My Own Personal QR Code

Facebook has apparently (according to Techmeme) launched a new feature: the ability to post a QR code to your profile.

So I thought I better get on the ball and generate my own QR code (of course for this blog...)

Here it is:


Now I need to download a QR code reader for the iPhone and test to see if it works....

Be back with you soon.

Hopeful

Translation of the sign: Soon it will be ice cream time again. ;-)
Bala Beni: best ice cream in the world. But actually, I will just be happy if it stops snowing.

Goal-driven motivation (S2H)

I am that kinda person - there has to be a goal. Without a goal, I am lost. A couple weeks back I blogged about the S2H - this little wristwatch that monitors your physical activity. In the last week, I know what my physical activity graph looks like: a flat line. Like bottom of the y-axis flat. Like butt-expanding unless I finally get off of it super nasty flat. I like going to the gym - I feel great afterwards and the buzz lasts for a couple days. But when I don't make it there during the week, the weekend roles around and I am deader than those two remaining blue hundred-year old eggs in my refrigerator. So...the S2H has arrived and there are some new goals to rejoice over. If I log 7500 hours worth of points, I can win a Wii. Now don't get me wrong - I can go to the store this afternoon and simply BUY one in about 5 minutes, but...there would be no fun in that. The one piece of information I don't know and can't find online...is how many damn hours of physical activity is required...for 7500 points? 7500 hours?!?!? In which case, it will be a really really long time before I get the Wii. Or else..I will be really really really fit in a very short while. Thankfully there are rewards I can win for fewer points. But still daunting?
Well, I am off to the gym, so I guess I will know when I get back how many points 60 minutes of workout make...or 90. or 120. or...

Several Hours Later....
Ok, here's the report:
They are not kidding when they say moderate to intense physical activity. I just did a two hour workout, elliptical machine for 50 minutes, treadmill for 35, and bike for 25, and the thing JUST NOW (after also walking home, walking there, a few shakes of frustration, etc.) finally finally gave me credit for 60 minutes. So, not sure why. I was really moving the whole time, and it wasn't a casual walk in the park. I was wondering if it had to do with repetitive motion or something like that. Will have to wait and see and notice patterns.
Meanwhile, I uploaded my credit of one hour to see what I would get for that sweat, and am relieved to see that I at least get 60 points. So if I divide 7500 points by 60...I can see that it will take 125 hours to win the Wii. That seems kind of incredible. Not so bad, actually. 124 hours to go.

And...continued. I wasn't happy yesterday evening because I managed to rack up an additional 60 minutes on the device. Went to put in the additional hour and received the message that I can only put in 60 min a day!!! Ridiculous. Wrote the company. Waiting to hear what they say.
My letter:

Dear S2H,
I just recently bought an S2H device and have begun to use it. I was really excited to receive it and begin using it yesterday.

I have two questions: 1) I went to the gym and did quite a vigorous workout yesterday for close to two hours. I wore the device on my arm while I was on the elliptical machine, and in frustration, tied to my shoe while on the bike and treadmill. Despite the two hours, the device only really registered about 1 hour of activity. (It wasn't that it had filled up the hour and given me a code, it didn't quite fill up the hour.) Are there movements that simply don't register with the device? Perhaps very regular low impact movements? I was pretty confused because I was working quite hard.

2) Despite the fact that it only registered about one hour, when I finally did get the code and upload it, I continued with a fairly active day. And through the course of the rest of the day, I managed to accumulate a second hour. I tried to upload the second code (same day) and received the message that I am only allowed to upload once per day. This seems really really strange based on the stated goals of the organization and the purpose of the device. I ask that you reconsider this policy, as I had really wanted to use the device to register my actual activity on a daily basis, not the fact that I had managed a single hour.

By the way, I have written a blog entry or two on the device - can be found here: www.juliecanblog.blogspot.com.

Best regards, and hopeful that you will reconsider your policy,
Julie

Tram Pooch

Whew! Headed back to my own bed tonight, and gosh I am glad.
Saw this guy on the tram this morning on the way to work and we couldn't help but stare at each other. He was probably staring at the strange woman carrying three bags and a thermos of tea with a blue hat perched on her head and I was staring at the very well-behaved smart-looking poodle who I wouldn't have minded petting had I had a hand free.

Weekend

So...well...I have seen downtown Zurich quite a bit, but there is always a need to really spend a few hours traipsing through the windy streets of the old town with its weird and wonderful and way too expensive (usually) shops.

(And before anyone says something about the fact that I didn't take photos of Grossmünster or Fraumünster - I was THERE. But do you really want to see photos of them? Kinda...yawn?)

Night Stroll Through Zürich

Spent about an hour and a half wandering around Zurich last night (finally!). Ran into this woman, who offered me a drink of water. (nonverbally. It was kinda a gesture...). Not quite sure if this is a Swiss affliction...or just a random "I forgot to put on my other half today when I got out of bed this morning." I declined the water and kept on wandering.


















Came across these cranky bunnies in a shop window. They look really crammed into that box and I am guessing that is why they are cranky. But for now I decided to let them sit there and talk it out. I don't think I am a good bunny mediator.





















Towards the end of the stroll I came across this bookshop and went in and grabbed a book to take back to the hotel and read. All in all, a nice relaxed evening.



But did I mention? The prices of food here are really really astounding. I mean normal, every-day, nothing fancy food. Thank you for my per diem. Gosh.

Oh, one more thing: I edited these photos slightly with the (partially) free online tool Picnik. Really nice. I hadn't heard of it or used it before. Then Google bought it a couple days ago...so I read an article...and I gotta say - am really impressed. For my photo editing purposes, this is GREAT. Compared to paying 800 bucks (or whatever it is) for a copy of photoshop...wow...Even the premium version is a steal.

Swiss Chocolate Bunnies

You can tell Easter is coming...

On my way back to the hotel last night, I walked past this chocolate shop and had to stop and gawk. Amazing chocolate bunny sculptures.
































Although, I think they might have been a little confused. This kind of sculpture usually used for another holiday. (A towering tree of macrons in every possible flavor...wow. )

Hello Lindau

> I like the sereneness of the ducks on the dark grey still lake.
> Border town between Switzerland and Germany.

Spin the Wheel

chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.

I have a curious fascination with the IDEA of this site. But I haven't yet worked up the nerve to actually look at it. Well, ok, I take it back. I looked. But I did not spin. Or rather, I did not click. It's a site...where you are randomly paired with another individual somewhere in the world...to chat with. The hickup? Webcam is on. You don't like what you see? Click "Next." They don't like what they see? Well, you can guess. So,*if* one were looking to chat with random people, I guess this is the place to go these days. I am guessing that not very far into the future, this little site will take it one step further: it will add profiling information and matching ability. I.e., collection of info like gender, age, interests, purpose of chat, etc. So theoretically you could be more accurately paired with the kind of person you're interested in talking to. I am guessing there would be a line of old, fat, balding men scratching at their screens (uh, I mean waiting patiently in line) to speak to the 23 women in the world who have a fetish for the old guys. Ok, I take it back. No one is gonna be putting up profiling because then the site wouldn't work.

Anyway, I have a girlfriend or two who have tried it out - and confirmed what I thought is likely the case: buncha guys waving their magic wands around and hoping for the best. Well, the video above says this is the case about 14% of the time, but as more people learn about this site, I am guessing the ratio might shift a bit.)

So...it's amusing to read about - and this video does a great job of showing the experience. But I don't think I am really that interested in "getting my chat on." But hey, if you want to try it out, I am happy to watch you do it. Go spin the wheel...

The really interesting part (for me) is watching the realm of a private sphere continue to fall away online. We are watching it happen in both user-selected instances - in the various social networks, as well in non-user selected...i.e. businesses collecting information about you to use in profiling as well as...simple collection of information for the greater body of information out there available to the general public. Interesting to read about the whole Google debacle over Streetview. Wonder what is going to happen there. I find that I am slowly being de-sensitized to the whole online privacy issue. I wonder if this is a good thing or a bad thing. I've commented already to a few people about a blog post by Jeff Jarvis I read a few weeks back discussing the difference between privacy and the control of privacy. And I like his example of the German sauna as a metaphor for the online privacy debate.

I think we're not far away from some pretty big changes because of these kinds of applications of data and information....interesting times.

Momofuku Pork Buns

You start with something like this....

...which I have to admit is pretty scary for me. Because 1) I almost never buy meat, and when I do, it doesn't look like this. It is rather an understated chicken breast or a pound of ground lamb. You know, the kind of meat which doesn't remind you too much of the animal that has been sacrificed for your caloric intake (and eating pleasure.) The woman weighing it out for me at the counter told me that it was enough for 5 "normal" eaters, at which point you wonder what the meat consumption per capita in Germany is. And then you choose not to wonder. Anyway, this 1.xx kilos of pork was put in the fridge with salt and sugar coating overnight and then roasted for about 3 hours on Sunday morning. I was following David Chang's famous Pork Bun recipe. I have heard that some people are thinking about creating a new religion around these famous sandwiches.

In addition to the PORK, if you are doing things correctly, you are also mixing up the dough for the buns, letting it rest, chopping it up, rolling it out, steaming it. All 50 of them per recipe. (David explains they freeze well and I am taking his word for it.)

The rest is very straightforward. Actually, the whole process is straightforward, just takes some time. Sliver some chives, pickle some cucumbers and radishes, buy some hoisin sauce and kimchi and whatever other pickles or spicy sauces you wanna add into the mix...and done.

Serve it up to hungry guests.

This is what the finished product looks like, although...this was not one of mine. I stole this photo from the internet - you will find literally thousands of photos

(See)

of this sandwich (remember - religion) and variations of it. I was just running around last night and not feeling like being übergeek and taking photos.



But what i can tell you:
1) they were yummy - and I managed to buy pork belly without much fat -just a layer on top, much of which I removed, so the meat was quite lean in the end. I am sure they would have been even better with layers of fat, but no one at the table would have been eating them quite so voraciously.
2) Yes, there are plenty of leftovers, despite that meat salesperson's assurances that the 1.xx kilos of meat would serve 5 eaters (we had 7).
3) yes, I would make them again, but might veer more towards peking duck style...although the kimchi etc. was very nice...

Come on over tonight and I have dinner for you....

S2H

Ok, this idea, I like.
Take a look at the S2H - really a good idea, i think. You wear this little wrist watch device during the day and it registers how much you move. The more you move, the more points you get. The more points you have, the more you can trade in for real physical goods. Or digital goods. So I am liking the idea that if I wear this this thing at the gym, i rack up points that I can trade in for itunes goods. Or other things. And it doesn't even look half bad. In fact, kinda cool.
The website is here in case you are interested in reading more about it...

It was created for kids mainly. Like the kind that just sit on the sofa all day and watch tv...

The Sports and Food Weekend

Last night was Swiss food over at Mel and Philippe's (thanks guys! was lots of fun - looking forward to the next get-together, wherever and whenever that is). Fondue (yum) and a dessert I had never had, but always wanted to try: a chestnut puree with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. I read about it in a Marcella Hazan cookbook and wondered how it would be. I thought it was therefore an Italian dessert, but in fact it is (also) Swiss, and Philippe brought the chestnut puree when he was in Switzerland a couple weeks back. I have to admit - I was happy to try it finally. :-) And the cheese fondue with mushrooms and potatoes - very nice.

The gym, both yesterday and today, compensated for the calorie bomb (but very pleasurable food experience) weekend. Must have burned around 1000 calories both days - felt really great.

I decided to FINALLY GO FOR IT with Küchenschlacht (the hobby cook tv show here in Germany on ZDF) and am assembling my application and recipes this week and next. Tried out a recipe tonight (needed to time things) that is at least under consideration: Salmon roulade - butterflied salmon fillets stuffed with an artichoke, mint and almond stuffing. Results: very good, but possibly a bit too long to assemble (I would have 35 minutes from start to finish.) Let's see. Have a bunch of ideas...

When in Switzerland...Eat Bircher Muesli

Breakfast. Bircher Muesli...uuuuuummmmmm. And healthier than croissants...

The Ei Phone

Haven't run into this one at the grocery store yet, but I will be looking now!!! (I am guessing this is an old joke...)

and...

Really nice views from the top floor of our client's building. A nice open airy space - a pleasure to have meetings in.

Hello Allgaeu

Beautiful landscapes on today's trainride

Breakfast for Dinner

Had a craving for south Indian food this past week so decided to make a traditional south indian breakfast...for dinner tonight. Turned out quite well, even if I did cheat a bit on the Idlis.

What is it?
Two different kinds of chutneys - both delish - a coconut chili chutney with mustard seed and a roasted red pepper chutney with cashews.
Yogurt (actually not south indian - you don't find much yogurt down there, at least not in my experience which is admittedly quite limited...but we needed it cause everything else was pretty spicy)

and
Idlis - essentially cornmeal-texture muffins (although technically I think they are made out of ground rice...). Here is where I cheated. I used a mix. You mix the powder with yogurt and sauteed and chopped vegetables to make a batter and then steam them. They are also not the traditional idli shape, although fairly close...next time I'll try from scratch - I don't think they are that difficult. Need to find an idli steamer...

I remember the first...and second time I ate idlis. The first was actually in Singapore. A friend who I was studying with there (Amarpal) dragged me off to a food court to try them out (not much dragging was needed though). We were both sadly disappointed though. They were not fresh enough - idlis should really be fresh out of the steamer to be really good or else they have a tendency to get heavy. But the second time was another thing completely. We were travelling from Cochin down to Trivandrum by train. It was 6 in the morning and we had just landed the night before quite late. Had slept perhaps 5 hours and then it was time to get up and run for the train. After breathlessly grabbing a berth, we settled in for the 4 hour train ride and I realized we'd not had dinner the night before and breakfast/lunch was looking pretty far off. A guy who worked on the train asked if we wanted something to eat. (Of course we did!) and so on the next stop, he jumped off the train and bought us breakfast from a vendor working just next to the tracks. He brought us back Idli and Appams - both breakfast breads - with chutneys. So good.

Manam

The problem with a lot of ethnic food here in Germany is that the cooks try to adapt it to the tastes of the German palate. Namely (often, not always): bland, salty, heavy, meaty. So once in awhile you come across a real AUTHENTIC place and you get really happy because the original flavors all burst out at you. And in such places, you don't care if you're sitting on a tiny little wooden stool in a tiny space with 10 chairs with your coat on the floor behind you. You are focused instead on the kitchen behind the counter where the cooks are chattering in their native language, sauteing the dishes on the spot, and pulling other amazing things out of ovens or steamers, etc. The menus are generally short and provided in the native language (and english/german), there is a secret special of the day that is not on the menu which they will offer to you if you are nice, and you find that when you leave the place, you want to keep it to yourself.

Yes, well, some people have big mouths. ;-)

I've been wishing for a great Thai place around where I work and finally there is one. Manam apparently opened up about 6 months ago. It's a hole in the wall (as my mother would call it), crushed into a little corner of a "hinterhof" (parking yard in this case) just off of Rosenheimerstrasse. The guys who work on the second floor in my building discovered it one day about a month ago and apparently have been keeping it a secret. But Ranjith came and grabbed me for lunch today and then we grabbed another 4 people and traipsed over to the little place, crossing our fingers that it wouldn't be crowded with the Thai lunch crowd that is apparently frequenting the place.

I had my favorites: a green papaya salad (didn't beat the amazing green papaya slad I had the last time I was in Singapore, but it was really really really good - although be careful if you don't LOVE garlic...) and some green curry with squid. We were all trading bites of each others' dishes and I can tell you the pad thai was great, as was the steamed fish with lemongrass and coconut that Ranjith ordered.

Looking forward to Monday next week - Mallorie and I agreed we'd go again.

This Gives Me A Headache

In recent meetings with clients, I can't seem to shut up about Augmented Reality and how cool it is going to be when someone finally gets one of these apps working in Germany. (Buncha cool stuff already working in the US. Unfortunately, I don't dare use my iPhone in the US because of how outlandishly expensive it would be...).

I am guessing that not everyone knows what I am talking about when I casually throw out the words Augmented Reality - this is the ability of an application to take something like a photo or a video or merely a glimpse through a camera lens, combined with your GPS-sensed location and layer on additional, potentially useful information.

Here are some examples below - ripped directly from GigaOm. (Thanks for the tip, Scholly!)






So you can use this kind of info to help you find the subway, get recommendations at a restaurant, etc.

But with all the hype over Augmented Reality, you might imagine that things could get a bit out of hand. And they have. According to AdFreak, this little video showcases the crazy imagination "from London architecture student Keiichi Matsuda, who envisions just how bizarre your life might look in the not-too-distant future—a logo-dominated age in which every structure and visual space is aglow with advertising and the insignia of global commerce is woven into all aspects of your existence."



Augmented Reality Overdrive. And I already have a headache. No thanks. Pass on this one.

Phil, The Social Media Groundhog

Well, the news is in apparently. In Punxsutawny, Phil has spoken:
Winter will continue for six more weeks. (At least in the United States...)



But apparently he transmitted this unwelcome piece of information in a number of new ways this year:

via text message.

The article also mentions the other social media platforms Phil is apparently using:
"On the Pennsylvania-tourism Facebook, Punxsutawney Phil fans responded to his prognostication with lots of "nos" and "boos." One commenter asked, "Does this forecast count for Europe? In which case I am pushing the dislike button."

People interested in Punxsutawney Phil's prediction also had the option of receiving his forecast by text message or through Twitter. Unfortunately, many of the Groundhog Day text messages did not go out on time, and the Twitter account for visitpa.com was apparently hacked, so Phil's forecast was not posted there either.

"Somebody got into our Twitter account. It was compromised," Bonds said.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, this National Geographic article describes what I am talking about: "Tradition has it that if Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow on Groundhog Day—always February 2—winter weather will continue for six more weeks across the United States. But if Phil doesn't see his shadow, then spring temperatures are just around the corner." Read the article further for the whole history of this "holiday."

Meanwhile, I'm just happy to see that Phil is able to communicate with us in so many more channels...