hansamann

Archive for February, 2008

WATER @ BK

In General Stuff on February 28, 2008 at 9:50 pm
WATER @ BK

WATER @ BK,
originally uploaded by hansamann.

Don’t get me wrong, but you don’t see that too often. I am wondering what percentage of BK customers drink water… like I did. I figured out the burger already had too many calories. No way to justify a sugary Coke :-)

Upcoming: Grails Podcast Episode 49

In General Stuff on February 28, 2008 at 9:59 am

I wanted to keep it quiet, but  I am fascinated that a new episode of the Grails Podcast (Episode 49) will soon be out. Glen Smith, the crazy Australian Groovy & Grails expert will provide the necessary depth of discussion while I can ask him all kinds of silly questions that people using Grails or people who are considering Grails might want to ask.

The next Episode is planned for the next 1-2 weeks, finding good recording times between the US West Coast and Australia is a bit hard, but I am sure we will soon get into a flow…

Stay tuned, expect some changes and post your questions as comments to this blog post.

Life in the US – the first 6 months

In Leisure on February 26, 2008 at 8:18 pm

This is more a personal post, one for my friends around the globe. Luckily I still got contact with most of you, thank you Skype, thank you Sipgate for German VOIP numbers that lead directly to Sunnyvale. After we spent some time in temp housing during the first month, we soon moved on to our final housing destination here in Sunnyvale. We now live in a nice but expensive apartment community, we got an outdoor pool that is heated all year long (what an incredible waste of energy…) and it is just 10 minutes to work for me.

By now we did practically master most common situations… like having to go to the emergency room because a kids was quickly getting sick or just paying the gas / water / electricity (‘utilities) bills. Not to mention the opening of various banking accounts for checking, savings, etc. Most my profiles on all the web2-ish services around the web have been updated and more or less I would say: “We have arrived, finally.”

California is a great place, especially for kids. It is warm and sunny, so the kids get less often ill. As a parent, you don’t have to dress/undress you kids all the time, a shirt will just be fine… maybe some sunscreen. In a restaurant, nobody smokes, no problem for the kids. And everyone here just arrives or leaves. Most are foreigners like you, most are happy to share their ideas and give good tips to make live easier. Life is moving quickly here, nothing compared to a German suburb.

We did have some time to do smaller trips to Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Francisco. Check the Flickr images and ask to be added to my friends list to see them all.