Jebus, what a crazy month ... Especially Friday 13th and the weekend was pretty, pretty, pretty bad. I thought all the Friday 13th stuff is just common superstition, after getting an "expensive" letter from the tax authorities and a pink slip from my boss due to a company closing because of the financial crisis I started to realize that it could be more. But when I heard the bad news that my grandpa had died, I knew Friday 13th is a bitch.
So never mind the darkness We still can find a way 'Cause nothin' lasts forever Even cold November rain
Well, looking forward to Christmas and a three weeks vacation, which is needed indeed...
I might have already said that I just love Pink Martini. But I can't stress it enough: Pink Martini is awesome. I can hardly wait until their new album "Splendor in the Grass" will be published in a few days. I've already fallen in love to this album by the three preview tracks on Pink Martini on MySpace. Not only that Thomas Lauderdale, the creative head of the ensemble, is also openly gay, and China Forbes is an awesome singer, they're also so inspired and amazing, and the "background story" of the band is very interesting, too.
Ok, I admit, I've been neglecting my blog a little bit lately. But here's a quick catchup for the very few regular readers left...
Last Month, my BF and I exchanged rings as a sign of our connection and love. I've never been in a relationship that serious, but it feels very good.
This week, we've been hiking on the Rigi, the place on top of the Queen of the Mountains where I've been so many times in my youth that it actually feels like home. And I was happy that my BF liked it very much as well. We had excellent weather and a great time. On the Rigi there are no cars allowed, so the air is clean and fresh and it's like paradise.
On the second day we walked to a nearby village. One part of the trail is the "Felsenweg", where you have a beautiful view over the Vierwaldstätter See (a very beatiful lake in the valley).
This was the view from the balcony of our room at the harborage.
On the way home we made a stop at the beautyful city Lucerne.
There was a fair in Lucerne and I found a beautiful reflection of the ferris wheel in the windows of the art museum.
Today, it's 3rd of October, it's the German 4th of July. Except it's not that cool. However, my dad turned 60 last week and celebrates it today...
If you're using Windows, you can buy some software from Nikon to have Photo Tethering (I guess it's called Tethering). I.e. you take a picture with your camera and it pops up on your computer screen. It's used in studio photography and very useful. I missed it very much during the last three days of product photography.
I wanted to have that on Linux as well. There is an excellent library called gphoto2, that can do half of the trick (i.e. it can download a picture right after the shot), but it can't display it. So I played around a little bit and wrote that script:
To use it, connect your Nikon camera to your computer via USB. Go to an empty folder in a shell and just start it:
rian@thunder:~Pictures/example$ tether
Then take pictures. They will be displayed on your screen and stored in your current folder.
For this to work, you need the image-viewer qiv (or use any other viewer and adjust the script) in its most recent version (older versions don't support the -l switch which autorotates the image), if you're using ubuntu jaunty, you need to install qiv from karmic.
And you have to install gphoto2 to access the camera as well.
Friday night I arrived in Istanbul for another business trip. Yesterday I had a very nice tour. On one hand I really love this city and I'm having a good time so far. On the other hand, work will start tomorrow and I'm curious how it will be this time...
When you compare ancient anthems of different states, you'll see that about 99% of them praise the landscape, the prosperity, the victories, etc. But they're usually not about the state's habitants, nor about the advanteges of other states. Well, our anthem is different ...
Der Reichste Fürst
1. Preisend mit viel schönen Reden Ihrer Länder Wert und Zahl, Saßen viele deutsche Fürsten, Einst zu Worms im Kaisersaal.
2. Herrlich, sprach der Fürst von Sachsen, Ist mein Land und seine Macht, Silber hegen seine Berge Wohl in manchem tiefen Schacht.
3. Seht mein Land in üpp'ger Fülle, Sprach der Kurfürst von dem Rhein, Goldne Saaten in den Talern, Auf den Bergen edler Wein!
4. Große Städte, reiche Kloster, Ludwig, Herr zu Bayern, sprach, Schaffen, daß mein Land den Euern Wohl nicht steht an Schätzen nach.
5. Eberhard, der mit dem Barte, Württembergs geliebter Herr, Sprach: Mein Land hat kleine Städte, Trägt nicht Berge silberschwer;
6. Doch ein Kleinod hält's verborgen: Dass in Wäldern noch so groß Ich mein Haupt kann kühnlich legen Jedem Untertan in Schoss.
7. Und es rief der Herr von Sachsen, Der von Bayern, der vom Rhein: Graf im Bart! Ihr seid der reichste, Euer Land trägt Edelstein!
The richest Prince
1. Praising with many beautyful words The worth and number of their lands, Many German princes sat, Once in the emperor's hall in Worms.
2. Wonderful, said the prince of Saxony, Is my land and its might, Our mountains bear silver In many deep mines.
3. See my land and its luxuriant wealth, Said the prince elector of the Rhine, Golden corn in the valleys, On the mountains noble wine!
4. Big cities, rich monesteries, Ludwig, prince of Bavaria said, Make that my land Has not less treasures than yours.
5. Eberhard, the one with the beard, Württemberg's beloved ruler, Said: My land has small towns, Does not bear mountains heavy of silver;
6. But a treasure it keeps hidden, that in forests yet so big, I my head can boldly lay into ev'ry subjects lap
7. And there said the prince of Saxony, The one of Bavaria, the one of the Rhine: Count in the Beard! You are the richest, Your land carries precious stone!
Graf Eberhard im Barte (Count Eberhard with the beard), Württembergs beloved ruler boldy resting in a subject's lap
I couldn't switch to 2.6.28-13-generic Kernel on jaunty because the nvidia graphics driver kernel modules couldn't be compiled by dkms:
Examining /etc/kernel/postinst.d. run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dkms * Running DKMS auto installation service for kernel 2.6.28-13-generic * nvidia (180.44)...nvidia (180.44): Installing module. .....(bad exit status: 6) Build failed. Installation skipped.
Today I finally had time to inspect the problem, and found out the reason, and a very simple fix as well. This happened because "patch" wasn't installed.
Yesterday, the traditional gay party Pentecost boat cruise was on again. The BF and I also went to party on the open sea. It was a very pleasant party, like evey year. On the upper deck there was a Karaoke show, and on the lower deck a dance floor. Of course there were two outside decks where the BF and I were cuddling in the sunset. Was very beautyful.
The cruise went along ancient wineyards in the outskirts of Stuttgart near the river Neckar.
It was a very nice party and we're looking forward to next year's boat party.
I have a confession to make. Tonight I went to the movies again to see The Boat That Rocked again. I can't help, but I really like this flick. And the BF enjoyed it as well. I remember that I didn't want to go after I saw the Trailer before another movie. But I did. And I'm so glad I did, this movie is lovely and just great.
No, I don't get paid to promote it. However, if you're a representative of Universal and want to pay me for promoting one of your films on a blog that has no readers, get in touch. :)
33 year old gay computer science guy who's in love with New York City. In his free time he does magic tricks, manages a gay newspaper, hosts a radio show, and he loves photography.
