Archive for May, 2010

My birthday present: the Scorpions live in Berlin!

Published on May 31, 2010 in general. 0 Comments


20100529-P1020081.jpg, originally uploaded by floho.

The weekend felt really short – but that was mainly due to the long list of great things that happened!

After a relaxed morning, my girl and I dropped off her dog at a friend and got on our way to Berlin. Why Berlin? Because my birthday present were two tickets to go see the old dogs of the Scorpions (which, even if you are not into rock, know by their all-time classic “Wind of Change”). They are currently on their final tour around the world – which made it even more special to get to see them!

The long road to my birthday present
I had known about the trip since my birthday in March – but I only knew that we would be going somewhere to do something. To actually find out what my present was, I had to play, and win, multiple (read: Over 20) games of Rommy and a few of Halma (in which I get regularly beaten like there is no tomorrow by my girl). Winning a game of Rommy gave me a question, which I needed to fill in a crossword puzzle. Winning a game of Halma gave me a piece of a solution sheet, where I could fill in the letters I got out of parts of the crossword puzzle. You see… it took me a while. Actually, it took me until Friday, when my girl finally loosened the rules a little bit to get me towards the last letter that I needed to solve the puzzle. So, Berlin it was – and the Scorpions!

Camping in the middle of Berlin
Taking the 3h drive home after the concert did not seem too desirable, so we looked into fun alternatives. We ended up booking a place with the Tentstation – a few inventive people have made the area of a public bath that is up for renovation into a campsite, right in the heart of Berlin (5min walk from the Hauptbahnhof). We got there early in the evening, pitched our tent, checked in, and went on our way to the O2 Arena to see the concert.

Old boys rockin’ Berlin – a bit.
We came when the Scorpions were already playing, but apparently the supporting band had not gotten to the crowd… the mood was a bit mellow, to say the least. It took until the final three songs to get the crowd really moving, but I couldn’t care less. We had a good time, the music was great – I loved my birthday present!
After the concert we rounded off the evening in Kreuzberg with a cocktail during the final voting of the Eurovision Song Contest (there the crowd was MUCH more energetic, although the music was MUCH worse… could the cocktails for 3,9 EUR have influenced that somehow? We then moved on to an Indian/Singapore style restaurant with nice outdoor seating (heated, I have to admit, it was quite chilly) – great way to end the day.

Cake for breakfast
Before leaving town on Sunday, we hopped over to the Hamburger Bahnhof (which is an art gallery these days) – to be exact, to the café of chef Sarah Wiener next to the gallery – for breakfast. The cakes caught our attention good, so that was it: Afternoon coffee + cake for breakfast. Meanwhile the weather changed from “alright” to “nightmare rain”, which was our call to head back home. Needless to stay that it kept raining in Hamburg – and since I got to Utrecht on Monday for work, it rained there, too. I want my vacation’s weather back!!! (Scrap that, I want all of my vacation back! ;-) )

Up in the Air – flying in the very first row!

Published on May 25, 2010 in travel. 2 Comments


20100525-P1020036.jpg, originally uploaded by floho.

Sometimes, fortunate things happen to you when you least expect it. This morning for example.
After the AMAZING week in France (pictures and updates might be coming), the alarm clock at 5:30am to catch the first flight out was surely not the most anticipated thing in the world, and the shower that seemed to insist on digital operation (scalding hot or freezing cold – your choice!) did not make it better… so I expected this to be another dreaded tired and long morning commute. I called a cab, got outside, looked at my phone…

there was a new message from my best friend’s buddy Micha.

“Say, are you about to fly to Amsterdam?”

… well, yes, I am – but how does he….? Wait a minute – it trickled through my brain. He is a first officer for Lufthansa CityLine. My flight today is with a CityLine jet…

“Yep! Are you my captain?”

How exciting! I’ll be able to shake hands with him after the landing and I’ll be able to tell all my friends that a buddy flew me to Amsterdam!

“No, your FO. Wanna ride in the cockpit?”

Ha-ha, very funny Micha. Everybody knows that is forbidden in the post 9-11 world. Or is that only true for the US? Could it actually be that he is NOT pulling my leg? Is he super cruel or super cool?

“Are you kidding? That’s possible? Of course I want to!”

You’re not gonna get me, but if there is a chance – if there really is a chance for me to sit in the cockpit – I won’t miss it for my life!

“Then tell the Stewardess who you are at boarding. Which seat are you booked for?”

OK, this either is the real deal or he wants me to emberrass myself a LOT. But who cares, I’ll bite.

“9F. OK, I’ll give her a heads up.”

And that, my friends, is how it came to be. I made sure I was amongst the last people to get on the plane (limiting the potential for others to notice me making a fool of myself), spoke up to the FA, and sure enough: She greeted me with a smile, took my bag and my jacket, the cockpit door opened, and there I was – front row, big time.

After a quick hello to the captain (left) and Micha (right), I got settled in: The jumpseat gets pulled out from behind the captain, so I sat right behind and between the two with my back to the cabin door. Micha showed me where the oxygen mask was, in case of a loss in cabin pressure (they do not drop from the ceiling in the cockpit, and they are full-face masks that also have headsets installed).
I strapped in to the five-point harness (feeling like a race car driver), and Micha gave me a headset, so I could talk to the two during the flight and listen in to the radio chatter. Wow!
With a huge grin/smile on my face (that did not vanish until long after the landing!), I shut my mouth and let them do their job, which is quite busy: From closing the doors to take-off, there is a number of checklists they work through, they talk to the ramp agent and the tower for take-off clearance, and of course before they had already familiarized themselves with the flight plan and fed the onboard systems with all necessary information.

Off we went – and let me tell you, it is so much more exciting from the first row of the airplane! Thankfully I have been reading up a lot on how flying a commercial jet works in “whoops there are two hours reading time gone before you know it”-awesome thread of a Delta pilot who encouraged people to ask him all sorts of questions about being a pilot and flying in general, so I could make sense of most of the things the two did without asking too many stupid questions. Most of the time I was enjoying it way too much to talk in useful sentences, anyhow :-)

If you want to know more, I’ll be happy to talk at length about the rest of the trip – just say so in the comments! For more pictures of the flight (including a very happy Florian with his headset on), click the picture of the middle console (which I was sitting directly in front of), or click here. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to grin from ear to ear a bit more.

VACATION! Starting with the Pirates’ federal party convent

Published on May 16, 2010 in general. 0 Comments


20100515-P1010786.jpg, originally uploaded by floho.

I can hardly believe it, but since Friday, I am officially on vacation! This is, apart from a few single days, the first time that I have gone on vacation (in terms of “I planned it beforehand, and I left home). Good times! My girl and I packed the car with everything you could possibly need on our roadtrip that will eventually lead us to the Loire valley in France, where we plan on having the most relaxed time inbetween castles, wineyards and scenic landscapes.

Of course there also needs to be some action in every vacation, this is why we start it with the federal party convent (Bundesparteitag) of the Pirate Party Germany in Bingen am Rhein over the weekend. Lovely little city, and for two days now, it is filled with 1000 Pirates!

While the first day was filled mainly with the election of the national chairman (stayed the same) and his deputy (stayed the same), but the second day now sees a lot more real activity. For example, the Pirate Party Germany now is the first and only party in Germany that is going to introduce Liquid Feedback (http://liquidfeedback.org/), a Liquid Democracy tool, nationwide! That really is a breakthrough in terms of grassroots democracy, and it is exciting to be a part of it.

The picture I posted here is a view from the middle of the hall where the convent takes place. Great organization, and also: working internet for everybody… a charm!

Alright, gotta go now, and make my vote count!
You can see the rest of the pictures I took of the convention here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollender/sets/72157623946214823/show/