Pitfalls of communication

The idea for this post is sparked by a conversation Kevin (Harper) and I had over a lunch in the University mensa...

You know the feeling: You receive an SMS and it all sounds like Greek to you (or chinese if you are Greek). There is this gibberish text that you need to decipher first. 2n9t for tonight, C u for See you soon and take good care etc.

Some may argue that this is the end of well spoken languages, the downfall of English.
To others (like me) it just signifies the creativity of people. Why do kids SMS like that to begin with? Because initially the message was limited to few characters only. Nowadays you can have some hundret characters in an SMS, enough to write complete sentences and words. Yet, the new SMS language prevails. To me, this is an evolution of language. This whole issue is particular interesting to me as a non-native speaker. I would argue that one needs to fully comprehend a language in it's correct form first before you could use and understand the SMS language. Same as humor. If you don't get the fine nuances of language, the best joke is lost on you.

Trouble starts if you don't speak SMS.

What will be next? Contracts signed in SMS in short? Advertising using SMS lingo?

NB: I just so hate the term SMS-Message... Why? Well, check it out

Great, just great

OUR DOG SNORES!!!!

Dogenstein's Monster?

Right...Wondering why Spike always makes a massive mess when he is eating or drinking, we had a closer look. The Internet (http://www.silkyterrier.com/) reveals and confirmes what the vet stated: "your dog has a deformed mouth!"

With his lower jaw being shorter than his upper one, half the intake of water drips out and he drops half the foot he tries to eat (well, that will keep him busy). Anyway, for the next 12 years we better have the mop handy. Or maye... how about some cosmetic surgery. We could make the upper jaw shorter to match the lower one.

Published - At last!

The other day, a publisher sent me a mail, saying they would like to publish one of my assignements as a book. Currently it is available as E-Version on Amazon.de . My assignment on Tom Peters, "The Guru in me" will be printed shortly.

This means it will have an ISBN and the outline will be available to 6.000 bookdealers.

Pulitzer here I come!

What is going on?

A lot! Please watch this space as we are up to a lot of things.

We are planning a visit to Hong Kong for the Marco Polo Oktoberfest, we are throwing away our alarm clocks as Spike is waking us up at 6:00am sharp every morning and we have wood worms in our furniture. The shop will now bring the 4th (!!) coffee table as the entire batch was infected.

Movies no one needs, but we have rented (waste...):
- Pathfinder
- Wicker man with Nick Cage
- The Reaping

Speaking of which... Bourne Ultimatum... Highly acclaimed, the movie event of the Millenium: Hey, there are ways to hold the camera stable. Watching the movie I got seasick, cos the picture is so shaky. Perhaps that was meant to create some extra drama or the effect that one is deeply into the action. Well, this movie did not do it for me, other than having an excuse for popcorn.

Here is for those who still know what a book is: Dick Francis, Forfeit. Ok, written in the 60s, and maybe no one can remember what a typewriter is and why the main character has no mobile phone (Guys, remember Ryder Hook, the Nova Man? He was living in the future and had no Credit Card). Anyway, great plot and lives by developing a rich character.

In other news...There is a guy on the radio telling about his hobby, which is collecting vacuum cleaners. Liked the poll on Einslive.de, asking what hobbies people have. One wrote she is collecting pictures of road kill and she has this amazing image of a cute Kangoroo ran over in Nothern Territories. Once I wanted to collect fried eggs. Perhaps I really should?

Once a month

For the 8th time this year we are headed to Malaysia. This time we will spend a long weekend in Taiping, thanks to the National Day in Singapore. The trip will start on Wednesday night and we will be back on Sunday.

While Hong Kong is suffering from a Typhoon 8 warning, Malaysia is hot and steamy as always.

As for activities we have planned a trip to the Cameron Highlands, visiting a tea plantation and to buy strawberries, eat strawberries, then buy more stawberries. And other exotic stuff. Like onions, garlic, flowers and such. Hey, you have to make the most of a 200km ride just to buy and eat strawberries... Maybe another day trip will take us to Pulau Pineng (Penang) or to Butterworth for all it is worth.

Since Spike the nerve wrecker is in a pet hotel in Singapore, we can actually sleep in a bit.

New family member: Spike

As of last week, there is now three characters in da House. Spike is a "Silky Terrier", 3 month old and comes with a long lasting battery for the barking. Bark timer usually kicks in at 22:00 and stops at 11:00... 2 Kg of pure energy and poo-power...

Later we gonna buy some purple and pink ribbons, T-shirts and a give him a hair-do. Just kidding.