What's the best way to get over JetLag?

I'm staying with a friend of mine. Actually I'm staying at her place and she is staying at her boyfriends. The first day, we were on our way to the Viktualienmarkt for my traditional Bratwurst and Beer. I do this everytime when I arrive and right before I leave Munich. Another friend SG was going to meet us there. When she got there she told me she just got a call from Jerry. Jerry lives in Jersey and he has a company that organizes trips to trade fairs all over the world for companies from the US. He wanted us to come down to Kilians (where I used to work). The funny thing is I haven't seen him in ages. I seem to only see him in Munich. Even thought he lives less than 2 hours away!
It turns out he and some other guys were going to another friends pub in Straubing (about 1:15 from Munich). Molloy's Pub So, I still had the same clothes on from the trip over. They talked me in to going with them, but I had to go then there was no time to go change or get a change of clothes. I'm really glad I went though it was a great time and the owners are really cool as well. I was wrecked the next day though, and had to wear the same clothes again. (blah) But, it was definitely worth it. I think I needed a good night like that. Even if that Canadien hockey player does find me. ;) I'll definetely have to check it out again next time I'm here.

Trip to Munich

One thing I always say about flying: "An uneventful flight is a good flight."

So, yes my flight over was uneventful. It is definitely a small world though. The guy I ended up sitting next to works for Audi Germany and he was just in the states for a couple of weeks to test some of the new cars. By chance he actually knows someone I know who works for Audi. A german guy that was in the US for a couple of years. I mean it's not a small company either. The guy I know is the boyfriend of the sister of one of my old neighbors (Heike) in Munich. The funny part was he knew the guy because his girlfriend is, well... a bit funny. She won't fly so she has to take a ship to the US when she goes. And she once thought she had the Nile flu or whatever it is called so she wanted someone to send her medicine from Germany that wasn't legal in the US. She didn't really have it by the way...

Anyway, I arrived ok, and so far so good.

très à propos

Posting the following quote here could be misconstrued as supporting the movement of the man who made the original statement. I chose to post the quote as a reminder of the terrible power of those who understand true meaning of the statement.


"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." -- Hermann Goering, before being sentenced to death at Nuremberg.

Google AdSense

I've decided to set up Google AdSense for Blackbird e-Solutions and you will probably notice there are now ads on my blog. Since Blogger is now part of Google, there is an option to add AdSense. So, I thought I'd check it out. Since I do part time work for Google, I had to get approval to have an account. They are worried that people that work for them have an unfair advantage, but I don't do anything with the ad system so the approval was not a problem.

I'm actually impressed with how well the ads fit into the page. I don't find them very disruptive at all. Anyway, hope no one else is disturbed by them. Feel free to leave your opinion in a comment.

If you want to check out AdSense, click on the button on the bottow right of the page next the blogger button. It's free to sign up.

US National Debt Clock

A colleague of mine told me about an interesting site today. If you were ever wondering how much the US government is really spending, and how big the debt is.. Check out the link below:

US National Debt

Some interesting work tidbits..

My involvement in the project at the US Military base is pretty much dead. The head of the US called me, last week I guess it was, and asked me if I had done anything about getting on the project, and if I had heard anything new. "I told him I don't really think it is going to happen." He responded. "Uh, why did you hear something from the guys in Germany?" So, I broke it down for him:

The project lead won't respond to anyone.
The contacts from the customer that she gave didn't respond to my email.
I would need to get security clearance to work on the project, which isn't like getting your drivers License. It takes a while.
The project has already started.

So, he says, "Oh well, we'll keep you busy. We're sending you to Nampa, Idaho. Home of the world's biggest rodeo."

Uh great....

So, on to Nampa. Because I'm now going to have to go to Germany for an appointment with M' I will miss the first week of the time in Nampa. I thought we were supposed to go Feb. 5th, but apparently we were supposed to be there the 29th. M and I have an appointment on the 31.

Guess, I'm going to miss the rodeo after all...

Ve are going zo unpimp yo auto...

Hey that's my car! Check out the new commercials VW commercial with Helga and some sort of mad scientist engineer that deal with "pimped out" rides. Check out www.vwfeatures.com (or www.vw.com) for more info.

Coe Family Portal

So, my fledgling site that fizzled before it started. The site for the Coe family. Well, it seems I am not the only one with the idea. It looks like we had a visitor that isn't one of us...but wait.. maybe he is??

"Hiya all, just did a quick search on Coe Family tonight and found this place!
I'm not sure how many people visit here, but I thought I'd post a quick note saying hello.
If your looking for other information, feel free to take a look at the site I've maintained for years myself at www.coe-family.com.

Take care and nice to find additional "Coe's" out there!
Kevin Coe"

The British are coming! The British are coming!

Ok it's only one.. but a big one..

As a lifelong player and avid support of soccer/football. I welcome anything that will help promote the sport in the US. The sport is growing and our national league the MLS continues to get stronger with soccer-specific stadiums, more expansion teams and more fans. But the latest rumors that the English star Beckham will be joining the LA a Galaxy on a five contract that is being said to be worth up to $250!, comes as a shock.. Article I do realize at this point the amount is only speculation. After all link above is from the Fox network, which is not known for it's lack of sensationalism. But if it is true, The first question I have to ask is: where would this money come from? I understand the lure of bringing in a visible figure such as Beckham, and the thought that his presence here alone will help boost the sport. But seriously at such a price, how much can one man do?
Below are some of the questions to think about.. I only hope the architects of this record breaking deal have also thought about the:

What happens if he gets injured?
What about his age? He's going to turn 32 this May..
How is this going to make the other players around him feel? They certainly aren't making anything close to Beckham's salary.
Is this the beginning of astronomical salaries in MLS?
Who is really going to pay for this? The fans? One of the good things about the MLS is the reasonable ticket prices. Are MLS fans now going to be forced to pay high priced tickets in order to keep the league from going bankrupt?

Even with these questions I do think the MLS as well as US soccer can benefit from bringing high level players and coaches. If we're lucky Klinsmann will sign with the national team as head coach!

Have we gone completely mad!?!

There seems to be a new threat out there from our friends in the great white north. Check out the article below. Click the link.

US Warns About Canadian Spy Coins

Six Trends Driving the Global Economy

I was just updating the news section on my companies website, (Blackbird e-Solutions) and I came across a series of articles on Wired.com. They ran a poll for the most important BIZ/TECH trends for 2007. The top six are as follows:

The Power of Peer Production
Video Unlimited
Made to Order
Carbon Killers
M&A as R&D
The Open Everything Economy

There's some very interesting stuff in these articles.

Top 5 Reasons to get LinkedIn!

5. Ever hear of "6 Degrees of Separation?"
4. You can reconnect with former colleagues/friends/college classmates.
3. To make new business contacts.
2. To promote yourself and/or business.

And the #1 reason to join LinkedIn.com

Life truly is about who you know!

My Profile

What is LinkedIn.com?
It's a networking site geared towards helping people make business contacts. For example: Let's say I'm looking to hire someone that is an expert web developer. Now, I have a friend/colleague named John and we are connected in LinkedIn John knows a guy that he used to work with named Frank, he has just the skills I need. Since I'm connected with John I can see who he is connected with. So I ask him to introduce me, and presto! I already have a candidate who is recommended by someone I trust. Simple networking, but this is location and time independent.

The Affect of Drugs on Spiders. A Canadian Science Experiment

Check out the link below for a short video that details a little-known Canadian experiment highlighting the affects that various drugs have on the behavior of spiders. ... it's actually very interesting.

The Affect of Drugs on Spiders

EIGHT THINGS TO PONDER FOR 2007

#8 Life is sexually transmitted.

#7 Good health is merely the slowest rate at which one can die.

#6 Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

#5 Some people are like a slinky... not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you shove them down the stairs.

#4 All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

#3 Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars, and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents???

#2 In the 60's, people took LSD to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

# 1 THOUGHT FOR 2007: We know exactly where one cow with mad-cow-disease is located among the millions and millions of cows in America; but we haven't a clue as to where thousands of illegal immigrants and terrorists are located. Maybe we should put the Department of Agriculture in charge of U.S. immigration.