DVD Collection

Here is a running tally of our DVD Library:
http://www.invelos.com/dvdcollection.aspx/crutchmc

"from here to San Francisco"

First off, for those of you who don't know, we are the proud owners of an 08 BMW 135i Convertible (E88 for the gear heads). We actually traded in our E90 3-series on the 1.

Out with the old:



And in with the new:


Anyway, BMW has a great Viral Marketing campaign for the 1-Series that I had heard about before I bought the car, but never saw the video until last night (and that is when I found out how deep they made it)

For me, it all started with The Ramp Move (Rampenfest). Rampenfest occurs in the fictional Bavarian town of Oberpfaffelbachen. Well, then I googled "Oberpfaffelbachen" to see if there was any more to this....and boy was I surprised. First is http://www.oberpfaffelbachen.com/, the official website of this fictional town. On the top of that page, there are banner advertisements that rotate. There are ads for Unterholzner Construction (the company that built The Ramp), Peters Bäckerei, Sepp's Stunts (The proposed Driver of the launch car), and lastly, Evi's Rapenfest Souviner Shoppe.

Those websites were all created by Brendl Events (Brendl being the man who came up with Rampenfest). His other projects include a Schnitzel Toss and a two-year old's Birthday party @ a bar with a knife thrower....

Another night of little sleep - only getting worse

Yet again, I wake in the middle of the night and I am having trouble falling back asleep. I can't wait till that sleep study is done. To make matters worse, I just found out that the house is going to be hit with a LOT of rain and 22mph sustained winds with 50mph gusts.

The impending move might also be increasing my sleeplessness. Uprooting and moving is always a stressful experience. Changing jobs is a stressful experience. Combine those two....fun...I've done it before coming out here (and got married around the same time too) but then, I was also getting a bump in pay to come over here which made it more bearable. Now, we are going back to making mortgage payments, car payments, power bills, etc... and I am going to be earning less money. (On the flip side, Chrissy is making a lot more than last time we were in the states)

With all of that said, how about a nice tranquil scene to look at from our trip to Evian-les-Bains, France (yes, that Evian)

135i and the sleeping incident

Well, I know no one really reads this yet, but once people go back and read it, I am sure they will find interest in this story.

So, about a week and a half ago I feel asleep at the wheel in the BRAND NEW FREAKING CAR! I hit some construction barriers (temporary plastic ones) and drove up over the bases of them. Well, I thought it was just a little bit of paint damage and some mis-adjustment to the suspension. In fact, it was 2300 Euro of suspension damage. The car is getting repaired (out of our hands all weekend...grrr...) and we are going to check out our insurance options.

New Home

Well, I decided to set up a new blog so I would have somewhere to blab on and on. I REALLY wanted to run this as a Google App for my domain, but that isn't available right now. I will type up some details about our European Road Trip 2008 once we are back in Germany. For now, just go look at my Flickr images

AUTOBAHN.....well...maybe later

This post recovered from Archive.org

Well, we picked up the car today. And I got out of going into work in the afternoon. But I am bummed out. (quick side note….I almost typed bumbed, why do you ask? Think Gallahger…..numb and bum sound the same except for the starting sound. so why don’t they have the same ending.) Why am I bummed out? Work is closed because of SNOW. So, no Autobahn for me yet. :*(

Well, I will leave the rest to Chrissy to talk about in her blog

Guten Tag

This post recovered from the bast thanks to archive.org

Well, we made it to Germany, safe and sound, and are now fairly adjusted to the 6 hour time difference. We walked up to one of the bases today (around 12-14 blocks round trip, uphill going, downhill back) We had to go to the ATM to get some more Euros and while we were there, we did some (more) shopping at the PX and picked up some lunch from the food court and some snacks from the shoppette (gas station convenience store). We tried to get cellphones, but while the store on the base was open, the phone wouldn’t be activiated until Monday because T-Mobile Germany is closed on Sunday.

When we got back down here, the Parade for Fastnacht (Carnival) was going on, so we stayed out and watched some of that before coming back to the hotel. We will have sporadic internet (it costs 12.50 Euro/24 hour period) and we can be reached by email, AIM and Skype. Leave a comment if you want the contact info.

Yesterday, we were given the $.05 tour of a good bit of the Rhine valley. We drove up through towns on either side, passed MANY castles and generally got our bearings. We also drove past the house that MAY become ours. We will have to wait and see on that. Last night was dinner at a co-workers house, but Friday night and tonight will be dinner on the town. (Tonight, on our own for the first time) Well, I am gonna let Chrissy hop on the laptop for a few if she would like.

auf Wiedersehen