From Havana Club to Glaskat
Its been another great weekend on the Havana Club dancefloor. Next week will bring a nice change though - Salsa on the west coast. I am flying out to San Francisco tonight - staying there till friday for a conference. By now I alredy know the good places like Glaskat or Cafe Cocomo.
Besides my salsa activities - which I know make me look like I am a bit adicted to it - we had a big event going on here in Massachusetts. An event that unfortunatelly was triggered by a loss of a great person that shaped the political landscape of this state and of this country for the last couple of decades. Ted Kennedy passed away this week - and - even though I am not a US citizen and have not been impacted by his politics it seems that he was a great man with great ambitions and the gift of bringing consensus between political party lines.
Another thing that we did this weekend was checking out the new Tarantino movie Inglourious Basterds. As with a lot of Tarantino movies violence was all over - presented in his typical style. Overall I was impressed by the movie - especially with his way of chapter-to-chapter story telling.
Thats it - pictures from san francisco will hopefully follow in the next days.
Cheers

My special Atlanta Experience
Just came back from a 1.5 days trip to Atlanta, Georgia. Took the plane from Boston yesterday afternoon bringing me down to Atlanta in just about 2.5 hours. Wi-Fi on Air Tran - nice!!
While approaching the gate the flight attendant made the following announcement: "Please all stay seated - we have several officials coming in - only those are allowed to leave that I told to do so". 5 guys came in walked out with a lady - handcuffed. First time for me to see somebody being escorted by the police off a plane. Guess she didnt have to wait in line for luggage :-)
My first task after getting off the plane was to take the rental car shuttle bus to the rental car station. At the counter I presented my Massachusetts ID and my Austrian Drivers License (remember - Sept 17th is the day when I get my US license). As a response I get: Where is your passport? Hm - well - since I have a MassID I usually dont carry my passport anymore because the MassID acts as a valid ID. As I learned now - the state of Georgia only accepts passports with an international driving license. I ended up taking the subway into town because there was just no way I could get a rental :-(
My misfortune however was very fortunate as it turned out that the MARTA is a great public transport system - and - my hotel as well as the client were very close to a MARTA station.
I had the chance to explore Atlanta downtown for about 2 hours last night. Checked out the Centennial Olympic Park, World of Coca Cola, the CNN Center, Atlanta Underground and some other parts of town. The town was really deserted - hardly any people out - probably because the warm weather and I guess it is just still holiday season.
Well - here are some pictures of Atlanta as well as from the Sangria/Birthday Party last sunday.
Cheers - and - it seems there will be new pictures coming up next week from San Francisco - going on a 5 day trip to the lovely city on the west coast.

Mauricio and Jose entertaining the group	Food - yummie
Kids enjoying the water fountains at the Olympic Park	Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta
In front of World of Coca Cola	CNN Center

About Bill and Julius
Bill and Julius were the big events this week - yep - thats right. First there was Hurricane Bill that made it up to the north east - bringing us some rain and some waves along the Massachusetts coastline.
The event that will definitely have more impact is around Julius. Udo (aka Prinzregent) became a proud father of Julius.. Seems Julius has already more head on his head than his dad :-) All the best to the new family!!
On friday it was finally time to meet up with my old friends from Segue (the company I used to work for and with which I came to boston the first time in 2005). Mark, Mike, Steve and I met in the Marina Bay in Quincy. We enjoyed food, drinks and a great boat trip from Quincy to the Boston Harbor. We also tried to get through the Charles River locks - unfortunately it took a bit too long - so half way though the locks we decided to turn around. I stayed over at Marks boat - trying to sleep outside to enjoy the nice ocean breeze. Well - the breeze was nice - the mosquitos weren't :-( - still dealing with all those bites I got.
Saturday was time for Walden Pond - beautiful pond - warm water - nice swimming. Well - and at night - of course - Salsa at Havana Club - with Live Music by Rumba Na Ma.
Final note. This week its finally time for my first business trip since I came back from my trip to europe in July. Its going to be Atlanta, Georgia.
Final final note - totally forgot to mention that. Last friday I did my road permit test. Its the written exam to apply for my US drivers license. Its a 25 question exam and you have to have 18 correct answers. I DID IT. Now its time to wait for the road-test - scheduled for Sept. 17th.
Thats it - time for more coffee and some time outside in the sun

Due to too man leftovers from the party this was my breakfast, lunch and dinner of the past days	A happy salsa dancer - picture taken while I was dancing
On my way to salsa - picture taken on Columbus Ave towards Boston	Jacky had her first performance at MIT Salsa Social

Its summer in Boston
Summer is definitely finally here in New England. We had warm temperatures (up to 34 degrees) over the last couple of days. Humidity was not all that bad and it seems that the weather is going to stay nice - even though the chance of thunderstorms is increasing.
The downside of the warm weather is that the dancefloors are warmer too - even though air condition can be found in most places - the warm weather and all those hot salsa dancers often turn the dancefloor into a sauna - but - well - thats the way it is.
On sunday I made it to Singing Beach at Manchester by the Sea. I joined Christopher some of his friend to spend the sunny afternoon on the beach. Taking the Commuter Rail was a good thing to do - although - on the way back we cursed a bit about the delay the train had on its way back to Boston.
Yesterday - monday - I was negatively surprised by a flat bike tire just when I wanted to get ready for my commute to work. At night it was time to check out a new bar - Cambridge, 1.
Well - now its tuesday evening - time for two episodes of Two and a Half Men followed by 3 hours of salsa dancing at Ryles.
My final word goes to my friends Sandro, Juergen, Martin and their girl friends Lissy, Babsi and Sonja: Thanks for the nice birthday surprise present that came per mail -> looking forward to the U2 Concert :-)
Here are some pictures of the last days - cheers

Due to too man leftovers from the party this was my breakfast, lunch and dinner of the past days	A happy salsa dancer - picture taken while I was dancing
On my way to salsa - picture taken on Columbus Ave towards Boston	Jacky had her first performance at MIT Salsa Social
Another performance	And more salsa performances

The day after the day after the party :-)
I don't want to spend too much time and describing about the great party we had last night - I will let the pictures do that job.
But there are some words that I have to say:
THANKS to Stephan - who made this party possible. We had awesome food (there is still a lot of food left - so whoever is hungry come on by and grab a bite) and great hospitality.
THANKS to all my friends who showed up - without people like that it wouldn't have been such a great night.
Cheers and cu soon

Preparation 1: Getting the beer cold	Preparation 2: Getting the cookies displayed
Preparation 3: Getting ready for the crowed	Preparation 4: Tasting the Kaesekrainer (they were really authentic)
The two brothers :-) - honestly - there are NO Kangaroos in Austria	Stephan and Eva
Chez and Werner	Me with Eszter and Helen
Me with Inanc	Christopher and Juliana
Dancing with Julie	Ardy seemed to have his own style of dancing
Jenia and her friend (sorry that I forgot his name)	Yummie - Schnapstasting (very traditional austrian)

A new day - a new year - a new century in my life
Well - some people say that I can finally consider myself as a real man now. Why that? Well - I just turned 30 today.
My birthday started great - with a whip cream cake at Christophers just at midnight. Before that I had a lovely evening in the bar with a couple of drinks - good food - and good company. The way home turned out to be a bit longer than I anticipated. I took the T at Porter Square just shortly after midnight - changed to the Orange Line at Downtown Crossing at 12:30 - well - and then waited. For whatever reason - probably to wait for the passengers of the last red line trains that wanted to hop on the orange line - the train stayed at Downtown Crossing till 1:10 AM. I finally got home at 1:30 - till I got to bed it was around 2. With only a couple of hours of sleep my first morning in my thirties was definitely not as pleasant as my last one in my twenties - but - well - I dont blame it on the age - now way :-)
Got a nice birthday cake in the office - thanks folks. After work it was time to pick up some beer from the liquor store - some cookies from the culinary school and later in the evening it was time for some big big shopping for tomorrows grill party at our house.
The final event for today - one that I am really looking forward - is a salsa night at Club Caribe in Cambridge.
Oh - yeah - I also got a new camera. I picked the cheapest Casio Exilim they had at the electronic store on Porter Square - just perfect for me as it is small and it wont last long anyway - so why spend a lot of money? The only drawback of that camera is its color - well - its a little pinky :-)
Ok - time to go. Pictures of tomorrows Grill-BDay Party will follow on saturday. Here two pictures from the office today - taken with my new pink camera. Cheers

The cake says: Happy Birthday Stinky :-)	Haven't taken the time to shave today - tztztz

Another camera gone
Well - the average time that my pocket cameras last is roughly 1.5 years. Now - after having my current camera for 2 years its time again for a new one. I had it with me on the bike tour that Eric and I were doing through the Blue Hills. It was the first offtrack mountainbike tour - with some rough parts to it - very rocky and shaky. It seems my camera didnt survive the trip in my back pocket. Somehow it turned itself on and the exposed lens somehow got destroyed - well - fortunately I took some pictures today before all that happened.
Besides a great trip through the Blue Hills its been a very salsa intensive weekend - two nights in a row at Havana Club (picture proof of my new t-shirts can be found HERE.
Another big task this weekend was working in the garden. The patio has been in for almost 2 weeks now but now it was time to do the finishing. I played 5 hours in the dirt to get stones in the ground which form a nice edging to the patio.
Well - thats it. Time to get a new camera, do some more work in the garden, maybe see a movie tonight - and - yeah - big project coming up: getting a us drivers license :-)
Cheers

Kobe steak - no wonder this stuff is expensive	Eric checking our route through the trails at Blue Hills
We had a great ride today	The last picture that was taken by my camera :-(

Back to my day-to-day life in Boston
Its thursday and I have to say that my transition back to Boston was not hard at all - back to normal day-to-day activity.
The highlight of this week definitely was the Coldplay concert on monday. We met up with my old friends Steve and Mike and joined them in the parking for some beers before they concert. The concert itself was great. I had to smile when I heard the "Donauwaltzer" just before the band came on stage. After 2 hours of mainly new songs from their latest album it was time to drive home. Fortunately with more coldplay music in the car - they gave away a free CD with 9 songs from a previous concert.
Besides the concert it was time to hang out with Ardy. He is another colleague of mine from Linz who recently moved to Boston. I had to introduce him to the salsa scene :-) - so went out to Ryles on tuesday for salsa, merengue and bachata.
Oh - yeah - almost forgot about that. On sunday it was my task to assembly the new grill - and - later in the afternoon we had to test it - IT WORKS :-)
Well - what shall I say - I am happy to be back. The weather is nice - the dancefloors are hot and the beer is always cold :-)
Cheers

Welcome Jause on saturday night	Assembling the Weber Grill
Our new patio	First test run -> WORKS
Tailgating with Mike and Steve before the concert	Comcast Center in Mansfield

Back in Boston
I made it back to Boston. After a long long night on friday with some friends it was time to say good bye to my aunt Mitzi in Linz and my family in Gallneukirchen. I was fortunate again on my flight back from Frankfurt to Boston - got a free upgrade to Business Class as the flight was overbooked in Economy. Out of the 30+ movies they show on the flight I picked one that I hoped to see - Der Knochenmann (The Boneman). Its an austrian production so I was happy to see it under the options on the inflight movie program. If you haven't seen it - check it out - great movie.
Well - the flight was almost on time. Immigration only took 2 minutes this time as I was 1st to deboard the plane. Waiting for the luggage however took a while - but it was worth it - because of all the Schnaps and Speck that I brought :-)
On the way back from the Airport to our house it became very obvious that we are back in Massachusetts -> people just use the honk much more often than on the roads in Linz :-)
After a great welcome Jause outside on the new patio it was time for bed at around 11AM. Thanks to the jetlag I got up at 5:30 - perfect time for a nice little run through my neighborhood. The weather is warm - though it is a bit cloudy today. The big difference to the weather in Linz is the humidity - it is soooo humid here.
Feels good to be back. I am sitting here now at my usual spot in the kitchen - with a cup of coffee.
Whats coming up: COLDPLAY tomorrow night. They give a concert in Mansfield which is about an hour outside of Boston.
Thats it - back to my daily routine. cheers