Cactus

i like them... so dont feel offended if you find one in your mailbox :)

What more can I say..

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
For we know in part and we prophesy in part,
but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

1 Corinthians 13

Tech girls or the fine line between irony and a melting computer...

FAQ

* did you study too much?
-> no, I'm afraid I'm always like this... (which probably is why I ended up doing computer science..)

* you know that you're crazy?
-> yes, indeed, it already occurred to me on occasions.. (apart from that I've been told by various people). In fact, I've come to terms with it and enjoy the fact of occasionally surprising people :)

* do you have too much free time?
-> well, generally speaking, no... but somehow my mind can't be bothered to work in a single track only so on occasions it changes to random places... which is why I occasionally end up on this page to write posts like this one...

* what? you are playing an instrument?
-> oh, yes... :) it might well have happened that some of you havent noticed yet since at the moment there are no rehearsals... but beware, sooner or later you will quite likely end up with an invitation to a concert where I'll be playing (only if its any good though :) In case this happens, I'd be very pleased to meet you there!

* and, did you learn any italian? / do you speak some italian now? / can you order food or pay in italian now?
-> oooooh, yes.... I think I did/do/can....

to be continued..

About People

Die Stachelschweine

Eine Gesellschaft Stachelschweine drängte sich an einem kalten Wintertage recht nah zusammen, um durch die gegenseitige Wärme sich vor dem Erfrieren zu schützen. Jedoch bald empfanden sie die gegenseitigem Stacheln, welches sie dann wieder voneinander entfernte. Wann nun das Bedürfnis der Erwärmung sie wieder näher zusammenbrachte, wiederholte sich jenes zweite Übel; so dass sie zwischen beiden Leiden hin und her geworfen wurden, bis sie eine mäßige Entfernung voneinander herausgefunden hatten, in der sie es am besten aushalten konnten.

Lithuanian Brothers

There has been one thing starting to happen in my life that I'm incapable of explaining to myself. I have got used to the fact that, when going abroad, people will guess me belonging to any possible european nation besides Germany. However, now something even weirder is happening:
The older I get, the more people try to help me to Lithuanian elder brothers... By now it has happened twice and that might still seem acceptable and nothing special. However, the thing is: if my 'brother' is an only child it is still ok, but since yesterday I'm supposed to have even more siblings that I have never met in all my life cause my 'new' brother has 3 more brothers who have more --- what?!?! I guess for some people this seems a normal thing to be happening, however I find it slightly weird and spooky.. (I have to admit, I always wished for an older brother, somehow all that whishing must have gone a bit over the top..) So I'm currently thinking of setting up some self-help group like 'Anonymous-Unexpected-Foreign-Brother-Havers', abbreviated 'AUFBH', so if anyone has a similar problem please contact me. Have a nice day :)

Got Lucky!

If you crave for more check out this page!
cheers :)

Chicken Worries

Fortune Cookie

The fortune cookie never lies.

There are some weird fortunes out there, but rarely do they contain such pertinent computing advice.

About Happiness

I've heard the opinion that for being ok, or at least not depressed, it would just take to care less..
I don't feel I can agree with this, because if one would care always less, there would be no sense in anything left. And, as it seems, people are most satisfied from things they care about.
So I think what would help much more is to expect less, from life, from other people, from yourself.. Because when you don't expect things to happen, there is two things that will save you: Firstly, you will not be disappointed so often and, much more important, secondly, you will be much more capable to embrace and treasure good things once they actually happen.

Crazy Moon

Sleepless

The Student Solution

Reverse Engineering.... also partially known as Ctrl-C/-V with random combination from different sources.
Gives a (more or less) tasty salsa of (more or less) connected content, which hardly ever contents the (more or less) interested person taking a look at the output of the procedure.
Somehow seems safer to use (at least some) books as in this way at least everything has to be rewritten anyway so rephrasing seems less effort (and furthermore improves the knowledge people have about their own essays...).

The E Solution

If you have any computer problems... why dont you just re-install your OS (and everything else)?

Been told not to give credits to anyone for this straightforward, brute force, "make my computer work again, please" solution... :D You could bet on it though..

Perfect Morning

• waking up with the sun shining through the window
  
• finding your favorite breakfast in front of your door, this is a miracle!
  
• realising a friend really appreciates you helping them out
• having the chance to solve a computer problem in 5 minutes
• seeing that your beloved plant starts to grow flowers again after months of remaining bare
• getting mail from someone who is important to you

How fast is an airplane?

this and a lot of other things, nicely presented on Think Metric!
have fun =)

The Kolping Solution

defined as 'waiting till your current problem dissolves in terms of fire and smoke' (credits to andrea janes for coining the term :)
Not to be recommended as main strategy if you dont need to build a new roof anyway...

For anyone not knowing what this all refers to, look here.

Idiot proof..

In case you are here because you dont feel like working, I have the perfect link for you!
Have fun!
:)

Oddities of life

Some people say that everything in the word is in balance somehow (or at least should be..)
So to feel happiness and joy there serves the right amount of contrast in terms of desperation or worry... also that sweetness and bitterness (or sourness??) are both needed to make life bearable does not sound too controversial.
But why does it seem that some people are fighting for their life and might not succeed whilst others just throw away theirs without any need and destroying the world for so many people that cared about them?
I cant help finding this one of the very horrible things but I have no idea of what to do about it. If you suppose that everything that happens has a meaning and some sense, then my mind is surely too small to find it.

Freedom of Choice or 'How missing some Chances makes Life easier'

As some of you probably know, I've been struggling for quite a while with the decision of what do do after October 16th, the day when I will hopefully graduate... Especially the variety of options was really stunning but, nevertheless, really stressful. So funnily enough, I cant help to feel relieved about finding some options now closing themselves as I failed to see some bureaucratical traps early enough. Actually, I'm rejoicing secretly (cause otherwise people will find me even weirder than it is already the case).
Sometimes I cant help to think that the world nowadays has become a bit too big for a normal-sized human mind. It is fantastic how many possibilities there are but somehow I find that there are at least as many things confusing and obfuscating our real wishes and desires. So the challenge seems to be: learn how to find out what you really want.

What a weekend....

Sometimes I seriously start to belive that the more you give up hope, the more likely your wishes will come true....
Maybe someone remembers me worrying about complete loneliness expecting me for the weekend... noone to go for a drink, noone to meet on, noone to dance...
The good news is: I found someone for each of the things I wanted to do most! So I wanted to thank you all for having such a good time, for going to the cinema having a laugh about the new Simpsons film, for going for a coffe and keeping me company in the library, for taking me to a nice dinner, for coming with me for great dancing, for driving me to a closed shopping mall near to Verona to play bowling, take silly pictures and be happy about having saved a lot of money cause none of the shops were open :)
I just hope you had as good a time as me..

insomnia..

one of my favorite comics--

What I'm currently doing...

I just finished the german abstract of my thesis. So if you're interested in what I'm doing (and if you understand some German) I invite you to read on and let me know if this explanation is any good. Thanks a lot!


Die folgende Laureatsarbeit befasst sich mit der Berechnung von Isochronen für das Projekt Bz10M der Gemeinde Bozen.
Als Isochronen bezeichnet man das Set von Punkten, von denen ein bestimmtes Ziel gleichzeitig erreicht werden kann. Dieses Konzept wird vielfach in unterschiedlichstem Kontext genutzt. Nachdem sich Bz10M mit der Analyse und Planung der Bozener Infrastruktur befasst, wird das Prinzip der Isochronen wie folgt angewandt: ein Punkt in Bozen (z.B. die Universität) wird als Ziel ausgesucht und eine Zeitschwelle (z.B. 10 Minuten) wird definiert. Alle Punkte, von denen die Universität in der gegebenen Zeit erreichbar ist, fallen in das Isochron.
Bezüglich der Erreichbarkeit gibt es zwei wichtige Fakten zu berücksichtigen:
Zum einen ist das Modell von Bozen, das für diese Arbeit verwendet wird, als Netzwerk angelegt. Das bedeutet, dass alle Kreuzungen in der Stadt als Knoten representiert werden, während die verbindenden Straßensegmente als Verlinkungen dienen.
Zum anderen werden in dieser Arbeit mehrere Fortbewegungsmöglichkeiten bedacht, wie zum Beispiel zu Fuß oder mit dem öffentlichen Busverkehr. Jedoch werden diese unterschiedlichen Modalitäten nicht in einem einzelnen Netzwerk gespeichert. Als Konsequenz muss die Berechnung der Isochronen derart beschaffen sein, dass beliebig viele Netzwerke bereist werden können.

Diese Arbeit schlägt nun einen generischen Algorithmus vor, der eine Isochronenberechnung für beliebig viele Netzwerke unterstützt. Ein Teil des Ansatzes basiert auf dem Kürzesten Pfad Algorithmus von Dijkstra und wird genutzt um die Isochronenberechnung in den einzelnen Netzwerken durchzuführen. Weiterhin werden Funktionen für die korrekte Übersetzung zwischen den verschiedenen Netzen vorgestellt.
Die Implementation des Algorithmus' wurde mit Java 5 und Oracle Spatial 10.2 durchgeführt, da diese Technologien in Bz10M vorgesehen sind. Einige der in Oracle Spatial vorhandenen Funktionen ersetzen Teile des vorgeschlagenen Algorithmus' und erlauben so eine Optimierung.

Old breaking news

For everybody who hasnt seen bee-zed breaking news yet... I know its already old but anyway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6clxTxD_D0
Enjoy =)

Confusion

So.. now there would be officially weekend.. but what am I supposed to do with this? It seems I will have to return to some hobbies not depending on others or I will end up being frustrated by staying home all the time.
At least now it is quite definite that I will graduate in the near future. The forms are signed by my supervisor so this is it. There are 2 weeks left for handing in my paper.. which btw now is at 23 pages.. So I suppose I will just have to motivate myself to continue even though I just would want to leave it for a while, to do something to relax. I really want to go dancing.. and I just cant believe there should be noone to come with me.

..

Dreaming of better times...

Work, you must...

As usual I'm stuck at my desk in the faculty, trying to write some more chapter of my thesis.. However, the closer the deadline comes the more difficult it seems to get something down which is easy to understand yet scientifically apropriate to get a degree for it.. So please don't feel offended if the question 'How are you doing?' is answered briskly by '21 pages.' or something of the like. In fact, apart from having to finish (a thing that I'm actually quite looking forward to) and to decide what to do with my life after that, I'm perfectly well, happy and healthy (even though my beauty suffers by the odd lack of sleep painting black circles in quite central zones of my face). Now my hope is just to find some nice company for a night's out this weekend as I feel I'm missing too much of the world's nice things by staying inside all day every day. At least, I'm not alone to sit under that beautiful, encouraging sign telling me to continue...