Tag Archives: Life is Good

Urfahraner Jahrmarkt with Friends

Christian M. Schmid,
,

Way to much to do and too little time for blogging during the last week. So here’s just a quick update on Thursday night, which I spent at the Urfahraner Jahrmarkt with some college mates. For those of you who don’t know the Urfahraner Jahrmarkt, think of it as a small Oktoberfest, a fair with lots of amusement rides, foods, drinks …


After some rides, including the obligatory ghost train

we ended up in one of the beer halls.

It was great to see my college mates again and to hear their stories about what they have done since graduation. Hannes for instance told me about the 8000 Liter/Minute water pump that he just finished designing, which is going to be used by fire fighters. After a final location switch to the Herza’l Alm, which if you translate it literally means “alp of hearts”,

I went home, partly using the same way that I had to use on a daily basis to get from the dorm to the university during my time as an undergraduate student. Good to see that all the graffiti on the way are still subject to change!

Last Call to Passenger Sinnesrausch

Christian M. Schmid,
,

The last three days were marked by the visit of my good friend Christoph Bauer. I know him trough “Pro Scientia” (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_Scientia) and we’ve stayed in contact since we first met at the Pro Scientia summer convention about a year ago.

I really enjoyed his visit. Even tough I can not come up with any reasonable explanation, of how anybody his age can have such a broad and mature cultural, political, scientific, you name-it, knowledge, I can say that having conversations with him is one of the greatest delights one can get!

Apart from talking, listening to Bach, Mozart, Wagner, tasting great spirits we also explored some of the cultural highlights Linz has to offer. We managed to get hold of some of the last tickets to the exhibition “Sinnesrausch”, which hosts a couple of installations centered around the common theme “Sensory Sensation” and leads over the rooftops of Linz. Most of the installations are interactive, here’s a photo of Christoph trying the “super-lense-chair”.

If you think that exploring Linz and its wonders is for you too, just drop me a line. I am always happy to welcome my friends to Linz!

Dancing, wine, beer – life is good!

Christian M. Schmid,
,

While a lot is happening at work – for those you who do care: the 77-GHz VCO and the PLL seem to lock! – spare time is fun too! Here’s a photo of the party people before we went to the dace last  Saturday:

Thank you Markus for not letting me alone, I enjoyed your company. On Monday I joined the people of my old dorm for the annual wine tasting. The vintner was there himself to present some of his best wines! And it was good to see all these great people, its amazing how we all evolve and still stay the same somehow. I had some great conversations with Rene, Severin, Martina, Lukas, Elisa, Richard …

Tonight is a little bit more calm. Just a nice glass of wheat beer with my roomie Richard!

I do work a lot right now, but it is important to save these nice moments where you give yourself a break!

Socializing Can Be Exhausting!

Christian M. Schmid,

This week was big socializing week. Monday night I attended a panel discussion with Landeshauptmann Pühringer at the KHG Heim Linz, which was pretty interesting. Tuesday evening was the Mechatroniker Stammtisch where I got to talk to some old friends that I hadn’t talked to in ages.

Wednesday was the IEEE Student Branch, JKU Linz excursion to ZIZALA Lichtsysteme (www.zkw.at). That really was a highlight. For starters I guess I just like the people in our group so much! They are such a great bunch people who are motivated, eager to explore, committed, a lot of fun …

The food was also awesome! Here’s a photo of the CEO of ZIZALA and our group:

It did not end there! Thursday night some colleagues and I decided to give the new Schnitzelhaus around the corner a try. To not get an overly guilty conscience because of the fat food all the time I had to go for a “Schnitzelhaus run” first (http://www.sports-tracker.com/#/workout/chschmid/aooetr4u9gakg2ev) but finally we did it. That the three of us at the Schnitzelhaus:

Well, guess what it did not end there either, yesterday my friend Hari came by to work on his website (www.haribaumgartner.com) and later I had a rehearsal with our wind band (which did not work out, as some just didn’t show up). Today was IEEE Austria section proposal writing day, and I hope that I can clear out my head by running before I’ll go to a dance with Andrea and some friends of hers tonight …

While socializing can be rewarding it can also be pretty exhausting sometimes, I’m really looking forward to an evening of just … well … nothing …

Herbstkonzert 2010

Christian M. Schmid,
,

It’s a beloved tradition. Once every year we have our fall concert with the Trachtenkappelle Thalheim – a wind band consisting of a bunch of frenetic amateur musicians, such as myself. Some every-Friday rehearsals

led to the final event

I couldn’t resist the temptation to take some pics while the moderator was talking ;) The audience (some 300 people) seemed to like the concert

and so we are all glad and thankful for that wonderful evening. A personal highlight for me was that Andrea and ever her parents came to listen. Thank you and thanks to all of my fellow musicians for their efforts!

Being part of the Herbstkonzert 2010 of the Trachtenkapelle Thalheim is a once in a lifetime event! But for all of you who couldn’t make it, one year from now, another concert is waiting for us!

People and Stuff

Christian M. Schmid,
,

A lot has happened this week, and while crap keeps piling up on one end it is worth while to become aware of the good things that just don’t stop happening on the other end. Tuesday night was engineering night, the Mechatroniker Stammtsich took place at the KHG Kellerbar, so let me introduce to you, the future of engineering!

Both pics are a little blurry, but I guess that’s because these people are so dynamic and energetic! It was the perfect occasion to grab some beer and some pizza with Kurt, David and Daniel! I just couldn’t believe it when Kurt pulled out some Snaps!!! He told me it’s important to have something at hand to warm yourself as winter approaches.

Let me tell you, these people really know how to rock! I just made one mistake, I did not stop there, but went to Wolfi’s birthday party after KHG Kellerbar. I gotta admit: I’m getting too old for that stuff, coming home at 4 am I gave my body a really hard time!

Talking about seeing good friends: This weekend was heavily music burdened. We had a lot of rehearsals with our local wind band, and one thing that I am especially happy about is that I had the chance to make some music with my best friend Birgit from Salzburg. We did some songs for the christening of one of her nephews. I just love her voice, I will never get it why she did not go into studying music!

Also meet her wonderful daughter Fiona:

I guess it’s enough now for this “people’s post”. Thank you everybody for being part of it!

Autumn Leaves

Christian M. Schmid,
,

The fall/winter term already started at universty and a lot of new things are on the roadmap or have already started. Monday’s dancing night now, Andrea and I started taking dancing lessons on Monday. It’s interesting how well, or not so well we work as a dancing couple. But we will work on that. Taking the class with such good friends as my sister and her boyfriend (also an engineer) and another couple of friends is really fun!

Besides that, life is as always and I am currently working on some exciting new antenna ideas, but more on that later. For now I’ll leave you with a photo I took of a “burning tree” that I see change color every morning when I look out of the window. It reminds me of how fast summer is turing into winter now …