November - A Gloomy Month in Germany

November ist one of the darkest month when your in Germany.

I try to avoid it at all cost but have to always balance my job and family live in some way in order to do that.

An option to escape this autumn darknest is spending the time somewhere in the southern part of the Mediterranean. Probably Malta or Cyprus is a good place.

Narcissus on my window seal

My nice spring flowers growing on my window seal. This was in London 2008

Twitter - How useful is it for the everyday Joe

"Twitter is a tool only celebrities are using and most of the posts are not even written by them."

This is a statement I often hear. And to be completely honest I believed it for a long time myself. But not anymore.

There must be something the average person can use Twitter for. So, I have started to do some research on what I can use Twitter for on a daily basis.

What You Should Know

By no means is this a complete list. It is more of an ongoing list that I am going to update every time I found something. Also, many ideas are not necessarily my own but I did the research at least ;).

Top list of useful things you can do on Twitter

1. Use Twitter as a list-keeping tool for useful websites

2. Use Twitter to brand yourself

3. Use Twitter for research

4. Use Twitter to communicate
5. Use Twitter as a recipe book

Learning How to Blog

I have to make it clear that this is  probably not the best place for you to look for an perfect recipe for "How to Blog".

This is more a self-report, an observation, a collection of  hints and tips on how I try and learn how to blog properly. Most of  the paragraphs here will explain my ups and downs, happy and sad times, as well as my glorious days and my failures.

Failures

Let's start with my failures. I am sure that loads of people have them and everyone tries to deal with them in their own way. From my perspective.....I try to ignore them. 

However, I have to say that my blog/website has been a failure so far. I have started this out of curiosity and willing to learn and to be perfectly honest to try and make money. I realised pretty soon that it gets boring and frustrating putting small articles together about things you don't really want to write about. Just look at some of my posts and you will recognise that I was not even halfway in the mood to write.

Why do I Blog at all?

There's no particular reason. Or let me re-phrase. There are thousands of reasons popping in and out of my head every time I think about it. Among the most honest reasons are: improve my writing skills, create something, show my blog around (even though this reason horrifies me) and find a kind of self-healing-recreation activity. The  other reasons aren't that humble but I might mention them here as well: making money by selling ads, getting rich. stop working for others, showing off that I have a great blog..

But, who are we kidding here. It is a lot more difficult to achieve the latter reasons and most probably not with a blog.

My Rule Number 1

Be sincere when you blog.

I believe I have read this somewhere on the net. Probably on "The Lost Art of Blogging" For me it is the only way to get some sentences out of my head which make sense. I am not saying that you can't make up stories. For me being sincere and  honest when I blog means to write with my heart and soul.  It means to enjoy when I am writing and not just put some lines together for the sake of it.

So, this is step number 1 and off we go...

My First success

The number of visitors increased for the first time ever after I applied some tips from a very good "how to" blog and implemented some basic Search Engine Optimisation steps.

First, I learned step by step how to add meta-tags for pages. I have already forgotten how to do it and will have to go back. I have learned that it is very important to have it also done on the posts. I have also managed to add a bookmarking  button following the explanations. 

Caught in the Vatican

Believe it or not. I almost got arrested in the Vatican.
As a proper backpacker once I got to Rome I wanted to see the Vatican from inside.
At the entrance after a long cue my turn came to pass the metal detectors. You know, the once you see at the airports or in the movies.
Well, an than it happened, two gentleman in dressed up like the agents in Matrix, tall with sunglasses and that little earplug hanging on their ears approached me and told me in a nice but firm way to please follow them into a room.
I was kind of shocked and did not know what to say but there was little I could do.

Once in the room the show me my backpack and ask me if I know that no weapons are allowed inside the Vatican.
I turned red and said that of course I would know and I do not have anything on me or inside of my backpack that could be a weapon.
They ask me twice if I am sure. I confirmed.
Than one of these two gentlemen put the hand inside of my backpack and pull out a huge knife.
And so it happened....I totally forgot that my dad gave me in the last minute a huge pocket knife with me so I can cut that slice of bread I bought before I did bord the train to Rome.
There was nothing I could say or do besides saying sorry and waiting for their verdict. They were actually nice and after they confiscated my huge breadknife I was even allowed to enter the vatican. Of course accompanied by one of the friendly guards for most of the part.

Atomium in Brussels, Belgium

Yes, I have seen it. Even though from very far away. You can guess by the blurred image.

I wonder who came up with the idea to build it. It is however a cool piece of art. And it represents technology in my eyes.

It seems that it has been build for a world exposition in 1958. Pretty cool!

And the coolest thing ever is that it is possible for groups of children to book a night in one of the globes of the Atomicum. Great!

Your Fridge is Fuller Than Your Life

Kind of love this message someone managed to write on the floor in a tiny park somewhere in Brussels.

It is kind of true nowadays in the western world that we prefer to gather things and keep them than making friends and having conversations.

While running after filling up our 'fridge' we keep forgetting to live our life happily.

I say: go travel, visit places, meet people and live your life to the fullest! It does not matter that you do that on a small budget or with no money at all.

It is just important that you do it. Focus on filling up your life, not your fridge.