Monday, June 06, 2005

So it's been a while...

I know it's been a few weeks since I have posted, and there is no excuse except for my overall busy-bodyness of work, a trip to NYC, and my vacation to German (which I am still on, BTW).

Some great insights I would love to share with you all about this beautiful green country...

When entering the boarder, make sure you pack some Claritin.
German men are not shy about brandishing denim capris, or khacki capris, or capris of any material, for that matter. They like to wear them with sneakers - the animals.
The stereotype of older European men in speedos was just proven to me at a local hot springs location, that is if they are wearing anything at all - the animals.
Swiss people have an unexplained fondness for cows and pigs. And they think charging $4.00 is acceptable for melted cheese on a slice of bread. let me repeat, melted cheese on a slice of bread - the animals, for the last time.
Almost all Germans speak english and are super helpful and kind, but they hate Mondays. Everything closes on Monday and on this day, they say 'shut it. we are closed.' Otherwise, they are really nice.
And hangers are almost impossible to purchase anywhere in this country. I swear I tried.

Many European countries including Germany are known for their cutting edge electronics and bleeding edge design concepts. Judging from what I saw in Switzerland and Germany, the consumer electronics market is about the same. I am not sure what i expected to see when entering their version of Best Buy and various cell phone stores, maybe a phone that allows you to edit HD videos you shoot with the handset, while teleporting yourself to the local hofbrauhaus for dinner, I can't really say....what I did see were handsets similar to the market in US. In short, you are not missing much in technology, early adopters. What you are missing are the amazing coffee drinks, to die for desserts, a great country strongly rooted in its past and culture, and an invention called the Doner. It's a Turkish fast food invention like the falafel, but with meat...I hear it is delicious and just had a full-page spread in FHM here. Yes, food gets full-page spreads in FHM in this country. Talk about progressive!

5 comments:

Caleb said...

Germany is a cool country. I want to visit at some point in my life. We forgive you for not posting in a long time. We know that you are busy. Enjoy the rest of your vacation.

yam said...

Heh, seems like an awful lot of animals over there! Wow, you sure get around, Chi-Lan. Have a safe flight back to LA!

Brian

Brent said...

I'm glad you are having a good time Chi-Lan... I went to Germany 25 years ago and I remember the chocolate and the beer!!! The food was not as tasty as Indonesian or Korean food... but hey the culture is all around you. I believe you have someone special there or really love German culture.

I have a good friend here in Memphis who is German, his wife is Indo. He is always talking about Germany.

I also read that Apple is switching to Intel for the chips. I was upset at first... but then on later reflection, I believe it to be genus. I think that MS will be in trouble if people can run both OSX and WIndows on a Mac. The amazingly innovative hardware will be available to both types of users. What are your thoughts on this?

Rick D said...

I heard that German's are getting the PS3 in August.

Chi-Lan Lieu said...

thanks for posting guys.

As for the comment on Apple switching to Intel chips, I think this joint venture is in step for Apple. They have switched chip families before, from Motorola's 68000 chips to PowerPC (IBM and Motorola's joint venture). That was about 10 years ago, and to stay competitive in the PC market, things need to make another shift, even if it is a grand one. I think this move is a few years overdue...

Being one that owns an Apple laptop, I, for one would sure like a hot to trot G5 laptop, but the PowerPC chip reportedly can't deliver the power and speed required within low-power-usages of laptops. Sidenote, imagine sitting yoru laptop on your lap to work, and as soon as you open Word, or better yet, Photoshop tooo! the laptopstarts to glow and burn your legs. Laptops affecting your sperm count is no longer an issue here. Thems sperm are most likely dead in the water.

To be honest, I am not sure if the switch from PowerPC to Intel chips will give Macs a larger share in the personal PC market, but I am sure this will help programmers trifold as they develop programs and one day in the future, maybe make ALL things Mac compatible! Oh to dream!