Enough Already

It's been that kind of week...

In our Oracle Time Tracking system (you know, the place that we book the hours to the various projects we are working on for recording and billing purposes), we have a brand new functionality: "Suggested Time Card."

And it is ....well...somewhat helpful. At least it helps because I don't have to search for all the project billing numbers if it in fact is suggesting them accurately.

But this week I had to laugh at the suggestion. Take a look.



According to my staffing in Oracle for this week, I should have worked 83 hours.
Granted, at the end of the day, sometimes it feels like you have worked a 16 hour day (and in fact this week I did hit 12 hours one day), but thankfully this is not currently my real life.

The ironic part...is that I just heard from a colleague that the system is not calculating "utilization" correctly. So if you are booked 83 hours and you only work 48 (as in my case), it calculates your utilization at only about 55%. ARGH!!!!! (Yes, anyone who is a consultant or an attorney knows why this is a problem...)

iPhone + Google Translate = Awesome

Just came across an article mentioning that an app for Google Translate just came out for the iphone. For free, of course. And to make it even more interesting, the app lets you speak the words you want translated. Already loaded with tons of languages, it was an OBVIOUS immediate download. It's not perfect, but still already pretty damn impressive.

And at least so far, with my limited tests, seems to work like a charm.

Examples here.
First tests:
I wanted to see if it could understand my "Americanized" German accent. Started out with an easy one. I said "Ich habe schon gegessen." And it got it.






















Second test didn't go as well. I wanted to check and see if it would get my umlauts...so said "Was denkst du darüber?" The app heard:






















So I tested it without the last word: "Was denkst du?" And there it had no problem:






















Thought maybe if I try again a really CLEARLY say the umlaut....and indeed, second time it was ok:






















Finally, decided to test out a bit of chinese. But this time english to chinese. So said: "I have eaten." Yup, looks good. And what's awesome is that the app will also read you the results if you also press the little speaker icon.






















And then I got curious - would the app be able to tell if I asked a question? So I said: "Have you eaten?" And results show...no, app can't tell...because there should have been the word "ma" at the end of the results below...Hey, Christian - please download and test it out - tell me what else you discover on the Chinese language translation. :-)

___________________________
Next day...

Oh my - just read another article about the Android equivalent...

"The iPhone app, however, lacks a few features that the Android version boasts: namely SMS translation and the experimental Conversation Mode, which is supposed to allow you to talk with a nearby person in another language."

HEY GOOGLE - PLEASE ADD!
___________________
And later this evening:
I belatedly wondered how it would translate "curse" words...
So told the app "**** you!" in English. :-)
It translated it into "German" too: Funny that it bothers to use "Sie" rather than "Du" when cursing at me...

Cocktails, The Unexpected

Coincidentally came across two cocktail recipes today that made me look twice. I would never make either of them myself, but could imagine trying both of them in a bar. I know a few people who like to mix cocktails, so maybe they would be inspired enough to try one or both of these out for me and tell me how they were. :-)

The first: The "Cold Night In" which I just read about in the New York Times. It's a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup cocktail made with rum. Sounds crazy, but looks beautiful.

If you don't want to make it yourself, apparently you can go try it out here: Clive’s Classic Lounge, Chateau Victoria Hotel, 740 Burdett Avenue, Victoria, British Columbia

and the second,

The "Moogarita" - a beef stock and tamarind concoction that sounds...unusual. But interesting.

Waiting for reviews.

Milagros

Just got back from lunch. As much as I enjoy eating at Manam - the amazing Thai restaurant around the corner from work - I just couldn't eat Thai again today. Had a craving for Mexican, which is almost impossible to find in any authentic version here in Munich. On a whim, did a google search for Mexican in Munich and found a relatively new restaurant - Milagros - that was relatively close to work. With not much on my plate (in terms of work) today, I figured I'd run over there and try it out. Glad I did! Very good food, beautiful restaurant, very nice staff. Will head back there soon.

Had some simple tacos and a glass of horchata - a very light rice drink made with lots of cinnamon. Everything very delicious. Of particular note were the homemade salsas - one with habanero peppers and the other with a milder pepper.

Facebook Hacked and I Lack a Sense of Humor

This morning at around 10 am, a strange person appeared in my facebook newsfeed.

ROY CASTILLO.

You know him?

Yeah, me neither. And apparently a whole buncha other people don't know him either.

This person or someone posing as this person apparently hacked their way into thousands of accounts and posted a short message:








So I looked at his profile. No more news really there...

















And then I tried to block him, but he seems to have figured out a way around that:


















Meanwhile, looks like Zuckerberg's fan page was hacked around the same time:












But I cooled off when i started to read what people were tweeting about the hack....and had to laugh...take a look:




























And finally, I sent a friend who works at Facebook a quick message asking what to do...his reply: a solution is in the works...

Were you fooled?

So in the grocery store a few days ago, I was standing next to the refrigerated fish delicacies considering if I was in the mood to buy some smoked salmon. Since there are no real bagels in this country (although I have heard rumor that they do exist in Berlin), the whole bagels with cream cheese and lox (yeah, that's how they spell "smoked salmon" in the US) thing gets kind of...lost. Nevertheless, I have learned to enjoy a piece of smoked salmon on German bread. Alas, one must adapt. And in the end...the brown whole grain bread is significantly better for me than a bagel.

Anyway, so I was standing there considering when suddenly I noticed a new product: Russian caviar. Not a "new" product really, just new to the corner grocery store where I shop most of the time. I buy caviar once in awhile - I like the salmon and trout caviar they sell - just the cheap stuff - and also eat it on a piece of dark german bread once in a while. I've never really been one to spring for the 50 bucks an ounce beluga caviar in a fancy restaurant - caviar is nice, but nothing that sends me over the moon - neither the expensive or the cheap variety. And spending that kind of money on fish eggs feels sort of as wasteful and superfluous as that liquor you can buy with gold flakes in it. What is it called? Goldwasser or something...yeah, Goldwasser.

Russian caviar is generally expensive stuff. So I was perplexed at the price tag for a fairly sizable portion (about 2 ounces): 5.99 euros. Russian caviar - even the sort of medium grade quality...if it comes from sturgeon...should go for at least 30 euros or so... First thought was..."oh, must be some sort of farmed variety?" I picked it up. Beautiful packaging. Heavy glass, good print on the metal top...well, you can see for yourself. It took me about a minute, but I finally saw it and had to laugh. :-)


It's not caviar. It's "caviar substitute." Check out the back of the packaging:


Ok, I'll translate for you.
"Tzar Caviar is a pleasure on potatoes, with egg, or served as the classic Russian variation with blinis. It is also a true delight simply eaten pure."

"Caviar substitute with mackerel meat protein refined with 10% olive oil, formed and colored."

"Ingredients: water, mackerel, olive oil, salt, thickener e440, preservative e202 e211, coloring - ink from octopus, and acidifier - citric acid."

Ok. QUITE interesting. And it reminded me of two things: Ferran Adria, the famous el Bulli chef from Spain who spends a good portion of the year in his chemistry lab creating all kinds of crazy food forms. I think he and Thomas Keller and lately Rene Redzepi of Noma in Denmark have all become quite famous because they are able to create the unexpected - "food as experience." (As well as delicious food...) And...it reminded me of a recipe I saw a few months back and intend to try out. Because I think it is with this method that that fake caviar was created.

So the critical question: did I buy it? I did. Had to at that point. And? Well, not bad but also not good. It lacked the perfect texture of caviar (not enough bite - the "eggs" didn't pop when you bit down on them like the real stuff) and also the flavor was close...but not close enough. I do wonder though...if someone had served it to me and I hadn't known it was fake, would I have noticed? I would like to think so, but I can't be positive. So...to conclude, with the terrible pillaging of sturgeon and other deep water fish that occurs these days such that the fish will soon face extinction...this is a reasonable substitute for those who can't live without....fish eggs.

8MM for iphone - nice!

Just downloaded this cute little app. Nothing very creative here, just a couple quick videos taken in the office, but the potential is pretty cool. I have to start working more with some video editing software. Looks like fun.

Hibernation

Taking a break for a bit. Back some time in Jan.

One Two Three Four (courses)

Wein Cantina.
Nice place. We were there last night (group of colleagues and I) to celebrate with a team dinner. Some of the nicest food I have had in a while and some great company. Isn't it nice when you can honestly say that you like your co-workers? And that many, in fact, are your friends in "real life?". I, for one, say that is a sign of a successful workplace/job.

Anyway, so were were spoiled a bit last night with 3 official courses and to start also an amuse bouche. You see here: 1) the amuse bouche - a vitello tonato with a sprig of Japanese shiso leaf, 2) a really divine salmon tartar with some sort of lemon butter dressing....3) duck breast on barley with thyme jus, and 4) a molten chocolate cake with a maracuja (passion fruit) sorbet. I think my favorite was the first course - the salmon tartar. I was tempted to ask for the recipe...maybe I can "taste it out...." somehow....I have some ideas.