- H - I - L - A - R - I - O - U - S - i can't hear you anymore ...

I've just finished writing my last blog entry, as the telephone rang and the lovely lady from the reception told me that there is a package waiting for me. *yippie* ...

Here I am ... sitting in front of the computer and listening to music. It feels like I have a live band playing in every ear. There is no more outside world! 26 db noise reduction. And this passively.

The quality is just amazing - You can actually hear the difference between 256 & 'only' 128 kbps MP3's!! How cool is that.

First impression: A - W - E - S - O - M - E
Comment: They come with several earpads, so you can actually choose the right 'gum for your ear'! ... They go very deep into the ear, which is a bit a weird feeling at the beginning, but you get used to it. As Sean said, you have to be careful not to damage your ears.

I am very very happy right now! But I am pretty sure, Xen will ask me soon, how they are in comparison with the Quiet Comfort 2 from Bose and I really have to admit that it would be too hard for me to make a clear statement. The Bose ones, cover the whole ear including 'active noise cancelation', where as mine are just 'plugs' (and passive NC)... Hard to compare - would be good to know, what Sean thinks about it (he can directly compare them!). Will ask him and get back to you ...

Anyway ... have a nice weekend.

Ste

*Yummy* / Penang / Congrats / Present

Hmm ... I am just back from dinner with a friend of mine - delicious!! It is called Morton's Steakhouse and seems to be a real well known Chicago restaurant. (Check out: http://www.mortons.com) for more details.

I got the New York Sirloin au poivre with a huge potato and Mortons salad. Wow ... The meat itself just melted on the tongue *yummy* - Thanks @ Ebru for taking me there :)

11 pm already and I have to start packing now. Will fly to Penang (Malaysia) tomorrow and meet a 'buddy' from Australia there. Found this nice hotel (http://www.e-o-hotel.com) and we will relax there for this weekend. More news next week ;)

Also ... congratulations to Sandra!!!! She finally finished very, very, very successfully her school and just got rid of all the exams. You can be really proud (so am I and all your friends!!). Good luck for the start of the 'work-life' ...

I am feeling like a little boy right now (Maybe I am still one?! - Peter Pan complex?!). I made myself last week a present and bought a new gadget. Sean - the absolut freak & guru for all questions about sound & earphones told me about a new pair of headphones he recently bought. So I just couldn't resist anymore and bought them ... They are on the way from USA to Singapore now. Checking the Fedex tracking page every 2 hrs to see where they are. Now they've arrived and will be here tomorrow morning! *yippie* ... feels like X-mas!

Thanks 2 all the people out there for all the emails and letters! People might know, that I prefer not making a big story out of my birthday, but thanks to my lovely colleagues, I found myself caught between all my pals yesterday, carrying a huge cake and even so sang me a 'Happy-birthday' ... In the evening I then went out with my UK friends to a bar and we just got wasted - sorry, but I just can't find a better word for it!! They bought me one drink after another and insisted on me drinking them as fast as possible. Is that the english way of celebrating birthdays!? Anyway - it was a damned good night out - even so, the guys working at the reception of the hotel were quite amused seeing me stumbling into the entrance hardly being able to control my own movements.

Anyway - thanks again to all of you ;) ... I really enjoyed it!

That's it for today - i will quickly rush to bed, to get my gadget soon!

Bye - Ste

Cirque du soleil - Additional entry

As I've mentioned before, I bought tickets for the 'Cirque du Soleil' here in Singapore - and finally 2 weeks ago, I was able to go there.

Let me try to describe it:
- A W E S O M E -
I think this is all I can say about it. For everyone who has the chance to watch it: I highly recommend it!

The whole show was about 2 1/2 hours - but as said in the advertisements: It was 'A journey into another world!' ...
Time passed by so fast and at the end you find yourself trying to process all the amazing things you've just seen.

Again - I am still amazed and if I get the chance to watch other shows - i will for sure go for it ;)

Ste[ph]an

Oktoberfest 2005

... *Partytime* ...

LOL ... Did you know that the average birthrate in south Germany - 10 months after the world-famous "Oktoberfest" is about double as high as usual!?
Isn't that great - Even with 5 liter of beer inside, we are able to grow the population. And I was wondering about the results of the "Pisa studies" ;) ...

Anyway - this year I was finally able to go to the "Wies'n" again - and please don't use my introduction sentence not as a wink ;) - Nobody got pregnant.
Mid of September, I got out of work for 1 week and flew back to Germany to see my family and friends again. Pretty good time - especially seeing Sandra again, after such a long time felt quite good.
I've been planning this trip quite a while already and so a lot of people were involved and finally joined our international group. My job was to play the guide for 4 crazy - spread around the world - guys. Xen (London), James (Seattle), Jason (New York) and Paul (Paris) came down to Paris and I picked them up in Munich from the airport.


First item on the agenda was of course to hit the 'everywhere else in this world soooo famous' Autobahn. With every 10 km/h I was driving faster, the people in the car got more and more silent...
Nevertheless, we finally arrived at Metzingen to get a lot of shopping done - I just love my new shoes ;) ...

In the evening then, I introduced all of the guys to my hometown (a really tiny place close to Ulm - in the middle of Stuttgart and Munich) - and we were able to celebrate the re-united VFKK crowd.

At 5 am we had to force ourselves out of the club and enjoyed James driving skills ;) ... (We are not in USA!)

Saturday:
The day has come - Let's go to the Oktoberfest! We left my home a bit later as planned, but we made it down to Munich. Man ... the weather sucked and our heads were still 'very slow' ...
We went to the Wies'n and tried to get into the tent where our other friends were inside. It was raining - cold and as you can propably imagine, our mood was not the best.
After waiting for 30 minutes, we left and went straight to the Hofbraeuhaus to get some food and other beers there. Day was rescued and we had a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went again and were then also allowed to get into the tent, where everybody enjoyed another round of german beer / pretzels and chicken. *yummy*

- About 4 hrs later everybody was back on a plane -

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As I got asked about 20 times - here the explanation, why the "Oktoberfest" takes place in "September" ...
The first Wiesn was on the 12th of October 1810 - for the wedding of king Ludwig I. - it was basically a huge horse race, which was such a big success, that they've decided to do it again and again. (imho: a very good decision ;))
The simple reason, to move the festival to end of september, was just to have better chances of good weather.
Good weather --> more people --> more food / drinks --> >MorE MoneY<

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Special thanks again to Manuel for letting us all stay with him & of course also to my parents for the whole week, they've welcomed me back home!

More picture - as usual - here!

Ste[ph]an