Revival?

Hmm, I feel like blogging again, but not sure in which language yet...but since no one's reading my dead blogs anymore anyway I can take my time precious time deciding, I think;).

Howdy

Wow, I haven't blogged in ages. Must mean I got a life? Nah, just a job and I've been at it for three weeks now and I even moved to Zurich. And then there's the Euro 2008, the occasional Die Ärzte concert, the occasional house warming party and so on, so life's good.

I've lately been having the urge to blog in German again, so I went and got myself a wordpress account and yet another incredibly cheesy title. Feel free to have a read right. here.

Copenhagen

On Monday I got back from a well-deserved break which brought me and a friend to Copenhagen, visiting another friend who's on exchange there. We were very lucky weather-wise and got to enjoy a beautiful boat ride through the canals, spend an afternoon in the park and another in Christiania and of course party in the evenings. I have to agree with Kirk, Copenhagen's definitely a city I could live in!




In other news, I'm starting work on Monday and moving to Zurich this Saturday, so I'll have a lot of things to get done in a very short time-frame - therefore there will probably be only limited for the next week or so, sorry!

Miracles Do Happen!

- I have proof! See, I'm pretty sure at some point me and all my faithful readers (Hey guys! Been a while! Sorry! *waves*) have resigned to the fact that my master's thesis will always be something to aspire to but never to actually complete. Turns out there is a God and He/She/It somehow put me in a trance for a couple of days and made me finish. Oh, I'm not saying it turned out well because it didn't, but what would you expect? Even God needed a full seven days to create the earth and I believe he actually would've had to do it within seven years but just couldn't get started until the last minute. And while He/She/It did their best within that time-frame, I think we all know it's far from perfect. Some would even say it turned out a disaster, but I digress.

Anyway, my thesis isn't that much of an epic disaster, it's more just meh. Very meh. But it's really pretty! So let's all pray to whatever entity we believe in, that it will be accepted and that I can officially graduate on October 4th!

Colbert is Awesome: Anniversary

Yesterday marked the 2-year-anniversary of Stephen Colbert's speech at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner. If you haven't seen / heard / read it I strongly urge you to catch up on it. Find the video here and a transcript here.

I still can't believe he had the guts to say that stuff with the President sitting right there. And I still can't believe that he got invited at all. Further proof that sometimes the stars do align and make beautiful things happen. Even Justice Scalia didn't seem so bad when he actually laughed out lout at jokes at his expense (sadly, he may have been the only one in that room to do so, though).

Word of the Day: Awareness

Awareness. A word I've officially come to loathe. The straw that broke the camel's back was reading about this video to raise awareness of the death of the honeybee. Yes, the extinction of the honeybee would be an ecological desaster for us since we depend on them to fertilize our fruit trees. And yes, what's happening in Darfur is horrible. And yes, childhood obesity is a big issue. So are the dangerous of nicotine and melting glaciers.

Thing is, I'm pretty sure that all of those are problems can not be solved by raising "awareness". We've been asked to be "aware" of so many things today that their importance is somewhat diluted and you forget to actually do something about it (if you even can, which in most cases is not at all clear).

It's like watching the news - another bomb in Iraq? Nothing new, NEXT. I really do have to wonder if maybe we would care a bit more if we were a bit less "aware".

Born To Sell?

I am of the firm belief that good salespeople are born, not trained. This occurs to me every time I see an obviously trained, not born salesperson, tipically male, in his twenties. You know the type, straight off the training where he did everything just right and where he was brainwashed into believing that he'll be awesome and as long as he just keeps prospective customers firmly in the clutches of a sales pitch and wears a suit, he'll earn unimaginable piles of money.

And then, out on the street, he's pushy, tries too hard and makes people extremely uncomfortable. And he doesn't notice or doesn't understand why. And he probably has the highest rate of customers revoking a contract after he badgered them into signing something.

Apparently, the most fundamental truth is not taught in these sales trainings: the person you want to sell something to has to actually find you somewhat likeable. Otherwise it's not going to happen, even if they need / want your product.

I, by the way, would not make a good salesperson. Talking someone into buying something they don't need? Or something they could get cheaper or in better quality elsewhere? Nah, I think I'd always end up telling them my honest opinion, which in the sales business probably isn't the best policy...