Venezia

On my last trip to Europe I was fortunate enough to visit Venice in Italy. This is a city with lots of history, great architectural buildings and no other city is like it. It was built on wooden poles and is only two feet above see level. So flooding is a problem from time to time and will be more so in the future. If you visit Europe and can make it only one city. My recommendation - make it Venice.

Viva ol' Country

This is just a medley of my recent trip to Germany and some older photos I took when traveling through the "Alpenregion".

Home town impression

Home town impression

Home town impression

Home town impression

My favorite desert - Tiramisu - yammie

Bike parking at the main train station next larger town

350 year old chateau - home town

Home town impression

City Hall back left with Christmas market booth in front

Inside area of Chateau. Napoleon stopped here.

Dolphin Fountain inside area of Chateau

Tower on corner of partial old city wall home town

Multi purpose path home town

Strebergarten

Zoo Meerkat

Zoo Flamingos

Rothenburg ob der Tauber. A medieval city

Rothenburg ob der Tauber a medieval city

Rothenburg ob der Tauber a medieval city

Cheese stand at the local farmers market

Small town near Salzburg / Austria

Salzburg

Near Salzburg

Oldest wooden bridge over the Rhine River

New Year's Resolution!

Instead of a resolution two years ago I said to myself I rather give a them to the following year. So year 2009 had the year to "Simplify".  And I did simplify. I left many square footages behind me and moved downtown into a one bedroom apartment. Lots of things got either sold or went to Goodwill for a tax writeoff. I pride myself to never have rented a storage space. This is still ongoing then after one year I will be checking what I really did not use or need. If you have not used it for a year, chance is you really don't need it.
Then the year 2010 was the year of "Engage". I wanted to engage people's minds. Looking back at the last year I realize that is not enough for me, so the year 2011 will be the year of "Challenge". Challenge myself and other peoples minds. Challenging to get out of my and their comfort zones. Because that is where the growth is.

Can you hear me now?

Last summer I went to Hot Lips Pizza for lunch as I did so many times during the fabulous summer cycling season. I prefer this location, because it has outside seating and is set back from the street. Birds are hopping around and chase after the crust crumbs. A very relaxing setting indeed. On my way to the inside entrance I noticed a young couple. He was talking to her and she was "listening" and punching buttons on her cellphone. I noticed that because usually it is the other way around hahaha. But besides that my opinion on multitasking is well described in one of my previous posts and social consequences here. 80% of every conversation is non-verbal. So having a conversation like that you are missing out on most of it. In addition to that I think it is important to show the worth of a person by giving them your undivided attention see attentiveness. The entire advent of the electronic onslaught does major damage to the ability of people to concentrate and communicate. I highly doubt it is a mere coincidence that “the stratospheric increase in diagnosed learning and attention deficits” has correlated with “the advent of the electronic playground. Many times when I get in the elevator in the morning I meet people who are very busy working their phone. Not does that only put a damper on learning social skills, but as a society we are definitely overstimulated. I think it does major damage to the ability of humans to interact and have meaningful conversations. It also shortens our attention span to constantly be inudated with information.
It is important to escape that electronic stimuli on a regular basis. Turn of that TV or whatever and switch on your Life.

Travel the World

Growing up I was fortunate enough to be able to travel extensively in Europe. That already started when I was going to school and at the end of attending a school you take a trip with the entire class for a week. Then of course there are the family vacations and the trip with your friends. Then later it were the business travels that brought me to many places around the globe. But no matter where I traveled I always enjoyed the countries and the different cultures. To understand different cultures it is important to experience them. So if you have the opportunity to travel, regardless if it is domestic or internationally e.g. a trip to Spain do it. The experience and education you will receive is priceless compared to the money that is spend.

Travel well my friends!

The Education Dilemma

Today I read in the Sunday Oregonian, that the Oregon Department of Education made the following announcement. Students in 7th grade and high school can now use automated spell checking when doing the state writing test. Can you spell l-o-w-e-r s-t-a-n-d-a-r-t-s. Doing so will not do the students a favor. Americans are already falling behind compared internationally. Our education system is not doing a good job preparing our youth for the real world out there. We don't want to hurt anybody's feelings right? You still can get a good education here if you are looking for one. But it also comes with a price. College tuition is up and it is not uncommon to be 100k+ in the hole when finished. Many other countries do it far cheaper and a lot better than we do. The entire system should be re-thought, because when your football or basketball career is over you want to have something to fall back onto. Unless of course you are very good at saying: "Do you want fries with that?"
To put that in perspective: Even Cuba has a better education system. A lesser known fact is that US students can get a very good and inexpensive medical education. in Cuba. Cuba has the third highest life expectancy in the Americas after Canada and Chile. So the quality is there. Higher than the US, which has the only for profit health care system on the entire planet. But back to education. This makes me appreciate my education even more. Coming from a country where I had the opportunity to do a three year apprentice ship program, getting paid for it, ok very little, but the astonishing thing was that I did not produce anything valuable for anything or anybody that could be used. It was all about learning and at that time the best apprentice ship program available. The same people offered me a full scholarship to go to college. Of course you cannot turn somebody down that enthusiastic. What I think is important in all of this is that an education system where you are only limited by your own brain grease is better than one where you are limited by the size of your wallet. Yo si puedo
A recent article I read was in my opinion pretty impressive and struck the core of the reason of the US education dilemma. Even if you do not agree with the tiger mom's regiment. The overall picture shows that US parents have to take it up two notches.

The Folly of Multitasking

A popular question in interviews is: "Can you multitask?" Here is the answer I would be giving. Multitasking is defined as doing two or more tasks simultaneously. Yes you can do one task, stop, then do another, stop, then do another, but that is not multitasking. The human brain can only process one input at any given moment. Even a computer with a single processor does not multitask. It can switch a hundred times between tasks within a single second, but only one task can be active at any given moment. It is the same with the human brain. Our mind can only be at a single point at any given moment. A few years back I was driving down a very straight road in the late evening, when I suddenly noticed a very bright light in the left of my peripheral vision. I leaned to the right and turned my head to the right as well, just enough so I could still see the road ahead. Then the side window exploded and the car rocked violently. I pulled over, just as the teenage driver got out of the car still on his mobile. He was driving straight as well and wanted to make a left turn. Too bad for him I was in the way. Yes you can drive and talk on the phone, but you can either pay attention to the road or the conversation, but not both. Sure you can do both half axe, but obviously not both very well. But we have now the "hands free" law. It does not matter where your hands are, but where your mind is.
There is something to be said for single tasking. You focus on one task, do it well and in my opinion there is less stress. Try to do more than one task at the same time your stress level goes way up.