August 2006

A Nightmare Week...

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. Everything breaking down at once. Let's begin!

1. After vacuuming nearly the entire house on Sunday, Cindy reports that the vacuum cleaner is "acting up." Upon further inspection, it appears the electrical wiring inside the floor attachment is damaged, causing a short circuit. Remedy: None. buy a new one.

2. Cindy comes home after picking up Karl from school, reporting that her car, a 1995 Volvo 940 Turbo, is making a strange "whine" when accelerating. Upon further investigation, it was discovered that the engine had NO OIL, and the noise was coming from the turbo booster straining to turn without benefit of lubrication. Needless to say, I was furious at this lapse in maintenance, and decided to try and fix the problem. I bought 5 quarts of top quality synthetic oil and refilled the crankcase. I thought the better of letting her drive the kids to swim practice, so gave her my car to use. I took the Volvo on a short 1 mile trip to rent a movie; on arrival, smoke began to waft from under the car (!). Upon reaching home, the smoke was thick and filling the cabin, so I leaped out, opened the hood, and was greeted with flames! I ran inside to get the fire extinguisher and put out the engine fire. Apparently, the engine gasket blew, spewing oil all over the place. After a $50 tow to the Volvo dealer, and a $20/day car rental, we await with great trepidation the repair bill.

3. My Company car developed a slow leak in the left front tire, requiring a patch. Unfortunately, I had to return twice to Tire Kingdom for the repair, because the first attempt was a failure.

4. While waiting for my car to be fixed, I began to iron some of my dress shirts. Partway through the 6th one, the ironing board collapsed, the legs snapping off from the board itself. Remedy: a new board was purchased.

We are looking forward to the upcoming Labor Day holiday, as we definitely need to de-stress!

Education in Germany

NEWS ON EDUCATION FROM MUNICH

As the 2005/06 school year came to and end, authorities were happy to report that Munich did not experience the problems of other districts, like attacks on teachers in Berlin and other eastern cities. The year started with some 148,000 children enrolled in 347 schools. In the A-B-C-classes they had 9,478 kids. Munich attracted more kids than anticipated due to a flight from rural Bavaria to the "Big City." Result: more than 30 children per class. But have no worries; an expert in these delicate matters declared that class-size is not decisive in the learning capacity of kids. The parental background is the base of all learning. Now you know.

The Munich school system sits on top of achievements in comparison with other states, from Berlin to Bremen and over to Dresden and Leipzig. But also in Munich there were not enough teachers and teacher helpers. Recruiting efforts in Austria did not help much. German teachers are also lured by the Scandinavian countries...

The hot debate about when to speak the German language in German schools ended in a vague compromise. With the tremendous influx of immigrants from mostly Slavic nations, it was unanimously agreed upon to let the kids communicate with whichever lingo they brought to school. In some German schools - all levels - up to seventeen languages are spoken, presenting of course a nightmare to the teachers and administrators. So there...

In fifty years, there will not be many Germans roaming the Beer Gardens. In 2005, 388,000 marriages were reported, 1.9% less than in 2004. May was the best month to give marriage a try. And in 2005, some 830,000 died, 144,000 more than people were born. The decline of Germany is forecast as mentioned above. See yo'all on Saturday when we have some celebration. Check with the Interior Secretary. Opa.

Turn of the Century Forsight

Good morning!

While riding recently downtown, I was flabbergasted by the many construction sites and finished condos, leaving scant sidewalks. Immediately I remembered a short entry some German wrote in regard to this development. I think the few lines are very clever.

Es war einmal ein Lattenzaun,

mit Zwischenraum, hindurchzuschaun.

Ein Architekt der dieses sah,

stand eines Abends ploetzlich da -

und nahm den Zwischenraum heraus

und baute draus ein grosses Haus.

One time there was a picket fence

with space to gaze from hence to thence.

An architect who saw this sight

approached it suddenly one night,

removed the spaces from the fence

and built of them a residence.

The above was penned by a Christian Morgenstern (1871 - 1914).

Area 3/5 Championship meet

The Area 3/5 Championship swim meet in St. Petersburg this past weekend was a hot, humid, noisy affair, but nevertheless, was a tremendous success for Karl and Natalie. Both had excellent swims, particularly in their favorite events, the 50 and 100 yard Breaststroke. Natalie finished 4th in both events (out of 58), and was only 3 seconds off of her first JO (Junior Olympics) cut, swimming the 50 breaststroke in 45.20. Karl made the finals in 5 of 6 events, finishing in 14th place in the 50 breaststroke, and 10 in the "A" Final of the 100 yard breaststroke. He impressed the coaches by dropping 3 seconds off that event between the prelims and final! Unfortunately, he also got DQ'ed in the 100 IM...Oh well, he'll use that experience to avoid such predicaments in the future!

Hope everyone is going to watch some of the National Championships over the next several days; the best in the world will be there in Irvine, California!

Karl driving to the finish in the 100 yard Breaststroke!

Natalie just "chillin" between swims!

Birthdays, Swimming, and Prague

GOOD MORNING,EVERYBODY!

Happy Birthday Peter...may all your wishes be fulfilled and may you achieve surprising swimming records, just as Karl and Natalie did recently. With the help of Cindy by reducing the amount of ice cream, you will be a shining star at the Y. You will also be a noteworthy gem by finishing my Autobiography in 2006. :) -:)

So you know what is going on across the Atlantic: In Budapest, four German beauties achieved a 3:35.22 time in 4x100 Meter freestyle. They beat the Australians who came in at 3:35,94.

After my afternoon brain-function-restoring nap, I experienced this urge to play with two words that I had stored for some time. The word "Fensterln" and "Defenestration" will be the core of my interesting story. Fensterln is an old custom and word used in rural Bavaria and Austria. The word denotes (in most cases) a happy occurance, usually around midnight between two people. "Defenestration" describes a somewhat sorry act, executed in many countries many, many years ago. To remove people from office who performed badly was usually the reason for the trip through an open window.

For example, when a healthy farmboy, say a Sepp Sacktraeger discovered a equally healthy farm girl, like a Zenzi Habmichgern, their only opportunity to exchange reciprocal pleasantries were during church visits on Sundays. Both parents kept a watchful eye on their respective offspring in order to eventually arrange a mutually satisfactory marriage. In order to get to know each other better, only "Fensterln" allowed this occasion. At the arranged date and time, Sepp carried noiseless a 30 feet long wooden ladder from the barn section of the farm to the mainhouse, underneath Zenzi's open window on the second floor. Climbing the ladder in this moonless night was no problem for Sepp since he was used to more strenuous work at his parents farm.

Arriving in Zenzi's room, THREE results could ensue. After a gratifying "Meeting of the Minds" at midnight he would depart in the earliest morning hours in order to be ready to work with some plough job. Zenzi also had a tight time-table: she had to milk the cows in the early morning hours. So, after the pleasant rendezvous, Sepp stored the ladder where it belonged and wandered home, still thinking about Zenzi. The SECOND possible result could be that Zenzi knew about Sepp's love of a neighboring girl and that he only wanted a little "Abwechslung" by visiting her. So she slapped Sepp around and before he knew it, he was in retreat by grabbing the ladder, missing in his haste a step, and falling helplessly - away from Zenzi. The THIRD outcome could be that Zenzi's father heard some noise from the animals in the barn and logically entered Zenzi's room and chased Sepp through the window.

A bit more about "Fensterln", stemming from the German word Fenster, or "fenestra" from Latin. The French use "fenetre" for window. When the thought arrived of comparing the two words, I also remembered "Der Prager Fenstersturz" from somewhere. In the very old (1255 founded) and charming city of Prague (Praha), also called "The Golden City" in Czechoslovakia, Catholic City potentates were thrown through a window from the government house on July 30, 1419, that's right, 1419. Just a few years later, on May 23, 1618, on having established some kind of monopoly in these exercises, three Catholic leaders of their flock were thrown from the second floor 40 "Ellen" or 30 feet from the same building to the floor, landing this time however on top of a wide and thick dungheap (Misthaufen). One of the three suffered a circumorbital haematoma (black eye). A few shots with some "rifle" missed and the three escaped unharmed. The Czech were so happy about the event that they coined the actual extraction movement of bodies DEFENESTRAZION. "Z" is the Czech spelling.

Unfortunately, this event triggered the 30 Year War. Between 1618 and 1648, the population in Germany went from 17 million people to 8. This somber fact leads to another "Chain of Events" - the First World War. When Archduke Francis Ferdinand was shot, along with his wife, World War I (1914-1918) broke out. Two people's fate doomed millions. The Second World War was a result of the shameful Traty of Versailles. Millions died. The current confrontation in the Middle East was triggered by the capture of two stray soldiers of one party, resulting in unnecessary deaths. What's next?