Irene...

We are on vacation! And a much longer vacation than planned at the start of the trip... How does that work? All thanks to Irene (with a little help of Delta along the way). We flew to New York a week ago, rented a car and started a slow drive up to Canada. We stayed at Sleepy Hollow (famous for the cemetery), visited the Dutchess County Fair (the biggest and most famous fair in NY State, after the State Fair) with friends of mine and drove through the Catskills, the Adirondacks and the Finger Lakes Region. In between, we visited the university towns of New Paltz (SUNY New Paltz) and Ithaca (Cornell), as well as Seneca Falls: the birthplace of the American women's movement. It was all lovely!

The last night before crossing to Canada was spent in Buffalo (what an absolute shithole), and we went on to visit Niagara Falls from both the US and Canada sides (my 43rd world wonder; Fedor's 39th) and on Thursday, we went to Nissrine's wedding at a winery in the Canadian Niagara region: it was stunning!!! So beautiful, such lovely people, simply great to have been there!!!!

Around the same time, the first news reports about Irene making it all the way up to New York started popping up. We drove back to NYC in one go on Friday, going against the majority of the traffic, which was full of people evacuating from NYC. Oh my, was I happy to get rid of the rental car, before anything bad could happen! Thankfully, we were staying with friends in Brooklyn (just outside the mandatory evacuation zone) with their two kids.

On Saturday, with the underground shut down and those people still in the city in some sort of giddy anticipation, we made sure to gather the last bits and bobs before the storm hit: 2 gallons (8 litres) of milk, 20 bagels, a few kgs of fresh produce, filling up all buckets and vessels with water, batteries, flashlights, etc, and then we waited.

and waited

and waited

and waited

I mean, it was stormy, don't get me wrong, but at no point did it actually feel like a hurricane. The next morning, it still didn't look too bad. By the afternoon, we went for a walk to the park, where there indeed was more damage: uprooted trees, huge branches all over the place, etc. But it still looked more like a bad storm than like a hurricane in my book!

Anyway, we were originally supposed to fly out on Sunday night, but our flight was (obviously) cancelled. However, apparently things are going rather well for Delta, so they didn't have a lot of free space in their flights over the next days and the earliest time we get to fly out is Friday! In other words: five days of New York City, which will be paid for by Delta (they don't know this yet, but they will)... I'm not sure whether I am happy or sad (happy seems to be the prevailing emotion, particularly now that it is sunny and pleasantly warm). We moved into a hotel (in order not to bother K & A too much: 4*, 2 blocks from Central Park, Midtown Manhattan and we are going to have a grand time!!!

So I bid thee goodbye, from New York City!
Tschüßi,
OJ

PS Update: we managed to get a flight that goes out on Thursday night instead, which is nice because we're expecting friends for the weekend, and it would suck if they couldnt come...

wtf@weather

I know it is totally tacky to be complaining about the weather this Summer, but come on! This is getting ridiculous!!! I mean, the fact that, well, there was no Summer is one thing, but the weather for the past week or so has just been outright crazy!

Example, yesterday: I leave the house at 7.45 when it is dry. As soon as I get on my bike, it starts raining. I get to the gym (soaking wet), exercise and when I come out, there isn't a cloud to be seen. During the morning, I don't pay attention, because I'm working but at my planned lunch time (12.30), it is raining torrentially. Lunch is postponed (unrelated to the weather) by half an hour and by the time we go outside, it's simply glorious! The whole afternoon is spent opening the window when it is sunny and warm in the office and closing them again when the wind is blowing all my documents through the office or the rain is threatening to soak my computer... in the evening, it is dark and thundery until 19hr, but by 19.05 there isn't a cloud to be seen. This is driving me nuts!

/rant

Anyways, it's been a few relatively quiet weeks at the office. I've been tying up loose ends with the possibility of leaving at rather short notice, and I must say that this has been quite productive. I had another publication accepted (woohooo) and finished some long-suffering projects as well. So that's all good. Unfortunately, there is STILL NO NEWS on the job-front, but there should be a final outcome this week (or next week at the latest). Trust me: I'm not liking it anymore than you are...

Oh, I just realised that there is one thing I hadn't mentioned yet: we had an arson attack at our house 2 weeks ago... Someone set fire to the strollers in the staircase. For some photos and a detailed description, see Fedor's blog. I must say, it was quite a stressful experience and I hope they catch the fcking bastards. Anyway, my brother and his wife were visiting at the time, so they must've gotten a bit of an odd idea about Berlin :-S. Afterwards, my former Research Assistant Matt and his boyfriend came to stay with us for a few days, which was very nice. But since their departure, we have had two weekends WITHOUT VISITORS: It has been glorious. In fact, I would say even a little boring. I have (and yes, I say this with a little shame), taken up baking... Really, Fedor should be the one commenting, but the red-berries cheese cake was glorious, and this weekend's Real English Scones with clotted cream and jam was quite delicious too... :-))))

The fact that Sundays have recently been around 16° and very rainy have something to do with my new-ish baking obsession...

Cross your fingers for good news on the job front...

Tschüßi,
OJ