also be ready for Easter.

 

I probably would not be a pilot today.

 

Really? I would love to be a pilot.

 

A propos, I'm looking for flights at the moment. So many choices. I have an offer for Emirates. Düsseldorf (very close to my home) to Dubai, stay three days, and then the next flight to Perth. Return would be Sydney to Bangkok, stay there a few weeks, then to Dubai (without stopover) and back to Düsseldorf. 1080 Euros plus 75 Euros for changing the return flights since it is only possible to book one year in advance.

Well, lets see. I'm looking for some more offers. I really would like to have one of the flights with the A380 which would be Dubai-Sydney with Emirates or Singapore-Sydney with Qantas or Singapore Airlines. What du you think is better to have a Stopover- Dubai or Singapore? Dubai would be really nice with all these impressive building, but that's it almost. Just in the middle of the desert. And Singapore is considered as "Asia light" and thus a bit boring. I heard it looks like any occidental city.

 

Now I also received my new passport and got a visa card (just had a eurocheque card before) which I both need to apply for the working holiday visa- this I'll do soon.

Aww, all this planning is driving me crazy. I want to go immediately.

However, going now wouldn't be good. The Aussie Dollar is really strong at the moment. One year ago € 1 was AUD 2.10 and now it is 1.47. I hope the crisis with Greece in the Euro zone ends and the Euro recovers until I leave.

[Horatio]

Really? I would love to be a pilot.

 

A propos, I'm looking for flights at the moment. So many choices. I have an offer for Emirates. Düsseldorf (very close to my home) to Dubai, stay three days, and then the next flight to Perth. Return would be Sydney to Bangkok, stay there a few weeks, then to Dubai (without stopover) and back to Düsseldorf. 1080 Euros plus 75 Euros for changing the return flights since it is only possible to book one year in advance.

Well, lets see. I'm looking for some more offers. I really would like to have one of the flights with the A380 which would be Dubai-Sydney with Emirates or Singapore-Sydney with Qantas or Singapore Airlines. What du you think is better to have a Stopover- Dubai or Singapore? Dubai would be really nice with all these impressive building, but that's it almost. Just in the middle of the desert. And Singapore is considered as "Asia light" and thus a bit boring. I heard it looks like any occidental city.

 

Now I also received my new passport and got a visa card (just had a eurocheque card before) which I both need to apply for the working holiday visa- this I'll do soon.

Aww, all this planning is driving me crazy. I want to go immediately.

However, going now wouldn't be good. The Aussie Dollar is really strong at the moment. One year ago € 1 was AUD 2.10 and now it is 1.47. I hope the crisis with Greece in the Euro zone ends and the Euro recovers until I leave.

Singapore would be my choice for a layover. Go to Dubai if you have lots of money and love to shop. Dubai seems very boring to me... unless of course you happen to be there when the MotoGP race is going on, then I would go to Dubai only for the race.

[Leguan]

Hey, I found something in the same price class, but much much better. Etihad Airways. Train ticket in Germany is included. So I would first take the train to Frankfurt. From Cologne to Frankfurt there is a new ICE (German high speed train) track where the train goes up to 320kmh (200mph). I always wanted to test this- a good start for the journey. Flight to Abu Dhabi. Bus transfer to Dubai included. Briefly visit both cities (I want the see the world's highest building) and fly to Australia (either Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane). After the year there, start in Brisbane and fly to Bangkok. Travel around in this region, take the train (extremely cheap) to Kuala Lumpur and then to Singapore. Fly to Abu Dhabi and then to Frankfurt.

Doesn't this sound great?

[Horatio]

That sounds fantastic!!!! Now that is a very great sounding trip!!!

[Leguan]

At the moment, I'm trying to make an appointment for my final exam. Not so easy.

I have to find three professors who can be there at the same time and place. In the middle of summer. Holiday time...

Also, my choice is limited since they have to be familiar with the stuff I'm doing.

Normally, I would like to finish my studies in August, but it looks like September now. Well, it has to be before October, otherwise I would have to pay additional €700 tuition fee.

And I want to book my flight soon. And for this, I have to know when I finish.

[Horatio]

At the moment, I'm trying to make an appointment for my final exam. Not so easy.

I have to find three professors who can be there at the same time and place. In the middle of summer. Holiday time...

Also, my choice is limited since they have to be familiar with the stuff I'm doing.

Normally, I would like to finish my studies in August, but it looks like September now. Well, it has to be before October, otherwise I would have to pay additional €700 tuition fee.

And I want to book my flight soon. And for this, I have to know when I finish.

That presents a stressful situation. Hopefully you will get the appointment for your final exam very soon. Getting three professors together in the middle of summer... I wish you lots of luck. They will all be off on holiday and not want to think of any students.

[Leguan]

At least my supervisor who has to bo the first examiner is absolutely flexible (already going for holiday in July).

So far, I asked three other professors. One is away whole August plus first half of September.

The second is away almost whole August but there in September.

The third is away for three weeks in August or September. Can tell the exact times in two months...

 

Well, I think I'll try to find another one for beginning of September and then fix a date together with the second and my supervisor. Should be possible since most people go for holiday in July or August I guess.

[Horatio]

At least my supervisor who has to bo the first examiner is absolutely flexible (already going for holiday in July).

So far, I asked three other professors. One is away whole August plus first half of September.

The second is away almost whole August but there in September.

The third is away for three weeks in August or September. Can tell the exact times in two months...

 

Well, I think I'll try to find another one for beginning of September and then fix a date together with the second and my supervisor. Should be possible since most people go for holiday in July or August I guess.

America should adopt the European policy of going on holiday for six weeks in the summer.

[Leguan]

Well, I also don't know how they can take so much holidays. For sure we have more holidays here, but normally it is approx. 1 month in total for a whole year.

[Horatio]

Well, I also don't know how they can take so much holidays. For sure we have more holidays here, but normally it is approx. 1 month in total for a whole year.

You are right. But I like the length of their holiday much better.

 

September for your test, will hopefully give you enough time to schedule your flight.

[Leguan]

Hey, just a little update.

Spring is here, everthing is getting green and setting flowers.

 

Remember this picture from January?

 

 

 

Today it looked like this.

 

 

And here's another picture in the evening sun on my way back home through the park. In January, it was already dark at this time for 2 hours. The big daffodils are flowering for a while now. The small ones already wilted.

 

 

 

 

I finally have an appointment for my defense. 2nd of September. Then it's done. Studies finished.

I also booked my flight with Etihad Airways. September 28 from Frankfurt via Abu Dhabi (no stopover) to Bangkok. And then October 29 from Singapore to Brisbane. In the time between I'll travel around through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore.

Return flights are open. Date and also route. I can choose a 'direct' flight to Frankfurt with just briefly stopping in Abu Dhabi, or also stay some time in Southeast Asia and/or Abu Dhabi.

[Horatio]

The daffodils are spectacular!!! I would love to have a zillion daffodils like that!

 

Thank you for the pictures. What a difference between winter and spring. Spring is much preferable.

 

2nd of September will be here before you know it. And then we start calling you Dr. Leguan? At least you have enough time to work on your experiment and send us more elaborate photographs. *hint, hint*

 

Your travel plans sounds great although I have never heard of the airline you are flying. Are you sure about them? What country are they from? The open date at the end will give you plenty of time to figure out what to see next. I'm really excited for you.

 

Have you been able to take the Honda out for a long ride? With the spring weather, it will be fantastic to get on your bike for a ride in the country.

 

Got a new macro lens for my camera. It is amazing. I can see that I will be spending way too much time playing with the new lens now.

[Leguan]

The daffodils are spectacular!!! I would love to have a zillion daffodils like that!

 

Yes, they are really nice. In this park they buried tons of daffodil bulbs. Especially the small ones were really many. There's a daffodil fragrance in the air, it is amazing.

 

And then we start calling you Dr. Leguan?

 

No, this will take a few more years. I'm 'just' getting the M.Sc. degree. But Dr. will follow after Australia. That's at least my current plan.

 

At least you have enough time to work on your experiment and send us more elaborate photographs.

 

Let's see. Since I'm doing the same assay for all the stuff, everything looks more or less like what I already posted.

 

I have never heard of the airline you are flying. Are you sure about them? What country are they from?

 

Really? Well, it's a quite young airline, but I'm a bit confused that you never heard of it since you are a pilot.

It is the flag carrier airline of Abu Dhabi and has one of the world's most modern fleets. They are highly expanding. Last year they carried 7 million passengers with a fleet of 53 aircrafts according to wikipedia. 106 more planes are ordered, including Airbus A380 and Boeing 787.

 

Have you been able to take the Honda out for a long ride? With the spring weather, it will be fantastic to get on your bike for a ride in the country.

 

Not yet, I should do this.

 

Got a new macro lens for my camera. It is amazing. I can see that I will be spending way too much time playing with the new lens now.

 

I'm looking foward to all the pictures.

[Horatio]

I planted a number of variety of daffodil bulbs. Perhaps I should double the number.

Paper whites are the little tiny white coloured daffodil type flowers. They have an incredible smell. Almost intoxicating.

In addition I love all those other little fragrant flowers. I wish I could plant them all.

 

The calendar is right nearby... I will start counting the days until we start addressing you as Dr.!!!!! How exciting!

 

The Honda is calling... yes, you most definitely should get your riding buddies and go for a great weekend ride.

 

Looks like a really terrific airline. New aircraft! WOW! The Dreamliner is an exceptional aircraft. It would be phenomenal to fly that one.

If I knew every airline, then you would have to start worrying about me. No life.

 

This lens is so incredible, I just have to read the manual to figure out how to use it.

 

And I have a 15 to 20 page paper due by Sunday evening. *cries*

For some reason, I thought it was a week from Sunday.

[Leguan]

I hope there is no volcanic eruption like now when I want to fly.

There is this eruption in iceland for a few days now and the ash cloud is spreading over Europe. Yesterday all airports in Great Britain and other parts of Northern Europe were closed, now the cloud already reached Cologne. Looks like a cloudy day, it is absorbig all the sunlight. Today it will spread further south-east and also the remaining German airports will be closed. Frankfurt will be the next.

The reason why they close the airports is that the ash would melt in the engines and certainly destroy them.

[Horatio]

I hope there is no volcanic eruption like now when I want to fly.

There is this eruption in iceland for a few days now and the ash cloud is spreading over Europe. Yesterday all airports in Great Britain and other parts of Northern Europe were closed, now the cloud already reached Cologne. Looks like a cloudy day, it is absorbing all the sunlight. Today it will spread further south-east and also the remaining German airports will be closed. Frankfurt will be the next.

The reason why they close the airports is that the ash would melt in the engines and certainly destroy them.

Leguan, you are absolutely right. Volcanic ash is one of the most destructive things that can happen to an airplane. Not just to the engines, but to many parts of the airplane. When airplanes have encountered volanic ash clouds in the past, the aircraft engines were removed and replaced, various systems such as fuel and hydraulic, had to be redone and the windshields had to be replaced. Encountering the ash will stop the aircraft engines. In a number of cases, the flight crew restarted the engines and landed safely, but there are specific procedures for the pilots to follow. The first of course is avoidance, but should you encounter a volcanic ash cloud, the airplane manufacturer has steps to follow to minimize the effect.

 

I have been following the eruption as this impacts the international business of FedEx. We had airplanes in the air enroute to Europe when the eruption occurred, and then other flights that departed afterwards are having problems getting into an airport. This has been very interesting.

 

If you want some history, there was a volcano in 1815 that erupted in Indonesia that killed 12,000 people directly, but then due to the volcanic ash cloud that followed 80,000 people died from starvation. The sunlight was gone, the crops died and there was no food.

[Leguan]

Finally, the ash turned out to be not so dangerous...

The volcano still produces ash, but flights are back to normal and nobody is talking about it.

 

 

Hey, we got snow again. Look:

 

 

 

Ok, I admit, it isn't snow. Actually, today was the warmest and sunniest day this year. 28 °C. Almost summer. People are around in T-shirts and shorts and in the park there's barbecue everywhere.

The white stuff in the image is cottonwood seed. In the morning, there was a soft wind and all the seeds were coming down. It really was like heavy snowfall.

 

And here's another picture of the chestnut trees I already showed several times, now flowering.

 

 

[Jesusfreak]

Ooh, pretty!

 

Horatio: I read an interesting article on Yahoo News about how the lack of air traffic from the volcanic eruption caused bluer skies over Europe. While it was disruptive for traveling and shipping, it had some benefits.

[Horatio]

I had to look twice because it looked like snow, but seemed different. When you said Cottonwood seed, I remembered immediately just how that looks; exactly like snow. Glad for you it wasn't.

 

Now get out on your bike an ride! The Honda is calling.

 

Perhaps the next time you ride and you pass a castle or traditional German building from the 1800's, you might post a picture. Please consider this. Or, if people are swimming in the river, like they do in Munich or Frankfurt, take a picture. That is so cool.

[Leguan]

I took off last week and went to the Netherlands for a short camping holiday. Really cold.

I visited a national park there with very nice dunes and beaches. At the last day, I went fishing on a ship. I caught lots of plaices.

There's also one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" as considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Delta Works. This is a series of amazingly big storm surge barriers. The ship started from Neeltje Jans, which is an artifical island where many of the workers lived during construction.

[Horatio]

I took off last week and went to the Netherlands for a short camping holiday. Really cold.

I visited a national park there with very nice dunes and beaches. At the last day, I went fishing on a ship. I caught lots of plaices.

There's also one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" as considered by the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Delta Works. This is a series of amazingly big storm surge barriers. The ship started from Neeltje Jans, which is an artificial island where many of the workers lived during construction.

Sounds like a great holiday, except for the cold part. What kind of fish are plaices?

 

New Orleans should study the Delta Works as they need something such as those storm surge barriers.

[Leguan]

Here are some pictures.

 

The campground. Actually, almost all of the caravans on this picture were empty. We were sharing the campground with just one dutch couple.

 

 

And here's a picture of the dunes (there are really big dunes with all the special vegetation and animals) with the North Sea in the background.

 

 

 

Here's Neeltje Jans with a small part of the Delta Works in the background. There's a highway on this barrier connecting the islands Zeeland and Schouwen-Duiveland with Neeltje Jans as an artificial island in between.

 

 

 

That's 'our' ship, the "Maatje Adriana" on in the "Roompotsluis", a lock which ships have to pass to get through the Delta Works.

 

 

 

And finally to answer your question:

 

What kind of fish are plaices?

 

Here's what I caught after a few minutes. All three hooks with one fish each. My brother had the same.

 

 

[Horatio]

Thanks for the great pictures! In America we call those fish, by a name I can't totally remember. It is either a Fluke or a Flounder. Either way, they are pretty tasty fish. Hope you ate them for dinner.

 

The beach and boat pictures gave the feeling of the really cold weather you spoke about.

 

Looks like you had a great holiday!

[Leguan]

It is either a Fluke or a Flounder.

 

That's another species. The plaice lives on the sandy bottoms of the European shelf from the Barents Sea in to North to the Mediterranean Sea in the South.

[Horatio]

It is either a Fluke or a Flounder.

 

That's another species. The plaice lives on the sandy bottoms of the European shelf from the Barents Sea in to North to the Mediterranean Sea in the South.

Interesting! Can you eat them? Or... did you eat them?

[Leguan]

Yes, they are very tasty. We caught relatively small ones, but many. 73 in total of which most are in the freezer now.

We also caught several cods which all were very small. The ones which were not too much injured were put back into the sea, like the small sea robin my brother caught.