Suprising Visit!!
Its been a positive surprise when my sister called me yesterday - asking whether they could stay over night in my appartment. They (she and her husband) were on vacation and on their way back home they wanted to stop in Linz - stay over night - and do some shopping the day after. The next nice surprise was that they also joined us for salsa in the remembar where we had a small relatives reunion as one of my cousins was also there.
Oh yeah - next surprise: Carmen - she has been in england for the past year - is back for a quick visit. And now the best of all: 5 more days till we hop on the plane and take off to Mallorca - cheers

Eventfull Weekend!!
What a weekend. It started on friday - around 3 PM. We started the engine and drove down to Vienna. We've been invited to a wedding of one of Alex's friends. The wedding took place at the Tribuene Krieau next to the Prater. We could sleep in the appartment of my cousin which was just 15 walking minutes away of the wedding location. The wedding was just amazing. The invitation said regarding to "dress code": Dress YES - Code NO - just wear something that makes you feel comfortable. So I ended up with white pants, a polo shirt and my slippers - so did most of the other guests. But most of the guests who also danced (including alex and me) didnt have their shoes on for a long time - we danced bare foot. Anyway - it was just a blast - the location as well as the wedding party - which really was just a big party!!
After 4 hours of sleep we made our way home to Linz - respectively Gallneukirchen - where we had to do to care of the 4 kids of my brother - they went off to a wedding and we offered our service. Everything worked out pretty well - thanks to Alex - who offered to do the nasty job of changing dipers :-). Starting at 2PM we got every kid asleep by about 9:30 PM.
Today - sunday - we drove down to the Attersee where we visited Sabine and Jason - they are in Austria for 3 more days before they head back to Boston. Now there is only one appointment left for this weekend - volleyball at 8PM at the Eisenbahnbruecke - cheers

The Ferris Wheel in the Prater	The bridal couple dancing - barefeet
My Girl and me	My Girl without me (its peter)
One of the wedding games - the bride was balanced with euro coins	One of the bars at the wedding location
3 of the 4 kids - having a cake in the afternoon	Maximilian with the safety helmet
Vanessa on her bike	Raffael on his go-kart
Uncle andi reading stories on a blanket in the grass	How to clean the kids at night? Put them in the tub and color the water!!
The youngest of the four: Lisa	Isnt it cute? Maximilian kissing his younger sister

US RoadTrip with my dad!!
The Road Trip in October is coming nearer and I am already working on the details of it. We already had the flights to and from Boston (21st of October to Boston, 4th of November back to Linz). Now I booked the domestic flights. 23rd from Boston to Phoenix. 1st from Oakland (California) to New York City. The plan is that we have 2 days in Boston - then start our roadtrip in Phoenix, Arizona where we pick up our rental and drive to the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco. For that tour we have 8 days - hopefully thats enough - considering that we wanna check out the casino scene in Las Vegas :-) Then we head back from Oakland (near San Francisco) to New York City. The hotel on 7th Avenue and 33rd Street is already booked. So - we will either have up to 2 days in New York - then heading back to Boston (probably by train) - and then back to Linz. I am really looking forward to that trip - me and my dad in the states - yahoo!!
cheers

Salsa in the Quarry!!
Tonight we went to a great event - it was a salsa concert in a quarry near st. martin im muehlkreis. Great location - great band - great atmosphere - and acceptable temperatures. Some information about this event can be found at Smaragd. The other nice thing about the evening was that Reinhard and Elke (friends that I havent seen in a long time) live close by this place and have been there as well - so it was a nice "see each other again"
Tomorrow's going to be interesting. I took a day off as we have to drive to vienna - one of alex's friends is going to marry. So - tomorrow is going to be the hottest day so far this summer and I fear that we will spend most of the day somewhere on the A1 between Linz and Vienna - in a traffic jam. cheers

The Stage at daylight	The stands
The Salsa Club Linz with a dance performance	Reinhard, Elke, Resl and Sonja

Misc
Not too many things that happen right now. Just a quick update on the last days. On Monday we had our first beach soccer game. Very interesting - but we had the wrong strategy. We played against some guys that played beach soccer before and their strategy was to have one guy waiting behind our defense - so - when we attacked and lost the ball - he got the ball - alone in front of our goal keeper and scored. But - although we lost each game - it was fun.
Monday night salsa - nothing to say about that - it was HOT (literally). Yesterday I had an interesting doctor appointment - thats all I have to say about it. At night we visited friends of Alex in Neuhofen - sitting outside till late night as the weather allowed it (thats the good thing about the hot summer).
Tonight is the start of the european champions league. Our (didis and my) team is playing - Red Bull Salzburg!! Lets hope the best - may they get wings and fly over the opponents defense line :-)
And a reminder. Here are some links to blogs of my friends - its always interesting to see what other people do:
* Udo Kernecker (aka Prinzregent)
* Martin Parzer (aka Mole)
* Martin Hillbrand (aka Hilli)
Cheers

A Hot Weekend is over
Its been a very hot weekend with lots of activities and visits. Yesterday night we visited Sandra and Didi - they invited us to drink some Caipirinhas. While we were drinking we used the time to do some prep-work for the upcoming BeachVolleyball Tournament that we (JVP Gallneukirchen) are hosting on 19th of August in Gallneukirchen. We had to label the posters for the tournament - and in order to do that we first had to figure out the person with the nicest hand writing (see pics below).
Today in the morning we met for a volleyball game - but we couldnt actually play too long as its just been too hot - even in the morning. As for the rest of the day - usually I should have spent the day somewhere near a pool - but I went to Leo to help him with his new multimedia PC. After 5 hours of struggling with the TV Tuner Card we stopped with only little success - so - that story is going to be continued. After that I went to Sandro - had some business to do there as well - and now I am sitting here - Alex is going out to the outdoor summer cinema. Because I have already seen the movie twice I wont join her and her sister - I rather do some home work and maybe I get my but out of the building to do some exercise. cheers

Now - we can either say that she starts early with those games or I just tend to younger girls :-)	Labeling the posters
And the winner is ....	Typical scenes after a long night of drinks :-)

Birthday celebrations
We've been invited to two birthday parties yesterday night - unfortunately we couldnt attend both parties - so we accepted the invitation that we got first - which brought us to the Braunberg Hütte near St. Oswaldt bei Freistadt. Its been a nice evening/night - stayed up till around 1 - had some drinks - and then we slept at this very rustical place. In the morning - breakfast on the terrace - then heading back to linz where we met Sabine and Jason. Sabine is the sister of Christian Hummer - a former colleague and soon again my colleague. I visited Sabine and Jason when I was in Boston - so it was nice seeing them again.
The plan for the remaining day is:
a) escaping from the heat
b) escaping from the heat
c) drinking caipis at didis place
Cheers

Experiment with my shutter speed - couldnt do it better	The Braunberghütte
Interesting choices: 3 directions to get to Lasberg	The forrest next to the Braunberghütte - had an interesting touch
And down the hill from the Braunberghütte - what a lovely place the Muehlviertel is	A butterfly - posing for my camera

Pflasterspektakel
Its the 20th anniversary of the Linzer Pflasterspekakel. Street performers from around the world meet this weekend in Linz to show their programs. Here are some impressions

The small on the big duck	Blown through the wind
Static man from portugal	Amazing performance from this guy
Checking out the Blunzengroestl - yummie	Fireshow

Summer Feeling!!
Up to 30 degrees - thats the weather forecast for today!! Good that I have an A/C in my office :-)
Yesterday was a typical monday. We had another soccer match on the pleschingersee starting at 6PM - after that we went to the Mostbauer to fight our thirst - and after that - of course - salsa in the remembar. Thats basically it - cheers

A day on the Lake!!
Just a quick entry before I have to rush to the bachelor party of my cousin. We spent the day at the Feldkirchner Seen - thats something I really have to recommend. There are 5 lakes - each of them very clean - not many people - parking in shadow places - just perfect. Here are some pics

The Swan and Lake No 2	Alex and me
Alex having some salad and a beer	A wakeboarder on lake no 3
A cool tree building next to lake no 3	The swan got a little bit closer to us and actually scared the guy in the back

I got sunshine - I got rain!!
Check out the pics below. Yesterday night we played soccer at the pleschingersee. As the thunder started to roll in we decided to stop playing to get home before it starts raining. I was there with my bike and decided to not ride home but better ride back to the office and wait till the rain is over - good decision!! As soon as I entered the office it started raining pretty hard - one hour and two beers later the rain was over - the sun was out again and the streets were nearly dry :-)
At night I met with Martin (aka Resl) for a quick bite and some drinks. Thats basically it. Tonight we will have guests - my sister and her husband are visiting us in alex's new appartment. Tomorrow will hopefully be a day on the lake - and sunday will be a day to get one of my friends (Leo) up to speed with his new technical equipment. cheers
---- (update) ----
Just a quick update about 3 phone call i had today (well - one of it was yesterday):
First: got my first direct call from a CEO of an US-based company.
Second: got a nice call from a lady responsible for a special child medical treatment facility - thanking me for my donations
Thirs: got a weird call from another lady that tried to talk me into buying special lottery tickets that are only available to me because I am in the final round of a raffle (which I dont remember that I've ever put my name into)
All in all it was an interesting day. My best wishes go to Udo and Hilli - both are struggling with and will hopefully recover soon from their injuries.
Cheers

Rain while waiting in the office	Sunshine in the morning
More sunshine	The two mostbauern that I talked about in the last entries

Request for Information from Stephan!!
Stephan just sent me a mail today regarding my last diary entry. He wants to see what the two mostbauern and the austrian barber shop looks like - so I try to take some pictures soon. And Stephan - you are right - I am already home sick for Nachos and Julius Echter!!
The info of today is that I just came back from the movies - its been The Lake House. Nice move actually. We picked the theater today as we had to skip volleyball because we had some nice thunderstorms and some rain - so we decided to drive to the cinema. Getting there I first clarified with Alex who the "real" champ of dart is - she bet me pretty hard the last time - but today - she harldy had a chance (from my perspective). thats it - watch out for the promised pictures. cheers

Its Summer!!!
Looking outside my office window I only see sunshine - green landscape - and 2 mostbauern :-) - thats where we should normally have our meetings in the afternoon - time to enter a request for that. That would definitly be better than sitting in air conditioned sterile meeting rooms :-)
So - its been 10 weeks that I last went to the barber - my hair is already a bit too long - so I hope to get the chance to get a summer cut - fitting to the nice weather.
Well - as I already have to talk about my hair because there are no other exciting things going on right now I could actually also stop adding nonsense for today - cheers

ITALY is the Soccer Champion!!
What an interesting game. I actually favored France. Unfortunatelly the big looser of this game is a french player - guess nobody will ever know why zidane acted that way - but anyway. Italy played a good tournament and won - seems that there are also some excited italian fans in Linz - its midnight and there are still some people yelling outside - there've even been fireworks.
We watched the game at the new appartment of Gabi and Klemens - some pics are below. Besides soccer we had a great sunny sunday. Slept till noon (thanks to my jetlag) - had a great lunch at one of Alex's friends - and we played a great game of volleyball at the Liesfeld. Now its time to go to bed - another work week is waiting. cheers

Lunch outside with Judith, Sandra, Alex	A small present from the states for an afternoon drink
Watching the Soccer Final (Mario, Gabi, Robert, Doris) - not on the picture (Alex, Klemens)	Another picture

Back in Linz!!
On the way back we were not as lucky as on our way to Boston - no upgrade to Business Class - but - as the we were on the late night plane (departured at 9:50 PM) we soon fell asleep although the chairs in Lufthansas economy class are not really comfortable.
Yesterday before we headed back we joined some of the remaining Borland/Segue folks at their weekly - Friday 3PM Snack Time. Last year when we had those snack times we usual got some sweets - cakes - ... But times have changed - everything is far more relaxed - therefore there is beer :-) - And - the snack time takes place in our old CEOs office. The host of the snack time - rotating each week - gets the CEOs seat :-)
Today - Alex and I toured through Linz and found interesting places that I've never seen before. Around the Hauptplatz and Altstadt there are lots of nice restaurants - lots of them hidden in some side alleys - really nice. Here are some pics.

Different snacks for the friday snack time	Its been richards turn - therefore he got the CEO seat
On our way to the airport we drove through my old home town	A picture from Linz that some of you may not know

News are getting better!!
Helmut is getting better - but he didnt feel good enough to join us for dinner. Quote: "If I see some Nachos today I will throw up!!" So - its not that the Nachos are not good - but he told us that because the Nachos have been the last thing he ate before he got sick - Nachos dont make him feel really comfortable right now. Anyway - we went to Christophers tonight and met Thomas - a former collegue of mine. So - we had nachos - burgers - salmon - and desert. Check out the pictures.

Guenther and Thomas	Me eating a big portion of whipped cream	Beer tasting: its a beer that one of stephans students made at home - English Pale Ale

Good and Bad news!!
The good news is that we actually had the chance to watch the 2nd semi final match today - france vs. portugal - the french won - although they have not really been the better team - but in the end they just scored one more goal and thats why they are in the final. The sad news is that we could watch the game because helmut became ill and we went back to the hotel for him to rest. Hope is getting better soon (hopefully tomorrow). So - with helmut in bed - guenther and I went out to get a bite - guess where we went? Christophers. Guenther had his usual salmon (without falling asleep at the bar) - Stephan and I had our usual Nachos!!!
Just drove Guenther back to the hotel - now Stephan and I are sitting here in appartment - tasting a beer called Leffe - a belgium beer - interesting taste - doesnt go well with pop corn (thats what stephan told me). well - thats it - cheers

Guenther with the salmon	Stephan and myself with nachos and beer

Greetings from 30000 feet above ground!!
Not sure why - but today at Frankfurt aiport we had the longest security line that I have ever had. Maybe its because of the 4th of July and they are super careful - anyway - it took us about 40 minutes to get through the security line. When we finally arrived at the gate we had about 15 minutes left before take-off. But we got there with a nice surprise - we got UPGRADED!!
That means I am sitting in my business class chair - with a bottle of Warsteiner - waiting for my a-la-cart dinner - surfing on lufthansas wireless lan :-)
A cool thing just happend. Heli is sitting about 10 rows in front of us - of course he is also online - now we are chatting via Skype :-)
---- update ----
Arrived safely - watched the first half of the first semi final at the appartment - then we went down to christophers - of course - beer and nachos - and we've seen a very good italian team that won an exciting game. Unfortunately we all are a little bit too tired to actually stay up till the main fireworks at 10 PM starts. But at least I got some pictures from today!

Stephan in front of a set-up of american flags	The two guys happy with their drinks
My Half-And-Half	Nachos!!!
This time we actually got a nice car	On my way back to Cambridge after I dropped the guys off in their hotel - lots of rain!!

The day before Boston!!
Its the day before we fly to Boston. Everything should be arranged - at least the agenda is defined. Take off in Linz at 6:15 AM - landing in Boston at 12:30PM local time. Getting the rental car - dropping the stuff from Heli and Guenti at their hotel - driving back to Cambridge - 3PM kick off of the first semi final at Christophers - hopefully with Nachos and Beer. At night - fireworks - its Independence Day - hopefully the people in america realize how nice it is to be independent and how nice it would be for all the people of the world - oh yeah - right - mr. bush tries to establish that freedom with success all over the world. Anyway - although lot of people are not really happy about what the states do and what people in the US think about whats going on right now (just had an interesting discussion with sebastion about his recent experiences in california) - I can just tell you that there are lots of nice people in the united states - and thats the reason why I always enjoy my trips there. But now its time to go to bed - 5 hours till I have to get up. cheers

Weekend Update!!
Just a very quick weekend update as I have to head out for some volleyball. On friday night we have been invited to a family of one of alex kids from the kindergarden. Amazing place were we have been - just some facts: 3000m2 property - 600m2 living area!!!
Saturday started with a shopping tour with Leo - we wanted to find a computer for him. AFter that we had our anual gusen cleaning action and at night we have been invited to a birthday party. Sunday was relaxing so far - slept till 11 - then went out to lunch with Irene - then headed back to bed and now - as I mentioned in the beginning - we are up to some volleyball. Here are some pictures:

One part of the kitchen of the "mansion"	Second part - including a dining table
View from the first floor down to their own lake	Gusen cleaning - not only the gusen itself was cleaned - also the shores were we found nearly more trash than in the river
Jause for the Didi and Berni who had the hard work this day	We even found a mattress
Berni got a little bit wet :-)	A car full of trash - as every year