London Recap

From 21st to 25th of January I did what was set already for almost 2 years! I visited Thomas in London, who works for almost 2 years there, and I never had the chance to make a visit. But this time everything worked out. So I took off Friday and Monday from work, which gave me almost 4 days in one of the most attractive cities on earth. Of course, you cannot feel such a huge place with all its history and cultural diversity in such a short time, but one thing is answered very fast. It will not be the last time!
I travelled with EasyJet to Gatwick Airport, where I had to take the train to the city. As it is quiet outside London, it takes you longer to get to the city centre but very convenient. Thomas had to work on Friday, so I checked out the city by myself. Due to the random rain, I focused on less walking around outside than inside. So I visited the National Museum, where are a lot of paintings from 1000 A.C. to the current century presented. In the evening, we had dinner at Gauco, an Argentinean steakhouse. Afterwards, we checked out a club, which was quiet difficult to do, because we haven’t reserved at any one, so we had to ask the doorkeepers. We ended up in Kitts for couple of beers.
Next day, we almost walked the whole day. From Notting Hill to London Eye and London Towerbridge, we saw everything. Quiet funny story: I knew from a friend, that another friend now works in London, but I forgot to write him on Facebook, as I don’t have any phone number of him. So I was quiet disappointed that I forgot to contact him about my visit, but okay. Next time then! I said to me. So we walked through the very very huge Hyde Park and for a sudden a guy was stopping from his running and said “hello, what’s going?!” And… you will not believe it, but it was him! So quiet interesting how small such a big city can be! So we fixed to go out together this evening. We had a lot of fun in a Mexican restaurant in Coventgarden.
Sunday, we took it easy with a longer sleep and a nice breakfast again in Coventgarden. Afterwards, we made the “you-have-to” visit of Harrod’s in Westminster and met another friend of my university time!
On Monday, when Tom was working again, I took a nice long sleep and bought some books at Stonewater’s. Arrived back home in Simmering around 10 p.m.
Thanks to Tom for providing accommodation and acting as a private guide through a terrific city! It will not be the last time to hear: “MIND THE GAP!!!”

Hannes

This year some has changed. Just a small detail but with big impact! It is my first Christmas break which isn’t a real break, because I do have to work from 28th till 30th. Okay, as it is holiday season, there was not much to do, but still I had to get up early. I took the chance to work on my final thesis, which is near completion. I hopefully will hand the whole thesis to my professor in the second week of January. Then it shouldn’t take that long, because he read already 70 pages of it and should easily review the missing 20 pages. Therefore, I am expecting to obtain my degree in February and the ceremony should take place in March 11th or 12th.
At the moment there is a more important event coming on – the New Year’s Eve! This year, I used the long weekend to make it a Christmas present to Nadine. It includes the trip to Sabine & Bernd, with whom we will celebrate in Milan. Moreover, we even will have the chance to watch Bernd’s game on January 3rd and have some time to show Nadine the city along with expensive boutiques, where she definitely will start dreaming. Therefore, I am lucky to still be a student – excuse-vice! :-D
So Happy New Year to all m friends & family!

Will be back on January 4th to make all the kissing and hugging!

Hotel Costes 12

It seems as Santa Claus along with "Christkind" stopped by earlier than expected!

As I just found that the new Hotel Costes 12 was released on 9.9.2009. Completely behind my (and Bernd's) back! Therefore, I have to postpone the release of this note due to a surprise present for Bernd, Andy, Bine on Christmas Eve.

Just me listen to the chill sound!!! :-D





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Now playing: Unforscene - Alright
via FoxyTunes


Story behind Hotel Costes series:

10 years ago, Stéphane Pompougnac decides to gather together the best tracks that he plays at the Hôtel Costes in a personal selection.

Shortly after, the first «Costes» compilation makes everyone to discover the luxurious, eclectic and sophisticated universefrom the resident DJ of the Hôtel Costes.

Immediate French and international success, the compilation quickly becomes a series, a unique and yearly rendezvous awaited by all the regarding music lovers.

TripIt for Travels - iPhone, Mac and PC

TripIt is a website, where you can manage and aggregate your travel activities and see your friends’ one. It is really consumer friendly by accepting booking confirmations, which you forward to a certain e-mail address. I started it yesterday, and could easily add past trips within few numbers. In this matter, my Gmail account was very helpful, because I never have deleted any mails since I joined Google-community.

There are more features:

1. You easily can create your own iCal “TripIt” and subscribe it with your iPhone, iCal or Google Calendar. Moreover, you can send it to your family to share your trips, that everybody knows your arrival and departure times respectively.


2. Add the app TripIt to your iPhone and sync all your web content to your mobile device.


3. You receive a nice statistic about your travel activities and records. You could compete with your friends, if you wish...


4. With another iPhone App “Flighttrack Pro” you even can get pushed notification if your flight is cancelled or has a delay.
   

To summarize it, you easily can add your flight details to your calendar, which makes it very convenient, because you don’t have to type any flight track numbers or times into your calendar.

And eveything for free!

Barcelona

It was my first visit to Barcelona and my first trip to Spain since I was 5 years old. So you can imagine how excited I was to spend some time in one of the most famous cities on earth!
After a 4 hour delay at the Vienna Airport, we arrived late in Barcelona and due to the trip back from Croatia the day before, we were really tired and went just for a quick bite close to the hotel. Our hotel was quite in a good position for our desired beach vacation and a city trip. We just had 200m to “la Rambla” and around 1 km to the beach. So it was perfect for sightseeing and relaxing.

City & Beach

Overall, we knew that the city is great and the historic buildings and parks are great, especially Parc Guell and la Sagrada Familia, but as you can imagine, in middle of summer the city was packed with tourists and so we skipped entering buildings. As Barca is a big city, there was no doubt, that the beach would be more crowded than the Croatian coves, but anyway, better a crowded beach as a boring public swimming center in Burgenland.

Food

Usually I always find the right places to get good, but cheap food, but this time we were not that lucky. First, we took some tapas at a restaurant on la Rambla, where we thought that the plates will costs just 2 instead of 5,-, what changed price for the small lunch snack by 20,-, and still starving! Further, a lot of recommended food places were closed because of renovation. Then we tried out a highly recommended restaurant, where we should eat the best Paella in town. It was not bad, but not worth the money we paid. The last night in Barca, Nadine had the desire for a big meat – really, it was Nadine’s idea – but got disappointed by an Entrecote with a lot of fat strips in it. But in the end, we found our greatest place at one of the beach bars, where we had our daily cocktails of the day.

Greatest Place

Was definitely the beach bar, where we had great food, music and drinks. Especially, when a waiter started to speak Austrian: “schleichti oida”. He was a Mexican, who had a girlfriend from Graz. Was quiet funny to hear such words in such bar.
On the way home, we had again a delay, which made up for the arrival delay, because we knew in advance that our plane will leave later to Bratislava instead of Vienna. So, we didn’t have any disadvantages of that change.

Resume

It was a great trip with Schnucki and the right place to end summer 2009!

Back to blogging

Quiet a long time ago, but during my hard time writing for my last hurdle of my degree. I rather spent my time where I didn’t read or write without typing. So now, as I still have some pages to accomplish, I am back with some News. Even better, I am going to try to recap what happened last few months.

First, Nadine and I spent some days in Croatia on the isle Rab, where I had been in May already. Nothing changed to my good opinion towards Rab and its wonderful coves! This time we even had a big experience by a big rubber tube! Nadine’s father pulled us by boat through the Adriatic Sea. Unfortunately, we had to leave Croatia after few days, because we had to catch our pre-booked flight to Barcelona operated by Sky Europe. It was one of the last flights, which took off from Vienna – just with a 4 hour delay, but still took off. But our flight back arrived in Bratislava, which wasn’t a big problem, because Nadine’s father picked us up at the Slovakian airport and by car it was just a 20 min delay, because it just takes 5 min from landing to leaving the airport.

After the vacations, I was back on track to write some pages for my final thesis, but there was not much time, because next event was close. I decided to work at the INFORM for dieBank as a Barkeeper, which was very exhausting on one side, but made a lot of fun on the other side.

By first of September I replaced Tina in the Gunners office, because she went on maternity leave. 20 hours a week didn’t sound that much, but ending up working almost twice as agreed, took me completely out of my writing rhythm. Anyway, it made a lot of fun to work for the club, where I helped out already in summer 2006. Knowing what things have to be done and being familiar with the structure and the workflows, I could integrate myself really easy.

Since November I am doing an internship at the Deutsche Bank in the Global Markets Department. My contract will last until End of February and I am desperate to stay in this sector for my future career. Beside the job I am trying to help out the club concerning administration. So still quite busy all the time, but who cares about watching TV and a lot of sleep. The only thing what I would like to do is working myself out, but there is no time for it, yet.

At the moment, I finished 71 pages of my 85-page final thesis. So now I am entering the last curve in a long a... run.

In my next few reports I will do a more detailed recap.

Regards

Hannes

Translation of Bernd's Interview

For everybody who doesn't speak Italian, read "Google Translation":

Translation: Italian » English
PAVIA. E’ la prima volta da quando è in Italia che Bernd Volcic gioca due stagioni di fila nella stessa squadra. In precedenza era accaduto solo nella belga Mons. Obiettivi? Vincere e migliorarsi. «Mi sono presentato al raduno dopo aver sgobbato - spiega il centro austriaco - ho lavorato con i pesi in palestra, ho corso e cercato di perfezionare la tecnica, ma dopo due settimane di allenamento sono stanco». Ieri coach De Raffaele ha concesso mezza giornata di riposo alla squadra. «La preparazione serve per essere pronti quando comincia il campionato - sottolinea Volcic - Lo scorso anno abbiamo vinto sempre nella preseason, poi è andata com’è andata. In questa fase della stagione non contano i risultati, ma solo lavorare duro, creare un gruppo e capire cosa vuole l’allenatore». Sarà una Nuova da “corsa”. «Abbiamo una squadra piccola per scelta del coach, cui piace giocare con quattro esterni e un lungo che corre e fa i blocchi. Per questo dobbiamo puntare sulla velocità, essere pronti a correre sempre e più degli avversari». Per il secondo anno Bernd gioca in riva al Ticino. «Abbiamo trovato subito l’accordo, io volevo rimanere e la società voleva tenermi. Il presidente Gianmarco Bianchi è un uomo onesto con cui ho feeling. Un altro motivo è che mia moglie lavora alla Sergio Rossi di Milano». L’obiettivo di Bernd è migliorarsi. «E’ necessario per raggiungere la salvezza, poi vedremo. Credo che la differenza la faranno i dettagli perché sarà un campionato equilibrato. Noi abbiamo un mix giusto di esperienza e gioventù, e quando troveremo il modo di stare in campo ci toglieremo diverse soddisfazioni. Personalmente non sono contento di quello che ho fatto lo scorso anno, so che posso fare di più e meglio». La base della Nuova è quella dello scorso anno. «E’ importante, noi sappiamo cosa vuole il coach e per lui è più facile con 5 giocatori che già lo conoscono, perchè possiamo aiutare i nuovi». Volcic da due anni è iscritto alla facoltà di Economia dell’Università di Amburgo. «Penso al futuro. Mi piace scoprire nuove città e nuovi piatti. Preferisco la carne, adoro la fiorentina. Mi piace andare alla scoperta di nuovi locali con la guida slow food».		PAVIA. It 'the first time since Italy is that Bernd Volcic played two seasons in a row in the same team. Previously, it had only happened in the Belgian Archbishop Target? Win and improve. "I presented at the rally after toiling away - says the Austrian Center - I worked with weights at the gym, I ran and tried to perfect the technique, but after two weeks of training are tired." Raffaele De coach yesterday granted half a day of rest to the team. "The preparation needed to be ready when the season begins - emphasizes Volcic - Last year we won more in the preseason, then went how it went. At this stage of the season do not count the results, but only to work hard, create a group and understand what the coach wants. " It will be a new "race". "We have a small team of choice of the coach, who likes to play with four external and one long-running and make the blocks. For this we need to focus on speed, be prepared to take more and more opponents. For the second year Bernd plays near Ticino. "We quickly found the deal, I wanted to stay and the company wanted to keep me. President Gianmarco Bianchi is an honest man with whom I feel. Another reason is that my wife works at Sergio Rossi of Milan. The objective of Bernd and improve. 'It is necessary to attain salvation, then we'll see. I think the difference will make the details because it will be a balanced league. We have a right mix of experience and youth, and when we find a way to stay in camp, we'll take different satisfactions. Personally I am not happy with what I did last year, I know I can do more and better. " The basis of these is the last year. "It 'important, we know what the coach wants and he is easier with 5 players who already know him, because we can help other." Volcic for two years and entered the Faculty of Economics, University of Hamburg. "I think the future. I like discovering new cities and new dishes. I prefer the meat, I love Florence. I like exploring new places with driving slow food.

regards,

Hannes

Wedding Andy & Sissy

Since I didn't make any pictures at the wedding, I wanted to wait until I receive some official, but it seems that it takes longer than expected.

As you can imagine, a wedding of a family member is always nice and great. Why? Because you now the majority of the guests and you don't have to feel always wrong in place. That's the good part, but the other side is a lot of work, if the couple believes a wedding up on a hill, Hannersberg, in a tent is better than booking a hotel where everything will be prepared for you. So, as it turned out Andy's brother, me!!!, had to work his a… off. Sounds familiar! So I had a hard time, but also 4 great days of celebrating a wedding - 2 days official and 1 unofficial bachelor party and the wedding itself. :-D the result was a lot of fun, gaining some kilos and a free pass for the next months to stay at the mansion in Neustiftgasse 131.

Take care,

Hannes

iPhone & MobilMe - Do not let Apple fool you

Yes Mobilme is a great thing! Especially if you have a Mac and an iPhone, because then you can use the full power of it, but nevertheless it is not 79,-€ worth it. I will tell you the reasons:

You can get everything with Google for free - Picture upload, online Storage or pushing your calendar wireless. Yesterday, I canceled my Tryout-Period of MobileMe and it took me about 30 mins to adjust my GMail and GCalendar to use it instead of MobileMe.

1)GMail
Has already IMAP - so you don't need the energy consuming Push-Service

2)GCalendar
is the intermediate we need to update your calendar wireless. First you import your iCal Calendars to your GCalendar by exporting them and importing them. Then you use the "Calaboration" to get your GCalendar on your iCal. Now you can delete your "only-on-your-mac" Calendar. You will not see any difference than before!

3)Exchange Server
Over the Microsoft Exchange Server you can add your Calendar and your Contacts of GMail to your iPhone. They also can be pushed!

So I decided to use only the Calendar for real time exchange and keep the contacts synced over iTunes, but when I do it, iTunes syncs the Contacts also with google. So you always have all your contacts up to date!

Of Course MobileMe is much easier and takes you only few seconds, but it costs you money and might be worthless in few months if you change your mobile for example!

so check out the wonderful Apps of Google!

c u soon!

Orlando Magic - LA Lakers 75:100

Finals 1:0 for Lakers. Impressive Kobe with 40 points!

Watch a nice commercial: