It's final...

...this time for real! Forget Thailand, Oman, India, Bahrein, Finland and all the other places that were potential destinations for my next training session.
The weeks till Christmas will be spend *drumroll please*... in Sagunto!
'Wait a tick, you just left' you might say, not being able to surpress a mocking smile. Well, that's pretty much what I said, but this business has many surprises in store, at least for me, so I'll pack my bags and will be off for Spain on Sunday. Looking forward to it :-)

Northern Exposure

I left Sagunto behind and, after a heavily packed 9 hour trip, arrived save and sound in Munich. I had to leave just when I started to settle down a bit. I met some very nice people and would have loved to stay longer, but until I get my own construction site, I better get used to the thought that I’ll have to leave people I like behind, over and over again. Ah well, that’s obviously part of the job and I’ll learn to deal with it – hopefully ;-)

That said, it’s time to move on.
After getting used to the thought of spending November in India and December in Spain, my boss managed to surprise me once more. Till the end of the year I’ll be working in Finland, replacing the local commercial manager. Work will be slightly different as this time it’ll be a nuclear power plant that’ll play host to my “training-on-the-job” session. I’ll give you more info about the location in another post. As you might have realized by now, you have to take the Finland information with a pinch of salt – there are still 6 days to go till my plane leaves and that means my boss has 6 days left to reconsider and send me somewhere else. I’ll keep you up-to-date.

However, let’s sneak a peek to the closer future:
During the next days I’ll enjoy the hospitality of various friends: Christof, whose couch is just as nice as it used to be during our DVD sessions, is first to be blessed with my presence *cough*. Today Yvonne will be my host – this way I can just stay there after the tapas-evening she organized. Monday morning I’ll be heading off for Erlangen to get some office work done. Chris and Ela, who just moved into their new flat in Nürnberg, will accommodate me for 2 nights – looking forward to catching up with them! Chris told me there are some Halloween parties at Nürnberg and that Tuesday we’ll paint the town – can’t wait!!! Wednesday it’s time to drive (prob. Hungover) up to Gelsenkirchen where I’ll re-organize my mobile wardrobe (e.g. suitcase) and exchange the summer clothes for frost-proof stuff and visit my family and friends. Thursday will be spend at Düsseldorf where I’ll crush in on Niek’s place for the last time, as he’s moving away soon. Friday it’s ready-for-take-off-time again – the wheels are in motion.

Braindead

I so failed in my attempt to make a decent post containing a little flashback, a brief preview of the next days and the weeks to come. It's the first time that I wrote a whole page that appears to be for the bin as it lacks wit, fun and structure - just dreadful!
I'll review that wish-wash tomorrow, so you'll get something worth reading. Promise!

Time flies!

Only 5 days left in lovely España. But where to go next? The boss still didn't call me and India is sorta out of the picture once more. However (as far as I know) I'll leave on Friday to spend a nice weekend in Munich catching up with most of you, the Erlangen for 2(?) days and then we'll see where work takes me. See many of you next weekend!

Fly me to the moon, let me play among the stars...
...if the US are fine with it, that is.

Today it leaked that, undiscovered by the public since October 6th, the US government released their "National Space Policy". Reading it sent shivers down my spine, and those were no good shivers. You should take the time to have a look at it; click here.
My favorite part of the policy is the principals-section, here some outtakes:

"The United States considers space capabilities -- including the ground and space segments and supporting links -- vital to its national interests. Consistent with this policy, the United States will: preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those rights or developing capabilities intended to do so; take those actions necessary to protect its space capabilities; respond to interference; and deny, if necessary, adversaries the use of space capabilities hostile to U.S. national interests."

Basically that means: The universe is ours, hands off!

"The United States will seek to cooperate with other nations in the peaceful use of outer space to extend the benefits of space, enhance space exploration, and to protect and promote freedom around the world"

I feel so much safer, now that I know the US will no longer limit the protection of our humble lives by taking "preventive measures" (e.g. attack everybody who has oil) on earth, but preserves the right to do the same from space.

It was just the next logical step for good ol' Georgy boy to reach out for the stars; it's quite obvious that 50 are not nearly enough to dictate. Therefore he finally makes use of his fundamental right to take his destined place as "Master of the Universe".

Holy cow!

Yet another update on the next weeks. My boss called and filled me in on his plans for me. I don't even dare to say that something's fix, but only one confirmation is missing and, after returnig from Spain, I'll be off to India!
The city, the site is located near by, is world famous Surat. Never heared of it? Me neither. For further information you can check here.

I'm looking forward to it, since I've never been to India and probably wouldn't have traveled there myself. Whatever is waiting for me, at least I put the right clothes into my suitcase ;-)

Another sleepless night passing by...

so I find myself randomly surfing the net, once more.

However, let's get to the funny part:
Imagine you left puberty and patheticness behind. You entered University and managed to established yourself as someone who's actually considered cool... finally! It's your 20th birthday, everybody showed up and this is supposed to be the best b-day party ever, until someone says: look what I found on the net!

Every time you enter the audi max, someone will greet you with a happy "RRRRRRRAAAANNNGGGAAAANNNNGGGAAAGGGAAAANNNGGGG"

Well... reminds me of supposed-to-be-cool self made radio shows with my best mates when I was about 8. Thank god there were only audio tapes for recording and no such thing as "you tube" back then! Leave no traces behind ;-)

It's 2am, so let's try to get some sleep, shall we?

Ode to Icecream
spelled with a capital I intentionally, since I established a very close relationship to it ;-)

Today it's time to make a post that's been overdue for quite a while. Time to write about Icecream! But not any Icecream, no: THE ICECREAM!!!
When I went into a local supermarket, I was thrilled to see that, right next to the entrance, they had a freezer packed with pints of my favorite Icecream brand in the whole wide world: Ben and Jerry's. The first time I saw it there, I resisted the temptation, as I didn't have a freezer back in the hotel which would have "forced" me to eat it all in one sitting (not THAT excessive ...when it comes to Icecream). But last Saturday, when I moved into the apartment hotel, I finally had a klitchen.. with a fridge... with a freezer compartment! Therefore I didn't waste any time and got myself a pint of frozen happiness. Even though I hasitated in the choice of the victim, I decided to give a new flavor a chance, and lord almighty was I rewarded. I proudly intoduce to you my new favorite flavor: Fossil Fuel!

The online describtion sais:

"Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Chocolate Cookie Pieces, Fudge Dinosaurs and a Fudge Swirl

You know this flavor is going to thrill the socks off your inner paleontologist, don't you? If you never believed those great excavations in your dreams could come true, just wait until you come across your first fudgy pterodactyl or tyrannosaurus fudgius. This flavor's fueled with all kinds of fudgy little dino dudes, as well as plenty of crunchy chocolate cookie fragments to snag your spoon on, & deep swirls of primordial fudge that just might yield a sunken stegosaur or two. Enjoy!"

In my humble opinion you can summarize that by saying: it will at least take 1 hour to whipe that grin off your face. If you like Icecream and are willing to give it a chance, I ensure you won't be disappointed!

That's it for today ...feel magically drawn to the freezer 'cause I think I still have a bit left ;-)

Keep on moving!

With all the stuff going on last weekend, I somehow forgot to mention that I moved! I left my beloved hotel behind and moved into an apartment hotel. I really like it there, cause now I have a livingroom with kitchen and a seperated bedroom. Didn't take any pics by now, but at least I can show you the location - I also missed giving you a big picture of where I'm actually staying, so here you go:

I'm located in the east of Spain:

Sagunto is about 30km north of Valencia:

And this is where I was and where I live now:

So, now you know ;-)

Professional amateur at work!

Being the internet addict I am, I wanted to make sure that my laptop doesn't catch anything, so I installed spybot several weeks ago. Yesterday I stumbled across an article that recommended to run a program called "escan" as this is connected to a database always containing the latest mal- and adware. This is when it all went down!
I installed the program and let it scan my system. Everything went well and when I was asked to restart my laptop,I did... but during the startup it turned out that escan and spybot aren't the greatest friends, so I ended up with A BLANK SCREEN! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
When I tried to reboot the system, the startup procedure didn't even make it through the startup anymore. Do I really have to describe the horror I experienced? Visions of me calling the IT in Erlangen, kissing my personal IT-guy's ass to help me fix it without making a big fuss, sending in my lap top (including my films and music that are surely not supposed to be there) and the whole bullshit that follows when amateurs think they could fool around with the system.
To make a long story short: thanks to a combination of patience, intuition and luck I managed to fix it myself ...only took me 4 HOURS! :-(

Can't buy me love!

Ok, I KNEW this would happen at some point, but I didn't expect it THAT early.
I ran into a colleague in front of the hotel and it turned out that he's been traveling the globe for about 30 years and had loads of construction site stories in store. Therefore I agreed to go for dinner with him. We had a drink, great food, wine and a nice chat. My alarm bells started to ring when this 50something guy let slip a few ambiguous comments and asked me how old my boyfriend was. Smelling the rat, I joined in and said 27. He found this unusual and mentioned that he wouldn't mind being with a girl who's 30 years younger 'n stuff. Ahmmmm... ok?!? He payed, and I let him - for those comments that was the least. So he asked what we'd be doing now. I said I was sleepy and wanted to go home since I had plans for the next day. When we got near the hotel he said he was thirsty and wanted to have a beer at his room. I said I only wanted to phone my BF and then sleep. In the elevator he offered the "beer" another time and I repeated my plans. He only asked if that would do it for me and I answered with a straight yes.

Being a woman I might not always know what I want but I certainly know what I don't want.
HOLY SHIT! AT LEAST RESPECT THE BASIC PRINCIPELS!!!
1. If you want to lay someone, search in your category (age and/or level-wise).
2. If you are a grandpa I might help you crossing the street, THAT'S IT! Invest the 40 bucks in porn DVDs or hookers - it will get you much further.
3. I could NEVER be that desperate! There are much cuter, younger, potent guys running around. Even if there weren't any, I would rather choose between becoming a lesbian or a convent girl than that!

I hope he got the message - in case he didn't I'll reveal one of those principels to him... out loud... in front of his colleagues ;-)

Who needs sleep?

Well, I do! I love sleeping, I really, really do: long, deep and peacefull!
But unfortunately the Sandman forgot to stop by my hotel room yet again. 12h (or more) working-days with 5h (or less) sleep can't be healthy on the long run, can they? Tomorrow I gonna curse myself for not getting enough sleep (AGAIN!), promising to myself, while pouring down the 3rd cup of coffee, that the next night I'll make up for it by turning off the lap top/tv/Ipod early to dedicate at least 8 hours to my favorite inactivity - and of course I'll break my vow whithin the very same breath. You really know that you lost the fight when you start counting down the hours till you have to get up again... "If I fall asleep now, I can sleep for 6 hours" ..."5 hours"... "4..." gosh, screw the bastard who invented the clock!
I'll just hang in there until Friday blesses me with its presence.

The boss calls...

...and I follow.
Here the latest version of the endless "Where will I spend this year"-odyssey:
I'll be staying in Spain till October 27th, intend to spend the weekend in Munich and then I'll be in Erlangen for the following Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday I'll be flying off to...
well, the boss said he has to check that. He favours to send me to Qatar or - and that is new - somewhere to the United Arabian Emirates! We have a construction site in Dubai and one in Bahrain, as far as I know - all cool with me.
But that will only be a short excursion of 4 weeks as the plan is to return to Spain in order to work there the whole December. Don't know how I feel about this right now - spending my b-day, Christmas and New Year's without anybody I really know... I'll let you know once I figured it out.

Believe it or not...

...but I actually found someone who's even more ticklish than me!!! Not much more, though, but still ;-)

only funny with sound