Trick or Treat
A long long weekend just ended for me (tuesday noon). It all started on saturday when we had snow fall down here in boston. I took the bus up to NH and it was beautiful - warm and sunshine - amazing. So well - we went out in big town of Peterborough (joking) with Josh and Diana. We kept it short as we got up early sunday morning to drive down to "The City" - which is of course - New York City!! 4 hours later I managed driving through the upper west side without any problems (well - I mean - what are bumpers for anyway if you have to park :-) ). We stayed at the appartment of Sarahs brother Tom and his girlfriend. Tia - Toms daughter was in the city as well - visiting him. We spent the afternoon in Central Park - having a nice picknik and watching the roller bladers doing their moves. Of course - it was close to halloween - lots of them have been dressed up.
At night we went out to a nice neighborhood bar neer in harlem listening to live music.
Monday - halloween day. We cruised through the city (well - not really cruising - more like - being part of a big traffic jam and looking for parking space) to do some errands. Then - back to Central Park and at night we went to the big Halloween Parade on 6th Avenue followed by a nice concert in one of sarahs favorite places in New York.
And now - I just got home from New York - I took the bus - 4 hours - easy ride - $15 - perfect. And - to make you a bit jealous - its sunny outside - 21 degrees!!!!!! bye bye

First snow in Boston - that was saturday	On our way down from NH to NYC
The Imagine Mosaic in Central Park	Roller bladers. This guy looked like Orlando Bloom and on the right side: Bush in Prison
Central Park view to the South	The small bar in Harlem
Trump Towers at night	Signs, Signs, Signs, ...
Sarah and Tia - eating ice cream in central park	Trick or Treat - walking from door to door to get some cookies
Halloween Parade	Halloween Parade
Really nice band playing in this place where sarah used to go often	The crazy side of Halloween - I am not sure if this dog got some treats

A long weekend ahead
Hi there - this will be the last entry before tuesday. Why that? Because I am going on an extended weekend trip. I take monday and tuesday morning off. Today in the afternoon I will go up to NH - and tomorrow morning we leave for New York City where we wanna see the Halloween Parade on monday. So - be prepared for lots of pictures on tuesday afternoon. Cheers

Washington DC
Another traveling day - 14 hours from getting out in the morning till getting home in the evening. But - we have a happy customer and it seems that this is all what it is about :-)!!
Thats it - short - no more to say!

What a long day!! Getting up at 4 - catching the flight at 6 - arriving in Boston at 8 - in the office at 9 - working till 5 - and - similar thing tomorrow. I have to fly out to Washington DC early in the morning - well - could be fun - we will see!
Right now I am in the progress of finding indoor soccer places where I can play pick up just for fun games - but it seems to be really hard. It seems that everything is related to a league where you have to sign on and play competitive league matches. Not really what I want but maybe thats what it will be for me if I cannot find anything else. Thats it for today - going to bed early - getting up early - yeah!! :-)

Last day in Ohio!!
Thats my last day in Canton, Ohio!! It was going well at the customer - as you can see from the pictures below!! In the evening we went out to a nice italian restaurant where I had another great example about how excited restaurant staff can get. There ws this waitress and she asked us where we are from. We told here that my two BMc collegues are from houston - and that I am from austria. Then she said: " Austria? Really? Thats the place where I always wanted to go for holidays!!" So I thought - lets check it out if she is really meaning that and if she actually knows anything about austria. The next time she came by I therefore asked here what the capital was and she had no glue at all :-)!!
After dinner we went home and I did some work. After that I thought: so - i am sitting here in the hotel room - in a city that i dont know - what shall i do? So - I took my car and tried to check out the City of Canton - but I can tell - that didnt take long - there is not really much too see here. I drove around for about 20 mins and decided to return back to the hotel.
Tomorrow - getting up early - catching the 6:30 AM flight - back to boston - to the office - flying out to washington DC on thursday early morning visiting another customer that seems to have problems (at least our sales department is pushing this issue). Anyway - I am heading to bed now. Enjoy your free day for those of you how live in austria!!

Eating Schnitzel at a german restaurant with Hal and Mike from BMC	The group from Deloitte!! and us!!
Denise from Deloitte!!!! - she was a really cool lady

Just a short update. It was a good day at Diebold - the customer I am onsite right now. After that we went to a german restaurant where I had some kind of schnitzel. It was some kind because it was rather spicy - and normally schnitzels are not that spicy - but it was good. Anyway - what is worrying me right now is what i see on the weather channel. Wilma is going up the atlantic coast and its already extremly windy up there. The problem is that the new england area has been struck by lots of rain in the past weeks and this new wave of rain will make things not better. Airport delays today in the morning are already 3+ hours in new york - so I do not really expect a nice commute tomorrow when i fly out here at 6 AM. Well - lets see - cu

Weekend stories
Soo - its been a long weekend so far - with lots of things that have been going on.
On friday i stopped work earlier as I had to catch an early bus up to new hampshire. Sarah picked me up in Concord and we went to the camp where we celebrated her birthday. Same good old friends from her came over - so I finally met the famous Susie and her brother Jason. I have to admit - I was not a good party company. I was pretty tired so I decided to take a "short" nap at 10PM - when I woke up it was 1 AM.
On saturday we had a good after birthday party breakfast - and it was actually sarahs birthday. Then - tom (her brother), markus and I went for a 1.5 hours run through the woods. And that was nearly a bit too much for me as I've really not done much excercise in the past 6 weeks. It was also the day where felix (sarahs nephew) had his birthday party at the camp. After enjoying a wonderful day at the kids birthday party we tried to execute our original plan - going down to boston to do some salsa dancing. Well - it was a plan - but my knee said no!! Because of the run in the morning an old knee insury came up again and I could only limp around - no salsa dancing.
But - as we came home we saw that there was a halloween party going on in the neighbour appartment and they invited all neighbours and friends. So we went there and had a nice evening with punsch, hot cider and funny costumes.
Now - Sunday - rainy again - we might check out Christophers brunch and maybe the rowing boat race on the charles river before I have to get to the airport to fly out to Ohio where I will spend the next 3 days at a customer.
Here are lots of pictures - including those from thursday night!
---------- (update from ohio)
Yeah - 2 hours flight delay - isnt that wonderful - what else do you want if you have to fly out on a sunday night! but i am finally here in my hotelroom - the bar downstairs just closed 5 minutes ago - yeah!!! good night!

Thursday night - opening the party beer keg	At christophers - Stephan surrounded by segue guys
Cooking for sarahs birthday party - it was mexican!!	The famous Susie Hackler (sarahs best friend)
The boy's work for the meal was to cut things up	Yeah - birthday buffet
More birthday pictures	The non so creative (right) was mine :-)
preparing marshmellows at the open fire	Kids carving out the pumpkins
Thats a nice job - seems sarah has more skills than I	Cookie sculpture no 1
Markus tried as well - cookie sculpture no 2	The entrance to our neighbours halloween party
Punsch with swimming eyes and iced hands	Scarryyyyy!!!

Puh - some things happened. First - a bit stressy at work. At night we opened the paulaner party beer keg and clemens, stephan, thomas, greg and myself finished it pretty quick. after that - christophers - of course. We got the last 5 bottles of julius echter - and really pissed of the waitress. we've been seated upstairs and we had to sent her down 3 times to bring the correct glasses. Well - that was not the only thing that she learned. I ordered some salad with oil and vinegar. well - the salad tasted a bit strange with this dressing till stephan found out that the balsamico was actually soy souce :-). So - that was my first soy salad dressing!!
Then - surprise surprise - sarah showed up!! Back home we started the first birthday celebrations for her - she is turning 31 tomorrow and stephan gave her the first present.
The night was - although sarah was next to mine - really troubled - for both of us. We both hardly slept (but not for the reason you might think now). We both had troubled minds and troubled stomachs. The troubled minds basically because of work related issues. And the stomach issues because we both dont really live a healthy life right now - well - and whats the conclusion - a wind of change is necessary.
therefore - back to healthy food and not so much beer and nachos - back to do more excericse (i only had 2 bike trips since i am back here - thats ridiculous). And - hopefully - less stress at work that keeps me up at night.
But - now the cool stuff - I am going up to NH in the afternoon to celebrate her birthday with some of her friends. yeah - bye bye

Another long day at work ended with a nice christopher meal - as usual!! And - stephan shed some light on war related movie trailers. the discussion started because my experience on that topic last saturday when I went to see a movie. I was kind of shocked to see army commercials. Well - tomorrow will be another long long day and it will be the last night for clemens here in boston. We have plans to hang out with some guys from the office. Thats it - bye

So - its been a productive day at the customer. In the evening we went to the new place that Stephan is going to buy. Its been interesting - big place - lots of things to do. Well - we wen to a bar close by and after that we went to Christophers where we could explore their beer reservoirs.

Ben from Christophers!!	The 3 boys at Christophers
Ben - hiding behind bars :-)	Andi at Beer-Mekka

Clemens in town
Time for another visit from austria. This time its clemens. And you can imagine what program i had for him the first day - yeah - christophers - nachos and a visit to my liquor store to get some beer. here are the pics!

First contact with Julius Echter	First contact with Nachos and Julius Echter
The hidden fridge of the liquor store - tons of beer	Our treasures that we took from the store

A bike tour through Boston
Wow - unbelievable - the sun is back after 9 days of rain falls and flooding. So - after a long sleep tonight (i didnt go out yesterday) I had an early start and went out for a 2 hours bike ride through boston. It was quit challenging because the nice paths along the Charles River have been occuppied by the people doing the charity walk against breast cancer. So - I mainly took main roads and other heavy traffic roads. Went along the Charles - into Downtown Boston - to the Waterfront - through the North End - to Charlestown - and back through Cambridge. The rain is over - but now we have to deal with really strong winds - it really seems that nature is pissed off and shows us that we shouldnt mess with it.
Another great story is there to be told. Its the second time now that i will become uncle when I am in the states. My brother and his wife are expecting another baby next year. Maybe - having me away - brings so much joy at home :-)
Well - as for the remaining day - doing some homework and at night - checking out Swing Sundays at Havanna Club. Just to calm you down: its not Swinging (sexual) - its a dance!!!!
bye bye

From Cambridge looking over to Boston	The Charles River with the people of the cancer walk on the right
The Waterfront with the yachts	One of the many war memorials
Bunker Hill Memorial	Isnt that great - thats behind our appartment in the parking lot :-)

Rain - Rain - Rain
Today is the 9th day straight of rain - partly it has been real heavy rain. New Hampshire has been hit by severe floods last sunday already and it doesnt look good right now - but - end is in sight - its supposed to stop today in the afternoon followed by heavy storms. So - nature is really changing dramatically. New England is famous for the nice fall - what we call Altweibersommer is here called the Indian Summer. But right now - there is nothing to see from that - but it seems that back home in austria they have one of the best Alterweibersommer ever.
As for other things - its been a good and busy week. Sarah came down yesterday but had to leave today in the morning as they have a wedding going on in the camp. Well - that leaves me here in a rainy city giving me some time to do some homework so that I wont have too long working days next week. Because - clemens is coming to town on monday night. We visits a customer here in the boston area and he will stay in my place - so - I guess we will have some nights flavored by Julius Echter and Nachos :-)
Thats the update - cheers
---- (Update) ----
I just came home from the movies - I watched Two for the money. The movie was pretty good - but there was something else why I am adding this update. Before the actual movie the started with commercials and then with previews. Well - it seems that the american army is really desperate in getting new people. It was really strange - the last commercial was one for the US Marines - followed by two war movie previews - then another preview and the final one was about a war movie taking place in iraq. I just wanted to share this with you as it is something that we are just not used to at home. Anyways - thats the update. cheers

So - whats up? well - right now - not much - which is good. I need some relaxe time as it was a busy week so far. Yesterday was just amazing - one of the best nights that I had here so far. You can see the pictures one entry further down. So - it was the farewell party for the two guys. Tony and Tina are moving up to Maine. They bought this cool place up there - Pilgrim's Inn - and they start business next monday. The plan is that we are going up sometime and visit them - then I will find out how good tony is as a cook :-).
I think we actually managed to convince some more people to switch over to Julius Echter - yeah Stephan - we did a good job. We tought them how to pour in the beer correctly and we also tought them why you hit the wheat beer glasses on the bottom when you "Prost"!!
Besides of that I met lots of nice people from school till we finally came home around midnight.
Thats it for today - bye bye

Farewell Party for Stephan and Tony
We just came home from the farewell party from Stephan and Tony. They both quit their job at the school and lots of staff members and students came to Christophers tonight to celebrate. Here are some pics!

Pic 1	Pic 2
Pic 3	Pic 4
Pic 5	Pic 6
Pic 7	Pic 8

The Cat Empire
Wow - I can tell you - this band is amazing. Well - I went to the concert yesterday - it was down at the Middle Eastern Club. The pre-band was not really mine - they just played too loud music - no vocals. But The Cat Empire were just amazing. I would describe it as a mix of pop, reagge and cuban style music. There are some free tracks to download from their website. Well - I was so faszinated that I went home - got to amazon.com and purchased their current two albums.
As for tonight - I am starving already and I am just waiting for stephan to get home so that we can go to christophers.
Oh yeah - another update. I tried the first two beers that I bought yesterday. It was the Blue Heron Pale Ale and the Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. Well - the pumpkin beer was really a new experience. I am not sure if I wanna try that again. The other one will also not make it on my favorite list.
thats it for today - cheers
--- (update) ---- Just came home from christophers - had a nice meal - nice julius echter - and some interesting black and tan (its a mix of a normal beer with guiness)

Nummero Uno	And the second
The two kids with the camper sweaters!!	Mixbeer - really good!!

Some action this week
Well - this week its time again to do some evening activity. And I will start right away today. On saturday - nadja let me listen to some cool music. The band is called The Cat Empire. I loved their music. Well - after I cam back home to boston yesterday I checked their website - and what a surprise - they give a concert tonight here in cambridge at the The Middle East. After that I might check out Salsa Mondays at the Green Street Grill - which is just round the corner.
And the week is going to continue in that way - tomorrow is christopher time - and on wednesday - christopher again. Well - not a real difference to normal but with a different occasion: its the farewell party for Stephan and Tony from school. They both quit their job to seek new challenges.
And - one other thing. You know - I am really into the Julius Echter Hefeweizen - but I thought - come on - I nearly have it every day - lets try something else. So I went to my liquor store and got 6 beers that I'vent had before. Here they are:

(from left to right) - Blue Heron Pale Ale - Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale - Newport Storm - Offshore Indian Pale Ale - Samuel Smith - Oatmeal Stout - Z Street - Indian Pale Ale

Relaxing weekend in NH
First I want to give you an update on the Red Sox - well - they lost the game on friday and therefore the playoffs are over - sad for Boston.
So - its been a relaxing weekend at the Camp. Basically - I was stayin in bed nearly the whole time trying to get better - and - I am nearly there - nearly back to healthy.
Its been raining really heavy since friday night - lots of flooding in new england - but I hope the worst is over although they predict more rainfall the whole next week. Thats it for the weekend. Cheers

Sarah took good care for me - fixing some breakfast for me	Nadja - always energetic - is currently painting sarahs living unit
The kids had no problem with the rain - this boy played while standing in a big swimming pool	Stephans becoming very poetric - bottom line: christophers at thursday

Weekend is here
I am going up to New Hampshire now. Bus leaves at 8:15 PM from South Station - and I will hopefully be picked up by sarah in concord. I am still not feeling very healthy but I will do the trip. So - there wont be any update till sunday night on the site.
But there is one update that I can give you right now on the Red Sox game - well - it does not really look good. Top of 6th inning - its 4:2 for chicago and they have one on 1st and 3rd base. When you think now - what is he taking about? well - if you life in this town during the baseball season you just somehow pick all those things up and its amazing that I actually start to get into the game. - well - thats it - have to leave soon - cu
Update: Home Run by Red Sox - now: 4:3 for Chicago
Update: All bases loaded by Red Sox - 1 Out
Update: Oh - what a missed chance: they had all bases loaded but made no points!! - well - I am outta here now- cu!

Getting Ill
Well - I hope its not really going to happen - but right now - everything indicates that I will soon be ill. But I am just thinking positiv and take my medicine (Julius Echter) :-)!!!
Yesterday we had a so called SUG (Segue User Group) Meeting. Its a monthly meeting of Segue customers at Segue. Normally the attendees present some topics and then they have ongoing Q&A sessions. This time I volunteered to present two topics of our products developed in linz and mike did one on the SilkTest (the product that is developed over here). Bart Campbell - he is from a customer based in Nashville - was here for training this week. During my 3 visits in Nashville in the last 6 months we agreed that - when he is up in Boston - we will go out for some real good berr - and thats what we did - check out the pictures below. I order my number one menu at christophers - nachos and wheat beer!!
What else happened - well - besides some interesting long taking customer support cases - and my worser getting health condition I also managed to give my bike to the repair shop. I picked it up today and surprise surprise - I got it back with new tires (although I'vent asked for it). Well - I actually recognized it when I was already at home and I was not shocked by the price as we agreed on that price when I gave it to repair - so it was actually a nice surprise!
To finish this entry: tonight I hoped to do some salsa - but I better stay home go stay healthy in order to get up to NH on the weekend.
Well - and on final note - for those of you who wondered about what is going on with the Red Sox: Well - it doesnt look good for them. They lost the 2nd game in a best of 5 series. The series continues tomorrow in boston. we will see. cu

Bart with his first Julius Echter!!!	The two guys at the bar - happy - or course

Sore throat, Red Sox and some exciting news!!
Today I had to leave office earlier. I have some kind of infection in my throat respectively near my back teeth - its hurting and i just got home to get some medicine for it to make it stop soon.
Another topic are the Red Sox's. As you may know (I dont assume) - but the Red Sox actually made it into the playoffs. They had 2 wins and one loss on the weekend against the Yankees. Therefore they got the wild card ticket and are starting their playoff games tonight against the White Sox from Chicago. Its amazing how excited people are about this sport event - but I guess we would also be excited if our local soccer team would play in the Champions League. Anyway - maybe I try to watch it at Christophers.
But now to the more exciting news. I hope Stephan is ok that I share this information with you - but I hope he is. Well - there are some significant changes coming up. First of all he is putting is house on Cape Cod on sale. He has also put an offer on a nice home here in Boston - to be more precise - in the South End. So - over the longer period we will move our home from cambridge to the south end - of course only if his offer will be accepted. But I hope it will - he is pretty excited about the location.
So - thats it for today. cheers

U2, Keane and No Water!!
Yeah - U2 was better than the first show that I've seen in may. I dont know why - but it was just better. And the pre-band - Keane - was fantastic!!
Thanks to Steve who had the tickets but couldnt go - therefore we (Mike, Richard + his wife, myself) went to the show - again - fantastic.
After the show when I came home I realized that we have our street construction going on - they are actually shutting down the water suply for most of the rest of the week - please check Stephans nice note on our board!!!
Cheers

The party guys!!!	Oh america - how do I love your stupid laws!!
The stage - this time we had seats on the back of the stage	Stagepicture the 2nd
Mr. Bono himself	Thanks Stephan - I guess I will just skip washing myself till you take that back!!!

Yoga and a nice evening
Yoga?? Yeah - strange thing - but we did it. Well there is a Yoga place next to my place and Rachel - a friend of Sarah suggested to go there today for the 11 AM basic class. So - we went there - but unfortunatley - Rachel wasnt there - maybe too much beer yesterday at the octoberfest :-).
Anyway - it was not normal yoga - it was hot yoga. That means that the room is heated up to about 35 degrees - you can imagine how hot it is in there - and for those of you who know how easy I start sweating - you can imagine how much water I lost during these 1.5 hours. Anyway - it was nice - but exhausting. But I can tell all guys out there - try it - you will not find another place where - if you are in the back row - see soo many nice "backviews" of girls :-)!!!
In the afternoon we met Sabina and Jason. Sabine is the sister of Christian - a friend from back home. He gave me a package for her and today was the delivery date. We went out for dinner and ended in my appartment to taste some austrian schnaps. Thats it for today - well - there is some exciting news of course.
I do have U2 tickets for tomorrows show in Boston - and more to that - yesterday - Bono was riding a big limousine through boston where he threw away t-shirts!! that was quite a scene. so - but thats it now - bye bye

Sunday shopping - its amazing how many people shop on sunday - but it is sooooo conventient!!!	Sabine, Jason and their small kid

Octoberfest and Sandros calls!!!!
Hi there. Its been a nice saturday. Here is a brief overview: getting up around 9. getting into boston - public library - checking out their book sale - staying over lunch in their nice garden for coffee and some food - going on via newbury street, boston common park, fanueil hall, south station, ... till we finally arrived at the Harpoon Brewery. There they had an Octoberfest - really good actually. With thousands of people - lots of beer - lots of music and lots of fun.
We stayed there for a couple of hours before we made our way home - of course - via Christophers for nachos and a real good beer - julius echter. During that visit we got a funny call from Sandro and Martin (aka Resl). They were still sitting in Sandros appartment doing some party. We got a second call when we were already sitting at home and those two guys have still been doing some party. anyway - thats it for today - check the pictures!!

Please check the labels: "No juice" and "all natural"	the garden at the boston public library
This squirrel was really friendly!!	Thousands of people at the octoberfest
This girl was amazing - she was playing in the UmTaTa band - very hot!!	The banner of the UmTaTa band
German cake eating competition - really gross	Yeah - face down :-)
Current beer selection at christophers	Who's that? a couple in love maybe?