Woke up this morning and did the usual stuff.  Walked to work.  Today is the day that the real work begins.  There is a new build of the software released and it is being demoed.  There have been some bugs cropping up here and there over the last few months so I was prepared to dig in.  That is what I am here for after all.  But, I ended up just spending the day in the office writing and fixing reports.    I am not complaining because the other place I would have been working is an 8x8 office in the basement of the salon and I would have been in there with 3 other people and there tempers.

It was a hot day and it seems that no one in Germany has air conditioning.  So I was a sweaty beast by the end of the day.  All in all it wasn't a bad day.  I was productive.

I am finding it hard to eat healthy here.  Sausage and roast pork seems to be mostly what you can get at the places we have been dining.  I am going to try to find something better for me today.

For at least the rest of the week Lou is in Edmonton, Alberta for work.  He is an additional hour behind Minneapolis now which puts him 8 hours behind me here in Germany.   To that, add the fact that he is around his boss all day and I am finding it hard to call him chat like we usually do when we are apart.  I am having a great time here in Germany.  I just wish he were here(Or at least easily accessible) by phone.)

Day 3 in Munich.  More work than play but still enjoying it.

I got up at about 7a and poked around until about 9.  At 9 we went for breakfast at the hotel.  After breakfast we walked a couple of miles to the office and then on to the salon.  When we got to the salon they were pulling network cable and we couldn't do any work so we walked back to the hotel. 

It is interesting that so many people walk or ride bikes over here.  I thought we were bike friendly in Minneapolis but that is nothing compared to Munich.  They have bike lanes everywhere.  The bike paths here are on the sidewalks so it seems a lot safer and they are always busy. 

After walking back to the hotel we did some work(which was difficult because there are time restrictions on our network and we are 7 hours out) and then grabbed some lunch.  We ate pizza at an Italian place a block or two from the hotel.  It was real Italian pizza(the staff were all from Italy.)  It reminded me of when I lived in Sardinia. 

After lunch we worked a bit more.  Had a few conference calls and called it a day.

At about 7p my new friend Paul met me at the hotel to show me the area.  We went walking around town.  There was a festival going on so we went and checked it out.  We had a couple of beers at the festival and then went walking down to the Marienplatz.  At the Marienplatz(which is sort of a farmers market but with beer) we walked around and looked at the different merchants items and had a beer. 

After that we walked over to the gay part of town.  Paul pointed out several of the gay bars and theaters and then we stopped at the Edel Heiss for beer and a sausage salad(That is not a euphemism.)  We hung out at the Edel Heiss for a couple of hours and Paul taught me some German and we talked about movies.  It turns out that he is a big fan of Meryl Streep and Greta Garbo.

So after a beer or five at the Edel Heiss we hopped on the train and Paul showed me how to get back to the hotel.  Public transportion here is very easy to use and convenient.

Day 2 in Munich was an adventure and I am having a great time

Ok, so it is really day 2 but I was too tired last night to post.  I arrived in Munich yesteday at about 2:45.  My plane from Amsterdam was about an hour late but no big deal. I got a little extra sleep in the airport.  The flight was uneventful.  The plane from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was very comfortable.  I watched '21', had a couple of glasses of wine and slept for about 4-5 hours.  Transfers in Amsterdam. Customs was a breeze.  Just showed the passport and went through the metal detector.  Once I landed in Germany there was no customs check. 

So I take the train to Rosenheimer Platz.  I go up the escalator expecting to be able to see the hotel from where I come up.  Of course I couldn't.  Evadentally I came up the wrong escalator.  So I call Lou(My partner) and have him use google maps to find the Hilton on the map and zoom in.  I give him my cross streets and he tells me to start walking and tell him what the next street is.  Well when I do he tells me to start walking the other direction because I am going the wrong way.  So one block in the other direction is the hotel.  I get checked in and settled.  Take a shower and go for a walk to get to know the lay of the land.   About an hour later my coworker calls me.  He is at the hotel and ready for dinner.  So we go to the Hofbrauhaus.   Evadentally it is pretty famous.  The food was wonderful and the beer was even better.

Day one in Munich is a success.

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I just got back from seeing Hedwig and the Angy Inch at the Jungle Theater here in Minneapolis.  It was a great show.  My friends Rick and Adrian invited me.  Rick does audio description for the blind so he gets to go to see a lot of shows.  It was a lot of fun.  Lou didn't want to go so I took Collin with me.  We had a really great time.

Another day of tubing and another tuckered out bear. We had a great time tubing again. I think it is one of the most relaxing things I have ever done.

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Just headed home from tubing. Kris is a little tired. We had a lot of fun floating down the river.

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I thought this was cool.

Ok.  I was at a cookout yesterday and it was brought to my attention by reslbear that I don't post often enough so here goes.  This weekend has been full of crazy parties and cookouts and has been a lot of fun.  I got to see a lot of people who I haven't seen in a while and I also met a lot of really great people.

Today I went to historic Fort Snelling and the Kelley Farm with my friend deanosota.  We had a great time. 

Tonight I am heading out to hang with my friends at the local watering hole.  Since the rodeo is in town I hope to see some sexy cowboys.  :)

We played softball yesterday  :)   Our first game went really well.  Even though we haven't won a game yet this season, we have a lot of fun.  We played the Flamingos and lost after the tiebreaker.  Lou was pitching really well.  Ok so maybe I am biased since he is my super hot man and all.  Kurt was snatching balls like crazy with that new glove and his mad ball snatching skillz.  Jeremy's batting practice was paying off.  I think he got on base every time at bat.  We were having a great day.  Then we changed fields and started playing the Master Batters.  We started off weak but then we started making a come back. I had even snatched a few good balls of my own.  Then tragedy struck.  The ball is hit passed Jake(Our 3rd baseman) so I run up on it to make the play.  As I scoop up the ball I hear Scott telling me to take it to 3.  As I turn and throw the ball to Jake the ball goes wild and gets passed him and Lou is backing him up.  He ran all the way from the pitchers mound.  As he goes for the ball he collapses in to a heap on the ground.  He pulled his hamstring really bad.  So he is out of the game and icing it up.  We played out the next inning or two and I came up to bat.  I got on base and then Kurt got a hit and I moved around to 2nd.  As our power hitter KJ comes up to bat I prepare myself because I am certain I will get to 3rd and more than likely make it home.  I hear the crack of the bat and watch the ball land in the grass as I haul butt to 3rd.  I round 3rd kind of wide and have to start angling in more to make it home.  As I pivot I feel as though a knife is stuck in my left leg.  I have pulled my hamstring as well. So I hopped in to home plate on one foot.  Now both Lou and I have pulled hamstrings.  Thankfully there were people around to help us out.  Thanks to Jeremy, Todd, Kevin, Kurt and everyone else for helping us out.  We are both feeling a lot better today.  Lou took the day off to help him recuperate.  He is really bummed that he won't be able to play next week.

Where are the fingers? I need some honey mustard.

My friend is chicken sitting for a friend of his...

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