Doug’s World

Oktoberfest Pictures

Here are some photos from Oktoberfest. I want to put a bunch more of these on Mahugh.com, with lots of witty observations and links to relevant “data,” but when I started to do that I found myself in a long-overdue redesign of my web site. Which is fun, but then I remembered how much work I have to do the next few days, and decided to put a few of my favorites right here for now. The masterpiece can wait.

One thing I didn’t understand when I got there was that the big beer tents fill up in the early evening and then they lock the doors and don’t let anyone else come in. So I wandered freely through the tents at first, soaking it up, and snapped a few pictures. Then I went outside and snapped some pictures of the rides and the crowd, then I was planning to take more pictures in the tents but they were all packed full and closed, some with huge lines waiting for a small number of non-reserved tables. You could hear the singing and yelling outside, but you couldn’t get in. So I walked around and took even more pictures of the rides and crowds after dark.

Dave, I did have one pint for the good ‘ol USA, and a couple of glasses of wine. I know, I’m a wimp. But I had an expensive camera and a few lenses (as you’ll notice, I got the fisheye back from my neighbor who had borrowed it before this trip), and a long confusing train ride back to Freising waiting for me at the end of the night, so I didn’t push it. Next time, Megan and I will stake out a spot in one of the big tents and get thoroughly wasted, I promise.

Just kidding, Mom.

Photos tomorrow

Hmm, I guess I went a bit photo-crazy this evening. It took three hours to edit my hundreds of Octoberfest photos down to a few dozen favorites, and I have a flight in the morning so it’s time to go to bed. I’ll finish editing them down to a reasonable number, add some comments, and post them from Paris Saturday afternoon. The problem is, I feel like this right now. Must be getting old … or maybe I didn’t take good care of myself today.

Foggy Friday

I said I was too tired to write last night. WARNING: that too, has passed …

I took a walk around Freising this morning and snapped a few more pictures. It’s a nice town for pictures — lots of color and texture and cute architecture. But I haven’t really seen it in good light yet. I’ve been coming and going when it’s dark for the most part, and the times I’ve been here in daylight hours it’s been foggy.

Here are a few photos from this morning:

There are lots of spider webs around Freising, so I guess they haven’t had much wind lately. I remember my Mom, who grew up on the windswept plains of North Dakota, talking about how striking it was to see little piles of snow on the top of picket fences as an adult, since where she grew up the snow was constantly swirling around and didn’t stay on top of things. Where were those picket fences, Mom? DC?

This is my first time in Germany, and I like it. You’re right, Megan, we need to spend some time here together. Here are a few first-time visitor observations:

It’s clean. Damn clean. Oddly clean. I’ve walked all over this town, and I don’t think I’ve seen a single can, bottle, or paper bag anywhere. Hell, I don’t think I’ve seen a candy wrapper or a toothpick. Last night I walked past a tree hanging out over the street, and I realized there wasn’t even a leaf in the street under it. It’s not the wind sweeping these streets clean (as the spiders can attest), so how do they do it? I’m tempted to toss some trash in the street and then watch to see what happens to it. Anyway, there’s a pervasive tidiness to this town. Is all of Germany like that?

The people are tall. In Asia, I’ve always found it a bit annoying to stick out so much. I’m six feet tall, and in places like India or Vietnam people see me coming from a mile away and know I’m a foreigner. But here, there are lots of guys my height or taller, and I fit right in. I’ve had a couple of people talk to me in German, assuming I know the language — believe me, that never happened in Vietnam. OK, maybe that’s not just a height thing.

The stereotypes about Germans’ focus on engineering and a generally results-oriented approach seem to be true. For example, there are monitors down in the lobby of this hotel (a Marriott) that show the gate assignments and departure times for flights at the Munich airport, so you can see whether your flight is on time while you’re checking out of the hotel. Why aren’t there monitors like that in the lobby of US hotels?

I had an exchange with a taxi driver named Stefan last night that struck me as somehow very German:

Doug: I’m going to Octoberfest tomorrow, do you have any advice?
Stefan: Don’t take a taxi, it takes too long. Take the train.
Doug: Is it hard to find the Octoberfest place from the train station?
Stefan: No, you get on the train and follow the crowds of lederhosen. Get off where they get off, walk where they walk. If you follow the lederhosen, you’ll arrive at Octoberfest.
Doug: Have you seen a weather forecast for tomorrow?
Stefan: I pay no attention to weather forecasts, because I am in my taxi every day and I control my weather. My forecast for tomorrow is 21 degrees, same as it was today.

Everyone speaks perfect English. Frankly, people here speak English better than people back home. I felt the same way in India, although in India they all have that sing-song delivery that sounds like a comedy routine, and here they have that gruff gutteral delivery that sounds like a stern father lecturing his kids. No disrespect intended to my friends in either place, I’m just honestly saying how it sounds to me. Anyway, I wish Americans studied the English language as much as many non-Americans obviously do.

Oh, and here’s some advice for others who haven’t been to Germany: if you’re a guy, use the restroom with an H on it. The one with the D on it doesn’t have urinals, and after a bottle of fine German wine you might not even think about that detail until you’re walking out and a woman is walking in. Theoretically speaking, of course. I don’t know what those letters stand for, but my new rule of thumb is “D means DON’T!”

That’s what I’ve noticed so far. I’m sure I’ll have even more profound observations after Octoberfest.

I was planning to visit nearby Dachau today, like Steve did earlier in the week, but after taking a walk through the local cemetery I decided to skip it. I’d rather go watch drunk Germans laugh and carry on. A German tourist would rather visit the Super Bowl than Guantanamo, right? That’s how I feel, too.

OK, time to work for a couple of hours and then head for Octoberfest in the afternoon after the fog has burned off a bit. My buddy Francesco the waiter told me what train to take last night, and Stefan told me what to do after I get on the train: follow the lederhosen. What could go wrong now?

Wandering around Freising

Got home from a long day and took a long walk around the little town of Freising. More details tomorrow, I’m too tired to write right now …

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sorry for the lack of blogging around here lately — as some of my readers know, I have a day job too, and this week the day job has been keeping me busy.

I posted a few photos of the workshop here in Munich over on my work blog, but I haven’t had a chance to go on a real photo safari yet. Tomorrow evening’s looking good, though, and Friday evening I’m planning to follow in Paris Hilton’s footsteps and go check out Octoberfest. The way my cab driver chattered on about her Tuesday morning, you’d think she showed up in one of those German dresses they wear with the push-up bra or something. Oh yeah, she did.

Speaking of folks who are famous primarily for being famous, last night I turned on the TV and the first thing I saw was Jim Belushi. German words were coming out of his mouth, and my high-school buddy JJ Holiday, whose coattails Jim has been riding for years, was nowhere to be seen. What’s that all about?

Anyway, I just wanted to post something here to say hi to my lovely wife. Hope you’re having a nice time reading and getting in some putting practice, Babe. Enjoy the peace and quiet, and I’ll see you in a week or so, after I visit Ms. Hilton’s namesake west of here.

Joys of business travel

I’ve had a fun day. An SAS flight out of Sea-Tac that was delayed 90 minutes on the runway, so I missed my connection in Copenhagen. Then a Lufthansa flight to Munich that was re-scheduled at the last minute to a different gate and then took off late. Then an interesting taxi ride to the hotel (way out in the sticks, since Octoberfest has all the Munich hotels filled up), including a high-speed 400-metre drive in reverse the wrong way up a one-way street after the driver got lost. I finally got checked in at the hotel, and wasted the last hour trying to get the wifi to work. Or, more accurately, trying to convince the girls at the front desk that it actually doesn’t work.

I gave up and came to the business center, where I met a nice couple from Portland who gave me some tips for Friday night at Octoberfest. You know, stuff like “don’t wear clothes you care about, because people are going to spill a lot of stuff on you,” and “try to stay away from the Schnapp’s booths if you have the willpower” and “you better have lots of aspirin.”

Can’t wait. Just hope the D70 and lenses survive. But first, there’s the small matter of surviving the next three days of work. Speaking of which, I better go get my presentation together for tomorrow morning. More later …

McCormick Woods GC

Here are some photos from Saturday, as Tom’s 72-hour tour of Seattle-area golf courses continues. The young woman in cattails is our beloved Tracy …

Mount Si GC

Sorry, Bruce, these are golf-related:

Yes, that’s the new 5-wood.

Ryder Cup News

“Most American golfers are married to women who cannot keep their clothes on in public. Is it too much to ask that they leave them at home for the Ryder Cup? Consider the evidence — Tiger Woods’s wife Elin Nordegren — pictured left — can be found in a variety of sweaty poses on porn sites across the web …”
- the Dubliner, in an article that ran this week

Tiger reacted strongly to the article in his press conference today. I think he’s probably most upset because, well, of what you get from a Google image search for “Tiger Woods wife.” But I’d definitely give the advantage to the U.S. team on this one — Tiger’s the type who can focus his angst into pure golf performance.

In other good news for the team this week, Johnny Miller said this Ryder Cup team is America’s “worst ever.” That can only help make the four rookies play better, right? Captain Lehman should read Miller’s comments out loud to the team each morning.

Speaking of American captain Tom Lehman, did you know he has never lost a singles match in the Ryder Cup? And his opponent, European captain Ian Woosnam, has never won one.

In spite of all this great news for the American team, any bookie will tell you that more people are betting on Europe to win this year. Lots more.

The matches start Friday.

UN Speeches

It’s speech season at the General Assembly. So as a service to my readers, here are links to three of the speeches I’ve found most entertaining:

	George Bush United States
	Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran
	Hugo Chavez Venezuela

Next, starting Friday, we’ll have Ryder Cup coverage. So much good entertainment is scheduled for this week.