I, Ann-ona-Moose, being of sound mind. . .

Ran across this today in my brain-rot browsing

The family riff (sic), which dates back to the initial dispute over the grandfather's estate, was still raging during Heath's memorial. In fact, Mike Ledger claims 17 family member (sic) were not invited to attend services for Heath.

from MSNBC

"Riff". Is that what you have when a family "rift" and a family "tiff" have babies? Jus' checkin.

I will probably look into getting a will when we go home this summer. It's my understanding that in Germany it doesn't matter whether you die intestate or not and certain percentages of your estate are guaranteed to specific relatives regardless of your wishes (Pflichtanteil). In the States, there can be serious financial disadvantages to "going" without a will.

New and interesting tidbit: German wills must be handwritten if you want to avoid an expensive trip to the notary.

Do I really need to set up a power of attorney for the unnamed German spouse in the event of my incapacity - isn't the fact that this happens automatically a benefit of getting married?

Off to the town of the hurdled ford (Bleg)

Assuming I don't have an interview (looking less and less likely), we are off to Dublin the weekend after next.

I found a Podcast tour, but if you have any words of wisdom re: tourism in Baile Átha Cliath, I would be really grateful. And if you can pronounce that properly, you are a significantly better person than I. Really, German is complicated, but I think one does a better job reading Finnish aloud than Irish and this is awful, because I have relatives in the Gaeltracht.

Worth listening to - RTE has some great radio broadcasts available as Podcasts. I've been enjoying "What If?". The Documentaries, however, are seriously depressing.

I found this rather imposing figure

on my trip through the town yesterday.

I was out on the town to buy shoelaces yesterday - which leads us to our word for today Schnürsenkel. Schnüren - to fasten, to tie with string, to strap and Senkel - shoe lace, plumb bob (arch.), sinker - meaning well, you probably won't see it used in any other context.

I normally find dialect confusing - I enjoy it to no end, but rarely does it make comprehension easier for me. But just to show that the exception proes the rule.

The dialect word for shoe laces is Schuhbandle. Band meaning ribbon or tape.

Tada! A dialect word that makes more sense than the Hochdeutsch equivalent.

And because we are nothing if not thorough here in Mooseville, here is the German Wikipedia link for Schnürsenkel where you will find more than you ever had any desire to know about the wideranging world of shoe laces. The English page can be accessed through the German site.

Just wondering

There seem to be so many English-language blogs and webpages with tips on thrifty living or simple living. Do any of you know any with tips for Germany (other than , there are good used book stores in Basel) ?

Photo -didbygraham some rights withheld

Being away from home, you might miss this. . .

And Sweater Day is not be be missed.

If you click one link today let it be this one

(click on title itself). I even gave you the English version. This is no cheap Google Translation, Ladies and Bugs, the company translated this themselves. (Ok and how weird is it that the dictionary we downloaded at Google's suggestion for web content marks "Google" as a misspelling?)

I am almost glad I didn't have the camera with me at Bauhaus last night when we went to purchase yet another wooden counter top, this time for our office desk. (The beech forests of Scandanavia are weeping and we are entirely responsible.) As as result, I visited their website, and it is worth the poorly translated trip. (For the uninitiated, Ass = ace, not to be confused with Aas = dead meat/carcase. Shorten your vowel on the first one.)

I hope at least you all see the humor involved, so I am also posting a wee photo from their web site here (and holding the fair use fig leaf aloft). They should hire me to fix this. Actually, they should leave it just the way it is.

Seriously though

we headed off to Heidelberg on Saturday, to make use of our last traveling opportunity on my monthly commuter ticket. Turned out to be a great idea. It was good to head out into the world AND I got to eat Persian food for dinner, which I like lots. -Strangely enough, it was my first time back to the castle since I was there with friends 4 1/2 years ago. I miss them and the sunshine that day!

Not much in the way of sunshine on Saturday in Heidelberg. Actually, as reported here, lots of wind. Here's some supporting evidence -






And here a few more pics of the day . . .
(The Photos looked fine in the preview - hope you can see all 3 now even if the formating is
. . .ummmm interesting.)

Ein bisschen Galgenhumor muss sein. . .

Because you have to allow for a bit of gallows humor.The Moose stands before the ruins of her career.

Because it feels so good when I stop

So I got fired. Seriously. And it's ok. Technically, I got laid off. But that was Friday, this is Wednesday, it wasn't entirely unexpected and I have everything home now, including the commuter bike. I turned in my key to the bicycle parking garage yesterday.
(The folks who work there, btw are mostly kids who haven't been able to find jobs. I was stunned when I found this out because they were always extremely friendly and the service was great (I mean, American level service). This is a fabulous project.)

Things have been pretty bad for a while (mostly work) - I was literally hanging on day to day and really wracked with worry every time I applied for a job that paid less. Working where I was working was worse than being unemployed - much worse. All of that is gone and although I continue to be really knocked for a loop (a little uncertain as to what now) I am 70% relieved and glad to have a little bit of time to get my head back to something roughly approaching a good place.

So anyhoo - I hope to get some backlogged items up in the next few days and now that I have gotten this off my chest (I am about 25% ashamed), you'll be hearing a bit more from me.