Chewin in the Chung

Very long time with no blogging. Went to Germany, came back, caught up. Here are the views:

Bremen: Fantastic city where I spent way to little time. Beautiful buildings, great food*, nice people. Main drawback is that it is the coldest place in the whole universe. I spat on the Spitting Stone, marveled at the cathedral, and for the first time in my life felt uncomfortably short from a short conversation with two people. One guy was about 200cm, and the other about 206. So that is how the rest of the world feels. Hmm.

Hanover: In another lesson concerning scale, I went to the Cebit show. It is about twice as large as the largest trade show I've ever been to (Practical World in Cologne). Twice as large, and about 100 times more fun. Hot women, zillionaire tech geeks, techno music, open bars at company stands... sigh. I'd say that I picked the wrong industry, but in 5 years half the companies at Cebit will be out of business.

Cologne: Checked into Wasserturm, and headed immediately for chess bistro. Drank beer, made friends, won money, lost money, had a blast. My usual style of berserker, sacrifice-everything play led to these comments-
Smartass Greek Guy: American friend, I think if your country's generals fight wars like you play chess, then your country has not so many problems in Iraq.
Smartass German Guy, (watching as I sac two pawns and a knight for an open line and tempo): I don't think American generals are allowed to do that to their soldiers.

The Cologne Exhibition: We didn't have any open bars, but I did get a preliminary injunction against wicked infringing company X. Me and my company's badass counsel showed up at their booth with a bailiff, who yanked the vile infringing product off the stand. Then me and the attorney went around terrorizing trading companies (with strongly worded letters) who had the same product on display. We went to the booth of hated competitor Y, who owed us legal costs from way back. We had the bailiff and a court order, and Y Laoban had to empty his and his German agent's pockets to pay the bailiff cash on the spot. In a position where the most job satisfaction I usually get is a Notice of Allowance or a P.O., those were some very rewarding days.

*If you like pickled herring sandwiches, which I totally do.