Things that make you go hmmm..., vol. II

Dreieinhalb Tage in München

Donnerstag morgen wieder mal in aller Herrgottsfrühe nach München. Nach langer Zeit nochmal mit der Lufthansa. Also inmitten von Horden von schlecht angezogenen 'Senatoren' und 'FTLs'. Da wünscht man sich ja schon fast die DBA oder HLX-Fluggäste herbei. Arrogantes Managerpack!

Freitag dann bayrische Provinz (Donnerstag war fränkische Provinz angesagt, Donnerstag abends dann sogar Abendessen mit Fränkin! Hallo P.!). Pfarrkirchen, Bad Reichenhall und andere Dörfer. Kalt war's - und erfolgreich. Abends dann in Ermangelung jeder sozialen Kontaktwilligkeit 'Blade - Trinity' am CineMaxx am Isartor. Sch***-Münchener Kinos: rappelvoll, ignorantes Publikum und lausige Qualität. Und der Film war nicht mal ansatzweise so gut wie 'Blade 1' oder '2'.

Samtag kam dann das Mädchen pünktlich zum Frühstück. Dann shoppen, relaxen und tolle Party von M. in der Kantine auf der Praterinsel! Viel Rotwein getrunken, Zigarren geraucht, ein bißchen aufgelegt und köstlich amüsiert. M's Schwester sah noch nie besser aus!

Sonntag mit ausschlafen im Advokat, Frühstück und Spaziergang mit H., Rückflug, Eltern, '4 Hochzeiten und ein Todesfall' und früh ins Bett.

Ich werde alt. Und spießig. Gar nicht schlecht...

A basic day in the office

• Why do I have to reply to any request a.s.a.p. and why do I never get replies at the same speed? I'm still waiting for that size conversion of our Junior Tennis Range SS 2005!
• Microwave food at your desk is considered a great lunch around here. Usually we have no lunch or junk from the Golden Arch or some turkish joint around the corner. Those Thai leftovers were yummy!
• Who took my favourite pencil?
• Working with media people from the sporting goods trade press is a real nightmare. Proof reads are rarity amongst these, they've never heard of .pdfs or .eps files. It's scary, really!
• Samples are the biggest hassle in the world. They cost sh**loads of money, you only need them for, like six weeks and then you literally have to give them away for a fracture of what they're worth! We hate them!

Four o'clock wake up call tomorrow moring for another four days in Munich. Two days of work, one and a half of fun! Stay tuned!

2x40 recap (pt.II)

"Was? Ich nich'?" fragt sie... Here we go:

(always try to please your woman!)

2 x40 recap

Look! Pictures came just in! (500 in total!) Please click to enlarge!

HH, B und zurück...

Two days in Hamburg including a really nice dinner with K. It's kinda weird talking to a beautiful woman that did 'structural engineering' on the new Airbus A 380 for the last three years. Not that she's not capable of that, but you'd expect an aircraft engineer to look more, ehm..., geeky!

Three days and nights in Berlin. Fashionistas everywhere. Rotten denims at the cost of a small house, sneakers so rare only 12 pairs were made and girls wearing so skimpy outfits in the cold that you could hang a towel up 'there'. Hotel was great again and so was the 'Eiffel'. But the fact that The Girl also was there really made my day (and my nights). So nice to wake up next to her in the morning and coming home to her late at night. I deserve (and gonna ask) for that now for every trade show. Including the nightmarish boring one in Heilbronn in mid-February.

P***ed off sidenote: Got terribly angry Thursday evening about someone commenting on that last post. I cannot prevent people I don't like from reading this blog or I'd have to make it a real hassle for my friends and relatives and some nice strangers to read it. And I don't want that. But commenting stupidly and unfriendly on my blog p***es me off big time. Almost feels like being stalked. I moved this blog to avoid certain readers, but obviously that didn't help! So for those who have read it: that's how she is... I feel sorry for her!

Here and there (for the next four days)

And off again.

The next two days I'm gonna be in Hamburg, staying here. Then heading towards Berlin to exhibit at this show. Staying here, having a company dinner there (probably). Hopefully enough time for some shopping. Maybe here, or there - but surely around here.

And -yes!- the girl will stay at the hotel as well from Friday on! I'll try to post from abroad so watch this space. And behave!

40 things from my 40th birthday

1. How cool was that location!

2. That most people found easily

3. Others had to circle the castle in order to find the party – no fun in tiny skirts and just sandals

4. That Porsche GT parked out side was (unfortunately) not a birthday present

5. Nor was the Opel Signum with the tinted back windows

6. It was friggin’ freezing outside

7. Goerch and I have enough cigars now to make even Fidel Castro jealous

8. Plus he got the coolest of all presents: Porsche RS, 1976, 300 bhp to drive at a race weekend in Spa!

9. The service team was really, really good: friendly, fast very attentive!

10. Both the red and the white wine (so I was told) were very good!

11. I was so busy running around, I didn’t even get to try the fingerfood

12. K. and S. actually slept in S’ car after the party. Sleeping bags, blankets and all that! At -4° celsius!

13. There  were some unbelievable sexy dresses at the party

14. Filled with equally sexy women

15. And some very daring suits (some even worn with white shoes!)

16. No one realised I was wearing a soft-shell pant! Hey! I’m selling sporting goods, I’m allowed to do that!

17. Some denims were seen

18. Who was the girl in gold dress?

19. My mom danced!

20. And she had a tad bit too much alcohol!

21. Two couples found themselves in heavy lip-locking action!

22. Best song of the night was ‘Ma Quale Idea’. Old Italian disco sh**!

23. Not all the guests that promised to come actually came

24. But some came – to my amazement- unexpected: Hallo, T.!

25. No drama from the ‘Drama Queen’!

26. All my people enjoyed the ‘Quartier 65’ in Mainz a lot

27. I think I had like five or six cigars that night. Hence the headache the next morning!

28. The party went ‘til  4:00 in the morning

29. Last source of sound was Goerch’s I-Pod

30. To the Girls amazement O. knew the words to every song played that night!

31. I had to provide a lot of background information about a lot of people (“Who is this? Single? Gay?...” – “Did this goddess come alone? ...she happy with this dork?”)

32. The most on-time guest were Italians! I mean: on-time!

33. Goerch had the most international guests: Scots, English, said Italians and of course – one Belgian!

34. Who stayed – in his parameters – fairly sober. And fairly single that night!

35. My parents and the Girls parents met and got along. Pheeew!

36. The photographer claimed he had taken more than 1000 pics that night

37. He was a gift from A. to Goerch for his birthday!

38. No speeches!

39. No party games!

40. … and what a cool location!

If I were an Italian..

...my passport would like this:

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Müde. Genervt. Und sehr sehr unmotiviert...

In der F.A.Z. am Sonntag, 9.1.2005

"Sexuell ist die zweite Klasse deutlich attraktiver. Die hübschen jungen Dinger haben ja kein Geld", Harald Schmidt über die Vorteile der geschäftlichen Bahnreise zweiter Klasse.

Geschäftlich bin ich diese Woche im Auto unterwegs. Heute nachmittag schon nach München. Risotto bei lieben Freunden, Übernachtung im immer netten Advokat. Montag Termine im M.O.C., abends dann weiter nach Stuttgart. Dienstag Kundenbesuche in Stuttgart und Umgebung, Mittwoch dann nochmal dasselbe Programm in Mannheim und Heilbronn.

Sexuell sind diese Geschäftsreisen entgegen landläufiger Meinung immer schon sehr dürftig ausgefallen. Erstens lernt man(n) im Auto nicht so viele Frauen kennen (...und die Tankwartinnen an der A9 möchte man nicht näher kennenlernen) und zweitens sind die Möglichkeiten auch im Flieger sehr begrenzt. Ich sehe da immer nur verspannte McKinsey-Zicken oder dicke englische Buchhalterinnen!

Man sieht sich!