28 April 2009 - Night of the Museums

There is a fascinating annual event here in Frankfurt and neighboring Offenbach called Nacht der Museen or Night of the Museums (www.nacht-der-museen.de) With the purchase of a €12 ticket, you have access to pretty much all of the museums in the cities as well as a shuttle bus that runs between certain venues. The more interesting part, though, is that the event runs from 7 PM until 2 AM. Now, I have gone to several benefits at museums that are at night, but none where you go museum-hopping at the same time others are going bar-hopping. Then again, I haven't lived in Frankfurt before.

There is a long string of museums in old houses (more like stone mansions) along the river known as Museum Shore or something like that. It is within about a 10 minute walk of my apartment and is also along the route I take on my weekend runs. So that's where I started at around 10 PM. They had the street along the river blocked off and it was just packed with people with other crazy people on bicycles weaving their way through the pedestrian traffic. There were a few street stands selling gigantic pretzels and -- I know this may come as a shock -- quite a few places selling beer, which is apparently fine to carry around in open containers, including glass bottles. There were also a fair number of people gathered along the shore of the river having what appeared to be little picnics or other nighttime gatherings.

I was struck by the variety of people who were attending the event. I had been a bit concerned that I might be a underdressed for such an evening event, but there were people in everything from shorts (yes, in Europe -- bizarre, huh?) to jeans to clubbing clothes to attire bordering on formal. And it wasn't just the black turtleneck-wearing intelligentsia who turned out. They were there, to be sure, as were the monied people who were sponsoring the arts through silent auctions and the like. But there were a surprising number of families (yes, at 10 PM and beyond), teenagers, college students, and plain ol' adults like me. Interesting group.

Considering the number of museums that were open, I was surprised at the lines to get into some of the museums. And few things are worse than standing in a long line with strangers without the Kindle on hand or something else to do. In the end, I didn't end up buying a ticket, but just wandered around people watching, which was certainly enough to keep me occupied for a while. They also had several performances going on in the public areas, like people juggling flaming batons or the Frankfurt Flyer team of trampoline gymnasts who were doing some rather remarkable things. All in all a fascinating evening. And I've now scoped out some museums I'd like to visit in the clear light of day, if not at next year's Nacht der Museen.

27 April 2009 - Wandering

One of the things I have found interesting while driving around in Germany outside of the city is random, solitary people walking in big fields. There are narrow paths that they seem to be following, but it's not clear to me whether they are using the paths to go somewhere, are getting some exercise, want to commune with nature, or what.

I think I find this noteworthy because you just don't see that in the US for several reasons. First of all, there are a lot of fences enforcing boundaries. This is likely because of a desire to enforce property rights and lines, but also to keep people out. Second, and related to keeping people out, is that trespassers create issues like potential liability. Think back to law school or even business law about the "attractive nuisance" that draws in children who are curious to explore potentially dangerous things -- like bridges, railroad tracks, abandoned buildings or equipment. So the property owner has to take safeguards (like building bigger fences) to reasonably prevent injury and, hopefully, to prevent parents (who probably weren't properly supervising or instructuring their children in the first place) from filing lawsuits against the property owner. And finally, there's potential damage to property and littering issues, usually from those "punk kids" (the teenagers who have moved beyond the curiosity of attractive nuisance issues to being bored enough by life to do just about anything for a thrill). Not that I have opinions about these things....

All that aside, yesterday I became one of the wanderers. On Friday I had seen from one of the highways a brilliant yellow field -- not amber waves of grain, but truly yellow with some sort of plant clearly in bloom. I asked around and apparently they are rapeseed fields. Rapeseed, as background, is the source for canola oil and can also be used to create biodiesel. In other words, it's very green despite being very yellow.

So yesterday I set out to try to find a field where I could take some pictures as it was a bit difficult to do so from the highway while driving at a rapid speed. Imagine my delight when I saw a field and near it was a little area where a couple cars were parked and where a narrow path led into the field area. Oooohhhh.... So I parked and started my trek. In addition to the rapeseed fields and some other crop, I also saw some orchards with a beautiful field of buttercup flowers covering the ground and what look to be some gigantic patches of wild raspberries. And it was apparently fine to just wander around in all of this.

I also saw other humans. Some by themselves (often with a dog or two), some with others. Just walking around. And they were friendly, greeting me with a "Hallo" or "Guten Tag" as they passed by. What I did NOT see was human-generated trash. Or destroyed property. Or punk teenagers. Or fences.

Beautiful day. A nice wander. Some good photos. Friendly people. Respect for nature and the property of others. What have the Germans figured out that we haven't that makes something like this possible?

20 April 2009 - Dining in Eschborn

[Duran Duran, "Hungry Like the Wolf."]

Our office is located in a sort of corporate park in the suburbs of Frankfurt. There are not a lot of good dining options here, which is why I was so excited that a new place opened up today. More on that in a bit. First, though, a brief summary of the other options.

The Sandwich Place. Not it's real name and I'm not certain whether it even has signage. It's kind of like a grungy Subway; "eat fresh" is not their motto. Still, it's not bad and is a nice change from some of the other options, but requires a seven minute walk or so to the other end of the corporate park. There are a few tables so you can eat on the premises.

Mediterraneo. This is an Italian place across the street from the building and which is visible from my office window (unlike Russia, which I hear can be seen from some kitchen windows). It's a sit-down establishment and there's an older Italian waiter who flirts with me when I go in and teases me about my German, which I actually kind of enjoy. They serve a mean gnocchi sorrentino and I rarely vary from that. However, it's a bit time-consuming for most days and the cost would add up.

The Best Wurscht in Town. I have not been to this place because it doesn't appear that they would serve something that doesn't contain pork products. Nevertheless, it fascinates me. It is an old Airstream camper that is permanently set up at the corner here with a window cut into the side. Classy, yet interesting from a kitsch perspective. There are high tables (like you'd have at a cocktail hour) in an area near the table where you can stand and eat your wurscht. I particularly found it interesting to watch people bundled up to the max during the winter, but calmly eating their wurscht outside in the cold.

Beyond. You're probably wondering the same thing as I do each time I go there -- "Beyond what?" I don't have an answer for that, but it may have to do with their dual venue setup. When you walk in, there is a low-budget kind of cafe that has a few specials each day, like chili, quiche, or an Asian item. Nothing particularly exciting and there are only a few tables for eating inside, though outdoor seating is now available with the sunny spring weather. If you wander "beyond" the seating area, though, there is a staircase going upstairs to an unmarked area. That is the restaurant portion of Beyond. Like Mediterraneo, the food is good but would add up if you ate there every day and service is kind of slow. What fascinates me most is that they have a collection of wooden nameplates that they place on tables to reserve them. There is also a generic one with the firm's name, but I want to know what I have to do to get a Preuscher name block.

Sushi Mobile. This is a weird little truck with a cabin on the back where someone apparently serves up some bento boxes of sushi. I've seen it parked in two different places on the walk to the sandwich place. I am not certain whether they move to keep away from dissatisfied customers or what the deal is. There's something about mobile sushi, though, that just strikes me as, dare I say, fishy?

Williams Crepe. This is the little brick-red building featured in the photo above. It is as small as it looks. Like a double-wide garden shed you might have in your back yard. If you go during lunch, it is just packed inside (and with a line out the door) with people waiting for their custom-ordered crepes, both of the sweet and entree varieties. I am a big fan of their Mexican crepe. Lots of chicken, some lettuce, some sort of cheese, and they put a quite spicy sauce on it. Yum!! I can never eat the whole thing. There are two things that fascinate me about this place. First, as you may not be able to see from the small picture, there is seating on top of the place. There is a metal staircase on the left hand side and you just go on up and hope there's an empty place. There usually is not. They also have little blankets up there for when it's cold, which I have seen at other places here and find quite charming. (No blankets spotted outside the Airstream.) Additionally, there is some sort of oven or other cooking facility that is behind the building. One day as I was walking up the staircase, one of the employees (there are only three, which is crowded in their cooking area) was rounding the corner with a pot of apparently just-out-of-the-oven roasted chicken. Hmmm.... I'm not sure how I feel about food in the great out-of-doors before I have the chance to take it there.

Mann Mobilia. Yes, this is the same Mann Mobilia where I have purchased items of furniture and which will be delivering my closet system one of these days. On the fourth floor, they have a cafe/restaurant that reminds me of an upscale IKEA cafe without the lingonberries. You have to drive a short ways to get there, but it's a nice change of pace when you want to get out of the office. (And it provides an excellent view of the nearby KFC -- yes, of the Colonel Sanders KFCs) -- in case you weren't able to smell that grease a mile away.) Based on the experience of one of my colleagues, I would NOT recommend the all-you-can-eat buffet. Some things are suspect no matter where you are in the world.

So today, we got a new place. Thai Time. It is the deluxe (nearly triple-wide) whitish shed also featured in the photo above. It is slightly more spacious than creperie with a full galley kitchen on the back wall and a little bit more space inside where you can stand and eat. It's a rather extensive menu for such a small place. I ordered something that sounded interesting with chicken. I realized later that it also had small sea creatures in it -- shrimps, I think. Dirty sea pig! Otherwise, it was relatively good. They are generous with their fortune cookies, which are in English on one side and German on the other. It is perhaps a good thing I waited to open mine until the end of the meal as it noted, "You should strengthen your immune system." At least it didn't say digestive system....

19 April 2009 -- Slinging and Streaming

["Only a Boy Named David" -- yes, from the days of our very young days at church. There's a sling involved, it's the only thing I could think of that was roughly on point.]

One of the marvels of modern technology is the Slingbox from SlingMedia. I now have one. In a nutshell, you buy a device (I got the Pro HD version at Best Buy for $299 or something like that). You then hook it up to your cable or satellite box as well as to your home network. Then, with the installation of some software on your computer and some additional configuration, it's ready to go.

"Ready to go" meaning what, exactly? Ready to sling local TV programming to anywhere in the world where you have a high speed Internet connection. You can even stream the programming to your BlackBerry (well, not my low-budget, no-camera version) or other smart phone. When you log in, you can see the programs that are currently on, which admittedly doesn't help me that much because in weeknights I'd be getting soaps and other fun daytime programming. BUT, it also features a virtual TV remote that allows you to view whatever has been DVR'd. Ooooohhhh.... Can you say Law & Order? Colbert Report? Bears games?

Now, one drawback to this is that, um, I no longer have US cable service. But Seth and Dena and have graciously agreed to host the device at their house. They, of course, also have the ability to use it wherever they go as well. And obviously I am subject to their whims of whatever they want to record, but Seth already records "The Colbert Report" and also has hooked me on "In Plain Sight." I am lobbying for inclusion of some Law & Order action to be included as well. And, when the season comes, Bears games. Oooohhhhh..... Sooo excited!!!

And this is a fiscally responsible decision, too. I have been paying $1.99 an episode through iTunes to get "The Colbert Report" and regular "Law & Order" so I figure the SlingBox will actually pay for itself (though admittedly I will no longer be able to download the episodes to my iPod, but how often did I actually watch the episodes on that tiny screen?).

I love toys....

14 April 2009 - Back home

[Selections from the soundtrack from "The Lion King," in particular, "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight." It'll make more sense at the end.]

I went home for Easter. Correction, I went to Illinois for Easter. Not because it's a particularly special holiday for my family, but because we get both Good Friday and Easter Monday (who knew there was such a thing?) off as holidays here and it was a good excuse to head back to the States. Highlights (and lowlights -- but no, I didn't have time for hair repigmentation, if you were wondering) included the following (in chronological order):


1. Economy class on American Airlines. This clearly is a lowlight, even though I had managed to score exit aisle seating. Nutshell, the firm's allowance for one trip home per year in business class is not enough for a single trip in business class, so I was left to my own devices. Wretched food, old planes, narrow seats, poor service, bad movies, unhappy (and not particularly attractive) flight attendants -- what's not to like?! It's perhaps no surprise that, even before I took this trip, I agreed to pay €50 more to fly on Lufthansa when I head back for a wedding in May.

2. Staying at my friend's (codename, Vixen) place on Lake Shore Drive the first two nights. The "SIP Suite," as she calls it, along with all other rooms in the condo, face directly onto the lake, so I woke up both mornings with sun streaming in over the horizon above Lake Michigan. Tough times....


3. Dinner with Vixen at Su Casa, one of my favorite Mexican restuarants. It's not particularly fancy but the food's good and Miguel, the handsome bartender, knows Vixen by name (her real name) and keeps us supplied with chips and the very, very tasty salsa. (Eat your heart out, Fuego brand sweet-and-sour tasting salsa.)


4. Providing a facilitation gift to the doorman at Vixen's digs. I set out for some Dunkin' Donuts on Thursday morning because I kinda missed it and asked the doorman where the nearest DD was. He told me and I asked if he wanted anything. Oddly enough, he did. So I brought back some coffee for him, only to discover that Vixen had forgotten to put me on her permission-to-enter list. Uhhh.... But he assumed (correctly) that if I had come out of the condo, I must have had permission to enter in the first place. Later in the day, a new doorman was on duty who I had not previously, um, facilitated. Long story, but he ended up calling the morning doorman who, upon learning it was the coffee chick trying to get in, told him to let me in immediately. Best coffee purchase I have made in a while (though I was shocked at the size of my own coffee as I have started getting used to the tiny coffee servings here, apparently, and was wired for hours).


5. Chipotle lunch with the Chicago team. My peeps in Chicago organized a group Chipotle order that we ate together in a conference room in the office. (Yes, we paid for our orders personally, for those who are ready to remind me that food is not to be provided for internal meetings.) About 30 people showed up, which was so touching. Alas, I didn't get to eat much of my steak burrito bowl because I was too busy answering questions about Germany! Also nice to just take a walk around the office and say hello to some of my favorite people who make the office hum like a well-oiled machine. (Ask me sometime about my plot to make sure the artwork from my former office - a bucolic scene that reminds me of a road and fields on the farm where I grew up - is not lost in the shuffle of moving to a new building which the firm does in 18 months.)


6. Adult beverages with some friends at the Berghoff. Need I say more?


7. Workout and spa action at East Bank Club. You may recall how I miss my gym and, since I am on inactive status, I am not allowed to go there. UNLESS, I am the guest of a current member. Lucky for me, Vixen had Friday off and recently rejoined EBC, so we got our respective workouts in and I scored a pedicure. Alas, my favorite massage therapist was not in. :-( And the huevos rancheros at The Grille were every bit as tasty and fat-laden as I had recalled. Mmmm....


8. Shopping. Love those cheap dollars. I particularly enjoyed having a fraud alert issued twice by the same American (!!) credit card company that apparently thought I lived in a post office box in New Jersey (which is just my mailing address) and someone was defrauding me making multiple purchases in Chicago. Nice.... As if it wasn't bad enough when Avis started speaking slowly and loudly to me when I presented my German driver's licensed, like I was a foreigner who couldn't speak English.


9. Blasts from the past. I headed out to the suburbs on Friday afternoon to attend a surprise birthday party with my brother and sister-in-law. I know the birthday boy, but know his wife better as I used to work with her some, um --well, since I was in high school and I don't want to count that many years. Turns out that some of the people I knew from way back then when I was a young punk clerk in purchasing, marketing operations, customer returns, advertising, and other departments are still there and were at the party. Nutty.


10. Quality time with my entire immediate family (except my oldest niece), plus some of Seth's in-laws who are always great to hang out with (and I'm not just saying that because some of them happen to read this blog, honest!). It's always a treat but I admit that it is also exhausting trying to keep up with my nieces! Combine their normal energy and multiply it several times because it seems to increase exponentially when they are together, add the excitement (and candy) of Easter and a new foster cat who didn't quite realize what he was getting into and you get the picture. Favorite moment might have been when the youngest (age 6, I believe) immediately upon seeing me started shouting, "Essen! Lesen! Musik hören!" Uhhh.... Eat, read, and listen to music? Yup. She'd been learning some German phrases on her Leap Pad in preparation for seeing me again. A geek after my own heart.

11. Cocoa Wheats at Mom's. I spent Saturday night at Mom's and she made me my favorite breakfast of Cocoa Wheats, which is a chocolate-flavored hot wheat cereal. And she even agreed to make them just like I love them -- with lots of lumps. Yummmm!!! And, true to her word, she also provided me with a supply of Cadbury creme eggs. Yes, I know how disgustingly sweet (and just plain disgusting) they are, but I like the things. I have come up with a process for carefully peeling off the foil at the top, leaving the bottom half intact so the egg's chocolate doesn't start melting on your fingers, and then carefully folding the foil from the top into a little ring that makes a nice holder for the egg while you rest between courses. Cuz seriously, not even I can eat one of those all at one time. Best of all, they freeze well. So Mom got me twelve of them -- one for each month -- which are now chilling in Frankfurt. Love it!

12. Easter mass and movies with one of my best friends (code name "Green") who is also with the firm. I am not Catholic, but Green is a regular attendee of Old St. Pat's in Chicago and invited me to attend Easter mass there. Beautiful church and a nice service. I am still a little slow on the responses to key phrases, though. Need a "Mass for Dummies" cheat sheet. Some other colleagues from the firm joined us at mass and then for brunch afterwards, which was a nice surprise and I do so miss Sunday brunch in Chicago. (We weren't working on Easter, honest!) Afterwards, another friend met us and we wandered around in the cold, windy weather for a while, grabbed dinner, and watched one of my new favorite movies, "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" which reminds me greatly of Green and me (I would, alas, be the frumpy Miss Pettigrew).

13. Afternoon Potbelly cookie break with my "brother" and "sister" at the firm. Miss both of them even more than I miss the Potbelly oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

14. Ending on 13 would just be bad luck, right? So let me end by saying that while I had a great time back in Chicago, it was also a surprisingly difficult experience for me. I considered it kind of like going home after the end of a long, multi-week project, but that was an underestimation. It wasn't even quite like going home after my three month corporate social responsibility stint in El Salvador. It was different. It was a realization that Chicago is my hometown but Frankfurt is now home. That my life there has moved on, whether I was conscious of it or not. That much as I love and miss my family, friends, and peeps, we are all moving on in our own way. Kind of sad sometimes, but it's the neverending process of life and growth.


So when I first started blogging, I took stock of the USD currency on hand ($150.06) and promised to revalue that amount each time I went home. It is now worth €112,77, versus €107,84 when I came over. Just in case you were dying of curiosity.

7 April 2009 - Window cooler closed for the season

[Perhaps "Blinded by the Lights" by Manfred Mann's Earth Band would be appropriate. And yes, I had to look up the band name.]

I have, once again, underestimated the fine German engineering that is embodied in the windows at the office. Recall a posting some time ago about the windows in which I discussed the ability to keep items cool out on the grated ledge between the exterior and interior window panes. Well, if the rising temperatures outdoors didn't already clue me into the fact that the cooling season had ended, I learned that today.

My office is on the eastern side of the building, so on sunny days (I think we have now had eight straight sunny days, which is really confusing to me after all the overcast and rainy days) it is so bright in my office that I can hardly see my computer screen unless I put the blinds down. Putting the blinds down, unfortunately, negates one's ability to open the windows because the blinds automatically retract when the windows are opened.

Correction, the internal blinds. Until today, I didn't realize there was another set. But I was sitting here in the blazing sunlight with windows open this morning when I heard this weird humming sound. Hmmm.... It was a set of horizontal metal blinds descending between the two glass panes (and thus removing any room for cooled -- or heated -- items in that space). They are apparently activated by some sort of light/heat sensor and descend automatically. It was like a dark gray armor locking me in. Kind of like how the Batmobile arms itself in the movies -- except real, without any clear and present danger, we're talking about accountants instead of superheros, and, um, the office isn't mobile (unless that's another feature I have yet to discover). However, when they had fully descended, they then flipped open so you could see a great deal between the horizontal slats. Way cool.

I have, incidentally, confirmed that the office has air conditioning. You might think that is obvious, but it's not. As I may have noted before, my apartment does not have air conditioning despite being new construction. I sense more reasons to hang out at the office during the summer!

13 March 2009 - What's up, doc(s)?

[Wasn't there a Barbra Streisand movie of the same title? If there is, perhaps there is a corresponding soundtrack piece that may be appropriate here.]

I warn you now, this is work-related and will likely bore you to tears. Read at your own risk....

There is a thing in my work life called "document review." It is every bit as boring as it sounds. But make no mistake -- document review in the old school sense of flipping through paper files, digging through banker's boxes, sustaining flipping-threatening paper cuts, feeling the dusty grit on your hands and in your nasal passages is, well, just so much better than doing document review in front of a computer screen. Allow me to explain.

When there is litigation or an investigation and you are tasked with fact finding, one of the ways you attempt to locate said facts is through -- yes, document review. The people who are in possession of these documents (particularly one's personal desk files) are generally not exactly pleased when people such as myself show up, because it means they or their company or both are in a bit of hot water. So they point at a file cabinet or a row of filings cabinets or, most horrific of all, a warehouse of archived files, and say, "Well, there might be something in there." And so it begins -- looking through page after page for a document that might be related to your particular matter and flagging them for some other poor soul to image the documents for viewing at a later date.

It is, quite frankly, about as close to manual labor as I get at work. You stand on your feet all day (document review often takes place at short notice, so you have no comfy shoes on hand), you often review docs while they are still in the box so your back is at odd angles and quickly tires, paper cuts are not a laughing matter, and your dust allergies will come out in full force, but you just might bond with some of your colleagues who are similarly situated.

I think my most extreme document review example was a few years ago near the Gulf Coast in Texas at a large manufacturing facility. Individuals at our client had been asked to identify any possible sources of document collection at each of their plants and we were then dispatched to exotic locations like this. As I recall (which may be more extreme in retrospect), it was early fall, but still in the high 90s there with equally high humidity. Mmmm, sticky! We had visited a few of the trailer type buildings on the outskirts of the complex and were down to our last location, a numbered building. Okay, we give, where is it? Ummm.... Shuffling of feet, hands in pockets, and a sly smile. "That one." Um, That One was kind of like a very small metal Morton-type pole barn with an overhead door that was in the middle of nowhere. Hardhat and, if I recall correctly, safety glasses were required to get to it. Well, what boring accountant doesn't want to wear a hard hat and feel dangerous? Um, this one? (Seriously, hat head on top of crazy humid weather bad hair day?) But for the sake of the client, on they went and out we went to That One.

That One was a storage place for machinery parts for the plant. That One also had no power, including lighting, so in order for us to review the contents of the two pallets of documents, we had to drag said pallets a bit closer to the overhead door so we could see. (No lamps on the hardhats, alas.) Of course, that made it easier for us to be totally alarmed by the salamanders (or were they lizards? I always get my amphibians and reptiles confused) literally emerging from the boxes and running away. (Apparently my appearance with hard hat and bad hair day was as frightening as I had imagined!) It was an interesting day.

My first document review in Germany was tame by comparison, though still a bit interesting. I was doing the document review in Cologne, Germany with a colleague of mine. The document collections that had been identified were located in the basement of a building. Always a fascinating start. To get to the archive room, you walked down a long narrow hallway that had a few narrow metal barred locking doors that I swear looked like prison doors. Our host joked that that was were they sent people who weren't performing well. Not so funny. At the end of the hall, you put a key in the lock and enter what I can best describe as a boiler room. Lots of pipes and rumbling and you are walking on what seems to be some kind of catwalk with linoleum placed over its grate. Hollow steps.... I swore that at any minute we would fall through to the dark depths below and alligators would eat us alive (where is my hard hat when I need it?!). But we didn't. (And Sarah seemed to enjoy the experience. More on her later, but see the many additions to the Sarah Palin photo album on my Facebook page.) And then we finally entered the document archive room, which paled by comparison and, I must admit, was rather clean and pest free in comparison to That One.

Here's hoping for old school document review in the former East Germany, as I suspect that could easily rival the Gulf.

1 April 2009 - Bonnie and Blackberry

You sense a geekfest just by reading the title of today's blog, don't you? I'm afraid I won't disappoint you, other than being unable to think of a suitable theme song except perhaps Eiffel 65's "Blue" song (yes, I had to look up the name of the group).

We changed to daylight savings time this past weekend. While I am excited to welcome more daylight, I have to admit it was nice only being a six hour time difference from Chicago instead of the usual seven. But I kept forgetting to change the clock on Bonnie and, quite frankly, wasn't sure how to do it. There's a digital clock in the heads up display as well as another one in the navigation panel, but there were no buttons or dials near the heads up to use to set the clock. Hmmm....

So this morning before I was on my way, I tried my luck at the navigation interface. My menu choices were Navigation, Entertainment, Climate and Communication. What about plain ol' settings? So I chose Communication, since I was attempting to communicate with the car about the change in time. It was the wrong choice, of course, and some stuff popped up about BMW service and, um, Bluetooth. Did someone just say, "BFF of CrackBerry?" And all along I had assumed that Bonnie was a minimalist BMW (I think she might be offended if I called her "stripped down").

Now, I have had mixed success with Bluetooth setup. Sometimes it's really easy. Sometimes, not so much. And that's when I'm reading directions in English. But I figured it couldn't hurt to try, even if I had to do so using the evil BMW iDrive system (no relation to iPod, as far as I can tell). So I clicked on a button that I assume meant setup, and it gave a long paragraph of instructions that I didn't particularly understand, but I clicked what seemed to be the "next" button anyway and put my CrackBerry in pairing mode. Then it asked me to put in my PIN for the BMW. Uhhh.... How many digits in that PIN? Where would I find said PIN? Hmmm....

I decided to enter 0000, which I thought was a PIN I had used with other Bluetooth devices, crossed my fingers, and hit "next" again. The BlackBerry then asked me to enter my PIN. 0000 was again a winner, and then asked if I would accept a Bluetooth connection from BMW 9609.

"Is that your real name, Bonnie?" I was reminded of Star Trek and Seven of Nine's designation (7 of 9). I felt honored to be let into her little world. It was almost like she was willing to accept me as her friend on BMW Facebook when she displayed on the nav screen, "Schwarz" (the name of my BB here -- you had to know it would have a name, right?).

So, connection complete, I decided to try it out. Which seemed to require entering the phone number using iDrive. Shoot me. Given that this was occurring at 7:45 AM CET, I figured most of the people reading this blog would not be so excited to receive a call from me, so I called voice mail at home. Imagine my surprise (I'd not established a Bluetooth connection with a car before this, Tori operating on 2001 technology), when, after I entered my number, it said it was calling "Preuscher - Home," which is the label I had given my home number in the CrackBerry. Sure enough, when I went to the A-Z listing, it was pulling up all my contacts from the CrackBerry. I was rather impressed and excited, yet still managed to refrain from calling you in the middle of the night. Which is probably also good because it took me a while how to hang up the phone short of picking up the CrackBerry as nothing in iDrive seemed to work. (The answer, as it turned out, was to click on the phone button on the steering wheel. Oh.)

All in all, good times. I'm new to pairing with a car -- I name them, but this seemed somewhat unnatural -- but I feel like Bonnie and I have truly bonded. And that I have underestimated her all this time. Much as I'm anxiously awaiting the arrival of Hudson in May, I think I'm gonna miss her.

P.S. I did finally figure out how to change the time. While you're at the main menu on the navigation panel, you simply click rather than clicking on one of the options. Stinkin' iDrive. However, changing the nav clock also changed the more digital-looking one in the heads up. Simple yet elegant design. Nothing but the best for my minimalist ride.