HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Hope you had a good happy new year celebration. In my case I have to say that it was fabulous. We started at 2 PM with some Punsch - then went on to eisstock shooting (male vs. female - endscore: 6:1). After that we went back to Doris and Roberts place. The culinarian theme of the evening was "french". As Robert is a passionated and professional cook we got some really delicious meals served. Starting with a french onion soup - followed by cock in wine sauce (there is a french name for that - cock au vein - or something like that), followed by waffels with mouse o cholocate and - with a traditional gulasch soup after midnight.
Besides tons of calories we had fun playing the playstation game "singstar" and lots of rounds of scharade. At midnight - of course - watching fireworks - prosting with sparkling wine - and waltzing on the street.
We went to bed at around 4 AM and got up again at 10 AM for the next round of food - breakfast!!
Some other highlights of this evening:
* Martin (aka Resl) called from Austrialia - he and Sonja celebrated christmas and sylvester in down-under
* Ulli and Robert performed lots of so called "gstanzl" - very funny!!!
* We sayed farewell to Mario - he will spend the next 6 months in Dublin, Ireland
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| Punsch cooking in the afternoon | Male vs. Female Eisstock shooting |
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| Sometimes we had to measure the distance - the only thing we had to do that was alex's scarf | Klaus while playing scharade |
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| Mario and Ulli playing Singstar | Ulli and Robert singing Gstanzl |
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| Midnight Waltzing | Midnight Drinking :-) |
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| Some of us fell asleep earlier than others | New Year Breakfast!! |
Punschstandl
On Saturday we - JVP Gallneukirchen - organized a punschstandl. Unfortunatelly the timing and weather was not really perfect - neither was our location. Therefore our revenue was not really breathtaking - nor was our profit - but - it was fun.
Here are some pictures
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| Georg in our Punschstandl | Barbara and Birgit |
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| Helene and Christian | Helene and me in the Standl |
Skiing in Dorfgastein
Every year around christmas (and later again in march) - Sandro invites us to join him in Dorfgastein for some skiing. His dad owns an appartment there and therefore its a cool thing to drive to Dorfgastein for a couple of days - ski - or go to the thermal bath - or do whatever comes in your mind.
He is down there right now with Juergen, Babsi, Lissi, Peter and Irene - and I joined them just for today because I wanted to do some skiing. Well - the skiing experience was not as good as I hoped - but not too bad considering the current winter conditions in europe. Here are some pictures:
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| Dorfgastein from the appartment - looks pretty nice - doesnt it? | Peter with the Milka hat |
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| The whole group | As always: Nageln in the Skiglo |
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| Well - off course snow is not everywhere | Sundown |
Go-Kart Racing
We try to do that every 4-6 weeks now. Go-Kart Racing with a bunch of guys from the company and Didi. Here are some pictures.
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| Udo - his large jumpsuit was probably not an aerodynamic advantage :-) | the race crew - we even had a female racer |
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| Because of a delay we had to wait for the race - last tactical talks between udo and jeid | Bernhard and myself |
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| In the pit - just before the race | Helmut ahead of me during start preparations. He also finished first - congratulations!!! |
Christmas, Birthday and visits!!
Christmas, Christmas, Christmas - what does that mean to me? Spending 3 days with my family, my dads birthday, playing akkordeon, lots of food, lots of drinks, church, meeting friends, singing, happy children faces, more food, more drinks, ...
It has become tradition that my mum and I decorate the christmas tree. The cool thing about our tree is that its about 4.5 meters high - which can be quite a challenge and takes quite a while (and some special equipment).
Its also challenging to decorate a tree in a house where 4 kids (in the age range from 0.5 - 7) live without them recognizing whats going on - but we managed it with just one minor incident :-)
We broke one tradition today - but for a good reason: no Raclett or Fondue this year - instead - we had Bratwuerstel and Sauerkraut - thats definitly easier and quicker - considering the 4 kids that have a hard time waiting for the presents.
It has also become tradition that its me - leaving the dining room for some reason to light up the christmas tree - then - coming back and telling the kids that I've heard some noises and that we should look if the Christkind was already there.
Well - I guess I could go on with that - but to sum up - its just nice to celebrate christmas with the family and with friends (after the main celebrations we always meet at Doris and Roberts place to go to midnight mass).
Half day of the 25th was reserved for relax time at home. The other half I went to Alexs parents where we had a couple of wine bottles :-)
The 26th is also very special - its my fathers birthday and its the day where all my siblings with kids are here. I think thats enough - here are some pictures from the past 3 days. cheers
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| Decorating the tree - no chance without a ladder | Done!! |
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| Lisa - the smallest - with a her first xmas present | Maximilian with his 2nd christmas experience |
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| Did I mention that we also drink a lot :-) | Klemens, Mario (in the middle) and me after the midnight mass |
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| 6 kids bulding a mountain on top of my brother | My parents - playing with some trick games that we got |
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| Music time: the girls with the fluet - me with the akkordean | My sister with the akkordeon - she played phenomenal although he hasnt played in "centuries" |
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| Maximilian - our joungest DJ | Thats brave: after 3 days of food and cookies the still wanted more |
Traditional Come-Together in Walker
As every year - the 23rd is a good date to go to Walker. You can be sure that you always meet the same people - the same friends - every year.
One additional thing that I have to tell you: We've been invitied for lunch at Babsis and Juergens place (well - we have invited ourself) - anyway. After lunch we tested Juergens new Wii game console - and - I can still feel it. I have a soar upper body because of the games we played.
Here are some pictures from yesterday night - more are to come for christmas eve
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| Martin (aka Mole) - played pool with him | Birgit and Philipp (he obviously had one drink too much) |
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| Well - maybe two drinks | Sandro brought him home |
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| Later that night - Martin was playing with the DJ Equipment | And the bar guys at Remembar/Marcelli were dressed up like Santas |
XMAS-Party
As every year we had our company XMAS-Party in Kirchschlag. The difference to the previous years was that we changed our location to Landgasthof Alpenblick. It turned out that it was a good pick :-)
Another difference was that we had to skip our eisstock shooting because of the warm weather. Nevertheless we had fun - here are some pictures.
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| Udo (aka Prinzregent) and Sebastian (funny at this early time of the evening) | Some Schnaps after the main course |
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| The "Reds" - Unti, Hauns and Stoni | Hilli and me |
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| Ho Ho Ho - Udo as Santa Claus | Kids - please look away - this Santa is evil :-) |
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| Stoni - one of my team members | Klaus - my new product manager |
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| Santa: checking the schnapps offer | Later at night: Sebastian in a very good mood :-) |
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| Lexx - another member of my team | Xi (in the back), Sebastion (you already know him), Udo and Thomas |
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| Reinhard - taking over Santas Job | The final moments of Sebastians evening :-) |
Time for a hair cut
Saturday turned out totally different to our original plan. Because of my lack of sleep from friday to saturday I spent half of the day in bed- half asleep while watching TV (mainly the ski races). At night we were supposed to go to the Salsa XMAS Party - hosted by the Linzer Salsa Club. But in the end we just stayed at home and went to bed.
Today - Sunday - we went to see "Happy Feet. The dancing school of Alex's parents have this annual event where the rent a theatre and where you can see a movie for a very reasonable price. After that we went for a late lunch and then to Alex's appartment for coffee and cookies.
Now - back in my appartment - we had the great idea to cut my hair. Its been too long already. As I refuse to go to a "real" barber to get a "stylie" cut (thats what Alex would like to see) - I decided to do what we already did in summer. See the pics below. cheers
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| Before Picture: Hair was already too long | First part: cutting with scissors |
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| More cuts with the scissors | Half Time |
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| Now with the trimmer | The final product :-) |
Night of the Jumps
Puh - I just realized that I didnt put any updates on my blog for a week - why was that? Well - nothing exciting going on and I didnt really had much time. But - the weekend is here and I do have some really cool pictures from "Night of the Jumps" that we went to. After this event we went on to
Gallneukirchen where Didis brother - Andi - celebrated his 25th birthday. As I am still too tired from yesterday I wont put more stories in the blog - enjoy the pics - cheers
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| Cool Jump | Cool parallel jump |
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| Didi, Udo, myself and Robert | Some pyrotech |
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| The moderator had a dangerous job | Double back flip |
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| Birgit and the Birthday Boy | The Birthday Boy and me |
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| Our two dancing stars - Birgit and Christian | The later the night the funnier the pictures |
Farewell Dinner with Martin
So - Martin is going to fly to Australia - think I mentioned that a couple of times already. We met at my place - then went on to the italian restaurant in the Atrium City Center. Then we had a long discussion about what to do next. Alex had a great great great idea - so we went to a nice little wine pub near the hauptplatz.
Here are some pictures.
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| In the italian restaurant | Sandro and Birgit |
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| Andrea and Martin | Juergen and Babsi |
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| Me and the girls | A nice view through the wine glass |
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| 1:30 AM in the morning - a kebab | 2 AM - Remembar |
Papermoon - Christmas Unplugged
We checked out the Papermoon Concert in the Posthof. We got the tickets about 3 weeks ago - we wanted them because we wanted to hear Papermoon. When we arrived in Posthof we saw that they are going to promote their new christmas album. We really hoped that they are not just playing xmas songs for 2 hours - and yess - they didnt - although - their xmas songs have been fantastic.
Thats it for the update on dec 8th. Right now its actually already saturday - dec 9th - and I am about to pick up Sandro, Martin, Juergen and Babsi - we are going to have dinner at an italian restaurant becuase Martin (aka Resl) is going to fly to Australia tomorrow - visiting his girl friend. Before we get the food we will have a warm-up session at my place - with beer and wine. Cheers
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| My Schatzl and Me | The Band |
Baby Sitting
Besides the Baby Sitting that Alex and I (well - mainly alex - she did basically all of the "work") - we also had a farewell party in the office. Chris had his last day - he moved to a place about an hour away from Linz. So he decided to find a job closer to his new home - wish you all the best!!
Here are some pics!
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| 3 of the 4 kids (Raphael, Vanessa and Maximilian) | The 4th: Lisa |
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| Farewell to Chris - thanks for the snacks | Who's this? |
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| Aaahh - its Maximilian | Feeding Time!! |
Nicolaus Day
Yeah - its Nicolaus Day and I got a chocolate Nicolaus from Alex.
Yesterday night I've been invited by Leo - we watched Barcelona vs. Werder Bremen in the last match of the Champions League group session. Came home after midnight after a great soccer evening.
Today we have been invited for dinner at Alex's parents. Her dad becomes 54 on friday - so we had to celebrate it. Thats all for the update for today - tomorrow will be challenging - well - more for Alex than for me probably. We have to do some baby sitting - 4 kids at home :-)
Cheers
Collision at Night!!
I was brave enough to take the bike to work. I thought the weather is going to be fine - unfortunatelly it started to rain a bit - but not too much. On my way home - on the bike trail along the danube I realized how dangerous it is to ride a bike at night (even with proper light equipment).
There are so many people out there jogging, nordic walking and skating without any reflective clothes. So it happened that I collided with an inline skater. He has definitly seen me as I had the light - but I couldnt see him at all - well - just too late. Fortunatelly it was not too bad - but my arm hurts - hope it doesnt impact me today with my salsa dancing :-)
Thats it. Tomorrow I am going to visit Leo - on wednesday we will celebrate the birthday of alex's dad - thursday babysitting in gallneukirchen - on friday we have tickets for Papermoon in Posthof, on saturday we will say farewell to Martin (aka Resl) - he is going to fly to australia for 5 weeks.
Cheers
Advent Advent
What a busy weekend: Friday night - after a good soccer match - we got ready for the Didi's Dance School Ball. Before that we checked out the Stakehouse on the Donaulaende (Straussensteak - very delicious). When we approached the ship we figured out that they must have a problem with so many people entering the boat. After 10 minutes without any progress we decided to no longer wait in the cold - but wait in the cold with a warm punsch :-)
The ball itself was nice. A little bit more space would have been nice as well as air condition - but we had fun with dancing.
On Saturday we (JVP Galli) went out for our anual mistletoe and barbarastick cutting. We climbed trees for the misteltoes and we even cut down a tree for the barbara-sticks. At night we've been invited for a great vanison meal - thanks to Robert - our chef.
Today - sunday - we (Andi and I) had an early morning mission: we had to deliver the mistletoes to the XMAS Market where the stuff gets sold. For our work at 7:30 in the morning we got offered some goodies: besides coffee and krapfen we also had some egg liquor :-)
Here are some pictures. the first is actually from thursday - in martins office where juergen had some work to do on martins new linux machine
---- update ----
Just found some links on our party web sites here in linz where you can find pictures from the ball. here is a nice shot from alex and me on WOO.AT
And another one on szene1.at
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| Not many offices have a keg of beer in the kitchen :-) | My Adventcalender in the office - with Kinderueberaschungseier |
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| Andi (Didis brother) with his company | Mozart (aka Didi) and me. |
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| One of the many show groups at the Ball | Didi performing a hip-hop show |
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| Thats actually pre-ball: waiting with a punsch is easier than without | CAUTION: TIMBER!!!! |
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| Setting up the XMAS Market for Sunday | Didi and Berni on the tree |
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| A Pick-Up full of Mistletoes | Sunday morning action |