discontinued

I don’t use this blog site any more. But I’ve just taken up my own domain again. Very little content. Maybe too geeky for some. But here it is:

CLICK

Good news ahead. I’m done with maths. Had the exam last Saturday in Berlin. Pretty sure I passed. Good news also job-wise. I had applied for a role as a software engineer within the company and…got it. So besides better money, a permanent position and a decent health insurance I will finally be doing something challenging – taking calls can indeed become very dull very quick. Three weeks left on the phone. I can’t wait for the day…

Next month is also going on a sunny holiday to South America. The summer was very much like what you would imagine when thinking about Ireland. Yes, it can rain every day!

In October I’ll then start as a regular part time postgrad. Compiler Design and Artificial Intelligence. In the meantime I’ve started to write my own operating system. It’ll probably not replace Linux any time soon but at least for me it’s an excellent learning experience. High Level Assembly is just great! Thanks Randy.

My professor told me he’d like to take my dissertation project to the university’s stand at the Cebit next year but I’ll have to brush it up a little bit. So from October on I think I’ll be even busier than I’m now. No more going out at all I guess. Nevermind.

Getting back to Knappix now

every dress you own

I only just arrived from Frankfurt and it’s past midnight already so Stefan is already asleep and I’ve got to work tomorrow too. Nice weekend I can say. I left at around 4 in the morning on Friday and arrived in Frankfurt at noon and then Mäuschen picked me up at the train station and we went to her place and then we went out again and she showed me all the places and then so on and so forth. While travelling on the bus from the airport to Frankfurt train station I was reminded of how cool it is to know languages. There were these 2 Spanish guys speaking to each other, not in Spanish but in an odd combination of Catalan and Spanish and because my MP3-player was running low on battery I started to concentrate on their talk and I found out it really is possible to understand Catalan when you speak Spanish. I didn’t get every single word, but was able to figure what they were talking about and stuff. Your man told his friend how he had learnt recently that East and West Germany weren’t actually two halves of a country, but rather one very big chunk and another very small one. Then he spoke with him about Berlin and how cool the place is and how he was gonna flipar as soon as they got there. Does it only occur to me that when people from elsewhere start bragging about things to do with my home I feel so flattered? I mean, not than I am from Berlin, but it’s still close enough to actually belong to me

One of my misconceptions about Frankfurt was that it was ugly, which it is not. It completely rocks, a must-see. It also is much less expensive than I had thought. In fact, having lived in Dublin for 3 months now, I felt it was a cheap place to live. I thinkI’ll buy one of these skyscrapers and rent it out to Deutsche Bank. Seems like a lucrative idea.

Daniel, what’s up? No answer to my last message? You’re not really bothered, are you?

Okay, finished my good-night-beer. Night.

don’t feed the animals

Stefan has finally got a job at Accenture too so he’s moved in with me sharing the room with me. It’s grand though, as we have all the living area, kitchen, bathroom and balcony to ourselves because the other guy hardly shows up outside his own little cage. I’m so happy about how great I got my computer set up now having escaped a minor desaster after a bluescreen had rendered the data on my disk completely unusable and only after Gabor had some genius tool run over it was I able to recover my data and mails. So not having even an XP installation CD at hand, I’d install a Linux-only system this time and try to set it up so that it fits all my everyday needs, and it fucking worked. In fact, I couldn’t be happier about it. There’s now everything I can do with this machine with only free software (well, everything except go on standby, which for a reason I wasn’t yet able to come by makes my screen stay completely blank after resume). I even have Google Earth, even though for that I had to get myself a new graphics card, but I combined the purchase with a new hard disk, so it makes it all seem a bit worthwhile too me, even though I had only just bought myself this other graphics adapter; alas, I didn’t know how crappy ATI cards were when it comes to supporting Linux. Ah, and one other thing that’s a bit annoying is that my browser seems to have problems with some sites, which is probably down to the fact I am using the 64 bit version of Firefox (yes, I installed myself a 64-bit Linux). I’ve read somewhere it’s also possible to install 32-bit Firefix on a 64-bit machine so I might try that out as well, even though I had spent hours and hours trying (and suceeding) to get Flash and Jave run under 64-bit Firefox.

My maths are killing me, honestly. I had no idea how hard it was going to be. That’s also why I decided pretty spontaneously I’ll be going to Frankfurt next Friday for a day of questions and answers which is taking place at the University there. I’ll be grand though, I reckon. I only need to pass..and should I not, I’ll still have a second try. And even if I fail that one, it only means I’ll have to wait another semester before doing my Master. So in what I’d call the worst case scenario, I’ll have to have patience. But I’m going to take my time, I have all the time in the world…(damn, it’s been some time since I last went out for a Karaoke night; I’m even starting to sing at work!)

So Sarkozy has won the presidency in France. Thank god. The last thing the French need in their dismal situation is a female socialist president. No, that is not a sexist statement.

 I found a nice place to go out last night. I’ll be going there more often I guess…

My new photo on studivz has been in for some real sharp criticism. I cannot understand. Don’t judge me by my looks, but how useful I am. My manager told me the other day I was useless to her if I didn’t know French. Alas, she said it only in jest

lift me up

It’s about time again, I know… Had an accident on my bike last week. Was cycling home from work and your man pulled his car over to the side to park it and forgot to watch out for poor cyclists like me, so I had to brake hard and fell over, hitting my parts against the handle bar. He was German, of all the people, and stopped right away to see if I was okay, so I got on with him rather well. He says his insurance will pay for all the damage; and at least I got a day off from work, paid by his insurance Plus I got a free ultrasound checkup of my testicles by a cute nurse; what else do I want…

Mäuschen, I didn’t mean to not answer on MSN. I was afk, sorry for that. Nice to know there are people actually reading what I’ve got to say though… Maybe we can chat one of these days!

Stefan still’s got not job. Seems like he’ll have to accept an underpaid role before getting something decent.

And Franzi, how is it? Still coming over? Haven’t heard of you in quite a while… Scared? It’s not smelling in here any more though. We had a broken pipe but it’s fixed now, so everything’s gonna be alright. You can stay at my place, for sure. And you can also have a nice doormat, if you will ^^

The work’s really nice I have to say. The colleagues are all alright, and it’s also pretty demanding, so I do feel I’m learning something new. Also, I’m still taking the math course; not easy at all. So all in all, at least I don’t feel like I’m wasting myself.

Going to bed now…

Good night!

latest

These last few days have been busy but nice, which is also the reason why I didn’t have time to make a new entry. I moved out elsewhere within Dublin, and the day of my departure turnt nasty. That’s all I want to say here. Do ask me to find out more.

I have at last got a little feeling of home here in Eire as Stefan has finally arrived to look for a job. He was going to arrive this week but then my manager told me they were looking for another agent for the German team and would I know someone suitable so I told him and he came. Cutting a long story short, he seems to have left them convinced of himself but now they’re not sure any more whether there’s really a post to fill. The job-search is starting all over again, but at least it’s no final no from their side yet.

It seems like my new flatmate doesn’t exist as he’s always either in the lab, i. e. at work, or in his room, with the door closed. Whenever he leaves his room he does so as inconspicuously as possible, and even when putting on his jacket (which is hanging on a peg in front of his door) the sequence is: open the door, take the jacket, go back into the room with the jacket and close the door, put the jacket on, go out and leave the house. He’s Japanese and I’ve got the feeling he’s uncomfortable speaking in English and/or socialising with other people, so I’ve given up on starting a conversation with him. He’s nice though, and helps me out whenever needed.

Yesterday was going to Bray. Stefan took the train and i cycled. Once I’d arrived there I decided it was better to take the train back home, too. One-hour-plus cycle and a terrible headache. They wouldn’t let me take the bike on the train though, so I had to cycle all the way back again. At least I got a sunburn, not easy in April…in Ireland!

At work, the Spanish line was terribly busy today so they ended up redirecting Spanish calls to our team so we would take them in English. Guess who did not have to take them in English

I’m currently doing a math course at Fernuniversität Hagen as a prerequisite to study a Master of Computer Science from October on. It’s been more than five years since I last took math, so I’m kind of struggling; should be doable though.

Ok that’s it for now!

Thanks for reading up on my life.

Off I go, here I come

Thanks for reading me, wankers…

Blasphemous Rumors

I know it’s taken me some time to get back to this blog, I didn’t get round earlier, sorry for that. A couple of things happened. First, I’m moving out next week to live in a different area together with a Japanese researcher working at Trinity College; impressed? So was I. So Steffchen, I think it is safe for you to come now. I think he meant it when he said he would have no problem with people staying over, but as we learnt, you never know…

I was in Germany over the week-end. I had planned to go earlier but then decided not to go because Stefan was thought to be here and because I would have had to fly back after only one day but then it turn out that Monday was a bank holiday over here, so I could stay longer for my mums birthday…

There is also news from my department at the university. It seems my marker has finally got round to reading my paper. So I guess in a matter of weeks I should be a real academic And oh, my math course at the correspondence college is starting very soon. I need this course so I can start a Master in Computer Science in October. Never finish studyin, I guess.

This week is last week in the training. Next week we are all on our own…

I know this is not much, sorry..

d-day (definition day)

Blackmail

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“…

English law

Under s21(1) of the Theft Act 1968 of English law, a person commits the offence:

if, with a view to gain for himself or another or with intent to cause loss to another, he makes any unwarranted demand with menaces; and for this purpose a demand with menaces is unwarranted unless the person making it does so in the belief:

(a) that he has reasonable grounds for making the demand; and

(b) that the use of the menaces is a proper means of reinforcing the demand.

The Act uses the word “menaces” which is considered wider in scope than “threat” and involves a warning of any consequences known to be considered unpleasant by the intended victim. This covers the spectrum from actual or threatened violence to the victim or others, through damage to property, to the disclosure of information. Homosexuals have frequently been subjected to blackmail, even though homosexuality is no longer illegal. In theory, this is becoming less of a threat as homosexuality, transsexualism and other non-standard sexualities are increasingly acceptable in society. But, in reality, the question is whether the individual is already “out”. If their sexuality is already public knowledge, intended victims should not feel threatened by a menace to make another disclosure. The test is based on the victim’s state of mind. If he or she is only known within a limited community, a menace to disclose to parents or, possibly, employers, could be considered threatening. Other pretexts for blackmail have included the threat to reveal adultery or criminal acts. But whatever the nature of the menace, it must be direct. Any vague threat to cause “something bad” to happen to some other person, except when certain demands are met, should not affect the mind of an ordinary person.

…”

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail

No love lost

He went out for the craic and it was great. The drinks were cheap, the music cool, the birds nice and with pretty shoes. He had come with Gabor, his Hungarian colleague. He thought before he would never get on with him, but it all changed. He felt that if he liked electronic music and knew about everyone from Autechre to LFO, he couldn’t be a bad person. And if he was, at least he had a proper taste in music. Gabor was sitting by nearly all night long but he would be dancing and drinking only. Then two guys laid down on the dancefloor and one of the drunken princesses thought she’d step on one of them, which looked sexy indeed. He thought he’d done it on purpose, he virtually invited her. Excellent plan, groovy.

He’s looking forward to having his friend stay over in his room these next few days. Some nice housemate isn’t. His situation disqualified him from objecting from the start so he didn’t care and they fell out. Pretty sure one of both is going to move out. What if they won’t let his friend in? Hostels impossible to find on Paddie’s Day weekend. Bad blood.

Trouble with permanent tsb again. The creeps had only said they’d refund the money they had stolen from him. Pie in the sky. He’s going to look for another bank…