Went to see The Frames last night. It was one of the best concerts I have seen in a long time. They got like a My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, U2 (sans obnoxious vocals way up in the mix) thing going on there. They will be big someday, mark my words. They are going to be touring in America soon. It looks like they are having some trouble with their website at the moment. Check back later to see if they will be playing near you.
Speaking of trouble with websites, we’ve hired a company to help overhaul my company’s with a nice backend CMS and an import function for publishing our stuff. Long story short; they’re slacking and I’m getting really frustrated. I lack the ability to speak at a professional level of German and properly convey that they need to get their head out of their ass™ and stop fucking around. Because I previously met the Ansprechpartner in a non-professional setting, I had already geduzt him. I thing we will start siezen again real soon.
When the whole project is over I think I will go back and get my Zentrale Mittelstufenprüfung and Kleines Deutsches Sprachdiplom. Those are German language degrees certified by the Goethe Institut. Maybe a sabbatical will be in order.
I was thinking about doing an occasional podcast. Should I?
Got an email from Jay over at Agitpropolis. He wanted me to take a look at his post about observations about living in Germany. I did and some of it is right on. The thing about looking people in the eyes when toasting is something new for me, but only because M does it. Most Germans I know don’t do it. They think it is kinda weird. I do too. Angucken!
Oh, and the German equivalent of the DMV? It has its own special circle in Hell.
Get this. I wanted to get an extra ignition key for my car for M. It has this immobilizer chip in it. I figured I would call a locksmith/keymaker guy just to make sure they couldn’t do it. I find it is always better to ask before assuming the obvious here because sometimes there are official stamped forms and permits required to accomplish the mundane. The locksmith laughed me off the telephone after telling me I need to call the auto dealer. I’m getting more German by the day. I am no longer ashamed of being laughed at by someone for simply asking a question. I clearly deserved this for I had been such a fool to assume that a locksmith should concern himself with all manners of keys and locks. So I call and they want €60 just for a copy and get this…They need to keep the car at the dealer for at least 2 maybe 3 days. WTF?!
Has anybody had this experience in the US? Is it the same there? Please let me know.