An uncle again

Here is the first picture I have of Claire Elizabeth Wong. When I hear the "Elizabeth" part of the name, I cannot help but think about the Queen.

Seems like a cute enough baby, but I think that most newborns look pretty much the same. Of course, I personally was the exception to this rule, when I was a newborn, I looked like a genius.

back to work

I am so very thrilled to be back in the office today, I find it hard to contain my excitement.

There is a whole day of databases and charts stretching out in front of me, I really cannot wait to jump right in and make the best chart ever. I am thinking.... bar chart. Maybe line chart.

My sister had her second baby yestderday, so I am an Uncle again. I have not seen a photo yet, but I am assured it is a cute baby. Does anyone ever describe their kid in another way? "oh yes, our kid is pretty ugly... kind of stupid too." Anyway, I am sure it is a very cute baby, but I am waiting for the pictures. It is a girl, Claire Wong, not sure if there is a middle name.

 

Liam the Tourist

Ahh, I am so glad that children can be used for amusement. I think that one day this is just the kind of picture that Liam will be proud to display. I told Claudia that I wanted to draw a moustache on him so he looks like Magnum PI. So far, she has not let me do it.

 

Action Sequence

Nothing better than knocking stuff over. If I build this tower 100 times, Liam is more than happy to detsroy it and then wait for number 101. I like that I am training him in the joys of the path of destruction now. it is a skill that will no doubt prove valuable later in life.




 

Claudia and Barbapapa

I just dug out this picture for something interesting to put up today. A picture of my wife and a Life sized Barbapapa. I used to really like Barbapapa as a kid, even though it was kind of creepy.

 

Guell Park

Well, I am almost out of Barcelona photos... These are Guell park, which was also designed by Gaudi. Barcelona is almost like a giant Gaudi museum there is so much stuff by him there. It is mostly pretty crazy looking, like something kindergarten kids would do, only more refined.



 

a fine fine restaurant

This restaurant was so outstanding it is hard to describe. It looked great, was on a huge hill overlooking the city, and you could order an entire lamb. They actually only cook lamb and roast it in a giant wood oven. My table did indeed manage to eat a whole lamb. Nice. There was a few of us though....

 

Another day of church pics

OK, until I have shown all the fun stuff in Barcelona, that is pretty much what I will be updating on here. This is the nice chirch on the top of Mount Tibidabo overlooking the city. You take a funicular up the side of the mountain to get there and there is a fun park next door.

Nothing like a good pray followed by bumper cars I always say.



 

A nice church in Barcelona

Well, I am back in Germany now, but I think I will still put up a couple of nice pictures from my trip. Since I was mainly there for work, I did not get that much free time in the city, but I think I made the most of the time I had. Barcelona is a pretty great place and I recommend it highly to anyone who can make it there. Food was outstanding and there is lots to see.

Here is one of the many churches I quite liked. I always love going to churches in Europe as they tend to represent the best a city had to offer in the time they were built. The church had all the money, all the artists and all the architects... no wonder they ended up looking so much better than any of the other historical buildings in the area.

Anyway, I think I represtent this one fairly well with these couple of pictures.



 

Another day of Barcelona

After a long day full of Large Format Printing supplies presentations, I strolled over to the Sagrada Famille temple by Gaudi. It is a world of cranes and scaffolding as they are working on restoring it, but it is still a pretty neat looking building.

I am also sick as a dog over here. I thought it was just the allergies flaring up during the pollen explosion, but now I seem to have a nasty cold. Sort of takes some of the fun out of the trip, but most of my time is spent in the office anyway.

 

1st day in barcelona

Here is a very very big fountain in a park I walked to yesterday.

I suppose you could say that Barcelona is nicer than Stuttgart in some ways. It is not that much warmer at the moment. Super windy!
 

Another place named after a friend

I almost forgot about this place, named after another friend.

We did not venture inside, but Cherie, if you are ever here and we go to Karlsruhe, I promise to take you here as well.

ha
 

Fine looking eatery

Here is lovely downtown Herrenberg is a woderful looking restaurant called "Plaka"

If Mike Plaka ever gets over here for a visit, I promise I will take him there.

I like finding places named for my friends. 

Duck in a field

So I was walking along yesterday and I ran across a duck in a field. I thought this was very strange. I have never really seen a duck in a field before, normally they seem to be swimming about or flying.

What other mysteries does this field have to offer?


 

Life is so unfair

I want a ball this big.

BTW, if anyone reads this, you should think about using the google link from my page and clicking on the annoying ads on here. It earns me an extra pittance.

Unfortunate language problem

Although combining the month "May" the prefix for "Medical" may be perfectly ok for German speakers, I was a bit nervous to see this brand of product in our local hospital.

 

Geneva

OK, I was in Geneva quite a few weeks ago now, but I thought I would just throw out this picture of the waterfront that I took. I really have not done too much that is interesting in the past day or two and I have not taken any new pictures of anything worth sharing...

Now it is a long weekend here (labour day) and I look forward to the grey coldness that I have ahead of me. Our nice weather has vanished in a typical German fashion.

Week after next I am off to Barcelona for a "Large Format Printing Supplies Summit" where I will have amazing things to discuss like forecast of 84 inch paper and backlit translucent film. Who said my job is not glamarous? Hopefully the sun will shine and I can get a look at something slightly more interesting than I have in Germany at the moment.

 

My wonderful home

this is the view out of my bedroom window.

I love where I live, it is quiet and small and isolated despite being in the super crowded country of Germany. Granted not everyone would like to live in the middle of nowhere, but there is a bakery and a butchers 50 metres from my front door, so at least I can have fresh sandwiches whenever I want.

The trees on the hill in are a national park. Hundreds of km of bike trails start at the end of my street. It is superb. If you go 2 villages over, there is a wildlife area with wild pigs, deer and mountain sheep to look at. Can't really beat that can you? Piiiiiiiiiggggs.

Basket baby

Am I a bad parent? My child is essentially just another toy for me to play with. I like putting him places to see how long he takes to escape. Another great bit of fun is putting various things on his head, toys, hats, cushions.... anything I can balance there.

The way I see it, there is no point in having kids if you can't treat them like toys. This is how he will get used to doing my evil bidding.

 

A ride in the car

So, we were out for a drive on the weekend and the car continued to work is sleeping magic on the boy. It is almost hard to believe that about 2 minutes before this, he was an energy machine. I like when he zonks right out, funny dude.