Moving in itself was kind of an adventure in itself. Since I can’t really take any holidays in the new job until next year, I decided that at least I’ll take up the motorcycle and planned of doing the Via del Brennero from km 0 (which happens to be in Pisa) up to the namesake pass in the Alps. The best part of this was really the part going up from Lucca to Abetone, at 1400m in the Appenin – nice, twisty roads and not much traffic. The part through the plains was quite hellish, with lots of heat, lots of commercial vehicles on the road and not much landscape around.

I stopped over in Trento for the night – thanks to Beatrice and Iacopo for taking care of me. The trip over the Alps was quite nice again, although it could have been much better if it weren’t for the rain that started shortly before entering Austria. When I arrived at my aunt’s place in Prien, a could literally spill the water from my boots.

I then took the car-train to Berlin, together with my trusty Kawasaki, and arrived only to depart again one day later. Luckily, Paul was crazy enough to accompany me back to Pisa, and we did the round trip, including loading and unloading of furniture, in under 60 hours

And while the weather in Berlin is not quite as nice as in Italy, I like the city a lot. And this weekend it was sunny enough to go up to the lakes with the new colleagues, take a trip in some canoes – and now I’m sitting in a rooftop garden, with a view of the big city.

Enough for today, I’ll be back with more news – or at least that’s what I usually promise I’ll also try to upload some pictures to Flickr…

KLE 500

…just needs few more days of bureaucracy

If you check the press, they will talk a lot about if he can speak the language or not. Conservative paper “Die Welt” talks about that he needs to speak his mother tongue to get the nuances right. I almost fell of my chair.

Get it straight: The problem isn’t that he refused to speak English. The problem is that he couldn’t refuse without looking like an arse and, above all, that he was completely unable to answer a simple question, even in his mother tongue.

Please Guido, grow up. Until now, here in Italy, these little videos were always about Silvio. But watch this video of Berlusconi, where he insults the German MP Schulz and the entire European parliament, and compare it. This was one of the most outrageous moments of his career (well, one of many). But at least, while coughing up all this horseshit, he manages to not appear lobotomized. Sigh.

Die unterbinden am twinning Pakt zwischen Pisa beide wieviel ist die Eintritt zur città noch Einstimmig verkehren zur 1996. Wieviel ist die Eintritt zur città Deutsch , beherbergen des Teil or ausführend provinziell , Quelle an die Auswirkung des Strom Hölle beide aufholen ein unterbinden des gehandelt des Westfalia.Die Abgeordnete historisch beide wieviel ist die Eintritt zur Schlitz geographisch Sie haben Steuer am beratschlagen am Einstimmig ein schauen bissig beide dynamisch.

Wieviel ist die Eintritt zur sternenförmig Ausweg des città es ist l´agricoltura aber Sie sind Vorgefühl zu die Aktivität, ausgepackt beide florentine Strebsamkeiten. Tut die unterbinden am Stadt historisch es ist verkörperte beim ein beständig Unbeständigkeit noch Alten Milchwirtschaft am Raster beide modern Aufrichtungen Wert noch funktional , noch riesig aree Urteilsspruch beide gewaltig Firmen industriell , noch Temperament Kerngehäuse com beide Oase noch Ruhe am häufig Stadt Stadtbewohner.

Ein Singular Absage noch Einstimmig es ist die Aufmerksamkeit bis zu tut die unterbinden am irgendwann : die Geschichte Verwandte am episodisch beide ansehnlich angeboren Sie sind Warenempfänger am ein Saum Überschrift Vertellkes

Ich wünschte ja, es gäbe Parteien die so einen Kampfgeist bei den Bürgerrechten zeigen würden – inzwischen wird es ziemlich schwer, noch eine Wahl zu treffen. Und langsam fürchte ich, mein Kreuz wird irgendwann an einer Stelle landen, wo ich es nie haben wollte.

Wie auch immer, die Unterlagen sind bestellt.

When it rains people use umbrellas on their bicycles. They’re driving around, guiding the bike with one hand and holding the umbrella in the other. Of course it doesn’t get very fast that way, but it seems to be an accepted way of moving around…

Aber immerhin: In Deutschland gibt es auch lustige Leute. Den Herrn Ackermann von der Deutschen Bank zum Beispiel – der ist gerade an allem schuld. Er kann einem fast ein bisschen leid tun. Verzichtet er auf seinen Bonus, ist es nicht recht – verdient hat er den ja sowieso nicht. Behalten wäre natürlich auch nicht so gut angkommen. Auf jeden Fall stehen die Tatort-Komissare Schlange um ihn zu verhaften. Wahrscheinlich könnte er sogar ins Kloster nach Tibet gehen, es würde nichts helfen.

Was er eigentlich so gemacht hat, scheint zwar nicht so ganz klar zu sein. Das ist vielleicht auch nicht so wichtig, wer ganz oben steht muss halt was aushalten. Immerhin scheint er sein Geschäft ja nicht – wie einige andere – dermaßen an die Wand gefahren zu haben dass er es jetzt vom Steuerzahler retten lassen will. Hat er zumindest gesagt.

Was natürlich auch nicht recht ist. Die Politiker finden das nämlich jetzt doof, dass er kein Geld haben will und es den anderen auch noch madig macht. Und der Finanzminister meint die Banken, die jetzt Geld vom Steuerzahler nehmen, sind doch nicht schlechter als die, die’s nicht brauchen. Ah so? Vorher wurde noch geschimpft, dass er jetzt nach dem Staat ruft…

Na ja, wahrscheinlich wundere ich mich nur, weil ich nicht so den Durchblick habe. Das werden schon alles ganz schlaue Leute sein, die jetzt da ihren Senf dazu geben. Die werden’s schon richten…

And 0,5% goes to an organisation of your choice (welfare, emergency relief, this type of thing).

Done.

I finally got to sort my digital photo collection and actually put some new ones into the gallery. Now I have to check for a digital print service here in Pisa, to get some on the walls too.

My DSL adventure actually went into a second round as the line deteriorated after a few weeks. It took some phoning with the customer service, and they had to change the lines, but everything seems fine now. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

Otherwise, work is going on and I’m still changing between Trento and Pisa. Christmas was a major travelfest, but now things should get a bit quieter until, let’s say, Easter

The Italian is slowly improving, but I hope I can have another course in order to get to the finer points.

However, a new technician quickly called in, and after a week two guys showed up in my kitchen with headphones and little black devices. After ten minutes, they left again “looking for the connector box” and disappeared completely, leaving the little black device behind.

They re-emerged after an hour, with a DSL modem, and confirmed that the little light was blinking. Once I got around to modify the German-type DSL cable, everything worked.

Even the modified German FritzBox did not complain, and so I have internet, VOIP-phone and I even have a landline phone number on the VOIP for incoming calls.

Other than that, I used August (the traditional Italian holiday month) to do some travelling around. I went to see Ingrid, my parents and lately enjoyed the hospitality of my friends in Karlsruhe and around; also Stefan managed to come by for a while.

So all in all I enjoyed a nice summer, and still managed to get some work done.

I found that the provider Tiscali offers a bare-bones DSL deal, that also removes the need to rent a phone line directly from the Italian Telecom. Ottavia (of my landlord’s family) told me that the phone line in the flat has never been active, so I expected some fun in getting it to work.

Signing up on the internet was quite easy (with a little help from colleagues), and ten minutes later I got an email that told me my purchase had been successful. It also said that the activation would take 30 days (in the mean), depending on the need to involve a telecom technician for the activation.

Of course after you sign up, the company will call you to make appointments for the technician and such. This is where the real fun part starts for me, since my Italian is still at a level where such calls are challenging.

First, the next working day after signing up, I got a call to check my identity and address, and I managed to understand that they’d give my mobile number to the technician. Who would call me.

I waited patiently, and after less then a week, I actually got a call from the technician. He wanted to come “tomorrow”, but as I’m in Trento with Ingrid at the moment, he said that he’d call back on Monday.

It seemed like a swift procedure until yesterday, when I got another call from Italy. I managed to figure out that something was “blocked” with my DSL, which has to be taken care of. The technician would call me back in 10 days.

This seems quite weird considering the fact that the line has not even been active yet. Plus, there are at least six parties living at my address and I have no idea how they figured out which line is mine.

Maybe they are now deactivating the phone line of some poor bastard in my house. However, I couldn’t inquire much because of my limited Italian and because hotline personnel can be less than patient – I guess they’re paid by the number of calls or something.

I tried to get a number to call them back, so that I could ask someone to assist me when I’m back in Pisa. It seems that the technician himself is not available for incoming calls, but the Tiscali hotline would be “130″. This seems to be a weird number, and I’m not sure if it can be called from Telecom lines, but I guess I’ll be finding out.

More to come…

You can just watch it with Google Maps on the net, or get the .kmz file for Google Earth.

Two weeks ago I went to Elin’s and Ludwig’s wedding in Stockholm, which was a nice, relaxing weekend in the north. I also went to Bucharest last week for a project workshop. Unfortunately, I didn’t have much opportunity to go out in the city.

Next week, I’ll be in Trento again, and then visit a conference in Innsbruck. It seems my suitcase gets used quite a lot a the moment.

The Italian is also coming along slowly. I’m still not quite the conversationist, but at least I can go to a shop and buy things

Finally, the weather used to be very hot here, but at the moment some cold front moving through, with some thunderstorms, rain, and more bearable temperatures.

At first, you’ll have to select how many bags you want to check in. With Ryanair, there’s an extra fee on each baggage item you check in. But if you select “nob bags”, you automatically get “Priority Online Boarding”. The option costs you 3 Euros per flight. If you want to remove it, you have to read through an entire paragraph, find the “Remove” link at the end and click this.

If you clicked that button, a “0 bags” option magically appears in the list. Yes, the option didn’t exist before, and there’s no other way to activate it.

In the next, they have already preselected a quite useless travel insurance. Should you dare to remove this option, you will get a popup warning that it’s a bad thing. Only then are they going to let it slip.

And then you can buy your ticket for the advertised price.

Or almost. They’ll also add an additional “credit card handling” fee – which is a bit funny when credit cards are the only sensible payment option.

Of course, the flights can still be dirt cheap. I could probably back and forth to Karlsruhe (or London) for less than what I’d pay for a train ticket to Ingrid. And that’s despite the fact that train tickets are reasonably priced here in Italy.

Even if I cherish the opportunity to avoid a 12-hour train ride to see my folks at home: If we’re to save that climate, someone better starts taxing that flight fuel.

Federico helped me with most of the administrational stuff: You’ve got to get a tax number, which is required for the work contract and the bank account. The work contract is needed for the permission to live in Italy. And I had to take residency, which is required to register for medical service. Interestingly, before can be properly registered as a resident, a policeman will visit you. Well, not a “proper” policeman, but a member of the “city guard” or something, and he’ll check if you actually live at the address given. Federico waved me through most of this, and he got me to the various offices Italian style: On the back of his scooter.

Last week we started with a kick-off workshop for the development of Talia, which will be our new digital library software. I think it was a good start, even though few things could actually be nailed down, they are starting to take shape.

My Italian still sucks, however. This is a bit annoying, since it severely limits everyday communication on the street. I picked up a few words here and there, but on Wednesday I’ll start with a proper Italian course.

Also, I didn’t get any mail so far, even though I know that a few important letters are on their way from Germany. They should be automatically rerouted from my old address, and I hope this actually works.

Right now I’m coming back from an easter holiday with my parents, which involved lots of food, a bit of rest and some big-city shopping for clothes that may be hard to come by in my size in Italy.

Last Saturday we packed everything from my room into the transporter (thanks to my helpers and I went down to Ingrid, picking up her bike and a bit more IKEA furniture on the way. We assembled my “home office” things, and I drove on to Pisa after noon, on Sunday.

The drive was smooth, and one of the Net7 guys, Frederico, picked me up at the airport. We went to my new apartment, and afterwards Michele and Frederico invited me for some Pizza at their place, together with their girlfriends. Everyone was really nice, and I enjoyed the evening a lot.

My new apartment (pictures will be coming) includes an air conditioner, kitchen unit and this cool upstairs-bed-place. It’s just a bit short on storage space. Especially since the houses in Pisa tend to have no basement, thanks to the swampy underground.

But after a bit of rearranging I was able to fit in a couple of shelves and my cupboard, and I got most of my things stowed away. The larger items (my own bed, and my desk) went to Michele’s parents, who are so nice as to store them for now.

Rearranging furniture and unpacking took most of the Monday, and on Tuesday it was time to go back to Karlsruhe one more time. At least all but four or five of the boxes are gone now. There still a bit of wiring to do for the television and such, but I am officially moved in.

The ride started with a snowstorm somewhere between La Spezia and Parma. I had to be an expensive pair of snow chains, and the motorway was completely blocked at times. However, when I came down to Parma the snow miraculously disappeared and there were no further troubles.

Karlsruhe also had it’s share of snow, and it was a bit more of saying goodbye, and clearing up a few more things.

Now I’m waiting for the plane to Pisa, and I hope it’s a bit warmer there.

It was a bit strange. You go to work as usual in the morning, and then, in the evening you just leave for good…