Science Experiment

Yesterday at lunch someone mentioned that he saw a clip on CBC news, where some Edmontonians threw water into the air. The water froze in the air before it hit the ground! Cool!

It was another frosty evening yesterday, and Calgary is only 3 hours south, so I tried the same thing in -32 degree Celsius last night.

Watch the experiment here:




Observation: -32 degree Celsius is clearly not cold enough for water to freeze in the air. All I created was an icy spot on the snow patch. I hope no old lady slips on it and breaks her leg.

Edmonton must be a lot colder than Calgary. Or maybe the wind for the wind chill factor was missing, or maybe i missed something, or maybe I have to do it from the fifteenth floor of a highrise, or maybe not everything they show on TV is true.

But I haven't given up yet - at the next opportunity I will try again!

-46

Today's Temperature: Low of -46 degrees. Crazy!

Even a walk to a nearby restaurant seems like an Everest expedition, when you better not forget a scarf to cover your face.

Source: J.S. Milne

Talking about Everest: this is a picture of Chomolungma, aka Mount Everest, also known as Mother Goddess of the World. I only found out about this third name this weekend. Sounds better than Everest.

Housing Boom

I found this 3D computer animation called "Musashino Plateau" on Pink Tentacle. It shows the housing boom in Japan - but Calgary came to mind, when I was watching it.

Kavli Kaviar

Yeah - my first youtube post!

A kid friendly kaviar commercial from Norway.

Midnight Oil

The lead singer of Midnight Oil is now environment minister in Australia. I think that's quite cool!

Politically and socially active in his younger years, he has a degree in law. He was rocking it out until a few years ago. Last year he became environment minister - a chance to change the system from within, i.e to come up with constructive solutions. I am curious to see, if he will succeed. I am hopeful. Australia is definitely more aware of climate change than other parts of the world, as water is scarce and the sun burns hot.

Mousse au Chocolat

I got inspired to "bake" by all those wonderful desserts I had in Austria: Tiramisu, Ricotta Cream, Biscuit Rolade, Cakes...

Therefore I decided to buy a new hand mixer, organic eggs, whipping cream and Lindt chocolate to whip up "Mousse au Chocolat". Not sure, if the word "bake" is appropriate, as no baking is involved. I got the recipe from mousse-au-chocolat.net, where it is praised as "...la plus simple des recettes gastronomiques..."

Don't be concerned that this recipe is too rich, but remember Montezuma (Aztec Emperor, 1480-1520) words on chocolate: "The divine drink, which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits a man to walk for a whole day without food." Skip the trail mix and pack some chocolate on your next hiking adventure.

Serve with berries and mint leaves.

Austrian Female Bloggers

I love googling. How convenient is it to enter a question, term, or name and get instant feedback. Love it!

Yesterday when I was wondering, if there are any other Austrian bloggers who blog about their life abroad, I asked Dr. Google "Austrian woman blog". No blog came up, but one weirdness after the other:

Austrian woman living with her dead partner for months
Austrian woman, 18, found after years of captivity
Austrian woman has baby at 66

I might have to re-word my google search.

Jakob & Emil

Jakob & Emil in Wien, Weihnachten 2008

Ceramic Knife

I discovered something new in Austria. What looked like a plastic knife, turned out to be the latest trend: ceramic knives. Made from zirconia, it's harder than steel, chemically inert (no odours, no allergenics), and gives your cooking experience and new flavour with an ergonomic handle and smooth cut. It doesn't rust and wikipedia tells me it's also used by bomb disposal squads, because it's neither conductive nor magnetic. You never know, maybe one day I will need some McGuyver skills, then this kitchen knife might come in handy.

It's super-strong, but brittle, so no dropping, or cutting on glass.

3/4 Moon - Ski Lake Louise

For many animals wintertime, when the air is cold and it gets dark in the middle of the day, means time to relax and recharge the batteries (aka hibernation). I too experience that requires slightly more effort to get motivated and get outside.

Next weekend I will wrestle with my inner pig dog and get my act together: I will drive out to the mountains to explore the Rocky Mountain Winter Wonderland at night:


Details:
January 19 2008 - Evening

Lake Louise - Tram Trail: 4km slight uphill to Lake Louise; Classic or Light Touring ski equipment required; downhill fun and faster: here some skiing skills are required (in other words: you need to know how to snowplow, otherwise this part would be a shitshow).

Email me or comment here, if you are interested in joining, and I fill you in on the details.

Posing

Me and Suresh

My job is becoming more diverse. Not only do I teach a yoga class at work on Monday's, I also modelled for a photo shoot for Haworth Olympic Gear. Of course, I felt smitten, when they approached me. But then I overheard the selection criteria for the male model, which put my model career into perspective as well: "Who is not too slim? We need someone with a little bit of a belly, so that the chubby people want to get those jackets too."

I wonder what my selection criterion was...

Wien (mostly) bei Nacht

Vienna (mostly) at night

Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of Art History)

No clue who this is, but he must be a hero

Am Graben

BOKU - where I spent my years as a student

7th district

again, somewhere in the 7th district

Museumsquartier

Sylvia aka Cosmic Syv

Christmas 2007 - Austria

I am back in the blogger world! No, I was not eaten by a polar bear, but busy with preparations for my trip to Europe. Once in Europe I had no desire to sit in front of the computer to communicate or to get informed. Instead I chatted with real people or read newspapers and magazines like in the good old days.

In Austria, real candles are on the christmas tree, and baby Jesus (aka Christkind) brings the presents on Christmas Eve.

Some of us still believe in the Christkind.

Some of us even read poems to the Christkind.


And what would Christmas be without "Oh Tannenbaum" and "Stille Nacht"?


Miez's Clan

I also met the youngest mini wexi (#8 of the new generation): Ida on the right in the picture.


Me and Flora

Antonia


Tin Tin


Konstantin


Stefan

Lukas

Roeschen

Papa Miez & Rosa

Toenchen

Vinci (a few times I beat him in table tennis)

Maeri & Klausmaus

My parents when they found out that grandchild #9 is on his or her way. No end in sight regarding their baby sitter duties!

Emil

Karl & Claudia's family

What else did I do? Not much. Mostly I hung out with the mini wexis. One of my christmas presents was a virus that kept me in the house for the most part. It even attacked my kidneys. That was painful, but thankfully I had lots of caring people around. I got a holopathic treatment from Miez, which made the kidney pain go away. Thanks Miez!


Weatherwise, it sucked. 90% of the the time, it was grey and miserable where I was. Everyone coming back from ski trips told me how wonderful it was in the mountains (e.g picture above from Muckenkogel towards Oetscher), but having been sick, going to the mountains was not an option for me. But that's okay: the grey weather made me feel less guilty staying inside, eating cookies and doing nothing.

A few more pics from Vienna will follow soon...