Things to do in Amsterdam

Amsterdam - one of the coolest cities in the world. The name itself is associated with "Sex, Drugs and Rock" - well, the Hard Rock Amsterdam really is great. Now if you are in Amsterdam for business you will realise soon that the city has much more to offer than just platitudes. Ijselmeer and the coast are very close, good infrastructure and good food - at least if you like Frites Speciaal.

Yesterday I convinced colleagues to make use of the ability to do watersports... wakeboarding of course being my top priority in that respect. With some research I found this excellent, cozy place called WakeboardSchool Amsterdam. They are right outside Amsterdam, just 15 minutes via Tram 26 from Amsterdam Centraal. In a nice surrounding they have a patio that is perfect for having a barbecue and a trampoline so you can train your new moves "offline".

On top of this they operate really nice wakeboardingboats from Correct Craft and have excellent drivers/teachers. We went there with a couple of colleagues and those that tried wakeboarding where up and riding in no time. Excellent! It really is a nice thing to do for a team event.

For more information you can either go to their website or check out this map (the Sportboat Center is located right next door):

Blogosphere

As I am now starting to figure out what blogging is all about, trying out new tools like Google Adwords, Analytics, Webmaster Console and so on I also get to see more stuff of what's out there. I really believe that 90% of the stuff is crap... but for others my content probably is crap as well. And that's all while I still believe that in 1999 we started out some of the first "blogs" in Germany with Martina Ertl, Armin Bittner and Hilde Gerg all writing about their daily life in the Ski Worldcup.

Well I left XnX since and have been with Accenture for a couple of years. For a while I had not cared too much about the online world, but now I am back in the middle of it.

So, one of the things I am currently very interested in, is SEO. Now with a completely new website/blog I am able to try out those things and see how they work. That's how I came across Kassper's blogging tips and he is claiming to be able to "Get In The Google Top 10 - Post Title Optimization."

Maybe this is just falling under the category mentioned above; maybe it isn't. Right now I am just posting and will sit back and relax and watch.

Die Hard 4.0 - Bruce destroys everything (again)

Went to see Die Hard 4.0 last Friday. Had waited for this movie for oh so long! Being a big fan of Die hard 1 and 3 (2 is ok, but not as great) I liked Die Hard 4.0 a lot. It was great entertainment, without trying to bring a message across (except maybe that violence and destruction is a possible solution ;-)

The only thing I missed - especially compared to the other Die Hard movies was the great music. I think they missed a compelling music theme or even a specific sequence where the music integrates perfectly with the flow of the action.

Especially Beethovens Ode (9th Symphony) in Die Hard and the adaptation of the old song "When Jonny comes marching home" (listen here) in Die Hard with a Vengeance I consider to be exceptionally well chosen (with the theme from Pirates of the carribean being my alltime fav).

Well, go and check it out - if you like Bruce and the Die Hard movies, you are going to like this one:

Wakeboard: Alfsee

Quick follow-up on the wakeboarding topic. I just checked out Alfsee close to Osnabrueck... compared to Schwandorf/Steinberger See it sucks. simply because it is overcrowded and - due to the nearby camping spots - filled with show-offs. however I liked the fact that their kickers and sliders also serve goofy/regular riders as well as beginners.

most lakes in germany tend to forget the regular (I am talking about footedness) riders simply because most cables turn left side and therefore favour a goofy riding style. was pleased by this and will check out alfsee again on a less crowded day.

Wakeboarding

Okay, on to the next post. I thought I start with something that I fancy a lot. Wakeboarding. I usually describe this (to parents, grandparents and other people that don't know) as "the snowboarding equivalent for waterski". From a pure definition point of view this is probably wrong...

Wakeboarding is usually done behind a boat, but in Germany we actually use cables more often. A great place to start wakeboarding as the initial part (getting up) is easier on the lake with a cable (no wake and easier to get a good position for take off ...) than behind a boat.

If you want to start, check here:

http://www.wasserski.de/ -> map of germany including all cable spots

http://www.wildwakeski.de/ -> my favorite lake

Two years ago I stayed at a magic life club in greece on a last minute offer. Nice thing was that they offered all inclusive wakeboarding/waterskiing.

BTW: There is also a variant called wakeskating... it is basically the same, but without a binding. makes it more fuzzy, but you really feel free.

The number one place to learn and improve is actually in Florida ("are you insane to wake in alligator-infested florida??" ;-)... I am still planning to spend a week or two there once I get to it:

http://www.wakeboardcamp.com/

Try it out - it is fun!!

Welcome

Being around in the online world and having the privilege to work with some very interesting people day to day it just felt weird not to have a blog. My old website (about Canada, Electronic Music and Snowboarding) had last been updated in 2001 and the only more or less decent thing still online was my "profile". It was about time to do something. Now whenever I thought about a new website I thought about these great tools I could use... picture libraries, content management, user reviews and so on. well - I have been to lazy and these (not so new anymore) tools from the google-universe are so convenient to use.

So here it is, my new blog. I will keep this very random and not focussed on one specific topic. I mean at the end of the day there are so many things I could use this for:
wakeboarding, snowboarding, hotel reviews, project management, online, politics, economics, electronic music, travel reports, local search, recruiting, accenture, ... let's see what happens.