Its been a nice day. Went to a Korean restaurant and afterwards to Christophers for Hefeweizen and Nachos. The Korean food that I had was called "Bibimbop" - it as a new experience for me. I also had some Korean beer which in fact was better than most of the american ones that I had so far. And I highly recommend the green tea ice cream - which was delicous.
Thanks to Sarah that she joined me and gave me good tips in the korean restaurant. good night

Remember - its April FoolsDay Tomorrow - so - watch out for anybody that wants to play jokes on you.

Its been a 12 hours day in the office - so - its time to switch off the lights now - heading home - well actually - heading to Christopers for some Hefeweizen and Nachos. Thats all that I have to say right now - and actually - there is no more time as my bus leaves in 10 minutes - bye bye

Just finished my second book since I am here. Its really good that I use my spare time for reading or salsa instead of watching TV. So - I just came back from the book store getting a new one. I already had a delicous meal that Stephan brought from school - and now I think that I will just go on reading.
There is also some bad news - my damn knee makes troubles. I had this problem a year ago - but now its getting more serious - especially since my last bike trip - well - I hope that it will get better in the next days - otherwise I might have to make some drawbacks for my weekend activities. bye bye

No easter monday holiday here in the states - therefore I have to work. Weather is really nasty - rainy and not too warm. Bye Bye

Happy Eastern

No real eastern here for me - no hiding of presents - no eierpecken. But so far its been a nice day. Starting with a bagel and coffee and having a 2 hours bike trip. I finally found the bike road to my work - its about 45 minutes - one way. so maybe in summer i will sometime use my bike to commute to work. Bye for today - and for your information - this week we have 7 hours time difference as we have our time change next week.
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Update to yesterday evening - went out with Sarah to Ryles for some Salsa. Ryles on sunday is really great - they play very good music - it is not too crowed - and they have a lunch buffet for just $5.

Thats what happend the past two days:
Went out for Salsa yesterday - again to the Havanna Club - that is a really cool place. They performed a great show at midnight - see the picture.
Today I went out walking around in Cambridge - the day was just great - lots of sunshine - warm in the sun - but still cold in the shadow.
And here is the extremly positive message: I found a liquer store where the have german wheat beer (Julius Echter, Weihenstephener, Franziskaner, ...). So - thats my little easter present - seems that my easter bunny hid my easter eggs in the liquer store.
Tonight should be funny again - guess what - yeah - Salsa at Ryles and tomorrow hopefully in the Dance Company.bye bye

An updated picture from my cube - getting nicer from day to day	Dance performance in the Havanna Club - it was a mixture of Salsa and Schuhplattler	I wore my Hands-On T-Shirt that I was given by my relatives. As you can see - I was already soaked through from dancing
Statue on Harvard Square saying: "Never again should a people starve in a world of plenty"	Lincoln Monument at Harvard Square	Cambridge City Hall on Massachusetts Avenue - near Central Square

Looks like winter is back!! Hopefully spring does not wait too long.
So - the only thing that I can do in this cold situation is having a hot time at salsa tonight!bye
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I've to tell you this story now - I am sitting here watching TV - with all those commercials. Well - all of you know about the strange tampon comercials that we have back in europe. Nobody really gets it why they have those commercials.
So - the ad that I've seen just now was the first funny one. A couple sitting in a boat - on a lake. Romantic scene - and she realizes that the boat has a leck. He turns around tells her he will fix it. In the meantime - she takes out her tampon - fixing the whole with one. Isnt that strange!!!
Well - sorry for that - but I just thought I need to tell u this. bye

First impression when I got out today	More snow on our way to the office

Not much more to say so far - its been not too busy the past days - much more relaxing than last week. Two days to go till weekend - but the weather seems not to be too god - either snowy or at least cold and rainy. Well - looking forward to spring/summer now. good night
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(22:48) Just came home from Christophers - decided to join Stephan and Jeff (former roommate of Stephan). Two beers and a plate of nachos later we got out of Christophers - realizing that it has started to snow - lets hope it wont be too much for tomorrows commute!

Hi - its been an exhausting weekend. First the salsa on friday - my first bike trip on saturday - going out on saturday with sabrina and her friends - another bike trip on sunday and out for cinema on the evening - watching "Million Dollar Baby" (I can really recommend this movie).
Have not yet decided what to do tonight - but probably not too much as I am too tired right now - but maybe I pull myself together for some salsa. cu

Hey - it was a nice day so far. Got up at 8:30 - met with Sabrina for a coffee on Newbury street - sitting on Copley Square afterwards till noon. I then went home and took my bike the first time - exploring the city. Here are some pictures that I've taken during my trip. Tonight should be fun - we will go out with some friends of Sabrina. bye bye

Sailing boats on the Charles River	Trinity Church on Copley Square
Quincy Market in Boston Downtown	Street performers in front of Quincy Market

Hi - a busy week ended - and a nice weekend started. It was great being in Havanna Club again. I took the Brasilian Tango, Rueda and Salsa lessons - I hope I will remember those new things next week as I learned some nice new moves. Anyway - it was again a night of fun, laughter and sweat - here are some pictures.

Another dancing night at the Havanna Club - lots of people having fun	Midnight Show - performing Brasilian Tango

Hi - its been a busy day again. After work we went to christophers having a good diner and of course - a good german wheat beer. See the latest pictures

Thats my beloved german wheat beer - Julius Echter	Me and my beloved wheat beer	My favorite hostess at Christopers
We went on to "Spriti" - a Pub nearby	The bar at Spirit with all their beers on tap	On the way home we went through the Culinar School - tasting some good food

Hi - Yesterday night I decided to watch a movie. So I went to a cinema nearby watching Hitch.
Today I will go for those special Salsa lessons in Waltham. It will start at 9PM. I've decided to not go home before that as it would be too time consuming to take the shuttle home - and take the regular bus again out of the city. So I will leave office in a bit - going to Moody Street. Thats where the Salsa takes place and it is also full of nice pubs. So I guess that I will have a nice time in a bar before I start Salsa. bye

Hi - the last two days have been very busy at work - lots of things to do. Well - I didnt made it to Salsa yesterday - I just was too tired. And I've not decided what to do today - but I guess not too much. But tomorrow will be fine - I have some special Salsa lessons in Waltham - I am not quite sure about how I am going to get there - but I will figure this out. So - the people that did the Salsa on Saturday have this dancing club and they teach Salsa during weekdays - it seems that it is for free. And I do have my lessons tomorrow - starting at 9PM.
Thats it for today - I am still waiting for a nice snapshot with my new camera - bye

My brother became father - which makes me to the Uncle of Maximilian. I hope to receive a picture soon so that I can post it here.
I also just bought a new digital camera - Casio EX-Z4. Its currently recharging - so that I can play with it by tomorrow. Stephan will soon arrive back from the Cape - we decided to go to Christopers - having some dinner and well - celebrating me becoming Oncle.

He - it was a nice day again. Although I was not as active as I wanted to be - and the reason for this - the weather. It was snowing very badly today - the whole day. So I spent most of the day at home - watching TV - relaxing. Just went out shorty to the super market.
At night I went to Ryles. I've been told that there is some dancing going on on saturdays. It was really great - not just salsa - they had a good combination from Latin musik and Standard - they even had some slow waltz. I learned that there are a bit different names for dances. Like - what we call Bougie is called Swing here. And what we call Disco Fox is the Hussle.
So - good night - bye

Some funny things happend today - here is my story:
First of all - I had my first shuttle bus ride home from work. It was really perfect. Bringing me from Spring Street 181 (next office building) to Alewife where I could hop on the T (subway). I arrived Alwife just before the train left the station. So - I sat down and waited. We went to Davis Square and I thought - COOL - this is an Express Train - as we have not stopped there. We went to Porter Square and I thought - SHIT - this is too much Express for me - thats my station. So - I finally got out on Harvard Square taking the next train back.

The next thing that happend was that I made my way to Salsa. Before I left I checked my jacket if everything is in there (Password, T-Pass and Camera). I thought to have everyting in there when I touched the pockets. Well - I went to this Salsa place near Central Square. The guy on the entrance asked me for my ID - I opened my pocket - and guess what - not there - forgotton!!!!
Well - being out at night without an ID is not fun in the States. Luckily the guy at the entrance belived me that I am older than 18 (which was the minimum age for Salsa night). But I had no chance at the waitress getting a beer.
Salsa tough was really cool - first we had some lessons in Rueada and Salsa - then the "Open Dance" started - till 2 AM. Thats the next new thing for me. Everything closes at 2 AM - no chance doing anything after that time.

So I went home - first I though that I wanna walk - but then I decided to take a taxi.
So - I just came home - 2:40 AM - presenting you some pictures from this night:

The big ballroom where we first had the lessons and open dance afterwards	A show danced by a local Salsa guy - he was really good	People having fun - it was really great

Not too much going on today. I got to work with Tom Stammberger - one of my collegues at Segue. It has been a nice day there. Got home with Janelle who is living near to my place - giving me a ride. Being at home I talked to Stephan - havent seen him since monday. We finally decided to go to Christopers - again - its been the 3rd time since I am here. Its really nice there. Well - I have to tell you - I got the best wheat beer that I had since my last Luitpold. And guess - it was german - it was a Julius Echter Weissbier - pretty good. So - after some beers I have to say good night - cu

It has been a long day - just came back from Nashville (midnight). Nashville was really successfull - not only from a business perspective - I could at least get a view of the country style. I am too tired actually to add something really interesting in here for today - so I just say Good Night.
Well - one thing that I need to tell you. I received a nice email today from the guy doing the mylifeisbeer.com website. He found out that I link to his site and whished me a good time in boston. Thanks for that!!

Ok - another thing - I left Boston yesterday at 2 PM - it was raining heavily. But weather must have changed shortly afterwards as there are about 20cm of new snow and it is really cold outside - greetings to also very cold austria!!!

I had luck today that I rescheduled my flight to Nashville. I already left Boston at 2 PM heading to Nashville via Charlotte. Some hours later - Boston Airport has been closed. Just came back from a nice dinner with 2 collegues and a customer - where we are tomorrow morning. I hope I will take some pictures from here - its a nice city. So - good night!

Hi there. Cool things happened. Yesterday night (sunday) I decided to not go to bed too early in order to get rid of my jetlag. So I joined Stephan at Christophers having some beer and talking about god and the world. We soon found out that he and my brother share the same birthday - which is today. So - HAPPY BIRTHDAY to both of you. He is normally not celebrating it but the least we could do is to cheer him with the Lederbirnenschnaps that I brought with me. Today I finally went out for Salsa. It was pretty cool - although it started a bit strange. I paid $10 for the lessons - but actually I was not really in the need for lessons - it was really really basics.
But after that it turned out to be really cool and I realized that there are lots of people in Boston that really know how to dance Salsa. I've been told that there is a great event every friday in a big dance room with up to 300 people - looking forward to this.

Well - I am out for Nashville tomorrow - so I wont be able to update my website till thursday. Bye

Celebrating Stephans Birthday	Our way to teach each other the other language

Yesterday night has been another weekend night without going out. I fall asleep somewhen between 7 and 8 PM - woke up again at 9 but was just too tired to do anything else than lying aroung and watching TV.
Today was quite good - went to downtown boston - walked around for 2 hours and finally went into The Purple Shamrock having an irish breakfast. Went home after that driving to Attleboro in order to get my new bike. It has been a drive for about an hour when realized that nobody here in Massachusetts cares about speed limits. Well - finally got my bike - yeah - ready to explore boston on the back tracks. Here are some pictures from today!

As you can see - really nobody (including me) cares about speed limits	Driving to Attleboro - here would have been the exit to Cape Cod - I will definitly go there in summer	Nice little neighbourhood - thats where I picked up my bike!

He - it has been a pretty long day already - although its only 4:40 PM. Well - got up pretty early again - still on the wrong time zone. I went back to Newbury street to the Cingular shop that I wanted to go yesterday. I was there at 9 but the shop opens at 10. So I went to Starbucks for an hour - reading "Der kleine Prinz" - it was a gift from Lydia before I went away - thanks for this.
Well - I went into the shop trying to get this special 29.99 offer with 200 minutes during days and 1000 minutes during nights&weekends. The lady there told me that it is not possible and anyway - I do need a bank account for the payment. So I went to the Bank of America - opening a new bank account. Guess how long it took to do that? 2 hours!!!! Why? I had to get a proove about my resident in the appartment. I called Stephan to fax me the lease papers. After we got this they started to have computer problems - a total system shutdown. So it took about 2 hours to get everything finished.
After that I went back to the cingular shop - this time I talked to another guy - and this one told me that the 29.99 offer is valid and I do not need a bank account. So - what have I learned - always get multiple opinions before you take action.
Then I started a pretty long walk - from Newbury street over the harvard bridge to cambridge where I walked along Massachusetts Avenue to my apparment. Its about 4.5 miles! Here are some pictures:

Nearly frozen Charles River - standing on the Harvard Bridge	Looking towards Cambridge - right to the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Campus	Looking towards Boston Downtown

Finally managed my jetlag - I could already sleep till nearly 6. Work has been good - I experienced a special event going on every friday at 3. There is a group of people comming together. One of them brings stuff like cookies, ice cream, ... We had ice cream today - thanks for that!
Well - I went home at 4 in order to get my cell phone. I got a nice offer from cingular wireless when I was here in january. So - I started shortly before 5 - taking the T (thats the underground here). Its the red line to Park Street - switching to green line till Arlington. It seems that I had not the best day. The T stopped lots of times unexpectedly between stations - so it took me over an hour to get to the shop. And well - they closed 2 minutes before I arrived.
A bit disappointed I went to Central Square - based on my research - a Salsa event should take place there today. I found the bar - but it will be tomorrow at 10:30.
So - I went back home to the liquor store getting some beer - this time I took a beer called "UFO - Hefeweizen".
Well I guess that I wont go out tonight - I am too tired - waiting for salsa tomorrow. Bye - and to the guys of Segue - enjoy your skiing day!

Only one thing - a picture from my own cubicle at work:

My cubicle - not yet fully customized - but isnt it nice?*gg*

Good morning - it is 5 AM - cannot sleep any more. I guess I will wait till 6:30 and go to work. Have a nice day
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Well - its been a good day at work. When I drove to work today I was taking pictures from my daily commute. Here they are!

Massachusetts Avenue - heading north	Turning left vom Mass Ave to Route 16	Merging from Route 16 to Route 2 West
On Route 2	That would have been my exit - actually I missed it because I was too concentrated taking this picture

I finally made a decision about the car: I won't buy one! Why? Because there is a shuttle bus from Alewife (which is just two subway stations away from my appartment). And I think that it is not ok - paying so much money for a car that I just need for getting to work. So - thats my contribution for our environment!!
Well - we also finally managed to get the Wireless Router running - that means I do have webaccess at home now - juhu!! Well - good night!

First day in office. Just came in - still need to setup some things here. More to come if I do have more time. But for short: appartment is great - setup everything there yesterday. I have a nice economy car (this time it is really econonmy - not a big SUV as the last time).
Went to bed at 10PM - and because of JetLag - woke up every 20 minutes starting from 2AM - but i hope to get rid of the jetlag by weekend.
So - I will keep you updated - pictures from my area and working place will follow soon!
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Went home from office at 5:45 PM - it looked like an easy commute - I drove the first 80% of the way in about 10 minutes - and I thought - he cool - that will be easy in the future. No way! At the end of Route 2 where it splits to either go north east (thats my direction) or south east I saw a long line of cars waiting at a traffic light. I had this genius idea of taking the other way and hoped to come to my appartment if I just take a left after a short while to come back to Massachussetts Avenue. So - the idea was really good - but there is no turning left for a pretty long time. I finally found myself on Harvard Square (which is just a mile south of my appartment) and I thought again - well - the plan was not too bad at all. I took Mass Ave to north being stucked in a nice traffic jam after 20 seconds as somebodys car broke down at a street crossing. So - instead of comming home after 15 minutes - it took me about 40!
The evening was very nice - first - we (Stephan and I) tried to setup my laptop to work with his Cable Modem. But - although I think of myself to handle those technical problems easily - there was no chance for me getting an IP address from the modem - although I had the same settings as his notebook.
After this we went for dinner - to a place called Christophers - its on Porter Square - just 5 walking minutes away from here. Its a nice place with 24 beers on tap - so its like heaven - and they serve really good food for a good price. I am thinking of extending my USA 2005 section with a restaurant review - so that people comming to me can decide in advance where to go to.

Greetings from Zurich Airport. Sitting here - connected with Wireless LAN - updating my website before I take off in an hour.
Salsa yesterday was great - lasted till 1:30 AM. But the best surprise was that I got a bottle of Luitpold - Markus brought it to Alex (the barkeeper) in the afternoon. Thanks both of you!!
Saying farewell to my parents was not as tough as expected. We had breakfast at home - driving to the airport at 8AM - checking in - and having a final drink together.
So - my time is nearly up - bye!