Yesterday I had my Kurventechnik course, which is the last of my mandatory lessons before the license exam. Given how much I’m learning, I’ll probably keep taking lessons, sending a portion of my paycheck to Urs Tobler’s vacation fund, but … Continue reading →
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Worst. Skiing. Ever. That’s twice I’ve been to Davos, and twice I hated it. I hit Jakobshorn today with Leon, who is quite frankly way out of my league when it comes to skiing. My legs were unaccountably sore from … Continue reading →
After getting a new charging base for my TomTom GPS, I’ve decided I can focus on some of the other nicknacks (known to the crowd as “farkles”) for my bike. Makes sense to put them on here so that I … Continue reading →
Today we hit Hoch-Ybrig. Although I wasn’t that much of a fan last time, Florian wanted to try it out today, so he, Simon and I hopped in the car and headed over. Though it was pouring rain when we … Continue reading →
What’s there to say? Another trip to Flumserberg, this time with Matus and his 7-month-pregnant girlfriend. I haven’t seen them in about half a year, so that was a surprise of epic proportions, no doubt. She sunbathed while we hit … Continue reading →
Half a dozen ski trips in December is not bad, not too bad at all. Number six turned out to be a trip to a small place in Kanton Schwyz that I’ve been meaning to try for a while, a place … Continue reading →
Well, I went back to Flumserberg today. I really wasn’t sure if I was going to go or not; I had no plans with anybody, and a little advertisement on Facebook didn’t come up with any hits. But in the … Continue reading →
Our second full day in Verbier began with a trip back to the SureFoot guys. My right boot needed some adjustment (and indeed, I made a second trip later that day) but once completed, they were perfect. As with the … Continue reading →
This weekend just past saw Steph and I in Verbier to buy a pair of custom ski boots for me enjoy a romantic weekend away. We found a great deal on a hotel (more on that later) and enjoyed some … Continue reading →
On Saturday the girlfriend and I went to Flumserberg, a more or less local ski resort that’s quite popular with the Zürchers. It’s pretty close – takes about an hour by train, maybe 45 minutes or so by car, traffic … Continue reading →
On Saturday the 27th of November (2010), I made my first trip to Andermatt, a ski area in central Switzerland. It got me thinking that I should do a new post for every ski day this year, both so that … Continue reading →
My website is currently undergoing a rebirth. I’m debating whether to import content from the previous iteration or to start from a blank slate, so it might be a while before you see some content. In any case, I don’t … Continue reading →
This video is a choral work put together by some people from Helsinki. It’s based on a list of complaints that Finns have, and it’s quite professionally done. I can sympathize with quite a few of them, though I admit that I don’t understand all of them. I think a lot of [...]
A few people have asked me why I haven’t been writing updates about life in Finland like I was while I was in Cameroon. The short answer is that life doesn’t seem as exciting over here as it was in Cameroon. That’s not to say that life isn’t good; I’m certainly happier on [...]
I’m not generally happy with the American government. It’s well-known that I think it’s too big, that I think it’s overreaching, and that I personally feel it should be bound by the limits of the constitution, which it clearly isn’t at the moment.
However, taxes have always been my hot button. I think that we are [...]
Writing a paper is relatively easy. It requires no courage to plop words down onto a page. Getting up in front of a hundred people and trying to educate them on an unfamiliar topic always takes a little more effort. Enjoyably, this is what we get to do in the sciences. [...]
Website was offline for a week or so as I moved it from one friend’s basement to another; sorry about that, but it’s all good now. For those who don’t know, Matt made it safely to Helsinki, so I’ll probably have to add a new section to replace Africa Update… maybe “Sinkin’ in Helsinki” or [...]
Just a short note to let y’all know that I’m officially a CISSP now. What’s that? A Certified Information Systems Security Professional is someone who passed a 6 hour exam and has at least 5 years experience in the security industry, has agreed to uphold a clearly-defined code of ethics that prevents me from doing [...]
I’m back on the running scene this October; Rob talked me into doing the half-marathon in his native Luzern.. Since misery loves company, I’ve invited people from work and my Ultimate Frisbee team as well, so it should be a pretty good crowd!
My goal is to finish it in 1:45, but I’ll be content [...]
In case anyone is wondering what project I’ll be working on next year, here is the official abstract.
Since I’m still semi-invalid, I took pictures and a bit of video at today’s Ultimate game. This is rough, but if I can collect more footage over the summer, I’ll try to put together a proper promo video.
The big day has arrived. I’ve finished all the Peace Corps paperwork, and in a few hours I head to the airport. Thirty-some hours after that I should be in Chicago enjoying my first few moments as a returned Peace Corps volunteer (RPCV). Too much to say about it right now, so [...]
So, despite a sprained ankle (and strictly against the doctor’s explicit orders a day before) I finally jumped from a mountain this weekend.
On Saturday, we watched a brief instructional video in German - amusing, as I barely understood most of it, and we had two people with us who were pretty much English-only - and [...]
I’ve added new photos from July 2008-May 2009 today. Enjoy.
I was surfing along this here evil little Internet when I found a site called atheistempire.com. A rather typical collection of self-righteous non-believers and illogical Christians spouting bible verses they don’t understand, but I did find this little gem of a joke on the site. I don’t know if they wrote it or simply posted [...]
Ok, it’s not so much a desire at all, but after spending all morning reading about ankle sprains, I have a better understanding of just how complex a topic it is.
According to the information at about.com (which has the simplest steps towards diagnosis that I’ve found) I probably have a grade 1 sprain, although pictures [...]
Since Lance wrote a post about the German exam he just took, I thought it would only be fair to put up one about the French exam I took a couple weeks ago at our close-of-service (COS) conference. It uses the ACTFL proficiency scale (http://www.languagetesting.com/scale.htm), rating speakers from a level of novice-low (just beginning) [...]
Pictures of my weekend trip to Prague are now online. Click here.
The trip was great, and it certainly ended well: the flight, scheduled for 1 hour 20 minutes, arrived 25 minutes early. Damn. Wish they could all be like that!
Another short update to let y’all know that I passed my ZD test in January (results came in a week or two ago). Actually, I think my level of German is a fair bit higher than that already, but I take the next level exam in September (as required by my employer), so this was [...]
Hi everyone!
I finally got around to uploading some photos, so enjoy:
Skiing at Laax, Flumserberg, and Braunwald.
Skiing at Stoos with Rob.
A work trip to Montreaux, though I removed pictures that included people. Sorry.
So I sent an email to the office in German yesterday, inviting them over to my office for a bit of apple cake. The exact contents of the email don’t really matter, but one English-speaking colleague ran it through Babelfish to translate it. The results were amusing, to say the least.
“Hoi Zäme Last night I [...]
Over Christmas I took a short trip up to the northern end of the country. This is somewhere I’ve wanted to visit since I’d arrived, since it’s more of a desert area (and I’m a desert rat), but it’s slightly more difficult to get to than most of the rest of the [...]
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay [...]
This is a picture taken a month ago during the Christmas party. Looks like a freakin’ castle!
Not that this hasn’t been coming for quite some time, but it looks like my hometown is taking a beating.
http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/2097451/
Then again, it may well prove not to be the worst thing to happen to the US. Frankly, I’m just hoping the Swiss economy finds a way to weather the storm!
Not mine, but amusing.
One day a father gets out of work and on his way home he suddenly remembers that it’s his daughter’s birthday.
He pulls over to a toy shop and asks the salesperson, ‘How much for one of those Barbie’s in the display window?’
The salesperson answers, ‘Which [...]
First, I’d like to thank Lance for putting that picture up. That is what I look like at the moment, though the moustache will be gone soon. I plan on cutting my hair next summer when I’m home, but I have to give some people a chance to see it first. Crazy, [...]
At least, that’s the only possible excuse I can think of for this!
No time to write, but photos of Thanksgiving are up. 4 no-shows meant a lot of extra food!
Click here to see them; I cooked everything myself.
Lance has uploaded some pictures of my apartment and compound, and I’ve put captions on all of the pictures (these new ones and the ones of the university) so people can have some idea of what they’re looking at. Enjoy!
It’s true. I don’t even know if I’m averaging a post a month anymore. Well, I’ve explained why in previous post, so no need to rehash it too much here. I don’t even write in my journal that much anymore.
Life progresses here. I’ll be finishing up in about seven months now, [...]
Just a quick note: Matt asked me to upload some pictures for him, so you can find them at: http://www.lancemcgrath.com/?page_id=148&g2_itemId=1841
Matt’s note: Thanks for uploading those, Lance. The Internet is faster today, but I forgot some pictures at home from a hike I took last Saturday, so I don’t know when I’ll get the chance [...]
I have to admit, this whole trilingual thing is pretty cool. I saw the Bond film Friday night (ran out of the client site to make it in time, had to show up wearing a suit and carrying my laptop!), and there were parts that were in German, parts that were in Spanish. Somehow it [...]
Apparently I missed some excitement last night - a burglar in the cellar!
I went out to a wine tasting event on some ships on Lake Zürich with a few friends last night, and sampled a dozen or so different reds, including, to my everlasting shame/amusement, an American red called “Dam Good Wine”. Yes it even [...]
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