Greece - I am coming!!
Tomorrow is the start of my vacation trip. Sailing in Greece - yeah!!! So there wont be any updates until June 7th!!
Below you see some pictures from last week and today. There is one from wednesday's Champions League final that we watched in Gallneukirchen in a Beergarden.
Then there was of course salsa on friday night - till 1:30 AM. As I had to do the laundry for my trip I didnt get to bed until 3:30 AM but I had to get up at 8 again because Raphael - my nephew - played his first soccer tournament. So I took my bike up to Altenberg. Although it was not a too long trip it was tougher than expected - probably because of my lack of sleep.
Tonight we do some BBQ in Gallneukirchen - not too long as I want to at least get some sleep before we had out to Munich tomorrow at 4:30 AM.
Cheers
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| Watching the Champions League final with Didi | Rueda in Maestro |
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| People dancing Salsa | Raphael in his soccer jersey |
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| Maximilian enjoyed a piece of cake while his brother played soccer | Raphael fighting his way through two other players |
Friday!! - 2 Days to Athens!!
The past days have been filled with nice evening activities. On wednesday I got my new car - yeah!!! - But till now there was not much time to actually drive it. The weather was just to fine and so I mainly used my car.
On wednesday I also got a glimpse of the city where I will be on sunday: Athens!! Why that? Because I will be on a sailing trip starting in Athens. Some colleagues of mine hired a sailing yacht and we will sail in the mediteranean sea for about 10 days.
But maybe you ask yourself now: how did he get a glimpse of Athens on wednesday night?
Because it was the night of the Champions League final match between Milan and Liverpool which took place in Athens.
On thursday night I was in the lucky situation to get a ticket from Didi for a show of Alfred Dorfer. He has a new program and performed in the Linzer Posthof - very nice event!!
Today is friday. I think its one of the hottest days so far this year and unfortunatelly we cannot use the AC in the office - damn!!
I will probably do a final update tomorrow before I start my vacation on sunday morning - will be picked up by Roland at 4:30 AM.
Cheers
Tuesday!!
Its tuesday and I realized that I made a big big mistake. I forgot the birthday of my sister - that would have been last week. I actually saw her yesterday in the Remembar but just didnt think about her birthday - sorry again - happy birthday!!
A week ago I made the decision to replace my current car - tomorrow its time to actually do the change - looking forward to that as well as the Champions League final between Liverpool and Milan. Two years ago we had the same final match. I was in Boston at that time and watched it in "Little Italy" - a district in town that is mainly populated by italians. Those of you that remember that match know that it was not a good day for an italian supporter. Milan - although 3:0 in the lead after the first half - lost the match in penalty shoot-out.
We will see if Milan takes the chance for a revenge this year.
The update for today is the following: played soccer at night - first time to play outside in this season - it was tough - but fun. After that I've been invited by Irene for dinner - thanks for the salad and the beers. Now its time to go to bed. Its been a long salsa night in the remembar yesterday - with not much sleep - therefore I try go catch up with sleep tonight. cheers
Salsa Congress in Vienna and Soccer in Salzburg
Its been a weekend packed with activities. Everything started on friday noon where we headed to Vienna - thanks Gina for driving!! In Vienna we attended the Salsa Ball Congress 2007. So - whats a Salsa Congress? Basically its a 3 days event with different dancing workshops during the day and dancing parties at night.
The instructors came from all over the world and tried to teach us new moves and new dancing styles. On friday night - to close the gap between the workshops and the party - I took the chance and walked through the streets of vienna - checking out the main sights, e.g.: Stephansdom, Heldenplatz, Rathaus, ...
The main event of the congress was the Salsa Ball on saturday night. But to be honest - after 1.5 days of salsa - most of us were not really motivated for another long night of dancing. But thanks to our self-motivation we made it to the Ball and it was great!!!!
At 5 AM after a long dancing night I left the ball. I had to catch the train back to Linz because the next event was waiting for me - Soccermatch in Salzburg.
The funny part of the soccer match between Salzburg and Rapid was the pre-match between the austrian ladies national team and a team from OE3 (our local radio station). It was a battle between genders that ended with an 8:2 win by the girls. As you can see from the pictures below - not everybody took the match too serious.
Well - enough the words - here are some pictures. Cheers
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| After each workshop everybody pulled out the camera to film the learned moves | During one of the workshops |
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| Vienna at night: Hofburg | Parliament |
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| Salsa Congress Venue: Kursalon Huebner | Lady Styling Workshop |
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| Lilly and Daniela relaxing in the sun | Tom and I - dressed up for the Ball |
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| A men in heaven :-) | Match Girls vs. Boys |
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| Didi and Udo watching the main game. | Champion celebration after the game as Salburg became this years Champion |
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| Peter L Eppinger (Dancing Star) dancing with one of the girls during the match | Peter Kulis (aka OE3 Call Boy) interviewing his oponent during the match |
Hiking near Linz
Just came home from a very nice hiking tour. Klemens and Gabi called me for a 3-4 hours hiking tour - starting in Wilhering - walking on the so called "Prinzensteig" through the Kuernbergwald.
We finished the tour with a visit of a greek restaurant. The two dropped me of on the Hauptplatz in Linz where I took the chance to check out some of the shopping windows that have been specially decorated for the current cultural exhibition called "Schaurausch".
Thats it - remaining program for the day: watching the summary of todays bundesliga soccer round, going to bed early. Cheers
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| Klemens was impressed by the trees | Our group of 3 on the Prinzensteig |
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| Looking down on the Danube towards Puchenau | Fire Salamander |
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| See grass - used to be used for mattresses | One of the "Schaurausch" exhibits |
Poker Evening
The last time we played poker at my place was back in february at the Super Bowl. Tonight we played again - but in the end we had a very similiar result - I lost more than I won. The big winner was Kerstin - as you can see from the pics below she did a good job in getting our money.
Thats it - thursday is a public holiday here in Austria and I am going on a long hike with Klemens and Gabi. Friday will be a short day at work because around noon we are heading to vienna to the Salsa Ball Congress 2007. Getting back on sunday morning I probably wont have much time to update the website because
the next event starts on sunday noon - we are going to drive to Salzburg to the final soccer match in this years T-Mobile Bundesliga. Cheers
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| Didi, Didi and Boby | The big winner tonight |
Time to say Goodbye
As many relationships in a lifetime - one of mine is going to end soon. Its been a relationship for almost 7 years - looking back it was a good time - past by pretty quickly. But today I've decided to let go and try something new. The contract's been signed and therefore the days of my current car are counted.
Next week it will be replaced by a much younger and modern model. Bye Bye
Birthday Party
It was Irene's birthday and she invited us (her close friends) to her appartment for a small birthday party. As you can see from the pictures below we had different stuff to drink and it seems that Andrew and I had problems openning the bottle of Prosecco.
After a couple of beers, glasses of prosecco and sandwiches it was monday night program as usual - Salsa in Remembar. Seems that the remembar adapted the recent price changes on beer. 2.90 for a normal seiterl and 3.10 for a radler - prost.
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| Irene taking one of many happy birthday calls | Andrew trying to figure out how to use the bottle opener |
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| After a while I tried to show the guy from "Down Under" how its supposed to be done | The celebrating group |
Mothers Day!!
Today was mothers day and also the day of the "First Communion" celebration of my niece Julia. After the celebration I went home to relax - I was still extremly tired from yesterdays bike trip. Later in the afternoon I went to the Parkbad with Irene and then joined Udo at the Klosterhof to close the weekend with a couple of Luitpold.
Thats it - here are some pictures - good night
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| The kids of the ceremony in the church | Julia surrounded by Vanessa and Verena |
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| Dont worry - no Starbucks is going to open in Linz - but its part of the "Schaurausch" | Udo and myself celebrated our "First Luitpold" |
IKEA and Biking!!
As mentioned in yesterdays entry. Today was full of funny things. Like helping Irene with her new furniture from IKEA - or - an extensive bike trip with Klemens. He called me today in the morning to do the following tour: Linz-Magdalena-Oberbairing-Hellmonsoedt-Kirschlag-GIS-Linz. 42kms in length and some kms in altitude difference. At the GIS be both enjoyed a good Bretteljause.
Tonight I have a special program which I did not have in a long time: staying at home!! Why that? a) I am just soo tired from yesterday and today and b) I join my niece in her "First Communion" celebration tomorrow morning.
Thats it - cheers - here are two pictures of Klemens and myself at the GIS.
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| Klemens | Me |
A typical friday!!
Its been a typical friday - program as usual. Work - Soccer - Salsa - with a quick visit of Didi between Soccer and Salsa. Because of the long shopping friday in Linz a local vinothek had a salsa dancing event on the street in front of there tavern. Unfortunatelly it just started raining when I arrived and the "big show" was pretty much over.
So we went on to Meastro for our ususal dancing. A week ago I was so much in favor of my new shoes that I bought for the ball - well - they dont really work on every surface - at least not on the plastic kind of floor in Maestro. So I had to switch back to my old ones - which confirms the saying "Old but Good"
The night in Maestro ended at around 1 AM and from there I "nearly" made it home the direct way - well - finally went to bed at 4AM.
Whats the plan for saturday? Klemens just called me for an extended bike tour. Before that I have to help Irene to fix up a new closet that she got - probably from IKEA - yeah - I like working with IKEA stuff since last years actions in Alex's appartment. Thats it - cheers
Its all about blood!!
Probably you think - what the f**k is he talking about in the title of this entry? I gave some blood today and hope to help somebody with my donation.
Besides that there was nothing really exciting going on today. Except one thing - you may have already seen the new link on the main web page. I finally have an 
-Feed. So - just subscribe to it and you get the latest diary entries in your RSS Reader.
Cheers
Pub Quiz and Movies!!
Monday night was my first Pub Quiz in my local Irish Pub. Udo and some of my colleagues have been to the quiz before. This time we were a group 6 and our team name was "Borland Brains". Seems that we had lots of good brains in our team - or we just had pure luck. We finished in 2nd place!!
The questions varied from rather easy ones (ones that I could actually answer, e.g.: who was the famous lady of the first centerfold in playboy magazine) to rather complicated ones (ones that I had no clue about, e.g.: the 4 moons of jupiter or the name of the Lord Nelson's battleship in the battle of trafalgar).
Today I had the chance to go to the movies. We watched Vollidiot which turned out to be a really good movie. As the movie already started at 6PM and therefore ended at around 8PM we decided to watch a second movie - Curse of the Golden Flower. This one was "interesting" - but not too exciting.
Well - thats it - here are some pictures from the pub quiz. Cheers
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| Our Team - the "Borland Brains" | Picture Round: Name the actors |
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| Udo with our price | Final result - 2nd place |
The Day After!!
Its sunday - the day after the salsa ball. Quite a lot of things happened:
* Alex became father of Magdalena - his first daughter
* We danced until 4 in the morning - yeah!!
* We had a great brunch at the Welebny's
* We had a great music session a the Welebny's
* We celebrated Alex fatherhood in Pub Walkers
* We "closed" sunday in the local Irish Pub
As I wrote in my previous entry - Alex got a call from the Hospital last night because his girl friend was about to give birth to their first child. Today we celebrated - went to Walkers for a couple of drinks.
But now back to the beginning. Salsa Ball - just AMAZING. Great Band - great vibe - great people. I even had to get back home around midnight to change clothes and to take a shower because it was soo hot that I was totally soaked through.
I stayed over at the Welebny family's home where we had brunch in the morning. Because the family + friends are very musical we had a "jam session" where they showed me there musical talent - just amazing how they play the various instruments and how they can sing!!
At night I met Irene, Udo, my cousin Karin and my sister Veronika in my local Irish pub to "close" the weekend.
So - just to sum up - it was a great weekend.
Whats comming up? Tomorrow - monday - pub quiz in my local Irish Pub. Cheers
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| The girls working at the ball | Dancing action |
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| Dance performance by Nicolas | Corona and Erika posing for a picture |
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| Well - me sweating :-) | Sunday morning - music session with the Welebny family |
Shoppin Day and Waiting for Salsa Ball
Tonight is the night - the Salsa Ball in Linz will take place in the Ursulinenhof. Will hopefully take lots of interesting pictures that I will post here tomorrow.
In order to get ready for the Ball I had to organize my evening attire. Unfortunately I am not really an expert in fashion therefore I hoped to get Martin as a counselor again helping me with clothes decisions. As he was not available I had to trust my inner fashion instict. I went to H&M to get pants, shirt and sports caot. Then I went on to Humanic to finally get some new dancing shoes.
My current ones already started falling apart and they probably wouldnt have let me in tonight. After all the fashion shopping I actually had time to buy something "useful" - an external hard drive to backup all my pictures that I've taken in the past years.
Thats it for now - looking forward to a great event tonight and brunching tomorrow morning @ Susanna's place.
Cheers
---- update ----
Here is a quick picture update from yesterdays salsa ball. I have to rush to celebrate Alex's first child. He became father yesterday night. He was working at the ball when he was informed that its time to join his girlfriend in the hospital. So - I have to rush because we are going to celebrate with him. But here are the first pics - more will follow:
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| Gina and me | Daniel with a great performance |
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| Acrobatic!! | The Rueda Show Group |
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| More Rueda | Alex - smiled when he got the call from the hospital |
Apfiff in Brewery Freistadt
Every first thursday in a month the brewery in Freistadt invites to the so called "Abpriff". €6 for a ticket which includes a small snack and two hours of drinking beer.
The last time we've been there was last year in october. So its been time to go there again and enjoy some "Pfiff". As I was the driver this time I could not participate in the challenge for "the most pfiff in two hours" AndiK won it with impressive 14!!!!
Here are some pictures.
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| Lots of happy faces | From the distance |
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| Lampy | And our champion AndiK |
1. Linzer Mostkost
Its 1st of May!!! For those of you who are no austrian citizen its necessary to know that its national holiday. Therefore - instead of going to work I spent my day with biking, eating and drinking. After only 4!! hours of sleep after yesterdays salsa night I got up pretty early - woken up by the so called "Maiaufmaersche". People celebrating the first of May - marching through the streets.
I mounted my bike around 11 AM heading towards Gallneukirchen where I've been invited for BBQ. After BBQ I went back to Linz up to the Poestlingberg where the first Mostkost of this year in Linz was celebrated. The guys from Remembar/Marcelli also always have their bar up there - serving a delicious Mostito - which is a Mojito but with Most instead of Rum.
Tonight is Champions League again - Liverpool vs. Chelsea. Udo and I are going to watch it in Cheees. Thats it - cheers
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| Visiting Alex at the Mostkost | The bartenders in their busy moments |