Batch and tschilai endured me shooing them through Berlin last Sunday to get a picture of me in front of the Brandenburg Gate with two pieces of paper on which I had written birthday wishes for my grandma.
My grandma turned 85 this Thursday. The last time I saw her was about thirteen years ago. I was a teenager back then, but I remember how hard I cried when the plane left Magnitogorsk and took us to Moscow, back home, away from her. Since then, it’s always been college or work …

The writer of amazing stories like “Jurassic Park”, “The Andromeda Strain” or “The 13th Warrior”, Michael Crichton, has died today, losing his battle against cancer at the age of only 66. I am pretty shocked, I loved Crichtons books and I had no knowledge about his condition.
My kindest thoughts to his family.
There’s a very nice article on Macworld.com “Remembering Michael Crichton“.

Alright, after this week was all but perfect and it was sometimes really hard to remember that life is beautiful still, I did something yesterday I had planned for years, but never got around to: I grabbed my bike and drove along the river Elbe which runs through my home town of Dresden. The sun was shining, it was warm enough to wear shorts and a t-shirt … and the colors! The beautiful autumn colors were almost causing a sensory overload.
I always wanted to take some short biking tours, but …

To be absolutely honest: when this “financial crisis” hit the news, I didn’t really worry about it. I don’t have enough money to invest into anything, so my understanding of these financial things is not too deep. And, after all, it happened far, far away. So why should it bother me?
Well, I guess, just like me, you couldn’t help noticing that the issue didn’t vanish from the headlines of the newspapers, online magazines or from the tv talkshows. And, now, it really has been driven home for me when the …

Finally, after years and years, college is finally over. This Wednesday at 10.30 am I took the last of my final exams (and sucked, but who cares now) and passed. On my way out of the building I dumped my review papers into the trash bin, wearing a slightly insane grin on my face
My mom permanently damaged ear drum when she screamed in the phone when I told her that her daughter now has joined the ranks of academics. And my colleagues showed up in  surprisingly large numbers …