That Conference in Changsha, China (Part I)

Two weeks ago, Tobi and I were in Changsha, China attending a conference at the Frontiers of Algorithmics Workshop (FAW) 2008. While I thought we delivered a rather exquisite 20-minute presentation of our work on "Versioning Tree Structures by Path-Merging", we both found that there were several, ah, "speakers" among the conference delegates, who, in our opinion, strived very hard to give seriously bad and ineffective talks! Although, strangely, I must confess, that they did write excellent and well-organised articles in their contributions to the conference proceedings -- such constrasting malediction!

And so, as would anyone who are forced to listen to a series of uncomprehensive repertoires of monotonic regurgitations of Lemmas and Theorems in between bland syntaxes and numerical tables, Tobi and I made a list of what we thought were going on in the minds of these highly esteemed people whose only mission seem to drive everyone sitting in the audience to lose interest / sleep / be dilatory / stare blankly at walls / unnecessarily draining litres of bottled water (to keep awake) / (and thus) making excuses to visit the toilets / etc... etc...

The cogent title we gave, in our quest to be superb raconteurs of accounting the details of the three-day conference proceedings, was:

"How To Give a BAD Talk"

Read on, and be amused...

[Day 1: 19 June 2008]

• Present 6 huge and extremely complicated Lemmas followed by a Theorem explaining the universe in the span of 20 minutes.


• Show 100 lines of source codes in a separate editor with font size 10.


• Prepare enough slides to give a 4-hour long talk and present them all in 20 minutes.


• Don't bother to explain any of the abbreviations / acronyms / unit measurements / etc. that are on the slides -- but keep mentioning them in the talk all the time since everyone else are assumed to have already know what they mean.


• Present, on each slide, at least 6 very complicated mathematical formulae, using more than 2 super-/sub-scripted indices without explaining the significance of the variables.


[Day 2: 20 June 2008]

• Place 5 Definitions and 3 Lemmas on 2 slides, about 25 lines each copied from LaTeX.


• Show 20 lines of fully commented pseudo-"pseudo-codes" on 1 slide.


• Present experimental results by showing endless columns of numbers without properly explaining their relevance / consequence / importance / purpose.


• Don't ever use graphs to represent these endless columns of numbers!


• Don't ever use figures to illustrate graph-theoretical principles. Instead, draw them impressively in the air with your fingers, some distance above the podium, while talking.


• Periodically ask for the audience's approval, after the delivery of every thought / idea, by saying, "OK?".


• If your time is over, defy the session chair's suggestion to end the talk and continue to keep reminding the audience that there is still a lot more contents to come.


• Create slides that dont't match the screen dimensions; for example, use A4-portrait.


• Include example figures in the slides. Then ensure that the audience sees them -- or rather, make sure they only manage a quick glance at them; then quickly move on to other another slide. The figures only serve to distract.


• Skip the motivation for solving the problem, simply assume that the audience already knows.


[Day 3: 21 June 2008]

• Don't bother to do a final review of the contents in the slides to spot for typos or something similar. The slides are always already perfect the first time round.


• Copy everything from LaTeX to PowerPoint, and don't follow up to ensure the correctness of contents. For example, in LaTeX: "$c n\log n$" -- simply copy and remove the "$" after placing in PowerPoint.


• Add references such as [1],[2],... without ever letting the audience know the concrete sources. Until, of course, we reach the end of the talk. These references are only meant for our own conveniences, and no one else's.


• Use tiny font sizes in all the example figures in the slides. This prevents the audience from spotting your mistakes, which, of course, are non-existent.


• Bring the audience's attention to your figures on the slides only by their label names, and don't bother to explain the significance of those figures. For example, say something like, "Here are our results. Look at Figures (a) and (b)." Then pause for 2 seconds, and quickly turn to the next slide and conclude the talk. Then watch the stunned reactions of the audience.

Facebook? Really now...

Hmm... on a much lighter note, I finally decided to get myself a Facebook account -- after much incessant proddings from everyone I know... who ALL seem to be on Facebook (here is Wikipedia's entry on Facebook, which I thought was an interesting read). Didn't really care and know what all the fuss are about, until a few hours ago :) Indeed, Facebook is just amazing -- I am finding out about old chums again, and what's more, they seem to remember me; Supreme Kai!

That, and this phdcomic, which seems to back my decision on the other front...


Those bloody guys from Harvard are no doubt enjoying themselves seeing people glued to their product. And with the silly gadgets/plugin-applications incorporated into Facebook, it's just designed to keep people on it for hours on end! *sigh*

Anyway, it seems that the German community has its own Facebook equivalent, its clone, as Chris has brought to my attention. It is known as the studiVZ, and already Chris, Karen, and Leo are on them. There are other clones too; studiQG.fr, studiLN.it, estudiLN.es, studentIX.pl, and iwiw.hu.

One bad thing though, Facebook and StudiVZ are completely two different entities and are not inter-linkable *grr* I don't want to have another separate account... don't make me sign-up for another one... help...

An Ode: I just want you to know who I am

Several turn of events over the past decade decided to unleashed themselves upon me these past few months, and it culminated with a rather ominous and inapportune phone call from mom Sunday night. It now seems inevitable that I will lose my grasp on someone who I hold so dear, who seems determined to close all doors and burn all bridges. Clash of stubborness? Unworthiness? But why the deceit? I am so reminded of these lyrics...

And I'd give up forever to touch you
Cause I know that you feel me somehow
You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be
And I don't want to go home right now
[...]
And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything seems like the movies
Yeah you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
[...]

'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls

Streik bei der Bahn... am Mega-Samstag

Endlich habe ich kurz Zeit um diesen Blogeintrag zu schreiben. Na ja, am Samstag nachmittag, nach unserem Badmintonspiel, musste ich in die Stadt zu meinem Termin mit Olaf (er kommt jedes Wochenende von München nach Freiburg für ernsthaft der Diskussion über seiner Arbeit). Nach einem kurzen Telefonat war dann auch Olaf, auf den ich noch fünf Minuten warten musste, an der Straßenbahnhaltestelle (am Stadttheater). Dort habe ich die Streik mierlebt. Die Leute waren das Gleis vom Hauptbahnhof zur Mitte der Stadt entlanggegangen. Und ooohhh.... die waren sehr laut mit ihren Pfiffe! Sie befürchten im Zuge des Ausbaus „eine unerträgliche, dauerhafte Belästigung durch Lärm, Feinstaub und Erschütterung“. Wirklich?


Allerdings, an der Kaiser-Joseph-Straße fand ich eine andere Geschichte statt! Wir haben den Mega-Samstag gefeiert -- viel kaufen, viel essen, viel kaufen, viel trinken, viel kaufen, viel kaufen, viel kaufen, etc. Ich dachte, dass die Leute in Freiburg ihren Deutschen Nationalfeiertag nicht genug gefeiert haben... hmmm, aber das war am letzte Mittwoch. Deswegen hat der Oberbürgermeister Dieter Salomon diesen Mega-Samstag angesagt.

Mimpi yang sangat menghairankan

Sesuai dengan tajuk yang telah dinyatakan di atas, awal pagi ini barulah aku teringat apa yang meyebabkan mimpiku semalam itu sungguh hairan sekali. Nak kata menakutkan, tidak pula. Nak kata kelakar, pun sama sekali tidak. Hanya hairan, bak kata orang, Parameswara itu asal-usulnya dari keturunan Raden Wijaya Majapahit.

Seperti sebuah filem P. Ramlee yang berjudul "Tiga Abdul", di mana seorang kaya-raya bernama Ismet Ulam Raja yang bermastautin di sebuah negara dongeng Isketambola, yang menarik perhatian kita penonton dengan gelagat tiga orang anak-anaknya -- Abdul Wahab, Abdul Wahib, dan Abdul Wahub. Di permulaan cerita, telah pun si pencerita menerangkan rumah Ismet yang tersergam indah seperti berikut:

"Rumahnya cantik tinggi mengawan,
Terletak di atas Bukit Cendawan;
Siapa ternampak sangatlah hairan,
Mata terbeliak tersampuk syaitan."

Hmm... dan sama seperti mimpiku semalam, aku bermimpi yang aku ni tak boleh tidur hingga lewat pagi. Hairan kan? ;-P

Das kommt mir irgendwie komisch vor

Gestern war ich im Kaufland -- ich kaufe Lebensmittel jeder Samstagmorgen, natürlich, weil ich sonst ganz bestimmt überhaupt gar nichts essen am Wochenende kann. Immerhin brauchte ich ein paar doppel-A Batterien für meine Creative®-TravelSound™-200-lautsprechersystem, und normalerweise ging ich direkt zu den Elektronikabteilung. Da fand ich eine komische Überraschung:


Da steht EUR 2,99 für den üblichen Preis für ein Päckchen mit vier Batterien. OK... dachte ich. Dann, in der Nähe, war Kauflands "Special Offer" für die ähnlicher Marke. Es gibt sondern hat die Sache einen Harken; man muss ein Päckchen mit acht Batterien kaufen. Das war kein Problem für mich, aber die acht Batterien "Special Offer" kostet EUR 5,99. Sehr interessant, oder?

Trotzdem, was habe ich getan? Haha... was würde irgendjemand tun? Allerdings! Ich habe zwei übliche Päckchen gekauft und habe ich EUR 0,01 gespart :)

Ps: Mein weiteres FreeCell-Update:
Ich hatte heute zu viel Zeit und spielte ich deshalb 12 mehr FreeCell games. Das heißt, habe ich insgesamt 134 Spielen gewonnen, und ebenso 0 Spielen verloren. Heh heh heh...

Die unglaubliche siebenundneunzig

Drei mal in die letzte zwei Wochen habe ich die siebenundneunzig angetroffen. Vielleicht da geht es mehr, aber kann ich mich nicht erinnern. Warum hat die siebenundneunzig öffentlich auftreten? Dass habe ich früher gefragt, und nun, nie man hat die Antwort... noch nicht.

♠ Im Bowlingpark Westside Freiburg...
... haben wir (Tobi, Isabell, Fred, und ich) jeder man siebenundneunzig Punkten in unser dritte Spiel erreichen. Na ja, soviel ich weiß wir haben sehr schlecht gespielt, aber dass war nicht unsere besten Spielnacht.

♠ An der Freecell...
... habe ich insgesamt siebenundneunzig Spielen gewonnen (seit letzte Woche). Oh, und habe ich auch insgesamt null Spielen verloren. Cool huh? Ich denke das ist ein historischer Rekord! Hat jemand einen besseren Gewonnenpunkt als mich? Wenn ja, schickt mir ein Email sofort :P

♠ Die neue Laufzeit...
... mit meine neue Laufroute. Da steht um meine Uhr fast dreiundzwanzig Minuten. Eigentlich habe ich 22'53''siebenundneunzig Minuten zu der Zeit erzielen.

The One with Three Dudes in Kuala Lumpur

Hmm... I have now blogged too many entries in English, I know. So the next one after this shall be in a language other than the one Master Shakespeare used when he wrote the comedy "Much To Do About Nothing" :) And maybe, after reading this blog, you can decide for yourselves who among us three dudes most resemble the characters Benedick, Claudio, and Don Pedro. Right. Let's see now, my mate Tobi has already provided a very accurate chronology of events on his blog of what happened in KL. So I shall instead write this report from another point of view.


♠ "We can eat, eat, eat, till we nearly drop..." Dick Lee, 1998.

... and that was exactly what we did when us three boys rode our way into town!! Besides, to be a good host, I was to ensure that my guests don't starve, right? Haha... that was partially the reason why I chose that we stay at The Westin, Kuala Lumpur. Apart from the spacious suites with commanding views of the city's skylines at our feet, we also had access to the exorbitant buffet spread during breakfast at the Living Room. (It took three mornings worth of persuasions to get my guests to try the mini-steaks with beef-bacon and eggs-benedict (and hashbrowns with baked beans, of course) for their second servings, after going through the mundane ritual of muesli, milk, and marmalade-breads. *sigh* These boys don't eat very much for breakfast!).



And just for whetting our epitites in anticipation of dinner, there was a generous selection of fine wines and pre-dinner cocktails complimenting the hors d'oeuvres and appetizers served at the Executive Club Lounge, before we headed off into the city for dinner proper :P It was also up there on that 33rd floor, while sipping my drink and watching the sun set over the city, that I learnt Tobi is one reputable wine connoisseur! Unfortunately for me, I cannot consume any kinds of alcohol to verify any of Tobi's remarks. Marius on the other hand was nodding away to Tobi's words and adding one or two suggestions as to what was being discussed. So I can only presume that Tobi's knowledge of the vintages are ge-nu-wine *smile* Although I can't quite recall what he said about red wines, chocolate cakes, and his mother... Anyway, I felt sure my guests enjoyed themselves in the calm ambience of the Club Lounge, and this was later confirmed when I heard one of them tacitly ordering the head-waiter to chill the bottle of Chardonnay down to exactly 17.41°C before bringing it out again and serving it to him *big smile*


♠♠ "When you get right down to it, what we all need is a place to go... A place where we can escape the noise of our lives and just relax." Takayuki Ikkaku, 2005.

This meeting in KL was designed with the intention to do just that. To relax. To chill. To stretch out. To unwind. I definitely needed a break from routine stuffs at the office. Tobi was in his final week of his 3-month-long Asia tour. And Marius could use a breather before tackling the works in Bangkok. So we all deserved some time-out to do anything we please, or, really, to do nothing...



... which makes it rather fitting, since I couldn't persuade Marius to wake up early enough (say, around 06:30) so that we could do some workouts at the gym and have a dip in the pool afterwards just before heading for breakfast. But I think Tobi and he compromised by thrashing their bedsheets and pillows, and then jumping up and down on their Westin's Heavenly Beds®. Lol... fun? Yes. But I made sure they didn't do that in my bedroom... heh heh heh.


♠♠♠ "It's a lot like nature. You only have as many animals as the ecosystem can support and you only have as many friends as you can tolerate the bitching of." Randy K. Milholland, 2005.

One thing is for certain; my two guests were, I would say, eco-tourists. While happy to tolerate my city-dwelling behaviour, they perked up better when the three of us took some time to explore all 7 water-fall stations in the Templar Park Nature Reserve. And one other thing the three of us agreed was on bitching about our driver, Ben, who I would sum up as an ass hole. Long story. Poor me, I speak Malay and Chinese *sigh* Ben aside, we were fortunate enough to acquire a personal guide for our private hike up the steep hills who was not only akin to the natural surroundings, but was also hype enough to take us places where not many hikers went. And after a cool dip in the pool at level 4 on our way back down to the foot of the hills, we were happy (well, at least I was) to call it a day and return to the hotel for a well-deserved Westin Heavenly Shower® (which I just realised today, is available exclusively only in the Executive Residences, which will restore the mind and body -- it really does! The secret lies in the dual-showerheads and in the easily adjustable water-pressure...).



There. That's how much I can regurgitate about my holidays with my good mates in KL. I certainly felt a bit younger, though at times, it seems my younger guests can't seem to keep up with me, their elder host. But I digress :P On the other hand, I also discovered that both Tobi and Marius are avid readers, and that we share a common interest in the works by Ken Follett. And from my observation of the other novels that I see them reading (by the poolside, on the sofa in our private lounge, in the car, etc.), I think it's time I introduce them to the works of Jeffrey Archer and Clive Cussler.

Of Dragonboats and Durians

Several things happened while I was in Singapore, and here is an account of a few of those that I can remember. I should have taken more photos, but one just don't think about taking photos when one is in one's homeland, right? *smile*

Update: I just realised that Wolfgang has quite an impressive collection of photos on Singapore as part of his subjects. These include places/locations/sites that I myself has never seen. So, since I am blogging about SG, I thought I'd include a link to Wolfs' pictorial reviews of SG in his Panaroma-Pics and Fernweh.


August 9, 2007. That was when Singapore celebrated her 42nd year of independence. We locals simply call it our National Day, and then have fun rejoicing in the holidays. By rejoicing this year, I was asked to take part in the Punggol East Dragonboat race (Grassroots category)... well, actually, they needed one more person to fill up the last boat of 10 rowers (and a drummer, and a steerer) and persuaded me enough until I agreed :P To cut the long story short, our boat came in second place overall -- couldn't beat last year's champions (well, they had beautifully slim and charming secret weapons on board, ya know what I'm sayin' *grin*). No one bothered to take pictures of the runner-ups, and so I had to take a snapshot of the article in the local neighbourhood magazine just before leaving Singapore. We also decided later that night after dinner to rejoice by stuffing ourselves silly with Punggol's best durians (or, as Tobi and Marius called them Stinkfrucht).


The week before I left to return to Germany was simply a week of socializing. It seems that when I manage to escape Mom's foods/cakes/snacks, I land myself in places where more food are served. Although, from my voracious epitite, no one seemed to believe that I ran the Freiburg marathons *sigh* Anyway, here are four photos I remembered to take:


Oh, and here is one interesting fact with our family cat Gwenni (that's Gwen Steffani with four legs and a tail). She was extremely affectionate with me this time round, and always parked herself on my carpet in my room. And then, as if to get my attention, flips over on her back and meows softly to me to entice me to scratch her belly... Hahaha... silly cat! If she didn't leave so much cat fur around, I wouldn't have minded. So it's usually my brother who comes looking for her and brave enough to carry her out of my room without being scratched :P

Zurück in Freiburg!

Oy vey! Kai is back, and *darn*, Freiburg is still cold... Heh heh heh... Well, I should, over the next few days, be updating these pages again -- that's right, you people who have been subtly complaining about my inactiveness (you know who you are :P), and without a doubt leaving some disguised-ly pointed notions in your emails.


Yup, I have been away for a short vacation since early August; it was supposed to be a relaxing one, but as usual, the vac ended up being more of a social reunion! Not complaining... just happy to meet up with old acquaintances again :) More of that report to come in the coming entries.

For now though, I'd just like to share some really nice experiences of Singapore Airlines' (SIA) new cabin products. Without sounding like an advertisement sound-bite; the new seats on the 777-300ER planes are simply so very wide and sinfully comfortable -- didn't realise the journey from Zürich to Singapore took 12 hours! Also, the on-board airline food never tasted better, which was complimented by the fantastic services of their attention-seeking cabin crew, from the moment I left the comforts of the Silver Kris Lounge.


OK. Will report again soon. Although it seems that Tobi has already finished an entry on his blog on our meeting in Kuala Lumpur -- check it out!

Cheers!
]Kai

Karen and Alex

After seven years of knowing and loving each other, Karen and Alexander finally decided to get married. And what a wonderful and beautiful ceremony it was -- so delightful, so refreshing! It all began on Saturday morning, July 28th, when Christoph, Ann-Kathrin, and I set off for Pforzheim. We were priviledged to have been invited to the Chinese solemnization ceremony, a private affair where the bride and the groom served traditional tea to the parents, who in turn showered them with gifts... heh heh heh... no pun intended there Karen :P

We then headed off to church after the lunch reception to witness the couple exchange their vows. The priest, in his short sermon, mentioned something about cars, children, and the garage, which I thought was directed to Alex for his love of fancy cars -- but when asked later, Alex swore that the priest was simply talking about cars, children, and garages in general... hahaha... hmmm... Anyway, silly me, I had not brought out my camera for both these events! So many photo ops, and I missed them *still kicking myself* *now have to wait for Chris to develop the official photos* To make up for this irretrievable loss, I hunted down my camera back at the hotel, and joined in the furroes of picture snappings with the other guests shortly before dinner was served. *Decided to take off my tie and the suit jacket to make myself comfortable, it was rather tiring taking pictures*


Then came the dinner itself. Plenty of stuffs to eat on the main courses. Apparently, I had had a special menu prepared for me (a little bit different from the other guests, since I can't take pork and alcohol), which made everyone seated around me a little bit jealous; especially the maid-of-honour who sat on my left :P Still, we all got along well, and thoroughly enjoyed our feast!



Then, after we thought that we can no longer stomach any more food, we were asked to step outside the hotel for a Balloon-Wishing Ceremony. We gladly left our seats for a while just so that we get an opportunity to digest what we had sumptuosly ate. I have to thank whoever coordinated this -- it surely was at the bestest of time ;)


I also managed to capture part of this on video. Check this out:


After lingering at the foyer for some time watching the balloons fly away (I think mine crossed the river and made its way to Paris!), we decided it was time to resume eating. But first, we had to take a couple of candid shots with Louisa (Karen's mom) and that huge bear who sits by himself at the lobby:


After dessert, it was all about socializing. The cake was cut, we all get to dance with the bride (and Alex got to dance with the girls), the mother of the bride, and whomever one fancies to dance with following the tune of the music. Well now, really, after Karen changed into her chiffon evening gown with matching pearls, who can resist asking her for a second dance, right?


And I have to mention this, when Karen threw her bouquet for the single-women to catch, there was a weird wave of them trying smack the flowers away (rather than rushing forwards, tumbling over each other to catch it)... hahaha! But Alex's cousin's girlfriend caught it :) And because of that weird wave, I didn't manage to get the full flower-flip on video, just part of it:


All in all, I had had a wonderful time. I felt well-taken care of. Everyone from the bride and groom, their parents, relatives, friends and colleagues, all the way to the staffs of the hotel... they were all so friendly and sociable. Got me carried away here... look at how much I blogged!

Also I made some wonderful new friends (they flew in specially from Vancouver and London to be with Karen on her big day): Maggie, Melissa, Victoria, Elliot, Joyce, and Calvin. Guys, I kept my end of the promise with this blog and its contents. I'll check out your suggestions on Facebook next. Then we'll wait for Karen to coordinate the email list *hint*hint* Heh heh heh... To top it off, it was a fine reunion with Leandro and Christine. You guys were awesome! Leo, I'd promise a tribute entry for us on my blog, wait for it within the next few days, ok?


Cheers!
]Kai

Der verdammte Aufzug

Arrgghhh.... ich habe die Nase voll! Unserer Aufzug ist noch einmal außer betrieb -- seit Donnerstag letzte Woche! Ich hatte mein Fahrrad über das Wochenende an die Treppen erhöhen musste, und heute Morgen können wir den Aufzug fahren auch nicht.

*sigh* Dieser Aufzug ist tatsächlich selbstbeherrscht... habe ich es nicht gleich gesagt? Wenn der sich gekränkt fühlt, funktioniert er nicht mehr. Oder vielleicht er fühlt sich ungerecht behandelt (man kann ja nie wissen)? Wenn ja, dann er einfältige Pinsel ist...

Woo Hoo! Got it!

Yes! Finally! After being made to wait ALL these years by J.K. Rowling, I finally got my hands on my very own copy of the "Deathly Hallows" last night! Well, to be perfectly candid, I actually got it SO VERY EARLY this morning -- check out the time-stamp on my receipt.



The bookstore refused to sell any copies yesterday (no surprise there), but insisted I come back and join in the fun at 01:01 a.m. (why not at 00:01 a.m.? I think to coincide with the midnight time in Great Britain) on the 21 July 2007. The counter woman told me (in German, of course) that they'd remain open until 03:03 a.m. so I can be among the first to buy the book, and then tacitly reminded me that they might be sold out if I come back at 09:30 a.m. later in the day. *Darn* I admit that her remarks psyched me up a bit, and I couldn't garble up enough German to fire back a retort. So instead, I simply nodded and gave her one of those 'thank-you-for-that-useful-information' look, to which she smiled and added that there'd be some refreshments served around 2 a.m. *Sheeiiisshhh* As if I'd like to stay that late, in a bookstore of all places...

Anyway, to cut the long story short, I did return to the store just before 1 a.m. (after hanging around the "Freiburg Downtown Party" with some friends in the city center -- there were several Jazz bands playing last night, not bad actually, quite entertaining). When I got there, I just pushed away some tired looking children (and their parents) who were already gathered at the store front who thought they were Harry, Ron, and Hermione wearing the silly Griffindor scarfs and and wizard hats and all, and then ran to snatch the first book within my reach when the doors opened... HA HA HA HA HA...!

Now, I guess I will be quite busy this weekend figuring out the details of Deathly Hallows.
So.... -----[ DO NOT DISTURB ]-----

SSV hat begonnen

... wirklich? Das heißt der Sommer wird am Ende zu sein. Aber erstens, muss man frag: Hat den Sommer schon angefangen? Falls ich es gar nicht bemerkt habe, sag mir bitte sofort und wach mich auf.

Ich hatte heute die Werbung des Mann Mobilia SBs in meine Freiburger Wochenbericht gelesen, und die lautet ,,Beim großen SSV können Sie jetzt bis zu - 70% sparen!`` Naja, es ist toll... nur solange Vorrat reicht, natürlich. Und nur wenn ich mehrere Möbel brauche. Oh nein, bitte nicht mehr! :P


Also, am diese Wochenende habe ich viel zu tun. Das letzte Buch von der Harry-Potter-Reihe (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows) wird am Samstag veröffentlicht! Ich hatte diese Mal mit Amazon mein Buch nicht bestellt -- lange Rede... vielleicht nächste Mal sollte ich Euch erzähle. Das bedeutet muss ich frühe am Samstagmorgen zu meiner Buchhandlung für meine limitierte Edition... dessen ungeachtet!

Dann später, auch am Samstagmorgen, werden wir eine Internationale Flugschau zu sehen. Die Flugplatz Freiburg und die Luftsportvereine präsentieren die 100 Jahre Jubiläumsausgabe. Der Tag lautet ,,Flugtag Freiburg`` und ich möchte gerne die ,,Wingwalking Formation`` sehen. Hoffentlich wurde das Wetter schön gut sein, dann kann ich ein paar Bilder zu nehmen. Hoffentlich...

Christoph hat heute Geburtstag!

Haha... das hier ist überhaupt noch eine Bewies der Fortführung meines frühers Eintrags. Da habe ich Theorem 1 festgelegt: Das Sommermärchen = Viel essen + viel trinken + viel feiern, und heute haben wir den Geburtstag von Christoph gefeiert, und natürlich haben wir viel mehr essen und trinken... und lachen... und Musik hören... :)

Beweis (vii). Christophs Viertel-Jahrhunderte Geburtstag.


Ich habe die Leute unseres Lehrstuhls (und Frau Pfeiffer von Prof. Schindelhauer) nach Mittagessen eingeladen. Danach haben wir zusammen zwei Kuchen gegessen: Der erste hat die Ann Kathrin super gekocht-- sehr ziemlich sicher mal und gesundheitliches lecker! Die hat auch die Spezialkerzen für Chris gepackt und zueinander haben die Kerzen ,,Happy Birthday`` buchstabiert... nicht schlecht! Der anderer (habe ich mit gebracht) ist eine italienische Torte: Die Crema Amarena von Café Vivendi. Heh heh heh... da hat jeder sofort Lust auf ein leckeres Stück ,,La Dolce Vita``.




OK. Der Chris ist endlich in meinen (und Karens) Club -- "The Quarter-and-Over-Centurions". Er ist jetzt älter als gestern. Das ist einen Fakt. Dann gehen wir wieder zur Arbeit, nicht noch nur feiern Moni ;-P

p.s. Diese kleine Überraschung für Chris war eine schwierige Aufgabe, weil er immer diesen Morgen ins Büro bleibt. Ich kann meine Plan erledigten nicht bevor er zum essen gehen... naja... dann musste ich etwas aus dem Ärmel schütteln, und schnell! Und, er... ,,alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei``?