We arrived in Berlin at 7:17 in the morning by overnight train from Warsaw. The couches in the sleeper's car were quite comfortable, but we did not really feel well-rested, probably because of the lengthy discussions with the Polish and German immigration officers about the validity of Cissy's visa. We had about ten hours to spend in Berlin before returning to Friedberg, and my brother guided us to an exhibition of ancient Chinese treasures, a Vietnamese fast-food restaurant, Hotel Adlon (including Michael Jackson's baby-balancing balcony), the Reichstag building, the Brandenburg Gate (visible this time, last time it was veiled by T-Online), a piece of the Wall, and Terminator 3 at the Sony Center.

It had to be feared that this new Terminator movie would be just a vehicle to squeeze some more money out of Schwarzenegger's fading career, especially after the production company announced they would go ahead with it even without James Cameron. But the movie is not bad at all: A lot of action, funny punch lines, enough plot and a surprising end. Although T-3 is definitely not damaging the franchise, I would rather see another ten years pass before the next sequel but that seems unlikely considering how this one ends.

6 points

Sylwia's and Holger's wedding took place in Chojnow in the Polish country side and although this was the first wedding I ever attended (my own will likely be the second) it seems to me that Polish weddings are much more lively than German ones. There was also a lot of food, very delicious but just too much to handle. I am quite impressed by Holger's command of the Polish language, which allowed him to say his lines in front of the priest to everyone's apparent satisfaction. Because of the not so glorious train connection to Krakow, we had to unfortunately leave in a hurry (sorry for taking our room key with us). All the best to the couple, and thanks for the invitation (thus providing the main reason for our trip through Eastern Europe) !

While Warsaw is the political capital of Poland, Krakow is the cultural highlight, featuring for example the Wawel castle. But the main attraction is not there either, but in (or rather under) the nearby town of Wieliczka: nine centuries of mining produced a total of about 200 kilometers of passages as well as 2,040 caverns of varied size, placed in 1978 by UNESCO on the first List of World Cultural and Natural Heritage. The mine has been visited by tourists since the 15th century, a four-hour tour (which still covers just about 2% of the area) takes you down some two hundred meters to see stunning displays of mining work, giant caverns (big enough to house a secret underground German airplane factory), underground lakes, plenty of sculptures, an orchestra and an incredible church built out of salt by three miners over a period of 70 years. The air is at a constant temperature of 14 degrees Celsius and so healthy that they have some set up a sanatorium for people with respiratory problems. The mine has been in use until just a few years ago and still produces salt from the water that has to be pumped out to keep it from filling up. I have not seen the Pyramids in Egypt, but this mine must be the closest Europe can get to it.

The garden party my parents organized for us turned out to be great and very international: We had German, Japanese, Chinese, American, Canadian, Polish, and Spanish guests coming from Germany, Japan, England, America and Italy, writing guest book messages in German, English, Chinese, Japanese, Polish and Spanish. The weather was (except for a five minute rain) perfect and almost too hot. We received a lot of witty and/or useful gifts and cards, and everyone seemed to have fun. Now we are hoping that many can also make the rather expensive trip to Shanghai for our wedding party on November, 1st.

It is our new corporate strategy to obtain patents for everything we do. I have been assigned to the Intellectual Property Task Force and now have the pleasure to read through various patent applications, all of them written in readily understandable plain English.

Apparently someone (Fujitsu Software) already holds a patent for a graphic user interface ... comprising a virtual vendroid object further comprising ... a plurality of virtual objects for sale.

Games (computer or traditional) can also be patented. Gladiator game and method of play: Shuffle Monster Cards 50 and Treasure Cards 54, placing them to one side of game environment 2. Decide on a banker to perform the banking duties. ... The Bank is owned by Ogmok ...

There is a drug abuse prevention computer game patent, stating what every role-player already knows: Hit points are a measure of what it takes to kill a Character. When a Character reaches a HIT POINTS value equal to -(BODY*2), they are irrevocably dead. A player-character begins with a HIT POINTS value of [BODY*5].

And Sony's AIBO is in reality a patented electronic pet system, network system, robot, and storage medium.

Compare all this to the beautiful simplicity of US patent number 1 (click on Images).

Japanese people are very proud of seasons in Japan. While cherry blossoms or autumn leaves are admittedly beautiful, there is one season no one can take pride in: Tsuyu. This rainy season comes between spring and summer, lasting from mid-June to mid-July. It does not rain every day, but when it does it rains cats and dogs, while still being hot and humid enough to make raincoats uncomfortable. Important to farmers or not, I don't like it.

We have started to use Oracle at work, which means that I have to study it and take some exams. Oracle is offering quite a lot of exams as part of its certification program. They are all multiple choice computer-delivered tests, which is nice because you get immediate feedback and detailed analysis (and it is available in many languages). The first test (Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL) can even be taken online, which I did just now. It was not very difficult or Oracle-specific, so knowledge gained from database lectures at university carried me through. The next exams will require more preparation and hands-on experience with Oracle tools. My answer is bring them on.

This site offers a series of challenges that allow the novice computer hacker to expand his skills by applying his knowledge to a series of real-world applications. It is great fun (much more than my network security course at university) and quite instructive. I reached level 10 in an extended lunch break.

In school we had a lot of fun after discovering a lot of self-help-books like Help, my child is lying on a classmates' parents' bookshelf. Now I know how these books enter a household and do not think it funny anymore.

Cissy is not reading novels at all. Her books fall into three categories: Work-related, Japanese language study and self-help. The current leader of the pack is Robert T. Kiyosaki, who writes books about personal finance, his most famous offering being Rich Dad, Poor Dad, a guide to financial independence. I was pressured to read it and I have to say I do not like it very much. As can be expected, it is only about money, which in itself I (just like Kiyosaki's poor dad) do not deem a fit topic for discussion or respectable object of ambition. I also have a strong feeling that for every rich person there must be at least a few poor persons, which leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I read about his opinions on taxation.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad has become a big business for Kiyosaki, Cissy has bought four more of his books, and there is even a monopoly-like board game (called Cashflow, sells for 200 US dollars) which my company president (another big fan) bought and was more than happy to lend us. Cashflow is fun, actually, although so far I only lost.

I will try to find some book for Cissy that defends my own economic philosophy and probably end up with Michael Moore. Lacking sufficient passive income, I will limit this search to the public library, though.

Hiking is a quite popular activity in Japan, not only among senior citizens. It also goes nicely with obsessive picture-taking. A train ride of about one hour takes you out of Tokyo (in this case to Kofu) and into the mountains. Citibank has a walking club which is basically for employees (like Cissy), but as a holder of shares, accounts and recently also a Spouse VISA Gold Card, I feel entitled to come along once in a while. The club also has a budget for the expensive one-hour taxi rides necessary to get you from the station to the mouth of less accessible mountains (poor accessibility does not protect mountains from being crowded, though). We started at about 1400 metres above sea level and reached the top (2057 m) of Mt. Kushigata after a pleasant hike through nice green woods in perfect weather. Just as the walking club schedule claimed there was iris growing gregariously around the top.

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/IT d- s:- a- C++ U P+++ L+ E---@ W++ N-- o? K? w--
O? M++ V? PS+ PE+@ Y+ PGP- t+@ 5 X++ R>+ tv>+ b++ DI++ D+
G e+++ h--- r+++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------