Well, I ran into a problem: it has a 3GB per month limit and I hit the limit last week.

I’d been careful for the most part, but there’s a slight problem with iTunes: when I connect to the internet it goes hunting for the latest podcasts and downloads them automatically. I usually prevented this from happening, but not often enough because a number of podcasts would appear without me realizing it.

The clamp on my ‘net access at home will clear up Sunday.

In the meantime I am going to be out of the office and exploring the region with my guest, who returns to Berlin this afternoon.

I’m going to move soon. I haven’t seen the contract yet and I haven’t paid my deposit yet, but in theory, on Thursday, I will take possession of an apartment here in Berlin.

As I doesn’t want to reveal my specific living location (unless there are accidents outside my window), you will have to be content with knowing that I’m moving to Schöneberg—and since I know the name covers a large part of Berlin, I will grant the public more information by saying that I am a short walk from the Rathaus Schöneberg.

Next on my agenda: picking an electricity provider and finding movers.

Fortunately my guest is able to navigate fairly well without me having gone to Potsdam, the Museum for Communication, and the Dali exhibition without me. Together we visited the DDR Museum and the Pergamon Museum. I rested for the German History Museum and we then went to the Story of Berlin together.

Friday we also went through one of the Turkish street markets before meeting the Regensbloggers and going to Perlin, the wine bar, for dinner. Saturday evening was a great evening with not just the Regensbloggers but also Snooker in Berlin and 50% of my DNA, her husband, and the fresh baby.

Needless to say, I’ve seen things and done things that I have ever never done before (DDR Museum) or things that I haven’t done since my first visit to Berlin—like walking around and hitting all the major stopping points that the countless walking tours visit: Checkpoint Charlie, the book burning memorial, the weird clock in Alexanderplatz, Brandenburger Tor, the holocaust memorial, and the rest.

I’m exhausted.

My guest decided to head out of town to visit another European capital this week while I am stuck in the office working. This leaves my evenings free—at least Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday another one of my blogging friends is stopping by Berlin and we have tentative plans to paint the town red—or at least as much as one can with a child in a stroller.

It is always sobering to walk through the site below; fortunately it was one of the last things I showed my guest on our improvised tour of Berlin

Lost in a forest of towers and undulating ground

]]> http://www.elmada.com/?feed=rss2&p=7297 3 http://www.elmada.com/?p=7295 http://www.elmada.com/?p=7295#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 20:05:11 +0000 Adam http://www.elmada.com/?p=7295

He hid his disability.

Today, for the second time in two days, I have completely ignored somebody in a wheelchair who was begging for money.

Actually I didn’t ignore either of them: today I shook my head as I walked around his cleverly placed to block walking wheelchair. Yesterday I shook my head no at a pitiful looking woman who held out her right hand toward me as she looked incredibly awful and used her feet to move her wheelchair directly into a bike lane next to a bus stop.

Today’s was a no-brainer. People eating lunch at some outdoor tables next to a bakery had rejected the guy and my quick assessment was that he was a bullshit artist and that he probably could actually walk.

Portugese is a blunt language.

Yesterday’s made me much more uncomfortable and I actually thought, at first, that she needed help getting onto a bus—but then when she held out her hand with a pitiful look on her face, I decided that she was faking most of her issues—although I was pretty sure she actually needed her wheelchair.

Actually she made another woman near me uncomfortable as well—it’s always difficult to ignore the seemingly needful—the poor, the homeless, the disabled—but if I were to actually try and help everybody who claims to need help, I would be poor in no time and having to depend upon the kindness of strangers.

It’s strange how borderline a case this woman was—I ended up admiring a pet mouse that the other woman was carrying saying it was “Süß,” just before the bus this woman was waiting for arrived. I noticed that the bus I wanted was right behind the first bus and I scurried off to get on it.

As my bus was pulling away I looked out the window watching this woman stretch out her right hand, cupped, at the people who were standing where I had been.

I’m 99% certain she was fake, but what if she wasn’t?

It’s difficult to really put my feelings in words: Garry’s death means the loss of somebody worthy of spending time with.

I can only imagine it’s even more painful for his fiancée, a woman whose family has promised me the world.

"Fans and air conditioners are sold out"

The piece makes the usual interesting claims about liberals and consultants and the people who bring them in: “Liberals believe our city needs to change and look to out-of-state experts from California, Wisconsin, Illinois, Canada and even Europe to study and recommend strategies for us to adopt.”

The funny thing is that I will agree that all too often cities and communities bring in consultants from the outside; consultants often bring cookie cutter solutions that are not really well shaped for the city and community in question.

However instead of trying to identify flaws in the solutions, and suggesting appropriate alternatives, it is the background of the consultants at issue. For example the author is concerned that one of the consultants attended Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences – except she didn’t: Rebecca Ryan attended the Budapest University of Economic Sciences. Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences was its old name.

I could have left a comment on any number of points, but this is what I decided to comment about on the blog—but my comment is awaiting moderation and since it runs counter to everything the blog is about, I’m not sure it will ever get posted. So I’m posting it below.

You’ll notice that I didn’t bother mentioning that the Budapest University of Economic Sciences has undergone yet another name change and is now the Corvinus University of Budapest.

tqe | Adam
Your comment is awaiting moderation.
Posted July 17, 2010 at 7:22 AM

I’m curious why you care that the Budapest University of Economic Sciences was once known as the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences. Given that the name was changed by the Soviet/Communist rulers to become the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences, I would think that the school’s renaming to the Budapest University of Economic Sciences in 1990, after the communists were thrown out, is a pretty clear rejection of the old regime.

I saw a picture of Rebecca Ryan and unless she’s aged remarkably well, I don’t think she attended the Budapest University of Economic Sciences while it was called the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences.

As it happens I have visited both Portland, Oregon, and Evansville, Indiana, and honestly, I like Evansville for my friends, but if I had to choose between one of the two as a place to live, I would choose Portland: it has a decent public transportation system that means I don’t need to own a car (or if I do, I don’t have to drive everywhere); it has a vibrant night life; and it has multiple movie theaters that play not just main stream films but also art films–just to name three advantages that Portland, Oregon, has over Evansville.

Perhaps instead of dismissing what these speakers have to say out of hand perhaps you should consider their message and pick what you think would help improve Evansville.

For starters, I think that Evansville has torn down way too many buildings to put up parking lots. I walked around downtown Evansville hoping to find shops to explore, cafes to sit in, and see what people were like. What I found instead were blocks and blocks of parking lots — mostly empty parking lots. It gave off the impression that Evansville is a city mired in the economic doldrums. After making a similar walk around Portland I can only tell you that there was parking, but not as much of the surface area consisted solely of parking lots — there were plazas for people to sit in, lots of shops, lots of residential areas, and free public transit to help me get around once my arms were full of things that I had bought.

I didn’t buy anything in downtown Evansville.

My first real work came last week and I decided to work on it over the weekend—specifically Sunday morning.

And I had a cunning plan…

On Vacation.

Late last week I’d walked back to my current domicile taking a different route when I passed a coffee shop, Coffee Wrangelkiez. At the time it was closed, but the sign on the door indicated two wonderful pieces of news: First, it opens 6:30 on weekdays, and second, it opens at 7:00 on the weekend.

Now for somebody who is an early riser, like me, this was extraordinary news! I could actually go somewhere that was less than a ten minute walk from my house, drink hot coffee and get work done – a, if you will, Berlin Office.

Sure it isn’t the Weimar Office with its team of familiar faces, but it was some place with tables, coffee, and, should I want it, croissants.

And so I went to the shop Sunday morning where I worked for two solid hours on my first real work assignment (like my previous job, I have fairly flexible working conditions) before I decided I needed a break and to stretch my legs. I’d drunk a coffee, ate a chocolate croissant, and admired the occasional piece of eye-candy.

It was great.

Now as I am trying to find my working rhythm for Berlin, it occurred to me that I could work there for a couple hours on current projects weekday mornings—and then after two hours I could take a short walk, a short bus ride, another walk, and be at my office. I even got so far as to decide and try it out Wednesday morning. I had a meeting at 11, so I decided that I would get to the coffee shop early, work, and then go to the office at 10.

So Wednesday morning I woke up at my usual time, downloaded my CBC News podcast, took a shower, and then walked over to the coffee shop, only to discover bad news: the coffee shop is on vacation from 12 July until 12 August.

*sigh*

The thing is, if all goes according to plan, I won’t be living near here on August 12th.

The quest for a Berlin Office continues.