Dark

Am having some friends over tonight for dinner, and most things are prepared and I'm wondering where they all are. It's all dark outside and feels like evening. But then I look at the time and see it's only 5pm!

Good thing it's only one month left, until it goes in the other direction!

Tuna

Funny, the other day I was food-shopping and I got this strange craving for tuna. I have never been a big fan of it, although I eat it when served, so was surprised. Ok, in sushi it's good, but cooked? Nah.

Reminded me of when I had an operation many years ago and all of a sudden wanted salad! Like in green salad leaves, not a salad with tasty stuff in it, served with a thick dressing. How weird is that?

Anyhow, I usually feel a bit nibbly in the evenings and tonight so also. And found this mix of tuna thingies that I bought the other day in Denner (yes, the craving was gone and I had forgotten I bought the tuna).

Imagine my surprise when the mix turned out to be tasty! Tuna, black beans, pepper and corn with a spice. I must find out what is wrong with it! Before my veggie fundamentalist friend points it out to me!

If I'm lucky it's not too good to be true, like when I found my house wine. Cheap and good at the same time. Luckiest day of my life :).

The postman always comes twice

There is something fishy going on with the postman I think. Every morning I can see the postman's wagon parked on the opposite side of the street. When I look out later it's gone. And it's not a few minutes.

I'm thinking of the massage parlour in that house, now being presented as "Asian spa" with a proper sign and all. Is it possible? Can this happen in our 'hood?

I guess so. I am long past the time when I thought "this won't happen to me".

Heating

I've been going bananas this past week, since we got the papers for the annual meeting for our building. That includes the cost for the maintenance of the house. Some cost we share like the stair cleaning, the garden in front and the tremendously high cost for maintaining the lift. That is irritating here in Switzerland, since all lifts have to be "inspected" every two months, even though ours is new, and we have to pay for the service even if it's not needed. It's like the tv-license. I never watch tv on the actual tv, I watch on the computer and not Swiss tv. Anyway, let's not go there. My blood pressure is high enough as it is.

The issue is that my heating cost is way up there, and higher than the others. We are four apartments in the building, and my share is 22%. This year my heating cost is 34%, something ain't right, 'cause I don't use the most.

So I've been sending for papers to look at the usage in detail, I even had to use Excel again! Then I got tripped up by some manual notes made on one of the copies, saying KW, me thinking it was KiloWatt when it actually meant KaltWasser (cold water). Heating is apparently measured in MWh, which I assume means MegaWatt hours, and after ripping up the floor in my wardrobe, where the floor heating gizmo is located, I realized there is a measurer right there. Only on the papers I got it only shows cost, not usage.

And nobody has ever been here, checking the meter. Can the heating company do this remotely?

I am so not giving up on this investigation. Bigger apartments should by default use more heating, and one of the other flats definitely use more than I, they have like 28°C indoors all the time.

Until now I did some screwing (!) by myself, fiddling with the cock-pit-like heating installation, and tomorrow I'm asking some professionals for advice. I happen to have invited them for dinner, coincidentally as it happens.

Why I waited four years? 'Cause the first year you have not used anything to compare with, second year could be a coincidence, third year we focused more on other types of cost, but this year I reacted. And now I happen to have the time.

Heating company watch out!

Gourmet

Today I was treated to something I so richly deserve :). Fish soup and oysters.

Goodbye pyjama

I belong to the diminishing group of people who thinks that clothes should be worn until they fall apart. Ok, I wouldn't go as far as sitting there with a needle and thread to try and mend it, no way, but I don't want to throw away perfectly good clothes even if they are out of fashion. Haha, fashionista me? I have been accused of many things, but never that.

But today I had to. A pair of soft pants with a more than 10 cm rip on one leg, and a top with half my belly showing. Yes, it was time to let them go. But it hurts. They were so comfortable, and have been with me for a very long time.

Tonight I will sleep in the top I bought at Copenhagen airport back in 1999. Almost as good as new!

Gingerbread house

I'm being kind here, but still, it's a good effort. But when I asked what the pig was doing there I was told it is a sheep. Huh, a sheep with a snout? Interesting. That's what too much wine can do.

Status quo rocks

I don't mean the band. I'm referring to computers. When everything works and the sun shines and there are no clouds in the sky. Until you download some new software and everything goes haywire.

Right now when logging on to this blog I'm getting a message:

"ERROR: Possible problem with your *.gwt.xml module file. The compile time user.agent value (gecko1_8) does not match the runtime user.agent value (ie9). Expect more errors."

Indeed. Expect more errors.

I regard myself as pretty educated, and can get along in most circles, both with so called blue-collar workers and with academics, but this? I have no friggin idea.

It started when I downloaded the camera thingie, and now the colours have changed on the blog, but I can still log on and can still blog. So no reason to be alarmed. Yet.

Camera installed

Finally! Ok, I only tried once before but today I managed to install my wireless surveillance camera. Now I only have two problems left to solve. One is how I save the pics on my computer, so that I can go back and check if something happens, and another is where to put it. Right now it's not nailed to a wall but just standing on a shelf where my furry ones hopefully not gonna get to.

So now I just need some help with putting it up, and my guru to get well again and tell me how to save the pics.

One step at a time.

Presents for use

Today I went to a birthday party, and the older I get the more I appreciate not getting presents that cannot be used for something. The same goes for many of my friends. We just don't want thingies, we have what we need and we don't want to pretend liking something we do not want on display, or hidden in a drawer only to come out when that particular person is visiting.

So today I gave a some feet paraphernalia to a 57-year-old man. Not a traditional gift I admit, but his wife had told me he had problems. So foot rasps, and baby oil (took me ages to find since baby oil is not sold in the health department, but in the kids ditto, with which I'm not familiar!) he got. First a nice footbath, then rasping, rasping, rasping with different tools, finally baby oil all over the feet and socks on top, before going to sleep and waking up with baby feet.

Try it! I do it myself even if I'm not 57.

Oldies still going strong

I was volunteer-working again today, and these oldies make me laugh in so many ways.

First of all, I'm astonished about how much they still care about their appearance, much much more than I do, but ok, that doesn't say much.

Second, they still have lots to talk about even though they probably see each other more or less daily. Every time there is a row of ladies sitting there, today joined by one (!) man, poor guy. I think there were nine women. Living proof that women live longer than men.

Third, today they were singing, wanting music, but complaining that their voices get worse with age. Heck, they sounded better than I do when trying to sing. Which for that good reason I try to avoid.

I don't even get frustrated when they forget. And they do forget pretty often. They place an order for coffee with cake, and when we deliver they have changed their order to only tea. And today one lady brought her own tea bag, saying she pays only two francs instead of three because of that. Fine, we're not exactly there to make money.

They forget if they have paid or not, and surprisingly enough they always tip. Not a lot, but still. One would think that older people have less money.

Yes, they are real darlings even if I don't always understand what they say, speaking Switzedütch and all. But the sweetest of them all and today a helper in the kitchen, the famous Mr Müller.

Konrad the crab

A comment made me remember Cook Islands. It was great! We had a bungalow with our very own crab. A crab that lived in a hole in the sand on our terrace. I named him Konrad. Konrad the crab.

And I can see that I already then had my beloved purple flip-flops that I had to throw away earlier this year. They were falling apart. Too bad, they were only like 10 years old.

The barbar

I was reading something on the net referring to Santa Barbar. Obviously a typo but it made me remember when I was working in Holland, and there was a bar in office building, open Thursdays and Fridays afternoon (what a great idea!). It was referred to as the barbar, like in barbarian.

I believe it came from the telephone system, where your first and last name were programmed into, so that you always could see who called you, and that the person who programmed the number for the bar, chose to call it "bar bar".

It didn't happen very often that I was called from the "bar bar" since I was usually there when it opened, but once in a while, if an evil boss made me work late on something, without a doubt, they called me. "Where are you?, the barbar is open!".

Oh the memories.

Bhutan

Tonight we were also talking about travelling. I told my friend about the dream I once had to visit New York, mainly because everybody told me I had to see it once. And I wanted to. Until I was travelling to Cook Islands, having to transit in America and they forced me to give fingerprints and do a retina scan. Even though I didn't even set foot in the US at the time (except for when I had a quick smoke outside the doors when nobody saw). Screw them I say. That invasion of my integrity made me decide never to visit America again.

My friend on the other hand has a dream to visit Bhutan. Bhutan you ask? A smaller country in between China and India, and close to the Himalayas. Why, I asked? She wants to walk in mountains.

I rest my case. She lives in Switzerland, is Swiss and have more mountains in the neighbourhood than anybody can ask for. I haven't looked it up, but my guess is that Switzerland has more mountains per capita than any other country in the world.

But we agreed in the end that all dreams do not have to come to fruition. Sometimes a dream can stay a dream, and we'll be just as happy.

I still think she's gonna go hiking in Bhutan. I on the other hand will never visit New York. But I'm sure we'll both be satisfied with our respective decisions. And what more can you ask in life?

Veggie evening

It is always a pleasure when I manage to produce food that even a vegetarian likes.

We also talked about the pros and cons of electronic calendars. Here we are kindred spirits. She tried one for one year many years ago. I bought a gizmo some 15 years ago which 1. managed to delete all my engagements once the battery was empty and then had to be synced again with the computer and 2. cost a fortune (ok, I didn't pay it, my company did, but still).

Now we are both back to paper calendars, and I gotta admit, I'm a bit jealous. Hers is purple!

Catastrophes

All over the world there are catastrophes happening on a regular basis. Nature causes disasters, and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Well, at least very little.

Every time one of these disasters happen we are asked to donate money. At the same time we're reading about that the help is not reaching the destination. So what to do?

I used to be a member of the Red Cross, until I read about the bonuses the top guys got. I used to give money to Greenpeace, until I heard they were using violence to achieve their goals. I donated a 100 francs to Doctors without borders some years ago in support of the disaster in Haiti, and my company back then doubled the money.

But since then, I have received monthly begging letters from Doctors without borders using the money I donated to postage for letters to me again. Which means the money I sent are used for administration and not giving me the feeling that I actually helped.

I am very sorry for the Philippines right now, and I have empathy, but not having any personal connections to there, I don't think there is anyway I can help even if I want to.

And I refuse to give money to organizations that use it for the top guys, and not for the people it was intended to.

Give or not give, that's the question.

Pink envelope

Was watching a program on telly which triggered my memory to remember when I had a boyfriend back in the days, and he was doing his military duty.

I sent him a letter in a pink envelope, which I had sprayed with perfume and he told me later that his captain, lieutenant or general or whatever the bosses are called in the military, had sniffed it in front of the whole platooon before giving it to him.

Very embarrassing for him, and right up my alley.

It wasn't the sense of humour that killed our relationship, in case you wondered.

Ethics vs cost

I think we can all agree on that observing ethics in life always is attached to a certain amount of cost. The question I think is just how much we are willing to pay for it.

As an example I think about the graffiti made on our house. So unnecessary and no hope that the police will find the offender.

We have gotten a few offers from companies willing to remove it. A serious one for about 2,000 francs, which means 500 for each and every apartment in the house, and several less serious ones for down to 300 for the same job.

I estimate the area to be re-painted to about 30 m2, since if you just remove the graffiti it'll still show. The paint will be affected, so re-painting is the only option if you ask me.

There will need to be a crane, since a ladder wouldn't go high enough. The graffiti goes almost all the way to the top of the house.

Now, the company offering a solution for 300 I don't think is serious. And if they are allowed to do it, how much damage can they cause and how long will the "removal" last for? Do they pay taxes? What material do they use? If somebody falls down while doing the job, are they gonna sue us since they don't have insurance? Is it a registered company even?

Nah, in order to remove the graffiti a serious company would've to be used in my opinion, but also in my opinion the cost is too high, since there is no guarantee it won't happen again. Maybe with time we'd all get used to having a grey heart greeting us coming home?

But I still think the vandals should be rolled in tar and feathers!

Men and technology

I have an old friend. Yes he's both older than me and I have known him for, oh think think think, about 25 years.

Actually, we've only been friends for 24 years since he was my boss the first year, and we didn't exactly see eye to eye. At least I didn't.

Nowadays we skype twice a week, but today he sms'd me. He's in the countryside somewhere, with no connection. Until his son told him that Skype could be run from the mobile. Hard to believe he's been in the IT industry most of his life.

So told him I'd look into my busy agenda to see if I could find a spot.

Sunday dinner

On the menu today? Take a wild guess.

Had some shy people over, who didn't want to appear on pics.

Still got it in me

The last few years I've been much more homely than ever in my life. I guess it's getting older combined with the fact that I now have a home that I adore and enjoy being in. Plus my furry ones who need attention, or maybe I'm just using them as an excuse :).

But last night I went out with a friend. And didn't come home until after three in the morning! Still got it! Had a blast in my fav place with my fav singer, who did an unexpected appearance. And it didn't hurt when a cute police guy (unfortunately no uniform) sat his ass down next to mine. If he wouldn't have been married I'd taken him home.

On the other hand when I acted that somewhat irresponsibly last time the guy didn't leave until two years later, so perhaps just as well.

My coffee machine

Some ten years ago through a contact I bought a used coffee machine for 150 francs. Back then it would've cost about a thousand in a shop. It was used and repaired.

When I moved into my flat four years ago I had a plan to buy a new one. A black and shiny coffee maker that would match the style of my apartment.

But cheap as I am, I figured as long as the old one works, why get rid of it?

And I tell you, it is still going strong. The espresso function has stopped working, but the normal coffee is still being brewed with real coffee beans tasting fantastic.

And standing in the corner of the kitchen you can hardly see that it's dark brown and not shiny black!

Skirt or pants

I'm invited to a big birthday party in a couple of months, and in order to be prepared I asked if there is a dress code. No, I was told, "but it would be nice if you could wear a blouse and a skirt". And no, the guy doesn't work for UBS.

Pressing on, I was informed that pants would work too. Phew!

Only got one skirt I still get into, so either it's shopping time or finding a suitable pair of pants for a big party. I know, it's not a problem like in solving starving-people-in-the-third-world, but still. For me it'll require a brain-storming session.

You're only as old as the man you feel

Haha, was having a conversation tonight with a friend regarding saving up in general and for pension in particular. Yes, I know, it doesn't sound very interesting or funny but it was when he said "yes, and when I retire in 35 years or so". Excuse me? In 35 years?

I might not be following German politics that well, so I didn't know that retirement age was 75 in Germany. Well done Angela Merkel!

Bomb shelter

I was watching a tv show about crimes, and the issue of bomb shelters came up. It reminded me that we actually have one in our house. A house with four apartments in Switzerland, probably one of the least war-inflicted countries on earth. If you ask me it's because all major criminals in the world have a bank account here.

Nevertheless, we have a bomb shelter in case the big enemy decides to strike an attack on Zürich. One of the tenants in the house (not me) has a basement utility room, with a door that can resist a bomb (or so I'm thinking, it's pretty thick). That basement room also has folding beds and a toilet. Mind you, it also has a window, so not sure how much the thick door will help.

So if the big war will hit, there shall be at least seven adults and two children sharing a room of 12 m2. I think if there wasn't a war before there will be one pretty quickly!

Quick update

Oh dear, time flies and no blogging.

Had a few friends over last weekend. One including a dancing dog.

And another evening with girltalk and raclette.

Now I'm mostly frustrated and irritated over a wireless camera I bought, that won't be installed properly!

Masterchef

I have now watched several seasons of Masterchef, US, UK and Australia/NZ, and I'm happy to announce that my prejudices are true.

In the US version it's all drama, things repeated to hammer it in, beautifully presented food and flamboyant judges. Judges who are no strangers to shouting: "It's the worst I've ever seen!" or "What were you thinking mixing this and that"? And after being assholes to a contestant, voting him or her out, hugs the person saying "your heart is in the right place, keep on cooking".

The Australian/NZ version is in the middle. I like the food critic, 'cause he's imposing and scary, though a kitten inside. And it's still interesting. They give a background to the contestants, the food looks delish and the show is good enough to watch.

The UK version though is different. First of all, the people are uninteresting, the food looks like something I'd cook (not that I'm a bad cook, I just don't know much about presentation, much like the contestants), and the judges are boring. Exactly what I think English food is all about. And when somebody is eliminated they just leave. No parting words, no drama, no tears, no nothing. You gotta step it up Brits!

It's reassuring to know that clichés are clichés for a reason.

Guru strucks again

Hurray, I'm back in business! Both Excel and Word are working again, thanks to remote assistance from guru. Turned out to be a minor problem, once "we" figured out what it was, easily fixed.

And I got some tips re surveillance for a very reasonable price. Worth checking out.

If I ever have a break-in attempt again, it would be priceless to have photos to send to the police.

Bye-bye Excel

The difficulty with getting access to Excel and Word goes on. One person picked up on my scream for help and gave me a usb-stick with a licensed product (something I already paid for but cannot use), but when trying to install it I realized that:

1. It was ze German version. Which I could live with, after all it was how I learned the difference between wann and wenn when doing some consultancy work with a German pc provided to me. Wann means when and wenn means if. If anybody can explain the logic to me, please do. Why I learned it? I was trying to do an if-sentence in Excel and couldn't understand why the program didn't accept it. Wenn.

and 2. The file was zipped and Winzip is no longer a free product. Anybody who thinks I'm gonna pay for Winzip raise their hands now. I thought so.

So I guess it's down to how long my current computer will last before I can use Excel and Word again, 'cause no way will I buy a new one before this one doesn't work anymore.

Fast delivery

When I'm running out of my house wine I keep an eye on the Denner website, and as luck would have it, this week there was a sale on my wine. So placed an order.

It is very convenient. Normally I place the order, and a couple of days later I get a phone call telling me about the delivery time. Yes I agree, "between 8-12" or "between 12-17" is not satisfactory, but at least I'd know.

So yesterday morning (ok morning or noon-ish) I placed an order, and early today I got rudely awakened by the door bell. Wine delivery.

A grumpy guy coming to deliver, and me equally grumpy since he woke me up. No phone call to warn me, and the "2-3 days delivery time" announced on the website has obviously changed.

But ok, I shouldn't complain. Now my basement is full of nectar :).

Langlaufen

I know, using the translation tools available this has something to do with skis, but I mean long walking, like in hiking. That I did today with my friend including a dog. Anything over an hour is "langlaufen" for me. All this fresh air, and moving at the same time. I mean, overdoing it could kill you.

And here in Switzerland, it doesn't matter where you walk, it's either uphill or downhill. Sometimes I really miss Holland. But up there, halfway in the sky, is a beautiful view. Zürich, my city I was thinking.

Also, there were some beasts on the way. This "doggie" was a mix between a bear and a lion, and fortunately behind bars.

After a conversation that went from anything to everything we went into the subject of Ballenberg. "Do you know what I remember most from that day?" he asked. "No", I said, thinking it was probably my delicious picnic basket, or maybe the straw roofs of the Berner houses, or even all the animals we were seeing, or perhaps just spending time with me and my wits?

"The weather", he said. "The way the weather went from mist and cold into sunshine and 25°C just before we arrived". The weather! Hmm. I guess I have to up my personality, and become more interesting.

So I countered with my best memory of the day. The pig that was having the longest pee in history in a pool of water, and then lustily bathed in the same pool.

Yeah ok, I have to work on it, I agree.

Food and wine

It's amazing, am watching this American show, featuring junior masterchefs, all being between 8 and 13 years old, and I tell you honestly, if I could cook as good as they, I'd be lucky. Wow!

And very funny when a 9-year-old is saying "not a problem, I may be only 9, but I have cooked for 6 years". A 9-year-old? What is the world coming to when children have to grow up so quickly?

Anyway, was invited to go on the wine boats today at lunchtime, the ones that are parked in the middle of Zürich, and offering wine-tasting for a couple of weeks. And guess what? I said no.

Partly because I have a cold, but mostly because I don't enjoy wine so early in the day. Strange, ain't it?

Holland's got talent

There is some talent in Holland.