| Nightmare #37239 |
[Jul. 22nd, 2008|11:11 pm] |
For some reason I had to stay in this small studio for the night.
I turned on the lights in the buildings landing and started going
up the stairs. It was quiet. At some point the lights turned off
again with a 'Clang' that reverberated throughout the halls and stair
cases, slowly devolving into the low frequency noise that is barely
perceptible if your mind is not otherwise occupied. I took baby steps
towards the palely shining green button some distance away, for I was unsure of
whether more steps lied ahead. Upon pressing it, the lights turned on again
with a somewhat more silent click.
I had reached my room. I entered without difficulties and started getting
ready for bed. I noticed that I could still hear the hall lights, when they
had turned off again after a few seconds. I undressed and entered the
bathroom to perform my nightly absolutions. More people must have entered
the building because I heard the clanging sound relatively often. After I
had turned off the water and started wiping of my self I noticed that the
clangs were peculiarly frequent. And then they stopped.
I started rummaging around my bag, finding a t-shirt which I put on. Then
I heard a fumbling scratching sound, as if someone was flailing ineffectually
against a door. Alarmed, I looked around and noticed a side-door connecting
my apartment with the next for the first time. The scratching became more
agitated.
I actually did wake up screaming. |
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| Olympian Flights of Fancy |
[Feb. 2nd, 2008|07:51 pm] |
Greece is still trying to sell off Olympic Airlines. The ailing
carrier is mired in a situation where it cannot make any profit
because firstly it is not competetive, and secondly it is very
inefficient. The prime resource drain appears to be its large number
of idle employees, which the government is reluctant, or unable, to
fire due to the potential loss of political capital.
I still cannot understand why the government expects it can find a
buyer. State enterprises can only be sold if a) they are profitable
or b) they are nearly profitable, but can be made to be profitable in
a relatively short amount of time.
So, since government can only sell enterprises which are profitable,
why sell them? This apparently only makes sense in three cases
a) They would rather have immediate capital than long-term profit.
In theory this capital could then be invested in a more profitable
enterprise. But then why should they not take out a loan?
b) The government is stupid.
c) The government is corrupt
Of course it makes perfect sense to sell Olympic airways, since
they'll both get cash in hand _and_ reduce the government's losses.
But who is supid enough to buy it? |
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| Mia premiera via ferrata / Mein erst Klettersteig |
[Jul. 22nd, 2007|09:00 pm] |
It was arranged one evening. I had seen some fixed rope routes and I had despaired of convincing my local friends of joining me on a tour. Then, out of the blue, a climber friend asked to meet for some alpinism or hiking. I could but propose a via ferrata in a relatively accessible region. We ended up going to the Kaiser-Gebirge http://www.kaisergebirge.com/ group of mountains.
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| Triathlon! |
[Mar. 16th, 2007|11:02 pm] |
You must have watched at least one video of some crazy dudes and gals swimming, biking and subsequently running, while struggling with their non-compliant outfits, gobbling 'energy gels' and rubbing all over with mysterious creams. After having sustained a minor setback in my running and switching emphasis, in what I thought was a temporary move, to swimming and biking, I said to myself "Hey, why not? My times are not that good, but they are as good as any beginner's could be".
So now I plan to enter the first available sprint-distance triathlon race that is relatively close to me. I will be extremely happy if I can finish in the top 50%, and quite happy if I finish in the top 50% of my age group, but currently I think I'll finish just ahead of some wiry centennial that will be trudging along deceptively slowly, but whom I will have a hard time pulling ahead of.
In any case, here's my training log. |
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| Mucho sleepo es necessario |
[Mar. 8th, 2007|09:53 am] |
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I forgot how draining a hard weight training session can be. I had a good one on Monday and a very intense one on Tuesday. Then I slept for 7 hours, which was not quite enough. Then I went to the swimming pool no Wednesday, while feeling tired, but I just wanted to do a few laps to relax. Big mistake. I went back home and I was tense and could not sleep even though I was yawning like a hippo. After 2-3 hours of jaw stretching I fell asleep only to wake up after 7 hours again. !NECESSITO MI SIESTA HOMBRE! |
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| The new life |
[Feb. 23rd, 2007|10:47 pm] |
I've been here for almost five months now. I have managed to get a bit closer to my colleagues at work and it is a nice working environment, though sadly there is not much opportunity for interaction outside work since most of them do not in fact live here. But I take a few days off every two months to go to Greece for seeing my girl and having a change of pace.
Otherwise, I took the time to discover a few of the running trails here... there seems to be an IronMan course going through the town and I've been having fun running around it. I also tried to ski a couple of times but this year it has been really bad, with almost no snow at all. I find that my erratic running schedule combined with unpredictably strenuous activities such as skiing has started to put too much stress on my system. It is possible that I have some fractures, so I am keeping away from any further effort other than biking. My strength training seems to work though. Diligent working of my shoulder muscles has finally brought them back to prime condition after last year's overuse injuries. I will have to be more careful in the future. |
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| Firmly rooted |
[Dec. 8th, 2006|06:01 pm] |
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I guess I have now installed myself here in Leoben. I got my ski equipment, beddings, clothes - and I even got a new coffee grinder and a couple of board games. It'll be hard to budge again.. |
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| Leaving switzerland |
[Sep. 22nd, 2006|12:52 pm] |
I have packed almost everything, talked to the appropriate agencies and I am ready to quit this country for Leoben Austria. I will be arriving there on Sunday around noon, following the route: Lausanne->Bern->Zurich->Munich->Salzburg->Leoben.
I wonder if I should go through Innsbruck instead. |
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| Busy busy busy |
[Aug. 16th, 2006|10:47 pm] |
I live such an amazingly busy life these days - and at the same time I feel I can find time for everything: thesis writing, making new experiments, reading some papers, going biking, having lunch with the machine learning group folk, doing a bit of cooking, arranging for my unemployment benefits, finding a house in Austria, going to meetings... and sometimes playing the guitar really loud. Perhaps it is a brief period of inner energetic glow that will subside soon, but perhaps it's not.
Nevertheless, the truth is I don't have time for everything, and that includes writing and reading lj posts, at least not very often. There is enough writing to do for my thesis and I feel sort of guilty wasting finger fizz on journal posts. But, I still hang out on the ifmud, where the real-time interaction is a bit more fun.
PS. Yes, and for those of you that don't know, I am nearing the completion of my thesis. And I am quite confident that this time it will be fine, since I have satisfactorily replied to all their comments. I will have a job in Austria, so I'll be moving to Leoben at the end of September - with some visits to London, so all you Austrianics and Londonese can now start rejoicing as is appropriate. |
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| Cypriot aperitifs |
[Jul. 29th, 2006|11:24 pm] |
Katerina was kind enough to have brought me some aperitifs from cyprus. One of them is...
Red Zivania Kokkini, a pale red strong liquer, reminscent of whiskey, with a hint of cinnamon (canella). The Sweet variety is, as expected, quite sweet, reminscent of honey.
Honey... brings us to the second drink of the set, 'Holy Wine' - upon tasting it turns out to be Mead. It has a light colour and is only slightly spicy - the 15% alcohol content ensures that it goes down easily.
Kykkos is a more typical grappa/ouzo/raki style drink. At 44%, it is not to be drunk lightly. Best chilled with a side order of fruit preserve.
There was one more bottle, which I had a lot of trouble opening. I just managed to do it with the aid for my trusty swiss army knife. I expected something like the standard Kykkos, but the clear "Zoukki", at a hefty 42% comes with a mellow taste, a lingering aroma of fruit - and just a hint of anice. Perfect.
Garcon! |
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| First long distance run after 4 months |
[Jun. 5th, 2006|02:02 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | exercise, running | ] |
| [ | music |
| | Jessica Lauren / Couldn't Take The Missing You (Various) | ] |
I haven't been going out for many runs recently. In the last few months I've been occupied mostly with skiing and biking as far as endurance goes.
Today I went for a ran to Charrat for the second time - and this time I went all the way - a distance of 12Km - a new record for me. Yay!
This time I was not using my usual flat runners, but my ASICS GT-2100, which are ok, but I think they might have a bit too high a heel. After the first 10 minutes I had to stop because my shin muscles started to hurt. Then I had to stop again - and again - trying to adjust the laces so as to minimise the pain.
I loosened up the laces as much as possible 1Km before Charrat and it seemed to help. I arrived there in 43 minutes. I rested for 5 minutes and then ran back to Martigny without pause in 30 minutes. There were no more pains in my shins either.
Then I spent the rest of the day sleeping, practically. |
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