Sunday, August 5, 2012

Electric ride

August 5, 2012

Lazy day. Nice afternoon karting with friends and then a visit to the international beer festival. (In that order.)

A heavy heart. Mom is not doing well. Dementia is getting stronger. Hard for her to feed herself. Jane's worn out from carrying the load. Looking to rent Mom's house. So much to do to get it cleared out, painted and ready to rent before the school season starts.

Olympic ride

August 4, 2012

Set out today on a scooter ride to the 'outlet village' in the outskirts of Berlin. Everything is on sale right now for the change of the seasons so our reasoning was that while we had the nice scooter we'd head out about an hour out of town to the mall. It turns out the mall is located in the former Olympic village that is now mostly abandoned. Made for some interesting relics.

Scooter is great for mobility. Not great for getting packages back. We had things strapped to the floor with bungie cords. But K&J birthday shopping is done.

Fantastic meal halfway home in the middle of nowhere. And then a ride home in the dark. With no goggles. Loaded down. And somehow finding ourselves accidentally on the autobahn. Definitely an adventure.

Lost Mar-gin-ity

August 3, 2012

Sober dinner explorations extend to the KuDamm. But had hears much about a local speakeasy so stopped at Stagger Lee on the way back.

Marianna had her first martini -- out of necessity. She's stopped eating carbs. She's hooked. (Gin - Tanqueray. 4:1 to vermouth. Dirty)  I had a Manhattan with Jim Beam rye. Good, but not worth a trip back.

Stunt Photo

August 2, 2012

I took this after John noted that this was a good symbol for Berlin. The new Audi supercar R8 and the old Trabant cardboard car. Both existing here side by side.

Long day today. Forgot about photos entirely. Many deadlines and deliverables. Heads down. Git 'er done.

Sailing in irons

August 1, 2012

August already! Decided not to let the summer slip away without spending a day with my team here doing something to reward their work and dedication through difficult times. Nice weather was in the cards so a day on a lake sailing seemed like a good idea. Except there was no wind. If you look close you will see the oars we used. And then the mosquitos came out. And then the bus wasn't scheduled to show up until three hours after we were done. Sigh.

The team seemed happy which is a good indicator that they haven't done much team building at all in the time they have been here.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

On the map

July 31, 2012

Strange to be eating at a burrito place and see our SF street and neighborhood printed on a map on the wall. They may have the map (and Anchor Steam too) but it's not nearly as good as the burritos back home.

Monday, July 30, 2012

Scoot about town

July 30. 2012

House doesn't feel the same without John here. I miss hanging out with him.

Looking to scooter some places in the hopes it will cheer me up. Tonight we went to a restaurant further away from the usual neighborhood places.

Oh. And scooter means no wine at all. Strange but surprisingly good to mix it up.