gsx1400 - Suzuki's Naked Muscle Bike

Since it seems that LJ has become a ghost town, I've decided to start a new blog on tumblr.

My annual year-in-review post for 2016/2017 has been posted on my new blog: https://wtfandreally.tumblr.com/

We went to a concert recently – my lovely wife won VIP tickets to a concert that was being sponsored by her company.

The concert was part of the “AVO Session” series of concerts that take place in Basel each autumn. (Well, up through 2012, since AVO Cigars will not sponsor the event anymore after that).

Anyway, the evening was promoted as “the American Way of Life”, with two country music bands: Steve Earle & the Dukes feat. Allison Moorer, followed by Toby Keith.

I was surprised how “mainstream” country music has become. The singing style is still very different than rock or pop, but the rhythms and melodies have changed significantly in the past years.

Steve Earle and his band took the stage first. I was highly impressed by the music and his message. I had the feeling that his show was “honest” – he had a message that he truly believes in, and he has turned that message into some powerful songwriting. Additionally, he didn’t seem to need to be the center of attention – he could step back and let his musicians take the spotlight. His band was amazing – every one of them was multi-instrumental. Steve even left the stage to let his wife, Allison Moorer, sing a ballad. He made a point of introducing (and complementing) each member of the band – showing again that he respects their talents and abilities.

Later, Toby Keith took the stage. What immediately stuck me – he put himself in front, and all of the other musicians (there were 10 people on the stage!) were behind him. His music was much more commercial – with more topics about drinking, partying and such. Even his “silly” song about a red solo cup – definitely an earworm, but without any real message. His show was very professional but also somewhat “sterile”. He seemed to need to be #1 – he didn’t even bother to introduce the other 9 people on stage with him.

Maybe it’s just that Steve Earle’s message was closer to my political opinions, or maybe I’m just a fan of honest music, but either way, I felt that Steve Earle’s show was the better of the two.

Just testing the LJ iPhone app...

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPhone.

Projektweisheit des Tages:
- Wir sind nicht hier bei "Wünsch Dir Was!" sondern bei "So ist es!"
- Das Leben ist schön. Leider findet es HIER nicht statt.

Project wisdom for today:
- We're not here playing "make a wish", but rather "this is how it is"!
- Life is beautiful. Unfortunately life is happening elsewhere.

Can anyone explain to me, using sound logic, why anyone in the USA would be opposed to universal health care, especially now at a time when unemployment is at about 10%, meaning that, under the old system, more than 10% of the population wouldn't be able to afford healthcare even if they wanted to?

I've been reading some other journal posts about marriage, mostly related to the court battles in California to allow or prohibit same-sex unions. The articles themselves are interesting and sometimes thought-provoking, but many of the reader comments are downright frightening.

I am starting to believe that those people who are most vocally homophobic are so because they are attracted to other members of the same sex, thus creating a conflict in their own heads between what they feel and what they have been told is "normal". (Yes, the use of quotes is intentional – I do not think that homosexuals or bisexuals are abnormal).

Anyway, this has led to a long debate about the meaning of the word "marriage", with some claiming that it is, by definition, a commitment between a man and a woman, while others claim that it is a formal civil union between two consenting adults.

My opinion? If two people love each other wish to formalize their relationship, then they should have the opportunity to get married. I don't care if it is two men, two women, or one man and one woman. And the state shouldn't care either – if two people have made the commitment and paid their fees, then the union should be legally recognized. Failure to recognize the union of two men or two women is clearly discrimination, and should not be tolerated by a state government.

For the people who claim that the word "marriage" should only be used when referring to a heterosexual relationship, does that mean that we have to change the language in other situations where “marriage” is used too? In addition to a friendly merger of two companies (“corporate marriage”), what about the manufacturing sector? In the automobile or aircraft industry, the “marriage” is a step near the end of the production cycle where all of the different components and subsystems (frame and body, axles and wheels, engine and transmission, electronics, etc.) are combined to produce a vehicle.

Marriage. It's just a word. With several meanings. Unlike "homophobic", which only has one meaning.

My sister and a friend are visiting Italy, so I drove down to visit them for a couple of days. I didn't realize that Siena (where they are staying in Toskana) is actually closer to Rome than to Milan ... and I need a good 3 - 4 hours just to get to Milan. The ride down took something like 7 hours (680 kms).

Here's some pictures of the 3 days:

2010-05 - Toskana

Wow, another year is coming to a close. It's been a wild ride this year, and I'm not really too unhappy to be leaving 2009 behind me.

At the end of 2008, I posted my predictions for 2009. They weren't very comprehensive last year, but it's still worth a look back to see how I did.

Dec. 2008: If all goes as planned, we'll be buying a new horse (a 2 ½ year old Pinto mare) next week. We'll leave her in northern Germany until springtime, then have her brought down to us. We'll have to see if and when this works out, and then plan our Namibia/South Africa vacation around this.

We bought Sunny and had her brought down to us at the end of February 2009. This year, we used the time to get to know each other and begin to teach her to behave herself. At the end of November, we brought her to a western trainer who is in the process of teaching her how to behave under the saddle. We visited her today and it's amazing how much she has learned in the few weeks she's been there! She is much more attentive than she used to be. The trainer said that he has been practicing climbing into and out of the saddle, but he hasn't started riding her yet. He's got plenty of time – she's only been there for 3 weeks, and she's going to be there until the end of February.

Dec. 2008: At the same time, my dad's health continues to be an issue. My sister and I have no idea how long he will hang on. My gut feeling is that he won't be here at the end of 2009, after seeing how quickly his health had degraded between February and October this year.

Sadly, this prediction was also correct. Dad passed away on May 5, 2009, just a week after my sister had him transferred into a new facility in Portland.

 

Dec. 2008: I am still planning to organize the 4-day motorcycle tour in 2009, as well as other day-trips around the Black Forest. My plans to buy a new motorcycle are on-hold until 2010 – I've read that Triumph will be revising the Sprint ST model for 2010, and I'm hoping that the new one is even better than today's model. I really would like a sport-touring bike – something that offers good handing and good fun, as well as good comfort for long rides.

Sadly, I didn't make any long rides this summer. A combination of a fairly rainy summer, having to carry 2 laptops every day and too many other things happening meant that my motorcycling had to take a back seat to other priorities. I'm hoping that 2010 will be different – a few hours on the bike is always a great way to forget about the stress and hectic in the office. Triumph will be making changes to the Sprint ST for the 2011 model year (they changed almost nothing for 2010), so I've postponed my decision until I see how the new Sprint will look.

 

Dec. 2008: As far as work goes, I'm busy. I've got an on-going project in Munchen/Erlangen (another 1-2 days in January), a project starting in Basel (30% of my time thru May), and another new project in Brunswick (northern Germany). Summer is going to be here before I know it...

The project in Munchen/Erlangen actually generated some good business for our German subsidiary. I handed over the responsibility to this customer to them, since I couldn't continue to work on this project (the travel time alone was 5 hours each way!). The 30% project assignment in Basel never came to be (there was no work for me to do), but in February 2009, I was contracted as a full-time project manager for the rest of 2009.

After a number of false-starts (the project was started, scoped, stopped, re-started, re-scoped, stopped again, re-started, redefined, re-scoped, and so on), we really got going in July. This is one piece of a huge puzzle - the whole “program” is broken down into 3 phases, and my project was just one of about 12 projects in phase 2. In any case, the past couple of months have (finally) been productive – we know what is expected of us, and we're working to deliver this on time.

But, as would be expected, there's a hitch. Although my customer started the process to extend my contract back in November, there were all kinds of delays because of the internal approval processes. First, they had to change the budget structures in SAP for the 2010 budgets, then there was discussions about our rates (we're apparently too expensive – LOL), all of which led to my contract not being renewed in time.

My boss, seeing the risk that 1) I might be forced to reduce my hourly rate by almost 20%, or 2) I might not have a work order at all in January, mentioned to another customer that I was available. This other customer (who I was working with briefly in September) was able to make a formal commitment very quickly, so I will be working for them almost 100% over the whole next year. I've offered to remain with my current customer for 25% over the first three months next year, to ensure that there is a coordinated handover to my successor and that the project doesn't suffer because of my exit.

I'm sad that I'm leaving this project now that it's finally on track and making good progress, but I guess if I have to leave, this is the best I could do. It's a lot better than having to hand over a troubled project to someone else, or worrying that my successor might dig up a bunch of skeletons I've hidden in the closet. In this project, there are no skeletons – it is really in a fairly healthy state.

 

So, my forecast for 2010 …

Since yesterday, we're now “Feuerwehr Wildenstein” - the town fire department will officially cease to exist on December 31, 2009. We're now part of a group fire department, which covers three towns – Ramlinsburg, Bubendorf and Ziefen. I developed the new web site for the fire department – www.fwwildenstein.ch. I'm expecting more call-outs in the coming months – whereas we used to receive less than 5 calls per year, we're expecting about 1 per month in the future.

Ingrid and I are planning to finally make the trip to Namibia in March/April 2010. Three weeks away from it all.

Beginning in April 2010, I'll be taking a post-graduate course at the FHSG (University of Sankt Gallen) – a total of 20 days of studies over 6 months. At the end of the course, I'll have a “CAS” (Certificate of Advanced Studies) in IT Compliance Management. If I continue the studies and complete two more CAS courses, all I need to do is write a thesis in order to receive a master's degree. It would be great if I could get my master's before my 50^th birthday (in September 2014).

Over the summer, I'm hoping to make a few fun rides on the bike. I would like to visit the technical museums in Speyer and Sinsheim, Germany, and I would like to combine this with a bike tour.

In November 2010, we're planning to visit my sister in Oregon, to celebrate her 50^th birthday and a real American Thanksgiving (Ingrid has never experienced the “eating for pain” Thanksgiving experience). Ingrid's niece Julia is planning to emigrate to Canada early in 2010, so we'll probably visit her when we're in North America also.

I'm hoping, at the end of 2010, to be able to look back at a busy but successful year. Professionally I hope to be in a similar situation as today – with a healthy project and customers who are bidding for me to work for them.

Personally, I would hope (and expect) that Ingrid and I will be as happy together as we are now.

We may be in the process of planning the move into a larger home – we've been talking about moving for the past couple of years, but 2010 may be the year when we start looking for a bigger place. We would like a place with 2 bathrooms, a patio and a garden. (Our current home has only 1 bathroom and a small balcony, but no direct access to the garden.)

Ingrid's parents are also not getting any younger. Karl, Ingrid's dad, is celebrating his 80^th birthday in January. He's in pretty good health, but 80 is a pretty advanced age. Ingrid's step-mom, Sigrid, is in her mid- to upper-70s, and also feeling the years. I hope that they'll be around for a few more years, but there are certainly no guarantees.

I'm looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us...

DAD

Benton David Greene.
Born September 27, 1933.
Died May 5, 2009, aged 75.

These few statistics can hardly begin to describe our father.

In the past 44 years, I've been asking myself, “who is this man”? I watched him in different situations – trying to learn from him, and trying to be like him.

He was my father, but he was also a son. And a nephew. And a cousin.

He was a husband to Judy for more than 33 years, a widower, a groom, and again, a husband to Beverly for more than 18 years.

He was a teacher, but also a student.

He was a school dean, but at the same time, a clown, appearing as Officer Krumpky in a school production of West Side Story.

He was a camp counselor, a driving instructor, a basketball player, an armchair quarterback, a tennis player, a Sammie, a Kelp, an Optimist, a free mason, a Bruin, a Trojan, a pack rat, a comedian and a fighter, just to name a few.

I watched him take care of his mother Lee after the sudden death of his father Morry in 1974, eventually building an addition to our house so that Grammy Lee could live with us.

I watched him caring for his wife – our mother – as she fought her battle against a brain tumor.

I saw him at work, dealing with difficult students and office politics, without ever losing his sense of humor. At Saugus high school, he had a small office with not much more than a desk and a couple of chairs, but his office door was filled with cartoons and jokes. I used to laugh about the sign he had posted - “Please Use Other Door”, since his office only had one door.

Dad was also a collector. He collected many things. Some of great value – like works of art from students that he and our mother had encouraged and supported over the years – John Demott, Steven Seemayer, and Jerry Kerns, just to name a few.

He also collected wristwatches, Swiss Army knives, and other assorted “stuff”. T-Shirts. Literally THOUSANDS of T-Shirts. There is probably a factory in China which is now scaling back it's production after hearing that Dad has passed away...

He collected memories – he traveled Hawaii and Europe with our mom, and traveled several more times to France with Beverly, Marty & Judy; vacationing in Hawaii with Beverly; or popping over to Vegas to play Poker.

And most important, he collected friends.

I saw a man who was in the center of a huge circle of friends. His 50th birthday party, for example, was a huge event, with what seemed like hundreds of his friends coming to celebrate with us. Fraternity brothers, classmates and co-workers from many of the schools he had worked at – everyone was there to congratulate him. The most critical piece of planning for that day was was making sure that Dad didn't follow his “normal” routine when he came home from playing tennis: He would normally enter the house through the garage, dropping all of his clothes in the pantry, and streak through the house headed for the shower!

Ben had several passions in life. One was sports. While I was growing up, he would go out every weekend to play – basketball, softball, and later, tennis. And when he wasn't playing on Saturday afternoon, he owned the TV remote. College and professional sports – football, basketball, baseball – there was always someone in a uniform on our TV! Not to mention all of those years when Dad and Mom, along with a whole group of friends, had season tickets to Pauly Pavilion.

As my father, he had a profound impact on my life, and the life of my sister Alison. After the death of our mother, our family spread out across the globe, but we remained a family. I moved to Europe and have established new roots in the old country. Today I live in Switzerland with my wife Ingrid.

Alison moved to Oregon with her husband Art. Although there have been changes and adjustments in her life in the past few years, she is happy and established in her career, and has a wonderful group of friends that have become like family.

Although we were all geographically separated, we talked on the phone often, with Dad often telling us how proud he was of us.

At the same time, we were proud of him. Ben was a fighter. He fought a debilitating disease, refusing to give up his freedom and moreover, refusing to give up his sense of humor.

But beyond Alison and me, Ben had a profound impact on the lives of thousands of students. As a physical education teacher, driving instructor, counselor, and administrative dean, the influence and impact of his life can hardly be measured. Over the years, many former students contacted him to thank him for the positive and lasting influence that he had on their lives.

His biggest joy, however, was when he was able to entertain people. He could engage almost anyone in a conversation, and usually tried. He had a gift – the gift of humor. I can tell jokes, but Ben was a comedian.

Not too long ago, Dad was discussing with Alison what we should put on his grave marker. Dad's wish was that we simply put three letters on the plate: W. T. F.

This, of course, turned into a long, intensive, albeit not too serious discussion about the punctuation. W. T. F. question mark, or exclamation point? An exclamation point seems more appropriate for a grave marker, but from Dad's perspective, I'm sure he would prefer the question mark. W.T.F? How did I get here?

I am deeply saddened that he is gone, but at the same time, I am absolutely certain that he is now where he has long wanted to be – back together with his beloved Judy.

And to answer the question, today, I would vote for a question mark. W.T.F., Dad?

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