Here are some lyrics that have really challenged me lately - it's so easy to lose this mentality...and to become OK with "OK".

"More than fine" by Switchfoot

When I wake in the morning

I want to blow into pieces

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



When I'm up with the sunshine

I want more than just a good time

I want more than just okay, more than just okay



I'm not givin' up, givin' up now

I'm not givin' up, not backing down



More than fine, more than bent on getting by

More than fine, more than just okay



When I'm lit with sunrise

I want more than just the blue skies

I want more than just okay, more than okay



More than oceans away from the dawn

More than oceans away from who we are

More than oceans, more than oceans,

More than fine

I...can...hardly believe this story.
Check this out.

This has got to be the FUNNIEST picture I have seen in a long time. Although it will only be funny for Half Life players - to all you non-players out there: This guy is like this really creepy, scary guy in Half-Life, always very mysterious and stuff, so that's why this pic made me laugh VERY hard... enjoy:
Click

Sick... :(
Off work till Thursday... :)

Well, I got some yuck stomach virus thing, so I have to stay home and eat nothing but Zwieback, quark and bananas. *BLECH*
But at least I'm getting a bit of a breather from the major stress of the last few weeks, maybe it's just my body saying "SLOW DOWN!!!!" :)

BTW, found a really cool tool for any gamer out there: Xfire. See the bar at the bottom of this page? XFire keeps track of which game I play how often and when and also allows anyone to chat with me, even while I'm playing a game! If I'm playing multiplayer, you can join me on the server I'm on and other really neat stuff. Any gamers out there - get XFire and I'll see you online! :)

Looks like we got an apartment!! 84 sq.m, nice and renovated - right close to Rock Berlin neighbourhood (Prenzlauer Berg, the suburb with the highest child rate in Europe :), not a bad price for the size, either.
We'll probably be signing the contract within the next few weeks and moving into the place (just two blocks from Gene and Kathy Shafer) either January 1st or 15th.

BTW....Half-Life 2 is by FAR the BEST game I have ever played - not just best computer game. Best game. More later...when I find the time.

First Stephi and I are Thanksgiving'ing in Dortmund - just a quick shoot-in, shoot-out - we come in tonight late, have the Thanksgiving thing tomorrow, leave Sunday morning. Sorry, all you Dortmund non-family people, we'll probably not see you this time round. :(

The Final Hours of Half-Life 2

Tomorrow at 9 am, the most revolutionary PC game ever is going to be released. Half-Life 2. Check out the article for a really interesting behind-the-scenes look at its making - which included roughly a half year of 90-100 hour work weeks for some of those guys - the company does its own laundry, that should tell you enough. <:-O

Time for bed...c ya.

I just read that the director Quentin Tarantino (of "Pulp Fiction" and the "Kill Bill" movies for the uninitiated) has an IQ of 160. Holy crap. I mean, you could say that IQ tests aren't that exact, but 160 shows that the guy is absolutely and in all other ways completely incredibly intelligent. Whoa. And then you make movies like "Kill Bill". Weird. :)

Aufm Weg zur Arbeit hab ich was unglaublich witziges beobachten können: Eine Taube watschelte so vor sich hin und ist prompt in eines der Löcher an so einem Abflusseingang getreten und auf die Schnauze gefallen, hat sich dann wieder aufgerappelt und ist einfach weiter gelaufen. Ich musste echt lachen, das sah total geil aus, weil die Taube so was von dämlich dabei aussah. :-)

Collateral
Well, this was quite a cool movie, in my opinion. The plot is not exactly completely innovative - there's the detective who's on the right track when noone else is, there's the "I-hold-a-gun-to-your-head-and-make-you-do-illegal-things-therefore-it's-not-your-fault" 'dilemma', so on, so forth. What made the movie above average for me was Tom Cruise's character, Vincent, the hitman.
Here are a couple of quotes from the movie:

(Vincent has just made his first hit of the night)
Vincent : Max, six billion people on the planet, you're getting bent out of shape cause of one fat guy.
Max : Well, who was he?
Vincent : What do you care? Have you ever heard of Rwanda?
Max : Yes, I know Rwanda.
Vincent : Well, tens of thousands killed before sundown. Nobody's killed people that fast since Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Did you bat an eye, Max?
Max : What?
Vincent : Did you join Amnesty International, Oxfam, Save the Whales, Greenpeace, or something? No. I off one fat Angelino and you throw a hissy fit.
Max : Man, I don't know any Rwandans.
Vincent : You don't know the guy in the trunk, either.

(Max asks how Vincent is able to do what he does for a living)
Vincent: Well, Max, it's like this. We're just insignificant little dots in the universe, and what difference does it make if there is one less of us? Nobody even notices.


You know what I like about those lines? They make sense. If you look at the world from a materialistic, atheistic point of view, there is NO rebuttal to Vincent's justification. In fact, Jamie Foxx's character Max doesn't ever truly give an answer to why Vincent's thinking is flawed. At some point he says something along the lines of "You have absolutely no conception or understanding of what someone else is thinking. Something's just wrong with you. Something that's supposed to be there in people is just...missing!"
Well, that's great, Max, but it sure isn't any logical rebuttal to Vincent's thoughts.

The fact is - if there is no objective standard for right and wrong, for value of anything, then who are we to tell Vincent he's wrong? A friend of mine said "Well, it's simple. Life is better than death, because life is something and death is nothing." Well, who are we to decide that nothing is better than something?! By doing so, we are declaring all nihilists wrong!!! Which we have no grounds to do!

The movie, I think, shows wonderfully and chillingly where the materialistic, atheistic world view ends - in absolute chaos, where there simply is no saying something is truly wrong - and therefore monsters like Vincent are absolutely fine to just do what they do.

Boy am I glad I ain't no atheist. :)

This movie gets a 7. Definetly worth seeing at least once.

Erstes Babybild
Tja, richtig gehört, für alle, die wir noch nicht erreichen konnten. Stephi ist schwanger!!!! :-) Und hier haben wir auch schon das erste Bild, wo man überhaupt nichts erkennen kann. :)
Der rote Kreis ist das Baby - zur Zeit einfach ein kleiner Wicht. Das schwarze drum rum ist die Fruchtblase. Stephi sagt mir, unten mittig hat das Herz geschlagen.
Cool, oder? Voraussichtlicher Geburtstermin ist ca. 3.5.2005.

Hi guys...
Just thought I'd post some random "deep thoughts" :) I've been having lately, I was talking over this with Gene, Kathy, and Stephi last week. I still find it pretty intriguing:

Quantum theory and prayer

Can God answer prayers for things that have already occurred? In other words, I pray that God would bless someone's exam only to figure out later than at the moment I had prayed for this person, they had already taken the exam.
If we truly believe that God is timeless, then we believe God could answer our prayers basically retro-actively. Let's just assume that for a moment.
But that then brings us to a very interesting point, similar to Schrodinger's Cat: As soon as we know whether or not God answered our prayer, God can no longer answer it (who ever heard of the past actually being changed because of his prayer?). So as soon as we figure out the actual answer to our prayer (yes or no), we have basically split off into the universe in which our prayer for the past has no relevance whatsoever any more, up until that point though we were in both worlds at the same time.

...

Uh, or God simply doesn't count prayer that are prayed after what is being prayed for. That's possible, too. :)

Hi everyone!
Sorry I haven't been blogging at all lately - as you can guess, I've been quite stressed with the first week of work. Additionally, we had an STM (mission team) come for that first week, so there was a lot to do with them, also Stephi's parents and brother came...her brother stayed for nearly a week. That was awesome, but crazy.
Anyways, I'm writing from work, and I need to get started - just wanted to let you know I'll be blogging more often now...

Hi...
My thesis is pretty much finished. I'll be sending it in by email to my professor for a bit of proof-reading, and I'll add a thing or two here or there, but other than that, I'm finished!!! Another week or so and I'm home free.
On another note...every now and then I get a creative streak. :) Just wrote a poem. Check it out (underneath the German)!
--------------------
Hi...
Meine Bachelorarbeit ist so gut wie fertig. Ich werd sie heute per Email meinem Prof schicken zum Korrekturlesen, werde hier und da noch ein paar Sachen ändern, aber ansonsten bin ich fertig!!! Noch etwa ne Woche oder so und ich bin GANZ fertig.
Was anderes...ab und zu trifft mich eine leicht kreative Ader. :) Hab gerade ein Gedicht geschrieben. Schaut's euch an!
--------------------
eyes

"keep your eyes on me"
he said
"keep your eyes on mine"

as we climbed down this
Ravine, this
path Crooked, Broken, Steep

My hand in his
his eyes on Mine

"keep your eyes on me"

so high up,
ground so far down
path Slippery, path Unstabile

i slip and
fall
too free
and
no hand holds mine

WHERE is He?

not here

WHY?



falling


fall



Caught
in the arms of Him
Who is above me
yet amazingly
below me

i look through His eyes
and know
Peace

"Keep your eyes on Me"

Well, the contract came in the mail, I just signed it and am sending it back to them today!
Also - SEK (the game company) wrote and said they took someone else, which is fine to me - makes it very clear from God this is the right decision! One other funny thing is that a third company I had sent a resumee to also wanted to speak with me about it! I heard about this after I had already accepted the one at i-Net, so too late, but still encouraging all the same!
I'm now studying like crazy for my "Computer Architecture" exam tomorrow. I have to pass this one - if I don't, I won't get my degree for another few months, which would majorly suck. And this one will clearly be the hardest of all four exams I've had.
By the way, I passed my oral exam on Monday nicely...it was a little more challenging than I had thought, but then they gave me a better grade than I was expecting so it came out even. :)
-------------------
Der Arbeitsvertrag ist mit der Post gekommen, ich hab ihn gerade unterzeichnet und schick ihn heute zurück!
SEK (die Spielefirma) hat übrigens geschrieben und gesagt, dass sie jemand anderes genommen haben, was für mich kein Problem darstellt - das macht es halt super deutlich, dass die Entscheidung für i-Net wirklich von Gott auch so gewollt ist. Eine andere witzige Sache ist dass eine dritte Firma (Jamba) mir gesagt hat, dass sie sich mit mir über meine Bewerbung unterhalten wollen! Ich habe erst davon gehört, nachdem ich den Job bei i-Net angenommen hatte, also waren die zu spät, trotzdem war das total ermutigend!
Jetzt üb' ich wie verrückt für die Rechner-Architektur Klausur morgen. Ich muss die bestehen - wenn nicht, werd' ich meinen Abschluss erst in ein paar Monaten machen können, was deutlich beknackt wäre. Außerdem wird diese Klausur auf jeden Fall die schwierigste von allen 4 die ich schreibe.
Übrigens hab ich die mündliche Prüfung am Montag gut bestanden. Es war ein wenig schwieriger als erwartet, dafür haben sie mir eine bessere Note gegeben als ich dachte, von daher waren wir dann quitt. :)

Well, I decided to take the job! I sent them an email this morning accepting the offer. It was funny, they called me back literally 10 minutes later. These people are really quick. :)
They'll be sending me my contract here within the next day or two, I need to get all the burocracy out of the way (insurance membership, "Lohnsteuerkarte", etc.), and then simply show up on the 16th of August! Whoop, whoop! :)
So, job world, here I come!
-----------------
Ich hab den Job angenommen. Hab ihnen heute morgen eine Email geschrieben und das Angebot angenommen. War total witzig, die haben mich 10 Minuten später angerufen. Die sind echt schnell. :)
Sie werden mir den Arbeitsvertrag zusenden innerhalb der nächsten paar Tage, ich muss halt die ganze Bürokratie erledigen (versicherungsmitgliedschaftsnachweis, lohnsteuerkarte, lauter langer Worte halt ;), und dann halt am 16.8. auftauchen! Juhuu! :)
Arbeitswelt, ich komme!

Hi zusammen!
HAB' EINEN JOB!
:-) Habe soeben vor einer halben Stunden ein Jobangebot bekommen für den zweiten Job (wo ich gestern zum Vorstellungsgespräch war, siehe den vorherigen Post.) bei i-Net Software, und soll mich bis Ende nächster Woche melden. Ich gehe eigentlich auf jeden Fall davonaus, dass ich ihn nehmen werde, denn er zahlt zwar weniger als ich vorher erwartet hatte (Berlin ist wohl was Gehalt angeht Schlusslicht), trotzdem gut ein Viertel mehr als die Spielefirma zahlen würde (falls ich den überhaupt bekäme, das steht erst Mitte nächster Woche fest), er hat eine absolut geregelte 40 Stunden-Woche - Überstunden gibt es nicht. Punkt. Außerdem scheint er mir sehr komplex und anspruchsvoll - werde mich also nicht langweilen, und er ist wohl sehr stabil, zumindest wenn die übliche 6-monatige Probezeit irgendwann vorbei ist ;) - die haben Hunderte von Großkunden auf der ganzen Welt, und die meisten, die da arbeiten, arbeiten schon mehrere Jahre da. Ich kann zum 15. August dort anfangen, so hab ich nachm Studium noch zwei Wochen freie Zeit.
Jedenfalls vielen Dank für's Beten, jetzt könnt ihr ja einen kurzen Dank Richtung Himmel schicken....genau....JETZT. ;)

-----------------
Hi everyone!
I HAVE A JOB!
:-) Just a half an hour ago, I was offered a job at the second place (where I had the interview yesterday, see the last post), i-Net Software. I'm definetly planning on taking it - they're paying less than I had hoped for (Berlin's not the place to be looking for high pay), but still a fourth more than the game company would (if I got the job which I won't hear for another half a week), they have a very comfortable 40 hour week - no overtime ever. Period. Also it sounds like it's a pretty complex project, so I won't be bored - and the job seems very stabile - they have hundreds of huge customers all over the place, and the most people working there have had their job for a few years now. I can start on August 15th, so I'll have two weeks free time after my studies are over.
Anyways, thanks so much for praying, now you can shoot up a quick thanks to God...right.....NOW. ;)

Well, the interview went great! :)
For this one I actually wore a suit, tie and all. The conversation went really smooth, they joked a bit about "AI is not really something that's important here" since most of my projects have been AI projects, but I think that was just to see how I'd react. Other than that they were really friendly and clear about everything. This company never does overtime. Period. That's pretty weird for an IT company, but pretty cool - 5pm, 5:30pm max, that's it. 40 hour week. Once again, a little lower pay than I thought, but way higher than the game company would offer, also with a clear possibility to raise that after the "Probezeit".
The company is involved in making mainly Java products for huge companies like American Express, Deutsche Bank, Federal Reserve Bank, Commerzbank, Citybank, AOL, AT&T, Bell, Telekom, Lycos, and many many others. Check out the list here. Apparently the work is very challenging and very complex, which is exciting to me - I'd hate to be bored out of my mind.
If I had to guess for this one, I'd guess I have the job, but you never know for certain of course. The reason I'd guess that is that the interview went pretty long and into great detail of the job and the people on the team, as well as into what the situation would look like when...uh...if I have the job. ;) They said they'd contact me either tomorrow or early next week, so it's not over yet! Thanks again for all your prayers and well-wishes, I was way more calm today than yesterday.
I'll keep you posted...

-----

Tja, das Vorstellungsgespräch verlief eigentlich super! :)
Diesmal bin ich da im Anzug aufgekreuzt mit Krawatte und allem drum und dran. Das Gespräch verlief sehr glatt, sie haben ein paar Scherze gemacht, dass "KI hier nicht wirklich so gebraucht wird" - da meine bisherigen Projekte eigentlich hauptsächlich KI-Sachen waren, aber ich schätze sie wollten einfach sehen wie ich auf die Kommentare reagier. ;) Ansonsten waren sie sehr freundlich und haben sich sehr gut verständlich und klar ausgedrückt. In dieser Firma werden keine Überstunden gemacht. Punkt. Das ist für eine IT-Firma ganz schön abgefahren, aber sehr cool - um 17.00, spätestens 17.30 ist Schicht. 40 Stunden Woche. Mal wieder ist die Bezahlung ein wenig geringer als von mir ursprünglich gedacht, aber weit höher als bei der Spielefirma, außerdem gibt es eine klare Chance, das das Gehalt nach der Probezeit steigt.
Die Firma macht hauptsächlich Java-Produkte für Riesenfirmen wie American Express, Deutsche Bank, Federal Reserve Bank, Commerzbank, Citybank, AOL, AT&T, Bell, Telekom, Lycos und viele viele andere. Die Gesamtliste findet ihr here. Sie sagten, der Job ist sehr herausfordernd und komplex, was mir eigentlich sehr zuspricht, weil ich es hassen würde, mich Tag ein Tag aus zu langweilen.
Wenn ich für diesen raten müsste, würde ich tippen, ich hab den Job, aber man weiß so was natürlich nie mit Sicherheit. Ich würde das tippen, weil das Gespräch recht lang ging und sie sehr ins Detail gegangen sind über den Job und über die Leute auf dem Team, und über die Situation, wenn ich dabei wäre, usw. Sie sagten, sie kontaktieren mich entweder morgen oder nächste Woche früh...es ist noch nicht vorbei! Nochmals vielen Dank für eure Gebete und Erfolgswünsche, ich war heute irgendwie weit ruhiger und friedlicher als gestern.
Ich werd euch aufm Laufenden halten...

Hi...well, the AI exam went well, I passed it pretty easily, it just was a 15 minute question/answer time. So, thanks for praying!
Now I'm leaving for the second interview at i-Net Software here in about twenty minutes. Next entry from me will be on how that went.
See ya!
-----
Hi....na, die KI-Prüfung ist ja schon mal sehr gut verlaufen, habe locker bestanden, die Prüfung war einfach 15 Minuten Fragen stellen. Danke für's Gebet!
Jetzt hau ich gleich ab zum zweiten Vorstellungsgespräch bei i-Net Software, in etwa 20 Minuten. Nächster Eintrag von mir also darüber, wie es gelaufen ist.
Bis denn...

(deutsche Übersetzung weiter unten)
Sorry I haven't written earlier - our Internet was down this evening, and Stephi and I had our date night, we watched Spiderman 2 and just now got home. :) The movie gets a 6.50, BTW, really wasn't bad at all.
Oh yeah, the interview: I thought it went well - thanks SO much to all of you out there who were praying for me, I could really feel it. Seriously.
The interview itself was a little different than I had expected - they concentrated a whole lot on the job rather than on me and asked more things of projects I had been involved in than about me personally. My guess is either there will be a second round for a special few or they're just looking for someone to fulfill the qualifications and they'll deal with personality problems later. The pay would be lower than I had expected, and the working times aren't very attractive either. But it is a game company! :) Anyways, we'll see what happens, they said they'd contact me next week. I didn't get this feeling like I definetly will get the job - in fact, my guess is I won't because according to them there are quite a few others applying. But I didn't feel horrible about it at all either, so we'll just have to see. Now I need to start concentrating on tomorrow: I have an oral exam at 1pm, then another interview at i-net software at 3. *phew* :) Anyways, Stephi says hi! Have a great night...uh...day...uh...whatever. :)
--------------------------
Sorry dass ich nicht früher geschrieben hab - unser Internet war heut abend down, und Stephi und ich hatten eine Verabredung, wir haben Spiderman 2 geguckt und sind gerade nach Hause gekommen. :) Der Film kriegt von mir eine 6,50, war echt nicht schlecht.
Ach ja, das Vorstellungsgespräch: Ich fand, es verlief gut - VIELEN Dank an alle die für mich gebetet haben, ich habe es echt spüren können. Wirklich.
Das Vorstellungsgespräch selbst verlief ein wenig anders als erwartet - sie haben sich viel mehr auf den Job selbst als auf mich konzentriert und haben mehr über Projekte gefragt, bei denen ich beteiligt war, als über mich als Person. Ich tippe darauf, dass es entweder eine zweite Runde geben wird für Leute die in die engere Wahl kommen, oder dass sie einfach jemanden so schnell wie möglich suchen, der die Qualifikationen erfüllt, und dann schauen sie später, wenn es Persönlichkeitsprobleme geben sollte. Die Bezahlung wäre geringer als ich dachte, und die Arbeitszeiten sind nicht gerade attraktiv. Aber es ist eine Spielefirma! :) Jedenfalls werden wir sehen, was passiert, sie sagten, sie kontaktieren mich nächste Woche. Ich habe jetzt kein Gefühl, dass ich den Job auf jeden Fall kriege - um ehrlich zu sein, würde ich eher tippen, ich kriege ihn nicht, weil sie meinten, es gäbe wohl noch einige andere Bewerber. Aber ich habe auch kein schlechtes Gefühl deswegen, also müssen wir einfach schauen. Jetzt muss ich mich auf morgen konzentrieren: Ich habe eine mündliche Prüfung um 13.00 Uhr, dann noch mein zweites Vorstellungsgespräch bei i-net Software um 15.00. *puh* :) Stephi sagt hi! Wünsch euch einen schönen Abend...äh...Tag...äh...was auch immer! :)

Here you go... My page of the day. :-)
Today went OK, I bashed my brains on thinking about what I'll say to simple questions like "Tell us about yourself" and "What are your strengths and weaknesses". I wrote another part of my thesis, moving ahead quite well...
I'm totally nervous about tomorrow, though, still...don't know why, but it feel like my Abitur and all exams I've ever taken rolled into one. Maybe it's because this job is really the culmination of all my boyhood dreams of being an AI game programmer, and it feels like if it doesn't work, it never will. :)
Anyways, that was today, tomorrow is the big day! Next stop - SEK.
Time to try and relax...I'm going to watch "Paycheck" with Stephi. :)

--------------------
Hier ist die Seite des Tages. :-)
Heute war's ganz OK. Ich hab mir den Kopf zermalmt über simple Fragen wie "Erzählense mal was von sich" und "Was sind denn Ihre Stärken und Schwächen". Ich habe außerdem an meiner Bachelor-Arbeit weitergeschrieben, komme ganz gut voran...
Bin wegen morgen immer noch total nervös, fühlt sich wie Abitur und alle Prüfungen meines Lebens in eins zusammengerollt. Liegt vielleicht daran, dass dieser Job die Erfüllung all meiner Kindträume, ein KI-Spieleprogrammierer zu werden erfüllen könnte, und es sich so anfühlt, dass, wenn es nicht klappt, es nie klappen wird. :)
Jedenfalls war das der Tag, morgen ist der große! Nächster Eintrag ist über das Vorstellungsgespräch beim SEK.
Zeit, zu versuchen, mich zu entspannen - ich werd jetzt "Paycheck" mit der Stephi gucken. :)

Well, I'm going to make this my diary for this week, hopefully writing in here every day to say how I'm doing and how the week has been going.
Right now, I really have no idea what to expect from this week other than what I'll be doing - interview at SEK on Tuesday, exam on AI class Wednesday morning, interview at i-Net Software in the afternoon, exam in C++ class on Friday morning, meeting with Mark Darling, Joe Dunn, Dave Lennander, Mike and Gene Friday afternoon, retreat time Saturday the whole day... phew, will I be pooped when I fall into bed Saturday. And who knows - maybe I'll have easily passed two exams, and been offered two great jobs by then! Or...maybe I'll have failed two exams and been turned down twice for both interviews. Either way, I know that God is in control, and that's a good feeling. Although I still am kind of nervous. Who knows what kind of questions the interview guys will ask? :-)
*yawn* Well, good night, John boy!

Here's a game to keep your eye on - Sims 2. Whoa. :-O Especially check out the main video if you have time. I never was a big fan of Sims 1, but I think this is a must-buy for me.

I just watched the funniest movie I have ever seen in my life. Shrek 2. I laughed harder and more often than ever before in any movie. And I'm not going to mention a single joke in this entry, because it would completely spoil things - the reason the movie is so funny is because of the combination with the jaw-dropping computer visuals that are so...silly sometimes that you're rolling on the floor laughing... and that's before the jokes get started! When they do, they just add one on top of the other - I missed a bunch because everyone in the theater was simply laughing too loud.
GO SEE THIS MOVIE!!! NOW!!! BRING YOUR FRIENDS!!! :-)
I give this movie a well-deserved 13. It's worth that much money to see this movie, it's basically like a trip to Disneyland, just without all the screaming kids and with a lot more laughs - plus it's a lot cheaper than Disneyland!

Hi, here we are again.
My thesis is pretty much the same place where it was a week ago - the last week has been really full. But that's OK, since I was a bit ahead of schedule last week already. ;-)
I applied for different jobs last week, including at SEK, a game company in Berlin which right now is working on a project with the project title of "ParaWorld". It looks incredibly awesome - it's a real-time strategy game where there are different tribes which can breed their own dinosaurs and other cool stuff and then have tribal battles. Anyways, SEK invited me to an interview for a position as their AI programmer!! That would be, without a question, my absolute dream job - AI programmer for a Berlin game company. The interview will be on the 13th of July at 4pm. I was also invited to an interview for the 14th of July at 3pm at a company called I-Net Software - they do Java projects for some pretty huge companies, so that would be interesting, as well - although the SEK job would definetly be my job of choice, should I be offered both (which would of course be the ideal case).
Unfortunately, that week will be majorly stressful since I'll have two exams, and we'll be having Mark Darling and Lennanders visiting that week as well. :) BRING IT ON!!!

Hi, da bin ich wieder...
War am Wochenende in Dortmund und habe mitgeholfen, auf meine Schwester Jana aufzupassen, solange meine Eltern in den USA sind. War eine schöne Zeit, mal wieder da alle zu sehen, ist echt komisch, das ist irgendwie wie eine Zeitmaschinenreise für mich - als wäre das eine völlig andere Dimension. :)

Habe übrigens einen sehr coolen Vers gelesen - in 1. Könige 20 wollen die Aramäer Israel angreifen, werden jedoch völlig zerstört. Die Schlacht fand in den Hügeln statt, also denken die sich (Vers 23, NLT-Übersetzung):
After their defeat, Ben-hadad's officers said to him, "The Israelite gods are gods of the hills; that is why they won. But we can beat them easily on the plains."
Tja...da heuern die halt noch eine weitere Armee an, um dann diesmal auf der Ebene zu kämpfen. Der arme König Ahab weiß gar nicht, was er machen soll - noch eine weitere Schlacht scheint ziemlich aussichtslos. Aber da schickt Gott "einen Propheten" (irgend einen, vielleicht Elia oder so) und der sagt was unheimlich cooles (Vers 28):
Then the man of God went to the king of Israel and said, "This is what the LORD says: The Arameans have said that the LORD is a god of the hills and not of the plains. So I will help you defeat this vast army. Then you will know that I am the LORD."

Das find ich richtig geil. Und zwar wegen dem Wort "so" - auf deutsch "daher", oder "darum". In anderen Worten sagt Gott folgendes:
Der Grund, warum ich euch helfen werde, ist, weil man mich bisher nur als "Gott der Hügel" gekannt habt - ich möchte, dass ihr mich auch als Gott der Ebene kennen lernt.
Gott möchte, dass wir ihn erleben als Gott überall in unserem Leben. Das ist natürlich auf alles mögliche beziehbar - es kann z.B. sein, dass ich eigentlich glaube, dass Gott auch in Berlin unglaublich geniale Sachen tun kann, aber bis ich ihn als solchen erlebt habe, kenne ich ihn nicht wirklich so. Gott als "Gott in Berlin" - Elohim Berlin, wenn man so will - zu kennen, setzt voraus, dass er in grosser Weise in Berlin auch gewirkt hat. Und das will er! Was nützt es uns, wenn wir wissen, dass er "theoretisch" in Berlin wirken könnte, wenn er wollte, er es aber nie tut? Dann ist er weder für uns noch für jemand anderen Elohim Berlin. Er möchte es aber sein!

Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das hier gut ausdrücke, aber ich fand die Stelle cool. Gott will nicht, dass sein Name in den Schmutz gezogen wird - er wird nicht zulassen, dass Leute denken "Gott ist vielleicht ein Gott der Amis, aber in Deutschland hat er wohl nichts zu sagen." - da wird er sich gegen wehren, und das find ich cool!
So, dann setz ich mich mal wieder an meine Hausaufgaben...

Well, got the time to do another quick update...last weekend, the guys in the church went camping, we went to a camping spot about 100km outside of Berlin, near a lake called
Bantikow. It was a great time, only rained a few times - once extremely heavy and out of nowhere, that was intense - and we had a great time playing poker, "baseball", volleyball, and chess.
Other than that, Stephi and I had our date night last night and watched "...Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (in German : "Vergiss mein nicht").
INCREDIBLE movie. The plot basically is that there's this couple (Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet) that's been together for a couple of years, who get in a fight, and Clementine goes to this institute to erase all memories of Joel. The next day he tries to apologize and she has no idea who he is. He is completely hurt until he figures out what has happened - he then goes to the institute to erase all memories of her. Then the movie goes completely haywire, because it then goes through all of his memories with her while they are being erased, so the memories get all mashed and stuff. Anyways, in the middle of this, he decides he doesn't want this after all and tries to flee from the erasing. It's not an exciting movie or anything, just plain DEEEEP and very very intriguing. I absolutely love the ending, and have GOT to see this one again. I give it a 10 - I think it's worth 10 Euros to see this one.
That's all for today, gotta get going on my homework. Talk to ya later.

Hi...
Well, here I am, also sorry I haven't posted in the last...uh...5 months. *g*
As Stephi said, a lot has been going on. Here's a quick update of the biggies:

1. I'm now in the middle of my Bachelor thesis entitled "Real-time tracking of soccer players in video images". It's pretty intense, and very stressful. I have another 7 weeks or so, am pretty much on track, but there's still a long way to go. I'll try and be posting on that in the near future.
2. Having to do with that - it looks like I'll get my degree (B.Sc. in Computer Science) around early August or so. Our money will just suffice to get us through that month, so let's hope I get a job around then. That of course also is slightly stressful. :-)
3. It looks like Stephi might be getting a side job at IKEA (which would help us on point 2... ;), we'll have to see. They were looking for someone by June 1st, she saw the ad for it on June 2nd and asked and they said to go ahead and send in an application anyways since they had 5 spots still unfilled(!), so she did. We still haven't heard back from them, though, which is kind of strange...

Anyways, we still like to watch movies, so we'll try and get back on updating about movies.
I now have a class on "Computer Architecture" (*YAWN*), so I'd better get going.
Post ya later...

Well, we're back!
And theoretically, I should be doing homework, but I think I'll just real quick put up a blog. :) Vacation was nice - we had a week at Stephi's family's place, and a week at my family's place. Here are a few of the things we got: a RotK soundtrack, the LotR Risk Board Game plus expansion (can you tell we like Lord of the Rings? ;), Cranium (can you tell we like board games? ;), Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and lots of chocolate. We watched Return of the King again, and I must say, slowly but surely, Matrix is slipping off its "throne" as my favorite movie ever. My guess is that the extended version of Return of the King will claim that title when it comes out next fall, believe it or not. :) Well, that's it for me today - oh, I'm back on ICQ, my ICQ number is 101-994-412, my nickname is Adriel. So talk to you online sometime, eh?