Mittwoch, Juni 11, 2008
This one is for Sean
Maybe you noticed that the primary language of this blog has just become English. How did this come about?
The other day while desperatelly avoiding to do any real work I checked my emails on a long lost account. In it - to my delight - I found a message from my buddy Sean, who I first met years ago during my exchange year in the US and who rather unexpectedly dropped by my place two years later while passing through Germany on a trip around the world. I have been following his blog for quite a while. Its the only personal blog I read reguarly and I am frequently amazed how he manages to pick bits from his live, which are really interesting.
In his email Sean asked if I had a blog. Upon counting, I discovered that I have three blogs, none of which inform anyone about my life. I have always found it difficult to imagine that my live might be interesting enough for anyone to want to read about it. It certainly hasn't been ripe with events lately. On the other hand having (as I am lucky to do) friends in far away places, it is easily possible to loose touch in a very thorough way. Sean's email made me realize this once more. And it made me wonder what other information my friends don't have about me.
For example: Sean also asked me whether I am still in university. This is one fact I wouldn't have thought to include in a personal blog before now. I am still in university and to me this information seems totally uninteresting. This rather lower's the barrier of entry into the whole "blogging about my life"-business though: Even a "still in university, no changes there"-post will be considered interesting.
So, for anyone waiting on an update on my life, let me try to make up for the missed updates by starting from the beginning:
When I returned from the US I had two more years in school. My friends in the US pretty much all were high school seniors at the time I was there, so that explains some of the advanced start they have over me. I have been scratching my head about what happened in these two remaining school years for a good number of minutes now. Fact is, I don't remember. I expect I was busy with school, which is about the only interesting thing that seems to have happened. And school strains the definition of "interesting" anyway. This is all complicated by the fact that I don't have any emails from that time, which might provide some insights. My Email provider (incidently the same one I found Sean's email addressed to, the one I left for good reason) deleted them after three months. If I think of something interesting I'll blog about it ;)
After school I enrolled with university for a computer science degree. That's what's taken care of the other four years since passed. Around half way through this time I got a job with a company near Munich. They produce scanners for assembly lines. My job there is to develop software to run these devices. Not only drivers but software to evaluate the images they generate. It is pretty interesting which feature emerge from the simple question: "Here's an image. What do we do with it?".
Arriving at the present: These days I am really very busy with university work. My years there are nearing their end and I have my hands full this semester trying to get all the requirements for graduation in order. After this one there will be another semester of preparation for my diploma and one of writing my diploma thesis. This lays out what I will be doing the coming year. I'll keep you posted.
Here's another interesting question: What do I look like right now? In trying to give you the most up-to-date idea, let me include a very current picture, taken with a crappy cell phone camera:
I hope my plan will add up and posts like this one will make it easier to stay in touch. Maybe if I just pay attention, I will find the occasional story to tell. If you (yes, you!) want to get in touch, try mmauder at gmail com, or leave a comment.
Sean, thanks for emailing me! It's great to be in touch!
The other day while desperatelly avoiding to do any real work I checked my emails on a long lost account. In it - to my delight - I found a message from my buddy Sean, who I first met years ago during my exchange year in the US and who rather unexpectedly dropped by my place two years later while passing through Germany on a trip around the world. I have been following his blog for quite a while. Its the only personal blog I read reguarly and I am frequently amazed how he manages to pick bits from his live, which are really interesting.In his email Sean asked if I had a blog. Upon counting, I discovered that I have three blogs, none of which inform anyone about my life. I have always found it difficult to imagine that my live might be interesting enough for anyone to want to read about it. It certainly hasn't been ripe with events lately. On the other hand having (as I am lucky to do) friends in far away places, it is easily possible to loose touch in a very thorough way. Sean's email made me realize this once more. And it made me wonder what other information my friends don't have about me.
For example: Sean also asked me whether I am still in university. This is one fact I wouldn't have thought to include in a personal blog before now. I am still in university and to me this information seems totally uninteresting. This rather lower's the barrier of entry into the whole "blogging about my life"-business though: Even a "still in university, no changes there"-post will be considered interesting.So, for anyone waiting on an update on my life, let me try to make up for the missed updates by starting from the beginning:
When I returned from the US I had two more years in school. My friends in the US pretty much all were high school seniors at the time I was there, so that explains some of the advanced start they have over me. I have been scratching my head about what happened in these two remaining school years for a good number of minutes now. Fact is, I don't remember. I expect I was busy with school, which is about the only interesting thing that seems to have happened. And school strains the definition of "interesting" anyway. This is all complicated by the fact that I don't have any emails from that time, which might provide some insights. My Email provider (incidently the same one I found Sean's email addressed to, the one I left for good reason) deleted them after three months. If I think of something interesting I'll blog about it ;)
After school I enrolled with university for a computer science degree. That's what's taken care of the other four years since passed. Around half way through this time I got a job with a company near Munich. They produce scanners for assembly lines. My job there is to develop software to run these devices. Not only drivers but software to evaluate the images they generate. It is pretty interesting which feature emerge from the simple question: "Here's an image. What do we do with it?".
Arriving at the present: These days I am really very busy with university work. My years there are nearing their end and I have my hands full this semester trying to get all the requirements for graduation in order. After this one there will be another semester of preparation for my diploma and one of writing my diploma thesis. This lays out what I will be doing the coming year. I'll keep you posted.Here's another interesting question: What do I look like right now? In trying to give you the most up-to-date idea, let me include a very current picture, taken with a crappy cell phone camera:
I hope my plan will add up and posts like this one will make it easier to stay in touch. Maybe if I just pay attention, I will find the occasional story to tell. If you (yes, you!) want to get in touch, try mmauder at gmail com, or leave a comment.
Sean, thanks for emailing me! It's great to be in touch!
