AN aMAYzing MONTH, AS ALWAYS

Jump to...

So it's officially been a little while, and it feels like even longer since my last post. For all of you hanging onto the edge of your seat, waiting to hear what excitement and adventure has been keeping me occupied, my sincerest apologies in keeping you waiting! Without further ado…

Bye Reggie...

The week before the next big event happened, I randomly got a call from Sixt regarding my rental car and they told me I had to take it in and swap it out for a different one. To be honest, I was a little bummed. I was really enjoying my time with Reggie and all the adventures we'd been going on. The trusty little red guy was quite the vehicle, but I didn't have a choice…

So I took it in, and although it was technically an upgrade, I got a new blue car, a Skoda Rapid, and it's no match for Reggie. But, that's what I've got right now. It doesn't have a name yet, and I doubt it'll earn one by the time I leave here. Oh well, wheels are wheels, so I can't complain!!!

Tourney Time Out

After such an amazing time in Boracay, I figured why not throw in another beach tournament into my itinerary. So that's what I did. This time, rather than with my good 'ole pals from Tokyo, I joined in with a few of my friends from Karlsruhe and tagged along with them and some other friendly and fun Germans to Yes but Nau near Nantes, France.

It being a three day tourney (Sat-Mon) and Monday being a holiday in Germany, it worked out great. I took a free day on Friday, so after a couple guys got into town on the train, we left Karlsruhe around midnight and drove through the dark to Nantes. It turned out to be a pretty easy drive, and super awesome that no one was on the road, but Alte Schwede is it expensive to drive in France. Gas is one thing, but on the roughly 10 hour stretch going from one side to the other of the country of Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, we racked up nearly 80€ in tolls. Expensive.

Either way, we rolled into Le Pouliguen just around breakfast time, where we crashed the grub setup of some fellow Karlsruhers/Deutsche. That day, we did some wandering around the beach, throwing a frisbee on the beach, meeting a cool Swedish guy named Björn, and of course drinking and being merry on the beach. Fun was had by all.

The next morning, the tournament started. Now I was still in the midst of my hamstring problems. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to play, but I went regardless to give it a test and see how it'd hold up. Long story short, I played the first game, but then closed myself down to prevent further injury. It wasn't worth the risk, so I made the safe and ultimately correct decision. Overall, I had a fun time being obnoxious on the sidelines and we had a fun team, but it sucked not playing, as it always does.

But on Saturday, we played pretty good. The highlight was going down by four points in our first game but then coming back to win by one or two after a nice string of breaks. Since it's been a few weeks since then, I kinda forgot how all the frisbee stuff went. But in summary, we played pretty well throughout the whole weekend, and ended up doing pretty well.

Saturday night, after all the playing and some drinking after playing, we Quammies (the team I played with) went out in search of a delicious dinner. Words can't describe how successful we were. It started off with a beautiful stroll through town, enjoying the quaint buildings and gorgeous atmosphere. After checking out a few restaurants and them either being too full or closed or whatever, we stumbled upon a wonderful little hole in the wall that turned out to be paradise.

We all went in, and it ended up being a super quaint restaurant. Only a few tables, and most occupied with merry French people enjoying some food and wine. So we walked in, split up, and started the cuisine experience. Long story short, me and few others decided on the 'pick three' of an appetizer, entrée, and dessert. OHHHHHH BABY was it good. Individually baked mussels in a garlic and onion sauce, three types of fish with baked vegetables in a white sauce, followed by a chocolate mousse all washed down with a local red wine. Holy begeezus. It was absolutely mind-blowing. I was in heaven with every bite.

Sunday we played some more, and the team kept doing well. In working to be a more productive team member, I spent the day engaged with a few bottles of delicious local red wine. That kept me pretty engaged and loosened up, and ended up being a helluva good time. Red wine is definitely a good thing.

After games, the tournament took us all to a pool place, so we got to sit around in hot tubs and go down water slides for a good while, before getting back to the apartment, drinking, and then heading off to the tournament party. That is really one of the greatest things about frisbee, it's all about the social aspect. And oh baby does it make for a great time!!!

After our games on Monday, and due to the fact that I had to work the next day, me, Martin, and our new friend Björn headed back to Karlsruhe. It was another long and expensive drive, but we got back late at night, just in time for me to get a few hours of sleep and then go to work. Post-Tournament Depression, it's a thing.

Translation Flip-side

A few weeks back, one of my coworkers was speaking in English and I responded in German. His response came back a little sharp, telling me that he wanted to practice his English. This quick moment surprised me, and really made me feel like I was on the other side of the table for things. Namely, this same thing always happened with me as I was trying to learn and speak German but getting English in return. I gotta say, it was definitely weird being on the flip side of that scenario…

Autobahn, no limits equal no limit to traffic?

On the road to Nantes, I was talking with Martin about the Autobahn and he brought up an interesting assertion. He said that the whole thing of the lack of a speed limit on the Autobahn is why he thinks there's so much traffic in Germany.

His case: once the speed limit gets turned off, people floor it to take advantage of the lack of a limit. But these same people then have to slow down when a slower car is in the passing lane. And although Germans are very studious in only using the left lanes for passing (something American drivers could REALLY take a lesson on), it still leads to the fast cars having to slow down and eventually just leads to bottle necks.

I hate to say it, but he makes a very good point. Although I believe it is a big culprit of some amounts of traffic in Germany, it's definitely not the only one, and I would never want to see this change, because it's pretty fucking awesome to legally be able to drive as fast as you possibly can.

26 things with 365 littler things inside

The whole presentation the afternoon after getting back home earlier that morning went well (terrible sentence, decode if you can). My boss in Portland seemed pretty pleased with what I've done and what I'm spreading out to the various test regions, and my boss here in Wörth is definitely appreciative of the work I'm putting in to connect the global project. Woot.

That next day, however, ended up being my birthday. Luck would have it, I woke up to a phone call from Mommy. What a great way to start the day!!! We had a nice but short chat, and then I was off to work.

As is the German custom, I went to the bakery and brought in some cake for everyone to enjoy at work. Everyone loved the cake and kept asking if I had more than one birthday during the year. Unfortunately, no. And, it turns out, one of the older guys in the workshop also had a birthday! Greatest day of the year? I say so.

Overall, it turned out to be an ok day at work. I had a great lunch, and a few good conversations with coworkers, but eventually got to the point where I didn't give a shit, and took off early because why not. So I embraced my beautiful Feierabend and headed home before biking over to frisbee.

I ended up getting some stuff done in between, then headed to frisbee practice. Due to my hamstring, I wasn't planning on playing, but ended up doing a warmup and a shitton of stretching. During the stretching I discovered an M&M sized knot on my hamstring. It freaked me out a little bit.

After practice, one of the other guys' was celebrating their birthday by a nice round of Stubbyguts, a frisbee drinking game. Rather than playing, I ended up being the drink-guy, and got a nice little buzz in doing so. It was awesome, sitting around, drinking some beer (not American beer unfortunately Elke…), watching a fun game, and having an all around great time. Really a great touch to the day.

On the ride home, I left a nice message for Lutz (sorry for missing your call), and then jammed out to some good tunes. Riding the birthday-high I was on, I went and got a delicious döner...

Sidenote: good barbecue sauce on a döner = mindblowing

...and headed home for the night. Overall an absolutely awesome birthday!!!

Beers with a Coworker

The day after my birthday, a coworker and I went to Vogelbräu and grabbed some beers and food together. I was looking forward to it, as he's definitely one of the cooler coworkers I've got here, and it ended up being a really awesome time. We talked about vacations and the need to see the world, some weirdnesses about Germany (one thing I'll explain, and then the thing about no smiles or small talk), talked about how shitty Drumpf is, and a ton of other really cool stuff.

Just so happened that we had a good number of good beers, some kind of special schnapps that he suggested, and had a helluva great time. Definitely already looking forward to a) our next beer night and b) whenever he comes to visit in Portland!

During our beers and conversation, I also got a nice compliment from him about how loose and relaxed I am. He talked about how the office and work environment can be pretty unstructured and notably chaotic in our office, but that he was impressed at how I've been able to roll with the flow, how none of it really phases me. I gotta say, this was very flattering and cool to hear from him. I guess being in a constant state of flux over the past few years has helped groom this aspect of me, but it's nice to see that it's been a positive development!

Peculiar Germans

As I said, me and my coworker touched on some interesting topics. One of which was a comparison to the openness of the US and Germany. One thing he pointed out was how Germany houses are situated. It is more often than not true, that Germany houses are usually very close to the street. But in turn have a large back yard. He made the comment that it's a bit of a representation of closing oneself off from your neighbors and the outside world, and having one's private home-life secluded and separate from whatever lies outside.

In comparison, houses in America usually are set off a good bit from the road, kinda symbolizing an initial openness to society, in a bit of a default invitation or exposure of one's home life. This was a very interesting comparison, as it flows into one of the big differences between the US and Germany, and definitely makes a lot of sense. That's one thing that's always been a very noticeable change for me while living here, as sidewalks and streets are much more confined than in the states. Now it feels to fall into a better reasoning than it had before. Insights! Woo!

Vine and Ride

With my birthday celebrations not quite over, or more accurately me trying to extend them as long as I can, I decided to use my weekend to get out and explore a little more of the area in an awesome fashion. On Saturday I leisurely awoke and got ready, then jumped on the train to Wissembourg in France to start a beautiful day in the Pfalz. The train pulled in, I jumped on my bike, and then headed on my way.

First stop, the Deutsches Weintor. The road that I ended up riding along through the day extends much further than the parts I saw, and it's called the Südliche Weinstrasse, and it's a huge winery region in Germany. At the southern tip, they've got a big gate to signify the start. That's where I headed at the recommendation of one of my locally-informed and expertised coworkers (he grew up a few miles away from the place, which helps).

I got to the Weintor (a big gate) and explored around a little bit. The gate was pretty cool, and surrounded by a few wine shops and restaurants. I ended up heading to the official restaurant and it ended up being quite the start. The vittles on hand: a beautiful glass of Merlot, with a salad, Bratkartoffel, and a hearty cordon bleu. It was absofuckinglutely delicious. That, and I was sitting out on the terasse, and had it all to myself for a good while. An absolutely beautiful day with amazing food and a great book (I started the Count of Monte Cristo). Towards the end of my time there, I was able to spectate and enjoy the environment of a beautiful wedding taking place at the same time. They did some thing where the bride and groom saw a log in half together. I'm not sure what it signifies or what kind of tradition it was, but it was very interesting.

The journey continued. I rode through a couple small Dorfs, a number of gorgeous wineries, and had a beautiful view along the whole way of the entire valley, past Karlsruhe and over to the Schwarzwald. I'm really living in a beautiful part of this country.

Before arriving at my next planned stop, I took a little detour to an old castle that was right around the corner. Burgruine Landeck (Landeck Castle Ruins) was built around 1200 (overhead an awesome dad-joke from a kid on the way out. The sign says "Erbaut vermütlich um 1200", and the kid essentially said, "they built it at 12:00? That's pretty fast!" loved it.) on an absolute beautiful spot, over looking a nice valley leading into the Pfalz as well as the entire Rhein valley.

I enjoyed my little jaunt through the castle, and was at that point really looking forward to my next glass of wine. So I went back my bike, rode down the road, and was greeted with a closed wine garden. Wha wha whaaaaa. That was disappointing… Not to let it get me down, I continued on my way.

The journey continued to be beautiful. Eventually, I found a perfect nap spot. Being a little worn down, and always ready for a great nap, I took a little break. Nothing a little shade and a nice patch of grass can't do to keep you going!

A little further on, I got to the next recommended watering hole. Luck would have it, but it too was closed (to non-hotel guests). Drat! So much bad timing. The next place wasn't too far away, so I headed there. At this point, I realized I might have started my journey later than I should have. The next place was just closing down as I got there, but I got to walk through their cellar and see all that they had. The wine café was closed, but the lady was nice enough to let me hang out and try a glass of their Pinot Noir. Satiated for the time being, it was back to the road through hills and houses.

Between there and my last stop, I was riding along a completely empty road. It was quiet; the sun was shining; the grass, trees, and vines were a nice green, and things were just great. Nothing like a great bike ride to get your spirits up.

Bikey-Videoy Thing

Last stop of the day - Vögeli. This was very highly rated by my coworker, and it did not disappoint. Unfortunately, all the tables on the terasse were reserved, so I had to sit inside. Additionally, I felt a little out of place, as it was a fairly classy establishment, and my Leadbelly pullover and flip flops didn't quite match the mood. But who gives a fuck, I was ready for some good food and delicious wine.

Let's just say I didn't leave disappointed. I started off with a spritzy Cabernet Sauvignon before dinner came. My delicious grub for the evening - the Pfalz-Farmer's Meal - Saumagen, Bratwurst, Leberfleisch, mit Sauerkraut und Brot. Oh my goodness was it DELICIOUS. Truly scrumptious. I wish I could have had two, but the one I had with the wonderful wine put me in a completely satiated state. What a beautiful place to be.

After the delicious meal, I rode past a few more wineries and fields, and eventually made it to Landau. From there, I took the train back to Karlsruhe to watch the DFB Pokal (German soccer championships). Could I say it turned out to be a good day? Oh yes. Most definitely.

Dahner, Party of 3

Germany and their holidays. Honestly, it's such a beautiful thing, something America could really use to pick up on. We had another Thursday off, and not letting it go to waste, it was time for another hike. Unfortunately not another Schnappsbrunnen hike, but me, Malte, and Bello headed to the Pfalz for a wonderful day on the Dahner Felsenpfad.

As is status-quo for the area, it was a beautiful drive deep in the the Pfalz hills and forest. We got to Dahn, found a parking spot, and then started along the hike. It was a roughly 12km loop around some beautiful rock features, through the town, and then along a few ponds and in the woods.

The first part of the hike was absolutely gorgeous. It took us up some really interesting rock features and cliffs with a great view of the area. Along the way there was a lookout built into one of the cliffs, so we climbed up and admired the view. Across the way, there was another interesting rock outcrop (which we would soon check out as well). As Malte saw it, he mentioned that it looked like Mt. Rushmore. Randomly I threw out the question of who would make it onto the German Mt. Rushmore. Interesting and possibly controversial hypothetical question.

As I said, we soon made our way over to the other rock outcropping, where me and Bello got a little adventurous and climbed up a pretty neat feature with another great view. The trail continued on along the cool cliffs and stuff for a while longer, then twirled its way past the town.

It hung on the outskirts, and eventually took us to the other side of town where, before going back into the woods, it passed this random ankle-deep bath. It turns out it wasn't random, but rather a purpose-built foot bath for hikers (aka a Kneipp). How awesome!

We pulled up, took off our shoes, and waded right in. It was super cold, but unbelievably refreshing. With our feet cool and relaxed, we chilled around a bit, but eventually headed back on our way.

The rest of the hike was pretty good. There were some more cool rock features, and then it kinda got flat and not so wildernessy, but was still enjoyable on a beautiful day. Long story short, we had a great hike and then headed back to Karlsruhe to enjoy the rest of the day.

Parkbeque

After we got back, and I had a quick nap, I headed to the Castle Park to meet up with some friends at a little grill party as a bit of a going-away get together for Linde, one of the frisbee ladies here in Karlsruhe. It was super fun and super chill. There was some delicious food to be had, a lot of fun people to chat with and meet, and of course some frisbees to throw around.

Towards the end of the shindig, as the sun was going down, Jasper told me there was an Open Air going on somewhere else in the park. Having heard about them before, I was intrigued, so he and I wandered over and joined the fun. What a great night for it too.

What's an Open Air, you ask? It's an impromptu concert/dance party outside. Some dudes wheel out a dj booth and some big speakers to some random place, people come, and then things get jiggy. It was a really cool experience, just hanging out in the park with essentially a pretty dope club out under the stars. It was a pretty damn good time. Unfortunately, we joined the fun a little late, and they had to close it all down at a certain time. But fun was had fo sho.

Deutsche Meisterschaft Qualifikation

That next weekend (the week was fine, just work, nothing super special that I remember), my frisbee team here in Karlsrue, the Colorados (named after a type of Haribo gummi candy snack. It's a mixture of a bunch of different candy and gummi types, which makes sense because we're a mixed team…) headed to Heidelberg to play for a spot in the Deutsche Meisterschaft (German Mixed National Championships). I was still a little apprehensive of how my leg was doing. I had kept it loose the whole week, and figured either way I was going to play on it.

Long story short, I played in all except the last game. And surprisingly enough, the hamstrings held up pretty well. I was/am super pumped, and definitely surprised at how well they held up. But a huge thanks and shoutout to Meryl is due for letting me borrow her hamstring bandages and wraps. I definitely wouldn't have been able to play without them!

As for the games, we Colos ended up kicking ass and taking a few names. Our first two games on Saturday ended up being pretty clear decisions for us against Südsee from Konstanz and then Hässliche Erdferkel II from Marburg. The third game of the day came against our good rivals DisConnection from Freiburg, who we played and beat twice at Hechten a few weeks back.

The game ended up starting off terribly. We couldn't get past their zone, and ended up being down 2-11. But then a crazy storm rolled in and all games were paused for a good half hour at least. Play eventually resumed, and I'm not sure what clicked, but we started rolling. Break after break after break came our way. Unfortunately it ended up being too little too late, but losing 10-13 after being down 2-11 says a lot, especially when point differential can decide a game.

The last game of the day we played TriSa (Trier and Saarbrücken). We built up a nice lead to start the game, and then another huge storm rolled in. Rather than waiting until an unknown break in the thunder and lightning, the captains agreed to call it as it stood. Overall, a great Saturday, building up to a great Sunday.

Our first game of the day came against Frau Rauscher and the …. from Frankfurt, and from what I've heard, they were the ones to beat in our pool. With our loss against DisConnection (10-13), and Frau's win against Disconnection (13-9), we would have to beat them to force a three-way tie, and beat them by 5 to take the pool.

The first half of the game, we ended up trading points. It stood at 5-5 on-serve, and looked like things would keep pointing towards a tight finish. But something clicked, and we came into our own. I'm not sure how it happened, but we ended up pulling out 5 straight breaks to end the game, winning at 10-5. Not only did we win, but we got a +5 margin. What's that mean? We would win the pool as long as we won our last game.

Last up was the Feldmädchen from Mainz, essentially their 2nd team. Long story short, we put them away pretty quick. With that, we sealed our spot as the #1 seed in our pool and punched a ticket to the regional finals. Hot damn!!! As I said, this last game I unfortunately had to set myself out. During that game against Mainz, I played a few D-Line points. And just as the whole hamstring problems started, I could feel them start to tweak and sting running down on the pull. Having done more than I thought I would be able to do in playing 6 of 7 games over the weekend, I stayed warm but got loud on the sidelines for the finals.

To end the weekend, we played Hässliche Erdferkel I, the first team from Marburg. They turned out to be a good opponent, as was to be expected. They lost a few people due to train schedules and stuff, but long story short, we came away with the win and the overall top spot in the Southwest Regional for Germany. What's that mean, we're headed to German Nationals!!! Not only that, but if I heard correctly, we're coming in as the overall #1 seed. Holy shit. Let's do this.

Needless to say, I'm super stoked. We played hard all weekend and started to get a better idea of how we all gel together. Another thing I'm stoked about is that I'll be able to play at the Meisterschaft. It's the second to last weekend that I'm in town, and that paired with another few weeks to let my hamstrings get a little more time to heal, should set things up for an AWESOME weekend against some great competition from all over Germany. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hamstring Problem Solved?

Naturally, I was/am pumped that I was able to play despite the slight injury. And come to think of it, I think I might know why I have hamstring problems. It's just a theory, but it might be true.

So I am a very flexible person, and I always have been. I can comfortably palm the ground with a locked knee, and that means my hamstrings are also quite flexible. But with all the running that frisbee requires, I feel like this looseness in the hamstrings is a bad thing.

I'm trying to picture it as a really loose rubber band. It's loose and it still functions, but somehow the looseness leads to problems, namely pain and straining or some other kinds of problems. I could be completely wrong in this, but it's a hunch. If you're a physician, doctor, someonewhoclearlyknowsmorethanme, or have another hunch, I'd love to hear your thoughts on if my high degree of looseness in my hamstrings could be a cause for issues.

Windmill Windup - A Tourney for the Ages

That following week after the Mixed-Quali was pretty standard. Work and stuff and frisbee practice. Nothing super special. On Wednesday, I headed to practice to do some warming up (still giving the leg a break), and overheard that there was a team looking for guys for Windmill. OHHHH BOOOOYYYY. I jumped on it and talked to Foxi to see if I could jump in and play. He had to talk to the captain, so I made a gut decision to go for it, and had to wait to hear back.

What's Windmill, you ask? It's the biggest tournament in Europe. In total, 80 frisbee teams join in Amsterdam at a huge sports complex to duke it out at the tournament with elephants all over the place (the tourney mascot is an elephant named Herbie, unfortunately not a real elephant…). I'd heard about it my first time in Germany, but didn't get the chance to make it out there. So this time around I was chomping at the bit to make it happen. But up until two days before the thing I had no leads and no chance in sight.

But waking up early Thursday morning I got the confirmation that I was a go!!! Needless to say, I was super pumped. I still had to go into work that day before we headed out, but thankfully it went by really fast. Before I could realize it, me and a bunch of other Karlsruher's were on the road headed to Amsterdam!!!

The drive went by quickly, and we made it to the tournament. I somehow managed to find a spot in Foxi's tent, and then the fun began. The first night, we just chilled around and had a few beers, then hit the sack in preparation for a great few days of frisbee.

Me and Foxi were picking up with a team from Würzburg, traditionally a very good team. They were unfortunately relegated to the 2nd league during the Mixed-Quali, but I was ready for a weekend of good frisbee with the team. Unfortunately, both me and Foxi were extremely let down with the whole playing aspect of the weekend.

The people we were playing with were pretty nice people, super welcoming to us and a general jovial group. But we also had two Australians picking up with us, and they had to be constantly reminded to speak English so everyone could understand what was going on. Besides that, the frisbee was a mess. The catches were pretty poor, a lot of throws were just careless, beginner mistakes were being made left and right, their 'system' was super contradictory, and the mood was just kinda shit. I gotta say, I was super let down and disappointed with the playing throughout the weekend. I played all games except the last one, but the excitement was on a wane from the first game to the last (which I sat out, on both injury and lack of interest reasons). But enough of the bad part, to the good part!

Honestly, second to Boracay, Windmill is right at the top of the best tournaments I've visited. There was just so much awesomeness going on, at times I couldn't keep track of it all! The headquarters was huge, with spikeball, cornhole, volleyball, can-jam, a frisbee throw speedometer, a life-size looping louie, a bike ferris wheel, and a shitton of other stuff to offer. It was a great place to hangout, people watch, eat, and just have a general good time.

The place it was at was absolutely huge. There were 20 fields with a few to spare, and all were full during every round. That means 80 teams in total were there (40 mixed, 24 open, 16 women's). And with the proximity to Worlds coming up later this month in London, there were a number of National teams there using it as their last warm-up prior to Worlds (including Germany Mixed, Germany Women's, and Sweden Open - sup Björn!!!).

All this means that there was ultimate every direction you turned, which was awesome. We had three games on Friday, four on Saturday, and one on Sunday, and all in between there was tons of awesome ultimate to spectate.

With so many teams there, that means there was a ton of frisbee players there to fill out those teams. I actually knew a handful of people there, so I got to catch up and hang out with a lot of great people. And throughout the weekend, I made acquaintance with another handful of more great people. Frisbee people are just the best.

Here are some of the highlights:

• Learning and playing the dart game. It's a helluva lot of fun, especially when no ones saves your target!



• The bike ferris wheel. Me and Fabi did some work on that thing.



• Mingle Mingle. Roughly 200 people all crammed into one patch of earth playing a chaotic game? Awesome. Way awesome.
• Dance Party and Party in general. It too was absolutely awesome.



• Beer Race. I didn't participate, but it was super huge.



• Super awesome people everywhere. Shoutout to Foxi, Fabi, Tom, Tobi, Meryl, Luka, Höffes, Filip, and all the beautifully awesome people that helped make the weekend amazing!!!

Thankfully we got to hang around on Sunday and watch all three finals games. Huge shoutout to the German Women, tournament champs!!! It was a pretty great afternoon for finals, with a pretty decent showing in the stands to watch some great ultimate. Also a huge shoutout to Bad Skid for taking down the French National Team (who looked extremely impressive) in the finals.

After the games, me and Filip stumbled upon a football and threw it around for a bit. But then we crammed into the van and headed back to Karlsruhe, with a quick pit-stop at McDonalds along the way. The next day, I was absolutely beat, and was suffering some pretty hardcore Post-Tournament Depression. I already told the Colorados, if they make it to Windmill next year, I'm in for sure.

A Quick Trim

I'm a beard guy. Everyone knows that about me. Well, since before I left Boracay, this facial forest has been growing out quite nicely. But the day after I got back from Windmill, I decided to trim it up and get it looking fresh.

Like it always does, it kinda surprised me at the difference in appearance from a slightly large beard to a freshly trimmed beard. And I'm not gonna lie, I felt like a baus. I look dope with a trimmed beard, and this is always a good feeling, a fresh beard with a little pep in your step. Beards fo life.

My Sincerest Apologies Friends... :-(

It's been awesome being back here in Germany, exploring the country some more and revisiting and seeing a bunch of great people that I met and came to know closely on the first time around. Luckily enough, I've been able to cross paths with a good number of those great people. Unfortunately, there are a ton more that I haven't had the chance to see, and likely won't.

It really sucks, not having the time or ability to stop by and see all of the many great people I know here. For one, knowing that we're back on the same continent, let alone the same country, makes it seem like it's just that much easier. But with so much going on with work, and either frisbee stuff or something else going on every weekend, if not every other, it's been a struggle.

I think this is going to be a fact of life really that I'm going to have to not necessarily grow to like, but at least become more accustomed to it. I'm always going to try my best to visit and see great people all over, it just sucks to know that it won't always work out with everyone. Cloning? Is that a thing yet? That might help...

Laundromat - Not a Happy Place

On the website for the hotel I'm staying at, they say guests have free access to a washer and dryer in-house. Well, that's been a flat out lie. At the start, the machines had a sign saying they were broken, but lately they changed the locks to the room and you're not allowed in there anymore. Because of this false advertising, I've had to go to the local laundromat to clean my clothes, but thankfully it's not that far away.

Last night, I went back to clean up some smelly clothes, and it was an interesting experience. I brought my computer to work on this post as the cycles were running, so I got everything squared away in the washer then sat down on a bench to get to work.

While I was sitting, some other guy came in and started doing his laundry, no biggie, people gotta clean clothes. After he got his stuff squared away, he came and sat down on the bench near me. Again, no biggie. But after three seconds it became a biggie. That dude reeked like one giant smelly, wet sock. It was absolutely repulsive.

Not wanting to vomit from his stench, I got my stuff and moved to across the store. Not a minute later after I sat down on my new bench, Reeky McReekface came and sat down next to me. Fucking seriously? Is there no refuge from your stench? Again I moved, and this time he stayed away. Thank goodness.

Eventually he left, so I moved back to the second bench to be near my washer, but now the whole place smelled like crap. Well, his dryer was near there, and he clearly didn't wash his stuff, just tried to dry his basket full of smelly wet socks. The whole place stunk. Thankfully there was a door nearby, so I propped it open to get some kind of airflow going in.

Then, shortly thereafter, some other guy was wandering around, and randomly started tugging on my washer door. I was like, 'what the heck are you doing' and he looked at me and asked if that was the pay machine. Seriously dude? Are you that stupid? So I pointed him to the right place and he left.

Dumbass. Dumbasses everywhere.

Next Up

Well, I've spent tonight trying to pack (I still suck at it, and likely always will), because in less than 24 hours I'm scheduled to be on a 747 headed to CHI-CA-GOOOOOOO!!! Family, I'm headed your way!!!

This weekend my older sister's graduating with her Masters of Music Education, so the whole clan is converging on The Windy City to celebrate. First off, super awesome congratulations to you Alicia!!! What an achievement!!! You should be extremely proud of yourself in accomplishing this!!!

I'm super stoked to see the whole family. We've got lots of chill time planned out, including brunches, dinners, drinking, an architectural tour, and then lots of fun times in general. It's going to be an awesome weekend.

Right now, I'm scheduled to fly back to Frankfurt on Sunday evening. But there are two potential things that could keep me in the US for a while longer. One in Chicago, an industry conference, and one in Oregon for a series of testing with my home department. It's all up in the air, so we'll see what happens.

Either way, I'm pretty pumped to head back to the US, even if for a few days. It's gonna be one helluva great trip!!! Mommy, Alicia, Aaron, and Peewee, I can't wait to see you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Original Publish Date: June 8th, 2016