I am free for one month!

Today was my last day of class until Tuesday, September 1! I am so excited to have a break from going to class. I have plenty of work to do over the break to help me continue to learn German, as well as spending one week with Carsten's mom who doesn't speak English, so I am hoping I don't forget too much. As much as I love to learn, my brain needs a holiday from being "on" all the time.

You want me to do what?

Sometimes in my class we are given tasks that I don't think I could even do in English, let alone in German. And today I was given a task that perfectly demonstrates what I am talking about. My task was to plan a street festival here in Freiburg. I needed to plan where, how to advertise it, how to have food and drinks available, how many people I wanted there, what I would have for entertainment and how to organize the entertainment. Um, I don't even really know any street names here let alone know how to plan a party on one! So, I pulled something out of my thin air and it seemed to be enough for the teacher today. However, I found out that this is exactly the type of thing I will need to do for my big exam in November. All of this leaves me with one question: Why am I here doing this again?

Pictures from the past

Tonight has been a productive night. I decided that after my day today I would try to do something that brought me joy. Now, don't get my wrong, my day was not all that bad. It's just that we took another test today in my class and I didn't do as well as I wanted to. The test was beyond my current level, but is where I need to be come November. Anyway, I didn't pass by one question. Dammit! Well, after class I did some retail therapy as that is always good medicine. I bought a couple small things for the apartment. Once I got back home I cleaned some, tried to organize the office a bit, surfed the Internet and then prepared dinner (leberkäse, roasted potatoes and peas & carrots). After dinner Carsten got a phone call about meeting up with some friends for a beer. I decided not to go. I know, me turn down beer...unheard of. But here's the thing. It is so hard for me to follow everything that is being said when I am in a group of people. I have to focus on what is being said and then in my head try to translate it and by then the topic has changed. So Carsten went by himself and I stayed at home. I went through some of my pictures and have now made them available through my blog.

* To see pictures of my trip in 2003 to Detroit, Niagara Falls and Toronto click here.

* To see pictures of my trip in 2003 to Arizona click here.

* To see pictures of my trip in 2004 to Michigan click here.

* To see pictures of my trip in 2007 to Arizona click here.

Happy Birthday Courtney!

Wow, I can't believe Courtney is almost 40 years old. I mean, dang she is OLD! Luckily she has had work done to keep herself looking and feeling young. What's that you say; she hasn't had any work done? Well, then I guess that would explain the picture :)

All joking aside, besides the fact that she is really old, she is a very special person in my life. She and I have had many experiences together, both positive and negative, and have still remained close friends though it all. We don't always see eye-to-eye but we do always try to understand the other person's perspective.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday and may your year be filled with much happiness and many blessings. And by blessings I mean Botox, Chemical Resurfacing and Rhinoplasty!

Change in plans

So, I have been planning for a couple months now to try and make it back to the US in November 2009; however, that is no longer going to happen. I forgot that as a Christmas gift last year I received concert tickets to see Pink this November; so between that date, my big exam and the holiday traffic with Thanksgiving, November is not an option. I will keep everyone posted though as to when I might be back for a visit.

My head is about to explode

I just got back home from class and though I am excited about finally learning something new, wow is it ever challenging my brain-power. For the past month or so my class has felt quite redundant; not learning anything new only reviewing. And though that can be helpful it can also be quite boring. Well now that we have started something entirely new I have no worries about being bored. My only concern is how much will I retain after my one month break from school?!? But I guess I can worry about that in September when my class resumes :)

A long day today

To day began at 5am when Zoe was throwing up in the hallway between the bedroom and living room. Thankfully after a little while I was able to fall back asleep, but I don't think Carsten was as fortunate. My class went pretty well. We are learning something new and it is a bit difficult for me. When things come up that we don't have in the English language I feel totally lost, well more so than normal. I even had the teacher try to explain it to me during our break to see if one-on-one I could grasp it, but so far no luck. Maybe tomorrow it will become clear.

In the afternoon I did three loads of laundry, went to the grocery store and then did my normal Monday afternoon cleaning. I have my own ritual for cleaning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. With Fridays being the big cleaning day of the three. Anyway, Carsten came home early today, which was a nice surprise. I was also able to reach my mom on the telephone and get caught up with her. Shortly after dinner a co-worker of Carsten's stopped by for a visit so we sat out on the balcony and drank a couple beers and chatted. It started to rain but one of the great things about our balcony is that it is covered so we can sit out there even in bad weather. The one flaw with this is that I can't lay out for a little nude sunbathing :) And the neighbors rejoice!!!!

The next poll is up

I decided to do a Golden Girls poll. Since I have been having marathons this weekend of the show I thought I would find out who your favorite Golden Girl is. So, who is it; Dorothy, Blanche, Rose or Sophia? Vote to the left and find out the results next week.

The latest poll has ended

Well, this week's poll has closed and the month of November won out. In second place was June, followed by "Another month," which I believe was from Kris who wanted October.

So, my original plan before doing this poll was to be home before the end of the year, most likely in November. I am not sure how realistic that is, but as soon as I have some information you know I will be posting it on here.

Feldberg

Today Carsten and I decided to go hiking at Felberg. Apparently watching Journey To The Middle Of The Earth made us want to have our own adventure. Anyway, I had been to Feldberg once before, in the winter of 2005, when I had come over here to visit Carsten. Of course then it was covered in snow and looked completely different. Today was the perfect day for a hike, not too hot and not too cold. I was still a hot, sweaty mess most of the time, but I blame it one the fact that I was the one carrying the backpack:) In total I believe we walked roughly 8 miles in about 4 hours or so. We stopped for 30 minutes at the half way point for something to eat and drink. Of course the drink was a beer, I am in Germany after all, and to eat Carsten had soup and I had a bratwurst. We are both pooped after the hike and neither of us feels like cooking dinner so it is a pizza night...yeah!!!! Anyway, to check out pictures from the hike, click here.

The rest of Saturday

Though their was a dance happening tonight, neither one of us was really in the mood for that; hard to believe I didn't want to shake my money maker I know! Anyway, we decided to go to another store to check out TVs and a coffee machine and then we rented a movie to watch tonight. One of the things I really like about renting movies here is that if you pick a new release movie and return it the same day it only costs 1.75!! That's a bargain!! Well, the movie we (basically me) chose was Journey To The Center Of The Earth. What can I say, I'm a sucker for Brendan Fraser. The movie was just okay, with some interesting parts but nothing too special. I have never seen a movie in 3-D before and though I tried with this one, it just gave me such a headache that we decided to switch disks and stick with the 2-D. In the end it was mildly entertaining at best. I haven't read the book and was unaware that people still believe in a "Hollow Earth." So, I guess I even learned a little something with this film :)

After the film I decided to have another Golden Girls mini-marathon. Thankfully I own all season of the show so I can have these marathons for days to come!! But I probably won't, I said probably.

I feel like I did a lot, but have a feeling not so much was accomplished

I woke up this morning and went jogging. The weather was fantastic and perfect for a quick run. While I was out jogging Carsten ran some errands and then once we were both back home we ate a late breakfast. We then rode our bikes to the city centre and went to the farmer's market to buy some fresh produce. We proceeded to do some other shopping where Carsten bought himself a new pair of shoes. They were on sale and looked quite nice on him. It takes him much longer to buy shoes, then again I bought 7 pairs last summer on-line so maybe it isn't fair to compare his shopping style to mine :) We then went to look at a coffee pot and new TV and then walked a ways to go to a pet store to look for a new kitty litter box. No new TV, no new coffee machine and no new litter box. We then went to a clothing store where I wanted to buy me a summer scarf (shut-up!) but did not find one I really liked. After that I proceed to look at the kiosks on the street for scarfs and saw a woman I went to school with when I first moved to Freiburg. I talked with her for a bit; she is currently working at one of the kiosks. Then we went to an appliance store to buy vacuum cleaning bags, but the store closed at 4pm and we arrived at 4:15. Now we are home and are both a bit tired. We have no plans as of yet for tonight, but it is still early. I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far.

Happy Birthday Jakob

Today is the birthday of my cousin Lindsey's son, Jakob. Today he turns seven. The picture of him to the right is from a few Christmas' past. I am sure he is still a little terror, but he is cute as ever in my opinion. And since this is my blog, I guess my opinion is the one that really matters here :) Happy Birthday Jakob; I hope you had a great day!!

TV Marathon

With our big screen TV back home I decided to have a little viewing marathon of sorts. However, I did manage to get myself away for a bit and go for a walk for about one hour. It is better than no exercise, but still not has much as I would like to have done, but since it started to rain while I was out there I decided to turn back and return home. So, I know the question on everyone's mind is "what did you watch?" Well, in my typical fashion I started out watching one episode of the original Scooby Doo, followed by several episodes of The Golden Girls (and by several I mean six), and then I watched two episodes of American Dad. But now it is time for bed. Sweet Dreams!

The week is finally over

I am very much ready for this weekend. I have no plans, but after last weekend and the week I have had it has got to be better. And since today has been a much better day I have to believe things are on an up-swing. My class today went quite well. We had a few practice tests and I nailed them; only getting one wrong!! Woo Hoo!!!!

Carsten took an hour off of work this afternoon so we could pick-up the TV. Although we can only use it for DVDs, it is nice to have it back. Now we just need to figure out what we will do in terms of getting something new or just having the two TVs next to one another in the living room. I know, classy...jealous much?

Yesterday I wrote about holding people accountable. Well, one thing I know is that people really don't like it. I seem to be pissing off people everywhere I go. If I keep this up I will have many less people to visit whenever I make it back to the States for a visit. Though I do know of a couple people who are always in my corner. And I thank I love you very much!!!

Happy Birthday Mathias!

Today is the birthday of my special friend Mathias. We originally met in Madison many, many years ago. Although we are literally worlds apart now, with him in Hawaii and me in Germany, we are always together in spirit.

Happy Birthday Mathias, I hope you have a fantastic day!

How to piss people off in one easy step"

Step 1. Hold them accountable

Yes, it really is that simple and I have proof. After receiving a pleasant enough email from my father, I responded with a cordial email, though I did hold him accountable for two things in that email, and the response was that I was bombarded with not one but two scathing, hateful emails. Thankfully I am not judgmental, bitter or any of those other negative things that I am certainly all about!! I did respond to one of his emails in a respectful, though direct way and again held him accountable. I am still waiting for the response, which will either not come or will likely be passive-aggressive, with an emphasis on the aggressive. On the up-side, at least one of my parents is emailing me. (I know, this is also passive-aggressive...where do you think I learned it.) Yes mom, the quip about emailing is for you :) You're never home when I call and you don't even write me an email to let me know how you are doing. I miss you and want to know what is going on with you!

Is this what it's like living in Seattle?

So far this summer we have had a lot of rain. Now, I can't say if it is more than normal, since this is my first summer here, but I do know that when it rains more than half of the days out of the week it is a lot! I wouldn't mind it so much, but since I have to use my bike to get everywhere, it is becoming quite irritating to always be wet! Today coming home from class for example, since so many puddles were on the street whenever a car passed me I was splashed with not only rainwater, but mud and whatever other crap was in the water on the street. When my clothes get muddy that is where I draw the line :)

My class was fine today. We had two more tests; one I did really well on and the other one was more like the final exam I will take in November. I passed it, but I did not do as well as I had hoped. I know, I know, I passed it and that should be enough. As Carsten tells me, I don't have to get it all perfect and the more I used it the better I will get at speaking and understanding German.

For the rest of the day I have no plans. It is raining outside so going out is not something I want to do. I don't feel much like cleaning and we don't have our TV here yet so I can't watch any DVDs, unless I use the computer. This is why I need to find a job! Well, because I'm bored but also because I need some green in my wallet.

Unpleasant news

I purposely neglected to write about these two things yesterday as I just didn't feel like it to be honest, but today is different. The first thing is not major, though costly. Previously I had written about our TV and how it was at the repair shop to see if we would be able to use it here. The answer is yes, we can use it, but only for watching DVDs. So, this huge 46 inch TV that cost a lot of money and that we had to pay extra to have shipped over here is not really all the usable. So, now we either need to have two TVs in the living room, our big one for DVDs and the smaller one for watching TV, or we need to purchase a whole new TV. Oh, and if you wonder why we don't just hook up our DVD player to the small TV, they aren't compatible since the DVD player came from the US.

The other news is that Carsten did not get a Green Card. We have been together for just over 7 years and for the last 3-4 years he has tried to obtain a Green Card for the US, which to keep things as simple as possible seems to work on a lottery basis. This year he went through an agency, but also was not picked to have a Green Card. It is disappointing, but it is what it is. Maybe next year will be the year?

So tired this morning!

Last night turned out to be quite a lot of fun and also a very late night. We went to Carsten's co-worker's place at 9:30pm and since it was such a great night we sat out on the patio and drank beer, ate chips and chatted. Basically the talking was only in German with a few brief moments of English. I tried a new beer tonight which was a Grapefruit beer. All I will say is don't judge it until you try it! It was so good and refreshing, if beer can be refreshing. What am I saying I am in Germany, of course beer is refreshing!!! Anyway, the night initially was difficult for me to follow all the conversations, plus I feel nervous to talk as I feel as though I am on a stage and everyone is waiting for me to make a mistake with how I say things. But as the night progressed I felt more comfortable, plus the co-worker's partner started to talk with me one-on-one and that is much easier for me when I have to speak German. For Carsten the time seemed to fly by although I was quite aware of how late it had become. In the end we made it home around 2am! But I would say it was worth it :)

I need to perk up!

Not only am I feeling a bit down, but I am tired to boot, such a bad combination! My teacher today asked if I was sick, I said no I was just sad. Like any respectable German she asked no questions, turned and walked away. If nothing else at least my experience with Germans is consistent :)

So tonight around 9:30pm Carsten and I are going over to one of his co-worker's homes for a drink. The co-worker seems quite friendly, as I have met him twice and found him pleasant enough. He comes from Russia, I believe, though he has lived in Germany for many years; I don't know how many exactly, but I do know it is in the double digits.

I have not done much today since my class ended. I did some homework, sent some emails and that is about all. Both cats are sleeping on the bed, which looks cute, but makes for little room for me, plus now their dang cat hair is everywhere I will need to clean it off. Are their cats that don't shed? Just curious!

On a completely different topic, my hair is driving me crazy! It has not been cut since Easter and has not been colored since September 2008. Needless to say, I ain't lookin' as pretty as I should! My hair appointment isn't until August 19th, when we are in middle-Germany visiting Carsten's mom. I have a picture all set that I want to come out looking like. It is a very European hair style, so let's see how it looks on me; assuming my hair guy can make it work.

My class is working my last nerve!

It should be quite obvious to anyone who knows me that I am a bit of an over achiever. Okay, so maybe a little more than a bit, but that's not the point here. My integration class is beyond slow, especially compared to my last German class. I have been working ahead in my workbooks so as not to become too bored; however, I have decided to no longer do that. Maybe 2% of the class actually does the homework assignments, which means we spend a good portion of class wasting time so those who didn't do their homework can do it in class. Then when we do the activities in the workbook, since I already have them done I don't have anything to do. So, between waiting for the other students to do their homework and then to do whatever is requested of us to do from the workbook, I end up spending over half of the class time just sitting there. I had thought that I would learn more by working ahead and spending more time focus on German, but that doesn't seem to be the case. What I do know is I have 9 more days of classes before I have one full month off; is it bad that that is what I am focused on right now?

The poll has ended

The poll from last week ended and the winner was reading about my weekend activities. The rest were all about the same in terms of percentage points. Now not only do I need to write more about my weekends, assuming I do more, but I also need to remember my camera more so I can take more pictures of the things I do ended up doing!

To the left is the poll for this week...enjoy :)

I want a do-over on this weekend!

I think some days challenge us on purpose just to see how much we can take and then to make the following day seem better by comparison. Although today was better than yesterday, I ain't jumping up and down over it :)

The weather here is a lot like in the Midwest; 90 degrees one day and 60 the next. I like variety, but it is hard to plan things outdoors when the weather is this sporadic. So, I spent part of the day watching movies and the other part we went for a walk. The first movie I watched was Ghost Town, starring Ricky Gervais. I love him and find his British humor quite funny. Initially I wasn't caring too much about this film, but after a bit it really picked up and had me laughing out-loud and also a bit teary at times. The other film I watched was Messengers 2: The Scarecrow. This was a direct to DVD sequel from the first movie, The Messengers, and thus you know it is a winner!!! Actually, it was just as bad as you would think it would be, but not worse. It reminded me of a bad TV movie at times, just with some blood and guts involved. Of these two, clearly Ghost Town is the winner!

The walk ended up being longer than expected. We were out for about 3 hours and in the time walked all the way into the downtown part of the city, stopped and watched a tennis match and then got an ice cream cone before walking back home. I really enjoy walking, jogging, biking, as I am able to better think through things while performing these activities. I have had a lot on my mind as of late and feel like I need to make some decisions about things. The bottom line of course is how long can I see myself not working? The problem is I haven't found a job in the US either, as I am currently looking both here and there for options. Clearly it makes more sense for me to remain here at the present time, but I also need to keep all my options open.

This day feels like it was mixed in a blender

Today was a day filled with ups and downs. It is always interesting to me how things can impact our mood and either make us feel really good or something else can happen and make things feel quite bleak. Today seemed to have elements of both smashed into a 24 hour period. The day began fine with me going for a run and Carsten running some errands. Once we were both back home we had a late breakfast and though it was raining outside (yes, I ran in the rain-thats just how dedicated I am), we decided to ride our bikes into the city centre to do some shopping. I am going to keep this part short and just say that this is the part of the day where things went bad. What I will say is that sometimes people make mistakes and it takes a big-hearted person to forgive those and move forward. Let's just say my heart is huge right now and leave it at that!

Anyway, since things were a bust shopping, once back home I watched one of my favorite animated shows, American Dad, which can always put a smile on my face. We also watched a couple movies today. The first one was a horror film called My Bloody Valentine 3D. Now, I don't have 3D glasses so I missed out on the special effects, which I am sure would have made this movie better, but even so I was still mostly entertained by it. It doesn't take much for me to like a horror film, but even so I still thought this one was quite good with some nice "death scenes." The other movie we watched was The House Bunny. This film was a light-hearted comedy starring Anna Farris. I thought it was a cute film and not the type of movie I would typically see. It does stereo-type beauty for a while, but does finally come around to the fact that being beautiful isn't everything. Thankfully I have beauty and brains (and am also quite modest) so I don't have to worry about these things. The one part of the movie that was distracting was Beverly D'Angelo. Her performance was fine, but seriously, how much work has she done to her face?!?

So, that's basically my day in a nut shell. Before I say good-night, I want to give a shout-out to Laura and saw thank you for listening to me today.

What I read

While I was away I read two books and have nearly finished a third. I prefer murder/thriller/crime stories the best, though these books fell more to the literature side of things. The first book was called The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood. I really enjoyed this book a lot. It felt more like reading an autobiography of sorts than fiction. The next book I read was Depths by Hening Mankell. Carsten said he thought I would like this book a lot. I did like it but not a lot. I had thought I really disliked the book until I finished reading it and thought it over. Then I came to the conclusion that I only hated the main character. In short, he was an ass and it was basically impossible t fell any sympathy or positive emotion toward him. The book I am reading now is called The Cave by Jose Saramago. Not the easiest book to read, but none of his books are. I really enjoy his style of writing, but one really has to focus when reading them.

Funny dream; and then a not so funny dream

As always I have very interesting dreams. Last night's dream was no different. I was in school learning German and my partner was an actual girl from my class. This particular student I do not have fond feelings for and I often wonder how she makes i through life in general. If I was one to judge, which I am not, but if I was I would think of her as flaky. Some other words come to mind but flaky is good enough for now. Anyway, back to my dream. She and I worked together quite well and in my dream I told her "Wow, you aren't as awful as I thought you were. She just looked at me confused-like and didn't say a word in response. The funny part of this dream is that my teach for the class was super model Janice Dickinson. I had went up to her after class and told her I have read both of her books, which in fact I have done, and she responded with "Do you really think I care what you have or haven't read?" Gotta love her :)

My other dream involved staying at a woman's house who is a friend of my mom's, or at least she was in this dream. In real life I have no idea who she is. Once my mom left the scene I proceeded to tell this woman how much I didn't like her, which included some not so nice words and names. In the end, she tried to kill me and I was literally running for my life and hiding up in trees.

With that, good morning to you all!

What has happened?

I am sure that is the question most people who read my blog are wondering. Well, on Sunday, June 28th everything was working fine on the computer when we went to bed. However, on Monday, June 29th when Carsten went to start the computer, nothing happened. It was taken into the repair center, however due to some issues related to the warranty, it was not worked on immediately. Once the warranty issues were straightened out then we had to wait for the part as well as the technician who wold be working on it. In the end, the hard drive was shot and the on/off button stopped working. Thankfully (all because of Carsten) we had a back-up system and it appears that all is here and accounted for.

In addition to the computer, our big screen TV has also been in a repair shop to see if it can be made compatible with the German cable system. Thus far we have only been able to use it with DVDs. Let's home something can be figured out otherwise it was a huge wasted of money buying this TV in the US and then paying extra to ship it here!

Now, for a brief update, or as brief as I can be, about what has been happening here. In terms of my class, during the time that I was without a computer I had three tests. I managed to do well on all of them, with the first two having obtained a nearly perfect score. My last test was closer to an A-. Thankfully I am not a perfectionist :) The other school-related news is that I have the entire month of August off for a "summer vacation" of sorts. That makes me very happy!! Once I return to school at the beginning of September, I will have two months of class, with my last day on October 26th, followed by a major exam on November 7th.

Another thing that happened was I went to the dentist here in Germany. To say it had been a long time since going would be a huge understatement. I have not had dental insurance for much of my adult life and as such I have avoided the dentist. However, my appointment here went pretty well. It is done differently than in the US (shocking I know). Here you have to meet with the dentist first and then schedule another appointment with the dental hygienist for the cleaning. The dentist spoke nearly no English, but we were still able to communicate. He was very patient with me. The following week was my cleaning and all went great. No cavities, which is what concerned me most due to my candy intake. She spoke no English at all, but that didn't seem to stop us from being able to understand one another. I asked questions in my broken German and she responded slowly and repeated things when necessary. After it was all done I was in a great mood. I felt so proud of myself and much more independent. It was also proof of all my hard work trying to learn this dang language.

Time for some fun. Carsten and I went out dancing twice during this time. the first time was not as much fin as I had hoped. It was the night we spent so much time putting the piece together for the bed. We were both tired, but also felt like going out. It was so hot and humid, but we still went anyway. What made the night a downer was the music. Normally I put what song got me out on the dance floor, but honestly, this night I didn't know the first five songs that played while I was dancing. When I finally did know a song it was an awful remix of the song Miami by Will Smith. The other thing with the music this night was that they would only play about 2 minutes of each song before mixing it into the next song. Now, I love remixes more than anyone I know and even I got tired of this crap!! The other time we went out dancing was this past Friday night. I think I had a better time than Carsten, but it is my belief we both enjoyed ourselves. Anyway, the song that got me out dancing was an oldie. It was Ring My Bell by Anita Ward. I found the music to be a nice mix of songs with not too many current songs but also not too heavy on music from the past.

One of the highlights, after getting the furniture that is, was that Carsten and I went to a concert while our computer was on hiatus. We saw MIA in concert. It is no secret that I had no desire to go to this show. The short version is that Carsten asked me back when I first arrived in Germany if I wanted to see this band in Munich. I said no. He asked again once we moved to Freiburg and I said no. Well, last Friday night, before going out dancing, was the concert. I had an amazing time. Only one song was sang in English, the rest in German. I think I would have had even more fun if I understood what was being said, as lyrics are important to me, but it was still a blast. What made it so much fun was her stage presence. She looked like she was having fun, which made the audience have fun as well. Great show...which is a good thing as I am sure we will being seeing them again.

Okay, I think that is all the major events of the past few weeks. If I think of anything else I will of course write about it.

First things first

Pictures!!!!

To see pictures of your dining room, living room and now bedroom furniture, click here.

To see pictures of us struggling with the piece that is under the mattresses, click here.

My return to the World-Wide-Web has finally arrived!

I am finally back to the Internet after about 3 weeks away. To say that it has been rough is an under-statement. But now, that is behind me. I am going to do my best to provide an update on everything that has happened in the past three weeks and will also be posting some pictures of my new bedroom furniture soon. I have a lot of emails to get through and so it is just a matter of finding time to get everything done.

I decided to change the look of the blog page, as so much time has passed it felt like something new was needed.

As a snapshot as to how life has been here lately; good, but lonely. I rely so heavily on the computer to stay in touch with family and friends that when I didn't have it I could tell something was clearly missing from my life. I know some people were worried about me and I am sorry that happened. I tried to stay as connected as possible with people via telephone, which isn't always as easy with the time difference and things like that.

Oh, and thankfully Carsten is a computer nerd and knew to have a back-up; otherwise all my music, photos and everything else would have been lost. I mean, what would I have done without my music library?!?