Greetings from Frankfurt Aiport.
So - the day started pretty early for me - 4:40 AM. Getting up - to the airport - catching the flight to Frankfurt - catching the train to Mannheim - but missing the first train to Walldorf. But lucky as I am - there are trains every 30 mins. So - the business part was really successful today - and we finished all the work in a really short amount of time. So I thought - cool - lets get back to the airport sooner and catch the flight at 5:40 instead of 9:40! The idea was brilliant - I even made it to the airport long before the 5:40 flight - but - my ticket was a special fare ticket and there was no chance of changing the flight. Therefore - I am sitting here in the business lounge of Lufthansa - drinking Franziskaner Weissbier - and waiting for my late flight. The good thing about the late flight is that Guenther - a collegue of mine - is also taking the late flight - he is comming in from london. So - we will have a beer togehter somewhen in 2 or 3 hours. Thats it for today - cheers!!

The last weeks have been very productive - and tomorrow is the day where I can hopefully pick the fruits from my work. Its the day when I go to germany - to be precise - Walldorf - and show our product integration into SAP eCATT. So - lets hope the best. Right now I have to say that every day that I spend here is a day that I enjoy. Like yesterday. Another nice night in the remembar - lots of salsa. And today as well. I finally met Martin (aka www.mole.at) and we went out to "Klosterhof" and continued in the remembar again - where Christoph - the barkeeper - introduced us to one of his special cocktails. Again - its so nice being here but I am also looking forward to Boston again. Both places have something that makes it worth spending time there. But I have to admit - Austria is very special!!
Here are some pics!

Salsa - Martin surrounded by girls	Klosterhof - not the best picture - but nice
A cocktail in the Remembar!!	Christoph - preparing his special cocktail

Tour through Linz!
I have to admit: I had to stop my bar tour really early yesterday. As I only had 3 hours of sleep from friday to saturday - I was extremly tired when we (Irene, Martin, Juergen and Mario) went to Walkers. I left them shortly after midnight and fell to bed like a stone. The good thing when you get to bed early is - that you get up at a reasonable time which allowed me to make a short bike tour through linz. Check out the pictures below. Well - I have to run actually - I am invited for dinner by Irene - then I have to meet my insurance guy - then I go out with Alex for a coffee and at night I meet Leo. Bye bye

Linz from the Freinberg - it was a bit hazy	Hauptplatz with the Pestsaeule	Ars Electronica Center

Wild Water Rafting!!!
We had a nice and sunny day with the Up & Down Rafting. We started the day at 7 - breakfast - then we started our journey to Grossreifling. We didn't really take the direct way - well - it was actually my fault - I took one wrong junction - and therefore we had a longer way than expected. But in the end - it was a nice day. Now - we will meet again - at Juergen&Babsi - we will have some drinks and then go on to the city. Here are some pics from today.

7 AM - Breakfast - Semmerl, Wurst, Cheese and Marmalade	Arriving at the Camp - Martin was already waiting for us	Raft fashion!!
Rafting Snack - Hot Knackwurst with mustard	Our boats - waiting for us in the pretty cold river	A good beer after the tour

An exhausting week ends. To show you all how exhausting it was I have a good example about what happened yesterday night. I actually wanted to do some salsa dancing. After I got home from the office I had a quick bite and thought "lets lay down a minute or two and then go dancing". The next thing I remember that I woke up in the middle of the night and it made no sense anymore to go dancing. But the good side of it - I had 10 hours of sleep - hadnt had that in a long long time.
Just had a nice phone talk with Sarah - so far away - but yet so near with phone and internet. Now I am driving to Kirchschlag - meeting Roman and Marion - we are going out for dinner. After that - Romand and I are going back to Linz - having some drinks. And tomorrow - ole ole - we (Sandro, Claudia, Jürgen and I) are going Wild Water Rafting with Martin (aka Resl). Hope I can provide some pictures of that trip. bye

Austrian food: Berner Wuersteln and Veggie Wok	Austrian food no 2: Tiroler Kasspotzn	Austrian Caffee: this is a "Verlaengerter"
I've been traped when I just finished "my business"	Roman pouring the prinzregent into the glass	I did a bad job in pouring the beer in - therfore lots of foam

The past two days have been pretty similar. Long day in the office - and a nice evening with friends in the pubs of linz.
While Boston still seems to have nice summer weather - austria is strugling with the rain of the past days. Floods everywhere in the region - lets hope that there wont be any more damage that has already been done.
So - today and tomorrow will be quite similar to the past days. Working and going out in the evening. The options for tonight are either "Sin City" or Salsa in the Beluga Bar - or maybe both - who knows.
The weekend supposed to be really nice. We are going on a Rafting Tour. Martin (aka Resl) is doing another tour on the river Salza and invited us to join him!
Thats it - cu

Its been a very productive day in the office. And also a long one. Now I am looking forward for some Salsa moves in the Remembar. Thats it - just a short entry. bye bye
P.S.: I hope when I get home now I will find my internet working again!!!

Volleyball and a small party
Its been a nice but exhausting weekend. Friday evening - organizing the tournament schedule. Friday night - going out for some drinks at the Krone Hit Festival in Linz. Getting up early on saturday (6AM) - driving to Gallneukirchen and preparing everything for the BeachVolleyBall-Tournament that we (JVP) organized. We had luck - although the weather forcast predicted rain - there was no rain during the day. We had 14 teams - some more - some less skilled (I admit - my team fought hard for the 14th place). After the tournament we went home to my parents place - where - like a tradition - we had a small party with BBQ, drinks and of course a presentation of lots of pictures that didn't made it on my website. Here are some pictures:

Didi and his small princess	Our group after we finished setting everything up for the tournament	Getting the party benches for the tournament
I promised them to put this pic on the website if they give me a smile - it worked!!	Action scene 1	Didi was traced by this dog while he was eating a Leberkaessemmerl
Action scene 2	Austrian BBQ - Lots of Kaesekrainer	Prost Mahlzeit!!

At Home!!!!
Hi there - finally at home. Check out the pictures!!
My family got me from the airport - then we went home - present exchange. Due to heavy constructions on our major roads round linz I decided to already drive down to Linz on tuesday night.
Yesterday I went to the office - doing a small amount of work and a larger amount of celebration. After that we went out in Linz - finally got home at 2AM!!

The kids at home - with their new Boston T-Shirts and Livestrong bands	4 smaller kids and a bigger one	Me and Maximilian - the newest member of the Grabner family
Fun at Walkers Bar	Jummie! Austrian Fast Food (Bosner) at 1:30 AM!!	Short visit in The Remembar

Travelling back to Austria - what a challenge!!
Hi there. I am currently sitting in Zurich - with a Caffee Latte and an apple - updating my website. My very original flight schedule was that I arrive here at 7:50 and take the plane to Linz at 20:00. But as they recently added another flight to Linz we changed it so that I could be at home at 17:40. So - the flight from Boston to Zurich was nice. On Boston Logan Airport - Andi and I had a final beer and a small bite before he took off to Munich and I went on the plane to Zurich. So again - flight was nice - finished my Harry Potter book and saw some movies - but no sleep. I arrived here on time - checking the Transfer Desk as I had hope to get an earlier connection. Well - unfortunatelly they canceled the flight to Linz and it took them 40 minutes to change everything so that I will now fly home via Vienna. In the end I will just be 15 minutes later in linz as normal - but still - its a bit harder if you have to change flights for the short distance from zurich to linz. anyway - now I am back in Europe - weather is really bad - compared to the nice weather we had the recent weeks back in Boston. Well - thats the short update - cu u all soon - bye
--------- Update from Vienna ------
Just arrived here in Vienna and my first (well second thing after the toilet) was the way to a bar with wheatbear (Edelweiss) and Wurstsalat - jummie!!!!!
In 1.5 hours I will be on my way to Linz - bye bye

Back to AUSTRIA!!
5 and a half months ago I left Austria. My parents brought me to the airport and my mum was really brave and did not cry :-)
I hope that they will also get me from the airport when I arrive there tomorrow in the afternoon. Well - long story short: My US trip was one of the best experiences and I hope that everybody who wants to do something like that gets the chance to do it. I learned that america is not only about hollywood, fast food and bush. I was lucky to meet people like sarah and stephan. Without them it would have definitly been a different experience and I am not sure if my decision to come back would have been as easy as it was wouldnt they have been here.
So - I am looking forward now to get home - finally seeing my new nephew maximilan - he was born several weeks after I left in march. I am looking forward to see all my friends again - hanging out with them in the beergardens (although it seems that summer is already over in austria). Looking forward for salsa mondays in The Remembar. But also looking forward to come back end of September.
So now - I am wrapping up here - get everything packed - bring back to empty beer bottles - pay the parking ticket that I recently got and then head to the airport. bye bye US for 5 weeks and cu soon austria!!

Birthdays in P-Town
Thats been an incredible weekend. Two birthdays to celebrate - and all this in Provincetown - the Party-City on Cape Cod.
Here is a list of events that happened on the weekend:
* Party Ferry to P-Town on Saturday
* Welcome Beer at Stephans House
* Short tour through P-Town
* Cooking and Drinking all Evening and Night Long
* Checking out a Club in P-Town
* Good night drink
* Amazing Breakfast
* Fast Ferry Home

Here are some pictures. It was really incredible. Stephan hosted us like we are celebreties - it was amazing. The coolest thing was dinner. We had Lobster. We steamed them and Stephan showed us how to eat them - step by step.
Furthermore - Stephan checked out nearly all of Cape Cod in order to get Julius Echter!! Thanks for that!
Well - its been my last weekend here before its time to go home tomorrow. And I can tell you - with Stephan as roommate I am really looking forward coming back to Boston.
Cheers.

First Birthday drink on friday night!!	Salsa dancing on the party ferry on saturday	Stephan gave both Andi's a nice birthday present - thanks Stephan!!!!!!
Live Lobsters - 5 minutes before we threw them in the steaming pot	Checking the gender! You can see - we learned a lot this weekend!	"Live free or die" - thats the New Hampshire slogan - and we applied it to the Lobsters
Getting them out of the pot	Stephan explaining how to eat this thing. Step by Step - starting with the legs - going on with the body and then the tail	Birthday boy number 2! It was his first Lobster!
Toasted with Sparkling Wine	While Sarah was sleeping - the boys went out to town	Delicious Breakfast. Belgium Waffles!!

Hanging out with Camapers!!
The last two days have been a nice change from boston city life. We drove up to New Hampshire - to Sarah's Summer Camp - well by the way - here is the link so that you can check out what's going on there Windsor Mountain International. So - we went up there yesterday and had a nice afternoon at the waterfront. At night we had a new experience - Broom Hockey. Europe vs. The Rest of The World and guess what - Europe won 6:2 in a very exciting game!
Today after breakfast - morning meeting - and a final swim in the lake - we headed to Hampton Beach. We, Andi, Andi, Nadja, Sarah, Dima and Derek had a cool day at the Beach - then headed to a place where we prepared our dinner and had a final beer at a bar in portsmith before we went back to boston. Here are some impressions.
Tomorrow we are going on to the Cape - where we meet Stephan and we celebrate the two birthdays of Andi&Andi. cu

Andi at the Ropeswing. Another picture will come soon!	Broom Hockey in the Dining Hall - Europe Rocks!!!!	Hampton Beach. Sun - Sand and Fun
Look at Dima - we converted him to a hermaphrodite (zwitter)	Preparing our dinner on a camping grill - delicious	The final drink before our ways parted us

Last full work day!!!
Its been the last full work day in the Lexington Office. Tomorrow I will just be there for some hours in the morning to attend some meetings. After that - Andi and Andi will go up to New Hampshire to pick up Sarah.
Tonight - Andi, Stephan and myself went to Christophers - having nachos, nice food and beer. Now - we are sitting at home - we already had some Zwetschkenschnaps und also another round of beer. Check out the pics!!

At christophers with Nachos and Beer	Stephan - at least his hand - filling our glasses with Zwetschkenschnaps

2 Andi's in Boston!!
Andi (Huemer) arrived in Boston today. He was lucky - he cought the earlier bus from New York to Boston. He called me around 3PM telling me that he is already there - giving me a challenge in finding a way so that he could put his luggage somewhere in the meantime before I came home. But lucky as I am I know lots of people here in the school that allowed Andi to put his luggage there while I was still in the office. Anyway - after I came home we had a nice "hello" with a Julius Echter before we continued to have some more beer and food at Christophers.
Back home in the appartment we started to make arrangements for the coming days, e.g: getting ferry tickets to provincetown where we are going to spend the weekend and where we are going to celebrate both of our birthdays (mine on the 13th, andi's on the 14th). Here are some impressions of today:

Beer tasting at Christophers!!	I had to buy some beers for the Farewell Party tomorrow in the office!!	Can you see that!! Its sooo easy to make boys happy!!

Weekend before last!
Its been the weekend before the last before I go home. Sunday was a nice day. Tried to do some catch up sleep - then I went downtown to buy some souvenirs for my nieces and nephews. After that I found myself a nice spot on the grass near the frog pond in boston common park going on with my harry potter. Bye the way - the new potter book is really good!!! In the evening I went up to New Hampshire for a surprise visit in Sarahs camp. They had parents visiting day and she had a tough day with some of those parents. At night they had a cool dinner - thai actually - prepared from "Pa" for the staff - to honor their good work in the past 6 weeks. I tried to help a bit - and I hope I did a good job - at least nobody complained about the food in the end. Getting up really early this morning - 5 AM - to get down to boston on time for office.
This week supposed to be really nice. I have 2.5 days left in office. Tomorrow night - Andreas Huemer (an UDA collegue of mine) is comming up from New York - visiting me. We are going to hang out in boston or maybe the cape on the weekend to celebrate my birthday. And the best is - Sarah and Stephan will also be there. Of course - when we go to the cape we will stay at Stephans house - if not - we will have a nice time in Cambridge. Here are some pictures from Sunday - respectivly Monday morning.

Its always busy in front of Faneuil Hall!!	Cooking for the delicious thai dinner at night	"Pa" - the chef - who we owed this dinner
Its always easier to cook with a bit Orange and Vodka	Pa and Sarah - giving a short speech before they opened the buffet	5:30 AM - on my way down to Boston

Coldplay!!l
Its been a nice day. 9 hours of sleep - havent had that for a long time. After that I had a nice day - doing some cleanup work at home - and doing some small shopping. Mike (collegue) picked me up at 5:30 for the coldplay concert. We drove there - its been a bit out of town - and had some beer at the parking lot. The concert was fantastic. I know Coldplay - at least the songs that they play on the radio - so actually - I only knew about 3 of them. But I was really excited about the show - really good!! After the concert we met Steve (another collegue) with his friends and we hung out at their parking lot for some more beer. Here are some pics from today!

Thats an Iced Coffee - so - whenever you are here - dont expect and Eiskaffee like home!	A good wheatbeer at the parking lot before the concert	Just mens business - before the concert
A shot during the concert	After concert party	After concert party - the 2nd

That was Montreal
Its been an interesting and workfull time in Montreal. Today I had the last day of training at the customer. I hope that I could teach them something good. Well - the cool thing was happening after the training when one of the guys from our customer invited me home to check out his beer-fridge. So - before I headed to the airport we picked up his girlfriend and went to his place. Had two quick beers and then I jumped into the taxi for the airport.
Tomorrow should be cool as well - some collegues of mine have some extra tickets for Coldplay - so we will go to their concert. Check out some of the pictures that I made in Montreal!

Montreal - 5:30 AM - from my hotelroom - 21st floor!!	Montreal - 6:00 AM - still my hotelroom - brewed my own coffee
Performance during a musical festival that was going on in Montreal	"The Fridge" full if delicious beer

Life would be too easy!!
Well - life would be too easy if everything runs smooth all the time. So - today it was a nearly perfect day. Got up really early to do some catch up work before I went to my training session. The day at the customer was challenging but very successful so I thought - well - lets go out in to the city at night and check out the bars and pubs and the muscial festival. Just as I was sitting down for a nice beer I got an urgent call from our sales force. So - the nice beer and listening to live music ended in a quick beer - running back to the hotel and waiting for the call. Now its too late to do anything else. But I think thats life - it cannot always be easy or perfect. Therefore I say good night now before I head back to Boston tomorrow night!

Montreal - and some good news
There are some nice things about today. First of all - Montreal is much nicer as I experienced it last week when I was here on vacation - probably because we have already been exhausted from our road trip. So - its a really really really nice city!!!!
Second thing - the first training day at the customer was really good - had some problems with the setup - but in the end I think that everybody was quite happy.
And finally - I got the good news about my extension. Finance approved everything - that means - I am really ready to come back to Boston in September! I know - this kind of news is not the best for everybody - like for my Prinzregent who has to fight the huge amount of Luitpold without my support - but I think he can manage it. Well - its only 3 weeks to go till I get home. Amazing how time runs bye. cu

Ready for Montreal
Yeah - Montreal again - but this time its not for pleasure - its for business. I am going up there tomorrow - 7 AM - for a 3 day training that I have to give for a customer. So - I am already well prepared for the city as I've checked it out last week. Well - there is nothing else too exciting going on. Well - maybe a little bit. My extension stay was put under jeopardy. Finance department is still in the progress of confirming the budget - and as I stay longer than six months this and next year I have to pay taxes in both countries. These additional costs that my company hopefully pays need to be granted first. So - lets hope the best - lets hope for a quick decision - because otherwise its a bit hard for me - not knowing what is really going on after I go back in two weeks. Will keep you updated. So - thats all for today. Heading to bed - have to get up at 5 to catch my plane. bye