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.

Bad Night Part II

See if you can figure out what I did from the picture. . . I'll fill in the details from home.

Etsy auf Deutsch

I know some in the German / Swiss Expat community are devotees of Etsy - a sales portal for handcrafted items. A least one sells products over Etsy.

During a recent commute, I discovered the German analog (read rip off a la StudiV) DaWanda.

Edwina's insides were a rocky place where my seed could find no purchase.

As part of my continuing "education" program for the nameless German Moose Spouse, we rented an iTube video. Yes, it does work if you have a US account. I tried watching it on our laptop which we can hookup to the TV, but didn't have any luck with that.

Soemthing to be said for watching movies again after many years. I identify now with Ed in ways I definitely didn't 10 years ago. And the brill cream I found so annoying in "Oh Brother, Where art Thou?" is amusing when it's a running gag.


Raising Arizona quotes at imbDB.

Who Says Germans Don't Have

a sense of humor.

I dropped the hand-written note off on the desk of a known Muppets-loving co-worker.

The page it's stapled to is what I got back.

BTW: Here's the link for the Youtube video.

Bad Night Part III

so finally getting of the train last night at 11 PM and getting ready to pedal home, I managed to get the laces of my trusty every day shoes snagged in the escalator at the train station. At least that's what I think happened. The next thing I know I was on my hands and knees and it hurt a lot.

Fortunately the unnamed German Moose Spouse bandaged me up and put me to bed. Here's an overview of the damage.

5 weeks in. . .

and still no internet.

Ann here. Posting from the in-laws. We are hoping to be back online within the week, but I will believe it when I see it. I am very excited about setting up the meet-up, but am trying not to blog or read blogs at work (not terribly successful at no. 2).

Have a bit of a health situation State-side and a job interview coming up. So lots new. We put in the last kitchen shelves this morning.

Hope you will be willing to wait until Moose Lodge is connected to the outside world for further KA meetup details.

Happy New Year and all the best to you!

The Useful Moose

Just found a directory of second-hand and free shops. There might be some useful info for you in there.

Wie neu (like new)

Back to painting!

&%$§ Telekom

Now I feel German. We've had the first of our moving glitches. Telekom has turned off our phone 1 week earlier than agreed on. No phone, no internet . . . not a single luxury, like Robinso - ok you get the point.

Might be a bit scarce til this gets sorted.

We have the key and the landlord has a small list of things that need to get repaired. There is a door latch that's broken.

Day 1 of the move involved MG refilling all of the holes in the walls. I stayed with him last night while he removed all of the lightswitch and electrical socket plates.
Someone had to be there to call 911 (or whatever it is) if he stuck that screwdriver somewhere it didn't belong. He insisted the screwdriver was designed for that, but I don't believe him.

Today he is taping, taping, taping and riding over to Telekom to give them a piece of our collective minds.

The mooselet is off to gay Paree for a couple of days. The trains are running again over there which means it's back to rioting season. C'est la vie parisienne, or something.

Meet-up

Anybody far enough down south that they would be interested in a local meet-up in Karlsruhe? I am thinking a low-key chance to visit one of our two new Starbucks cafes. Other suggestions are welcome. Glühwein/Kinderpunsch at the Christmas market anyone?

I have one definite, but she is returning from a tour of the Americas :) at the start of the year. Molly, my faithful commenter, has also expressed interest. I walked up to a random English speaking stranger on the street yesterday, poor thing, and gave her my number. Maybe she will call and I have to harrass the neice of an aquaintance of my mothers - who just happens to live about 500 m from here.

The long and short of it is, I am up for a local( KA) or semi-local (Heidelberg-ish) meetup or both. I don't pull a whole lot of traffic here, but if you are interested too, drop me a line, or even better post on it, and hopefully, we could get a group together for an afternoon some time.

Forgetting your English?

Here's a chance to get those synapses firing again and to do a good thing simultaneously.


Short but sweet - vocabulary game, 10 grains of rice to the poor for each right answer.

I can't get above a 44. Apparantly to be supersmart, you have to get to 48. All in the FAQ, kiddies.

HT: Eve Tushnet

Bonanza of Minutia

Despite well-meanng advice, I haven't made much of an attempt to find a new job. I have continued to learn, and there is no doubt I know significantly more than I did at the start. I have made a few phone calls recently that I wouldn't have made earlier, and have sent out a few faxes and emails that didn't need so much correction, but for the most part my writing still requires heavy reworking. I am still not at a point where I have skills that would make me truly marketable.

The week before last we had a madatory celebratory dinner that ran til 11:30 PM (read: I got to bed at 1 AM) in a week where I was overloaded. I still am furious, but I just had 1,5 extra days off and I am OK for the moment. My scheduling this week is going to be tight because of the vacation days, but perhaps I can rack up a little comp time for the move. Last week, I wound up back in the office Thanksgiving morning, which I was supposed to have off - doing recalculations for a project I thought I had finished weeks ago. The higher up who had signed off on the project was speeding away to Switzerland, but his failure to process my "It won't work like this" meant I was in the office wanting to scream "Happy $%&$ Thanksgiving" under my breath from 7:30 to noon Thursday.

But then I was swept off to little America by my sister mg or the Mooslet and MG and all was right with the world . . .

Everyone else at the office is a bit swamped, too. We've been offered "too many" projects, and the normal down-time of the year (sauere Gurken Zeit) is going to be anything but - apparantly it was last year as well, and that was one of the reasons I got hired. So here we are.

But we are in good health, my parents and in-laws are in good health, my sister is here, and we are moving. There are things I want (even more than better kitchen tiles) that we haven't gotten yet - but for the next 15 minutes, I have a bit of space from it and a little peace.

off to write some Christmas cards in my 15 minutes - take care ya'll