Florian Hollender | floho.com

Hey guys,

today I was really lucky, and fortunateley I was more lucky today than I was stupid yesterday: After the case meeting yesterday evening in university I left my iPod on the table. Which is a stupid thing to do. Totally. Even more stupid: I only realized that today when I got ready to go - and something was missing…. believe me, I have never been at our building so fast! My heart was literally racing. First shock: It was not were I left it. Well, understandable. Although the room is secured by a code, everybody knows it, and all graduate students have access. I was terrified. Second shock: The office on the same floor did not know a thing about a found iPod. BUT: The lost and found office on the first floor did! The guy behind the desk was nearly as happy as I was when I got my iPod back - I guess he was lucky that once in a while people actually report stuff like that when they find it and not just take it and keep it. So, this was my adrenaline-shot for today. Besides that, I went through two project meetings today and will have class from 6-8 coming up now, then I will come home and do some fine-tuning on the presentation we have to hold tomorrow and try to think of what I will say on my part. And then: Sleep. Maybe watch TV and then sleep. Or get something to eat (that one muffin I had today does not really do it), watch TV and sleep. Hot news of today: I really got a tan. Hardly any sunburn, just tan. I even got a comment on it yesterday from one of the girls on one of my teams: “I wish I had your tan!”. That has like - NEVER EVER- happened before. Thanks, Miami!

Hey folks, we are already on the way back from Miami to Columbia. After getting what I deserved (and good advise and help) from my dad yesterday I got my thoughts straight and told my self I could as well make the best of the time in Miami.The weather was incredible today, I hope I did not get a sunburn by simply walking down the beach for half an hour So I did! I got some pretty pictures out of the walk which I will post tomorrow I think. Thank god for the WiFi here on the airport - we were a bit early (which means a good 2 hours), and except the WiFi there is nothing to do here on the terminal - one lonely fast food restaurant that looks suspicious and lots of empty chairs, that’s it. Anyway, I can read my mails, check on some blogs, update my podcasts, that’s neat. And I could have a first look at the new students that will be the year of 2009 at WHU - and the first ones to do the Bachelor Degree instead of the Diplom. Now WHU is getting really crowded - the EMBA, the newfulltime MBA, the new Bachelors… and WE will come back in January!!! Oh, boarding time already.

Check back later folks, the pics are nearly there!

Greetings from the sunny side of life! Sitting here about two blocks away from Soutch Beach (which you know at least since the South Beach Diet came out), chilling in the Starbucks. We only came here because there is no wireless in our hotel (which was once a Holiday Inn, but has slightly degraded from there)… well, I am a bit depressed today to tell you the truth, which is because I realized too late this trip was way over my budget, my credit card is three days before being cancelled and I had to sent a SOS to my father to get me out of the sh** I have gotten myself into, which you can easily consider the most emberrassing thing I can imagine right now, because in my juvenile stupidity I actually believed I could somehow manage the situation on my own (you remember the 500 bucks for books I mentioned some weeks ago, who piled up to a close 700 until now, or the rent that is a bit higher than I thought, or the bill for electricity that just came in, or the bill for some services from the university I did not expect, or the fact that I easily spend 15 dollars or more per day for eating and drinking, and so on and so on), so I did not tell my dad a word about it - but the friendly albeit direct message from my account manager at the bank late Thursday leaves no room for misunderstandings, neither does the fact that the first of the month is close (which means rent), that the bill from university is due in 5 days, and that I have not yet paid for the trip I am on right now. Sorry for the lengthy and boring description of my own, self-inflicted misery, but I guess you would not understand why I have trouble enjoying Miami to the fullest otherwise.

APART from that, it is really nice here. We arrived yesterday, spent yesterday strolling through Miami Beach and it’s Art Deco disctrict, then fell asleep before we could decide to go out for the evening (as we had started at 6am). Today we went to the beach at South Beach, rented some deck chairs and an umbrella and dazed through the afternoon. I did not get sunburnt! That also implies I did not get real tan as well, but better white than red. I had enough red on the Perhentians last year for some years to come. Boy, I actually scard people back then with how my back looked….. but back (so many backs here! AAAAH!) to today: In the afternoon we wanted to go Jetskiing, but hey - as I can not draw any money from my account right now, and they do not accept plastic, that idea died. (You see, even on the beack you can’t hide from being broke, and believe me, I tried hard!) Now we refreshed at the Hotel and came back for some internet surfing, which will most definiteley succeeded by a beer or two in one of the many bars along the Ocean Drive.

Lection of the day: Spend more money than you earn, and the trouble makes you learn!

Cheers!