Finally I don’t have to work today, I only have to spend some time with my books to prepare for an exam on 23rd. So I uploaded some pictures of Heidelberg and the castle-tour Elke and I took when she was here. I miss her.
I also found a nice “scientifically sound” paper about determining the length of a cat’s tongue. Read it, you won’t believe how long they are! (And yes, it’s funny too!)
… although only 2 centimetres which fell last night. And it’s horribly icy here because it only has 0°C. I hope that I can find some spare time today to stitch together some more pictures and upload them to the gallery. And maybe I can even write a longer blog entry for once.
I tried autostitch again, here is the result of not even 5 minutes of work: my room.
I just klicked together a panorama picture of Heidelberg using autostitch (windows). This nice little program is surprisingly easy to use, you don’t have to align anything, just specify the pictures.
Unfortunately, we have no snow here…
Yesterday was my first day at work again. As I wrote earlier, I started my work on the diploma thesis at the EMBL, in the Frangakis Group. My first task was to run around in the building to visit various people there to register myself. Later, I started to read some papers and a PhD thesis to get some insight into the field. I left work at 19:00 hours. Later on, I even got Skype working and had a nice chat with Elke. More to come when I find some time to write…
Today (and a part of yesterday) I spent mostly on various trains. Yeah, and I went to Heidelberg to visit the EMBL, where I will work on my Diploma Thesis, to talk about the specifics of my project. It was nice to get to know the people there; I really think I will enjoy my work in Heidelberg.
It looks like I will have to work real hard on this project; the math involved seems rather complicated. I will have to read more about it before I try to explain it here, in case someone is interested. The one thing that’s not so great about this project is that I won’t earn much money. Most of it will go directly into the rent for the room at the guesthouse. Well, there goes my dream of buying a new PowerBook next year…
The team is an interesting combination of nationalities: The team leader is from Greece, the one I’m working together is from Spain, and then there is another Greek, one from Palestine and one from Ireland. I hope I can practice my English some more.
A side note for anyone who understands German around here (yeah, I know, all of you do) : I have just left Augsburg Main Station and that’s what I heard on the train announcement system: “Heazlich willkommen auch den zugestigenen Fåhrgästen. Hier ist eine Person vom Bordservice zugestiegen, die ihnen bis München åm Plåtz frische Brezen und Kåffee servieren wird. Wia wünschen einen guaden Åppetit“. Tsk, those crazy Bavarians.
Later that train ride: I just arrived at Munich. It’s getting dark outside again. I feel like I had no real day today, and I’m getting really tired 
Stupid train rides. Well, at least I got my laptop, some power from the train and no internet…
just wanted to inform anyone who is still reading this, that I finally recieved the money for the first two months.
I’m really happy now 
Well, nothing really new. Still haven’t seen a cent for my work.
I updated the whole page a bit, take a look yourself and tell me what you think: bioinformatiker.at. I also played around a bit with my old webcam and was surprised to find that there still are working drivers for WinXP. So I set up a small page and dubbed it H-nes’ eye. Usually you’ll see the view from the window of my room in Linz, but perhaps I will take it with me when I’m around and about.
I just recieved a nice spam mail. They even used babelfish to translate it into my language!
[ Name of company edited, because I don't want to advertise for them 
]
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das monatliche Gehalt, das das Internet einwirkt, zu verwirklichen.
Um mit SPAM-CORP Inc. zu arbeiten, brauchen:
• Ein Bürger Deutschlands zu sein
• das Vorhandensein der Rechnung in der Bank
• die Vereinigung des Computers zum Internet
• ist ein wenig es Ihre freie Zeit
Wie es arbeitet:
Arbeitend für uns wie die Bezahlung, Die den Manager bearbeitet, werden Sie
Teil Aus der neuen Tendenz im weltumfassenden Banksystem. Die Pflichten Die
Lage ist einfach, und das Einkommen hangt nur von Ihren Bemühungen ab.
Sie Sollen – die Zahlungen der Sendung zwischen unseren Kunden, die Ihr
Interesse von jeder Operation bekommen, machen.
Hauptsachlich werden es 5 %, mit jeder Sendung, die Ihr Interesse züchten
wird. Unsere Kunden bekommen 1000 EURO zu 20000.
www.SPAM-CORP.com
SPAM-CORP Inc. sorgt sich um Ihr Blühen. Machen Sie Ihr Leben besser
zusammen mit der SPAM-CORP Inc.!
… not much, really.
At work, I’m programming another small tool, and to increase my stress levels, there were some problems and misunderstandings about my employment. I can give you a full report when it’s cleared up, but for now: I got a “Werksvertrag”, so I’m not employed by the Red Cross, so I got to care about my insurance and taxes myself. So that is something to sort out…
To relax I play NationStates since last week. It’s a web based game, where you get to lead an imaginary country and decide about issues, which effect Civil Rights, Political Freedoms and the Economy. You can get up to two issues per day, and I think it’s really funny. As you can see, I’m letting my dark side out: currently my Holy Empire is a “UN Category: Psychotic Dictatorship”.
I also found a nice little web game called Traps, Mines and a Sheep. How far can you get?
06:30 – Getting up from bed. I like getting up early, because I feel that my day is much more productive when it starts early. If I start working later, my motivation is much lower.
07:30 – Leaving home. Stopping at the bakery Brandl to get my coworkers and me some breakfast.
07:45 – Arriving at work. Today we wanted to call Prim. Gabriel to get some information about the next project. We were told he would visit just before 10 o’clock. Finished my first coffee.
09:45 – A lady arrived for a demonstration of a possible new appliance at the Blutzentrale – a Nanodrop, that is a spectrometer which only needs a small amount of sample (1-2 μl) to perform the analysis. It was nice to take a look at the demonstration.
10:15 – Demonstration is over, still no sign of Prim. Gabriel.
11:00 – We recieved the information that the head of a department is at the other lab for a meeting. He will probably come over to talk to us in a break.
11:45 – My tutor, Mag. Danzer, left for a congress in Germany. He will return monday.
12:00 – Went to get something to eat. Half a Pizza by Francesco. Quite good, actually.
13:00 – Did some productive work, since ther still was no sign that Dr. Gabriel would show up.
15:00 – One of the people at the lab got some call about me. Seems there was some misunderstanding about my contract, or so…
15:10 – Called Prim. Gabriel about my contract and if he would show up here. We will (probably) meet tomorrow.
16:00 – Left work and went to nostromos place to feed Lilo. I hope that cat will like me soon.
19:30 – Leaving for home \*yay\*
20:00 – Had something to eat, watched Universum about Europe on ORF1
21:00 – Played some WoW to relax
23:00 – Went to bed
