Bob's World

Story time!

2012-09-08T08:15:00.002-07:00

Yes! Another post! That's the fourth day I'm keeping it up. And even more amazing, there's still people around who read it. Thanks to you, guys!

So, still no comments, which is kind of sad... seriously, it'll be more fun for me writing stuff according to your preferences than just having to think myself ;)

You won't even have to use complete sentences, just utter something and one or two days later there'll be a text here which miraculously relates to what you have written! Sounds boring? Well, eat my shorts, then. For those of you who find the idea interesting, here's an example how it could look like:

As (yet fictional) user comment, I've just taken a random comment to a random youtube video. As I write this, I'm now opening youtube, open the first clickable video, and copy-paste the first (not most-liked) comment. Attention.... it says: "50 people ate too much fresh fruit."

This is, apparently, a random user comment to a Monty Python sketch. Now, for the sake of authenticity, we will pretend that this very commentor had not posted on youtube, but on this blog, in order for me to create an intriguing story out of his nonsensical rambling.

...

Oh, look, someone posted a comment that shall be the basis for a story. Let's write the story to it!

We are in the calm small town of Lakeville in northern South Nebrahoma, where 11-year-old Jimmy and his family have been living an average American life far from the liberal coasts. Jimmy's dad, let's call him Walter, works for the security of the largest local employer, the candy manufacturer "Sugarland" (I sincerely hope that there is no real company with that name...if there is: please let me know before sueing me, I'll remove the name at once) who has been supplying the market with delicous products made of corn syrup and food coloring. Jimmy's mom is a homemaker and cares for him and his older, 15 year old sister Catherine as good as she can, which is not much to be honest.

One day, Jimmy is extremely bored after school, and decides to venture out into the lovely surroundings of Lakeville - doing so on his own, as his mother is busy doing the laundry or so she says and his sister doesn't like him much, anyways. So he takes his bike and starts to ride it out of the town limits, along the old route 467. After a while, he notices a change in the landscape, from residential to a more natural, random form...

Well, tell you the truth, I'm out of ideas right now how Jimmy's adventure will proceed, but tomorrow there'll be more to read. See you then, and don't forget to click the ads! (I'm already at the point where I have to work for money...)

Adding the ads and odding the odds!

2012-09-07T00:03:00.004-07:00

Good morning!

Originally I had planned to post the third part of my pre-written "back-again" text, but seeing to the heavy decline in popularity of this blog (traffic down about 40% during the last two days), something more entertaining than the original rant about how bad other people drive is in order. I'm making this up as I write, so please be forgiving if the text is crappy.
Also, before you continue reading, please bear in mind that I write this blog not only to have a platform where I can post the disorganized stuff floating through my brain, but primarily to get filthily rich. At the current rate - below two dollars a year in ad revenue - this would take approximately 500,000 years, and result in only average richness. It is also not satisfactory due to practical reasons - although I can't be sure as to how it will be for myself, experience has shown that only an extremely limited number of humans (about zero) reach an age like that. So, one remedy to that is in your hands, dear reader: click on the ads around, it's like a donation for me that doesn't cost you anything. Awesome, eh? Plus, it might actually lead you to a site that may be of interest to you.
Now, as I can't really come up with a way to inform you about past years' events, I'll simply start by giving you a little introduction what the book I've written is about:
The working title is Epsilon Eridani, much like the popular star system you've heard so much about, and it's set in - you might have already guessed - the Epsilon Eridani star system. Humanity has ventured into space, ever curious and ever conquering, as it has done like millenia. Join Commander Stevenson as he and his crew set out to explore a new star system, only to discover secrets and surprises no one of them expected!
Currently, the cover is being designed, and there's only some formatting and stuff to be done. Once I'm through with that, it'll be published as ebook for a very modest price. Regardless of its success, I've already started outlining a second novella, set in the same universe, and to be finished and released within this year as well.
If you found all this to be interesting, please tell your friends, or post the link to this blog around the web. I'm also happy to write whatever you want me to, from short essays to short stories or my analysis of some major stuff going on in the world. Comment, and spread the word!

Thanks!

New places...

2012-09-05T23:58:00.000-07:00

Good morning again!

Yes, I'll hope to post more frequent in the future, which is why you're seeing a daily influx of stuff for the time being (until I grow tired of it ;-)) Today, I'd like to tell you a bit about the city I work in now:
Jena is, essentially, the figurehead of the economic success a few parts of former socialist germany achieved in the past two decades. It's got two world class corporations in the optical sector, Zeiss and Jenoptik, an advanced ceramics company, Schott, two universities, all the cultural, research and supplier facilities associated with that... it's amazing, it's got only 100,000 inhabitants, half of them students, a quarter highly qualified workforce, and the remainder normal people.
Problem is, it's in a valley. Mountains to the left, mountains to the right, with the city itself shaped like some kind of bean, with a long north-south axis. Rents are ridiculous, being in the same league as Berlin or Munich in some areas. A thousand euros per month would get you a 3-room apartment with maybe 90 or 100 m² in an average location, or a 60 m² two-room apartment in a somewhat upmarket district (still nothing fancy).
This has resulted, naturally, in considerable suburban sprawl and, further, to the outlying villages and towns. Owing to the valley location, there's a total of two roads entering the main city, also providing the main road traffic capacity within city limits. This is very few for a place of that size.
I drive to work every day. Out of being used to it, I guess - the previous two years, also in a rural setting, were dominated by cars, and the road network was good. Diesel was paid for by the company, and I used my private car only for the long-distance trips home. Driving was fun, the transportation aspect of life was good. And now, as I said, I have moved to this small town. The license plate abbreviation for the area is "SHK". If you ever happen to come across a vehicle which license plate is bearing this three letters, be weary. Not only have they been taught to drive by drunk cavemen, if at all, but in addition they are not aware of their extremely developed incompetence.
Be sure to catch on in a later post where I continue my whining about them!

A long time later....

2012-09-05T01:26:00.001-07:00

Good morning everyone,

it's been a while (pretty exactly one year) that I have
written something into this blog... that's because a lot
of things have happened. Among them being minor things
like the hardest work season of my life in late 2011,
followed by writing a science fiction novella (not
published...yet), returning to my home province and
finally moving from a small city apartment to a huge house
in the rural backwater. Oh, I've changed jobs, too, of
course.
From my warehouse company to a small, ambitious start-up
developing a really cool electric microcar. The team is
awesome, as are the work conditions. Content-wise, it's a
dramatic shift from the rather dull daily operations stuff
as department head to the creative tasks you get as
product manager for an innovative product.
But that's not the main reason for today's entry... as I
mentioned before, I moved from the province capital to a
small town - which is a lovely change when you look solely
at the place of living itself.
At some 18 years of age, the building isn't even a fifth
of the age of our previous home. It's got floor heating, a
garden, a balcony, a big basement, all the bells and
whistles you would expect for a huge amount of money.
Well, not so huge when looking at the size you get, and
even smaller when compared to the rents in the closest
city, Jena, where I also work.
But more on that later...

First day in Koblenz

2011-08-29T09:11:00.001-07:00

It's Monday now, but a very unusual one: I'm currently in Koblenz on a one-week training, together with a colleague. Yesterday the weekend ended even earlier than usual, when I had to leave a 5 pm, heading for my beloved Hesse company.
There we met, and continued to Koblenz, which took us another three hours, thanks to the great "German Engineering" in our Volkswagen Golf (Rabbit in the US) - the gps sent us on the highway right into a traffic jam!
Now today was the first day of training, and it was a hell of a lot of stuff. Quite theoretic, but thanks to a very charismatic and entertaining trainer the day passed quickly. The hotel is ok-ish, in the center of Koblenz near the "German Corner", where the Mosel and Rhine rivers meet. Hopefully a lovely place, but it's still some minutes until we head off to see more of the area.
The weekend was really nice, too, as we visited the school where my wife works since this month. A private school (still somewhat uncommon in Germany), multilingual (German, English, French), and absolutely lovely compared to the barracks my generation used to learn stuff in. She's also very happy with it, although it means driving some 50 kms one-way to get there (it's in the city of Jena).
Well, we'll see what the week brings...

Thank god it's Friday!

2011-08-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Thank god it's Friday, but this time just for the sake of it. The week was really lazy compared to the usual 55 to 60 hours of (dis-)organized mayhem. Things went relatively smooth, and it finally becomes apparent (after over a year) that my main function at work is being a proxy. We have a branch manager I'm sitting in the same office with, we a truck dispatcher (what I did before) and a foreman. I'm scheduled as replacement for all three of them, in case of vacation or sickness.
Besides that, tasks unique to me are quite simple and are a mixture between clerk and assistant. But, if any of those aforementioned people is away, I have to replace them. Soon, the branch manager is away, as is the dispatcher. My responsibilities will skyrocket from those of a clerk to almost dictatorial command over some 40 people and three full-size trailer trucks...
But first things first, now it's weekend, and next week I'm on full-time training at Koblenz, at the Rhine River. Gonna be great!

Old memories brought up again

2011-08-25T14:27:00.000-07:00

This day was really boring at work, but made up for it by a nice encounter in the evening: seeing Julian again, a former colleague (he quit two months ago) whom I really like a lot, and his sister. She's going to Australia soon, with the work and travel program - one of the things I'd really like to do myself, but I guess I'm too old now. She's really brave, however, saying that her English is not that good. But it'll improve with more practice. We spent the evening chatting about her trip first, when the conversation slowly went down the usual path and it was all about my work again. Maybe I'll head back to Canada one day...

Also, I found a great used car on the web which I intend to buy. It's basically just my car again (even the same build month), but with a few more miles, manual gear and the large engine. Especially the later two parts got my attention - if I trade in my current ride, it'll be just a few hundred bucks for a nice 193 hp. Maybe I'll head over to Hannover soon to take a look at it.

Work and Stuff

2011-08-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so I told you about this very important event at work today, which was basically just the most important meeting in this quarter. It was quite boring, content-wise, and embarrassing for me as I addressed the most important customer represantative with the wrong name. The third time. Ouch. He knows mine, which makes it even worse.
Well, for a variety of reasons (the most obvious being the distance from home) I'm quite unhappy with my dayjob, as are millions of other people. It's just that most of them don't know better, whereas I had the great fortune to see and work at a lot of different places. My sister, who's been with the same company for almost 25 years now, once told me that I should get used to my work.
While this is well-meant, I prefer to keep looking for other opportunities. It's of course never as easy pointing on a map, going there and get a great job. But it's well worth the effort. Working abroad was great for me and lots of fun, but more on that later...

Loud neighbours...

2011-08-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

Good morning!

Wonderful, just really wonderful. What? Going to bed really early to get a good nights' sleep just to be awakened at half past four in the night by the cheap gangsta rap of your neighbour the apartment below. After some hesitation I got up, marched down the stairs with a steady step, knocked at his door sharply, just to be opened by another random person who could very well qualify as a quirky comic character. The sweet scent of weed left their apartment, with nervous shadows running about. Stating my request was not really necessary, so they turned the volume down a bit. Enough for me to sleep on, at least.
Now, I've done this like four or five times now (telling neighbours to turn down the beat), and I still hate it. First, it pushes me in the role of the unfun, streamlined white-collar worker who just destroys other peoples' happiness. Second, I hate communicating the moment I just awoke, but have to do it. Third, it frustrates me to have to tell people that are rights end where those of others begin (and vice versa, of course). Shouldn't a grown-up man, like, KNOW that loud music can easily be heard in the neighbouring apartments?
Oh well, the night's over anyways, and there's some relatively "big" events going on today on the job side of life. More on that later, stay tuned!

Tasty, crunchy Pancakes!

2011-08-23T11:19:00.000-07:00

A lot of people will agree that there are few things better to start a day with than some sweet, crunchy, flagrant, fresh homemade ... pancakes!
Everyone loves pancakes, which is why my first article here will tell you my own personal recipe for them.

There's two variants of it: one for the fully-stuffed kitchen with quite some different ingredients, and a basic one I like to use when I'm spending my time at the mountain hut of a friend of mine.
Ingredient amounts are for two people, or one really hungry person.

Let's start with the proper one:

You'll need

one really large (or two medium) egg(s),
about 1/5th cup (a little less than 50 ml) of milk, preferably 3.5% fat
tab water or carbonated water
about 1/3rd cup of wheat or spelt flour
about 1/3rd cup of sugar (preferably cane sugar or a 60/40 mix of cane sugar and grape sugar)
about 1/6th cup of dark liquid honey (alternatively maple syrup)
one teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground vanilla
some vegetable oil
optionally: 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
a slim, high-walled bowl
an electric mixer
a frying pan (non-stick, aluminium)
a cooking spatula

Start with breaking the eggs into the bowl. Add the milk, then the sugar, the honey, the flour, the cinnamon and the vanilla, in that order. Mix it all together briefly with the electric mixer on a high setting, until you have a uniform mass. It'll be quite solid and sticky. Now, continue mixing at a rather low setting while carefully adding carbonated water as needed. You want your resulting batter to be somewhat liquid and easily pourable.

Now set your oven to the highest setting, put the pan on the plate and the vegetable oil in it. Wait a while until the oil is hot (if it's smoking, it's too hot! - turn down the heat a little and wait one or two minutes), then gently pour your batter into the pan. For a reasonably sized pan (diameter of around 30 centimeters/ 12 inches) it's best to fry three oval pancakes at a time.
Fry them for a very short while, and carefully turn them around once you can see the edges of the pancakes becoming a light brownish colour. If it still feels not solid at the underside, wait some more. After you turned them once, wait about the same time for the other side. Then, take them out of the pan on a grid (if you put them on a plate they will become moist and not crunchy) to cool out a little. Repeat until you've used up all batter, adding vegetable oil as needed.
Enjoy!

Notes: You can be generous with the oil, as the batter will absorb only so much of it and the result will not be fatty in any case (as long as you don't attempt to deep-fry them).
Adding baking soda will add some kind of bubbles during the frying, leading to a more voluminous but less crunchy result. Using only milk instead of water makes the pancakes less crunchy as well, while omitting the milk will make them very crunchy but less tasty.

Experiment around a bit, until you have found the combination of ingredients that you like best!

Now, that was the fancy variant with lots of demanding ingredients and proper equipment, and quite some calories (not as unhealthy as the pre-packed mixes you'll find in your supermarket, though).
But what about the following situation: You and some friends have spent the night in your lovely and somewhat remote mountain hut, with a limited kitchen inventory and a modest array of ingredients?
That's very the puristic variant kicks in! Talking of pancakes made just of sticks and stones, almost. Yet tasty and a good remedy against that persistent hangover, especially when coupled with strong coffee :-)

For this, you'll need:

one or two egg(s)
water
about 1/2 cup of flour (any kind will do)
about 1/3rd cup of sugar (any kind will do)
a fork
some scratch-resistant vessel (a used, cleaned-out food can will do, or a large coffee mug for instance)
a non-stick frying pan OR any pan and lots of cooking oil

Break the egg into the can/mug. Beat it thourougly with your fork until it's a fairly uniform, yellowish mass. Add some water, then the sugar. Beat thourougly again. Add the flour and more water, until you have a rather liquid batter (more liquid than for the proper pancake recipe above). Heat up your stove/oven/hot stone/car hood and put your pan on it (if you're going car hood and it's really hot and you don't mind your car's paint film or your digestive system's health, omit the pan. ON YOUR OWN RISK!).
Gently pour the batter into the pan (/on the hood) until it covers it's surface (Except for using the car hood, in which a diameter of about 10 inches should suffice. If your car hood does not allow for that size, buy a real car first). Fry it until it becomes solid and darkens slightly at the underside, then turn it around gently and fry it some more. Repeat until you've used up all batter.
Enjoy!

Introduction

2011-08-23T11:11:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the world of Bob, also known as "NovaColonel" - a fictional rank from the Battletech Franchise which I used to be a huge fan of. Well, I still am, but haven't been into it for a while.

This blog will offer you a variety of articles, with more added along the way. For the beginning, I'll post some recipes I like, as this is the easiest thing for a start. Later on, there will be articles that (roughly) deal with my work, without revealing my employer of course. There'll also be short stories, some anecdotes from my life, some philosophical stuff, and whatever comes to my mind.

Feel free to browse the content that's online now, and enjoy!