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Friday, January 28, 2005
Coooold
Ok here it goes ... I am tired of the cold. I hate the cold !
It's been freezing cold for a good two weeks now if not more probably. And I am not talking about regular winter cold but extreme insane cold. The high the other day was 2 ºF (-16 ºC). That's just crazy. Today it warmed up to around 20 ºF (-6 ºC). And believe it or not compared to what it has been like it felt almost warm. You know you are in trouble when 20 ºF feels warm to you. :)
I am just really sick of the bitter cold that seems to have found its way into every corner and aspect of my life. It's cold when I get out of bed, it's cold when we get home. And yes we do have heat at home and we even have it set pretty high but I can still feel the underlying chill that's there. And then there's work. The heat at work has been pretty much non-existent for the past week. My department is on the lowest level/basement and believe me it's bone-chilling cold when the heat doesn't work. It was really bad Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday was a bit better but today was really bad again. And god it's bad when you can't feel your toes when you sit at your desk at work.
After half of my department threatened to riot today we finally got somebody in our maintenance department to look into the problem. When I left at around 6'ish it seemed to be getting a bit warmer. I hope it stays that way.
I think the weather is generally supposed to get a bit warmer again and is supposed to warm up to about 30 ºF this weekened which will probably feel like spring after all this crazy cold.
The only thing that makes me feel a bit better is that Europe seems to be facing a tough cold spell as well, at least we are not the only ones here. :) Enough complaining for one post ... I'll go and make myself a big mug of tea now. Big HOT mug of tea. :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
How old do I have to get ?
So after another really busy and long day at work (god is this week ever going to end ?) Mike and I decided to go out to dinner.
All I wanted was a Strawberry Margarita to lift my spirits. So our goofy server came and we ordered our drinks. And there was the dreaded question "Can I see your I.D. please ?" So I rummaged through my bag to find my wallet and looked for my I.D. No I.D. to be found anywhere. So I asked Mike if he had it on him since sometimes I give it to him if we go out and I don't feel like carrying a purse around. Well, no I.D. in his wallet either. So no Strawberry Margarita .... just a measly Diet Coke.
Don't get me wrong. I am over it now and don't really care anymore ... but it's just the basic concept that bothers me. I am 25 now ... god I feel old. And I still get I.D.'d and can actually be turned down for a drink.
Maybe it's cause I am European ... maybe that's what makes it so difficult for me to grasp this whole concept. We do have a drinking age in Austria, which is 16 for beer/wine and 18 for hard liquor I believe. But really ... I have NEVER been I.D.'d in Austria in my WHOLE life and I lived there until I was 21. This whole drinking age thing just seems silly to me. Again, don't get me wrong I am not saying that it's a great thing for teenagers to get trashed ... but really. They are teenagers, of course they are going to drink. Drinking age or no drinking age - Teenagers are always gonna be curious and find a way to drink.
Plus what irritates me is that you can drive when you are 16 but can't drink until you are 21. That's just backwards - totally backwards. So you have all those 16 year olds that can drive a car but aren't allowed to drink - technically. Of course they gonna drink anyway ... and probably drive. So how safe is that ?
Mmmm ... I guess I feel better now - just had to get this out. :) It's supposed to be my day off tomorrow since I am working on Saturday but I am going in anyway. It's just such a crazy week plus I am training a girl that I really can't leave alone yet. Oh well, let's hope next week will be better.
PS: The photo shows Ollie watching the snow this morning. We got another 3 inches or so this morning. What fun. :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Let it snow
And the weekend is already over again. I can never understand where two days can go so quickly ? They never pass that quickly DURING the week, now do they ? :)
Of course I feel like I didn't get anything done but oh well. I spent a nice weekend at home since we got our first major snowstorm of the season this weekend. Surpringly enough we haven't gotten that much snow this season so far - which I won't complain about. 
Well it started snowing early Saturday afternoon and continued snowing until early Sunday morning. By the time I got up today it was all done and I was able to look out on a big white blanket of snow. Thankfully it was light fluffy snow and not the heavy wet kind. But the wind blew it all over the place so it was much deeper in some parts than others. I am guessing we got about a foot altogether.
I did get a few things done this weekend at least. Managed to answer all my emails and write one letter. I'll try and be better with my letters in 2005 ... I'll really try. :)
Posted by Hanna at 09:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
Please meet Charlie !
It all started this morning when we got up and realized that one of the water pipes in the basement was frozen - it's just been brutally cold lately. So we managed to thaw it out with the hairdryer which was good. One of the windows downstairs was cracked but luckily we found a spare (yes I am sure we are the only people that have spare windows lying around -- I swear we have a spare everything) which Mike put in after work tonight.
Afterwards we headed out to Home Depot to get some pipe insulators, picture hooks and other small stuff.
As we came back we found a little dog in our driveway. The poor little thing was covered in snow and shaking because he was so cold. We wrapped him in a towel to warm him up a little. Luckily he had a tag with his name and phone no. so we were able to call his owners. Little Charlie lives quite a way away, he must have come through the woods behind our house. His owners hadn't even realized he was gone and were of course both surprised and happy we called.
After Charlie thawed out a little he was a very happy little fellow waging his tail and eager to be pet. Both of our cats didn't quite know what to make of the dog in our house, especially Oliver was pretty freaked out. Charlie went on to polish off their cat food left in their bowls .. cute little dog. :) Not too much later his owners showed up and took the little rascal home.
Definitely an interesting evening. :) Before I go here are the promised New Orleans pictures. Look at them and tell me what you think - isn't New Orleans pretty ? :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Some more photos
Here I am again, this time with some promised pictures. I am feeling a lot better, now only battling an annoying cough and a leftover sinus infection. I am back to eating regular food as well which is a welcome change. It's back to the same old at work. I am yet again a person short and have to go back in the hiring game. 
So I have been busy covering multiple desks while trying to figure out how to best manage my current employee situation. My boss is also currently out for about two weeks as his wife just had a baby daughter this past Friday. I am trying not to stress myself out too much over all this as I am sure it will all work itself out for the best sooner or later. Change can be a good thing and maybe a fresh breeze is what my department needs right now. :)
I only posted two New Orleans pictures for you this time - one is from the Oak Alley Plantation and the other one is from a building in the French Quarter. I do have lots more pictures and promise to post a link as soon as I upload them all - maybe tomorrow. :) Just been too busy with everything at work, plus recovering from the stomach bug I had.
Posted by Hanna at 07:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Friday, January 14, 2005
We're back :)
Ok we're back. :)
This was a longer absence from my blog as planned but after we got back from New Orleans on Monday night I was the victim of a nasty stomach bug and spent two days in bed, running to the bathroom every so often. I'll spare you the details. :)
Thursday I went to work again but am still feeling rather lousy. At least the nauseousness is gone but am still feeling blah and haven't eaten anything but soup and toast for 4 days. On top of that I am fighting a cold/sinus infection and an annoying sore throat/cough. How much more fun can it get ?
On a more upbeat note our trip to New Orleans was lots of fun and we did have a great time. It was great to meet up with my parents again as well.
The weather was awesome, mostly sunny with temperatures in the upper 70'ies for most of our stay.
New Orleans is an amazing city. There is so much to see. It's definitely a party city with a crazy core, lots of great drinks and fun bars with live music. But underneath all that it's also a great cultural place with tons of antique shops and art galleries for example. We bought a painting for our livingroom which arrived yesterday. Sorry the picture came out a little dark but I'll try and take another photo once we hang it up. I really love it.
The French Quarter is really amazing with all the narrow streets, the architecture, the balconies, ... so pretty. There is so much history in everything. Speaking of history we also went to tour two plantations Oak Alley and Destrehan Plantation which were both absolutely gorgeous.
Took a dinner cruise on the Mississippi with my parents one night, went to the zoo and the aquarium and generally just strolled around New Orleans a lot.
I'll post some more stories and pictures as soon as I feel a little better and have some more energy. :)
Posted by Hanna at 08:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Sunday, January 02, 2005
New Year's Concert
When you live far away from home traditions and familiar things become even more important, I think.
What brought these thoughts to my mind ? Thinking about Austrian New Year's traditions and remembering past New Year's and familiar things.
New Year's in Austria is always accompanied by the showing of Johann Strauss' operette (a more light-hearted kind of opera) "Die Fledermaus". And every New Year's Day Vienna has its famous New Year's Day Concert. To listen to a sample from the Fledermaus click here. To listen to a sample from the New Year's concert click here.
Sometimes I miss all the culture. I know the US has a lot of culture too - it's just different. Not sure how to describe it I guess.
On a more light-hearted note I am very excited about our upcoming trip to New Orleans. I still have to pack tonight, then one more day at work tomorrow and after that it's off to New Orleans. Can't wait ! :)
Posted by Hanna at 05:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack