EU again

The European Union advances to my favorite topic, as it seems. I just can't help exploring what hilarious ways are tought out by eurocrats to wast our tax money.

So basically this time the EU has noticed that current programms are becoming to complex for anyone who adminsters them to understand. Frankly speaking, what do you do if you don't understand anymore what you are doing? For my part I'd go for reducing complexity. But this plan is probably too straightforward...

Thus if you're the European Union and you're running three programs to spread money according to some arbitrary but highly sophisticated rules, and this doesnt work, you naturally opt for establishing a fourth program which adminsters the other three.

This has several advantages to it
1. you can hire more staff - everyone will think because you're expanding it's a big success
2. as a eurocrat, you probably get a rise because more people report to you
3. you make yourself irreplacable: complex stuff needs to be taken care of..
...and probably lots of other good points...

For all the details check out the Spiegel article.

big hike holidays - GR20 Corse

If everything goes well, what I expect, I'm going to start working in June, which leaves some time to relax in May.

I'm not quite sure where to go and what to do, but one idea I like a lot is the plan to go on a big hike in mid may. So I was reminded that Marius, a friend of mine, told me about the GR20 (Grand Randonnée 20) some time ago. It's a trail circling the isle of Korsika in around 15 days, and I'm confident that there's some room for speeding up that time from what I read.


Here's some ressources I checked on the net:
- Abenteuer Korsika
- GR20 Tagebuch

What I'm not quite positive about is whether the season is already right for doing it, my main concern is snow as a lot of the track is around 2000 meters, and some parts even above, with the highest peak on the island being at 2700 meters. Experiencing snow in the Ticino last year in May/June I can tell that it's partly funny but also very exhausting if longer stretches are covered with deep snow, and north faces can be covered in snow pretty long.Also probably a lot of food will have to be carried, as some huts might only be open in the main season for the trail starting in June.

Thus I would appreciate any hints on how weather, snow and everything is like in Korsika/Corse currently. Maybe you know somebody who lives there or something, that would be cool.



On the other hand, maybe you have different cool ideas for a short two week break somewhere else in the world???

UPDATE: STephan on the Globetrotter board told me that the GR20 is completely free of snow currently. Only the hut wardens won't be there yet, so it sounds like a lot of stuff to carry around, incl. gas (this makes for few boxer-shorts... - but hey, it doesnt look like anybody is up to joining me anyways.. ; )

Flight event: Axalp 2007

Ok, it's a bit early to announce but the Axalp event of the swiss army is taking place from October 9. to 11. this year. I've been there for two times already and it's really awesome flight-action with all types of military airplanes. Some "freaks" I met there last time told me it's probably the most exciting air show out there in Europe or even the world.

Check out swiss-sky or Patrouille Suisse for more infos.

(cool) university shirt

Wouldn't thought that it would happen, but University of Basel actually managed to produce some cool t-shirt that you might be actually proud wearing. They're made by Tarzan , a young swiss label. They're already sold out as far as I know, luckily a got one as a graduation present.. ; )



Anyway, now my collection is complete, as I already had a t-shirt from New York University and Simon Fraser in Vancouver. Looking forward to wearing the shirt, especially when going abroad. You just can't beat more than 500 years of experience (since 1460) ...

Here's the link to the details on how to get one.

Unlucky Porsche dealer - business sense gone mad

Wow, check out this article

Glen Fergusson - Sales and Marketing manager for a brand new Californian Porsche dealer. Has lost his job and faces possible legal proceedings as the company strives to reclaim the costs of the 18 Porsches given away free under Glen's Opening day "buy one get one free promotion" "I admit I didn't really do the numbers properly on this one" said Glen who told reporters that he had "seen the concept work really well for coffee stores" and in terms of numbers you could argue that Glen's campaign worked. As the new Porsche dealer sold 18 Porsches in the first hour of the store opening. [ continued on stuffed.co.nz ]

I find this to be a very nice example of how stuff can go wrong if you transfer ideas from one business where they make sense to another industry with different characteristics, where they obviously do not make sense.

Sadly, the story seems to be made up, as can be read here on urban legends references pages of snopes.com .

Anyways, I think the point made is still very true. This story probably happens a hundred times every day in numerous companies around the world. Except that the guy's name is not Glen (well, maybesometimes) and he's probably not a Porsche dealer. And most of the times, it won't be that obvious what happens, but still value is destrcuted.

E.g. you have a top CEO that turns around a whole company in 2 years and has the best track record you can imagine, plus is highly appreciated by analysts and the stock market. So what do you do? Right, you fire him ...

Pizzo Centrale

At the end of the season I finally managed to put my new ski touring boots into use. Some people migth argue that mid april with 25 degree in the valley is not exactly made for skiing - but there's still plenty of snow - well, above 2000 meters..

We decided on backcountry.ch to go for a tour in the Gotthard area. So Dave, Jeanny and I met at the Andermatt gondola saturday morning at 7:15am (getup at 4:30am..) and took the gondola to the top of Gemsstock at 3000 meters.

From there we first had to descent on frozen snow, not exactly a nice ride. After arriving at the low point we started ascending again, first with skis, then by foot after the ski depot. The last section up to the peak was already pure hiking/climbing, as it was exposed to the south. Arriving on the peak we met two guys enjoing their fondue on a small camping cooker and who even invited us for some bits.

Pizzo Centrale (on the right)

After descending again to our skis we traversed and went on for another peak, "Glocketürmli". From there, we had a really nice ride down in the valley.


But then at some point, spring time showed it's full power: the last hill was almost completely burnt away by sun. So we had to take the hiking path by foot for the last section before starting to walk back on the road to Hopsental and then taking the train to Andermatt again.


To finish off the day, we then went to Flüelen at the Vierwaldstädtersee and had some serious BBQ at the lakeside in the evening, doesnt get better ; )

You can find a full gallery of pics here on rockthepowder.com ! And a short additional description of the conditions here on backcountry.ch .

how to become a gastro expert

Ok, I get this mail in Xing by a woman who is looking for a manager / lessee for her restaurant in Basel, which is currently about to be rebuilt and due to open in autum.

Obviously, I must thus be a reckoned expert for the gastro scene in BAsel. Question: how come? Pretty easy: I've written an article on Xing on the "Basel geht aus" restaurant guide, which now seems to be ranked on google.de on the 7th position when you search for "gastroszene basel" ...
(You're not on Xing yet? - it's free, guaranteed).

Well, being an expert in this field, let me give some recommendations:

- Check out Acqua at lunchtime, it's 20CHF for menu (starter & some kind of pasta + red wine & water a discretion)
- If it's warm enough in the evening have dinner at Don Camillo, on the terrasse. Food is very good as well, but you just can't beat sitting there outside on a warm summer evening
- check out Ono on Petersgraben in BAsel, they don't have homepage yet, but guess who's xing post is coming on 3rd place in google results when searching for "ono basel" ...

Acqua

how do you like

the stuff that is posted here?

I'm aware it's a pretty wild mix of arts, ski, politics, mountains and whatever comes to my mind or happens to me. So I'm kind of curious what's really interesting (of course the best thing to hear would be that it's the wild mix..)

I will also try avoiding such long gaps between posts like the other days...

Baselworld

Baselworld, the international jewlery and watch show is coming to an end today. From what I've heard, it was pretty impressive. For my part I was kind of reluctant to spend 45CHF entry fee to check out stuff I cannot afford (yet...).

The main afterparty spot was the area around the Acqua, remodelled as "Baselworld Village". I finally made it there yesterday evening, which was also the last chance as it was the last day. I can only say that Simon Lutz really has it. After pulling of Acqua and Baracca Zermatt, this is taking it to the next level. Regarding Basel nightlife I would say they're well ahead 2 or 3 years compared to the other locations in terms of concept and execution.



The village was using the whole area around Kuppel and Acqua, with lot's of possibilities to chill and very nice details like flowers, a huge fireplace etc. Some impressions below.

But the best part was the VIP lounge, where luckily the colleague of mine I went with had an entry card. This meant beer for free the whole evening and a stunning live performance of a very nice brasilian singer. Way to go...- looking forward to next year.


Check out the gallery for more pics of the village.

weekend & cool knowledge

Wow, not much time for an update. I'm all in the midde of my application process after I finished the last bit of my MSc studies. Also I'm struggling with my allergy against pollen , think you call it hay fewer in english. so that's the reason i'll escape to the mountains tomorrow (well, there are other reasons as well.. )

Anyways, here's some feeding for your browser, somewhat grouped around the topic "cool knowledge":

dropping knowledge - cool project
howstuffworks - anything you never knew about the world..
covers project - knocking on heavens door is originally from ? right, Bob Dylan. and it was covered by? Grateful death, Leningrad cowboys...
international movie database - okay, I mentioned it some posts ago, but it just belongs in this list

have a nice weekend...