The Frankfurt 'Bier Bike'

OK... so while visiting in Frankfurt a while back we heard this big commotion and saw this giant bike with about 13 people pedaling it down the road. At first I thought it was just some stupid tour thing, but no... it is something much grander. Turns out that in the center of this giant bike is a bar with a couple kegs of beer on tap. I say we get a big group and sign up.

More Fun Advertisements

Here's another installment of blatant German advertising... The message is good, but I think they went a little too far on this one... see for yourself:

A Weekend at Home...

Well I suppose this is the first real post I've made in a while that has anything to do with what is going on in my life right now... I've been adjusting to life back in Darmstadt for the past 2 and a half weeks just trying to get back into the swing of things. I haven't really managed to get out and sight see or anything yet, but maybe if I get bored enough this week I might plan a trip somewhere. This weekend I basically spent the whole time in my apartment just watching TV and getting some serious sleep. Although, there were a few moments of pure excitement... I suppose...

I came home Friday after work and working out at about 5:30pm (work gets off at 4:30pm on Fridays in Germany in case you were wondering). The cleaning lady usually cleans my room on Fridays so I expected to come home to a nice sterile smelling apartment with plenty of fresh towels. Well, when I got there I found all of my stuff left in the sink or scattered on the floor and nothing was cleaned... and no towels. Apparently she hadn't started cleaning yet but it was 5:30pm and I just got home from work and wanted to make some dinner. So I put all my stuff back where it was supposed to be and she showed up 30 minutes later and was (amazingly) surprised that I was there... it's 6pm on a Friday, where else would I be? So she said she would come by the next day, I asked what time but she couldn't tell me.

Saturday I woke up around noon and got dressed to go workout since I figured when she came I would just go to the gym and let her do her thing... Well I waited around until 6pm and said screw it, took a shower and made some dinner (traditional German food too, I'm very proud of myself), started some laundry and set in for the night... she shows up at 8pm. Completely surprised, I told her wait until next Friday because at this point the gym is closed... I'm not ready for it anyways, so I am not going to wander around the town for an hour in the dark... besides I still had laundry to do. I remain thoroughly confused about the whole situation.

EUMETSAT Tour

Well I felt like it was about time that I give you all a tour of my workplace. All of these photos except the last one were taken by one of my friends from Alabama when he was visiting for a conference. Normally the security guards severely punish those who use cameras on the premises, but since it was during a conference I suppose they let it slide... I, however, have not wanted to test their mettle so I left my camera in my bag most of the time.


We start on the outside... The building was originally designed to look like one of their geostationary satellites... basically a big garbage can. Also outside of the building there are 3 full size replicas of a few of the satellites run by the organization, as well as a pond that is shaped like Africa (which froze over recently and was used as a shortcut for some people who I may or may not know... much to the chagrin of the safety conscious staff).


The interior is hollow since it is required by law for every office to have a window... pretty, but somewhat of a waste of space if you ask me. There are 5 floors, but only 4 are numbered... one is called 'G' for 'Gallery Floor'. I work on the 4th floor of course in the visiting scientist's office. The bottom floor is where the lunch room and pond full of giant koi fish is.


This last picture was taken out of my window. It is a fake blackbird meant to scare of other real birds from lounging around on the building. It's kind of creepy because it never moves and is always staring at me. To try and comfort myself with its presence I gave it a name... Gunther. Now we're friends.


That's about it... there's where I work... enjoy!

European Small Cars

One of the coolest things about Europe to most guys are the cars. In general they're faster and made with better quality than their American or Japanese counterparts. But what European cars are really known for are their size. After all, since there are so many people here, you had better fit more cars on the road somehow, so why not just make them shorter. Here are a few inspirational photographs for you big SUV lovers out there... small cars can be cool too!

My Hero!

OK... so this picture is so awesome that it warrants its very own post...

Coming Out of the Closet

Das ist eine komische Anzeige aus den Niederlanden... just watch.