5 February 2010 - J-E-L-L-O

[Surely you must remember the J-E-L-L-O jingle and can fill in the tune that accompanies it]

For whatever reason yesterday, I had a "hankerin'" for some flavored gelatin (let's call it what it is - jello). So I thought I could just pick up a package of it at the grocery store. Now, I think most of us would agree that a typical grocery store in the U.S. would have a floor-to-top-of-shelf display on jello and pudding products that would be at least 2-3 feet wide. So it should be pretty easy to stumble on the jello aisle here in Germany, right? Not so much.

I finally found flavored gelatin products near the baking supplies area. And not, as you can see from the picture, because the packaging screamed "gelatin" or "jello" or anything like that. Fortunately, I am relatively fluent in reading pictures. ;-) There were only three colors/flavors - red, yellow and green. No fancy kiwi strawberry flavors, nothing with fizz, no sugar-free options, no fat-free options, none of that kind of consumer choice. And no sign of pudding mixes. I took the red (raspberry) package.

Now, I will confess that it has been probably a decade since I have made jello, but I don't recall ever having had to heat water and then dissolve the sugar and jello mix into that water. In fact, I think most of the time the package already included the sugar. But it seemed to work. And then I read the final step on the package that invited me to wait 5 HOURS until the jello would be set and ready to eat. Um, okay, I have clearly been spoiled by the "instant" culture of the U.S.

I woke up in the middle of the night, as I often do. One of my first thoughts (perhaps due to noticing the red light of my BlackBerry that bore a striking resemblance to the jello color) was, "I wonder whether the jello is ready?!" It was. Perhaps the only thing better than cold pizza at 2 AM is fresh, wobbly red jello. Well worth the wait.

31 January 2010 - My Staubsauger Sucks

["What Do You Do With a B.A. in English? [It Sucks to be You]" from the Avenue Q soundtrack.]

As I may have mentioned before, I have hardwood and tile floors throughout my apartment, similar to what I had in Chicago. For day-to-day dust control, I set the Roombas loose when I leave the apartment and they take care of most of the dust bunnies of cat fur and the like. They do a fair job with the floors, though for some reason they seem to have difficulty getting up on the rugs in the living room and foyer. And, unlike in Chicago, my cleaning lady here does not bring her own vacuum cleaner with her.

So, it became clear that I needed to buy a vacuum cleaner (staubsauger). So I purchased the Dirt Devil Centrino pictured here. It looked like it had a lot of features and additional attachments, it was made by a brand I recognized, it was in a beautiful clearcoat metallic red, has a cool built-in retractable cord/storage and was reasonably priced. My cleaning lady seems to be able to work with it, as demonstrated by the dust and fur-free rugs after she visits. So all is good, right? Or not.

There was a casualty this past week. In a butterfingers moment this past week, I dropped a bottle of perfume in the bathroom one morning. It shattered on the tile floor, sending shards of glass and fragrance everywhere. Ruh roh. I sopped up the liquid as much as possible (for future reference, yes, this does create an instant home air freshener, so consider when buying a fragrance whether you would mind your home smelling like that for several week....) and shuffled around in shoes until things were dry, closing the door to the bathroom so the Lads didn't pick up glass in their little padded feet. It wasn't until this morning that I finally decided to address the potential small glass shards that might be lurking out of sight.

So I hauled out the Centrino and went to work. Or tried. There was pretty much no suction from the floor attachment, no matter how I fritzed around with the settings. I was able to figure out how to just get the hose itself free and suck up glass shards piece by piece, that that assumes that I am, with the naked eye, able to spot all such glass shards. I am not pleased. But I am in awe of how the cleaning lady is able to do anything with this machine that approximates cleanliness on the rugs. In the meantime, I have both Roombas caged in the bathroom circling around trying to address the glass issues. Go Roombas!

Update: There are sometimes when timing is really interesting. The day after I posted this was the day the cleaning lady came to visit. When I returned that evening, there was a handwritten note that read as follows: "Liebe SanDee, Staubsauger ist kaput - kein arbeit." Meaning, the Staubsauger is flat out busted. Nice.

27 January 2010 - Parkplatz

I feel like I more or less have my domestic routines down here in Germany. But every once in a while something happens and I feel totally helpless about some of the most basic things. Take parking, for example.

There is underground parking in my building so Hudson has a place to call his own. This parking garage is connected to the underground parking for the Rewe supermarket that is adjacent to my building. So, to get to my parking space, I must first use a plastic security card to raise the arm of the gate to the Rewe parking lot. (This lot is also accessible for the general public, of course, so drivers can take a paper ticket from the machine and then pay at a pay station machine before leaving. There is no live attendant.) I then drive down into the garage, hang a right, and have to use a separate garage door opener for a metal gate that rolls up to allow access to the parking beneath my building. The reverse process is followed to leave the building.

Yesterday, I was attempting to leave the main/Rewe parking garage on my way to work. I put the card on the reader and it returned a message of something "falsche" which clearly suggested there was an authentication issue of some sort. Hmmm. Tried it again. Same result. Again? No change. Hmmmm.... Not so good. There was a button with a phone icon printed on it that was part of the machine. Pushed it. No response. Hmmm...

Now, before you tell me to do the obvious (run up and get a paper ticket from the incoming gate, pay, and use that to exit), allow me to remind you that I am an auditor by training. So I had long ago tested that process to see if there was a sort of control. There is, not the least of which is that you have to have the weight or mass of a vehicle in order to trigger the ability to get a paper ticket. I may be overweight, but I'm not quite car weight yet...

There appeared to be another communication option in the form of a button/call box of some sort underneath a Notruf sign that was not at all accessible from the lane. So I backed the car up so others could get out and walked up to the call box, pressed the button and waited. As I waited, it occurred to me that I had no idea how to explain this in German, which language would most certainly be necessary for such an exchange. Uh oh.... About this time, a voice started talking to me from the box. Following is my recollection of the conversation that followed.

SIP: Hallo.... Ich bin in der Tiefgarage von Rewe. Meine Tiefgaragekarte fur Bruchstrasse 18 ist kaput. [My attempt to say that I was the underground parking at the Rewe and that my parking card for Bruchstrasse 18 was broken.]
Operator: La la la la problem la la la.....?
SIP: Um, ja, die Tiefgaragemaschine sagt etwas "falsche." [The machine is saying something about false.]
Operator: La la la la la la ihren Kartenummer?
SIP: Meine Kartenummer is null, vier, sieben. [My card number is 047]
Operator: La la la la komme la la la.
SIP: Wie bitte? [Huh?]
[No answer]

Hmmmm..... I hoped that the reference to komme meant that he was coming to meet me. But I wasn't at all sure. Now, since I was still underground, I had only one bar on my BlackBerry that kept fading out, so a call to my assistant was not possible. I sent her an email confessing that I was trapped in my own parking garage and, um, yeah, if the dude didn't come, I might need her to call someone to help me get out. Went back to my car parked oddly in the garage, crossing my fingers that I would soon be released.

Well, sure enough, about 5 minutes later a guy showed up. I drove back up to the gate. He asked when the last time was that I had used the car. I paused and then said, "Last night." At which point he started speaking English. Doh! Apparently, the gate had been up the night before and I must have not waited for my card to clear, so the system had no record that I had arrived and, as a result, would not allow me to exit. A good control, if you think about it, otherwise, I could let a bunch of people in to park. I still felt like an idiot. But an idiot who almost spoke enough German to get herself out of her own parking garage. It's these little things....

19 January 2010 - Gettin' my German on

This is so remarkable that I am breaking my "too busy to blog" excuse line.

Last night I was to meet some American colleagues at the Zum Scharzen Stern restaurant. Okay.... Finally found it. When I walked in, a server met me at the door. I started to say, in German, "I have three American colleauges" at which point said server cut me off and took me directly to my table. Okay, apparently not a lot of Americans at the restaurant.

But with this brief exchange, the server seemed to have the impression that I spoke German. Um, not so much. Though I do know my food terms.... (Priorities, priorities....)

The first issue was the (other) American partner was a vegetarian. Now, let's be clear, the server could understand English just fine. Maybe speaking English was a bit more difficult for her, not unlike how speaking German is just a BIT more difficult for me. But she was great, as are most young Europeans. Anyway, the partner asked in English if there were any vegetarian dishes available other than the salads. The server said she'd check. Cool.

She came back with a vegetarian option that she explained in German. My US partner looked a bit befuddled. She looked at me and repeated the what they had.

Oh! So I explained to my colleague that there was an option for an eggplant with steamed vegetables and a light cream sauce. And then I wondered how I knew that.... And then I realized I might, a year after moving, actually be capable of understanding food preparation. Maybe. But the colleague ordered the item and it looked quite tasty.....

Throughout the evening, the server continued to look to me for terms in German that she had difficulty translating. Most of them I got, but a few might've slipped by me. But in any event, I felt for one of the first times in the last year that I actually kinda knew what was going on and was the link between English and German. And it was good. And I felt like I belonged and was being accepted into the German collective. All good!!!!

But I will admit that when the server asked if I had been there before for an event on the second floor, I just smiled, nodded and said "ja" to fit in. I would do it again. In a heartbeat. Wonderful people. I LOVE GERMANY!!!!

15 August 2009 -

["Jump Around" by House of Pain]

This is, like many other postings, a long overdue one. When back in the US and more recently in December, people were asking how the Lads were. As I answered, I realized that I had neglected to post one of their escapades here that is somewhat relevant to the general purpose of this blog.

Way back in May or June on one of the many random banking holidays here, I had a Thursday off. Most normal people (and who have the full complement of German vacation days, which exceeds my American alottment by quite a few days) took the opportunity to turn the holiday into a four-day weekend. I had to work the following day and merely took the holiday as an excuse to watch movies late into the night the night before and then sleep in (as much as any Preuscher really ever sleeps in).

So Thursday morning I was conscious around 9 AM, got up, opened the balcony door to let in some fresh air, turned on the Nespresso machine and went into the study to check email and the download status of the Rachel Maddow podcast from the night before. I wasn't quite awake. I thought I heard someone call my name, but realized I was not only sleepy, but also hearing things. But then I really did hear something -- my doorbell ringing. Hmmm....


It was my neighbors in a high state of excitement, so much so that they were actually speaking German to me (not unusual since they are German, but unusual in that they kindly usually speak English to me). But I heard the key words -- schwarze Katze, Balkon, springen. Black cat, balcony, to jump. Accompanied by a lot of gestures. Ruh roh.


So I headed out to the balcony, where I saw Banes looking curiously over the edge. Following his gaze I saw Oxley. Yes, the neighbors had witnessed Oxley jumping from the balcony down to the roof of the building next to ours. The building next to ours (the Rewe supermarket) has a rounded roof like an aircraft hangar and is parallel to our building. So if Oxley had jumped off the lond edge of the balcony, he would have landed on a higher portion of the curved roof, hence a shorter jump. Obviously, a longer jump of a full story if he had gone off one of the ends of the balcony. Nevertheless, he was walking around on the roof and having a fine time, it seemed.

The next question, of course, is how would I be able to rescue him (which assumes, of course, that he wanted to be rescued). The direct option would be to go to the Rewe and ask for access to their roof. Alas, they were closed since it was a holiday. Hmmm....

Next idea was to ask the tenants of my building on the lower floor to see if I could try to get Oxley through their windows, which opened roughly onto the roof level of the Rewe. My neighbor and I went downstairs and tried knocking on the doors of both neighbors, but didn't get an answer. It appeared that they had taken advantage of the long weekend to get out of town. Hmmm....

My neighbor thought of another idea, though. The only remaining option (before I started trying to figure out how to craft some sort of ladder for getting down onto the roof, rescuing the feline, and then climbing back up) was the other building that is part of our building and shares a garage with our building and also happens to be adjacent to the Rewe. So outside we went. Assuming that the mailboxes at the other unit were arranged the same as ours, we hit two numbers that we calculated would be on the second floor. After a while, there was finally an answer by a rather sleepy-sounding guy. My neighbor fortunately speaks German and quickly explained the situation to him and asked if we could try the rescue attempt through his window. He invited us up.

Poor guy was still in his PJs and had apparently had a long night and I felt like a heel for having had to wake him up, but he was a good sport about it. Oxley was less of a good sport and was having a great time exploring the roof. He had no intention whatsoever of answering my call and coming to the window. So I had to launch myself up onto the window ledge and crawl out of the window and onto the roof and chase down the darn animal. My neighbor and the young guy were watching all of this with a great deal of amusement. I finally got Oxley and passed him through the window and made a rather clumsy re-entrance through the building. After thanking the guy, we headed back outside, where of course Oxley started clawing at me trying to get away. Imagine how that might have turned out. I finally made it back inside, though, and the day's drama was over.

Suffice it to say, the Lads are now only allowed on the balcony with direct supervision. It seems rather unfair to Banes since he didn't do anything wrong (and seriously, who knew these porkers could even fit through the railing to make their great escape?), but it is what it is. I consider hin at least guilty of aiding and abetting.

4 October 2009 - Banking in the Bundesland, Part 2

["Money (that's what I want)" by The Flying Lizards.]

In our first installment of Banking in the Bundesland, I mentioned some of the unique joys and frustrations of banking here while still dealing with Citibank in the U.S. Unfortunately, since then I have had occasion to discover firsthand that both systems are plagued with some of the same types of fraud.

I have a MasterCard from Commerzbank. I don't use it much at all here -- just for things that I buy online like goodies from Amazon.de or airline tickets. I used it a bit more when I was in the U.S. in late July/early August because, among other things, so many things in the US are value-priced, particularly when purchased with the strong Euro. Well, "value-priced" is a relative term if one doesn't consider all the, um, "hidden costs" and risks when making a transaction these days.

Fast forward to about a month ago when I had the overwhelming urge to purchase a keyboard, as described in a separate blog. I wasn't sure how much a keyboard might cost these days, so I logged into Commerzbank online banking to check what the available balance was in my current account (the one that is kind of like checking, except we don't have checks here). There is a helpful Summary of Accounts screen where I caught the balance of my current account and was about to navigate away from the page when I did a double-take at the summary for my credit card. Which summary showed a balance of over €9,000!!! Uhhhh..... I clicked through and was rather astonished at what I saw -- myriad charges all incurred in Calgary, Canada. I, of course, had not been in Canada and have never been to Calgary.

So then comes the fun part of trying to figure out how to straighten this mess out. First step was to get the credit card shut off immediately. Tricky part is that, unlike a US credit card, there is no number on the back of the credit card to call. Hmmm.... Looked around online and also didn't see a number to call (and it may not surprise you that unlike the US, many customer service numbers here do not operate 24/7). So I did what I often do in confusing situations -- I called my neighbors. They were able to come up with a number that I called and, fortunately, the guy spoke English. He cut off the credit card but said that I would need to go to my local branch to contest the charges.

That particular Monday I had stayed home to work and rest a bit as I was feeling rather under the weather. In late afternoon, I remembered that I was supposed to go to "my" branch of the bank to settle the credit card matter, so I tried to get myself put together enough to go down there. I figured that it would be a rather quick visit and I felt good enough to at least do that. Alas, it was not a quick trip.

The banks here, or at least this branch, are not like most US banks. There are no tellers up in front. Instead, once you pass by the ATMs and statement printing machines in the foyer, there are two regular desks. I approached the first one and asked if she spoke English. Nope. So I attempted to explain the situation in German. It was not easy. She asked for verification that this particular branch was my home branch (perhaps in an attempt to pawn the English-speaker off on some other branch) and then finally called for the person at the other desk to assist me.

This other individual, Linda, is the one who was assigned to me when I opened my account, apparently, though I had not met her in person. She is rather young, which I thought might increase the chances that she spoke English. Unfortunately, she didn't seem too comfortable speaking English, either, but I restated in German the problem, she logged into my account and quickly saw the problem I was describing.

She had to print out a claim form (which was in English and German, thankfully) for each of the 20+ charges from Canada. As she was printing out those forms, I did some research on the BlackBerry's limited browser to try and see if I could figure out what some of the vendors were. The ones like McDonald's and Wal-Mart and the myriad gas stations didn't require explanation, but some others were less straightforward. Here are a few highlights of the great week someone had with my credit card. Sounds like a good time -- wish I could have been there to see this in action.

Two visits to a fur store - €3,500
Four visits to a store that appears to be a photography equipment shop - €4,000
Various shoe stores - €700
Fine dining - €400

Seeing a well-heeled photographer out on the town combating the Canadian winter with a fur or two - priceless.

It's not clear what, exactly, happened, but the bank suspects that while I was in the US, the information on my credit card's magnetic strip was recorded while it was swiped. Someone then took that information and wrote it to a new, blank card, and then sold or used the card. While it's pretty easy to see from charges on my current account that I was indeed in Germany during the time these charges were made and a quick review of the signatures from Canada will undoubtedly not match mine given the odd way my first name is spelled, it nevertheless will take at least four weeks for this to be resolved.

In the meantime, I understood from Linda that I would not be charged for the disputed items. Um, wrong. I looked at my current account balance the other day and the entire amount of the credit card balance had been settled against my current account, leaving me with a negative balance. Even though apparently you are allowed to have a negative balance here up to your limit, I am not pleased as this makes me feel like some sort of deadbeat. I am even less pleased that my emails questioning this settlement have not been returned. Let's hope that there is no need for me to create a Part 3 of this series....

27 September 2009 - What's more German than an international auto show?

[Rihanna, "Shut Up and Drive."]

Frankfurt is the host of the International Auto Show. THE auto show. I have always enjoyed the Chicago Auto Show, but this is in an entirely different class and spread across multiple buildings. So having a complimentary ticket courtesy of my boss and a colleague who was interested in going was a bonus.

Now, the cars were good, but I think the ways that the different companies market them is nearly as interesting. In particular, the way in which women are used in the selling of cars fascinates me. I mean, we've all seen the pictures from past auto shows of scantily clad women "demonstrating" the features of the cars. But that's in the past, right, and women are valued for their knowledge of cars, right? Well.... Read on for some highlights by some of the brands (oddly enough, no sign of Honda, Nissan or Mitsubishi at the show) and these attendants who I will refer to simply as the ladies.

Kia - I find the Soul quite charming, including its external optical features that can be customized, not unlike some of the Mini options.

Volvo - I thought the motorized rear hatch of the XC60 was impressively quiet. Not a bad ride. Volvo also offered a free USB thumb drive that you could plug in and try to win. We lost. The booth was at least partially staffed by Swedes, which I thought was quite genuine.

Mazda - An excellent selection of Preuscher Blue cars on display. The ladies were kind enough to take photos of attendees in the MX-5 with an impressive 12-second hardtop retraction. Said ladies were wearing purple dresses with 80s-era thick black belts.

Suzuki - Underwhelming cars, but the ladies' black denimish dresses with white off-set racing stripe worn with slouch legwarmers over Converse All-Stars was interesting. The dresses would match the Kia Soul.

Renault - Interesting concept cars -- one looked like a Mac or an iPod that could be driven, another looked like a fly getting ready to take off. The ladies in the futuristic area looked like they were standing by for a Korean Air interview or were resting in between shifts on the USS Enterprise spa -- flowing white pants and eggshell blue smocks. Gotta wonder who wants to be the guy at Renault whose job is cleaning the black scuff marks on their white matte floor. He seemed pretty busy.

Dacia - No stereo included? Seriously?

Ford - Keyless non-entry for energy car (it was locked) with right-side steering -- weird thing to have in Germany. Dresses of the ladies were somewhat ugly and seemed difficult to put on. Not that we tried. Ford Ka has seating that can be customized (must be for the younger generation that adds colored covers to their phones and all), including a tattoo style imprint. Mondeo still seems to have faux wood finishes -- some things never change.

Lamborghini - Like most of the high-end brands, you can't approach the vehicles. There were too many people snapping pictures to see if there were ladies on hand.

Bentley - A laminated wooden floor with three cars, no access, and the sales guys just standing there. Weird. There is a Bentley Collection Shop that appears to be accessible to mere mortals.

Audi - The Audi shop was disappointing. I'm thinking they need a woman's ring with the four interlocking Audi rings. I am disturbed by the number of orange/rust-colored Audis that were on display in the area. I still don't "get" the A5 sportback. They had a metallic/chromy (not sure if it was polished aluminum or what) R8 that looked rather blingy but reminded me a bit of a shinier Back to the Future car. The ladies (and men) were generally wearing muted blacks, gray and white. One exception was the lady in the limited-access area with the e-tron concept car and R8 cabrio who were more true to the typical auto show mold (very short dresses and the high heels), but they were not displayed on the hoods of the vehicles themselves. Audi Bank was there in case you couldn't wait another second to have an Audi. Alas, the "International Customer Services" area was unable to hook me up with an English language owners manual for Hudson (my local dealer has still failed to follow through on this).

Seat - The ladies were wearing a form-fitting bizarre black and white patterned dress worn with black hosiery. Not particularly flattering but certainly distinctive. The cars had interesting plastic textures - like the pattern I would associate with carbon fiber, but in plastic. Lots of overhead storage. The flip down trays in the back seat (no pun intended) are handy and with cupholders built in. It is unclear whether they must be stowed for takeoff. From a design perspective, I like the above rear seat latches that are sculpted out of the rear window panel rather than being within the metal of the door below the window.

VW - Eos available in beautiful blue GT. I was not aware that the Scirocco is back.... The ladies were wearing basic black skirts and crisp white shirts. No-nonsense and professional.

Skoda - Great mascot, as evidenced by his willingness to hold the Sarah Palin action figure for a photo (see Facebook album of Sarah for the latest). The uniforms of the ladies were interesting -- charcoal skirt, lime green shirt and silverish vest thing - with lime green belt. Hmmm.... The exhibit did have a kind of slot machine game where you pull a lever and win -- in my case, a parkschein, which I have been wanting (you put it in your window to indicate when you parked in the parking space so the meter reader can tell whether you have overstayed the limit -- love the honor system).

All of these brands and others were from just the first two halls we visited. En route to the next stop, we decided to stop off at a hall that boasted, among other things, a "Ladies Corner." Well, that immediately had me thinking I would see Tim Meadows, the Ladies Man from Saturday Night Live there, or at least some quick manicures, moisturizer samples, or mazybe even a chair massage. So we rushed on over. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointing the reality was. There was literally a woman there dressed up as a cleaning lady complete with a bandanna tied around her head with a bin full of cleaning supplies and some sort of coupon for something. There was also a display of GPS devices. What, like women don't know how to drive and only clean? Ugh. So on to the next hall.

Maserati - One of their cars was a beautiful blue (of course!) color. The friend who went with me, codename D-D, loves Maserati and sweet-talked the guy at the rope to let her in and even convinced him to take a picture of her in the convertible. Nice work!

Lancia - The theme of the exhibit revolved around chalkboards and chalk drawings. I suppose that is the connection between the ladies being dressed as, more or less, naughty school girls -- short skirts, white shirts, a sagging black tie, and tights just above the knee. Perhaps not surprising that the cars didn't appeal to me either.

Fiat - Fiat was located next to Lancia and continued the youthful theme, but did so in a much more innocent way. The background of their area was composed of whimsical pastel children's drawings (drawn in a smaller scale by real children as shown in videos -- no child labor seems to have been involved in the building of the large scale actual background). They also had astroturf areas with flower-shaped tables for even more whimsy. The ladies did seem somewhat related to the Lancia ladies, but a bit more classy I suppose - short plaid skirts and vests and red Converse All-Stars. The cars are small but with character. And I give them high marks for the items in their store that are directed towards women -- including a really cute but overpriced little purse that looks like the front of a Fiat on one side and the back of a Fiat on the other side.

Alfa Romeo - Continuing the youthful example of Lancia and Fiat, Alfa Romeo's exhibit was made out of giant sized creations from the erector set that I remember my brother playing with as a kid building cranes and stuff. Alas, they did not have many actual cars to sit in, so we moved on quickly.

Hyundai - I can only describe Hyundai as the "Hooters" of the IAA. They literally had a woman sitting in a car on a rotating pedestal looking pretty and showing off long legs. It's a HYUNDAI for crying out loud! Uniform? Satiny shorts, glittery halter top, heels, and very blonde. I think I saw Heidi with her long braids..... In the sports section, it was slightly better with black jeans and a white blingy halter top and more sensible shoes. I did like their Blue Will concept car with a steering wheel that seems more like a yoke on an airplane.

Abarth - I had not heard of them before. It is apparently another Italian company and has some relation to racing. Uniforms? Heeled red leather boots, white tights, and a short knit red and white dress/smock of some sort that kind of looks like a racing flag.

Porsche - Handsome cars, often in nice blues, but many were locked. All reps were male with a matching tie and pocket square. There were a few ladies. Their job was apparently to just look pretty as they were not even issued name tags!! However, a quick conversation with one of them indicated they actually know a great deal about the cars, features, prices, etc. They were wearing somewhat simple linen dresses with a scarf matching the ties of the guys, with the effect of making them look like flight attendants (not to be confused with Renault).

Artega - Beautiful vehicles. Wish they weren't cut off from the masses.

Toyota - A very white space with nearly all of the cars in the front section being white. Additionall, the ladies were wearing very nice looking white suits with a crisp white blouse with tiny red stripes and a sport shoe that looks like it would actually be comfortable for spending hours on one's feet. We think overall these were the best and most professional ensembles we saw the ladies of the IAA wearing.

Saab - Very few cars in their area and many were locked. They're just Saabs.... Casual uniform for the ladies - black jeans, gray jacket, reddish t-shirt.

Mini - Mini is celebrating 50 years complete with DJ and a sparkling water bar (the Mini Lounge). Attire was typically youthful for the brand - jeans and a whitish t-shirt for both men and women.

BMW - The largest digs in the show must belong to BMW. Huge area. They had an interesting Vision concept car, but it was difficult to get close to it was it was near the "fashion show" of vehicles driven around on the indoor track. All but the ladies standing by the concept car are wearing kind of ugly taupe pant suits belted with a dark lavendar color. Not nearly so nice as Toyota.

Rolls Royce - The hideously painted Ghost model has suicide doors. Haven't seen that on a car in ages. The cars were, of course, inaccessible to the masses, but I give RR snaps for having the most normal looking woman among the attendants. It was refreshing, though some leggy blondes were also loitering at the gate to the VIP lounge. Otherwise, a bunch of guys in ties standing around.

Benz - Their space was, like BMWs, a tri-level structure. They also had an interesting interior structure covered in an interesting white fabric that could be used for projection and it also apparently served as an environmental control. However, they should consider hiring the floor guy from Renault as their white floors were terribly scuffed. Simple uniforms - dark skirts, white blouses, and a scarf kind of like BMW. Plastic name tags for both men and women struck me as tacky, particularly as compared with the other major players. Lots of security.

So that's pretty much it. Can't wait to head back next year!