Behavioral Targeting (Yes), Execution (No)

What I like on Facebook at the moment is the fact that it seems to be doing behavioral targeting successfully. The ads that are being served up to me these days are more often than not things I am interested in. Read: travel, technology, singapore, etc.

So this morning, I saw an ad off on the side for a contest where you can win a free trip to Singapore. Cool. So...click.

Have to add an application...well...ok.



























But then you click through on this page...to the Contest sponsor website (Uniquely Singapore)...and you get this:











Still theoretically ok. Until....you click further and get this:









At which point you write a short letter of complaint.

Trying to fix comments

I have no idea what is wrong with the comments...will try to fix today/tomorrow...

Green Isabella

Sorry - I keep laughing at these. A friend sent me the link a few days ago, and I think they are brilliant, even if they are strange.

I won't say much other than search - and take a look at a few.
My favorites - definitely spider and bee and snail from season 1, limpet from season 2. Very dramatic.

Green Isabella

DoYouPoken?

Playing with new toy that people around the office are all buying from Ingo, who has seemed to have started a bit of a trend.


A tangible social networking device for the super geeky...(www.doyoupoken.com)

For 10 euros, you get a little RFID-enabled USB device where you can upload all your social networking data (Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Flickr, Plaxo, etc.) and then when you meet someone on the street who also has a device, touch them together, watch the little light turn green - data exchanged.

Interesting way to link the tangible to the digital.
Then, upload the data you've collected via USB.


Finally, manage your little poken profile online:


And of course, there are whole communities springing up at the moment around the toy. Ingo thinks they should distribute these things in McDonald's happy meals...I'm not so sure.


Anyway, fun for the moment. Or the minute.

Cave Day

It's just one of those days when you want to curl up in a soft warm place and nap.
But unless you are a cat....

...you go to work.

Need Dabbawalla ;-)

Yesterday's biryani was good, but the recipe, which was supposed to make 4-6 portions made more like 8-10. So...we are left with a lot of biryani. Brought some to work:


...and Mallorie said she'd help me eat it. :-)

Still, some days I think it would be nice to have the Mumbai Dabbawalla service here in Munich, even if totally impractical for this city. I might imagine a team of German dabbawallas dressed up in lederhosen? Although I pass on the bavarian food - not a big fan of Schweinekrustenbraten mit Semmelknödel und Rotkrautsalat.


And I think the tupperware...while practical...is not nearly as beautiful as carrying your lunch around in something like this:


Or even better - the Singapore version:


I could hang it over my bike handle.

Picnic on the Isar

Andreas had other plans this morning/afternoon, so I called Britta, Oliver and Claudia and proposed a picnic on the Isar. What to make? Well, let's try out some chicken biryani. Never made it before, and not bad picnic food because it is one dish - everything thrown together. (Although we had raita with cucumber and mint with it and drinks and cake for dessert - which Oliver, Claudia and Britta brought).

Critical assessment? It wasn't difficult, but took some time. My Indian friends tend to make biryani (at least parts of it) in a pressure cooker - which I don't have - and perhaps this is one of the secrets because...it seems I can't cook rice in a pot, no matter how carefully I watch it. Somehow, I always overcook it and it is a bit mushy. Nevertheless, the biryani was very tasty, if a little over-done. I marinated the chicken in garlic and ginger and chillies last night after we got back from Star Trek, and then cooked it with the rice this morning, and then headed to the gym for a bit, and then met up with everyone at 1 in the afternoon. The recipe came from an Indian cookbook one of my former MBA colleagues, Anant, gave me before we left Singapore. It was a Hydrabadi Murg Biryani version (Murg means chicken)...I guess different cities have their own versions. (And...i made a couple ...small...adjustments...so it becomes the Hydrabadi-Julie version.)

We ate directly by the river, with blankets spread out underneath us to make the rocks a bit less ...rocky - the weather has been gorgeous this weekend and didn't disappoint today. Then we relaxed and chatted in the sun for a couple hours. Oliver and Claudia both work for Microsoft, and Britta and I are huge Apple fans, so there was some friendly insult exchanges right and left...;-)

Back home now, sort of sad the weekend comes to an end.

But Britta and Mallorie and I have some plans this week, so looking forward to that...

Picnic lunch

1 pm. Riverside.

Beautiful weather? Tourists? Check. Beer gardens full? Check.

Random notes....

The beer garden next to the Viktualienmarkt in munich where I buy the
best tomatoes in the world (well, maybe-except they come from
Sardinia) was jam-packed at 3 pm today. Note to self: go buy tomatoes
earlier in the day...

Off to see the new Star Trek film this evening. People whose taste in
movies I trust tell me it's good.

Meanwhile, read a well-written but very disturbing article yesterday
about Dubai, an article which spends a lot of time describing the
slave/servant class that has more or less built the monster skyscraper
hotels and shopping malls for the Emirates. Will post the link a bit
later with some other thoughts.
Actually, here's the link to the article: "The Dark Side of Dubai" - thoughts still to come.

Wanna bet?

I was treated to lunch today because Ranjith lost a bet to me a while back. :-))) He says he is going to prepare now for the next bet to ensure he can beat me.

We were sitting having lunch a few weeks ago in an Indian restaurant, and drinking some plain old (but very nice) tea after lunch. And it was obviously not some sort of instant bag tea, but something the restaurant had cooked up itself - some nice blend of black (Darjeeling?) tea leaves, ginger, cloves, black pepper, and some full cream milk and sugar. I made some offhand comment that the tea was really good and Ranjith said,

"Yeah, and I know what the secret ingredient is!"
Curious, i asked..."oh, what?" (always open to learning secrets of the kitchen...)
and he practically whispered "aesofoetida." (otherwise often called "hing.")
"No way," I said. "Forget it. That's not in here."
"It is!" he insisted.
"No, it's not. Aesofoetida is used in food, not sweet tea. It's used to prevent gas from vegetables like onions and pulses!"
He insisted.
"ok," i said, laughing, "let's bet."
"what'll we bet?" he asked.
"lunch. you owe me lunch when you lose this one. The next lunch."
"ok."

So we called the waiter over and praised the restaurant's tea profusely. And then I asked: "so, can you tell us, please - we were debating here - is there aesofoetida in this tea?" (feeling like an idiot asking this question...)
And the waiter laughed and said..."No no, no one puts that in tea. There is ginger and cloves and and and..."
And when he walked away I smirked - maybe a little more than I should have, because Ranjith is just learning to cook, and said,
"Ok, so when do we go for our lobster and champagne lunch?!"
"Do they serve that at McDonalds?"
"Ha ha."
"Did you pay that guy off when I wasn't looking?"
"You wish."

Anyway, so today Ranjith, Mallorie, Mick, Michael and I headed off to (another) Indian restaurant for lunch where Ranjith paid up (for me) and we had one of the craziest conversations for an hour that I have had in awhile. (Another blog perhaps...)

Mallorie's sunglasses helped set the tone of the crack-up fest - which simply shouldn't be worn by Indian men even if they ARE wearing purple shirts.

:-) Thanks guys for such a nice lunch! :-)))

O'zapft es (Let it flow)

Some photos from last night's work party. :-) I gotta think about getting a dirndl perhaps, although will wait until Oktoberfest (at least) to consider it further. :-) Or lederhosen...even better.

Theme was the May Pole....and some of the men carried one around the office to invite us into the lounge at the end of the day.

Tonight, I'm invited to join some friends in a beer garden, but the weather is looking iffy, so not sure if I will make it. Maybe just head home and relax.

Good Morning, Bogenhausen

Hey! I got up early this morning. I mean....not really early - only 6:30, but still...

And made some coffee.

Drank some coffee.

And then - went for a walk before work. (Andreas'...uh...gentle...idea...get Julie out of bed earlier....)

But it was lovely out and remains so today, and tonight Sapient will have a little social get together (theme is traditional german costume..which I will NOT be wearing...), and I am working on maybe attending a conference in Berlin towards the end of this month, so plenty to do and look forward to today.

Here is my (pictorial) walk:
Along our street.
Along the river.
Up to the bridge.
Down to the bakery (we were out of bread).
Back home, dress and go to work. :-)

No comments from the peanut gallery about the sunglasses. I like them. I don't care if you don't like them. :-P

Tree House

I live in a treehouse. :-) When winter finally vanishes from Munich and the trees turn brilliant green and burst with leaves and flowers (the second nicest time of year...i like fall a smidgen more), the apartment we live in is surrounded. And on the top floor, you look out of the window and are surrounded by green. Or...green and fuzzy white blossoms - the chestnut trees are in full bloom at the moment. A photo from a living room window.