woe is our new apartment.

axel and i were supposed to be able to start moving into our new apartment last night... however, the lack of heat, water, and electricity currently plaguing the location seem to be throwing a wrench in our plans. the old oil heaters that were in the apartment have been removed to make way for more efficient water radiators, however, this removal has left gaping holes in the walls. while this provides for interesting views out of rooms that should be sealed, the fact the near-freezing outdoor temperatures are now the indoor temperatures is not-so-ideal.

supposedly, all should be relatively finished - the new heaters installed, holes refilled, water turned on, and our wind-powered electricity turned on - by the middle of next week! i am really so excited about this new place - i will post images of the new place as soon as we are moved in and then again when we finish decorating - and especially excited about the fact that we will be reducing our carbon footprint significantly! green energy, efficient appliances, and i will now be living 2 blocks from my office.

as axel keeps telling me, 'we are not made out of sugar'... everything will work out just fine in a matter of a few days and then we will have an absolutely spectacular apartment with an absolutely spectacular view over stuttgart. and thanks to enrica, we have a place to stay until we have a habitable space.

cheers.

fuch yeah!

i think that this is about the funniest/most-honest/witty/hit-the-nail-on-the-head political illustration i have seen. ever.

image courtesy of Fuch Yeah.

two-and-a-half-word update (because i am too busy to think right now and will post more interesting stuff later)

mid-march snow!

calm before the storm

emma gave us quite a surprise here in stuttgart on saturday. i woke up at an extraordinarily early (for me on a weekend, anyway) 9:30am on saturday to find that it still appeared to be night. the sky was dark and foreboding... and then the wind started howling around our house. being an old house, not all of the doors and windows are, shall we say, totally sealed when closed. wind and rain started pushing their way into the house as it started to hail. granted, the hail was small, but there was so much of it that it appeared to be snowing. the wind was actually pushing the hail around in the air so chunks of ice appeared to be as light and friendly as snowflakes. (i am a sucker for snow and almost ran outside to play in it... until i took a closer look and decided that i had no desire to have my head beaten in by cold little stones falling from the sky).

stuttgart was apparently fairly lucky, given the lack of damage compared to the severity of the storm. i was actually quite amused to hear my roommate describe this storm as a 'european hurricane... only without the tornadoes'.