Hi,

I am still here… Admittedly, it has been quite a while since my last post. Since that point, my life has changed dramatically!! A few days after, we welcomed our little one to this world and he has been ruling our life ever since in the best, most unexpected way. More to follow soon….

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

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Happy Thanksgiving!

May you realize and value the fortunes you are blessed with and be thankful for every new day you can enjoy them

I thought it was about time to give another update on my gardening attempts. We had seeded our little dirt patch this year with quite a number of different things, hoping that maybe a couple or three would actually take. Well, guess what. All of a sudden, they all sprouted and not just in a skinny, dry, just here to make an appeareance kinda way. No, full bloom, turning the little dirt patch into a full grown jungle on a small scale.

Here is what came out of the ground:

• Peppers
• Heirloom tomatoes the size of softballs
• Cherry tomatoes
• Chamomile (well, that’s more like a flower / tea plant than a fruit plant)
• Parsley (boy, does it grow like a weed, or what?)
• Canteloupe melons
• Sweet corn

And today, we were able to harvest the first fruits of our labor. The peppers are delicious (the first one already volunteered for your BBQ this afternoon). I attached a small selection for your viewing pleasure.

I just found this article in ‘Die Zeit’: Tuer auf fuer Akademiker.

How long will it take the politicians to really grasp the consequences and implications of some of the EU laws they helped define materially several years ago already?

Not just to be selective about their qualifications to obtain a work permit, but also be less regulating and bureaucratic when it comes to taxation of all aspects of private and commercial life and encouraging its people (citizens and migratory workers) to create value by i.e. owning their homes (have you seen the ratio of renters vs home owners in Germany?), establishing businesses, etc…

How does instituting semester fees at universities play into that picture, the de-valuing of the 3rd tier in the 3 tier school system to really be no longer an entry way into obtaining an apprenticeship. And at the same time make it contingent on a single teacher’s personal opinion and estimation as to whether a 4th grader is “suited” for the Gymnasium via the recommendation process at the end of elementary school!!! Let’s not even begin to discuss G-8!!! I could go on and on about that…

One more  point: the recently made decision to increase the transit fees for logistical and transportation industries to use Germany’s Autobahn system.

One can’t increase the milk quota on a cow, but ignore the fact that the cow does need quality sustenance to even be able to produce milk.

One could even draw a pretty extreme conclusion of the bigger picture: does Germany intent to prevent its own citizenry to obtain quality education at home and instead rather pay for migratory academically trained resources that it can be quite selective about in the first place? If so, they are definitely not doing a good job at that either.

P.S. Regarding tuition at German colleges: Focus article. Hessen just decided to abolish tuition again starting with the winter semester this year.

Mhhh, it seems as if the extended family has found the URL to this blog

Guess, that means, I need to up my blog quality and possibly the frequency of posting as well.

Yeah, they did it!

Semifinals Germany – Turkey: 3:2. Yeah, we’re in the finals, against either Spain or Russia, who ever wins the last Semifinal game. Great job, guys!

Visitor #5000 to my blog has been today!! Congrats to

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Watched the Germany vs Croatia game on Thursday. Super weak performance by the Germans! Their only saving graves is that the remaining two teams in their group are even weaker and therefore, Germany still occupying second place (first two teams in each group advance)…. lucky…

At this point, my dream match up would be Netherlands vs Croatia…..