Travis in Berlin

Just in case you haven't heard, my hard drive has died. So, thats why I haven't been online much or there hasn't been a new podcast. I guess my over-worked machine finally gave up.

It's getting repaired for free (since I made the best decision of my life and bought the Apple Care extended warranty). But I do have to fork over 200 € to recover the data and files if Apple won't front the bill like they should (and previously said they would).

So, hopefully in the next week I'll be back full force. Have a great Memorial Day statesiders!

Labels: Apple, Computers, Mac

Jason dug up an old gem and posted it to YouTube. This is a video we filmed back in '01 or so with my old '87 VW Golf and our friend Charlie's GTI. All in one take. All ad-libbed. All awesome.

Labels: cars, racing, volkswagens

Tomorrow is Mannertag Men's Day. Apparently it's a holiday for men to hang out with their boys and get drunk. Ahhh, Deutschland.

Labels: Germany, holidays, mannertag, travel

Ok, Peter and his brother, Nick, are coming to Europe this month. I'll be meeting them in Amsterdam this weekend and then come back with them to Berlin for Monday-Wednesday.

That's going to be great!

Unfortunately, Dave, a good friend from Florida and fellow surfer, forgot to remind me he's going to be in The Basque Region of France and Spain from this weekend until next. But he did remember to tell me that epic swell is on its way for that area. So, should I buy a $400 plane ticket to fly out there for one and a half days of surfing? It's a terrible dilemma and I need your help! Please comment below...

Labels: amsterdam, basque, Berlin, france, spain, travel

Well, today was an adventure. I set out at 9AM, as normal on my way to language school But at Greifwalder Strasse between my home station of Prenzlauer Allee and my destination, Frankfurter Allee, the train decided to stop and order everyone out. Then it left empty. Then another train came, unloaded a bunch more people and left empty. I gathered from several repetitive German announcements that the train was broken ahead. Super, I always wondered why "Greifwalder" looked suspiciously like "Grief World." So,

I had to catch a street Tram. Now, Berlin's Strassenbahns street trams are wonderful because they go virtually everywhere. Unfortunately, because of their overarching presecence they can also be quite the labyrinth.

So, I got on what looked to be the most direct route to my school (it was now 9:30 and class was starting). Somewhere along the way though, we ran into some construction that halted our progress, and the LCD screen inside read "Ende Hier." Super. Now, I'm in Northeast Berlin somewhere and another half hour late.

So, I two more trams later and my 2 hour ticket had run out, and I had little desire to go halfway through class and try to catch up on the topic.

Think I'll stay inside for the rest of the day. It's gray out and the trains don't like me. Good thing is I should have enough time to finish this monster-long podcast.

Labels: Berlin, Germany, Strassenbahn, Trains, Trams, travel

Just thought it was somehow very appropriate.

Labels: Germany, history, old photos, travel

In case you haven't heard, or in case you live in the US...Chelsea lost the Premierhip title and got knocked out of the Champions League Semi-finals this week. I've just about recovered my emotions enough to talk about it.

It was a crushing week for my side. I can't say they really turned up to play Liverpool in the second leg of the Champions League Semis which was really discouraging as I think they really had a shot to go through.

And then yesterday a valiant 10-man Chelsea side, sans most their starters and a red-carded Bouhlarose, almost came back to beat Arsenal at the Emerates Stadium. Joe Cole buried a ball into the back of the net in the 80th minute following Essian's superb header in the 70th, but he was narrowly called off sides. It ended up 1-1, allowing Manchester United to come to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday for what basically amounts to a friendly.

So, a bummer of a sporting week. I guess there's always the FA Cup...

Speaking of sports though, the Rugby World Cup is in September in France and two matches in Scotland. Anyone wanna come?

(photo by jamestmouse from flickr)

Labels: Arsenal, Chelsea, Football, Rugby