Tour De France Gets Rocked

Doping has rocked the cycling world just days before the start. Professional sports better take note as doping, cheating and corupt officials have impact and could turn sports into a public afterthought when people realize playing sports with your friends, family and community has a greater personal health and happiness gain than sitting around watching supped-up athletes drug themselves up.

Another sad day in sports, hopefully the Germans can bring it back with a HUGE win today against Argentina, Go Deutschland Go!!! :-)

Stuttgart Crazyness

We're going to be in Stuttgart again next Saturday in the center city Schlossplatz to watch the 3rd place World Cup game with a bunch of other crazy fans. Wanna know what Schlossplatz looks like with 40,000 crazy fans, click the vid below:

Long Weekend Smiles

Hello Canadian readers, kickstart your long weekend off with some smiles from the master Robin Williams as he makes a guest apperance on the improve comedy show "Who's Line Is It Anyways?". You'd better hurry though, this vid might be taken off the YouTube network faster than...

Mini Plate

Take a look at the licence plate:



In Germany the first (one or two) letters on the left hand side indicate what village you live in (or at least the village the car is registered to). For example a plate starting with "S" is from Stuttgart, "B" for Berlin... etc. The big cities get the single letters, then they go down from there.

This is the mini we were cruising around in last week in Berlin, great registration for the plate MI-NI (not a coincidence!). The HUGE American flag on top got chopped by the photo, would have been great had the Americans won and gone through the group stage... ah well, Go Deutschland Go!! ;-)

Vaction x2

It looks like my visitors have taken a note fro0m my playbook and taken a vacation from my blog this past week ;-)

Well vacations over (well half) and posts will resume in earnest tomorrow :-)

The Sitch

The good news: I'll be posting more tomorrow.
The bad news: It'll be on another site.

Check 0ut www.WeAllSpeakFootball.com for some great content form some premiere world-bloggers... and some shit content from EuroRoss ;-)

What else is new... ;-)

PS> AND I'm sleeping in tomorrow since it's now 4am and I still have work-work to do... so what else is new ;-p

We Are Here

We are here! And everything else is is a prelude to this...

Heartbreaking

They lost, but came back from 3-1 to show the heart of a champion, one bounce away... and we were there to watch it with best friends and cold beers, that's all that matters...



It's 100% Germany WC now (that'd be "World Cup" not the European "WC" ;-) ...
Berlin, Berlin, wir gehen nach Berlin!!!

World Cup Spirit

I seem to be getting into World Cup spirit ;-)

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! ...but does being a father make you happier in the long run? Three reasons why that might not be the case from a new book by Daniel Gilbert.

Not Gone, Not Lost... Finding It All ;-)

Ok, while travelling blogging will be feast (when I'm bored or on the road) or famine (when I'm rocking it up with my European buds and hitting the stadiums for WC games :-)

So I'm putting up the "away from home" sign while I'm semi-gone:



To all my European friends, if we haven't connected yet be sure to drop me an e-mail so we can be sure to hook up, the sched is getting crazy.

In the meantime, enjoy yourself on one of links Chris got in :-) No mayo on my club thanks... ;-)

Graduation Time (again)

Mark it down. June 30th I'll be back in Pforzheim to take the final step of what really finished a year ago with the end of classes and my thesis... I'll be putting on my black hat, walking the line and accepting my MBA degree.

It's been an amazing ride. It seems like only yesturday that I was pumped up with butterflies in my stomack leaving Canada to start a 2+ year long journey. Wow, I can't believe how many good times, both academically and socially, that we had. Without a word of a lie my time at "Pforzheim U" coud not have been more exciting and definatly surpassed my wildest expectations.

Academically, the exchange program (I went to Utah) was icing on the cake and I highly recommend that any students enrolled in the program take that opportunity. There's a range of great schools they offer (I've heard great things about the India Banglador exchange) and although it's a little more costly it's definatly worth ever penny and more in experience. I also highly recommend going to Utah U for your exchange, which at first seems like a weird out of the way choice, but which offers an amazing staff of strategy targeted professors and research as well as a breathtaking landscape that will steal your heart away. (check the archives of the blog for lots of pics and commentary about my time at Utah U)

Also a quick tip for any students entering their second year, get on your thesis NOW. It's the most valuable piece of work you'll develop throughout your studies and you need to snag the good professors early. Also it's a much longer iterative process then you can imagine, and if you have a passion for a particular niche (focus on an emerging niche, it'll provide for numerous employment opportunities after graduation) and the time to develop it fully you'll be amazed with the results. Shoot me an e-mail, or better yet buy me a beer at Irish Pub on the 30th and I'll give you my run down of the professors to focus on.

Speaking of professors, I definatly want to thank all my professors that helped mold my passion for business strategy... and help keep me awake for less-than-exciting courses ;-) especially Prof. Pfoertch who oversaw my thesis which helps launch a career and future PHD research in a field I am passionate and excited about.

I'd also like to thank all my colleagues who made the MBA experience all that it is inside and outside the classroom. Man, did we do it up or what! There's so much I could write about this, so many groups and individuals to thank here, but I'm going to keep it short with a simple "thanks you know who you are" and of course... next beer's on me :-)

And last but not least, I'd like to thank Prof. Dr. Moczadlo and Mr. Ebert for their tireless work in making the program what it is today, something I am tremendously honoured to have been a part of. Their patience for my constant hairbrained scemes throughout the years has made the MBA experience even that more enjoyable. I look forward to catching up with both of you... perhaps at Hagen for a Hefe following the ceremonies ;-)

So I could ramble on for hours but I'll save that for Irish Pub after grad ;-) If you're in the area make sure to come back home to Pforzheim for the 30th and we'll all share our war stories over a couple cold ones.

Happy Grad everyone!



PS> I've got another vid related to my time at Pforzheim coming soon, I hope to have it out by the end of the weekend but we'll have to see as I'm scrambling to get work done right now while squeezing in a NHL Stanley Cup Finals and World Cup game or two ;-)

Team 1200 Goodness

The Team 1200 is the best sports radio station in the world and the best show on the best station is "3 Guys On The Radio" otherwise known as "TGOR Nation". They're always good for a laugh, ie. take a look at this future Toronto Maple Leaf: open net, no goalie, breakaway, no problem right?

Wrong.

Also check out the Raj Binder clib, scroll half way down and click on the link next to this picture:



Raj says it right when he states "I think I pee'd myself a little bit". So did I Raj... so did I.

The Spirit Of The World Cup

Everyone's getting into the World Cup spirit... are you?



For this babe the answer is an unqualified YES!! ;-)

You're Not Being Straight With Me

A great illusion, these lines are straight and parallel if you can believe that, put a ruler up to it if you don't believe it!

Perception is reality?

Heart and Soul

The announcer had to cut off the singing of the national anthum at the beginning of the game because the singing of the fans literally drowned him out. They stood on their feet for the final 10 minutes of the game, urging their team forward to try and get that tying goal. The Oilers just couldn't put one in.

The fans did not even pause in their chanting, supporting their team even as they left the ice, down 3 games to 1, heading to the opponents rink for what could very well be the final game of the NHL season. The fans cheered on.

The Oilers might not be able to pull out another miracle and win the next game to bring it home again but one things for sure... their fans will still be cheering.

Hockey isn't just a sport in Canada, it's a way of life.

Here's to you Oilers fans, the rest of Canada is behind you...

Knocking The Competition

A fantastic ad that is funny and gets its message blatantly across:

Sage Advice

Beyond my power to annotate:



Maybe it's talking about hitting that World Cup soccer ball... maybe ;-)

Geek Earthquake

Where were you in the blogosphere when Scoble announced he was leaving Microsoft? ;-)

Return to Stuttgart

So close I can taste it:

Weekend Buzz

As Canadian hockey teams move on in the playoffs and make the finals, their cities run out of beer :-)

This is an amazing optical illusion, make sure to give it a good 40 second stare before looking away. Awesome.

A funny video with a guy demonstrating the history of dance.

This is a cool idea. In the wake of the Tsunami you can pay for timeshares for an island that requires the residents to actually build the community "The Beach" style. Considering that I'll be travelling out to the south-east islands late next year I'm actually thinking about joining, access to water being the deal-breaker.

There are some weird people out there...



The longest road (Younge Street) in the world starts or ends in Toronto.

Interesting video on innovation at Google. Twenty-Six minutes in she references one of the biggest culture shock moments I also had when I first came to Germany, supermarket checkout lines... seriously.

I love the creativity, they mail bricks to their government representatives to get their point across:

"One letter, which was wrapped around a brick and mailed to [Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo.] says: "I can't take a day off from work to go stand in the street and protest all day long like an illegal immigrant. But I did have time to send you this brick so that you could get started building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico."

Very curiously cool billboards that depict what you would actually see if there was no billboard there to begin with. I'm sure there's some advacacy group behind these:



Hilarious, this improv group gets a bunch of people to dress in the typical Best Buy (electronics store) emplyee blue shirts and then swarms a store. Genious.

Find a poker game in your area.

Only in the US... a 39 married woman with 2 children gets arrested for having sexual relations with a 16 year old boy. How did the cops find out? The kid drove home one night with a 2002 Mercedes Benz the woman had given him. What!?!? Can you image how that conversation went at the diner table that night:

Parent: "Um son, where did you get that 2002 Mercedes that is parked in our driveway?"

16 year old son: "Oh, my 39 year old married girlfriend gave it to me"

[I am shaking my head in total dis-amazment]

Gapminder shows a graph of countries by size plotted along life expectancy. No surprises here that Canada is up near the top. Notice the correlation between income and life expectancy?



Want to squeeze into that poka-dot bikini this summer? A list of 50 diet tips... #1 is all you need to know.

I leave you with a classic:

"In my house there’s this light switch that doesn’t do anything. Every so often I would flick it on and off just to check.

Yesterday, I got a call from a woman in China. She said, “Cut it out.”

Apple Special Sauce

Today we went to the Apple Orchard. It's not really in season but I digress. Honestly... I've eaten so many baby apples and apple products today that I think I'm pee'ing out 100% pure apple juice ;-)



Just call me "Mr." Johnny Applesead ;-)

Hamilton Sky

RainyPete gets a great shot from the Hamilton bay, his tagline is even better:

"These two poor souls kept trying and trying, but they were unsuccessful in their attempt to net the sunset."



Sometimes Hamilton ain't all that bad after all ;-)

Fish n' Chips

Best fish n' chips in Ontario is right here in Dundas (next to Hamilton) at Frosty's. The Dundas trail goes right through the centre of Hamilton so I regularly jump on the track just 5 minutes from my place and hike through the trails all the way out of Hamilton and into Ancaster/Dundas.

Let me tell ya, after a 4 hour trek through the forest trails there's nothing like a cold drink and hot chicken fingers and fries (I'm allergic to fish) from Frosty's. If you're ever in the area, do your stomack a favour and make the trip out:

Errr!

I was snatch close to getting my grubby little hands on 2 World Cup tickets for the June 24th Munich game that will probably feature Germany in the first round of the elimination games... I am pissy pissy today!

(although I'll be happy again once I get back from the doctor's for my travel shots and get to watch the end of the WC opener. Go Germany Go!!)

Matchbox Babes

You know how there's all those car magazines out there with these scantily clad women draped all over the hood which supposedly (and probably does) sell more cars? Well Matchbox, the makers of kids toy cars has a hilarious parody ad here with babes draped over the hoods of their cars:



Funny stuff...

Scary Bill

You know those weird people who happen to be afraid of clowns (I just don't get it). Well I saw this pic of a Bill Gates BobbleHead and it scared the be-jeezers out of me:



I think I'm crazy ;-P

TV Tower Goodness

The sun goes down on Stuttgart, as seen from the top of the TV tower:

I Can See You...

Nolan scoops a great pic of a washroom in London that has two way mirrors so the person inside the toilet can see all the people around them. This would be a very interesting experience to say the least!

Killing Time On The Stuttgart S-Bahn Encore

My first ever video "Killing Time On The Stuttgart S-Bahn" is sitting at 99 views on Youtube in just under a week. Not hyper-viral to say the least but it's impressive none the less for a first go, especially considering this doesn't include numbers from Yahoo video, Google video or Blip (which I'm sure are also tremendous ;-) and any exposure other than on the site (and we all know how HUGE EuroRoss Update Central is eh! ;-)

Wonder who'll be the big 100th viewer winner... you win... a view of the clip ;-)

War Re-Enactment

This past weekend I was helping out a marketing coleague with some admissions for one of her events, the re-enactment of the war in Stoney Creek 1812. It wasn't all that bad, with the sole exception of the pathetic-ness of not having better plans for my Saturday night ;-) I guess the massive downpour that just happened to occur when the biggest bus-load of customers arrived certainly didn't rock very much either, unless you consider how funny it was to be soaked through a raincoat all the way to my underwear. Seriously, I would have been drier if I had jumped in a pool. Good times, good times.

You would not believe the number of costumed "characters" that came out for the event. I'm told they dress up and go camping 1800's style every weekend in the summer, traveling all over North America for these events. Um... interesting... we all have hobbies I guess...

Hilarious

Can you see what's wrong with this photo? Can she? ;-)

EuroRoss Graphical

This gimmicky site lets you visually represent a website. Look how purdy EuroRoss looks:

Not The DaVinci Code

06-06-06 06:06:06

WC Ends Wars

The World Cup is about so much more than soccer... it's also about selling lots of product ;-)

Yeah crazy I know, but not as crazy as the fact that with the Ivory Coast qualifying it actually ended (or at least paused) the civil war in that country. This is a crazy world we live in folks.

Un-pimp Ya Auto

I absolutly love the VW German "Un-Pimp" commercials that play on the popular show "Pimp My Ride". If you haven't seen the commercials then head on over to Helga's (fake) MySpace account and check all 3 out. I almost pee myself in the one with the blue car when the guy with the over the top German accent says "un-pimp ya auto"... I'm laughing now as I type, sad I know, but it's that funny. "You get an F" ;-)



Viral marketing at its best.

Less Than One Week

The World Cup starts in less than a week in Germany. All the preps are in full swing now including new signs:



In Berlin where the final will be held (I'll also be held up in the "Berlin blog house" on June 21st) they might be going just a little too far with some of their billboards:



That's Oliver Kahn, Germany's legend of a goalkeeper who basically single-handedly took Germany to the finals in the last World Cup...



He won't be doing that this time however as the starter for Germany will be long-angst-be goalie Jens Lehmann (unless he gets hurt or subbed for poor play of course). Does anyone else find it strange that Germany is putting up massive pics of their backup goalie for the World Cup? ;-)



I guess until Lehmann can prove himself on the world scale (he's already had a VERY impressive year with Arsenal) he'll always be #2 in the eyes of the Germans. Can you imagine if Germany doesn't do very well in the tournament how hard they're going to come down on my main man and VFB Stuttgart alum Klinsmann as well as Lehmann!?!

Can't wait for it to start, I'm leaving on a jet plane...

If Women Ruled The World...

Denmark got this one in, surely a women's dream ;-)

No Action Without Protection

Marta gets in these advertisements promoting safe sex to curbe the spread of AIDS. The tagline is "No Action Without Protection"... funny stuff: