http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/ random news en-us Nucleus CMS v3.21 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/ http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1936 VRBO we found a great appartment for the week.


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The island is fantastic, no buildings higher than a (three-story) palm tree, no traffic lights, and no neon signs. The Ding Darling wildlife refuge was a great option (birds and few alligators). We enjoyed riding bike (with trailer), great rental options exist on the island. It is popular with german tourists (who usually visit for the day) so, while seashelling, it felt like being on the baltic sea. (On the toll booth for entering the island there was specifically a german sign asking not to use the leftmost lane reserved for the sun pass)
The weather was disappointing (this was the week setting all sorts of temperature records with fruit trees in danger of freezing) but it was overall a very exciting week.

Pictures here]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1936 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:42:40 +0100 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1925
I had to look this up first but this quickly was picked up by Benni (who was cheering for the Saints like me; opposed to the girls who liked the blue uniforms + the horseshoe symbol of the Colts better).
Great game, great show, great commercials. Who maintains stats like: "For the 13th time in a row, the NFC team has won the coin toss!". I thought setting up that kind of database would dramatically improve the attractiveness of other sports, too.



Part of my game plan was creation of a "seven layer dip" -- 4000 calories (no, we did not finish it in one sitting) which turned out to be "yummy".

And finally, the commercials I liked or remembered best.

1. Google (Parisian Love). Must have costed $200 :-)


2. Coke Sleepwalker. So, Atlanta was in the Superbowl, kind of.


3. Dodge Man's last stand. The charger.


4. Bud Light Not too picky.


5. Hyundai It's tough to take orders when you're Brett Favre.

]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1925 Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:33:09 +0100 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1923 What a weekend that was. It started innocently enough with fast feed Tennis (although I could tell that this was the first drill for me this year) and the kids' Music class on Saturday. The Schach-Bundesligawas on, with two remarkable aspects for me:
1. My team (SF Berlin) did very poor. First, we conceded a 4:4 draw against local rival Tegel, lost 0:8 versus the league-topping team of Baden-Baden (against all odds as discussed here), and rounded off the weekend with an equally disappointing 4:4 against Heidelberg. The 0:8 made me believe that the pre-announced pairings must normally benefit the stronger team: The weaker team would usually be more motivated to prepare against several opponents. The weaker team has more ways to find out the whereabouts of the players of the stronger team (e.g., "X" is still playing in that tournament and will not be available for the team), so the stronger team benefits more from knowing the pairings. The weaker player will typically have less opening lines to choose from, creating a stationary target for the favorite. The better player more easily will sidestep enemy preparation (that actually being a more important part of the chess pro's skill set).
2. The sensational 4:4 draw of Erfurt vs. Werder Bremen. Clearly, the defensive MVP was Thomas Casper who held a deceivingly simple endgame hours after everyone else had finished. Insiders know that this was just the right guy for that job...

As for the afternoon: "If line 38 is 125.100 or less and you did not provide housing to a Midwestern displaced individual, multiply 3.650 by the number in line 6d. Otherwise, see page 37."
]]> Chess http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1923 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:29:08 +0100 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1907 German Democratic Republic)



Emma was born in Southern Regional Medical Center in Riverdale, GA.
Emma Georgia is equally sweet as her older siblings and we don't want to miss her. It also gave us an option to compare getting a child in the US versus Germany. I will not easily criticize the german health system anymore since just the minority of many surprises during that discovery process here have pleasant. But of course, overall and as a net result everything went perfectly fine. ]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1907 Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:33:44 +0100 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1845
On our way to a country fair we discovered Dresden, GA. Unincorporated. I have been told that every crossroad gets a name, not sure if there ever lived someone.


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Plus here are more Dresden references in Atlanta (Dresden Drive, Dresden Park, Dresden Elementary etc).

For comparison, here is the original:


View Larger Map]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1845 Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:25:38 +0200 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1840 The openers (Voodoo Velkro) and especially Deviant UK (a positively crazy lead singer) were good, too. Project Pitchfork took the stage around 10.30 pm. IN contrast to Germany, you could easily go the first row. In total, there were around 100 people in the club (Masquerade, think of Strasse E in Dresden) which matched the music also quite well. The new album (Dream Tiresias) was on sale for just 15$ -- cheaper than Germany. They played at least 90 min, more like 120 min. Mostly their greatest hits, all the classic stuff starting with KNKA covering all early albums (including plus some new titles. This was great, presumably they concentrated on their proven winners -- can you expect that Atlanta knows their albums? Turns out that they knew, big surprise really -- the front row knew all their songs. They did not really talk to the audience (except for "Hello Atlanta" and "thank you", appearing a bit timid here. Overall, it was a fantastic performance, for sure winning them some new fans (you don't see many chinese or black Pitchfork fans in Germany, do you) here. ]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1840 Sat, 12 Sep 2009 03:34:11 +0200 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1837
Now for something extraordinary. My grandfather Heinrich Otto Ludwig Borriss would turn 100 years on September 10, 2009.

Thanks to him I got to play with pocket calculators and later even with a Commodore 64. We discussed the 8 queens problem and travelled in 1982 to Moscow and St. Petersburg -- by train. He impressed me quite a bit and I much admire him.

There will be an colloquium at Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University Greifswald on Sep 10 and Sep 11. More pictures of Heinrich Borriss here.]]> Stuff http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1837 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:53:25 +0200 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1818
We were looking for a quick and painless getaway. We went to the Florida panhandle, near Destin, Fl:


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This is one of the closest destinations to reach from Atlanta, but still a 5+ hour drive. We avoided the peak season (it justed ended, and is determined by school schedule of the states Florida, Alabama, Luisiana and Georgia (I think)). I booked through VRBO since these days we enjoy a bit extra of room and a full kitchen when going with the kids. Our area (near the crab trap) was nice since there were no highrises. We got the second floor of a villa between a lake and a beach. We truly enjoyed the view every morning anew -- great to have your coffee watching the waves roll in. Kids loved the beach (Hannah) and the pool (Benni). Mid-August was still hot and humid. Similar to Peachtree City people are using golf cars and work out (run or bike) a lot. In terms of food we also liked the famed McGuire irish pub.

Pictures are to be found here. ]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1818 Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:24:41 +0200 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1801
Peachtree City, GA is back into the CNN Money list of best places to live in the US -- 2009 it is ranked No 8.

]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1801 Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:12:26 +0200 http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1795
VNV Nation -- July 23 (masquerade)
Project Pitchfork -- Sep 13 (masquerade)

Great news.]]> Atlanta http://borriss.com/system-cgi/blog/index.php?itemid=1795 Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:23:31 +0200