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hay peeps

hay peeps, originally uploaded by pixietart.

These little hay peeps are at a stop light on the way to work in Kempen, Germany.

day two: sparkling water, or funkelndes Wasser

my terrace, originally uploaded by pixietart.

9:31pm, thursday night

oh my, so tired.
really. truly.

today was good. we followed sandra to kempen, to the company headquarters. it was raining, we took the back roads, through a very narrow farm road past windmills, sheep, and two boys in a yellow lean-to in the rain. they looked as if they were gathering research. what kind of research at 8:30am in the pouring rain, i don't know. the offices here are so much larger than nyc. they just have so many more people than we do. christina tells me that the construction next door started last year and the company there had been dumping dead animal skins there. so it stunk for months. ew.

everyone is extraordinarily nice and friendly. most speak english fairly fluently. everyone is there to help and lining up to take us out for a night. i am downstairs in the studio with the other graphic designers. i sit with 6 german men. no kidding. there are two girls, but they sit within an office with a closed door behind me. but it is fine. it turned sunny and there were men working on the trees outside the windows. it was almost like NYC with them sawing away.

i struggled with jet lag. i thought someone smoked in the office, but really they were in the hallway talking and blowing it out the window. i am very sensitive to that and i sort of freaked out at the thought that they may smoke in my work environment. my computer set up was a breeze aside from the fact that i can't get skype (a phone over ip system - skype.com) to work. i did some troubleshooting and realized it's because of a firewall. they are supposed to look at it tomorrow morning. i am not worried. i think my project is going to go well. i think i will be able to work well in my space. christina is upstairs with most of the ladies in editorial. it's just like old times, designing with the guys.

there is a soda machine that they call the automatt that has glass bottles of coke and fanta and lift, a fantastic sparkling apple juice. to get to it, you have to walk through a factory that i didn't realize was there. i guess it holds all the company products. i didn't realize that was part of this building strangely enough. there is a woman that comes around with a breakfast basket with cups of yogurt and bread, etc. i had already had granola (a huge box, only 1,75euro at the supermarket!) so i passed, but it's good to know it's there.

we were waiting on a package all day, so i didn't do much actual work. it was more of a settling in type day.

afterwork christina and i went to downtown kempen. which is surrounded by fortress walls from the middle ages. it is very cute, and extremely german. lots of little statues, a big clock tower, cute tiny streets. i have some pictures - just touristy snaps, but they show you what it looks like. the weather kept going from rain to sun. it's worse than new england here!

anyway we ended up getting me a pay as you go cell phone, so now i have a german cell phone. if you call me, it's free. but you probably only want to do that if your in germany, right? :) after we hit the big grocery store and i bought fresh tortellini to make for dinner with pesto sauce (it was delicious). also gouda and cream cheese and that heavy german dark bread for snacks tomorrow. the cheese here is fabulous and cheap. i must watch out! seriously a huge pie of brie was .99 euro. oh, and i drink sparkling water now. it's just everywhere and more common than regular... it's kind of refreshing but i find myself drinking less than usual.

wow, how boring. but it was really quite fun for me to experiment in the german supermarkets. i don't eat meat, just fish so i find ways to be creative. the last few hours were spent cooking and packing for berlin. also watching CNN international, which is the only english channel i get. it's so nice to have some time alone to basically do nothing. in ny i'm always running somewhere, doing something. and i am here too but i think i will also get an equal amount of downtime which i am looking forward to. i don't have internet at home either. so i am going to read and write and cook. now i do wish i had brought my knitting. i sound downright domestic.

i'm going to sleep. sweet dreams. tomorrow, work, then BERLIN! i am so excited. i do hope for good weather.... but i won't keep my hopes up. in any case it will be fun. i have no doubts. david is meeting me right outside of the Meringdam (?) subway (i just take it from the airport apparently) and issac says he is throwing a big party on sat. night. so the plans are in motion! i don't have any MUST do's while there. i think i am going to be chill and see what happens. berlin is gigantic. i can't possibly try and take it all in. i will experience a little pocket and take that.

First Coffee in Deutschland

First Coffee in Germany (on Vimeo), originally uploaded by pixietart.

View this video clip on Vimeo:
http://www.vimeo.com/clip=10713


:::: (written last night 11pm, German time.) :::

Wow, I am tired and overwhelmed, in a great way.

The flight was easy - just a bit over 6hrs. on LTU - a german airline. Christina and I were the only two americans on the flight. Everyone and everything was German, right off. The food was actually great, the movie not-so-much (the screen was like being on a Bonanza bus).

We arrived in Düsseldorf at 7:15am (like 1am NYC time), rented a car and got on the Audobon. Everything seems clean and green here, and just, well, german. I didn't know what that meant before, but I think I am already starting to have a big idea. Sharp lines. Greenery. Bikes. Good bread. Strange light art in weird places.

We are living in Krefeld, a city of 200,000 outside of Düsseldorf. My work is in Kempen, a small town about 20 minutes away. Tomorrow morning we go into work there for the first time.

Our apartments here are great. we live in a little cul-de-sac village of adorable houses with big long windows and peaked roofs. lots of greenery and right next to a big farm, which our coworker and friend sandra lives. Outside of my terrace (yes i have a terrace!) there is green, green, green. also, quiet. I can see a tire swing and a cat playing in the grass. Outside of my large window off the kitchen I see a homemade beach volleyball court (which our landlords apparently host big neighborhood games at), green, some houses, and a cemetery. Christina and I have separate apartments in a large house called Orange Cottage, which a couple owns and lives in the downstairs. We don't meet them till tomorrow but sandra says they are great. It is only a few months old and we are the first ones to live in these apts. They are perfect and adorable. They gave us wine, champagne, chocolates, coffee, shampoo, towels, qtips, french press, electric kettle, etc. Anything you could think to want, they have supplied. I have a loft in my apt with a cute staircase up... I wish someone was coming to visit, I have more than enough room! The apt. is far nicer than my Chinatown place. Lots of tasteful ikea and clean beige's with touches of orange everywhere - thus Orange Cottage.

We met Sandra and Rudolf at their place around the corner at 7:15am and had espresso out back of their kitchen, a cute open yellow room which leads to a large farm pasture with a beautiful magnolia tree and a windmill. no kidding. Sandra showed us to our apts. and gave us a tiny tour of our little neighborhood before having to leave for work. Christina and I went to my first German grocery store. Everything is clean and european and i love it. Little things make me happy, like German lip balm. (I can't believe I was born American really). Tired, we went home and took naps after much needed long showers. We only slept a few hours (so as not to have horrid jet lag in Berlin this weekend) and then got up and headed into town. We walked through the city center of Krefeld, which seems like a big outdoor shopping mall and went into some pharmacies and weird German stores and looked at boots, which i am in the market for (but want to get in barcelona). We had lunch at a decent fastfood seafood place, North Sea. My fish sandwich was 1,75 euro. ha! Then we sat in an outdoor cafe and I had my first german coffee experience, which was very pleasant. Germans were all around us and having lively conversations. I just loved sitting and watching the fashions and the people and letting it all sink in... I am in germany. I feel retarded that I don't speak german. It is hard. You feel stupid. Christina makes me try and speak German instead of asking if they speak English, which is ridiculous and you just have to keep a big smile on your face and be able to laugh at yourself. It's truly embarrassing and humbling.

The air is very fresh. The weather is damp and cold and I wish I packed a warmer scarf. Purchase #1 i hope. I love scarves anyway. I always looked at the German exchange students scarves in my high school with envy. Germans know how to wear scarves. Although overall I find their fashion pretty reserved and a bit sporty.

So we came home and had an hour to relax before going over Sandra and Rudolf's to a delightful dinner (from which I just returned). Sandra whipped up the most amazing fish. I think it was Cod wrapped around Salmon in a yogurt cream sauce with wild rice. Pinot grigio. Sparkling water (which everyone drinks here), afterwards, icecream.

They had two other german friends over, Claudia and Klaus. There was a mish mash of German and English the whole evening. It was really an excellent first night. Sandra and Claudia have convinced Christina and I (the puritan americans) to go to the Mediterranean spa in Cologne. it's coed and everyone is naked. It has about 10 different saunas and a pool. We looked at the website and it looks gorgeous. It should be... interesting, or at least make a good story! We also looked up gyms for Christina and I to work out at and shared some stories and plans for Munich in two weekends.

Then double cheek kisses goodbye and a short brisk walk home through a very quiet neighborhood (me peeking in the windows) to my bed and this writing. My eyes are half mast. I must sleep. I have to wake at 7:30 for my first day of work in Germany... !!! I am looking forward to it. Everyone is so nice.

So far, so good. I like this foreign city (it feels like a tiny town after NYC). I am so far away from Chinatown!

the lobster zone

the lobster zone, originally uploaded by pixietart.

boing boing blogged about live lobster machines in tokyo today, ha!

this one is from York Beach, Me.

corrupted hd = data recovery $1800

i bought a Lacie Porsche model 250gb external drive about 9 months ago to have a second back up and storage of my photos (i back everything up on DVD as well religiously)

I went searching for a photo for this project i needed an image for (a book that is being published actually). This is when i realized my HD was not mounting no matter what i did.

Then I went searching for the DVDs that would have that image on it (around jan-feb of this year) and lo and behold THERE ARE APPROX 5 DVDS MISSING!!!!! those dvds being my last year of backups (and maybe up till may of '04). Now, I am extremely anal retentive about double back ups, these disks are my prized posession. I am a photographer and they are worth a lot to me - I don't just throw these disks anywhere, they are always in the same spot with my other disks. I searched everywhere, in the weirdest places... nothing. I moved into a new room in my apt. in August so all i can think of is accidentally throwing them away... which is SO unlikely but accidents do happen...

Anyway then i realized that i seriously needed the data on my HD. So i contacted Lacie tech support and they gave me a list of things to do, and i did them. and nothing worked, it was gone. the thing is, if you open disc utility you can see the drive, but when you click on it, you can't check or fix problems, because the drive is corrupt apparently- it's not formatted anymore it looks like. data rescue x doesn't even recognize the HD.

so i contacted Disk Savers at their suggestion, mentioned tekserve for a 20% discount and asked them to give me a price quote for my model.... $1500-1800

there is NO way i can afford that. he said to hold onto the drive, that maybe i would win the lottery tomorrow and that they can retrieve the info at any point if i don't mess with it or trade it (i am still on one year warranty! but of course that doesn't cover data recovery).

so yeah. i am trying to get my little bro to find someone at R.I.T where he goes to school that knows how to do it. but he isn't having any luck at the moment. my roommate wants us to put an ad on craigslist offering trades of some sort. i don't really know what else to do, except cry and look for those DVDs more, although i think i've covered everywhere...

Defend New Orleans

Jac has made his Defend New Orleans teeshirts strictly non profit, for the people of NOLA.

note:
"All donations will receive a personal response, and you can specify where you'd like your money to go: directly to food, or housing, or production costs for the shirts. Thank You."

GO BUY ONE!!! :D

katrina charity...

threadless is selling this special tee for the low price of $10 to help send aid to katrina victims. for each one sold, they send $20 to hurricane katrina relief.

Regrowth: Katrina